Blkosiner's Book Blog: Loving the Reviews Challenge Introductory Post

Blkosiner's Book Blog: Loving the Reviews Challenge Introductory Post

Coming in February, Sniffly Kitty's Mostly Books and Brandi at Blkosiner's Book Blog will be hosting "Loving the Reviews Challenge". They invite you to join them- the concept is simple- you link up your reviews for the month of February, and they will pick winners.

-To participate per Brandi this is what you do:

Please make an introductory post using the banner- grab it below. Feel free to list books you intend to review, authors you are looking forward to hearing from, etc. Also, feel free to link on your sidebar, tweet, facebook, and tell your mom!
-If you do not have a blog, never fear. You can post your reviews on Goodreads, just make sure to link back here or to Sniffly Kitty's post. We will need a direct link (if you need help with that, let me know)
-On Feb 1st, we will post the full schedule, and the place where you will link your reviews. It will be the same on Sniffly Kitty and my blogs so you only enter your review once.
-This is open internationally. We will update the prize list above as we hear if it will be international or not. Just because it isn't today, doesn't mean it won't be tomorrow :)

LINK WITH FULL DETAILS AND ENTRY FORM

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I am Guest Posting today at Amy's.....

I invite everyone to come swing by Amy's today for my guest post on her blog "A Simple Love Of Reading", you might like it as it showcases what a Texas Housewife does for entertainment...Not sure what time it is scheduled to air as Amy is in Canada but everyone is welcome and appreciated if you have the time to check it out!

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Books for Company: Melanie Rose Interview + Giveaway

Giveaway details posted by Jodie on 1/10/2011:

Jodie is giving away Melanie Rose's personal favourite book (of hers) called 'Coming Home'.
-If you are tweeting please copy and tweet this - 
' International giveaway! @booksforcompany - http://tinyurl.com/5uvwwbj '

Rules

Only one entry per a person.

You must be a follower to enter

This is international as long as the Book Despository delivers to your country.

This giveaway will end on 7th February*

*Could change, sooner or later.

Click below link for entry post and form to enter on:

Books for Company: Melanie Rose Interview + Giveaway

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Cover Crazy: New Meme created and hosted by The Book Worms....

Since I know everyone has some "crushed" on at least one cover it just seemed like a really neat idea that Tawni had to start a MEME that allowed us all to share what cover made us "crazy"!

First posted back in November on The Book Worms here are details Tawni came up with:

The Basics:

• I will post mine weekly and usually on Mondays, but you can post it on any day and whenever it is possible for you.
• The point of this meme is to admire the art and beauty of a book’s design, so I’m going to post minimal words. It is up to you to write how you feel and what you like about it the way you’d like to.
• If you decide to join Cover Crazy, please leave your direct link so others and myself can see what cover you’re crazy about
• Link below takes you to intial post:

Cover Crazy: Future Imperfect (My New Meme) | The Book Worms

Link below can be used on Monday to enter the MEME Linky:

The Book Worms Blog Link

I think I found the place to link up and share my love of certain covers! What about you, going to join in with Tawni and show some cover love?Tweet

Beck's Book Picks has come up with something wonderful and had to share!

Something I love to do is "Pass It Forward" but in the past that has meant either taking my books and trading them in at the used book store or nowadays putting them on Paperback Swap and getting one book for each book I trade... Nice way to get older series and Trade Paperback books for the cost of postage....

However read what Beck posted and maybe join in:

Its time for the first Pass It Forward! This is a giveaway! There will be a linky below for you to add your  book giveaway to the Pass It Forward Hop. Here are the few rules to it.

