Updates

An FYI for those of you still seeing this blog. I have moved to WWW.TSLoaAR.com please come check it out thanks!!

Help Wanted!!

I really need help on the blog. This past week has shown me that even though deadlines are over I have nowhere near enough time to do everything I need to do with the blog. So I am looking for a partner.

Responsibilities:
Reviews
Memes
Answer request emails (if interested in any of the books)
Pretty much be an equal partner in the blog.

The Perks:
Books (From either requests by authors or I will send you ones I can’t get to/done with)
Being a reviewer on a {semi}developed blog (Doesn’t mean there isn’t room for growth!)
Equal Partner =Equal Perks

Please email me if you are interested and if you have any writing samples include them! jisforjinx13(at)gmail.com with subject: Help Wanted

Smutty Saturdays Giveaway! Blood Drive

By: Traci Houston

Publisher: Writers of the Round Table Press Inc.
Release Date:  October 16, 2011
Pages: 252
Source: tour

When a group of vampires rises from the dark of the humid Miami summer and murders her partner, officer Cara Evens gathers a group of allies with their own unique abilities to avenge her partner's death and save the city. To succeed she'll have to accept her own changing abilities, ignore her lust for a vampire and hide the one thing her enemies need to kill them all.

Summary Taken from Goodreads

To learn more about this book visit the other tour stops at http://www.onceuponatwilight.com

I am giving away my copy of the book. To Enter All you have to do is fill out the form below :)

Deadly Cool Blog Tour!

DEADLY COOL

Next Stop: Monday, October 24 Naughty Book Kitties

About the book:
First I find out that my boyfriend is cheating on me. Then he’s pegged as the #1 suspect in a murder. And now he’s depending on me to clear his name. Seriously?
As much as I wouldn’t mind watching him squirm, I know that he’s innocent. So I’m brushing off my previously untapped detective skills and getting down to business. But I keep tripping over dead bodies and I’m still no closer to figuring out who did it. And what’s worse: all signs seem to point to me as the killer’s next victim.

I really need to pick a better boyfriend next time.

About the author:
Gemma Halliday started writing fiction in 2002 and after winning several awards as an unpublished writer, her career kicked into high gear in 2005 when she won RWA's prestigious Golden Heart Award. One month later she was offered her first book contract, saving her from adding another dead-end to her eclectic employment history. After stints in Portland and Los Angeles, Gemma now makes her home in the San Francisco Bay Area where she is hard at work on her next book.

And without further ado, a guest post from the lovely Gemma Halliday....

I’m so thrilled to be here – thanks so much for hosting me!
On this leg of my DEADLY COOL blog tour I’m talking about my life as a teen, because, well, my book is about teens.  And one huge part of teen life in general, and DEADLY COOL specifically, is The Crush.  Everyone has had one.  No one forgets them.  High school is where, for a lot of us, that first crush happened, and I am no exception.  My first crush was Trevor Ott.  He was so cute!  I can picture him now with his honey blond hair, perfect tan, and big blue eyes.  He was the dream of every girl in school, and I was helpless to his charms.  Unfortuntely, there were two things going against a happily ever after for Trevor and I: 1) his mother was my teacher and 2) Trevor barely acknowledged my existence.  Still I pined for him, dreamed about him, wrote “Mrs. Ott” with little heart doodles around it.  I know.  Totally lame, right?  But what can I say?  That’s the cures of The Crush.

Once I moved away from Trevor’s town, I started a new school and everything was fresh with possibilities.  Including my Crush radar, which immediately picked up on Jeff Yap.  Jeff was a martial artist, had that just long enough, jet black, Bruce Lee hair, and was definitely one of the cool jocks on campus.  Unfortuntely, Jeff seemed more into Jaime – a girl who could kick your butt fifteen different ways without even breaking a sweat – so I crushed on him from a distance.  A very wide, safe distance.  But… this story has a much happier ending than the Trevor saga.  To my utter amazement and surprise, Jeff called me one day out of the blue and asked me to prom with him.  I was so stunned that all I could manage to get out was a y-y-y-YES!  And then I had to ask him, “Why me?”

To which he answered, “I just thought we’d both have fun together.”  Which, as it turned out, we did.  In fact we ended up having so much fun that we dated that entire summer before he went off to college.  We ended things on a friendly note, he went to the east coast, I stayed on the west coast, and we didn’t really end up keeping in touch like we’d promised to.  But, even so, your first crush always has a special place in your heart, doesn’t he?

So, tell me about your first crush?  Was he hot, cute, geeky, cool?  Do dish.

(P.S.  Join me on the next stop of my tour where I’ll be chatting about my fav movies as a teen.  Oh, man, this is gonna date me, isn’t it?)   

~Gemma

www.gemmahalliday.com

Gemma Halliday is the award winning author of the bestselling High Heels mysteries and Hollywood Headlines mysteries.  Her first young adult book, DEADLY COOL debuts Oct 11th from HarperTeen.

Giveaway: My Beating Teenage Heart

 

As part of the TeenBookScene tour TSLoaAR is giving away an awesome prize pack:

Copy of Bronxwood by Coe Booth

Copy of Water Balloon by Audrey Vernick

Signed copy of My Beating Teenage Heart

MBTH t-shirt

25 Days of Jubilation: It’s Almost the Season of Giving

Where does the time go!? Before we all know it, the season of giving will be upon us! Cyndi at Dog-Eared & Bookmarked, Jacinda at The Reading Housewives of Indiana, and Yani at The Secret Life of an Avid Reader have come together to create an event to celebrate the act of giving!







What is the 25 Days of Jubilation?

It is a blog tour of sorts to celebrate giving and the holiday spirit. For 25 days, a different blog will post something to their liking along with a giveaway. It is a great way to find new bloggers and just have fun!




How can you participate in 25 Days of Jubilation?
We will have 24 bloggers including ourselves who will have a scheduled day to post from Thursday, December 1st through Saturday, December 24th.
The post will be something you want to post that is holiday or giving related. You can change a regular feature into a post or come up with something unique. It could be cover related or you could film a vlog. It is all up to you!
Those who want to participate also need to host a giveaway. It could be a big giveaway or a tiny giveaway. You could decide to giveaway book(s), swag, a Starbucks gift card, something from Etsy, something you made, hot chocolate, or anything else you can come up with!
We need at least 5 blogs who are willing to host an international giveaway. Since the 25 Days of Jubilation is about giving, we don’t want our international friends left out. Please consider this. If you ARE willing to host an international giveaway, let us know and you will be further considered.
On December 25th each blog will say any parting words they may want to say along with possibly announcing their giveaway winner(s). If your post is towards the end of the event, feel free to have your giveaway last longer and announce the winner at a later time. No later than New Years Day, though!
Also on December 25th, Cyndi, Jacinda, and Yani will announce a BIG GIVEAWAY that will end New Year’s Day!

What are the rules/guidelines/important facts in regards to 25 Days of Jubilation?
Remember, there are a limited number of spots (just over 20), so it will be a first come, first basis.
Please try and give us a general idea in regards to your post and giveaway. Both are mandatory!
Please let us know which day(s) you are unable to post and/or which day(s) you would prefer. This will help us with scheduling.
Please only sign-up if you’re almost positive you want to participate. If you are still unsure or if you have any questions, please email yani@thesecretlifeofanavidreader.com or comment below.
The last day to sign up is Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 or until all spots are filled.
If you sign-up and later decide you do not want to participate, please let us know NO later than the week of Thanksgiving (November 20th-27th). Last minute emergencies are completely understandable, just let us know as soon as possible so the three of us can find a replacement.
Please make sure your email address is correct. We will be emailing you with more details at a later date.




Fill out this form if interested!!!!




Feel free to spread the word about this event! You can make a blog post saying you signed-up or post this button, which I made, on your sidebar! We encourage ALL participating blogs to display the button on your sidebar.







<a href="http://www.thesecretlifeofanavidreader.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVWWsq9K3xExi1UY8ubmRaSndnbc43BMqt4ZtzHJiYzpLjupv0jbTa4AUMD5iUvdy0C1-lbcwNzcLKU0CVUq99mY1VU1jBuwyEtbRbqFPdVHy86sbHiNWnPo2mF1dDCmqc5vGvYAA_zlCo/s1600/16508905082.jpg" alt="button1" /></a>

(Vlog) Book Review: Sloppy Firsts Series

By: Megan McCafferty
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Release Date: August 28, 2001
Pages: 298
Source: My Bookshelf and Kindle :)


“My parents suck ass. Banning me from the phone and restricting my computer privileges are the most tyrannical parental gestures I can think of. Don’t they realize that Hope’s the only one who keeps me sane? . . . I don’t see how things could get any worse.”

When her best friend, Hope Weaver, moves away from Pineville, New Jersey, hyperobservant sixteen-year-old Jessica Darling is devastated. A fish out of water at school and a stranger at home, Jessica feels more lost than ever now that the only person with whom she could really communicate has gone. How is she supposed to deal with the boy- and shopping-crazy girls at school, her dad’s obsession with her track meets, her mother salivating over big sister Bethany’s lavish wedding, and her nonexistent love life?

A fresh, funny, utterly compelling fiction debut by first-time novelist Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts is an insightful, true-to-life look at Jessica’s predicament as she embarks on another year of teenage torment--from the dark days of Hope’s departure through her months as a type-A personality turned insomniac to her completely mixed-up feelings about Marcus Flutie, the intelligent and mysterious “Dreg” who works his way into her heart. Like a John Hughes for the twenty-first century, Megan McCafferty taps into the inherent humor and drama of the teen experience. This poignant, hilarious novel is sure to appeal to readers who are still going through it, as well as those who are grateful that they don’t have to go back and grow up all over again.

Summary Taken from Goodreads

Yani's Review:







Also, would like to add that Perfect Fifths format is my FAVORITE of all the books and I would love to take the haikus in there and post them all over my walls!!


My Review in a Tweet: BUY THESE BOOKS!
Seriously, at least buy the first book Sloppy Firsts!

Ratings:
Plot Development: 9/10
Writing Style: 10/10
Characters: 11/10
Pace: 8/10
Uniqueness: 9/10
Ease of Reading: 8/10

Memorable Quotes:
Anything said by Marcus Flutie :)

In My Mailbox 9/25/11 and Bookshelf Tour

In My Mailbox {aka IMMB} is hosted by The Story Siren.

Bought:
Enthralled
To Kill a Mockingbird
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales
Halfway to the Grave
Philosphy

AND NOW A TOUR OF MY NEW LIBRARY/BOOK NOOK!!!

• Mara Mondays: The Location
• My Beating Teenage Heart Book Tour - Author Interv...
• Mara Monday : My Castings

FYI: I started reviewing again this weekend and I am not going to lie it was hard to remember details, so my review for the next month are shorter, more to the point, but still my complete and honest opinion.

ALSO:  Whether you have seen it or not, I have a feature here that I do every once in a while where I review adult romantic titles under my feature Smutty Saturdays. Jacinda from the Reading Housewives of Indiana and I were talking about hosting the feature for others to post their adult title reviews as well. This is really helpful I think for blogs like mine that mostly review YA, but every once in a while need a break from that and want to review older titles. Please leave a comment if you are interested in participating to see if there is enough interest. Thanks!!

Mara Mondays: The Location

As part of Mara Mondays I decided to explore my city and present to you all the REAL Miami.

Most people believe that Miami is this LARGE city, but in fact they are just grouping a bunch of south Florida cities together. Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Ft. Lauderdale, Hialeah, Miami Lakes... theses are all cities that surround the same area. For the most part, Noah Shaw's house and the nicer, richer area described in the book would be in either Miami Beach or Coral Gables. However, some parts of the story seem like they take place in Calle Ocho (Eight Street in English) which is a famous street in Miami.

Usually, visitors say traveling to Miami is like traveling out of the country. Store signs are in Spanish, people don't speak English, and the culture is very different than other US cities. I think that is why I love Miami so much though. After high school I left for college and though I would never come back. SURPRISINGLY, I missed it. ALOT.

SO here is Miami (the actual city, I wish I could have gone to all the other places mentioned above but it was a long day)

PS: I even followed a tour bus and took a couple pictures of the stops they visited. I think it so funny their most famous stop is a McDonalds, because its right next to the Cuban Memorial and a popular place for Cuban viejitos (older folks) to go play dominoes and chat.

Also, I promised last week I would cast my Noah and Mara, so click here to see that post!