Mara Mondays!

At BEA I was one of the lucky ones to grab a copy of this little book  called the Unbecoming of Mara Dyer and if you have read my review (found here) you know how much I loved it. So when Lori and Casey approached me about doing this feature I was all like "HELL YEAH!" I am really excited to the final version to come out, and I usually don't do this but I am buying another copy! Michelle is actually hosting the book launch here in Miami, so to kick off the start of Mara Mondays and the countdown till the release I am giving away a personalized copy of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out all the blogs and posts happening as part of this awesome feature (For a more updated schedule check out Lori's blog Pure Imagination) , and make sure to enter below for the super awesome Mara Dyer Giveaway!

Sept 5th:

Kick off with giveaway

Candace's Book Blog - Cover photographer post

Sept 12th:

Heise Reads & Recommends: Top 10 Reasons to Pre-Order Mara Dyer

The Secret Life of a Avid Reader - Dream cast

Sophistikatied Reviews - Fan art

Reading Angel - Review

Sept 19th:

Heise Reads & Recommends- Interview

The Secret Life of a Avid Reader- Miami post

Greads- Quote graphics post

Sept 26th:

Heise Reads & Recommends- Review

Vy's Blog

Pure Imagination - Mara project post/Gift for Michelle

September 27th is the Release Day!!

In My Mailbox 9/4/11

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


ARC Tour:

Bought:

I made a video, but I didn't have time to edit, so sorry its so long! Anyways, here is the tale of my insane borders shopping spree :)

I am not listing them out today, I don't know how to use the new blogger with my amazon associates account.

My bookcases:

Blogs that need to be Mentioned:

• Farrah at I Eat Words and FarrahPenn.com is the driving force behind my John Green purchases, she has nothing but good things to say, so I am excited to get to reading!
• Thanks to April and Lisa for recommending Bright Young Things for my BFF.
• Ginger as always with her awesome recs.
• Isa my historical romance guru :)

Also, with all these new books I am hosting a surprise box of books giveaway. One larger box and one smaller box. There are some ARCs, nothing too notable, but mostly they are books that I just have not time to read and are taking up space. If you are interested, enter below :)

Giveaway: Dark Parties by Sara Grant

DARK PARTIES

BOOK RELEASE + GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Big Honocho Media and Little Brown Books... Two winners will receive a copy of Dark Parties!!

About the book:

In a world shrouded in fear and lies, how can you shed light on the truth?

Sixteen-year-old Neva lives in Homeland, an isolated country separated from the rest of the world by the Protectosphere.  The government insists there’s nothing beyond its borders, but as Homeland’s resources dwindle, people, girls mainly, have started to go missing.  If there’s no way out of the Protectosphere, where are they going? Suspecting the government is lying about everything, Neva and her friends stage a Dark Party in the hope of uncovering the truth and finding the freedom they dream about.

About the author:

Sara Grant is an American living in the UK. Born and raised in Washington, Indiana, Sara graduated from Indiana University with degrees in journalism and psychology. She now works as a freelance writer and editor for Working Partners, a London-based company creating series fiction for children. She lives in London with her husband. This is her first novel.

More Links:

-Website
-Twitter
-Facebook
-GoodReads

-Dark Parties Excerpt

My Dark Parties Review - COMING SOON

The resistance has staged its first Dark Party. Listen in now and share with it your friends. Join the resistance! 

Contest ends August 4! See general rules in policies section!

TGIF 7/8/11

TGIF is a feature over GReads to re-cap the week's posts  & to propose a question for all the followers.

 

Blogger Confession: What's the last book you could not finish? (or had a hard time finishing?)

Back in February I wrote a post on DNF, a discussion type post on my opinions and general rules other people have - for the full article it can be found here- but I will post a little snippet of what I wrote ....

I really don't like NOT finishing a book, especially an ARC that has been given to me, but sometimes you just don't click with a book. For me its usually one of two things: 1) I am stressed/ or unfocused at the time I begin to read or 2) I really don't click with the characters. These cause me to not be able to focus/concentrate on the book and therefore I just can't get into the book.

In the past I have had times where I give up on a book too soon, or don't give up soon enough. I'll pick up a book I gave up on and fall in love the second time I try to read it, such as with The Hunger Games -I know I am an idiot for not loving it the first time around- The Summer I turned Pretty, and The Sky is Everywhere. All these are amazing books that I gave up on quickly and then on re-reading them I fell in love. 

