Tune In Tuesday (93)

Tune In Tuesday is a weekly feature in which bloggers get to showcase another one of their loves, music! This feature was originally created by Ginger over at GReads! but you can now find it here at Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands. If you would like to participate in this weekly feature, make a blog post showcasing a song (or a few!) and link up at the bottom of this post by clicking the cute blue guy! While you’re here make sure to check out all the other awesome blogs that have decided to participate!

I cannot believe it is already the last Tuesday of February thus ending our Love Song Edition of Tune In Tuesday! I have LOVED seeing everyone’s love song choices! Next week will start off our normal month of Tune In Tuesday but keep your eyes peeled for an announcement regarding Tune In Tuesday’s special edition for April (I’ll have that up within the next couple weeks)! I tried to narrow this week’s tunes down to five like all my previous posts but that was far too impossible (there are just SO MANY love songs out there!) So please be patient with me because I have LOTS of love songs to share!

Only Place I Call Home by Every Avenue

I can’t tell if this is supposed to be a break up song or an “I screwed up and this is goodbye for now but I still love you” song. Regardless, I love the idea of someone being your home <3

Just Like Heaven by The Cure

The Cure has a special way of making my bad moods incredibly better. This song is among one of my favorites by them; it is cute, it has a super fun beat, and it is just simply sweet!

Oath by Cher Lloyd featuring Becky G

As much as I adore all of these love songs, they also make me slightly depressed because I have no real relationships to relate them too (I do have plenty of bookish relationships though!) However, this is a love song to a best friend and that is most certainly something I can relate to!

Shady Lady by Oaklynn

Is this not one of the catchiest songs you’ve ever heard? It makes me grin like no other and I just want to dance around every time I hear it. I am a recent fan of Oaklynn but I love what I’ve heard so far!

Heart On Fire by Scars On 45

Goodness gracious, I could listen to this song ALL DAY LONG!

Because Of You by Sequoyah Prep School

I know this isn’t the best quality video but the song is full of awesome, I promise!

Promise The Stars by We The Kings

You guys didn’t seriously think I would miss out on an opportunity to share a We The Kings song did you???

Everywhere Everything by This Century

I love this song, that is all <3

Dead Sea by The Lumineers

I know, I cheated by having 2 Lumineer songs this month! This song is just too wonderful for words so I HAD to include it. Every line is beautiful and speaks of some wonderful love. “You’ll never sink when you are with me”…perfection!

Make You Feel My Love by Adele

One of my all-time favorite love songs. Adele’s version is simply amazing!

Well that is a wrap on Love Song Edition! I hope you all enjoyed it <3

Book Review: Calamity Jayne by Kathleen Bacus

Title: Calamity Jayne (A Tressa Jayne Turner Mystery #1)

Author: Kathleen Bacus

Publisher: Leisure Books

Pages: 326 Paperback

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Tressa Jayne Turner has had it up to here with the never-ending string of dumb-blonde jokes and her longtime nickname. Crowned “Calamity Jayne” by Iowa Department of Natural Resources officer Rick Townsend, Tressa’s out to gain a little hometown respect –or die trying. Unfortunately for Tressa, that may be the case. She’s just been handed the perfect opportunity to get “Ranger Rick,” the doubting Don Juan of the DNR, and a skeptical citizenry to finally take her seriously. How? By solving a murder no one else believes happened…No one, that is, except the killer.

Yup, Calamity Jayne is in it up to her hot pink snakeskin cowgirl boots and matching rhinestone belt. Tressa would tell you her momma never raised no dummies, but the jury’s still out on that one.

As I was browsing the tables at my local bargain bookstore a few weeks back, I came across a series of books that had adorable little covers. Okay, I’ll admit that the covers are what first drew me to the Tressa Jayne Turner Mystery series. The woman who worked at the bookstore gave it high praises so soon enough, my admiration for the covers morphed into curiosity, which then morphed into me purchasing the first three books of the series, which led to me smacking myself because seriously MORE BOOKS!?! However, I am so happy I listened to that lovely, little sales lady because Calamity Jayne turned out to be an adorable, funny, and yes ACTUALLY mysterious book and even though I am only one book into the series, I can already tell it is going to be so much fun reading all about Tressa Jayne Turner a.k.a Calamity Jayne!