• Add a book to the hop if you would like and or just enter. Be sure to add the Pass It Forward button to your post. (On right side bar. I could not get it to work in the post for some reason, I apologize.)
• Write your blog address in the book so as the book gets passed a long, so does your blog.
• It doesn't have to be the next month, but hopefully after reading the book, you will enter it into another months Pass It Forward.
• Please have your contest run for a week. You can choose to have it run longer if you decide to.
• Its your choice if you want to have a comment giveaway or use google docs. 
• Be sure to check back here to periodically to see any new books listed. You can enter them all month if you choose to do so.
• Please write a short review to the book or point them in the direction of a review you may have posted earlier.
• Have fun!

Below is the link to get more details and join the Pass It Forward MEME:

Beck's Book Picks: Pass It Forward (1) (Giveaway)

I am probably going to participate in a couple of months, how about you, think this is a good idea?

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WWW and Waiting On Wednesday (January 26th )

HOSTED BY MIZ B  who has given us a fun new way to play!

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions, go back to her blog post and leave your link to your post once it is live!

* What are you currently reading?

* What did you recently finish reading?

* What do you think you’ll read next?

CURRENTLY READING:

DEMONKEEPERS-FINAL PROPHECY BK 4 BY JESSICA ANDERSEN

BLOOD SPELLS-FINAL PROPHECY BK 5 BY JESSICA ANDERSEN

VEIL OF SHADOWS-LIGHTWORLD/DARKWORLD BK #3 BY JENNIFER ARMINTROUT
RECENTLY FINISHED READING:

(since last post of 12/29/2010)

CHEAT THE GRAVE-ZODAIC BK 5 BY VICKI PETTERSSON

WINTER KISS-DRAGONFIRE BK 4 BY DEBORAH COOKE
WHISPER KISS-DRAGONFIRE BK 5 BY DEBORAH COOKE
FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON-NIGHT HUNTRESS WORLD 1 BY JEANIENE FROST
ETERNAL KISS OF DARKNESS-NIGHT HUNTRESS WORLD 2 BY JEANIENE FROST
NIGHT MYST-INDIGO COURT BK 1 BY YASMINE GALENORN
WILD WICKED WANTON-EROTIC ANTHOLOGY BY JACI BURTON
PLEASURE OF A DARK PRINCE-IAD BK 9 BY KRESLEY COLE
DEMON FROM THE DARK-IAD BK 10 BY KRESLEY COLE
DEEP KISS OF WINTER ANTHOLOGY BY KRESLEY COLE/GENA SHOWALTER
MY IMMORTAL-7 DEADLY SINS BK 1 BY ERIN MCCARTHY
BULLET-ANITA BLAKE VH BK 19 BY LAURELL K HAMILTON
TYGER TYGER-GOBLIN WARS BK 1 BY KERSTEN HAMILTON
HARVEST HUNTING-SISTERS OF THE MOON 8 BY YASMINE GALENORN
MAGICS DESIGN-MAGIC SERIES 1 BY CAT ADAMS
MY ZOMBIE VALENTINE ANTHOLOGY
LET ME IN BY DONNA KAUFFMAN
SILVER BORNE-MERCEDES THOMPSON #5 BY PATRICIA BRIGGS

QUEENE OF LIGHT-LIGHTWORLD/DARKWORLD #1 BY JENNIFER ARMINTROUT

CHILD OF DARKNESS-LIGHTWORLD/DARKWORLD #2 BY JENNIFER ARMINTROUT

HOPE TO READ NEXT:

Not sure at this point....

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

THE IRON THORN-IRON CODEX SERIES BK 1 BY CAITLIN KITTREDGE

512 page HB edition published 2/22/2011

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day.
     Aoife Grayson's family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.

Dark and sinister looking cover in this first book of the series and the book blurb reminds me of the movie 

DARK CITY (1998) which lived up to it's name! Plus I love the fact that one of my favorite newer authors Caitlin Kittredge is branching out into YA...

                               

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link at Jill's  in the comments section.

What are you waiting on this week?

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QUEENE OF LIGHT-LIGHTWORLD/DARKWORLD #1

Update on Surgical Consult....

