Book Blogger Hop! 7.22.11

Book Blogger Hop

Today I'll be joining this super fun Book Blogger Hop created and hosted by the awesome Jennifer of Crazy for Books! She does a wonderful job at hosting this weekly meme and we are proud to be able to join it.

Today's question is:
What's the ONE GENRE that you wish you could get into, but just can't?

I REALLY wish I could get into Historical Romance! I try. I promise I try. Sometimes, I succeed! I read Robyn DeHart's - Seduce Me {The Legend Hunter's Series} and I really really liked it. Unfortunately I've tried to read some others and I just can't get over their "Quivering members" and their cheesiness! Can anybody suggest one they think I'd like??

{I'm totally answering for Isalys right now btw} Isalys just can't seem to get into... hmm.. I'd say Sci-Fi. I don't think she's ever tried really. I just chose that answer b/c she pretty much reads everything else! :D


TGIF!!

♥ Vanessa ♥


Hunger Games Movie Poster - Love it!


How exciting!! Only 243 more days!


For more information please visit: The Hunger Games Official Movie Site
and

So who else is excited?!?!


Harry Potter - I miss you already!

It has definitely been bittersweet for us now that the last Harry Potter movie has just been released {well, it was released a few days ago, but you get my sentiment right?}. So as a tribute, and keeping with the bittersweetness of it all, we're sharing a video from London's red carpet where Daniel, Rupert, Emma, and the ever-so-lovely Ms. J.K. Rowling say their final goodbyes. {This is the bitter part}
**sniff sniff* Tissue anyone?





But, since being sad sucks, here's a little bit of the sweet I mentioned earlier. Here is one of our favorite videos that just cracks us up every single time we watch it! Are we the only dorks? Throw us a line here!
{Warning: Before watching, let us just apologize in advance for having this song be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.}




I'd also like to share a few of the photos we've taken visiting the Hogwarts at Universal Studios. Why? Because sharing is caring!

♥ Isalys and Phil sporting butterbeer staches ♥

♥ Vanessa and Gio sporting butterbeer staches - hey, it's the thing to do there! ♥

♥ On the corner of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade ♥
I ♥ my retro camera app!

♥ Entering Hogwarts! Le sigh! ♥

Hope you've enjoyed our videos and pictures.
I think I'll go plan our next trip and re-read Harry Potter again :)

♥ Vanessa

 

US vs US?!



So, we've decided to put a little twist on the US vs UK book covers and go with US paperback vs hardcover. We especially love Meg Cabot's Insatiable series. Those covers are both lovely and therefore makes it hard for us to decide! Ahhh, decisions decisions. So naturally we've created a post about it to enlist you, our favorite bloggy friends, to see what you guys think! Paperback?? or Hardcover?? What say you?! 


Aren't they both GREAT?!

FYI: If you're in the Miami area or will be visiting this coming weekend Meg Cabot, Libba Bray, and Maggie Stiefvater will be in town for an Author event at our local independent book store Books and Books. Eek!! We are soooo incredibly excited! If you will be participating and would like to meet up then drop us a line! Our fellow bloggy friends will be going too {Nely from All About {N}, Smash from Smash Attack Reads, and Jen from Not Now I'm Reading}


Have a great day lovelies!

♥ Vanessa


Speaking of Blogcation... Where has Vanessa been?!

