Category: Book Giveaways

BBAW: Pimp That Book

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning.  Yesterday totally got away from me… I started writing a poem for yesterdays BBAW post and then I had to go to work… it was a big day – annual meeting day and I am in charge of special events so between working, texting my son in Florida who has gull bladder surgery yesterday, and then finally coming home last night at 9 pm from work… I was exhausted and was hardly on-line at all.. let alone write a post.

However – here we are on Thursday the sun is shining and due to my busy work hours this past week, I have a bonus day off – today!  SO… you are getting me chatting for BBAW and let me warn you… I know how to pimp a book.  😛

I have two books that came to mind right away… both are YA, and there was a time (and there still might be) where I was going to write a post called “I am Patrick Ness’ Baby Mama.”  Ok, ok… totally not true and probably border line inappropriate, but you have to admit… that post title would catch your attention.  😛  My point is – have you read his Chaos Walking Series?  If not… you must!  They are The Knife Of Never Letting Go, The Ask and The Answer, and Monsters Of Men and yes all three are available and yes, you do want them all at once because when one ends you will be all like “HOLY COW!!!!!  WHA???????” and you will want to jump into the next book right away. 😀

(Oh and look how nice of me to link those titles to my reviews….. ahhhh. Sheila.  So thoughtful.  LOL 😆 )

When I first was drawn to the books Monsters Of Men had just hit the shelves.  People told me I needed to have all three at once so I ordered all three at once. 

Then… I worried about that.

I thought that was a bit extreme, what if I am into book one and I am thinking “ugh” and not I have a beautiful “ugh” set?  Well, no worries there, awesome awesome awesome series that I have pimped out to all my friends – told them not to get scared about the talking dog in the early pages…. its different, but you will find out it works. 😀

Ok…I, am not finished.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green led to perhaps my only 2012 (so far) book melt down where I loved that book so much I have been pushing John Green like crack – and I guess, devouring his books in much the same manner.  (No, no-no, I am not a crack user, I just play one on this blog.  :razz:)

So there is my input on today’s topic. 

 

 

In other news, I wrote a post on Community on the BBAW site.  It sums up my past three years on book blogging and how it is the community of awesome book bloggers that keeps me going. 😀

Be sure to check out my BBAW giveaways if you have not already.  I have this one going, and a giveaway for Gods Of Gotham as well as another one coming up in my review later today. 😀

I have a nice fairly lazy day planned of reading blogs, writing a review and reading. I have a birthday dinner tonight and will be making cupcakes later but for the next few hours… I think I will be right here in this chair. 😀

Morning Meanderings… Late Start to BBAW, but a start :)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

 

Good morning.   Mondays are always hard for me to post anything beyond the Monday What Are You Reading meme because I really want that one to hold for the day… however there are occasional exceptions. 😀 

My plan was that when I came home yesterday afternoon I was going to write-up my Appreciation post.  Instead… I was at the library from 11- 2 building the Banned Book Week display, then I had a few errands to run, picked up my dog from the groomers, started making my dessert for book club that is tonight, whipped up a quick dinner for Al and went to a Friends Of The Library meeting. 

I never did get that post done.

This morning, I thought I would touch on it as my post this afternoon will be my interview swap with a new (and impressive!) book blogger to me, Benji from The Non Reluctant Reader (who in turn, is interviewing me and already has the post up!

 

So Appreciation.   It is always so hard to narrow down the blogs and bloggers I really appreciate.  For one, there are so many bloggers I love – they crack me up…. (Jill at Fizzy Thoughts, Trish from Love, Laughter, and a touch of Insanity, Jenners from Life With Books,… and those I like to read their thoughts on books ( and inevitably buy books off their recommendations) :  Kathy from Bermuda Onion, Alison from Alison’s BookMarks, Ryan from Wordsmithonia, Laurel from many book blogs :D, Reagan from Miss Remmers Review, Alyce from AT Home With Books…

Of course, inevitably I will be driving into work today and do the hand to the forehead thing and realize someone else I surely should have added to this list and how did I forget and *sigh*  Know that you are ALL LOVE and ALL APPRECIATED.

Truly – If you stop by Book Journey and read my nonsense, comment on my reviews, share in my work out woe’s, give advice, play along in the read-a-longs, meme’s, challenges…. I adore you and I thank you – because without you stopping in and making me smile when I open up my laptop and I see your comment…. I dont know if I would do this.  Seriously, the readers, make the experience.

