Book Blogger Challenge- Week 15

This feature comes from April at Good Books & Good Wine.

Wow, I can hardly believe that I did this for 15 weeks straight. I'm tired just thinking about it.Honestly, I'm glad to be finished with it. Now I can go back to writing my own discussion posts and talk about all the things that I've been wanting to talk about but didn't want to do more than one discussion post a week.

The question for the final week is...

Who Are Your Book Blogging Mentors?

• Ashley of Nose Graze. 

She is a great person. We seem to overall have very similar tastes in books and I know that when I make the move to self hosted, probably in April, I'll be able to go to her with dozens of questions and she'll answer them. Probably all the while muttering about how type A I am.She manages to put a lot of her personality in her blog, especially with her most recent subtle shift into doing more personal posts.

• Giselle of Xpresso Reads

Okay, this girl rocks. She is so nice and kind to all of us in this community. She manages to do what some others cannot do, and that is review a book honestly and fairly without attacking the author.Her reviews are crazy long too. I want to be able to lengthen my reviews to at least close to the length of hers.

• Gillian of Writer of Wrongs

This lady is awesome. I mean she's a bigger Potterhead than even I am. I seriously never thought that was possible until I read her post yesterday. Plus she's a whiz at knowing exactly which GIF's to use for what review and where. Her blog is just full of personality, which I love. So often, blog designs are not really connected to the person behind the blog. It often feels like someone slapped a background on it and that was it.

This post could go on and on, but I decided to keep it short by simply keeping it at top 3.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Book Blogger Challenge- Week 14

This challenge comes from Good Books & Good Wine.

This week's question is a bit of repeat of one that I answered way back at the beginning of my blogging journey. However, I'll still answer it.

Tell Us Your Deal Breakers

~God/Religion~

This is my number one thing. I am an atheist so it would make no sense for me to read a book about a God that I don't believe in. I am also not religious at all so anything that so much as HINTS at being religious in any capacity does not get a home on my bookshelf.

~Politics~

This one's easy. I find politics to be boring and I will not read a book that so much as HINTS at it.However, if it's a dystopian book, I can overlook the politics. If it's a contemporary, then no.

~Insta-love/lust~

First of all I am not into that cheesy & corny crap. There is no such thing as insta love. There is such a thing as insta-lust and I wish people would call it that rather than calling it love. You cannot love someone you don't know and may have never met.

~Bad Author Behavior~

If I hear a story about an author behaving badly to either another author or a blogger like myself,I will NOT pick up their book.To me it would be like rewarding them for behaving badly. No just no.

~Using Sex As The Only Plot Point~

If I have to hear someone say "Well Sex Sells" one more time, I may put my fist through a wall. Yes sex does amp up the book sales but for me if there is nothing else to the story I am going to throw it as far away from my body as possible.Even erotica has to have SOME sort of plot in order for me to read it. If it doesn't,then I don't read it. Simple as that.

~Steampunk~

If someone could just explain to me WHAT it is,I'd be greatful. As it is,I don't get it and don't understand the appeal.

~Aliens/Zombies/Werewolves & Vampires~

I threw all four of these together because I just don't get the appeal of any of them. I like a good SciFi book as much as the next person but Aliens? No thank you. I think I've seen enough Vampire crap to last me a lifetime. Zombies,um no thank you. There was only one series that I loved a werewolf character and if you are as much of a geek as I am,then you'll know what I'm talking about.

~Abuse~

Sometimes these stories are done beautifully and they tell the tale of a battered woman escaping from a violent man. But I rarely read them and that's because usually we are forced to read about the abuse in graphic detail. I will not be okay with that. It's like abuse is being glorified which makes me sick.

~Cheating~

This is something I don't accept in my real life.Why should my reading choices be any different.It's rude,disrespectful and like abuse,it glorifies the act.

~Historical Books~

I hated history in high school,hated it in college so why would I want to read anything with a historical theme? Answer is,I wouldn't. Historical books of any kind bore the heck outta me and you won't catch me reading them.There's one caveat and that is, I will read fictional historical novels if they are set in the time of the Holocaust. I have a very strange fascination with the Holocaust.

Book Blogger Challenge- Week 13

This feature comes from Good Books & Good Wine. Go link up your posts if you are participating in this feature.

Hi everyone, it is once again time for the weekly feature that I have been participating in for 13 weeks.This query was definitely one of the easiest & hardest that I have ever answered.

