Hop & Follow Fridays!

This is a weekly event hosted by Jen at Crazy For Books. It's a chance to discover new blogs and to garner new readers for your blog as well.

This Week's Question ...
Who is your favorite new-to-you author so far this year?

Oooh, I have three! Anastasia Hopcus, Jackson Pearce, and Jeri Smith-Ready. All three have fabulous books out, their writing is amazing, and they're all super sweet.

Two other easy-to-talk-to and super sweet authors are Emma Michaels and Sophie Littlefield. I'm looking forward to reading both of their books coming out!


To join Parajunkee's new feature and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list.
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers.
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments.
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can.
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers.
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!

What's In A Name?

Do you like making up names? Are you creative and can come up with names and titles at a whim? Well, then you should head over to Deepali's Blog and enter the Catchy Name Contest!

I'll be honest: when I first started this blog, I just named it the first thing I thought of. Now, sometimes, I look back at all the catchy blog names and I think, "You know, if I would have put some time and creativity into it, I could have an awesome blog name and not be seething with jealousy over others!" Or I could have asked for opinions. Don't get me wrong, Missy's Reads & Reviews has definitely grown on me and I wouldn't change it ... but it's just something I think about sometimes.

Deepali has a really awesome blog. She now has the dilemma over naming her blog. Now, it's our turn to help out a fellow blogger and get creative with some witty blog names! After all, the book blogosphere IS the most helpful community out of them all, right? PLUS, you get an incentive: a book of your choice (limit $10) from Book Depository!! Who doesn't love a chance to get a free book .. especially when you get to choose?!

So, head on over and fill out the form! What do you have to lose? I've already whipped up a few, but I thought I'd stop and let you guys get a chance!

Contest ends August 15th!

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Gathering (Darkness Rising, Book 1)
by Kelley Armstrong
Hardcover, 400 pages
HarperCollins
To Be Released April 12, 2011

Maya lives in a small medical-research town on Vancouver Island. How small? You can’t find it on the map. It has less than two-hundred people, and her school has only sixty-eight students—for every grade from kindergarten to twelve.

Now, strange things are happening in this claustrophobic town, and Maya's determined to get to the bottom of them. First, the captain of the swim team drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. A year later, mountain lions start appearing around Maya's home, and they won’t go away. Her best friend, Daniel, starts getting negative vibes from certain people and things. It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret—and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy: Her paw-print birthmark.

Previous WoW's ...

Cloaked, by Alex Flinn
Extraordinary, by Nancy Werlin
Intrinsical, by Lani Woodland
The Thirteenth Chime, by Emma Michaels
Almost To Die For, By Tate Hallaway
Banished, by Sophie Littlefield

Review: Shade, by Jeri Smith-Ready

Shade (Shade, Book 1)
by Jeri Smith-Ready
Hardcover, 309 pages
Simon Pulse
Published May 4, 2010
· isbn: 1416994068
· isbn13: 9781416994060

Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan's band playing a critical gig and Aura's plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend's life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan's sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He's gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan's violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn't help that Aura's new friend Zachary is so understanding--and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura's relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura's heart...and clues to the secret of the Shift.

>> Read a bonus prequel scene here. <<
>> Read chapter one of Shade here. <<

My first thought of this book after reading the blurb was, "Ehh, it's another ghost book - and, oh, look at that ... it's another love triangle." After the past few unmentionable reads, I had had enough of the love triangles to last me a lifetime. But Shade kept calling me. Everywhere I turned, it was there ... staring me down. Breaking me down. Finally, I gave in. Best. Decision. Ever.

From the very first page, I was hooked. It's not just about ghosts, or just about love. Yes, there are those things in the book, along with family issues, relationships, peer pressure, friendships, sex, death, gossip mills, angry soulless ghosts, bad guys, etc etc. Honestly, I thought my banana split cake had a bunch of layers ... but this book seriously takes the cake! (Ha!) It'll have you laughing one moment, crying your eyes out next, then you'll be sitting on the edge of your seat frantically reading to find out what happens next.