Calamity Jayne was New Adult before New Adult was even a thing and that sort of really rocks my socks off! Tressa entered adulthood with a thump, and up until this point, she has remained in a slump that she can’t seem to get herself out of. College didn’t work out for her. Several attempts at jobs around her area didn’t work out for her. And quite honestly, the few jobs she was actually able to snag (and keep!) aren’t working out for her all that well. I love that this book introduces us to Tressa at one of her low points, a point that ALL of us go through during early adulthood, that moment in life when you question every decision you’ve made up until that point. She is confused about who exactly she is, has not a single clue as to what she wants to do for the rest of her life, and no matter how hard she tries, she can’t seem to shake that “Calamity Jayne” nickname that she’s been branded with.

Regardless of her many problems in life, Tressa proved to be an absolutely wonderful character! She was so determined to make something of herself, prove everyone wrong about her and I think that made Tressa a kick-butt main character! She was so sick of everyone thinking she would just make a mess out of everything she attempted and how they just assumed she couldn’t handle anything. Everyone’s lack of faith in Tressa pushed me to root for her even more! Another thing I love about our dear Tress? She was really sort of awkward in a hilarious way and you all should know that I love me some fellow awkward people! This girl can get herself into some CRAZY situations add that to her constant rambling & odd thoughts, and you’ve got yourself some major giggles from yours truly. Sometimes her quirky personality had my head spinning a bit but I found myself totally loving this girl throughout the book!

Tressa is joined by an equally entertaining set of characters! Since this book is set in a small town, you get that small-town feeling by getting to know everyone! Tressa’s family didn’t make as big of an appearance as I would have liked to see but from what I did catch, they were supportive of her in a tough love sort of way. However, Tressa’s grandmother does stand out because she is one heck of a spit-fire! She had such a sassy personality and I could see how Tressa took after her. Along the way we also get to meet Joe Townsend who is the grandfather to the one and only Rick Townsend, Tressa’s nemesis and the (hopefully) future love interest to our main character! Joe Townsend was so much fun! Sure he was old, but he was hilarious and he was the PERFECT side-kick to our mystery-solving main character! Rick Townsend is slowly but surely growing on me. Sometimes his comments were rude, but he also had some good jokes thrown in there and before long, I was laughing at the way he and Tressa interacted. You can tell there is a not-so-pleasant past with him and Tressa (he is after all, the one that came up with the name “Calamity Jayne”) but you can also see how much he cares for her. He was always there for Tressa, sometimes willingly, most time not-so-much, and I cannot wait to see where the rest of the series takes them!

On top of having a superbly fun cast of characters, I also love that this book was truly a mystery! Tressa finds herself in a not-so-hot situation when she discovers a dead body in the trunk of her car. But naturally, as with the case of most discovered dead bodies, it disappears before anyone else can see it (haha!) This is what sends Tressa on that all-important journey of self-discovery while simultaneously solving the murder that no one believes even occurred. Tressa uses this opportunity to really prove herself to her small town and while I would go a less dangerous approach, I commend Tressa for kicking some crime-solving butt.  I like that while this was at times a really creepy situation, it was always laced with humor to help make it less freaky for those of us who may or may not be giant whimps. But don’t let the fact that humor was included fool you! This book kept me on my toes and constantly guessing the ENTIRE time! Just when I thought I’d have the murder figured out, something would happen to completely change my mind!

I really was pleasantly surprised by Calamity Jayne! Not only is the cover super adorable (and also, can I say tasty? I mean, look at the ice cream!), but the inside of the book proved to be equal parts fun, entertaining, mysterious, and quirky. I suggest this for anyone looking for a light-hearted, quick, mysterious, and entertaining read!

The 2013 Book Blogger Love-A-Thon Closing Post

You guys, the end is here! *cries* We have made it through another successful round of the Book Blogger Love-A-Thon. This year not only surpassed the amount of awesomeness that occurred last year, but it exceeded my wildest expectations for the event as a whole. Now before I get on to all the good stuff, there are a few thank you’s I’d like to get out-of-the-way!