Describe One Underappreciated Book Everyone Should Read
Oooh this is a tough one as I have read and loved a lot of books this year. Some of them were book blogger favorites and some of them were gems that I discovered on my own.I am totally going to cheat on this one as I can think of two that I really enjoyed and gave high praise for and both of them went under the radar.

First...

 My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi was an amazing book. It was a contemporary YA book dealing with teenage sex and the ramifications behind it. HIV & AIDS is not often discussed in fictional books which I think is a real shame.

Goodreads
My Review


Second...

OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu was amazing. It was about a girl who is diagnosed as severe OCD. I really related a lot to the female main character as I too have OCD. Thankfully not as severe as the main character in this book.

Goodreads
My Review

So tell me, have you read either of these? Let me know if you have and if you enjoyed them.

Book Blogger Challenge-Week 11

Hi everyone! Once again, it's time for the weekly installment of The Book Blogger Challenge. This feature is hosted by Good Books & Good Wine, Stop by and link up your posts if you are participating in this feature.

Show off 5 of your best blog posts!

1. Review- OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu
- I absolutely LOVED this book. The characters were great and I poured a little bit of myself into this review.

2. Review- If You Leave by Courtney Cole
-This book meant more to me than I ever thought was possible. It brought me a lot of healing and I explored those in this review.

3. Review- Always Watching by Chevy Stevens
-This book was the first unsolicited finished copy that I had received. It still remains my favorite psychological thriller of the year.

4. Friday Musing #5
-This is definitely considered an older post. It was back when I still wanted to come up with a witty name for my discussion posts. Yeah, that didn't last long. But this post detailed bookish turn-offs. I've eased up on some but not all of them.

5. Review: The Program by Suzanne Young
-This book gutted me and then gutted me again. I pretty much cried through the whole thing. I live for those books with the feels though.I named this my favorite YA book of 2013.If you haven't read it, you need to make a point of doing it soon.


So what are some of your best blog posts?

Book Blogger Challenge- Week 10

This feature comes from Good Books and Good Wine. If you are participating in this challenge don't forget to go and link up your posts.

How Do You Choose What Book To Read Next?
Well for me it is all about the deadlines. If I am doing a book review for a blog tour, then that book gets first priority. Books that are coming out in the next few weeks also get priority. Once I am done with the blog tour stuff then I move on, usually to those books that are going to be released in the next few weeks.Aside from that, I don't really have any specific criteria. If it's a book that I have been really looking forward to, then I'll definitely read it, even if it's release date is not for months.

I've been bad recently. I've read several 2014 releases instead of two book tour books whose tours are in the next month. Ooopsies!

I do try not to read too many books of the same genre back to back. I would hate to get bored of the genre. Yet, as you can see this week I had the reviews of two YA dystopians back to back. Yeah not the best planning in the universe. But I digress.

So how do you choose what book to read next?

Book Blogger Challenge- Week 9

Hello again, it is time for the newest installment of the Book Blogger Challenge. This challenge comes from Good Books and Good Wine. If you have participated in this challenge, don't forget to go link up your posts.

This week's challenge is...

Why Do You Blog About Books?
My answer is going to be very short and sweet and to the point. I blog about books because it's fun.It is so much fun to have an outlet for my bookish feelings.Not only that, but blogging about books has given me a lot of friends. Friends that understand exactly how I feel about books. Friends who will flail around right alongside me.

For those of you who think I've gone into it for the ARC's or the recognition or the money I am simply going to laugh my butt off at you. Yes getting ARC's is a nice feeling but if I never received another ARC, I'd still be blogging because I blog because I love books and I love talking about them. As for the recognition, um, what recognition exactly? I am still a relatively new blogger and I'm not that recognizable yet. Even if I were, that wouldn't matter to me.And while I would love to get paid for reading books and writing reviews, I'm not getting paid for it. Again I do it simply because I love talking about books.

So why do you blog about books?

Book Blogger Challenge- Week 8



This week's challenge comes to us from Good Books and Good Wine and this week I've been challenged to...

Quick, write 15 bullet points of things that appeal to you on blogs!

