On the Move

So you might have heard on Twitter or Facebook that I've been working on moving over to Wordpress! I am still tweaking a few little things, and I am sure I will be for a while because I'm a perfectionist like that. But for the most part it's all ready for you guys to move on over! Check it out here! I've managed to move some followers over and am trying to move over more, I don't know if I can move all of you guys over, but my bloglovin' should move and RSS followers at the least. So make sure that you are still listed as a follower, and if not besure to re-follow! Sorry for any inconvenience! My relationship with technology is not the best ever, but I do try.

Love Stacks is Back!

Love Stacks is back thanks to Suzanne and Liberty Bay Books supplying more ARCs for this super special giveaway!  (Thank you, thank you!) These stacks of books are my favorites from my latest haul that I want to share. These are ARCs and some have already been published, while others have not. These have all been read by at least myself, but they are all in good condition. Just  lightly loved. ;) This time it is not a flash giveaway, this time you have a full month to rack up the entries!

Here are the Rules:
-USA Residents ONLY, Sorry! (Shipping is pricey!)
-You ARE allowed to enter for both stacks or just one, but know that I will make sure different people win each stack. (You won't win both stacks. You can enter for both.)

Stack/Prize One "Stack of Adventures"

Includes:
-One ARC copy of Amity by Micol Ostow
-One ARC copy of Suspicion by Alexandra Monir
-One ARC copy of The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black (Yes you'll also get the little box it came in seen on the far right. ;) )

Stack/Prize Two "Guilty Pleasures" 

Includes:
-One ARC copy of They All Fall Down  by Roxanne St. Claire
-One ARC copy of Forevermore by Cindy Miles
-One ARC copy of Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin

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A small note about the names and the books, "Stack of Adventures" are not all adventure books. The books in the "Guilty Pleasures" stack are not by any means stunning literary works of art or anything, and some of them were kind of cheese balls or a bit stereotypical, but they are just so darn entertaining! They suck you in like soap operas, you just have to keep reading and its so delicious and entertaining!

Also, read the my reviews of Tabula Rasa, The Iron Trial, and Amity. Reviews for the rest will becoming soon. For They All Fall Down and Suspicion, the reviews will be up when it is closer to their expected publication date.

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The School Year is Coming! The School Year is Coming! (AKA brace yourselves for the impending doom)

Warning: this will contain a bunch of gifs and memes and such.

That llama is me when the mere thought of going back to school for even a day crosses my mind. I seriously think I may just spontaneously keel over dead if I have to endure three more years of not only high school, but going to high school at my school. Freshman year was the worst school year of my life. In all areas, social, academic, everything. I can't do another three years of that. So I am attempting to hold on to hope and remain optimistic that this year will be my year.  A fresh start and all that good stuff. Send me good vibes people, I'll need it.

(Big. BIG, shout out thank you to Skylar from Life of a Random for helping keep me optimistic and for the pending first day email for motivation and pep.) 

Here are some pictures that sum up my feelings about school:

That isn't a good feeling my friends. No one enjoys that feeling. At least in my opinion but that may be my introverted-ness and social awkwardness speaking. 

And this is so much worse:

To me that picture is less the night before and more when you have to try to wake up in the morning EARLY! 

Speaking of waking up early, I auditioned for our symphonic choir and I got in which I am eternally grateful for and excited about but here is the thing. I don't do mornings. I getting up at 9 is early for me, some mornings I get up at 12. Getting out of bed at 6 something in the morning to get to school by 7 something is a serious struggle especially when it is dark and cold out. Now to go to rehearsals for choir which are before school that STARTS, I emphasize STARTS (that means you are in the room and singing your heart out at this time) at 6:50am. That's right I have to wake up then at about six or just before. Not six something. Six. And getting up at six only gives me like a half an hour to get ready. That just doesn't happen. I don't primp or anything, but I wake up then lay around for half an hour or more before i can convince myself to get up. Needless to say, I am very glad that hoodie, jeans, and messy bun look has come back. 

Anyways, back to the real reason for this post. I wanted to let you guys know that from September 3rd on I will have FAR less time to read and to post so things will die down a lot. Sorry, I wish it didn't have to be so, but it is inevitable. Also, in light of the impending and complete monopolization of my time by school, I have decided to drop some features. Maybe temporarily, maybe permanently, I'm not sure yet. Right now the only one I'm dropping is Teaser Tuesday, but more may follow. Also, others may become every other week events or something. 

