May Giveaway

There are so many amazing new releases this month. I know that you can’t possibly buy them all. So I want to buy one for you!

The winner will get to pick any May release. Some examples:

Those are just a few if you want to see all the May releases as they’re released you can visit my friend Angela’s Facebook Page where she posts all of them every Tuesday.

The giveaway is open where ever The Book Depository Ships. You must be 13 or older to enter. Ends 5/31

Now just do what the Rafflecopter says.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

30 Days of Daemon: Dear Daemon

I’m so excited to be part of the 30 Days of Daemon Blog Tour!

Our favorite alien has set up his own advice column…yeah, you heard me right, Daemon Black giving advice. But because you just couldn’t help asking him some-very personal-questions, he’s very kindly answered those for you too!

__________________________________

1. Dear Daemon, I recently started talking to this super cool/mysterious guy who sits behind
me in AP Stats We have really deep/intense conversations +I’ve never felt more connected
to any one else like this before the problem is he has a gf what do i do?

Dear Don’t go There,
It’s great that there’s this super cool and mysterious guy who can form a couple of coherent
sentences, but keep in mind, if he has a girlfriend, he also probably has a girl in each class he
has deep moments with. Move on. That guy belongs to someone else.

Yours truly, Daemon

2. Do you think Katy loves you?

Dear Asks Personal Questions,

Of course Kat loves me. She can’t help herself. I know she dreams about me. She also writes
my name over and over again, draws hearts around them, and adds the words ‘foreva’.
There’s never been a girl more in love.

Yours truly, Daemon

3. Dear Daemon,

Do you get bonus points for doing this? I think you should :p

Dear Awesome,
I think I should.

Yours truly, Daemon

4.  Dearest Daemon,

If ever I’ll faint in front of you because of your eherm..pheromones, would you pick me up
and bring me to the infirmary or just leave me there?

Dear Fainting Spell,
This whole scenario sounds vaguely familiar. And knowing me, I’d probably leave you there.
Hey, I’m just being honest.

Yours truly, Daemon

5. If you were asked to define yourself as an animal what animal would you be?

Dear Has A Thing for Animals,

I’d have to go with a panther. Sleek. Fast. Deadly. That’s me.

Yours Truly,Daemon

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If you’re in need of some more Daemon today be sure to check out Stuck in YA Books for another Dear Daemon! To see the entire tour list visit the Entangled Blog!

Top Ten Authors I’d Like to See on a Reality Show

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the awesome people at The Broke and the Bookish

This week’s topic is: Top Ten Books I’d Like to See on a Reality TV Show

(But not if there’s awesome authors on it…maybe?)

I pretty much adore this topic but I don’t watch a lot of TV so I’m not really familiar with a lot of reality TV shows. That made it a harder, but here’s what I came up with:

1. Myra McEntire on The Amazing Race along with….

2. Rachel Hawkins partnered with Myra on The Amazing Race
If you’ve ever met these two ladies then you know just how hilariously awesome this would be.

3. John Green on Fear Factor
He’s ate plenty of gross things on Vlogbrothers…Why not throw in some bugs? (I haven’t watched all the videos yet…has he ate bugs? lol)

4. Jackson Pearce on Dancing With the Stars
I think this show suits Jackson well!

5. Lauren Oliver on America’s Next Top Model
Have you ever saw Lauren in real life? She’s so tall and pretty!

6. Maureen Johnson on The Apprentice
This would be so awesome. She would beat everyone!

7. Maggie Stiefvater on The X Factor
She obviously has more talent than anyone else in the entire world.

8. Ally Carter on The Amazing Race
I know I already used this show, but if you’ve read the Heist Society books you know that Ally Carter is good at planning and pulling things off….I can only assume that would work well on The Amazing Race. ;)

9.Suzanne Collins on Survivor
An obvious choice.

10. Megan McCafferty on Big Brother
I don’t know why but it just seems fitting.

Side-note: I’m leaving for vacation today so I won’t be commenting on TTT posts as much as usual. But I’ll try to catch up asap!

Review: Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller
Release Date: June 19, 2012
Age Group: Young Adult
Received From: NetGalley
IBSN: 9781599908441
Blurb:

When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero.

 

I was really unprepared going into Something Like Normal. I’d saw people raving about, but I completely missed the memo about this being from a male perspective. What a happy surprise that was! I used to avoid books with male narratives like the plague but now I count them among my favorites, especially if they’re done well and Something Like Normal is done extraordinarily well.

Something Like Normal is only 224 pages but Trish Doller fills every one of those pages with something incredible. Travis is so damaged, but he’s still very likeable. Honestly, I just thought that Travis was a pretty amazing character. The odds are stacked against him and he’s dealing with so much. No matter how many times he said he wasn’t a good guy he always felt like a purely good person to me. There’s just something about him that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s that he felt so real to me. I instantly liked him. Not because of his sense of humor or his semi bad boy ways, but just because he’s someone that I would want to hang out with in real life. I maybe wanted to fix him just a little too, but you can’t help that.