Thank you again – and Happy BBAW to everyone.  To celebrate – here is my giveaway for today:

 

I have not read it yet… I know I need too, but I have two copies so one lucky winner will walk away with this baby this week (winner announced on Friday morning.  To enter, leave me a comment here telling me either of a blog/blogger you really enjoy OR what you love about either being a book blogger or a book blog reader.  😀 

 

Also – don’t forget I have the all week giveaway going on as well.  Click here to see how to win an Amazon Gift Card just be popping in all week-long and chatting with me about…. mmmm…. books and bloggers!  😀

 

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Sept 10 – 14

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)40 Comments

Welcome To Book Blogger Appreciation Week!  As part of this exciting week I will be offering a $15  gift card to Amazon to one lucky commenter this week.  To enter just comment on any post I write this week starting with the Monday What Are You Reading (and yes, including this post too) all the way through Fridays posts.  You will receive one entry per comment so if you comment on seven posts, you will have seven entries (note, the comment does need to be an actual comment that contributes to the discussion – not a one word “sweet” or “awesome”).  😀

Also continue to watch for other giveaways throughout the week – you will know when I post them but here is a sample of what I will be giving away throughout this week, just watch for the posts:

The Infinity Ring by James Dashner (with giveaway!!!)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Dak Smyth leads a pretty boring, he actually prefers to spend most of his time in the past, digging through history books and spouting out facts much to his parents embarrassment and his classmates delight to ridicule him.  His best friend Sera Frosts however gets him… in fact, if someone to ask Dak, he would tell you that she is an even bigger nerd than he is.

When Sera finds the final piece to Dak’s parents secret attempt at creating a time machine called the Infinity Ring, Daks life gets a whole lot more interesting.  After all, how much cooler is it to go back and experience history first hand then read about it hundreds of years later?  When Dak and Sera go back in time with Dak’s parents things go terribly wrong… for one thing, when they return Dak and Sera are alone, somehow Dak’s parents are lost in time.  And when Dak and Sera are taken away by people who want and need what the Infinity Ring can do… things go from bad to worse.

Now Dak and Sera, and a Historian named Riq are on a mission to go back in time and not only fix what is called a “break” in time, but hopefully find Dak’s parents along the way.  First stop… Spain, 1492…. and a meeting with Christopher Columbus!

Why did I want to read this book?  I met James Dashner in New York this past June and thought he was hilarious.  I enjoyed his quick whit and while I have two of his books on my shelves, I have yet to read them.  When he showed us a sample of what was coming up with Infinity Ring and the on line game that goes with it.. I ( a recovering gamer myself…) was sold. 

Read at the cabin!

Infinity Ring is a middle grade style read.  In the beginning it gave me memories of Narnia, kids traveling to another world, in this case, another time.  Yet Infinity Ring is going to speak to todays young teens.  The book is fun and moves quickly and holds your attention.  Within the book the main characters (all in their teens) solve word and picture puzzles to know what they are supposed to do.  I found this highly engaging as I love puzzles and wanted to figure out the clues right along with them! 

While the 8-14 year old will enjoy this book, parents can be thrilled that they are getting in a little history as well.  Dashner as sprinkled this story with historical facts about the places they visit.  When the book is done, the front flap of the book has a secret panel that the reader is to open only after they have finished the book.  I can not tell you what is behind the flap… I can tell you that it is super cool.  😀

And finally, I think what is also going to excite the readers is the online game that goes with the book(s) where you can go and work the puzzles out yourself and solve the breaks, just like the characters do in the book!

Not only did I really enjoy the multi dimensions of the book, I love the fact that this will be a series of books that will be written by different authors and continue the story.  The book was fairly short but I think that is a good length for the age of the reader and it will leave them wanting more.

Recommended!  Can’t wait to read more of Dashner!

**Note I received an ARC of this book while in New York and I am offering that book up for giveaway at this time.  Leave a comment here letting me know if you were to go back in time, where would you like to go and why?  What historical event would you like to witness?  I will choose a winner on Tuesday, Sept. 4

Amazon Rating

I received my ARC of this book from Scholastic and I

bought my copy from Amazon

Morning Meanderings… 2 Days Coffee Free and a WINNER!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)41 Comments

Good Morning!  It feels like forever since I have just chatted it up with you!  I guess in reality, it has been since Sunday.  It has been a busy week here with it being Audio Book Week and I have been playing audio advocate and using a bullhorn to shout the benefits of audio to the world…

There are two days left of audio week and I am still on board, just wanted to do a life check in. 

I am on day three of a Cleanse.  Mmmmm hmmmmm…..   here is what happened…  a friend of mine who had a baby in January started this 21 day cleanse the Monday I was in New York.  The week I returned she was on vacation and so by the time I seen her next and we worked together was after she had been on the cleanse for 16 days.  And wow.  She had super thinned down and anyway – I was impressed. 

The cleanse itself once you maneuver it isn’t that difficult – it is just a new mind-set.  You can eat all the vegies you want and half the amount of fruit as you eat vegies.  You can have two protein shakes a day, and one egg.  You can use Virgin Olive oil to cook, steam, whatever.  You can have 1/2 cup of brown rice a day or 1 cup of lentils.  Rice noodles are also (1/2 cup) ok to have.  Your only beverage is water.