Thanks for understanding guys! And to all of you who are also starting school soon (high school or otherwise) or who have recently started, I wish you the best of luck, and the least of awkwardness. (or something like that)

Launching in 5...4...3...2...1...BLASTOFF!

I am so excited to FINALLY be able to kick off this event! I hinted that this was coming months ago but it took a lot longer than originally planned! I know that while not all of my followers are bloggers, a large majority are, so I wanted to do something for all of my blogger minions out there.

One of the most important things I've realized through my years of blogging is that no one knows what they are doing. We like to think we do. We like to think that there is this rule book that we all follow, and everyone knows everything just because they are bloggers, and that there is some magical source that tells us everything we need to know. Sadly that's just not how it goes. You learn how to do things, by doing them, and screwing (see what I did there? SCREWing...tools...yeah it was bad, sorry.) up a lot. Sometimes we learn things from other bloggers or by asking for help, but really, most things are different for everyone anyways, because everyone has just been doing there own thing. I used to be ashamed when I didn't know what things were like GFC or the Liebster and Sunshine awards. Now I realize that a lot of people don't until they ask and/or do a lot of digging and research. It's ok to not to know!  The only problem for me is that realizing this doesn't help because I don't like not knowing. I have to know!

So I created this event so that bloggers new and old can learn a little bit more about blogging and can know a little bit more, without having to figure it out the hard way. Tools of the Trade will be a week long event, with helpful post written by bloggers for bloggers (and any non-bloggers are always welcome too!), in an attempt to share the knowledge that we've gained. Each day there will be a different guest post--and one of the days I'll do a post too--that shares tips, tricks, how tos, ect. Enjoy and here is to a great and inspiring week!

P.S. A huge huge thank you to all of the guest bloggers who helped me make this happen! (I'll do an acknowledgements post later on but I want it to be a bit of a surprise who will be posting and when, so I haven't named names yet.)

I was nominated for the Liebster Award!

I'll try to keep this brief, because I want it to be more about the people I'm passing it on to than myself. Carly @ Books Etc. nominated me and I'd like to thank her for that and for supporting me and my writing. It means a lot!

Rules:

-Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.
-List 11 facts about yourself.
-Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you.
-Nominate 11 bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers.
-(You can't nominate the blogger who nominated you.)
-Ask them 11 questions.

-Let them know about the nomination.

Facts about me:

1. I can play, or have tried playing almost every instrument ever.
2.Variations of Folk, Rock, and Indie music is one of my favorite things ever. (Ingrid Michelson, Regina Spektor, Eric Hutchinson, City and Color, The Black Keys)
3. My guilty music pleasure is rap and I can totally hold my own with the best of them. (Don't worry I only rap Caucasianally *winks*)
4. I recently picked up painting. I've entered the magical world of acrylics.
5. I did Irish dance once upon a time and loved it dearly. (I currently miss it dearly)
6. I have two adorable dogs. Mario and Lucy. Lucy engjoys jumping off decks and nearly hanging herself in the process and Mario barks at anything that moves.
7. I'm turning fifteen in about a week!  ( I know I'm a little summer baby.)
8. I've been to Ireland and I miss it every day. (But seriously though...)
9. I'm cutting and dying part of my hair again tomorrow. I'm excited to have my purple back!
10. I'm in my schools auditioned choir. I made NK's Symphonic Choir! :D
11. I've never finished a piece of writing that wasn't a school assignment. Sad, I know.

Carly's Questions and My Answers: 

