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Hey ya'll! Just letting you know that I am now on Bloglovin!

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New Design!

So yeah, guys. If you haven't noticed I have gotten a new blog design. 

It's about time! I didn't realize how crappy my old design was until I got this one.

I love it so much! Like I said so much better than my old design. And I have the lovely Julianna at Dreamless Designs to thank for doing my new design!

I wanted something romantic because that pretty much describes me and hopefully my blog. The green represents birth and the pink represents love, so the idea is the birth of new love (Julianna came up with that.)

What do you guys think?

Bloggiesta: I'm Participating!

Hey everyone! So I decided that I'm going to participate in Bloggiesta this go around!

Bloggiesta is hosted by There's a Book and It's All About Books. To sign up or for more information visit here!

This fall Bloggiesta is from September 28-30. This is my first time participating and I've very excited!

Are you participating?

Free E-Book Alert!

Hey peeps! After a week-long hiatus I'm back to let you know about a free e-book!

For the next couple of days you are able to get an e-book of Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey for free!

Get it here:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Here are some reviews for Cold Kiss:

Books with Bite

IB Book Blogging

Princess Bookie

Nina Reads

Back to School for Me

Yup. It's that time of the year again. Most likely that as you are reading this, I will be in school. 

This will be my last first day as a high school-er. I have to say, I do not think that this year could go by fast enough. I am so ready to just be done. But I'm not ready for school to start. I'm very conflicted. 

What does this mean for the blog? Well, at least for the next month, I have a pretty heavy load this year and I won't have as much time to read and probably not as much time to blog, so bare with me while I get settled in. But I promise, I will still be here, posting and visiting everyone else as much as I can. 

And to all of you who will also be starting school soon, as well, hope you have a great year!

New Rating System!

You guys! I've been watching the Olympics this year and I was totally inspired to do a new rating system. I wasn't exactly looking or wanting to do a new system, but I had an idea that I really liked and I wanted to try it out. So, without further ado, here we go!

My New Rating System:

Yes, like I said, this idea was inspired by the Olympics. 

So from now on, every book will get a medal instead of a star rating. I like this because it is a lot more relative. There's no number to, it's solely just how I feel about a book. 

Let Me Break it down:

Gold-This book was really awesome. I absolutely loved it!

On terms of old system: (this isn't exact; I won't be choosing a medal based on old rating, just how about a book). Gold: This would be about a 4.5 on the old rating.

Silver Medal: I enjoyed this book quite a bit. There may be a fault or two, but that didn't take much away from my enjoyment of the book. 

In Terms of Old System: About a 3.5 or a 4

Bronze Medal-I had a few issues with this book, but there are parts that I enjoyed. Overall, an okay book. 

In Terms of Old System: about a 2.5 or a 3.

And, of course, books that I do not feel even gets a bronze will receive this:

Did Not Medal

On Terms of Old System: lower than a 2.5

This means that I pretty much did not like the book at all. I'm not expecting to get too many of these because if I don't like a book that much, I probably won't finish it. But just in case, here it is. 

If you noticed, the gold is only about a 4.5. I have hardly ever given out a 5, which is above and beyond every one of my expectations and it was absolutely perfect in every way. I'm not expecting to get many of these, because I don't even think I have in the past. But, just in case, there is this special reward:

The Platinum Medallion- Not only did I love this book, but it was absolutely perfect. 

Trust me, I will not be giving this one out on a whim. Hopefully I will give it out one day, but it may be a while.

So, I"m pretty excited about this!

Tell me, what do you think?

A New Twist to My Reviews

So, I've been thinking a lot lately. I've been wanting to change up my review style or add something to my reviews for a long time. Something to change it up around here and differentiate my blog from others. I've been thinking about what I can do differently for a long time now. 

And then it hit me, right smack in the face like this:

No, but really. I came up with something. 

What do I love doing besides reading? Drawing!...and painting...and the works. 

So, now for every review that I write I am going to (try) to do an art piece that goes along with the book. This will mostly be drawings, most likely from my sketch book. 

These drawings or paintings may be of a specific object or scene from the book, or it may be more symbolic, either from my perspective or from the book's. I'm going to go ahead and say that you won't see a lot of people in these. I'm really bad at drawing human figures. But you may see some faces and portraits somewhere in there. 

Now, I can't promise they will be good. A big part of why I'm doing this is to knock out two birds with one stone. This way I can practice and get in my sketch book pages for next year's AP Art class (I have to do a lot!) and I can add something extra to my reviews. It's really a win-win for me. Hopefully over time I will get better and pick up some more skills. 

And, of course, I hope you guys enjoy them. 

P.S. It may be a little while before you start to see these. I've already got quite a few reviews done and scheduled and I'm not going to go back and do a drawing for them. But, I do have one for Once by Anna Carey, which is due to be up the beginning of next week. 

Let me know what you think of this idea!

And have a wonderful evening!

Review Format

So I've been thinking about playing around with the format of my reviews. 

Right now, in my reviews, I just write them in one long review, not breaking it up. (By this I mean I don't have it split up into more parts.)

 I've been thinking about changing it so that it would look more like this:

Overview:

my opinion

Plot:

My opinion

Characters:

my opinion

Writing:

my opinion

Miscellaneous:

This is where I say anything that I want to add about the book that doesn't fit in the categories above. 

(It won't actually be called miscellaneous)

Rating:

Which is where I post my rating. 

I'm not sure if those will be the actual categories, but you get the idea.

I like this because it may be easier to write the review if I split it up. I can be more specific. 

But I also feel that this has potential to be limiting. 

So, I'm asking you! What kind of review format do you prefer? How I write them now, where it's just random and one thing, or split up into categories. 

I may do a few like this and if I don't like it, just totally trash the idea and go back to the way I had it before. I'll play around with a few different things.  

Also, if you don't like any of these ideas, let me know how you like to read reviews!

Let me know!

NaNoWriMo

Since there is no IMM for me this week (I only got one book), I decided to do something a little different.

I am participating in this year's NaNoWriMo. I know it's already a few days into November, but I thought I should share this with you.

I "participated" in this last year. The reason I say it like that is because I didn't find out about NaNoWriMo into about a week in, and I didn't have a book planned out or anything. I failed miserably. But this year I've actually been planning and am really excited to write this book. I think I can reach the goal of 50,000 words.

What is my book about? I don't want to say too much, because it may change, but I will say that it's inspired by Florence and the Machine's song Howl and based off of an Italian myth. It's a werewolf story, nevertheless. But I think (hope) I bring something new to the table, as far as werewolves go.

Is anyone else participating this year? Leave your link or username in the comments and I'll be sure to check it out.

And if you are interested, here's a link to my profile page.

Back to School

Goodbye summer...

Hello school...

So today I started school. 

No, you're not crazy, starting August 9 is incredibly early!

There's a reason I start so early. And the reason I start earlier than most schools (but only about a week before other schools in my district) is because we get Fridays off. That's right, I only go four days a week. So while I'm not ready at all to go back to school, if I have to choose between 3 day weekends and going an extra 4 or 5 days before most schools, I have to say I'd prefer my weekends.

 I've had 3 day weekends for most of my school career, and I've got to say, I love 'em. They're pretty awesome. 

So yeah. 

Bummer for school starting. 

My blog might be a little slow for a while, just so you know, while I get back into things. 

But I'll fall back into routine. 

And for you lucky ones, enjoy the rest of your summer!

May Rewind

Books Read in May:

1. Shade by Jeri Ready-Smith
2. The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride
3. Lament by Maggie Striefvator
4. Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
5. Penitence by Jennifer Laurens
6. Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw
7. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
8. The Clearing by Heather Davis
9. The Line by Teri Hall
10. My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent
11. This World We Live in by Susane Beth Pfeffer
12. Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley
13. Anything but Normal by Melody Carlson
14. I Now Pronounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan

Also Reviewed:
Winter Longing by Tricia Mills
Forget You by Jennifer Echols

I read 14 books in May. Definitely not my best. but since it's summer I hope to read a lot more from now on!
Expect a lot more reviews now also!
           

Please Vote!

So now that I've reached 50 followers, I want to hold a contest. Now, I'm not sure what to do, which is why I'm taking so long on actually setting up the contest. I've had a few ideas and I've been debating for at least a week now what I should do. So, to make my life a whole lot easier, I've decided that you can vote on what you'd like me to give away. So the poll is on the sidebar, and you can vote now.

Thanks!

50 Followers!

Thank you all so much.

I've reached 50 followers!

Now, I'm not going to have a contest yet, but I've got something in mind so keep checking back.

Again, a HUGE thanks to you all!

2010 A to Z Challenge

This year I'm signing up for the A to Z challenge. I'll be doing both the title and author and read 52 books.

To sign up click here

A-Z Titles

A-

All Unquiet Things

B-

Body Finder, the

C-

Chasing Brooklyn

D-

Dust of 100 Dogs, the

E-

Eigth Grade Bites

F-

Fallen

G-

Gone

H-

Heavenly

I-

Iron King, the

J-

Jekel Loves Hyde

K-

L-

Lonely Hearts Club, The

M-

Mark, the

N -

Need

O-

O, Juliet

P-

Pretty Dead

Q-

Queen of Secrets

R-

Read my Lips

S-

Secrets of Peaches, the

T-

Tangled

U-

V-

Vison in White

W-

Wintergirls

X-

Y-

Z-

A-z Authors

A-

Anderson, Jodi Lynn

Anderson, Laurie Halse

B-

Brooks, Kevin

C-

D-

Derting, Kimberly

Despian, Bree

E-

F-

Fitzpatrick, Becca

Friedman, Aimee

G-

H-

I-

J-

K-

King, A.S.

Kate, Lauren

Klause, Annette Curtis

L-

Laurens, Jennifer

Livingston, Lesley

Leroe, ellen W.

M-

Mackler, Carolyn

Maxwell, Robin

McMann, Lisa

N-

Nadol, Jen

O-

P-

Q-

R-

Rowen, Michelle

S-

Schroeder, Lisa

Summers, courtney

Selfors, Suzanne

Sparks, Nicholas

T-

U-

V-

W-

X-

Y-

Z-

Award!

I just got my first award from B.A. M. Book reviews! Thanks a lot you guys!

Here are the rules of the "One Lovely Blog Award":

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Here's the 15 I chose:

1. Yay! Reads
2. Jennifer at YABOOKNERD
3. Tynga at Tynga's Reviews
4. Kristan at the Novel Hovel
5. Wendy at The Book Lush
6. Tattooed Books: A YA book reviewing, librarian-in-training
7. Megan at Reading Without a Net
8. Emma at Don't Lose My Place
9. Rebecca at Everything To Do With Books
10. Lizzy at CornucopiaofReviews
11. Natalie at Mindful Musings
12. Enna at Squeaky Books
13. Andrea at Buried in Books
14. Bookalicious: Som Many Books, So Little Time
15. Holly at Good Golly Miss Holly

These are great blogs who deserve this award!

Announcement

I just wanted to let you all know that I won't be able to post for a few weeks for a couple of reasons.

1. I don't have internet at my house, so I go to my grandma's house every weekend for at least one night so I can do everything I need to do. This week she has company so I won't be able to come over next weekend
2. Next Sunday I'll be going on vacation to Disney World! I'll be back Saturday Oct. 3.
3. The weekend after that, my grandparents are going on vacation, so I won't be able to use the internet that weekend.

Don't worry. Once I come back I'll have many reviews to post. I'll also be posting any chance I get within the next few weeks.
Until then, happy reading!