• No noise- There is no point to having noise on a book blog. Most of us are already listening to music.
• Simple- Having a simple and neat layout is a big deal to me. If a blog is really cluttered up, I am less likely to visit the blog often.
• Colors- Now I love color,but as someone who is visually impaired, I cannot see the blog text when its in neon pink or green etc.
• Background- no dark background with light text. It just doesn't work for me.
• Search bar- So helpful! Especially if I am trying to remember if someone read & reviewed a particular book.
• Personality! Yes that can be achieved by color and graphics but it can also be achieved by writing style. If I can get a sense of your personality through your posts, that's great.
• Passion- Goes along with some of the other things. If I can tell that you are truly passionate about books, then that would definitely make me want to visit your blog more frequently.
• Comments- If I can see that you are interacting with your readers, that will show me a lot and it will make me want to comment on your blog.
• Reviews of books I loved- Now not everyone will like all the same books but I love reading reviews of books that I loved.Even if we don't have the same opinions on books,that doesn't matter to me.
• Personal posts-Getting to know the blogger behind the blog as a person is a really big deal to me.
• Humor- Now I am not great at humor but I love when I read someone's blog and they make me laugh until my sides ache.
• GIF's- I am just now beginning to see the awesomeness that are GIF's. As long as there aren't 15 GIF's in a single post, I'm happy. Use them sparingly.
• Pictures- Especially covers of books. I think this is really important to have the book cover with the review so people know what the book looks like.
• Reliability- I get that people have lives and other things to do, but if you are going to be absent for awhile, let your readers know.
• Archives- Especially for reviews so the readers can see what you've reviewed in the past.

So what are some things that appeal to you in blogs?

Book Blogger Challenge-Week 7

Hello everyone, to be honest I haven't really felt like doing this one this week but I knew that if I didn't do this one, this week, I'd have to double up next week, which was not an appealing thought. So this week's edition of the Book Blogger Challenge comes to you both grudgingly but also resignedly. This comes from Good Books & Good Wine.

Talk About Your Blogging Quirks

• I start a review post right after I finish the book so I don't forget things that I want to talk about. Unless I finish the book at like 3am or something.Then I wait until the next morning.
• I'm slowly learning how to make my reviews longer without sounding verbose.
• I struggle writing reviews much more with books that I loved as opposed to ones that I hated.
• I'm learning to love using GIF's in reviews. Especially ranty ones.
• After I post a review on the blog, I immediately add my review to Goodreads and to Amazon.
• I feel bad that I don't comment much on other people's blogs. Then I get it into my head that I must comment a lot in a short amount of time.
• I am learning that I don't have to post every day and that life will go on if I don't post one day.

So tell me, what are your blogging quirks?

Book Blogger Challenge-Week 6

Hello again everyone,I'm back for the sixth installment of the book blogger challenge.This comes from Good Books and Good Wine. I made it into a weekly thing instead of doing it daily. So check out my answer to this week's question and tell me how book shopping has gone for you before and or after you started blogging.

Week 6- Describe How You Shop For Books
I really don't have a specific way I shop for books. Before blogging I would just go to a bookstore and pick up something without knowing anything about it.I often didn't even recognize the author's name. Now I go to bookstores looking specifically for certain titles, often titles that my fellow bloggers have mentioned to me. I rarely ever shop blindly anymore.

I still shop on Amazon.Actually that's where I buy the majority of my books. I do have bookstores nearby but Amazon is SO darn convenient.Yeah the waiting can be a real pain in my butt, but it is SO exciting to get a package in the mail.

So how do you shop for books?

Book Blogger Challenge- Week 5

I'm back again for the 5th installment of the Book Blogger Challenge. This awesome feature comes from the awesome Good Books and Good Wine.Without who I never would have found out about this feature.

Week 5-Recommend a tearjerker

I could actually name a lot of tearjerkers as I have read a lot of them recently. My favorite tearjerker is a virtual tie between The Program by Suzanne Young and If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch. Both heartbreakingly beautiful (if that's even possible) Both of them caused many tears on my part. If I had to rate them on a tear scale, I'd go with The Program by Suzanne Young.There were many pages and even full chapters that I just sobbed through.

Here are my reviews for both of them. 

The Program

If You Find Me

I gave them both 5 stars easily. They both brought out the feels in me in VERY similar ways.So if you're looking for a tearjerker, go get your hands on one of these. Or both of them if you REALLY want to cry.

Book Blogger Challenge- Week 4

Thanks again to Good Books and Good Wine for this meme. Many other blogs have adopted it and adapted it to suit them and their needs.I am doing it once a week for 15 weeks. 