1. If you were in an apocalypse, which five characters from any books would you want to be there with you? 
Avery from Salt & Storm, Alyssa and Morpheus from Splintered because their powers would be really helpful. Ignifex from Cruel Beauty, just for funzies, and Katniss from The Hunger Games because who wouldn't want her survival know how at a time like that? 
2. What is your favorite book of all time and why?
Oh, no you're not making me choose. You wouldn't! That's just not nice! I can't do it! I am partial to To Kill a Mockingbird, but I'm partial to a lot of books. ;)
3. Do you listen to a music while you read? If so, what kind of music do you listen to?
I occasionally listen to music while reading, but usually just whatever is playing. I listen to music more while I'm writing. I like variations of Indie music, pop, rock, rap, and even some country, I listen to a crazy mix of everything really.
4. If you had a time machine, would you go to the past or to the future?
The past without a doubt. While I'm still young and naive, I am less so than I used to be and I think it would be good to go back and be able to re-live things I didn't value as much back then. Seeing the future would just freak me out too much and it would change how I make decisions and not necessarily in a good way.
5. What are some books you recommend?
Oh man there are so many! If your looking for horror Amity by Micol Ostow is definitely the way to go. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, Between the Devil and The Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Touchlke, Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper, All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry.
6. Who are some authors that influence your literary life (reading and writing)?
I don't really know because I don't have favorite authors. However I do find a lot of strength and inspiration from Neil Gaiman. Not from his books or anything, but if you look up his speeches, advice, quotes, ect. he has some really cool things to say about writing and being creative. Check it out.
7. Why did you start blogging?
Pfff, oh my it has been so long now, I'm not sure I really know because my reasons for blogging now aren't necessarily what they were then. I think I had some vague idea that it would be cool to share my passion with people but I don't think I really understood what it would be like or the scale, ect. I don't really know how to describe it and I know that answer sounded very standard and a little bit cliche, sorry, but it's the truth.
8. What is your favorite word?
Enamored. I don't really know why. I think I just like the way it feels when you say it and I think it is a classy way to express that feeling or whatever.
9. If you could only read five books for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Oh gosh. I don't really have favorite books or authors so I don't know! Um, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Salt and Storm by Kendall Kulper, Amity by Micol Ostow, The Bible (no judgment. I'm being serious. If I could only read five books I'd want to have the ability to read it. It's not like I'd spend my days reading it cover to cover.), and some collection of stories or mythology so that I'd get a bunch of stories all in one book.
10. If you could have any animal (fictional or otherwise) as a pet, what would it be?
A fox or a wolf. I've loved both for forever for some unknown reason.
11. What is your favorite soda? 
Dr. Pepper all the way man! <3 anything="" cherry...mmmm....="" or="" p="" with="">

My Questions for My Nominees:

1. What post are you most proud of? (Link us to it please!)
2. If you had to pick two fictional characters to be your parents and raise you from baby to adult who would you pick and why? (They don't have to be from the same books.)
3. If you had to take the place of your a character in a book, whose place would you take and why?
4. Everyone always asks about your favorite part of blogging, but let's be real, there have to be things that you don't like. What is your least favorite part or the part that is the most challenging?
5. What has been your favorite read this month? (Or pick a few if picking one is too hard.)
6. If you were to make a book cover that represented your life and personality what would it look like?
7. Of course you love books and blogging and all that good stuff but if you didn't spend time doing either one of those things, what would you spend all your free time doing?
8. What's your favorite and least favorite genre and why?
9. What makes you want to read a book (more than other books)?
10. How do you feel about book covers? Do you judge books based on them? Is it ok to? Ect.
11. If you were to pick an author to write a book based on you and your life, who would you want to write it?

My Nominees:
1. Catherine @ Stray Imaginations
2. Skylar @ Life of a Random
3. Emily @ Forever Literary 
4. Ella @ Once Upon a Bookish Time
5. Aneta @ The Graffiti On The Wall 
6. Tansie @ Totally Tansie 
(I'm only mentioning six but there are SO many others who deserve it so pass it on!)

Thanks again Carly and thanks to the rest of my followers!

More and More Announcements!

I know, I know announcements, announcements everywhere! At least they are all interesting ( I hope. They are for me anyways.)! This one is about the Sunday Swoons feature! I am a spontaneous person, so I spontaneously decided to ask Skylar Finn over at Life of a Random  to co-host it with me! I was getting a bit overwhelmed and I just love her to pieces so I thought it'd be a great excuse to work with her and talk to her more. Luckily for me, she said yes and we have jumped right in, brainstorming future topics, ways to make the feature better and easier for you guys to participate in, look cooler, ect.

Skylar, being the awesomely talented woman that she is, stepped in and redesigned the button/image for the feature! So here is the new picture to go with Sunday Swoons!

Source: Skylar Finn @ Life of A Random

Also, here are the rules we created for the feature, to make it clear what you do to join in and easy to get the swoon party started on your own blog!

1. You're welcome to use the button Skylar designed as long as you cite her as the source/give her all the loving credit she deserves! 

2. You can post in whatever style you would like: list, discussion, etc. as long as what you are talking about goes with the topic for the week.

3. You either must follow the topic given OR you can do a post on the opposite of the topic we give. (Example: Our topic-- Top 5 Favorite Couples, Your topic-- Top 5 Least Favorite Couples.)

