Miscellaneous is the tagline to store random posts that don’t really belong elsewhere. They may involve tags, awards, challenges, and other book blogging nonsense.

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Rules:

The rules are very simple:

• It may be a physical ARC or eARC but it MUST be an ARC

• Yes it can be an ARC that has already released; as long as it’s an ARC I’m not going to nit pick really

• HAVE FUN WITH THIS! Feeling like you are being “forced” to read is the best way turn a fun event into a yucky obligation.

• Update post! I personally will do a post for each Saturday in August but that’s just me. You can update once a week, every other week or once for the whole darn event. This update can be in the form of a blog/tumblr post, vlog, link to your “ARC August 2015″ shelf or even an instagram pic! I want to make this as easy and low pressure as possible for you.

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Thoughts:

At first I was like “what is this event that is flooding my feeds??!” and then the next minute I’m taking photos of my books…so, it is confirmed: voodoo magic exists. You are all wizards for not-so-peer-pressuring-me-into-taking-part-in-this-event.

Now you know me: Mr. One Book in Two Months—but it’s been better as of late—and so I am hoping to read these four books before their releases next month.

(The real story here is how I was debating whether or not to sign up and then it started thunderstormin’ and hailing, followed by my power going out. Then my mind thought of the uncertainty that I wouldn’t be able to get that post up in time for the sign-up deadline. With that, I took the anxiety as a message from the Weather Gods. And here we are. The rain has also stopped…)

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ZEROES – Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti (09/29/15)

Ethan, aka “Scam,” has a way with words. When he opens his mouth, whatever he wants you to hear comes out. But Ethan isn’t just a smooth talker. He has a unique ability to say things he doesn’t consciously even know. Sometimes the voice helps, but sometimes it hurts – like now, when the voice has lied and has landed Ethan in a massive mess. So now Ethan needs help. And he needs to go to the last people who would ever want to help him – his former group of friends, the self-named “zeros” who also all possess similarly double-edged abilities, and who are all angry at Ethan for their own respective reasons. Brought back together by Scam’s latest mischief, they find themselves entangled in an epic, whirlwind adventure packed with as much interpersonal drama as mind-bending action.

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The Scorpion Rules – Erin Bow (09/22/15)

A world battered by climate shift and war turns to an ancient method of keeping peace: the exchange of hostages. The Children of Peace – sons and daughters of kings and presidents and generals – are raised together in small, isolated schools called Prefectures. There, they learn history and political theory, and are taught to gracefully accept what may well be their fate: to die if their countries declare war.

Greta Gustafsen Stuart, Duchess of Halifax and Crown Princess of the Pan-Polar Confederation, is the pride of the North American Prefecture. Learned and disciplined, Greta is proud of her role in keeping the global peace — even though, with her country controlling two-thirds of the world’s most war-worthy resource — water — she has little chance of reaching adulthood alive.

Enter Elián Palnik, the Prefecture’s newest hostage and biggest problem. Greta’s world begins to tilt the moment she sees Elián dragged into the school in chains. The Prefecture’s insidious surveillance, its small punishments and rewards, can make no dent in Elián, who is not interested in dignity and tradition, and doesn’t even accept the right of the UN to keep hostages.  What will happen to Elián and Greta as their two nations inch closer to war?

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Don’t Fail Me Now – Una LaMarche (09/1/15)

Michelle and her little siblings Cass and Denny are African-American and living on the poverty line in urban Baltimore, struggling to keep it together with their mom in jail and only Michelle’s part-time job at the Taco Bell to sustain them.

Leah and her stepbrother Tim are white and middle class from suburban Maryland, with few worries beyond winning lacrosse games and getting college applications in on time.

Michelle and Leah only have one thing in common: Buck Devereaux, the biological father who abandoned them when they were little.

After news trickles back to them that Buck is dying, they make the uneasy decision to drive across country to his hospice in California. Leah hopes for closure; Michelle just wants to give him a piece of her mind.

Five people in a failing, old station wagon, living off free samples at food courts across America, and the most pressing question on Michelle’s mind is: Who will break down first–herself or the car? All the signs tell her they won’t make it. But Michelle has heard that her whole life, and it’s never stopped her before….

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Amy Alward – Madly (09/29/2015)

When the Princess of Nova accidentally poisons herself with a love potion meant for her crush, she falls crown-over-heels in love with her own reflection. Oops. A nationwide hunt is called to find the cure, with competitors travelling the world for the rarest ingredients, deep in magical forests and frozen tundras, facing death at every turn.

Enter Samantha Kemi – an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent. Sam’s family were once the most respected alchemists in the kingdom, but they’ve fallen on hard times, and winning the hunt would save their reputation. But can Sam really compete with the dazzling powers of the ZoroAster megapharma company? Just how close is Sam willing to get to Zain Aster, her dashing former classmate and enemy, in the meantime?

And just to add to the pressure, this quest is ALL OVER social media. And the world news.

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Afterthoughts:

I think my priorities in reading this go: Zeroes (already 1/4 done), then Madly, then Scorpion, then Don’t Fail Me Now. Although this could change; especially when Mood Reader mugs me in dark alleyways…and then I succumb to it’s nonsense.

If I do finish these four books (doubtful), I do have a second pile of ARCs ready to be queued up. But good thing this challenge is a month LOL. I always seem to fail at those weekly ones ahhhh.

Also mad props to Book Blogger Ontario (re: Simon & Schuster and Penguin for these review copies.)

Cheers,
Joey

connect: afterthoughtAn // twitter  |  anotherafterthought // goodreads