The last 3D chart above is my vision right now, blurry and out of focus on the right eye and so far my left eye is still able to see about 20/40 or line #5 on the chart...The end result of speaking with the Surgeon who is to remove my cataracts is that we will do the right eye first and a week later do the left... The lenses will be different in each eye with the result that they will both be multi-focal but the right eye will have the lens that allows my distance and mid-range vision at it's best and the near vision stops at about the distance you normally hold a paperback book before it becomes blurry...The left eye will have the capability of focusing long distance and mid-range exactly like the right one but the up close vision will allow me to thread a needle or stand right in front of a mirror and see clearly with no fuzzy edges....
On the 31st will go back for one final exam to make sure that I have do not have glaucoma, they did not check prior to dilating my eyes at the time of my appointment on the 21st so that must be checked prior to surgery...I have to say that I am glad the hard part of getting the process started is over with!When I have a date set will inform everyone, in the mean time am very behind on all the books that I have read so will be spending this week writing them up to schedule those posts...Thanks to everyone for hanging in there, am letting the things that I found that last month and scheduled for this week run but will probably still be scarce with much that involves me interacting with everyone still for a little while.... I am finally able to stay on my computer for longer periods of time each day than I was but still have vision problems after about an hour as my confirmed sinus infection has made me slightly dehydrated over the past 11 days... I started a course of antibiotics yesterday on the 24th and hopefully by the end of the 10 days will be better!

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Book Availability UK Vs US-My Guest Post today is Mel from the UK

Today I would like to introduce someone who lives in the UK, she has a very good point to make with her guest post!

Without further ado please welcome Mel from Mel's Random Reviews
another lover of UF and PNR books!

Hello, my name is Mel and I’m addicted to books. I buy them faster than I can read them, my To Be Read pile takes up more than a whole bookcase and I spend far too much time adding more books to my wishlist. Most of this is par for the course for a book blogging (even a relative newbie like me), but my serious confession, the one I feel guilty most about, is… I suffer from an advanced case of book envy. .

picture from google.com

The biggest cause of my book envy? Not-being-able-to-get-hold-of-the-book-itis. Sometimes there’s a book I really want but when I go into my local book store I can’t find it. I know I can buy a book online, but there is a thrill to holding a physical copy of a book (and yes, I do stroke the spine and front cover... what? It calms them down), open it up and read the first few lines. Usually I can tell by reading the first page, if I will buy the book or not. This usually helps with new authors so I can decide if it’s worth investing my time and money. But (and have you noticed there’s always a but), there are some cases where this isn’t possible.

I live in the UK. The majority of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance are published in the US. A lot of the books I want to try aren’t in my local book store!!! I hear about so many fun books or authors who have never been spotted on British soil. Eileen Wilks, Heather Graham, CT Adams & Cathy Clamp, Jennifer Estep and others remain for the most part out of my reach. There are reasons for this. The number of readers of these genres is much smaller in the UK. There are territorial rights for books. I’m not blaming the author(s). I’m not even blaming the publishers. I just get frustrated when there seems to a great book out there that so many others read and review. I’m looking on enviously knowing it may be two or three years before I can get hold of an actual book - without buying it online. I sit at my computer reading other peoples blogs with envious eyes…

I also have a conflicting but serious case of ‘so many books, not enough time’ to read them all. I have books in my TBR pile some of which have been there for years (and are developing micro-civilizations between the pages where empires have risen and fallen, but I still want to read at some point!), but I still covet other peoples’ books. Since discovering the book blogsphere I have added hundreds of books to my must buy list, and (much to my bank managers disgust) have increased my spending on books exponentially. Still it’s not enough. Every week I see more intriguing books on peoples’ wishlist, waiting on Wednesdays and in my mailboxes – and immediately add them to my own list – even if I already have enough books to keep be reading until the next millennium!