4. Your posts don't have to have anything to do with books you are reading right now. If you reference specific books, they can be past or older reads. (It's nice if you put in the Goodreads link to the book, or another site that will take readers to the book's synopsis, cover, and other information.)

5. Please remember to link back to us in your post, giving us credit for the feature! Also, you can add your link to the link-up tool at either of our posts ( it may only work on mine the first time because we are still working that part out.). 

You have one heck of a fabulous Sunday Swoons post to look forward to this Sunday! And many more great ones will come after I'm sure! 

Surprise, Surprise...

I'm back from the dead! Sort of...I'm still living it up without internet (I snuck away today for this post), so there has been a lack of promised posting and there will continue to be a lack for a tad bit longer. Sorry! At least I'm reading things so I can review them when I get back!

Today I promised a surprise, so a surprise you shall have! By now most of you know all about my partnership with my local book store Liberty Bay Books.  I partnered up with them a year ago today! That's right it has officially been a year since I talked to the owner, Suzanne and she let me pillage their boxes of ARCs, in exchange for an honest review of them with links to the store, and signed me up as an affiliate so that I get a little bit of proceeded each time one of you guys buys books from links to them on my blog. (I use the money to fund giveaways and other stuff. 100% of it goes back to you guys!) So yeah, I love Suzanne and Liberty Bay Books, and all of their employees, they are pretty awesome. Here is to another great year and many more to come!

I ran into Suzanne the other day and she had a great idea/offer for me. She wanted to have me host a giveaway of some of my favorite ARCs that I've borrowed from them for my US readers! (Sorry internationals, I will do one for you this year.) So here we are! I present to you the Love Stacks give away! This time there are two mini stacks that I'm giving away, but if it goes well this time, Suzanne wants me to do more of these giveaways! So the more of you that enter the greater the chance that there will be a whole lot more of these in the future!

P.S. These ARCs have been read, and may already be published, but they are in near perfect condition, no damage what so ever. My books are my babies, I take care of them, also I'm polite enough to only pass on things in the best quality.

THIS IS A FLASH GIVE AWAY! That means it won't stay open for long so enter as fast as you can!

Here are the Rules:

• USA Residents ONLY, Sorry! (Shipping is pricey!) 
• You ARE allowed to enter for both stacks or just one, but know that I will make sure different people win each stack. (You won't win both stacks. You can enter for both.)

Here are the Stacks:

Magic Stack (Love Stack One): 
-A gently read ARC copy of Salt & Storm by Kenall Kulper (also known as The Witch of Salt and Storm)
-One gently read ARC copy of Between The Spark and The Burn by April Genevieve Touchlke

Metaphysics and Other Dead Things Stack (Love Stack Two):
- One gingerly read ARC copy of The Bodies We Wear by Jeyn Roberts
-A well preserved ARC copy of The Dark Between by Sonia Gensler 



Good luck guys! Remember you don't have a ton of time to enter!

Thanks Liberty Bay Books and Suzanne for everything you've done in the past year and still continue to do! You are an amazing resource for our community and I would not be where I am today without you guys! My readers and I really appreciate all the fun things, like this giveaway that you guys have made happen!

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Stacking The Shelves and Other Lovely Things.

I am linking up with Tynga @ Tynga's Reviews again this week! Ok so if you've been following and reading my posts for the past couple weeks, you've probably noticed that I've accumulated a ton of books. I have so many books to read right now that the phrase "a ton of books" might even be literal, I haven't measured. I feel really awful about it. I can't really get excited again about several of them and it's really stressing me out having so many sitting there just staring at me, reminding me that I should be reading them, not doing other more productive and let's face it more fun things! Which of course makes me avoid them all like the plague, even thought I'm actually really excited to read some of them! So sorry guys, I'll try to do better. I'm putting myself on a book ban, and I'm trying to force myself through a book a day, whether I think it still sounds exciting or not. I pinkey promise a whole lot more reviews will be coming your way in a bit, but first I have to take a blogging break and actually, you know read the books. Shocking and horrifying I know, but I promise everything will turn out ok.

