Affiliate News! (3) & My Art

I bought a few books this week, but I'll be saving those for next week's In My Mailbox. Instead, it's time for the supposedly extinct affiliate news!

La Femme Readers

Eleni always picks the best for her Up & Coming YA Releases, and gave a 5-star review to Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia (I'm far from impressed right now, but that's a matter for another day...). She also has two awesome contests going on right now for I Pronounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan (int') and a whole stack of books for her spring cleaning (US and Canada only).

Teens Read and Write

Alyssa gave a glowing review to The Devouring by Simon Holt and Gregory complimented The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade as "a fast-paced adventure with snapppy writing and an intriguing plot that had me from page one." They're also five follwers away from 1000, so... *hint hint*

Pirate Penguin's Reads

Sandy reviewed Winter Longing by Tricia Mills and gave it 4.5 stars. The book doesn't come out until August, so I'm glad I've been anticipating something good! Also, on her Waiting on Wednesday post, she said something about showing readers her drawings... go tell her she should. ;)

Delightful Reviews

M.I.A. :(

YA Book Queen

Lea just got back from hiatus, yay! She has a fairly new, very spiffy background and posted a review of The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks, giving it 4.5 stars.

In Which a Girl

Meg posted an awesome discussion titled "Strange Things About High School in YA" and I couldn't agree more (doesn't she always post the best discussions?! haha.). She also just reviewed The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and gave it a 9/10 = definitely one to check out.

Bookworming in the 21st Century

Kristen gave 5 stars to two books this week - wow! The first is Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson and the second is The Beautiful Between by Alyssa B. Sheinmel (a bit of a disappointment for me, but, again, a topic for another day). IMPORTANT: Kristen's first blogoversary is coming up in less than month! She wants to make it awesome, so if you'd like to GUEST POST or contribute in any way (ie. donate a prize, give advice), please email her ASAP at dragonzgoil(at)gmail(dot)com.

Sandy's mention of drawing reminded me of that one drawing I posted long, long ago... I haven't drawn in months and I just started drawing again a couple days ago, so I thought I might as well share a pencil drawing I did yesterday. (Haha, sorry, I'm still a bit rusty!) Would you be interested in seeing more of my art? If you say no, I won't get offended; this is a book blog after all. This picture does prove that I really am an occasional artist though, right? :)

Affiliate News! (2)

Before I get started, I just want to say that I'm leaving tomorrow for Disney World! (Haha, I'm such a dork.) I'll be back next Saturday, but until then, I'm really not sure how much internet connection I'll have if I have any at all. I do have a couple posts scheduled though, and I swear I'll get back onto commenting soon; this week has been crazy. It's spring break for me, so for the others of you that have this week off as well, enjoy! :D

Le Femme Readers

Whew, Eleni wrote a ton of reviews this week! To mention a few, she reviewed Hard to Get by Emma Carlson, The Circle of Friends: Book V: Heather by L. Diane Wolfe, and Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins. Eleni also posted about upcoming YA reads, so if you're a bit behind on new books, it's a great reference - especially because they have beautiful covers. (I'm shallow, I know.)

Bookworming in the 21st Century

Kristen reviewed Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce this week - and gave it 5 stars! This book is definitely one I've been looking forward to and is a supposedly unique spin on the classical tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Kristen also recommended the book Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books by Francesca Lia Block, a book that I've never heard of but one that apprantly addresses many various issues from AIDS to homosexuality.

Teens Read and Write

I'm feeling a bit biased for picking Alyssa's posts, but she has a very short and cute post semi-obsessing over Fenn from Darklight by Lesley Livingston. I have yet to read the book, but I'm sure you all know how much I love my guys, right? She also wrote a thorough review of Freaksville by Kitty Keswick, with scans from the book to match.

YA Book Queen

Lea wrote a review of Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson, another book that has a very pretty cover and interesting in that the perspective is from a teen female werewolf. She also wrote a review of Fallen by Lauren Kate; I always love reading reviews of Fallen because it recieves so many mixed ratings, and Lea gave it a 3.5 rating.

In Which a Girl Reads

Meg wrote some awesome-amazing rants/discussion posts this week (don't listen to her putting herself down!), and you can check them out here: continuing a blog revolution and follow up: why ya romance needs to change. She also has a meme called Captivating Thursday, where she spotlights pictures, quotes, videos and the like, and I definitely recommend checking it out. Meg's latest Captivating Thurday can be found here.