First and foremost is a GIANT THANK YOU to Alexa! I don’t know what I would have done without her for this Love-A-Thon. She brought forth such a positive personality and she put up with my uber late emails, texts concerning the event, and general craziness. It takes a saint to deal with the madness I have likely put her through but regardless she has been and absolute doll to co-host with. I couldn’t ask for anyone better!

Second, thank you to all of YOU! You were so patient while Alexa and I tried to work the kinks out of the schedule, you got up at the butt-crack of dawn to begin commenting on blogs, you all brought forth such an effort to help spread blogger love all throughout the blogosphere, and you helped to make today an unforgettable event. As the day progressed I saw so many messages of support and positivity being spread among bloggers, I saw more and more people joining in, and you want to know what happened on Twitter? We got #LoveAThon trending like crazy! I can’t say if it was this for sure (it is quite possible the lack of sleep made me overly emotional) but honestly people, it made me cry like a little baby. We were able to reach SO MANY PEOPLE with the Love-A-Thon today, and introduce each other to the many, many AMAZING blogs out there, and that is all I really ask of the event. So thank you from the bottom of my heart, for making today fan-freaking-tastic!

And now on to the fun part: The Giveaways!

1) First things first, if you participated in the Mini Challenges, you were eligible to win an awesome prize! Here’s how it works:

I picked one random winner from each list of participants for each Mini Challenge (that’s 5 winners). I have them listed below and will be sending them an email shortly notifying them of the win. They will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. If the winner is outside of the US, he or she will receive a book of their choice from The Book Depository ($10 or less). If the winner is from the US, they will receive a book from our prize bin. The first to respond to the email gets first pick on their book, the second to respond gets second pick, and so on. Now, on to the winners!

Challenge #1- Liz @ Along For The Read

Challenge #2- Cayce @ Fighting Dreamer

Challenge #3- Diana @ Little Miss Drama Queen

Challenge #4- Jess @ Gone With The Words

Challenge #5-Betty @ Book Rock Betty

Congrats to you all!

2) If you helped to make the Love-A-Thon more special by hosting your own form of a giveaway, please link it here so everyone else can go enter to win!

3) If you participated in the Love-A-Thon, you can win a giant mystery box of goodies from Alexa and I! All that we ask in order to be entered into the giveaway is that you fill out the survey below. We want to know what you thought about the Love-A-Thon this year and what we can do to make it even more fun next year! Unfortunately our wallets cannot afford international shipping for this particular giveaway (I am truly sorry for any international bloggers! We appreciate your participation in the Love-A-Thon just as much, there’s just no way we could ship a giant box of goodies right now)

Again , a big thank you to you all for being such awesome Love-A-Thon supporters throughout the day!

Book Blogger Love-A-Thon: Mini Challenge #5

I cannot believe the time has come to have our very last Mini Challenge! I am still making my way through some of the previous ones (don’t worry, your comments are coming!) but I have seriously LOVED looking through your guys’ posts all day. You are such a wonderful, kind, talented, super awesome group of people and I am honored to have been able to “meet” you through today’s events.

For this very last challenge we ask that you write about your top blogging moments so far. It can be actual book events or personal things that have happened with you and your blog. Whatever the case may be, write up a post listing them off then come back here to link up. Please take a chance to go around to fellow Love-A-Thon participants to check out some of their favorite moments as well!

So the past two and a half years of blogging have been phenomenal! I have been truly blessed to stumble into such an awesome community of bloggers, authors, publishers, and other fantastic bookish people. It is truly those of you that have made each milestone, stumble, and accomplishment so very worth it. While blogging has not only introduced me to awesome people in the blogging community by it has also given me the opportunity to meet some incredible authors!

Author events, book signings, the RT Conference, etc. have all given me the opportunity to meet some truly incredible writers. And guys, being a book nerd it is like HOLY FREAKING AMAZEBALLS, I GET TO MEET AN AUTHOR each and every time!