Ok, this might be confusing. It's ok. I just said I'm on a book ban right? And that I have like a billion things to read before I can do anything else? Well, I may have accidentally  acquired some more books this week. It wasn't really an accident, but kind of, it was just the timing really. I recently joined Net Galley! Shocking I know, and truth be told I feel rather guilty about it because I have such a great thing going with Liberty Bay Books, but I was on a trip and needed more reading material and I realized in a few years I'll be at college, not near Liberty Bay, and I won't be able to steal all their books anymore. So I decided I could start building up my profile and "street cred" (Yes I just said street cred. Shhh, this is a judgement free zone....) on Net Galley so that if ( more like when) I'm still blogging in college I have the reputation built on Net Galley and with publishers so that I can still receive ARCs, and don't have to work on building it up right away/then/in the future/ in college and adult life. So yeah. I went bonkers and requested a bunch figuring that I'd be declined for like 99% of them at first, and I did get declined on a few, but then I got accepted for like three! Which is very exciting, but all of the sudden I have three books to read that come out in the next month or less, that need to be read and reviewed, but I'm supposed to be on a book ban! So yeah, that happened.

Here is what I got from Net Galley and publishers:

Thanks Egmont USA for being the first publisher to accept me and send me an ARC! You guys are pretty cool....

Amity is as horrifying as it gets and in case you didn't know this about me, I eat horror for breakfast. As long as it's a book and not anything in life or on screen 'cause that is just scary and gross and super not ok. I've already read and reviewed it and it should come out some time in the next few weeks!

Thanks Entangled Publishing, LLC for the opportunity to try reading The Winter People. I'm sorry if my snark genius and passion was too much for you guys, I couldn't help it, there were too many feels, but I tried to be nice.

The cover and synopsis had me dying to get my hands on it. Also, the whole leaving gifts thing reminded me of the milk in Fablehaven and I totally loved that. My review of this is up on Goodreads and I'll be posting it here as well sometime in the next week, but it will probably be the same thing that's on Goodreads for the most part because I'm to lazy to write an entirely new one, also because I could and should be using that time for reading all my other stuff. Anyways, this one should be out around September 2nd.

Thanks Amazon Children's Publishing for the ARC! I don't really have anything brilliant or even just generic to say to you guys other than that yet...sorry?

I'm really excited about this one and I just started reading it so I'm excited to really dig into it. Also, I decided to try and pick up painting so I feel connected to it or something strange, cool, and philosophical like that. Yay for painting! I'm not really sure where this story is going to go or what things are going to get tied in, but I'm excited to find out. I feel the drama building already! This comes out September 12th-ish if I remember correctly. Goodreads!

--OH--

 I also just remembered that my mom bought me a book because she's awesome like that. I didn't forget she bought me it, I just forgot that was this week. Don't judge me I have a lot going on up there. 

That's right! SHE GOT ME UNHINGED! I picked it out,but she dished out the money for it so it was a team effort. Anyways, this was a gift as a "thanks for being an awesome Auntie and helping out with the kiddos this past week." So thanks Mom, I'm glad you see me for being as awesome as I really am. That's good. I think we'll continue getting along well if this continues, praise, book buying, realization of my true awesomeness, you're doing good! ;) I love you mommy! 

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OTHER LOVELY THINGS! Right, so I mentioned we were going to talk about other lovely things, here we go, topic one: I'M SO SORRY!

I'm so, so, sorry that I forgot to post a Figments Friday yesterday! It totally slipped my mind!

Also, I'm sorry about all the crazy formatting due to the construction that is lasting longer than I anticipated. 

Topic two: promises! As I mentioned above I promise to post plenty more reviews this month. (Savor it because after that school hits and I have no time for reading, which makes me cry inside.) Also, I have a ton of exciting things coming up! Something exciting is starting on the 8th so get ready for that! (It's a very special day ;) ) I also have something special planned that will last a whole week! But as of now it is still top secret and I can't tell you guys more until it is closer to happening, but I promise it'll happen before the end of the month (at least that is the goal) and that you guy's will find it fun and helpful! 

Topic three: OPINIONS! I'm going to ask you guys for your opinions on a few things again.

 First off, what do you guys think of the new look? Good? Bad? Thumbs up or down? What should I change? (No formatting suggestions right now please, because I am working on fixing that stuff right now. I'm just asking about colors and aesthetics.) 

Secondly, do you guys like my discussion posts? Should I do more of them? Is there anything in particular you want me to discuss?

Thirdly, if you guys have topic recommendations or requests FOR ANY of my features let me know! I'd be excited to hear from you!

Fourthly, (that's a weird word fourthly...is that a word?) you may have noticed I've been playing around with how I format and write reviews. I'm going to link to a few of my different ways and I want you guys to tell me what you found easiest to read through and liked best. I like to use different formats for different books so I'm not promising that I'll use the most popular format 24/7 but it will help give me an idea of what's working. 