What's The Last Book You Flung Across The Room?

Well I don't really enjoy throwing books across the room. I love my books so the book really must be bad in order for me to fling it anywhere.The first one that comes to mind is a review book by the name of Not For Profit by Glenn Shephard .I was so frustrated with it and bored with it that I threw it across the room more than once. There was just too much stuff that I had problems with.I was unbelievably happy when I was done with that book.

Now when it comes to my Kindle, I don't throw it. My cat already messed up my Kindle so I have to be super duper careful with it so I don't mess it up even further to the point of not being able to use it.But the last Kindle book that made me frustrated and rage-y was Torn by K.A.Robinson. That review is scheduled to be posted next week. Then you'll see why it made me all rage-y.

So what books have you flung across the room?

Book Blogger Challenge- Week 3

I'm back again for Week 3 of the Book Blogger Challenge. This comes from Good Books and Good Wine. Instead of doing this once a day, I am doing this once a week. This week's topic is...

Who Are Your Blogging BFF's? 

In the past few months that I've been blogging, I've made some really great friends. Some of them,I knew from even before I started blogging. Some of them I got to know only recently.

• First up is Molli of Once Upon A Prologue. I knew her before I began blogging and actually she was one of the first people to encourage me to start blogging about my love of books.
• Next up is Marie of Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Like Molli,she also encouraged me to start blogging. She has also been a huge supporter of my writing.
• Now Christina of A Reader of Fictions has been a blast to get to know. We do tend to think the complete opposite about books so it definitely makes things interesting.
• Ashley of Nose Graze and I tend to think alike on a majority of books so it's definitely fun to have someone around who has the same or at least very similar tastes in books.
• And last but certainly not least, Meredith of Pandora's Books. We have only gotten acquainted with each other recently,but she's a truly fantastic person and I think that we would TOTALLY be friends if we knew each other in real life.

So who are some of your blogging BFF's?

Book Blogger Challenge- Week #2

Hello again everyone. It is time for Week 2 of the Book Blogger Challenge.This feature is from Good Books and Good Wine. The challenge was supposed to be a daily feature but I changed it to suit me a little better. So it's a weekly thing for me. 

Here it goes...

Week 2-What's Your Bedtime Reading Ritual

I have a pretty specific reading ritual and when it gets interrupted, it kind of drives me crazy. So depending on my plans for the evening, I usually start at 9:30pm and read for at least 2 hours,sometimes three.I crawl into bed and put my pillows behind my head. I usually have a snack and a cold bottle of water next to me, on the windowsill. I cannot read without snacks and water.

I usually spend time with three books a night. Two review books and a me book. I have to end on a page number that is divisible by 5 and if I am using my Kindle, a percentage that is divisible by 5. Once I've spent time in three different book worlds AND have ended on a page or percentage divisible by 5, then I can go to sleep.

So how about you? What is your bedtime reading ritual?

Book Blogger Challenge- Week #1

Okay so I know I am super late to the party and everything but I have had things to talk about and so this challenge got pushed to the back-burner many times. Now I have the time to devote to it. I have changed it to doing it once a week instead of once a day. Partly because I don't like having multiple postings on the blog every day and also partly because I am lacking in Friday discussion post topics now.

This comes from Good Books and Good Wine. Over the past few months many bloggers have jumped on the same bandwagon to do this. It's fun and interesting to get to know our fellow book bloggers this way. So let me know if you've done this or if you can relate to any of my confessions.

So here goes...

Week 1-Make 15 book related confessions
1. I have to be eating or drinking something while I read.
2. Up until about 2.5 years ago I had no clue what YA was or what Dystopian was.
3. My favorite place to read during the daytime is on my antique couch.
4. I use index cards as my bookmarks. These index cards have the book title, author and whether its a review book or a me book.
5. I have to write the review immediately after I finish the book. Unless it's like 3am or something.
6. I read more than one book at a time.
7. I'm a certified speed reader. I can finish a 400 page book in a day.
8. I was reading on my own by age 4.
9.As a child, I devoured books about medical stuff.
10. Until recently, books rarely made me cry.
11. I enjoyed the Twilight series once,but I will never read it again.
12. I tend to shy away from the books that are mostly romance. I need action in my books.
13. If a book has great characters, chances are super high that I'll love the book.
14. Pretty covers lure me in almost immediately.
15. I love the kick-ass female characters, The weak female characters drive me bananas.