A Cocktail & Conversation -- Favorite Music

Every other Thursday here at the Broke & The Bookish is A Cocktail Conversation time. One of the TB&TB members will pose a question to 2-3 of the other members of TB&TB crew about books, life, music, etc and then they'll answer and we can converse about it. So grab a cocktail & cozy up for some conversation. It's 5 o'clock somewhere, friends. 

The Question - What type of music do you listen to the most? What was the last concert you went to?

Bridget says...

As for as music I listen to... there's so much different stuff, but I guess most of it can be categorized into 80s pop/metal (think Def Leppard, Styx, OMD), 90s pop/alt rock (Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty, etc), and some classic rock. Also, occasionally some current pop music, but I don't listen to the radio all that much, so I usually rely on Andrew to let me know when something good comes out.

Daisy says...

The last concert I went to was of Ewer and the Two Dragons, fairly unknown I think. I mostly listen to a mix of pop and rock, I LOVE singers like Jonathan Jeremiah and Sarah Bareilles, who are both awesome live!

Lori says...

The last concert I went to was Garth Brooks back in January. I'm glad I went because otherwise, the last concert I went to was in high school. I just don't go to that many! Garth Brooks was pretty awesome. I love that he primarily played his old hits. Our group was on the jumbotron during "Friends in Low Places," which was really cool.

Julia says...

The music I listen to most is actually pop music (according to Spotify).  I would classify it more as an Indy eclectic with a heavy lean toward 90s pop/alternative. I enjoy singing so that is probably why I like pop. I really have a wide range though. The only thing I would say you wouldn't find on my Spotify is hardcore heavy metal, straight rap, and pop country. I have some classic country though, like John Denver. I have a playlist for the songs I sing in Church so I can practice them as well as one for ALL THE KARAOKE ever. As for concerts, I have been to lots of musicals, lots of classical concerts, but only one official concert and that was The Fray in 2007... only because Mae opened. :)

Lauren says...

I pretty much just listen to rock music and most of it's sub-genres. I can't listen to the new stuff of the radio without wondering how in the hell our next generation of children are going to make it. The last concert I went to was the Louder Than Life Festival in Louisville, KY. There were THOUSANDS of people there for a two day event. There was Judas Priest, Korn, Stone Temple Pilots, Mastodon, Pop Evil, Five Finger Death Punch, Volbeat, Buckcherry... the list goes on. It was amazing. Here's a picture just to show you how many people were there. I can't wait to go again this year!

What type of music do you listen to? What was the last concert you went to?

Lauren Reviews Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs

Powerless by Tera Lynn Childs & Tracy Deebs 
Published: June 2015 by Sourcebooks Fire
Source: eARC
Rating: 2 Stars

Kenna is tired of being "normal". The only thing special about her is that she isn't special at all. Which is frustrating in a world of absolutes. Villains, like the one who killed her father, are bad. Heroes, like her mother and best friend, are good. And Kenna, unlike everyone else around her, is completely ordinary— which she hates.

She’s secretly working on an experiment that will land her a place among the Heroes, but when a Villain saves her life during a break-in at her lab, Kenna discovers there’s a whole lot of gray area when it comes to good and evil and who she can trust.. After all…not all strength comes from superpowers.


So the world is literally full of heroes and villains, both of whom have powers. Kenna is the daughter of a hero.. her mom is basically a genius that works at a super secret hero facility doing lab experiments to help develop more hero powers or instruments to aid the good guys. Kenna spends her days and nights in the lab helping her mom and doing little experiments for herself. She is powerless. She's what the heroes and villains call an ordinary. 

One night some villains break into the lab looking for a relative that they believe is being held captive by the heroes. Kenna holds her own, even with no powers. But she isn't exactly powerless. She is also immune to other people's powers. This is a well kept secret between Kenna and her mom, who used her genius skills to develop a serum for Kenna to take on the regular to stay immune to danger. 

And here comes the real interesting part... Kenna stops seeing the heroes and villains as good and bad/white and black. She sees there's a grey area. Now she meets a slew of new people with devastating information that changes everything she's ever known. 

This was definitely a fast paced novel with some quick YA romance. I needed a little more world-building to get a better feel of the place. I'm also a little bored of the teenagers falling in love after 3 days of life or death action, but I think I'm just getting old. This was an interesting read, but it felt too short and that a lot of details were missing.

Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For The Rest Of 2015

For future Top Ten Tuesday topics & info on how to participate, click here!

Today we are talking about all those books we are anticipating for the rest of the year! 

Jamie's Picks

1. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas: OMG BOOK 4 IS GOING TO KILL ME I KNOW IT. If you haven't read the Throne of Glass series yet this is your chance to catch up. I really liked book 1 but book 2 and 3 were AMAZING. (Jana seconds this one!!!)

2. Dumplin' by Julie Murphy:  I really enjoyed Julie's debut and I'm so excited about this one. The cover is FIERCE.

3. Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman: THIS LOOKS LIKE THE COOLEST BOOK IN THE WORLD. There are emails and documents and really super cool things in it just at a glance when flipping through it. It's so fancy.

4. Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman: This historical fantasy looks amazing! ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

Jana's Picks

5. Everything But the Truth by Mandy Hubbard: I'm loving Bloomsbury's If Only... line, and this one sounds super cute! It's a bit of a Cinderella story, or so they say. Poor girl, rich boy... confusion... swoons. Looks like so much fun!

6. The Legend of Lyon Redmond by Julie Anne Long: I love JAL's Pennyroyal Green series! My favorite one of the entire series so far is What I Did for a Duke. SO swoony, and super steamy. Highly recommended if you like historical romance. Can't wait for this one!

7. When a Scott Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare: I've been all over the historical romance genre lately, and I LOVE Tessa's Castles Ever After series. I just barely read the second one, Say Yes to Marquess, and it is definitely one of my top five favorite historicals.

8. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: I can't NOT mention this one, even though I did over on my personal blog's TTT for today as well. I love Leigh's writing, and I loved her Grisha trilogy so much! I'm so glad that we have another series in the Grisha world to look forward to.

Bridget's Picks

9. Orphan Number Eight by Kim van Alkemade

10. The Sparrow Sisters by Ellen Herrick

I totally got both of these at BEA but they don't come out until August/September respectively and I haven't read them yet so I'm going to count them. Also check out the GORGEOUS cover of The Sparrow Sisters!

Tell us your most anticipated!!

Broke and Bookish Book Haul for 5/24 - 6/6

Lauren's Book Haul

Bought

Hungry by H.A. Swain

Salvage by Alexandra Duncan 

The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna

Nil by Lynne Matson 

Miracle by Elizabeth Scott

The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson 

Lailah by Nikki Kelly 

Gated by Amy Christine Parker

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Autumn by David Moody

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block 

The Fury by Alexander Gordon Smith 

Seeders by A.J. Colucci 

The Farm by Emily McKay 

Lux Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

Lux Beginnings by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson

eARCs for Review

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Awake by Natasha Preston

A Song of Ice and Fire vs A Game of Thrones: To Watch or to Read

Note: This is a spoiler free post. I cannot claim the same for the comments. Tread with caution.

There has been a topic for a while now in the A Song of Ice and Fire community about what to do about the show passing the books in story line. Based on my observations, people seem to fall into three camps. 

There is the "I just have to stop watching the show. I want to read everything as George RR Martin intended" camp who have abandoned all online interaction with the ASOIAF community and cancelled their HBO Go subscriptions. They are the purists who want to experience it first on page, unmarred by any show additions to stories that may not be made up. Good luck with your journeys, for the nights are long and full of spoilers.

Then we have the "I am not too excited about the books being passed and things getting potentially spoiled for me, but what choice to I have? Martin can only write so fast" group. These are the ones who have resigned to watching the show, even though it passes their knowledge. Maybe they have begrudgingly made the decision that they would rather have the show spoil them instead of people at work on Monday.  But silently (or not so silently) they are urging Martin to write like the wind.

Finally the third, the "Hell yeah! New Game of Thrones Content!! My body is ready!!" These are the people who are just so overjoyed at something new in the world of ice and fire to see, that they couldn't care less that it is one step up from sanctioned fan-fiction on screen. The writers have talked with Martin, they know the general story, it's as good as cannon for them.

It's fun to watch this play out. I personally am primarily in the "Yay! New content" camp. I still have some high pipe-dream level hopes that The Winds of Winter will publish before the next season, but honestly, I just love this world so much, and the HBO series is such a good adaptation, that I am all in.