Option One: The List Method. Example seen in this review. 

Option Two: The Paragraph Topic Stated Before Paragraph Method. Ex. here.

Option Three: My Normal Bold Topic/Important Word Method. Ex. here.

Option Four: Good vs. Bad Method. Ex. here (similar but different from option one.)

You can vote below and comment too! Also, is there anything else you think I should address in my reviews? Typically I talk about the writing style and mechanics and voice, the characters, the character development, the plot, the general concept, and anything else that jumped out at me when I read it. 

Thanks guys!

What review format do you like most?
	Option One
	Option Two
	Option Three
	Option Four
pollcode.com free polls

Under Construction!

Just a heads up that Catherine and I will be tinkering with my blog trying to get things fixed, in order, and looking good. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and thanks for putting up with me! The changes should make the blog easier to use for you guys in the end and there won't be any major changes that will mess anything up for you guys like a change in URL. We should have things back in order by the end of today, but may end up playing with it some more another day, but it won't be under construction for a large or continuous amount of time.

I'm Back!

Well, I had a blast relaxing this past week, but I did miss you guys (just a little bit). I'm sorry if the posts were off, I was using my phone and the automatic posting and things got a little bit messed up and finicky sometimes. I know that it's been a long time since I've posted any reviews, mostly it's just been lots of features and link ups, and that probably isn't much fun to read, so sorry guys! The good news is I have a lot of new reviews planned, as well as some other non-review stuff, but I think it will all be fun! I'm really working on doing more reviews now. Thanks for sticking with me and putting up with me guys! I really appreciate it and I love y'all!

Writer's Block, Procrastination, and Help

I love writing, don't get me wrong, but really let's face it writing can be really hard when you don't have any ideas that make you want to run off into the distance screaming to the world about it. Even then sometimes it's difficult. I'm doing a writer's group workshop thing and now I have to actually write and share stuff. That kind of freaks me out. I'm not really a share-y because when I do get excited enough to write something by the time I read it back I feel more like this:

And I realize the entire thing was crap and laugh loudly at myself and my own writing. So naturally I'm not eager to share it and have it laughed at by people other than myself, but I feel like it will be good for me and I can learn a lot. The only problem is I haven't written in forever and I have no idea what to write about. I have writer's block. 

I'm supposed to write a dialog that reveals things about the character and shows their personality and have at least a scene of something done. But...

So I want all of you guys to comment below with a few random words and see if any of those words strike me like a bolt of inspiration.

Sadly I have procrastinated greatly, as usual, so this might not be helpful until two weeks from now, but we'll see.

Additionally, on an entirely different note, what would you guys want to learn from other bloggers? What topics would you want to get tips on or what would you like to learn how to do?

Please and thank you guys!

Introducing Sunday Swoons!

It's time to introduce one of those new features I mentioned in my last post! I'm SO excited about this one! I wanted it to be Swoon Worthy Sunday, but alas another blog had a similar feature by that title, so Catherine helped me come up with something different (yes, I can see it is almost exactly the same, just shhh.). I'm not into chickflicks and mushy rom-coms ect. yet I'm still a bit of a romantic at heart and I love the perfect romantic relationship thrown into an adventurous YA book, and I love those totally swoon worthy scenes or characters. So Sunday Swoons was born! Here is how it works, every Sunday I will discuss, list, rave about, fangirl about, quote, or mention something totally swoon worthy that I've read! Feel free to join in but please link back and mention me, thanks you guys! You can link up below!

Today's Swoon Topic is: 5 of My All Time Favorite/Most Swoon Worthy YA Relationships!

(These are not in any particular order)

A. Judith and Luke in All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry

“If I thought I could never love you more, I didn't understand you well enough.” 

B. Jax and Sasha in The Mephisto Covenant: The Redemption of Ajax by Trinity Faegen

"They stood together, arms wrapped tight, listening to the wind through the pines while snow fell softly all around. This was one of those moments in life she knew she’d never forget.

He moved his head so that his lips were close to her ear. “Run, Sasha. If you can do it, run like hell and don’t look back.”

Her breath came in short little gasps. “I don’t want to run.” 

C. Cara and Aelyx in Alienated by Melissa Landers 

" "Love's not easy for anyone! Why do you think the divorce rate's so high?"