On top of that, I have had the pleasure to meet some pretty spectacular bloggers in person! While this has been more limited because let’s face it, Michigan houses not too many bloggers (there are a few though and they rock), so it makes this part a bit harder. Regardless, I enjoy the time that I have with these bloggers in real life every time!

But as incredible as all of these opportunities have been (and trust me, they have been AMAZING), it is nothing compared to the day-to-day conversations, amounts of support, and incredible kindness I see coming from the blogging community. I thought about the Love-A-Thon 2 years ago on Valentines Day. At that time I just suggested people try to comment on 5 blogs to “help spread the love”. And then last year’s Love-A-Thon proved to be a success with bloggers signing up to help spread blogger love all over. BUT today blew all of that away and I owe that to my lovely co-host Alexa and all of you! I choose today as my favorite moment because you have all been so freaking amazing. Honestly, I cannot say that enough. It has been a true honor to host this event because you guys are amazeballs. Thank you, thank you, thank you for making today not only so incredible but also so full of love, support, and a sense of community around the blogosphere!

Book Blogger Love-A-Thon: Flash Challenge With Alysia!

Please welcome Alysia from My Little Pocket Books! She has been AWESOME to us by providing us with a flash challenge and a giveaway!

Here’s what the challenge is all about:

This challenge is based on a monthly post Alysia does at My Little Pocketbooks called “The Casting Couch“.

Did you just finish reading a book?  Did you have an image of the main character in your head the whole time?

With so many books being made into films you just might get to see that book on the big screen soon.

What’s the Challenge?

Take a book you just finished reading and cast the main character.

What does Alysia Need?

Book title and author

Character name and brief description

Actor name (pictures are great too)

Why you picked that actor

So, What is the Prize?

One winner will get a $5.00 Amazon Gift Card

You may leave all this info in the comments on this post or post this to your blog with a link in the rafflecopter.  Giveaway ends at 5pm 2/24/2013 (tomorrow).

(Click the image for a sample post)

Good Luck to you all!

The Rafflecopter Giveaway Form!

The Book Blogger Love-A-Thon: Mini Challenge #4

Hello there everyone! I certainly hope you are enjoying the Love-A-Thon so far! Alexa and I have had a blast hosting it and it has been so awesome to see SO MUCH blogger love spread around. You guys seriously make my heart happy (I told you, I tend to get weepy & emotional with a lack of sleep so it’s not my fault!). Well before I start crying all over the place because you are all rocking my socks off so much, let’s start with our 4th mini challenge! For this mini challenge we ask that you write a letter to your younger blogger self and if you are a newer blogger, you will be writing a letter to your future self. What advice would you give? What secrets and tips would you tell the younger you? Let us know in a post and then come back here to link up! Feel free to spend the next hour or so jumping from blog to blog to see what everyone had to say!

Dear little Kate,

You are entering a very awkward stage of your life. Well actually, if I am being honest, your entire life up to this point has been awkward it just about to get a whole lot awkwarder. You will be recovering from dislocating your knee cap during the only tennis match you were ever winning. Honestly, what were we thinking with tennis anyway? You will become a homebody with no sense of a social life what-so-ever, and the only boyfriend you will see after high school is one of the many fictional boys you date while reading your favorite books.

But never fear young Kate! With all your free time (free of school, free of sports due to the leg, and free of anything fun to do at all) you will turn to books and your former teacher’s blog. One day, you will get the sudden urge to start your own blog. Now this is one of the BEST decisions you have ever made but I beg you to think it through first. Don’t come up with that lame blog name (Katelyn’s Blog…uhhh) with an even lamer URL (because seriously, it’s a pain in the butt to change in the future). Don’t just settle for the boring old theme that WordPress gives to you, and please for the love of all that is holy, DON”T START RAMBLING ABOUT PURE AND UTTER BORINGNESS THAT OCCURS IN YOUR LIFE! No matter how snarky and silly you try to make those first posts, they are lame and no one will read them…except you. I urge you to think this stuff out, come up with a catchy name, plan out what you want your blog to be about and what you want it to feature beforehand, just be prepared! But wee, little Kate, you have never been good at following directions so even if you were to receive this letter on time, it’d be next to no use.