I haven’t read many other books that deal with war or PTSD and I found it all really interesting. I can’t imagine what that must be like but Doller did a excellent job bringing it to life in Something Like Normal. I urge you to read this book. It’s one of those that no matter what I say I’m never going to do it justice. So please, please read it. It’s a very fast and incredible read.

The Mailbox Post!

Mailbox Mondays was created by Marcia @ A Girl & Her Books and The Printed Page. It travels every month and May is hosted by Reviews by Martha’s Bookshelf.

Wentworth Hall by Abby Grahame

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

Darkness Before Dawn by J.A. London

A Midsummer’s Nightmare by Kody Keplinger (egalley)

Embrace by Jessica Shirvington

Thanks Shannon!

I also got a sampler of Changling by Philippa Gregory and a sealed letter!

Saturday Situation! Link up your reviews & giveaways

Happy Saturday everyone! It’s time for a new Saturday Situation, hosted by Candace at Candace’s Book Blog  and myself. So, here’s the scoop: I’m going to set up two Mister Linky’s. One for Giveaways that you want to promote and one for Posts that you want to promote. The posts can be reviews, discussions, rants, events you are planning, anything that you want people to read! I know there’s so many great posts out there that often go unread. Here’s your chance to tell the world! Feel free to link up to other bloggers posts as well! Let’s spread the love!

Reviews/Posts Linky!

In this Linky please link directly to any posts you want to share with the world!  Example: Name: Fallout Review URL: http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/2010/09/review-fallout-by-ellen-hopkins.html

Please do not post giveaways in this Linky! They go in the bottom one!



Book Related Giveaways Linky!

In this Linky please link directly to any book related giveaways you have! Example: Name: Middle Grade Giveaway-It’s Raining Cupcakes and other Ends 9/30 URL:http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/2010/09/middle-grade-giveaway.html



Blogger Tips & Tricks: WordPress Plugins

I did a post last week about why I moved to WordPress and my experience with it so far. I can tell you that my experience is definitely positive. I love WP and I couldn’t think of being back on Blogger now. My #1 reason for loving it so much is Plugins! That’s what this whole post is dedicated to.

If you’re wondering what a plugin is:

I’m going to start off with an explanation of what a plugin is. I think a lot of non-WP users aren’t clear on what they are. I couldn’t find a definition of Plugin that wasn’t super confusing so…here’s my definition:

A WordPress Plugin is basically something you download that extents the ability of your blog. You find a Plugin you want, you install it, and like magic it’s doing the work for you. The easiest thing that I can think to compare it to it Linkwithin for Blogger. Most of us use that and it’s the most comparable thing on Blogger. Except there are thousands of WP Plugins. Just about everything that you can imagine.
See WordPress Codex for the confusing definition.

How does a Plugin work, you may be wondering? Well, it’s really simple. There’s a Plugins section on the dashboard. You go there and you search for the plugin you want or you can browse the popular ones. Once you’ve found what you want you click install. Then you have to activate it and depending on the Plugin sometimes you have to go to its settings and set it up how you want. The majority of them as really simple and make life so much easier.

If you’re still a little confused maybe this will help. Here’s a list of my favorite Plugins and what they do. Listing my Plugins was inspired by this awesome post at Miss Remmers Reviews.

The Must Haves:

  • FD Feedburner — This one will redirect your feed links to your feedburner link. Which is very, very awesome.
  • Broken Link Checker — After switching, lots of my links were broken and this nifty little Plugin will find those broken links and list them for you. It even checks your comments.
  • Akismet — This is spam protection, so obviously it’s s must!
  • WPtouch — Makes your blog mobile!
  • Jetpack — This opens up many more options for widgets and such.

The Fun Stuff:

  • All in One Favicon — Easily set a favicon for your blog and your dashboard!
  • Share Buttons & the Pin It Plugin — Add the buttons to all of your posts in just a couple of steps.
  • CommentLuv — You’ve all seen this right? This is the one that picks up on your feed when you comment and adds your newest post link in!
  • Comment Reply Notification — This one will email your reply to the original commenter!
  • Duplicate Post — This will set up a new draft for you using the same template as the original post. This is super helpful for posts that are the same or mostly the same every week. Like my Saturday Situation posts.
  • Tweet Old Post — This will randomly tweet old post links for you. You do have to set it up to not post certain things, but I really love it!
  • WordPress Editorial Calender — See all you posts in a calender format and drag and drop them to the days you want. I love this one!
  • Thank You — I have this but I haven’t set it up yet. The first time someone comments on your blog it takes them to a special Thank You page that you set to say whatever you want.

The Plugins You Need:

  • All on One Webmaster — This one is just awesomeness. You can add all of you stat tracking sites without having to add something to your coding. Like Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Sitemeter etc.
  • SEO by Yoast– I started out using this one, but now my StudioPress theme has SEO built in. This is a fantastic option for SEO.
  • WordPress DB Manager — This one backs up your database on a schedule set by you and then emails it to you. It’s so, so important to have a backup!

Some of the SEO and Webmaster ones can me a little hard to set up, but I always just Google and find a tutorial. There’s endless ones! For the most, though, they are super easy to set up and make blogging so much easier.

I hope that gave you a better understanding of Plugins! If you’re a WP user, what are some of your favorites?

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