"Love?" Turning to her dresser he idly lifted the tiny porcelain pig Tori had brought back from her last trip to Peru, flashing a sideways glance and a grin that made her belly quiver. "Are you in love?" "

D. Kai and Anna in The Sweet Trilogy by Wendy Higgins

"Those two need each other like a bullet needs a target” 

E. Both Jeb and Alyssa and Alyssa and Morpheus in Splintered by A.G. Howard 

“I was afraid of..."

"Go on..." I press.
"Of unloading my baggage on someone as sweet as you."
I can't keep the smile off my lips. "Oh, wow."
"What?"
"I guess we're both oblivious. That's the same reason I kept running from my feelings for you."
"Because I'm sweet?" That dimpled, boyish grin flashed over his face.” 
---

“I hate you."
"Only because of the way I make you feel."
My fingernails eat into my palms. "Only because you bring out the worst in me."
"Oh no, luv. I bring out the life in you.” 

Father's Day and Home Improvements

Happy Father's day to all you father's out there! I'm going to take a moment today to thank my dad and put a bit of a spotlight on him.

Here is the thing about my dad, my dad doesn't really enjoy reading for fun. So I'm sure he was terrified when he figured out that there is pretty much nothing I love more than reading for fun (and in general). I mean really how do you relate to someone so different? What if that's all I wanted/want to do or talk about? He's a really great dad, yeah we definitely have our differences, but he does a really great job putting up with me.

I forced him to read books with me when I was little, we never finished them and he'd always make me read to the both of us before bed when I asked him to read because he was "too tired." I'll never stop giving him grief about that and reading in general.

He also puts up with all my crazy spur of the moment bookish demands. Like putting up these:

Not only did he put them up for me but he cut them to fit my books! Isn't he sweet?

Some of you remember this post, about building a toy box type thing and fill it with books for my nephews and nieces. My dad went right along with it and has been helping me build it.

So yeah, as you can see, my dad is pretty darn awesomesauce.

Happy Father's day Dad!

Anyways! I also wanted to share with you guys my new book set up in my room...

Isn't that the most beautiful corner ever seen? (It's ok if it's not. I won't be offended, but I mean come on, admit it, it's pretty darn stunning.) And, now here's a closer look at the that shelf... (because I can. I'm not forcing you to look at it. You can scroll past it. I'll forgive you.)

I promise I'm not totally self and book centered! I am very appreciative of you guys and I love each and every one of you! I promise I'm not stalking you guys, but I do have a map with pins for every country I have readers in and it sit's proudly on my wall! 

I promise there are pins in British Colombia, UK, USA, Russia and China but they are hard to see. 

That's all for now! I should start posting more now that I have all this time on my hands (sort of), and I hope to introduce some new features relatively soon so keep checking back!

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!

Whoo! School's out and it's officially summer time (for me anyways)! Today was my last day and it was a half day, so yay! Let's make it rain with all those useless paper's we've acquired and relish the feeling of trashing all that crap we don't need to save anymore (and probably never needed to save before either)! Happy summer guys! Thanks for entering the Countdown to Summer Giveaway, now the time has come to reveal the winners!

The winner of The Death Defying prize pack is...
Rachel!

The winner of The Summer Love prize pack is...

Amanda B! (Sorry for the confusion I got a bit confused when posting!)

Also, congrats to Karin on winning the Supernatural Summer prize pack!

I will e-mail winners and if I don't hear back by Monday I'll pick new winners! Thanks everyone and have an awesomesauce summer (or whatever season is happening where you are)!

A Welcome Back Hurah and Miscellaneous-ness

Ah it's good to be back, and it is hard to believe that I've been away for this long and survived with out you guys for that amount of time! Catherine did a fabulous job running things and I hope y'all enjoyed her posts as much as I did. I hope to get one or two reviews up relatively soon and have some ideas of other new things I look forward to trying out on you guys/ with you guys.

One side note of randomness I'd like to address right now: I would like your feedback. I want to know how you guys feel about my posts and features and such and tell me what you like and what you think I could improve on. Cait from the Notebook Sisters sometimes mentions what things she doesn't like seeing in other bloggers posts and I often agree with her, but I also recognize that I could very well be doing those things without knowing, because often we are blind to flaws in our own work. So, feel free to help me out by giving me feedback, whether it is in the comments below this post, or on another post, or by emailing me. Not just today but anytime you have anything to tell me whether it is feedback, recommendations, just want to chit chat about books, have questions, or anything else, feel free to contact me. I love hearing from you guys and making my blog better in any way I can.