After the first 10 days, on day 11 you can add in a serving of fish or chicken each day through the rest of the cleanse that ends on day 21.

You picked up on the fact I am not drinking coffee?  😯

SO… day 1 went ok but at the end of the night I ate a Skinny Cow ice cream cone.  I am not a pro at this……  (the cleanse that is, the ice cream I can hold my own on)  😀  Day 2, yesterday went better, for dinner I cooked the rice, and then put it in a little olive oil with my one egg and mushrooms, onion.  Seasoned that baby up with Cajun spices and a side of asparagus cooked it a little olive oil, a little lemon and sea salt and it was delicious and filling.

Surprisingly, the coffee, or lack there of, has not bothers me too much other than I am a bit foggy much to the delight of my co workers.  I have had to ask questions on how to do things I know how to do.  Here all this time I thought I was smart and it was the coffee talking!  😛 

But this morning… this morning was the kicker and that is what led up to this post.  I got up at 5 am with hubby because I was AWAKE.  Made the bed brushed my teeth, washed my face, put on night cream….

Yup.

I put night cream back on my face after washing it off.  I looked in the mirror and told myself, seriously?

So that is what is happening around here.  Oh yes, and the Literary Blog Hop ended yesterday and the winner of the Literary book of choice from Amazon or the Book Depository Using random.org is:

#12:  Mystica

Woo hoo!!!!  Congrats Mystica!  Email me at journeythroughbooks@ gmail.com to tell me which book you would like of $20 dollars or less – I am guessing this will come from the Book Depository but you can let me know when you email your address and which of the companies ship to you.  😀

And finally, today’s discussion is, What Makes A Good Narrator?

I think a good narrator surrounds you with the story.  You should be able to get lost in the words and not notice things like throat clearing, swallowing, chair moving…. that may sound funny but I have heard all of these things, but before you run away screaming “Audio is scary,” you dont hear this in a well narrated audio book and my hearing it is rare. 

If the book is narrated well you move as smoothly through the story as though you were reading it yourself, and in some cases – even better than you reading it yourself.  The characters, the accents, the voices, should come off natural not forced.  As you are reading through all the fantastic posts this week on audio take note of the narrators people are listing as the ones to watch for.

For more audio book related topics, posts, and giveaways, stop by and check our Devourer Of Books Audiobook Week 2012.

And that’s a wrap for me this morning.  I am going to make breakfast and put a new sticky post up this morning and if time start writing my audio review for this afternoon as well.

Have a super day!  😀

Literary Blog Hop June 23-27

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)151 Comments

Welcome to The Literary Blog Hop hosted by Judith of Leeswammes Blog!  Not really sure what is considered a Literary read, Wikepedia defines it as well written, critically acclaimed and usually serious in nature.  Still not sure?  Goodreads has compiled a list of over 500 titles of literary fiction.

My giveaway will be for a literary book of your choice of $20 or less from either Amazon or the Book Depository.  To enter I have one question you need to answer.  I would like to know what is the best book you have read (or listened to if it was on audio) so far in 2012.

I will draw a winner the morning of the 28th and announce it here.

For the list of the other participants to hop your way too – click here

Morning Meanderings…Winners and Cat-Dogs

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)50 Comments

Happy Saturday everyone!  Did you know this is my favorite day of the week?  Saturdays are the one day each week I can linger a bit more in the morning without rushing out the door.  If I can, I keep them fairly open, non commitment filled… I like the options of choosing what I do with my day, at least once a week 🙂

I hope you had a chance to stop by yesterday to my annual Blogiversary Party.  It is always fun that it lands shortly after BEA so I can give away a few books and swag.  If you have a few minutes, it is well worth just reading the imaginative comments that make me smile, and occasionally laugh out loud.  (I challenge everyone to let me know how they arrive at the party and what virtual food item/or gift they brought with.  Lets just say it is going to take me weeks to get the crumbs out of my blog side bars and pretty sure there was a little cake on the header this morning too I had to clean up.  😛

SO now…. for my winners!  Using random.org, here are the winners of the packages:

Package 1 goes to:  Kaye (comment #61)

 

Package #2 goes to Julie at Read Handed

 

Package #3:  A Book Dragon’s Lair

 

Package #4:  Lydia from The Lost Entwife

 

The $10 Amazon Gift Card:  Joan (comment #45)

 

Congratulations everyone!  As soon as I have your addresses I will be able to mail out – email me at

journeythroughbooks @gmail.com

 

Ok, now that the business portion of this morning post is done I do have a picture – yes, one picture (so unlike me) for Alyce’s Saturday Snapshots.  This one I took the other day while sitting outside on the deck with a friend and my to dogs…. we were sitting in the tall chairs at the tall table and Bailey, decided to climb up on the deck table… while that was shocking enough, Sam… climbed from the deck, to the table, to the chair, leaped up on the deck railing and sat there…. like a cat.  😯

Be sure to stop by Saturday Snapshots at At Home with Books to see what other people are taking pictures of!