But it brings up a good conundrum for spoiler sensitive future-Julia. What will it be like to have potential future twists already known or expected? Theories that people have had for literal years are being pretty much confirmed by things the show does. How is that going to read in the book? Will I enjoy it less because of my gratification now?

I don't know. The answer is unclear to me. It's very weird to be in a position where a movie or TV show has spoiled a book before it is even written. I can't think of any other example. Books are usually the predecessor. But in this case, I've made my decision and I am loving it.I can't wait for these next two episodes.


Are you guys in one of these camps? Even if you are not Game of Thrones watchers/readers, how would you react if a popular book series was adapted to film and passed the written texts? 

Happy Friday everyone!

Top Ten Books We'd Love To See As Movies/TV Shows

For future Top Ten Tuesday topics & info on how to participate, click here!

Julia's Picks

1. The London Steampunk Series by Bec McMaster - I can see this as a netflix series or something ala Penny Dreadful. How fun would it be to see a steampunk romance based society be the it series talked about around the water cooler?

2. The Bridgerton Series by Julia Quinn - I am thinking a PBS/BBC miniseries ala Downton Abbey or Pride and Prejudice. How cool would it be to grow along with these siblings as they made their matches in society. I'd be so down for this!!

Lauren's Picks

3. The Razorland Series by Ann Aguirre - I'd love to see these novels as movies. I love the strong characters and of course.. the post-apocalyptic/dystopian world would have my attention for almost any movie.

4. The Silo Series by Hugh Howey - These novels are lengthy and would make for a great TV series. There isn't much blood/gore, but a little violence. I think it could air on any TV channel.

5. The Corpus Series by Jessica Khoury - These novels would be good movies as well. They're the kind of "fight the man" novels where you know who to root for and then you're all in. 

6. The Forest of Hands and Teeth Series by Carrie Ryan - This is one of my favorite zombie series. Zombie movies/novels have been getting lots of attention for a while now, and people are getting burnt out. These novels offer a new perspective of survival and living with zombies and that is why I think these novels would make some great gritty, dark movies. 

7. The Insider Duology by Maria V. Snyder - These two novels were perfection for me. Some sci-fi, definetely a dystopian society, a little uprising from below. The elements combined would make for a gripping TV mini-series. 

Jamie's Picks

8. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard: I really loved this book and I could see it being a great travel movie with amazing settings!!

9. Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty: No seriously this would be the most awesome tv show as we grow with JD through the years. HILARIOUS IT WOULD BE.

10.  Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: I JUST NEED THIS TO BE A MOVIE. NEEEEED. Get some kickass female leads and lets do this thing!

May Favorites & June TBR

Happy June! We hope you all had an amazing month of reading and congrats to all those lucky BEA participants (pssst... we want to see your book hauls)! Here are the books we loved this month and what is on our TBR list for June!

May Favorites

Lauren's Pick

Within These Walls by Ania Ahlborn

Ania Ahlborn is now officially one of my favorite authors. I will buy and read all of her books. This is another horror novel, but please don't shy away. This novel had such depth and emotions that it felt like the words were dripping off the pages onto my hands. 

Tahleen's Pick

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

I picked up this audiobook on a whim at the library, and I'm so glad I did. This was a great listen, as Elwes narrates with help from the likes of Rob Reiner, Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, and company. This is a must read (or listen) for anyone who knows and loves The Princess Bride, and you will definitely want to watch the movie again once you're done.

June TBR

Lauren's Pick

The MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood

And yet another favorite author. Yes, I also have a quote from one of her books tattooed as well. I have actually already read this trilogy, but when these new editions came out, I immediately went and bought them all. So of course I have to re-read them! My other copies are mismatched and these novels are oozing the stuff that sticks with you throughout your lifetime, so I want all the copies. I will forever love Atwood and all of her novels. If you haven't at least heard of these novels, please click the link and explore. Trust me. 

And I'm sorry, but I have to fangirl a little... when one of your favorite authors sends you a sarcastic tweet, you can't help but have a good damn day.

Tahleen's Pick

 

Jackaby by William Ritter

 I've been meaning to read this one for a while, and luckily it's our book club pick this month. Plus, I got it on CD from the library, so yay.



What were your May favorites and what's on your June TBR list?