Oh where oh where has Vanessa been?!
{I get this question a lot}

I have been on a MAJOR blogcation for a while! It began late last year when I decided to quit my job, go work for my uncle's car business a few days a week, and finally go back to school. Yayy right? I started out with such high hopes and motivation! I felt like I was finally on the right track. Unfortunately things at work didn't go quite as planned. My uncle started demanding I work more days a week (6 to be exact with the same measly pay) and had me working longer hours. Ahhh, the joys of working with family. I quit school AGAIN because I just couldn't keep up. Then my grandfather falls down, breaks his ribs and comes to live with us a while. Although I loved having him there because he's my everything, it took a toll on me since I was taking care of him at night and then had to go to work the next day. 
After a few weeks things started to look better and I felt like I could finally take on more bloggy work. I started working towards this crazy little dream of mine {That I'm totally still keeping secret :P} and enlisted the help of some amazing fellow bloggers. It felt soooo good to finally be working on a project that I believed in! It was great. We had awesome teamwork and everyone believed in the project as much as I did and the work that was being turned in was amazing. Then, once again, tragedy struck. I'll just say it involved more hospital visits and more drama. I fell into a depression because things just didn't seem to get any better. I hated work, I didn't have motivation for anything.... I was in a HUGE funk! I even stopped hanging out with my friends and didn't pick up a book for months! *GASP* I hate to say it but because of this stupid funk I missed out on some pretty cool author events with my bloggy besties {Isalys, Nely, Ash, and Jen}. At the time I just didn't care. Ugh! I hate feeling like that.
I'm happy to report though that I'm really trying to snap out of it. Life is not any easier - heck, just these past two weeks alone there have been more accidents and hospital visits - but I'm really trying to look at life differently and have a positive attitude. 

Sorry if I've sounded like such a Debbie Downer! I just needed to to kind of get things off my chest and share this with my bloggy friends.

I miss blogging and reading and just hanging out with my girls drinking tea and talking about the latest book cover! I'm going to try to post as much as possible and get back into the swing of things. Isalys will still be checking in and lurking around so do not fear! She just needs some time off from blogging and worrying about scheduling posts. 

Aside from posting as much as I can, I also hope to revive the challenges that have fallen wayyyy behind. RAK will still be kept up to date and after I go through the 9,091 emails in my inbox {I'm not kidding} I promise to try and answer any emails I may find in there that pertain to the blog. And guess what... I may even finally write a friggin review! It's time to get over this shyness of mine. I even bought a magazine by Writer's Digest called Writing Basics, lol. Wish me luck!

It's funny, just the thought of blogging again has me all cheerful! Yayy! I'm back!

Taking A Blogcation...Sort of!

Hey kids!

I wanted to let you all know that I'm going to be taking a blogcation...sort of!  I'm not going into hiding or anything.  Truth is that I just need a little break.  There's some stuff going on in my life now and I'm having trouble focusing on reading, let alone blogging.  

I'll still be doing posts on occasion and you'll definitely find me lurking on Twitter.  I just won't be posting every day like I normally try to.

I hope you guys don't mind too much.  Once things settle down a bit, I'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

In the meantime, feel free to tweet me @IsaBookSoulmate or email me. Oh and try to stay out of trouble =P (although a little bit of trouble is OK!)

XoXo

RAKs for Winners


 

Last week, in honor of Beverley Kendall's new smexy release, I decided that it would be fun to give away 2 e-books of this novella as July RAK gifts :)

 

The recipients of this steamy new novella are:



1. Tore

2. Carol
 






Congrats ladies!!  I'll be ordering your e-books from Bev's site and they should be emailed to you shortly.

Blog Soulmate: The Bookish Brunette

We have a new BLOG SOULMATE to tell you about :)

This is our way of telling them that, "Hey, we think you're cool and we love your blog and we want the world to know this!"

{Note: This is an exclusive award and not intended for being passed on. However, our chosen blog soulmates are welcomed to do a post on their own blogs letting their followers know that, well, we like them!}


Our BLOG SOULMATE Award for this week goes to:

Ashley, The Bookish Brunette

Bookish Brunette

We did a mini interview with Ashley and here is what she had to say:
  1. What made you decide to start blogging?
    I decided to 'book' blog because I've always been an avid reader, and I had started following a few reviewer blogs to get ideas for new reading material. When I quit 'regular' blogging, I completely had withdrawals (addict much?) so I thought, "Hey, why not try blogging about something you love to do anyway?" and so The Bookish Brunette was born!

  2. Best and worst parts about blogging?
    The BEST part about blogging is meeting other fabulous book lovers, authors and people who just love everything book related. The WORST part is definitely when you build relationships with said authors/publishers and end up hating their book. (No joke dude... I HATE that!)