But please, before you disregard all of what I have to say (remember, I am an older, wiser, more mature…okay so still immature but definitely wiser version of you) listen to this. Do what you want! Don’t worry about your blog being JUST LIKE all of those others. Sure they are awesomely amazing and their reviews kick butt, but every now and then you have something cool to say and it isn’t about books. And guess what…THAT’S OKAY! Talk about music, talk about the concerts you go to, talk about the crazy shenanigans you and Kati get into, talk about your crazy, infuriating, but still brilliant family. Talk about what you want, make your blog you.

And seriously, don’t stress. I am quite fond of the fact that I look like a 13-year-old 20-year-old so we want to prevent the risk of too many frown lines at such an early age. Relax because blogging becomes something amazing. You will never have posts Every. Single. Day. and you most certainly will have random spurts of reviews and non-reviews, but at the end of the day you’ve found yourself an incredible community to implant yourself in. So I guess my last piece of advice is, just enjoy it!

Love,

The still socially awkward but sort of cool older version of you

The Book Blogger Love-A-Thon: Mini Challenge #3 (late!)

I am so sorry this post is epically late but I promised it would be awesome so here it goes!

I get crazy over books and quite ecstatic over music. I get even more giddily insane when music is included in the book or when a book inspires songs for me. Either way, book playlists have become my FAVORITE thing! I thought I’d post a playlist for all of the ones I have gathered on Spotify so far! Some I’ve made up, some the authors have made up, but ALL are full of awesome songs! Check it out:

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Charade by Nyrae Dawn

Dizzy by Nyrae Dawn & Jolene Perry

Easy by Tammara Webber

Elder by Raine Thomas

In The Band by Jean Haus

Intered by Marilyn Almodovar

Just Remember To Breathe by Charles Sheehan-Miles

My Favorite Mistake by Chelsea M. Cameron

Phoenix: The Rising by Bette Maybee

Rule by Jay Crownover

Shrapnel by Stephanie Lawton

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

The Book Blogger Love-A-Thon: Mini Challenge #2

It’s the time for another mini-challenge! For those that may be questioning prizes, at the very end of the Love-A-Thon, winners for the mini-challenges will be announced so please be patient! For this mini challenge we asked you to get deep and poetic (or not so deep but still poetic depending on whatever floats your boat) and come up with a book spine poem!

I started off this challenge with the full intention of coming up with something epic but alas it is 5:30 in the morning while I’m typing this, I am going on 20 hours straight of being awake, and I tend to get a bit giddy & delusional when I’m tired (so do me a favor and at least pretend you are some-what amused by my poem. KIDDING…only sort of)! What I’ve learned with this challenge is that book spine poetry is incredibly difficult, makes a giant mess of my bookshelves but is also super fun! Here’s what I came up with:

It’s kind of a funny story,

Becoming,

The lonely hearts club.

Nerd girls,

Fall for anything,

Under the rose.

Bad taste in boys,

Shift,

The statistical probability of love at first sight.

On the bright side, I’m now the girlfriend of a sex god.

See, now wasn’t that all sorts of profound poeticness!?! Please leave a link to your Mini Challenge #2 post below!

The Book Blogger Love-A-Thon: Mini Challenge #1

Hello there everyone! I hope you are enjoying the Love-A-Thon so far! Those of you that participated in the interview swaps (or for those of you that interviewed yourselves) I have seen some AWESOME posts! It was so cool to be able to “meet” everyone. If you’ve made it to this point CONGRATS! It is now time for the very first mini challenge! Hurray!

For the first mini challenge, your task is simple: There are four categories: best reviews, best book discussion posts, best blog layout, and best random category (you get to make this one up!). You have until 4 a.m. to make up a list of 3-5 favorite blogs for each category.  Once your post is complete, add your link at the bottom of this post (it is the same exact link-up form on Alexa’s blog as well, so linking up on either blog is fine!). You can then go around to other blogs that decided to do this mini-challenge and look at some of their favorites!

And now, for (some of) my favorite blogs for each category!

Best Reviews:

1) Ginger from GReads!– Ginger’s reviews, rather they are about YA books or Adult books, always have me reaching for my wallet while simultaneously looking the book up on Barnes & Noble. She has such an awesome way of conveying her love of a book (and I also happen to love EVERYTHING she’s suggested so far!)

2) Alexa from Alexa Loves Books– Alexa has such an awesome, eclectic reading taste! I have never been one to willingly read historical romance but Alexa’s reviews make me want to…EVERY TIME!

3) Momo from Books Over Boys– Her taste in book boyfriends has led me to some mighty dreamy guys…swoon!

Best Book Discussion Posts:

1) Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish– I do not participate in this weekly meme but I love stopping by the blogs that do and seeing what they have to say each week!

2) Rachel & Carina’s Infinite Playlist from hello, chelly– Okay, I cheated this is a music post but come on! I am a half music blog so naturally I had to include these girls and their AWESOME taste for music!

3) Book Hauls/IMM’s/Etc. from a whole slew of blogs- I know I am cheating again with this one but there are so many different renditions of basically the same thing and I LOVE them all! Checking out what books everyone just received is one of my favorite things to do each week!

Best Blog Layout:

1) Gone With The Words– I love Jess’s blog! The name, the layout, the cute header with AWESOMESAUCE quotes sprouting from it, it’s all just awesome!

2) Pages of Forbidden Love– Just look at it and you will see exactly what I mean! Their layout is awesome, their posts rock my socks off, and sometimes Bianca shares super awesome songs with us on Tune In Tuesday!

3) She Dreams In Fiction– Mel has two totally adorable blogs! She created this second one not too long ago and I cannot get over how pretty it is!

Random (I shall now call this the awesome category because I just don’t know what else to call it!):

1) Good Books And Good Wine– April cracks me up. If I am reading a book review or looking over her book haul posts, I can expect a good laugh!

2) Justin’s Book Blog– Justin has a blog that is FULL of awesome books and even awesomer (not really a word, I know) reviews!

3) The Bo0ki3– I love her wild mix of genres in both books and music! I am so hoping to meet Shanese at BEA this next year!

Well that’s it for my list for mini challenge #1. Keep in mind, there are million other super fantabulous blogs out there that are brilliant in their own way. I cannot wait to “meet” some more throughout the day!

Welcome to the 2013 Book Blogger Love-A-Thon + Interview Swap!

Hello bloggers, authors, and book lover extraordinaires and welcome to the 2nd Annual Book Blogger Love-A-Thon! I had an absolute blast with the Love-A-Thon last year so it is safe to say I have been so very excited to bring it back! This year, along with the help of the incredibly lovely & awesome Alexa from Alexa Loves Books, the Love-A-Thon is going to be bigger, lots more fun, and even better than last year! If you are just now hearing about the Love-A-Thon and would like a little insight into just what the heck I am talking about, you can check out this post here, it goes over all the basic ins and outs of a Love-A-Thon! You can join in at any time, just as long as you are able to help spread some blogger love! For a full list of the events and what time they are happening, you can check out the schedule right here. But for the short and sweet version of what a Love-A-Thon is about, here it goes: Basically it is just like a read-a-thon except for blogs! It’s a full 24 hours of commenting on new-to-you and some of your older favorite blogs, following bloggers, tweeting about awesome blog posts, and telling other bloggers just how much we love them! There is also a number of mini-challenges throughout the day so you’ll have a chance to win some awesome prizes! And then at the end of this event, Alexa and I will be hosting a BIG giveaway for anyone who has joined in on the Love-A-Thon!

Below I have a list of participants. If you are joining in late, please leave a comment below, feel free to shoot me an email (katelynsblog@aol.com), or tweet me with your blog’s web address (@KatelynTorrey) and I’ll be sure to add you to the list!

HOSTS:

Alexa Loves Books

Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands

PARTICIPANTS:

A Blog About Nothing

A Daydreamer’s Thoughts

A Room With Books

Above Average Below Special

Allodoxophobia: The Fear Of Opinions

Almost Grown-Up

Along For The Read

Along The Road

Always Lost In Stories

Belle Of The Literati

Book Rock Betty

Books Like Breathing

Books Take You Places

Caitlyn Reads

Chaos Theory

Confessions of a Vi3tBabe

Digesting The Words

Dreaming Dreams No Mortal Ever Dared

Fighting Dreamer

Girl With a Pen and a Dream

Gone Bookserk

Gone Pecan

Gone With The Words

Good Books And Good Wine

Hughes Reviews

JC’s Book Haven

Jenuine Cupcakes

Justin’s Book Blog

Little Lovely Books

Little Miss Drama Queen

Lisa Is Busy Nerding

Mab is Mab

Michelle and Leslie’s Book Picks

Mindful Musings

Moonlight Book Reviews

My Bookish Fairy Tale

My Little Pocketbooks

My World In English

Oh, Chrys!

Orisi’s Blah Blah Blah

Paper Riot

Paperback Princess

Project To Be Read

Queen Ella Bee Reads

Rachel Reads

Rally The Readers

Ramblings of a Daydreamer

Random Reads

Reading the Best of the Best

Reflections of a Bookaholic

Reviews A La Tiffany

Ruby’s Reads

She Is Too Fond Of Books

Student Spyglass

That Artsy Reader Girl

The Book Addict’s Guide

The Daily Prophecy

The Grown-Up YA

The Overstuffed Bookcase

The Quiet Concert

The-Society.NET

The Window Seat

Tripping Over Books

And now to start off the Love-A-Thon right, we have our Interview Swaps! If you signed up for the event in advance, you should have been able to do an interview swap with an assigned partner. Alexa and I thought it would be fun if we interviewed each other so we could be part of the fun. Miss Alexa has been a dear, dear blogging friend of mine for quite some time now. We bonded over our love for Taylor Swift and our general awkwardness. She has been a truly amazing friend and I am so happy to be co-hosting with her this year. Before I get all weepy and overly emotional (it tends to happen to me a lot when I stay up too late so beware…), let’s see what Alexa has to say!

Interview Questions:

If you could take a week’s vacation in any book, which one would it be and why?

This is actually a pretty easy one for me to answer! I’d go on the road trip detailed in Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, and I’d take my bookish friends with me. As much as I love my fantasies and dystopians, realistic fiction is still my favorite and I’d travel to all those awesome states Amy & Roger went to since I haven’t been to most of them!

You get to hang out with three of your favorite fictional characters for a day. Who would you pick and what would you do? 

I’d hang out with Chaol from Throne of Glass, Tucker from Unearthly and Jase from My Life Next Door. Chaol would train me in the morning in the art of kicking butt and then hang out with me in the library. Tucker would swing by for me in the afternoon so we could on horseback riding, have a picnic and swim in the river. And then, Jase would invite me to his house for dinner and we’d end up lying on the roof watching the stars.

(I know, I know. I should have picked at least one girl, but I couldn’t resist.)

Which fictional character would be your best friend if she/he were real?

Bria from Wanderlove. I think our creative natures and our love for “real” travel would help us bond.

Listy Lists:

3 Favorite Book Quotes (This is REALLY hard by the way!)

1. “I spent my life folded between the pages of books.

In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”

― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

2. “Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.

– John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

3. “She wasn’t interested in telling other people’s futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.”

–Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

3 Strangest/Weirdest Blogging/Reading Habits

1. I read a ton, then I set a day where I just sit and write, write, write reviews.

2. I am notorious for falling asleep with a book on my face.

3. I cannot properly read a physical book without having music on. But I can’t read eBooks with music on.

 3 Authors You Would Sell a Body Part Just to Meet

1. Tamora Pierce

2. JK Rowling (even though I’ve already met her)

3. Garth Nix

3 Bands/Musicians You’ve Been Rocking Out To Lately

1. Ed Sheeran

2. The Lumineers

3. The Script

This or That:

A year without books or a year without your favorite food? 

Without my favorite food. I’d die if I didn’t have any books to read!

Do you listen to one specific type of music or mixed genres?

I used to be a strictly pop girl, but now I mix genres.

Would you rather spend a whole week with your FAVORITE fictional boyfriend or spend a whole day with ALL of your fictional boyfriends?

A week with my FAVORITE fictional boyfriend of course – and that would be Four from Divergent.