Delightful Reviews

Lucy didn't post much this week (like me), but she did have a short, concise review of O' Juliet by Robin Maxwell. She also has a new, very fresh and spring-y layout that's A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E! :)

Pirate Penguin Reads

Sandy wrote a great review on Whisper by Phoebe Kitandis, another book with an intriguing premise that I'm looking forward too (are we seeing a trend here?). She gave it 4 stars, and actually praised the fact that the whole family was alive, lol! Sandy's also hosting a contest for a copy of Shadows of Myth and Legend by E.J. Stevens or swag, so go enter before April 11th for your chance to win.


And that's it for now! I'll talk to you guys in a week, provided that I don't get squashed by Pooh bear. I'll try to bring back some pictures to share, if anyone's interested. (I know, who would be interested in my life, right?) Happy last week of March and, if you're like me, spring break!

Sidenote: Pertaining to emails, if you email me this week, or technically next week, and I don't respond, please feel free to email me again. It's not because I intend to ignore you, I promise!

Contests Alert + Numbers Winners!

First off, I want to annouce the winners for the Numbers by Rachel Ward contest. Regardless of whether you won, thank you to everyone who entered! :)

The winners are:


Jennifer M.,  Andrea O., and  Mandy K.

Congrats! I'll be emailing you soon to inform you, but I already have your mailing addresses, so no need to reply. As for everyone else that entered, you can still check out my 500 followers contest or the awesome contests my affiliate and blogger buddy, Lea, is hosting over on her blog that I'm posting about below.

300 Followers Contest - chance to win Before I Fall, The Sky is Everywhere, The Line, and more!

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready (ARC) - this book doesn't come out until May, so go enter while you can!

Affiliate News! (1)

credits to treehugger.com 

Whew, the fever sort of let up... but not really, and I've felt woozy all week. Ugh. Thank you for all your well wishes though, they really mean a lot to me! But that doesn't change the fact that I'm horrendously behind, sorry (especially with mailing out prizes!). I'll catch up soon and post an interview with Kimberly Derting, the awesome author behind The Body Finder, next week though it was actually scheduled for this Tuesday. I haven't been around much on anything internet-related this past week, so feel free to shoot me another email if I haven't responded to your first one. YES, I WILL GET BACK ON THE BLOGGING TRAIN.

As for affiliates, I've finally gotten around to announcing the happenings of my new affiliates! (Am I slow or what?) They're all amazing blogs with great bloggers, so I'd definitely recommend checking each and every one of them out. You can also drool at their buttons in my affiliates section on the left sidebar. ;D

YA Book Queen

This week, Lea reviewed The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson and Tagged by Mara Purnhagen. They're both books I've been looking forward to, especially Tagged for it's graffiti-centric premise, and Lea gave them 4.5-stars and 4-stars respectively - good books alert?

Pirate Penguin Reads

Sandy posted a frank and humorous review of The Naughty List by Suzanne Young. She gave it 4 stars, and I completely agree with everything she said. Wondering about The Naughty List? I'd definitely check out Sandy's review.

In Which a Girl Reads

Wow, Meg/Choco had a lot going on this week. She's created a new meme, Captivating Thursday, which showcases simply beauty, whether it be in pictures, music, etc. Meg chose beautiful pictures and quotes, and you can always see if you'd like to join in yourself. She also posted a review of the movie Alice in Wonderland a while ago, but I felt like I had to mention it because I'm dying to see the movie. *o*

La Femme Readers

AMAZING CONTEST ALERT: Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey. And it's international - what more could a bookworm ask for?! Enter, enter, enter. Love this girl, and her too-awesome-for-words contests. Haven't followed yet? Start!

Teens Read and Write

The trio just reviewed Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser and Violet Wings by Victoria Hanley, two books that are completely different from each other; the first is the run-of-the-mill serial killer while the second is geared more towards younger teens. Both books were reported as good though, so read the reviews and see if they're right for you.

Delightful Reviews

Sort of last week, but Lucy had a Saturday Shin-dig, a cute meme for other bloggers, with Jessica's Vision. She also did a mini-review of Bones of Faerie by Janni Simner, which I was surprised that it only recieved a 2.7-stars rating but, then again, I've never read it. It's short and to the point, and it's always nice to hear things from the other side.