  3. Why zombies?
    Zombies are awesome...duh! Okay, I freaking love zombie books because of their diversity! I'm totally serious; you've got: zombie heroes, zombie horror, zombie apocalypse, zombie comedy and zombie romance-just to name a few! Very few genres can give you THAT wide a subject variety and still be epic! True story.

  4. You just wrapped up your Zombie Craze Feature, any other big bloggy plans?
    Not for a little while.  Let me recuperate and ask me in a month! Seriously, Zombie Craze was thought up on June 1 then planned, put together and executed by June 20. I'm not much of a 'planner'(obviously). To say it was stressful is an understatement, but I'm wicked excited about how well it turned out. Go Team Zombie! ;)

  5. Tell us something completely random about yourself.
    I collect flamingo figurines. I totally do, they are so pretty and pink! What's not to love?
That is a bit about the fantastically awesome Bookish Brunette!  Isalys and Ashley are having a Twitter affair, LOL.  In fact, we're talking about starting some sort of club with secret decoder rings 'n everything.  So check out her blog sometime soon and then jump in on our Twit chats to see what a rad chick she really is :)

Grammar 101: Pet Peeves Edition

Welcome back to Grammar 101...
where I help the grammatically-challenged become proud Grammarians.
Or at least I try to! lol

None of us can claim to speak English perfectly.  We all make mistakes sometimes and that's okay.  However, sometimes we come across mistakes made by others that just make us cringe and want to smack them on the forehead.

Today, I decided to do a special Grammar 101: Pet Peeves Edition whereby we talk about those grammar boo-boos that make us sad.

I'll start with a couple of mine...

1) "Mines"...yes, mines!  Is this a Hispanic thing? I've heard or read this phrase "that's mines" far too many times and it begs the question, "how many of you are there?"
WHY this is wrong: Mine is a possessive term that we use when we want to claim something as ours. If you say that is mine's, then you're being redundant.  If you say that is mines, they you are pluralizing yourself implying there there is more than one of you.  Either is completely WRONG.  So please, never, ever say that "something is mines".

2) "Should have went": I've said it before and I'll say it again. When I hear people say "I should have went", I die a little inside.  This is just awful.
WHY this is wrong: To say "I should have" is to use the Present-Perfect Tense.  This tense is used when combining the present tense with a past event that has present consequences.  The present perfect is a compound sentence formed by the combination of a "helper" verb and an action verb. In the case of "I should have gone," have is your helper verb and gone is your action verb in past tense.  In modern English, the use of the helper verb to have will always result in the present perfect which means you must use the appropriate 'version' of the action verb to accompany that tense. *phew*

3) "I want that so bad": Sadly, this is probably one of the most commonly used phrases these days.  Why?  Evidently, it's because people cannot tell the difference between an adjective and an adverb.
WHY this is wrong: Bad and badly do not mean the same thing.  When you use the word "bad" you are using it as an adjective to describe a noun.  Ex: "I smell bad" means that you stink!  When you want to proclaim that you really want something then you would say, "I want to see that movie really badly."  An adverb is a type of adjective that is primarily used to describe not a noun, but a verb.  In the example above, I'm using the word "badly" as an adjective to describe the verb "to want".  Got that?


Peeves submitted via Twitter...

4)  tweets: When people say, "people that" instead of "people who".
WHY this is wrong: Simple! People are always referred to as WHO.  It is only objects that are referred to as THAT.

5) tweets: "Random Capitalization of Whatever Word the Author Thinks Is Important."  Guys, don't do this! 
WHY this is wrong: Remember, we ONLY capitalize the beginning of a new sentence or a proper noun.  There is no need to go "shift key crazy" and capitalize every word in a sentence.

6) tweets: When people say "would of" instead of "would have".
Should HAVE, would HAVE, could HAVE!
WHY this is wrong: "Would of" is not correct in any way. The word "of" is a preposition and it's only used to indicate a relationship between two nouns in a sentence. Other prepositions are: on, with, to, in, for, and.  Should, would, could are NOT nouns therefore you do not follow it with a preposition but with an auxiliary verb, specifically have.

