Tune in Tuesday: Alt-J, Ingrid Michaelson, a-ha

Tune In Tuesday is a weekly feature in which bloggers get to showcase another one of their loves, music! The feature was originally created and hosted by Ginger over at GReads! but can now be found over at Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands.

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This is so weird because when I first started listening to Alt-J it was a love/hate – or I should say hate/love experience but now I’m kind of obsessed with them and can’t stop featuring music by them each week. lol

BTW – they have a great Spotify Sessions if you subscribe.

Alt-J – Something Good



Ingrid Michaelson – This is War The chorus is a bit too pop for me but I love the song and lyrics



a-ha – Take on Me The best part of the Billboard Music Awards is when Morten Harket of a-ha came out to sing Take on me during the Pitbull/Christina Aguilera performance. I loved this song and the video is STILL amazing!

Book Blogger Confessions: Adding a reviewer to your blog

 

Book Blogger Confessions is a meme that posts the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month, where book bloggers "confess" and vent about topics that are unique to us. Feel free to share, vent and offer solutions.

Just keep it respectful - no bashing authors or other bloggers! If you want to participate just grab our button and include it in your post with a link to either Midnyte Reader or For What It's Worth. We will be providing a linky at the end of our posts so people can "hop" to see all the participants answers.

Question: Have you added or considered adding additional reviewers to your blog? Why or why not? If you have, please share how you found the right match when bringing new people to your established blog. Did you encounter any problems?

I have thought of adding another reviewer to help lighten my review load and add genre variety but I’m really picky because it has to be someone I know and trust. I’ve invested over three years building the blog and I don’t want to add someone that may bring drama or reliability issues.

I also like how the blog is mine...all mine....*cackles*... I don't really want to schedule other peoples reviews and I like the spontaneity that comes with blogging by myself. I'm a total fly by the seat of my pants kind of blogger and I rarely even have a weeks worth of posts ready.

I've had guest reviewers in the past and I loved hosting them but they all moved on. That’s the problem with the people I want. They either move on to their own blog, are giving up blogging for good, or review on Goodreads but don’t want the pressure of regular reviewing.

I am interested to hear how other bloggers went through the process if they did add reviewers. It’s scary to me to pick someone I don’t know at all but I’m sure it works out just fine since there are several great blogs that have multiple reviewers.

I’m also interested to hear from followers – if a blogger you love adds a new reviewer how do you feel about that? Do you think it changes the “voice” of the blog or adds to it?

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2013 Book Blogger Confessions topics here

Sunday Ramblings…& a giveaway!

BEA is just around the corner and I have done NOTHING to get ready for it. Other than clear out older books. Which really is something I guess….because I’m really going to need the room for new books!

Anyway…this pretty much sums up my pre-BEA planning and possibly life in general.

Source: someecards.com

Incoming!

For review: (click on cover for more info)

* Thank you to Entangled Publishing, Farrar, Sraus and Giroux and Amazon Prime/Tor Teen, Hayson Manning

Bought:


Wrap-up:

Review:
Wicked as She Wants (blud #2) by Delilah S. Dawson
Crossing the Line by Katy McGarry
The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

Tune in Tuesday:
Vampire Weekend, Snow Patrol, The Lumieers, The National

Help a Blogger out:
Non-love triangle series recommendations

Book Blogger Confessions topic reminder for Monday 5/20!

The Lazy Blogger GIVEAWAY!

As I mentioned earlier I’m headed to BEA and I’ve been clearing out my books. Here is one last big ass box of books I’m giving away before I go.

I’m feeling super lazy so just check out the (admittedly crappy) pic for what books are in there (There are ARC’s and finished signed books. It will be a surprise. Sorry…me = tired….but yay free box of books!)

*Update - I'm trying to get the titles listed here in between doing other things. Here are a few of them:

Destined by Aprilynne Pike - Signed
A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford - Signed
The Girl in the Clockwork Collar By Kady Cross - Signed
The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron ARC - Signed

Taken at Dusk by C.C. Hunter
The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams
Fathom by Jackosn Pearce
Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder - Signed to me
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsh - Signed to me




Leave your name & email or twitter handle so I can reach you if you win. US only.I’ll pick a winner Friday morning so I can get the boxed shipped before BEA.

Review: The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

On the outside, seventeen-year-old Madelyne Summers looks like your typical blond cheerleader—perky, popular, and dating the star quarterback. But inside, Maddie spends more time agonizing over what will happen in the next issue of her favorite comic book than planning pep rallies with her squad. That she’s a nerd hiding in a popular girl's body isn’t just unknown, it's anti-known. And she needs to keep it that way.

Summer is the only time Maddie lets her real self out to play, but when she slips up and the adorkable guy behind the local comic shop’s counter uncovers her secret, she’s busted. Before she can shake a pom-pom, Maddie’s whisked into Logan’s world of comic conventions, live-action role-playing, and first-person-shooter video games. And she loves it. But the more she denies who she really is, the deeper her lies become…and the more she risks losing Logan forever. ~ Goodreads

Source: Provided by Entangled Teen for my honest review

Review:
Can I just write that this is the adorable, feel good book of the summer and be done with it?

I had so much fun reading The Summer I Became a Nerd. I read the whole book in just under 4 hours and *may* have done a little bit of a book nerd happy reader dance.

This book has it all, high school angst, cute boys, secret identities, awesome friendships, VISIBLE PARENTS.

I could write a long review but these days when I have this much fun with a book I just want to leave it at that and not dissect it to death so I will just say I highly recommend The Summer I Became a Nerd. I liked it so much that I’m going to go out and buy a physical copy just so I can fill it with post-it notes for my favorite quotes (of which there were many).

I must confess that I am not a nerd. I don’t read comic books and I don’t play video games so I can not attest to the nerd accuracy of this book lol but I found all the references to be a lot of fun. Also, I understood or could easily grasp all of them despite not knowing the background.

Final thoughts: SUPER CUTE summer read! Go get it!

Author: Goodreads | Website | Twitter
Buy the book! The Summer I Became a Nerd

Help a blogger out! Non - love triangle series recommendations

Source: stock.xching

I know love triangles exist in real life. I was even in a few when I was younger but I just don’t want to read about them anymore and I’m not knocking anyone who does. I’ve read several great series that had them and they didn’t bother me (Carolyn Crane’s awesome Disillusionist trilogy comes to mind)  It’s just that they usually depress me and leave me broken hearted. Plus I would love to see a a relationship with ups & downs evolve over time without throwing in a third wheel.

I’m looking for series recommendations that have romance – minus the love triangle. I’m not too picky on the genre or YA vs Adult (although it’s almost unheard to read YA without one so I would be really happy with a YA series rec!). I would just like it to be a series with one continuing main couple. They can fight, break up, stay together the whole time….I don’t care. Just no third parties please.

There are a few that I can think of that I enjoy (see below) but I would love to find more.

Read – Adult:
Kate Daniels Magic series by Ilona Andrews (Kate & Curran)

Night Huntress series by Jeanine Frost (Cat & Bones)

WVMP Radio Vampire series by Jeri Smith-Ready (Ciara & Shane)

Sirantha Jax series by Ann Aguirre (Sirantha & March)

YA:
Razorland trilogy (Enclave/Outpost/Horde) by Ann Aguirre (Deuce & Fade) I know a lot of people think there’s a triangle here but I really don’t see it that way – and Aguirre has said in interviews that there isn't one so that’s good enough for me.

Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth (Tris & Four)

Ghost and the Goth trilogy by Stacey Kade

Can anyone help this blogger out???