One last little “housekeeping” item… I am running a blog survey this week (see upper right side bar) and I would love it if you could take a minute or two to give me some feedback.  Next week after it is complete I will post the results and offer up a $10 gift card to one of the participants in this survey.  😀

Enjoy your Saturday, I am about to write a guest post for a friend and a post for later today…. then… I think I will be outside – it is gorgeous out today and I want to take full advantage!

Blogiversary!!!!!!! Year Three – And You Get The Gifts!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)232 Comments

Woo hoo!!!!I have officially hit the year three mark, as of June 9th I have been book blogging/reviewing/chatting/gushing for three years!  THREE YEARS!!!

When I started blogging I had no idea it would one day lead me to:

  • Not one, not two, but three trips (so far!) to New York to the Book Expo!

  • I would not only make great friends who love books as much as I do – but in some cases I was able to meet them!

  • Writing reviews for a local magazine

  • Connecting with our local library

  • and stretch my reading palate to try books I never thought I would enjoy and found out in many cases I did!  😛

I can hardly remember what life was like before I started writing posts (this one by the way is number 2,192!)

For those of you who have come to my party last year or the year before, the basics are pretty much the same… to be entered for the great giveaways (pictured below), simply leave me a comment here telling me how you traveled to the party, and what virtual gift or food item you brought with you:  For example, you may have rode a pogo stick to the party and brought with you jalapeno poppers laced with jumping beans… (really be as crazy as you want… I love the fun imaginative comments!) For a little bonus if you would like to share how long we have known each other (blog or otherwise) and if you are brand new to the house of Book Journey – feel free to share that too!  I love new friends!  😀

My party will go for 24 hours so this post will go up at 12:01 am on June 15th (central time) and stay up until midnight.  Every comment will be entered into the random drawings and winners (using random.org)will be announced here on Saturday morning.

Here is what I will draw winners for:

*Personal thank you to publishers who gave me copies of these books to give away for this event.

One more “bonus” side giveaway – you will see on my right sidebar that I have a Book Journey survey going on.  This is a quick survey to help me analyze what you like or what brings you to Book Journey.  If you would be so kind as to take a couple of minutes and fill out the survey for me, it will assist me to be a better blogger.  😀  This survey will be up for one week and then I will draw from the participants a winner for an Amazon gift card.

Thank you readers of Book Journey –  You make me smile with your comments, nod in understanding, and occasionally I laugh (snort) out loud.  I am so appreciative of all of you!!!

Let’s get this party started!!!!  I hear knocking at the door… who could it be….

*opening the door – look of surprise!*

Morning Meanderings… Audio, A Trip, and Garden Party Wrap Up

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

Good morning!  😀  Hope you all are finding your Friday morning to already be delightful… the sun is actually out here so I am hoping for a lovely day which I need in order to finish our lawn 😀

This will be a rather sporadic post this morning.  I am usually off on Fridays but this next week while I am away is a big one for a kids camp that I usually help with, a big meeting that I normally do the set up for… BEA pushing back one week this year has put me where I am today – going into work to do some more prep work and hopefully I can be done by noon.  I have not packed yet, I want to get my nails done, prep some food for my hubby here, and pack for my bike ride that will take place right after I return from BEA – RIGHT AFTER as in that bag needs to be in my vehicle.  😀

In a completely random side ways conversation… my audio book order came in from bookcloseouts.com… Each of these was around $3.00 each:

YAY!!!  My summer listening is going to be AWESOME!!!

And finally, if you missed out on the garden party here yesterday for our read a long, Secret Garden, you missed some wonderful party conversations!  I, was late to my own party with a heavy schedule yesterday but caught up with all of you at the end and had a chance to chat with each guest so I feel it was a success.  I have not made it around to all the posts yet, but I will – later today. 😀

There were some winners from the Secret Garden read a long and using random.org while I sit my coffee this morning they are as follows:  

Winner of the Secret Garden DVD:

Ryan from Wordsmithonia!!!

 

Winner of the book, Little Lord Fauntlerot, also by Francis Hodgson Burnett:

Faith Hope and Cherry Tea from Tea Room

 

 the garden supplies:

Allie from A Literary Odyssey

 

and the $5 Amazon Gift Card goes to:

Robin from A Fondness For Reading

Winners please email me shipping info (no po boxes!) at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com.  Robin, I will email you your gift card.  😀

There is also a survey going on yesterdays post about what book I am going to offer up next for a June read-a-long, feel free to put your two cents in – I will announce that book and sign up info tomorrow morning.  See you all later – have a gorgeous day!  😀