Smith-Ready is an incredible writer and she did a fabulous job with this book. Not only did she manage to blend all of the layers together seamlessly, she also created a multitude of dimensional characters that were both believable and easy to relate to. Aura is a girl that you will fall in love and empathize with wholly - especially when it comes to her internal struggle of not only trying to let go of Logan and figure out her feelings for Zachary, but also try to find the answers to all the questions left by her mother.

And the ending? One word: intense. That's another emotional roller coaster in itself, and one that you can't get off easily because you're left seeking answers and wanting to know what happens next - but you'll have to wait for the sequel, Shift, that comes out May 2011. It can't get here fast enough!!

The Verdict?

The Versatile Blogger Award!

A huge thanks to Savannah over at Books With Bite for awarding me with this. It's always such an honor to receive these awards!

This is actually my second time receiving this award, so I'm posting this again to let you in on some more tidbits about me, as well as forwarding you to 15 more bloggers that deserve this award. If you're interested in the previous recipients, then just visit my other blog post.

Here's how this award works:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.


7 Things:

1. My favorite color is orange.
2. I'm an only child. I consider my best friends the siblings I never had.
3. I have only been in one uber serious relationship, and it's pretty much the only one I'll ever be in considering I married him. I've been with my husband for seven years and I'm in it for life.
4. One day, I'd love to be a published author. I have over a dozen stories I've worked on because ideas come to me all the time. I have cut this down to three stories that I'm working on seriously now.
5. I drink entirely too much sweet tea.
6. My actor crush is Jackson Rathbone. I heart him.
7. I have a book addiction. No lie. I think about buying books all the time. I also had to put myself on a budget so I wouldn't spend all my money on books.


15 Bloggers:
01. Teens Read & Write
02. Reading With Tequila
03. Musings of a Reader Happy
04. Confessions of a Bookaholic
05. Books And Things
06. A Chick Who Reads
07. The Authoress - Book Reviews and More
08. Strange Candy Reviews
09. Super Reader Girl's Book Reviews
10. In The Hammock
11. A Book Obsession
12. Moonlight Book Reviews
13. My Neurotic Book Affair
14. Literary Cravings
15. About Books Blog

*I was also rewarded with a Prolific Blogger Award back in May. To check out the bloggers I awarded for that award, go to the post.

Teaser Tuesdays!

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading.

· Grab your current read.
· Open to a random page.
· Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
· BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
· Share the author and title, too, so that the other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

The Van Alen Legacy (Blue Bloods #4), by Melissa de la Cruz

So this was how a love affair ends: with a random meeting on a public staircase. A few polite words and nothing real said, even though their world was ending. And so, with the most self-control she had ever managed, she dried her tears, picked up her books, and continued up the stairs.

She would just have to endure.

Monday, Monday!

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly event - hosted by the wonderful Sheila - to share what we are reading this week, as well as what we read the previous week. Feel free to share in on the fun, or just click on the link to see what others are reading!

How's my reading going?

Reading is still taking back burner to some more pressing issues, like the complete re-organization of my entire house.

What did I finish last week?

Poison Study, by Maria V Snyder - It was a great read and I'm glad I made the time for it.

What do I plan reading this week?

Stolen, by Lucy Christopher - It's been on my TBR shelf for quite some time. I'm excited to read it, though it may take some time to read with all the stuff going on around here!

How's your reading going??

Musing Mondays is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading. This week's musing is ...

Do you review books? If so, for who?

If not, have you ever thought about doing so? Why, or why not?

I do review books, obviously. It started as just something as easy as word of mouth. I would practically review every book for my friend and got so excited about particular books that I would blab to my husband - who didn't appreciate it as much as my friend. So, instead of annoying him anymore, I started this blog. My reviews are personal opinions and the blog is a way to shamelessly promote books that I love and other blogs that I read and get more recommendations. On occasion, I do get books from authors and publishers - so I do it for them as well. I also some times post my reviews on Goodreads and other sites, but I don't keep up with them as religiously as this blog. I wish I could, but I honestly cannot afford to spend that much time on a hobby right now.