MELS TBR SHELF

Perhaps, if I had more time I could read more and get through my pile quickly – and then actually need to buy some new books (I don’t receive any books publishers – all my books are bought or gifts). However, to become the idealized book reader, I would have to give up work (that really would upset the bank manager!) and become a hermit (probably with dangerously piles of books everywhere and wearing a cardigan made from discarded bookmarks). Unfortunately, or luckily, my friends and family (and bank manager) won’t let me do that just yet…

There is a cure for my book envy though. I’m lucky enough to live in London and there are plenty of book shops that import US copies so I do make a regular pilgrimage in order to buy my wishlist items, but not everyone outside the UK is so lucky. Confession is good for the soul and admitting you have a problem is the first step…now is there a help group somewhere with the next step…or perhaps a self help book…?

Mel can be found  READING AND REVIEWING HEREI told Mel when she sent me this post that no longer will my ability to easily buy books be taken for granted. It is just one more reason why I am glad to be a US citizen, make it harder for me to read and I would be impossible to live with!Tweet

In My Mailbox#50 (January 23rd)

In my Mailbox is weekly MEME hosted by Kristi at THE STORY SIREN on Sundays....

ALL LINKS GO TO GOODREADS.COM

Won from Newsletter giveaway from author Kelly Gay

THE DARKEST EDGE OF DAWN BY KELLY GAY

Signed copy of Charlie Madigan Bk #2 and Bookmark rcvd in mail 12/30/2010

TYGER TYGER Choker Necklace won from Heather and author Kersten Hamilton

rcvd 12/30/2010

Signed HB Copy of Bk #1 in Goblin Wars series

TYGER TYGER BY KERSTEN HAMILTON

Won From Heather at BURIED IN BOOKS

 

CT Adams Fan Kit sent to me signed by author

Includes the labrador stick on

 

The signed by author Blood Song poster and a green bone key chain charm with rhinestones inset..

all goodies rcvd 12/30/2011

DAN KNIGHTS JOURNEY BY EDWARD F SMITH

rcvd for review from author 12/13/10 courtesy of Bostick Communications

Rcvd from Paperback Swap Member 12/24/10

UNHOLY GHOSTS BY STACIA KANE

Downside Ghosts Bk #1

IN SHADE AND SHADOW-NOBLE DEAD BK 7 BY BARB HENDEE

MMPB rcvd from PBS Swap member 12/13/10
Noble Dead Bk #7

Bought at local WalMart 12/21/2010

HUNGRY FOR YOU BY LYNSAY SANDS

Argeneau #14

The Book Depository order rcvd 12/22/10

VICIOUS GRACE BY M L N HANOVER

The Black Sun's Daughter #3

The Book Depository order rcvd 12/19/2010

NIGHT STAR BY ALYSON NOEL

The Immortals #5

The Book Depository order rcvd 12/24/2010

COVET BY J R WARD

Fallen Angels #1

The Book Depository order rcvd 12/18/2010

CRAVE BY J R WARD

Fallen Angels #2

The Book Depository order rcvd 12/24/2010

BLOOD SPELLS BY JESSICA ANDERSEN

Nightkeepers Bk #5

The Book Depository order rcvd 12/27/2010

THE MISSING BY SHILOH WALKER

The Book Depository order rcvd 12/27/2010

BONE GODS BY CAITLIN KITTREDGE

Black London bk #3

Christmas Gift from my Mother

THE GIFT BY JAMES PATTERSON

Witch&Wizard Bk #2

NOCTURNAL ANTHOLOGY

Anthology from PBS member recvd 1/3/2011

 
Night Tracker Novel Bk #3
VAMPIRES NOT INVITED BY CHEYENNE MCCRAY
rcvd 1/3/2011 from Book Depository order
 
PROMISES IN THE DARK BY STEPHANIE TYLER
Shadow Force series bk #2
rcvd 1/3/2011 from Book Depository order
What did you get in your mailbox? Come share!

Join me tomorrow when Mel Guest Posts for me, check out her blog MEL'S RANDOM REVIEWS .

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