 

Other times, I finish it and still wasn't touched or moved by it. Ex: Beautiful Creatures, Lipstick Laws,  Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood, and The Vespertine. For the most part those books where ARCs and I felt like I had to review them, so I finished. With Beautiful Creatures I just wanted to know what happened, and that made me skip a lot of the book, even though I technically finished it.

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Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee.

Let's step away from besties...What is the worst book that you've ever read and actually finished?

Funny that that is this week's question, as I mentioned above in the third paragraph, I actually did finish those books, but they where just okay.

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Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Crazy For Books.

Promote a Giveaway!

Jess at Gone with the Words is having a huge giveaway!! Here: http://www.gonewiththewords.com/2011/07/6-month-blogiversary-500-follower.html

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Giveaway Updates!!

Remember this 300 Follower giveaway I announced earlier?? Well, I just noticed now the number has increased to 350! WOW I am so happy to all those new followers who have found my blog, so I am upping the ante.

If you already entered no need to enter again =) And if you keep tweeting, you can earn extra entries for each, just leave a comment below with the link to the tweet

BEA Books - US only! Now with TWO winners and Added TWO books!

1st place, choose two books, 2nd place gets the other two

Two Books from The Book Depository (International) for One Winner* and a SECOND winner** will get One book from The Book Depository (International)!

* total max value limit of $25  ** total max value $12.50

Rules: 

• Two separate giveaways, but you may enter for both
• US Only for BEA Books
• 13 + only
• Runs until July 23, 2011 Midnight Eastern Time
• See policies for general giveaway rules
• Extra entries:  
• Blog Follower (+5)
• Tweet (+2): Enter to win some awesome books at http://www.thesecretlifeofanavidreader.com/p/giveaways.html @avidreader15
• Follow @avidreader15 (blog twitter account) (+1), @avidyani (+1)

IMM and Blogaversery/Birthday Month/300 Follower Giveaway!!

 Hosted by The Story Siren!

This weeks IMM is short, because I have been on vacation since last Sunday so I do have books, but they are waiting for me at home, will do an IMM video next week. I did buy on my kindle Fins Are Forever (sequel to Forgive my Fins) super cute! Also some very exciting news, I am having a giveaway!!

So I am a little late on this because I planned to do this last month, in which I celebrated my birthday, my 6 months blogging, and reached 300 followers! So even though this is late, the reasons are still the same. I decided to share some of my BEA love and giveaway two books from BEA and two books (your choice) from the book depository!

BEA Books - US only!

+ Two Books from The Book Depository (International)  = One Awesome Giveaway!!!

**** total value limit of $25

Depending on number of entrants and number of new followers, I will possibly be adding more books!!

Rules: 

• Two separate giveaways, but you may enter for both
• US Only for BEA Books
• 13 + only
• Runs until July 23, 2011 Midnight Eastern Time
• See policies for general giveaway rules
• Extra entries:  
• Blog Follower (+5)
• Tweet (+2): Enter to win some awesome books at http://www.thesecretlifeofanavidreader.com/p/giveaways.html @avidreader15
• Follow @avidreader15 (blog twitter account) (+1), @avidyani (+1)

13 Reasons Why Project and Giveaway!

TH1RTEEN R3ASONS WHY

PAPERBACK RELEASE + GIVEAWAY
Thank you Penguin & Big Honcho Media!

This week is the launch of Thriteen Reasons Why paperback edition and it's new website.

About the Site:

Penguin launched the 13RW Project at www.13RWProject.com as a place for fans of Thirteen Reasons Why to record their thoughts, stories, videos and photos relating to the book, and to view what other readers from all across the country have shared. Each review is logged on a map to show the many locations that viewers are posting from, and all content is shareable through Facebook and Twitter.

 

About the book:

Thirteen Reasons Why is the story of a girl named Hannah Baker who takes her own life. But before she does, she records several cassette tapes explaining why and sends them to the people she feels pushed her toward that decision. The story is told from the point of view of Clay Jensen who spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah’s voice as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah’s pain, and learns the truth about himself—a truth he never wanted to face.

The anti-bullying anthem was published in hardcover in October 2007 by Razorbill, and quickly became a word-of-mouth favorite among teenaged readers with fans claiming, “This book changed my life.” The novel has been on the New York Times children’s hardcover bestseller list for 65 weeks, foreign rights have been sold into 30 countries and it has been acquired by Universal Pictures and will star Selena Gomez.