And I think that's it! If you're my affiliate, and I forgot about you... I'm so sorry! That's what comes out of not putting up affiliate news for a couple weeks. If that happens to be the case, just comment or email me, and I'll be sure to put up your button ASAP and add you to this week's affiliate news. It's not because you're not important, but because of my silly, fickle memory. I think I'll stop rambling now so you can stop reading my blog, and go on to visit all these fabulous others. :D
And I just want to say an additional thank-you to everyone who has still been dropping by my blog and supporting me. You guys are the best. ♥

Starring Affiliates! + Blog Roll?

You might've already noticed my new "starring affiliates" section on the left sidebar, but I'm going to officially announce them now and feature some of their posts this week. As of now, I'm still debating whether I want to do a seperate post for affiliate news or incorporate that into my In My Mailbox post, though more news on that as next weekend approaches. If you'd like to be affiliates, just tell me in a comment. I like to think of affiliates as not just plain promotion but a support community, so I can't say I'll definitely become affiliates with you but it doesn't hurt to ask! :)

Alyssa, Jake, and Gregory at Teens Read and Write

If you haven't heard of their blog yet, you're seriously missing out. There's the saying more the merrier, and they definitely prove that with their unique three teaser tuesdays and different perspectives in reviews.

Right now, they're hosting The Megabook Giveaway: The Sequel, so head on over and check it out. The more followers, the more books, and they're now up to 14 winners - wow!

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Sandy at Pirate Penguin Reads

I absolutely love Pirate Penguin Reads for Sandy's fun interviews and honest, personality-enfused reviews.

Sandy recently had an interview with A Match Made in High School's author Kristin Walker, and she gave it a glowing 5-star review. She's also in the process of translating her review into Spanish for international readers, which I think is an awesome idea! You can see Sandy's translation of the summary of this book here. (If only I didn't already suck at English and totally fail at Chinese and Spanish...)

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Lucy at Delightful Reviews

Last but not least, Lucy. Lucy just started her blog in December, but she's already got 100+ followers and such an adorable blog. She's super nice and just as sweet as her layout!

She has a cool feature that spotlights other blogs, and you can find out more info here. You basically just have to answer six questions, and can I add that the button is c-u-t-e?!

Lucy also recently did a post about becoming affiliates herself, and if you're interested, head on over here and comment.

Whew, that was a lot to post about. Anyways, I'm super excited to be affiliates with all these awesome blogs, and I'm excited to see where this will go from here! I highly recommend checking out all of these YA book blogs, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Second order of business, I was thinking of taking down my buttons on my right sidebar and making a blog roll instead, something along the lines of Kate's blog roll at The Neverending Shelf. That way, more blogs will have exposure while saving you some load time for all the javascript. Any thoughts on this? If I do decide to do a blog roll, I'll put up a post later next week asking bloggers who are interested in being on the blog roll to comment.

AND lastly, I'll be posting my review of The Iron King by Julie Kagawa next week, sorry!

Leaving Addresses? + Affiliate News

Quick post to cover two things that I really need to cover. First off, I'm going to be doing another contest on Wednesday for Light Beneath Ferns by Anne Spollen, and I was wondering what do you think of leaving your mailing address when you enter? It'd be a lot more convenient for me, but if a majority of potential entrants (aka possibly you) don't feel secure leaving your mailing address, I can just make do with the traditional leave your email address and I'll email you if you win.

Next, you might have noticed a new "Starring Affiliates" on my left sidebar. Eleni from La Femme Readers introduced the affiliate concept to me, and it sounds awesome! She asked me to tell you guys about some fabulous contests that she has going on right now, and I definitely recommend checking them out.

Contest for Darklight by Lesley Livingston -- I haven't read this book myself, but it's near the top of my wishlist! Ends February 10th, and open to US and Canada.

Win your book of choice from 2010! There are so many awesome books that have already come out this year, and so many more that are still coming. Ends February 15th, and open to US only.

 

And last but not least, an awesome contest for Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves -- Another one on my wishlist. Eleni accidently ordered two (I've done that before two, haha), and she's give one copy away. Ends February 20th, and open to US and Canada.

Contests aside, Eleni has cool interviews and such, and she just passed 700 followers so go over and say congrats (if you'd like)! She also has an interesting Monday's Question of the Day that I spotlight everytime during my Weekly Debate; you can check out today's question here.

To sum it all up, I'm estatic to have Eleni as my first affiliate, and you should check her out! And as a side note, we're going through snowstorm after snowstorm here here in the Northeast, so if I'm not seen commenting or posting, you'll know what happened. I'm not dead, only my internet is. P: