Help bring Monica of Bibliophilic Book Blog home!

I have to say that I am very happy to be part of such a wonderfully supportive community that really pulls together to make things happen. And while I don't normally do these kinds of things, Monica really deserves some help.



I'm here to bring you up to speed on what's happening with one of our very own. Monica of Bibliophilic Book Blog is in the Armed Forces & is currently stationed in South Korea. Due to unavoidable circumstances (i.e. her unit taking a ridiculously LONG TIME to officially approve her leave) she may be stuck in-country for her leave. She's even trying to sell her beloved iMac in order to get home. Plane tickets are now costing around $1600 & that's just not laying around because she used most of her savings to pay the vet bill when her cat almost died. Monica just can't seem to catch a break.



In order to get home for some well-deserved R&R Monica is asking that anyone who can spare anything to help her out. Times are tough all around, but I believe in our community. I have seen amazing things happen in short amounts of time & I really think we can do this. Her leave is from Sept 8-22, so the sooner we get started the better!

To donate you can send money via Paypal to meaghanstevens@gmail.com. This is Meaghan at A Book Worm's Haven's Paypal since Monica's isn't working. She trusts Meaghan implicitly.

Help bring Monica of Bibliophilic Book Blog home!

Armchair BEA: Blogging Community Relationships

Today for Armchair BEA we are focusing on relationships in the blogging community. I have several stories to share about relationships because in the last almost 2 years I have had several wonderful experiences that I'd love to share!

Unofficially, I have always loved getting items signed by their "makers": cds & t-shirts by band members & books by authors mainly. Well when I realized what a GOLDMINE I have in Quail Ridge Books (our local Indie bookstore) I definitely got to ramp up my number of signed items. While I am not on a first name basis with the staff there, they have started to recognize me for the sheer number of events I have attended there recently. They get to bring in some of the BIG names in not just adult book, but teens & kids books too. I have met Adrianna Trigianni, Beth Revis, & Ally Condie just to name a few. It's such a great resource!

I have to say though, the best relationships I have discovered so far are the ones with authors. These wonderful people have so much talent & they are so patient with the fans that I can't help but admire them.

• Terra Elan McVoy (author of Pure & the newly released The Summer of Firsts & Lasts) is actually the author you have to thank for my blog. I met her in July of 2009 at a signing in a local library. I had read her book & was in love. I asked her honest opinion about blogging & what she thought about me & she strongly encouraged me to at least try it out. Without her nudge (as her book was one of the first I publicly reviewed) you might not be reading this at all. :)
• Rachel Vincent is a phenomenal author with a huge heart. She gives her loyal fans lots of sneak previews & even asks their opinions on things that end up influencing her writing! She has always been extremely courteous & helpful when working together on extensive projects (I hosted a Soul Screamers week celebrating her series & she really took an interest). Rachel is also an amazing cross-genre author who can write differently for her fans.
• Finally, Maggie Stiefvater is also one of my favorite newly-developed blogging relationship. I drove 3.5 hours to see her in Virginia & despite the smaller crowd turn out (this was a signing for Shiver, before it got big) she stayed the whole time, answered every single question we had, told hilarious stories & really made us feel like we were rockstars. She is extremely helpful & patient at signings & in communications. All around she's just fun. Not to mention she also believes in keeping her fans in the loop & enjoys creating exciting things for us to explore (her art, her music, etc).

The other relationships that I have really come to love are the ones with fellow bloggers. I have had email conversations, met in person & really come to enjoy all the different types of bloggers that exist. There are moms & students, full-time workers & high schoolers & we all bring something different to the plate. Just to name a few, my best memories of blogging lie with these people (in no particular order):
Zombiegirrrl from Crackin' Spines & Takin' Names (A pleasure to meet another local blogger)
Cindy from Princess Bookie (she's so cool, she also runs Around the World Tours)
Misty from Book Rat (I love her style!)
Katie from Sophistikatied (This girl is so quirky, I love her panache!)
Taryn from Super Librarian (We library people have to stick together!:) )

So what are some of your favorite memories or relationships created through blogging or even just related to books? Share some stories with me!

Armchair BEA: Blogging Community Relationships

Book Blogger Hop (10) & Follow My Book Blog (7)

Hello again from the Book Blogger Hop & Follow My Book Blog hop! This is a weekly get-together so that we can showcase our blogs and discover new ones!



NEW part of the Book Blogger Hop ~ Crazy Question:

Who is your favorite new-to-you author so far this year?

Words cannot describe how much I LOVE that my friend introduced me to Rachel Vincent! I fell in love with both of her series: Soul Screamers for teens and Shifters for adults. I was enamored so much that I hosted Soul Screamers week earlier this year & I'm hoping to do something special for the release of the final Shifters book in September. You should really check out her work if you haven't already!



I review mostly YA books with a definite slant towards paranormal/fantasy & realistic fiction. Historical fiction & prose work occasionally pique my interest as well. This week I reviewed Virgin Territory, This is What I Want to Tell You & posted Dear America in my Nostalgic Friday feature. Be sure to look around, follow if you like, check out my reading challenge or grab my button! Comments are a pleasure too, so fire away!!



The time has come to close the giveaways. Thank you so much to everyone who entered! I did make 275 followers, so there will be FOUR winners for the blogiversary contest. I will announce both the blogiversary contest & Linger contest winners by Monday! Thanks again to everyone who made this possible!

Book Blogger Hop (10) & Follow My Book Blog (7)

Blogiversary Giveaway (sadly I must use a form)

So I totally thought that Blogger would just give me a listing of my followers. Apparently that's not possible. So in order to be considered for the blogiversary contest, please fill out this form. Thanks for your support this past year! My official blogiversary isn't until the 31st, so you have plenty of time to enter! I've got more giveaways coming soon, so stay tuned!

Blogiversary Giveaway (sadly I must use a form)

What's Up Blogosphere?

This post is all about what is going on around the blogosphere. It will feature links to reviews, contests, and other interesting tidbits I have found around the internet. Hope you enjoy!

Contests:
A BookLover's Diary is having a giveaway. There will be 4 randomly selected winners who can choose from a variety of books that she has generously collected for her first giveaway. Enter here.

The ever awesome Story Siren is having a giveaway featuring two of the biggest angel books of the year: Hush, Hush and Fallen. There are multiple ways to enter and you can find them all here.

Kate over at Read This Book! is also giving away a copy of Fallen. I am really hoping to win one from somewhere. You can find her contest here.

Lori, of Pure Imagination, is hosting a Twilight Month celebration for the movie release of "New Moon". As part of that celebration she is having a giveaway of some great Twilight merchandise. Check it out here. Also remember to stay tuned throughout the month. I have a guest post about a certain Twilight discussion board on The Nest that should be coming up any day now.

Reviews:

The Compulsive Reader did a great review of Scott Westerfeld's new dystopian novel Leviathan. I just got my copy from the library and I was very intrigued by what she had to say about it. We'll see what I think in a few weeks.

Vania at Reverie Book Reviews has a handful of author interviews talking about character names and their latest works. They look really good!

I'm also featuring Princess Bookie's review of The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove. It's a well-written argument about her reaction to the book. While I never go out of my way to bash anything (I know none of us do), sometimes you just can't help it that a book doesn't grab you. I appreciate honesty in reviews. Go Cindy!

Miscellaneous:
I have recently been introduced to the AMAZING world of cleolinda on livejournal. She has these great summaries of movies entitled Movies in Fifteen Minutes. They are phenomenal! Not only do they get the main storyline across, but they are so funny I have actually fallen out of my chair on numerous occasions. Check them out if you haven't seen them before. Be forewarned, some of them do have "mature language and content."

I think that about does it for now. I don't expect this to be a regular habit, but you never know. Until next time...

What's Up Blogosphere?