FIND MY REVIEW HERE: (Coming Soon)

About the Author:

Jay Asher lives on the central coast of California with his wife and son. His favorite part of being an author is speaking with his readers at schools and libraries across the country.

Giveaway Prizes

Two winners from this site will receive:

·         Paperback copies of Thirteen Reasons Why

Giveaway Rules:

• US Only
• See general giveaway rules in policies
• 13 + only
• Runs until June 23, 2011 Midnight Eastern Time
• Extra entries:  
• Tweet (+5): Enter to win 13 Reasons Why at http://www.thesecretlifeofanavidreader.com/ and check out www.13RWProject.com @PenguinTeen #13RWProject
• Blog Follower (+2)
• Follow @avidreader15 on Twitter (+2), @avidyani (+2)

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Giveaway : Shift

SHIFT - 
Sequel to Shade

Book Review + Giveaway 
(Find My Review: Here)

Prizes

Two winners will receive: A copy of Shift!

Giveaway open to addresses in the U.S. and sponsored by Simon Pulse.

 

About the Book:

Aura’s life is anything but easy. Her boyfriend, Logan, died, and his slides between ghost and shade have left her reeling. Aura knows he needs her now more than ever. She loves Logan, but she can’t deny her connection with the totally supportive, totally gorgeous Zachary. And she’s not sure that she wants to. Logan and Zachary will fight to be the one by her side, but Aura needs them both to uncover the mystery of her past—the mystery of the Shift. As Aura’s search uncovers new truths, she must decide whom to trust with her secrets…and her heart.

 

About the Author:

Jeri Smith-Ready's previous adult novels include Wicked Game, Requiem for the Devil and Eyes of Crow. This is her first teen series. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two cats, and a retired racing greyhound. Learn more at www.jerismithready.com.

To see more about Shade and Shift:

http://pages.simonandschuster.com/shade

Giveaway Rules:

• US Only
• 13 + only
• Runs until June 7, 2011
• Extra entries:  
• Tweet (+5): Enter to win Shift at http://www.thesecretlifeofanavidreader.com/ @avidreader15 @jsmithready @SimonTeen #ShiftGiveaway!
• Blog Follower (+2)
• Follow @avidreader15 on Twitter (+2), @avidyani (+2)

EScott Book Week Giveaway

In reading Between Here and Forever I was reminded about so many great YA books that touch upon loss and death for teenagers. Below is my post about this books and why I feel these books are timeless.

Be sure to post your reviews and discussions in the linky below to receive extra entries in The Secret Life of An Avid Reader's EScott Week Giveaway!!

Many of you may already know and are planning to participate in Elizabeth Scott week, but even if you are not participating everyone has the opportunity to enter into an amazing giveaway provided to us by Elizabeth Scott herself. Each blog stop in our week will be giving away one or more complete sets of Elizabeth's works, so be sure to stop by the other blogs and enter there as well. In our blog you might see the form multiple times, but you only need to enter once. AND if you do participate during the week it means extra entries to win!!!

Schedule for Elizabeth Scott Book Week

Wednesday 5/18 - Bloom @ Fiction Folio

Thursday 5/19 - Perfect You @ I Eat Words

Friday 5/20 - Something, Maybe @ Anna Reads

SUPER Saturday 5/21
                      - Living Dead Girl @ GReads
                      - Love You, Hate You, Miss You @ I Eat Words
                      - Grace @ The Secret Life of an Avid Reader

Sunday 5/22 - Stealing Heaven @ Addicted 2 Novels

Monday 5/23 - The Unwritten Rule @ GReads

Tuesday 5/24 - Between Here and Forever @ The Secret Life of an Avid Reader

Title your Link as Blog Name - Book Title

Enter for a chance to win, not one, but ALL these books!

Rules:

- US Only

- 13 + only
- Runs until May 25, 2011

- May only enter once (on this blog), we will count the extra entries manually

- Each blog is hosting their own giveaway for one set of the books, but here in TSLoaAR, you have a chance to win 1 of 3!

TMI Winner and News on E Scott Giveaway!

I forgot to do this post earlier, but the winners were picked and notified...

Holly won the TMI set and Jenna won Clockwork Angel!

Thanks everyone for participating and come back for Elizabeth Scott Giveaway!! Win a complete set of her books including As I Wake which doesn't come out till September.

Each blog in the week will host their own giveaway with one winner, and you can enter them all for a chance to win these amazing books!! EXTRA entries to those who post links on our review to theirs and participates during Elizabeth Scott Week.