Secondly, I have been thinking of doing a new feature to share my writing with you guys. If you didn't already know, I love writing. I don't just read I write. I haven't had much time for it lately, but I still love it dearly. I am also highly ambitious. I am so ambitious that it is almost more of a fault than a strength. So, when I saw one of Catherine's posts encouraging people to add on to her story with their own writing in the comments, and naturally I took the idea and ran with it and thought, hey, why not try writing an entire book that way? You guys would add on and the plot would happen as we went along and then Catherine and I could edit it. I think it would be really cool maybe someday it'd get published if it worked. Everyone would get credit and it would be a cool project and experiment. I will post the starting piece if you guy's would like to try it. I will try to make it generic enough that it can be added on to freely without forcing the plot or anything in any particular direction for at least the first part. People would be able to add however much or little they'd like. What do you guys think? Should we try it?

Also, as a reminder, or a notification if you haven't heard, I am still open to recommendations to add to the book chest for my nephews and nieces, and thank you for the recommendations you guys have mad. It you haven't seen the post addressing this, here is what's happening. I am planning on making a chest for my nieces and nephews and filling it with books that were or are very important, inspirational, exceptional, ect. to me, that I would like to pass down to them. If you have any more recommendations for books to add to the chest. Thanks again for all your recommendations!

I don't think there is anything else, but then again, by now I might have forgotten. So, that's all for now folks.

Takeover Day 4: I regret to inform you...

... that my plan didn't work out so well. As we speak, Briana's troops are storming the castle walls, stealing the things I stole from her, and murdering innocent people (because they're just mean like that.) My chocolate-induced road trip did slow her down-- I also employed the help of a man in a Mickey Mouse costume. You're welcome-- but alas, she's back. You're sad aren't you?

I would be. I was amazing leader.

BUT! Because I care about you (read: am disappointed in your lack of participation,) I will try my best to keep maintaining my letters and the features incorporated through a network of secret spies and trained mice. Comment! Participate! Have fun! (Or else)

With that, I must leave you. There are soldiers coming up the hallway. They sound angry. Briana must have brainwashed them into hating me. I'm too lovable to hate out of free will.

Hopefully, I will one day return and conquer the Reader, Writer, Critic kingdom again. But until then, Briana's back. The party's over. (I grant you permission to cry.)

Goodbye,

(If you're just tuning in, I'm Catherine of Stray Imaginations, and I WAS your supreme ruler for the week. I commandeered Briana's blog after sending her on a drugged chocolate-induced bus ride, which you can read about here. Also, be sure to check out the collaborative story game. It was a Briana-free jamboree, but then it ended. Don't party on, peasants.)

Attention: Reader, Writer, Critic Has Been Commandeered

It is my pleasure to inform you, dear followers, that after a long and arduous power struggle, this blog and its peasant population have been seized by none other than me, Catherine of Stray Imaginations, ruler of all humanity (a humanity which currently consists of two blogs, a thirty-five pound dog, and an arguably demonic younger brother, but that's irrelevant.)

You, being the curious followers that you are (we’ll fix that shortly) are probably wondering what this little hiccup means for you. Now that your old master has been forcibly shipped out of state for a week by means of drug-laced chocolate and the emotional influence of Disney Princess movies, things will be different. Much different.

(And to think I wasn’t even her first choice at opponent. Pssh. She underestimated my power.)

Don’t worry. Briana will be back in due time, and she will once again fight for control over you. She’ll probably lose, for I am the better chocolate confectioner, but I’ll grant you your false hope. What’s the worst you can do? Start a rebellion? (I know how the Hunger Games went down. I know what mistakes not to make.)

And by all this evil chatter of course I really mean we’re all going to have a giant party. A Briana-free, book-loving jamboree. That’s right. The parents are out of town and now you all get to party with the older sister! (In that metaphor, I’m the amazingly cool older sister, and Briana is the stuck-up parents. TAKE THAT, Briana.) I won’t rest until every one of my loyal peasants is partying their hearts out.

See? I’m a nice dictator. None of that arena-killing garbage.

(Let it also be noted that I did nothing incriminating to sway the other candidate’s choice. The good-luck gift I sent was not full of drugged chocolate. Trust me, not the lab test. Those can be faulty. I, on the other hand, have the honesty of a Candor.)

What can you look forward to this week? Games, quizzes, fun features, and so much awesomeness your head just might explode.

With that said, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Yours Truly,