7) tweets: People who write 'alot' instead of 'a lot'.
WHY this is wrong: This is wrong because it "a lot" is two separate words, not one. Think about it!  By definition, what is a 'lot'?  A 'lot' is a group or set of something.  When you're saying "that is a lot", you're really saying "that is a large group of [something]". Makes sense, right?

8) tweets: "I seen it".
People really say this?
WHY this is wrong: The word 'seen' is the past participle of the word 'see'.  (A participle is the form of a verb ending in -ed.  A past participle is a participle with past, perfect, or passive meaning, such as seen.) In the case of the word 'see', to say it in simple past tense you would use the word "saw" as in "I saw that too."  If you want to use the past participle version, you would need to use the helper verb "have" before it and say "I have seen it."

So tell me, what are YOUR grammar pet peeves?

Wishing you a better day than yesterday!

Promo / Giveaway: All's Fair in Love & Seduction by Beverley Kendall

Today, I want to tell you guys about a smexy little novella written by my gal-pal Beverley Kendall.

I know I've told you all about Bev before and how she's the owner of The Season for Romance blog & e-zine and how on top of running three fabulous sites plus several social media sites, she somehow manages to find time to work, be a mom AND write books!
(She might be some sort of Super Woman. I am currently investigating this!)

 Title: All's Fair in Love & Seduction
Author: Beverley Kendall
Publish Date: June 25, 2011 by Season Publishing
Pages: 179, E-book
With her seduction she hopes to gain his affections.
For Miss Elizabeth Smith, sharing her first kiss with the charming Lord Derek Creswell is nothing short of a dream come true...that is, until she is spotted by one of the most influential gossips of the ton. With scandal nipping at her heels, to avoid total social ruin, Elizabeth must present a fiancé by the end of the Season. But when the viscount proves reluctant, Elizabeth is forced to employ a seduction of a different sort....

With his seduction he is determined to ruin her.
Viscount Derek Creswell believes Elizabeth set out to trap him into marriage. After all, her sister attempted the very same thing with his brother six years before. Now the delectable Miss Smith expects a betrothal and a ring, while Derek finds her ruination infinitely more appealing...

But as Derek sets out to seduce only her body, Elizabeth is intent on claiming his jaded heart.

This is just a tasty little treat at 29,000 words. Included in it though, is a three chapter excerpt of the third full-length book in The Elusive Lords series, AN HEIR OF DECEPTION.

And you guys better bet your bottom dollar that I'll be reading this one! I read its predecessor and I can tell it's gonna be goooooood!!!  

Prior books in The Elusive Lords series are:
SINFUL SURRENDER (Bk #1) & A TASTE OF DESIRE (Bk #2)


"ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE & SEDUCTION" will be on sale on The Season until July 15th for just $0.99 in both ePub and Kindle (mobi) formats.  

How awesome is that?  
It is so awesome that I've decided to  
*GIVE AWAY* (2) copies as July RAKs.
{One copy for Wednesday, One copy for Thursday, Winners announced Friday}

To enter, just leave a comment and tell me what was the silliest thing you've ever done in the name of AMOUR. Don't forget to include your NAME and EMAIL where you want your e-book sent.

But if you simply can't wait or if you don't win, then click [HERE] to purchase your own copy!

Also, you can download a free sample of AN HEIR OF DECEPTION from Bev's site or from The Season.

So lovers of romance and smut, take a moment to download your copy today.  Also, please feel free to help me spread the word about this wonderful new work by Beverley Kendall ♥

New Releases 7.5.11

♥ Contemporary Fiction & Chick-Lit
Dandelion Summer (Blue Sky Hil...French LessonsEscape
by  

♥ Memoires / Biographies / Non-Fic
None

♥ Science Fiction ♥
The Snow Queen's Shadow (Princ...Crookedstar's Promise (Warrior...Vortex
by
  by
by

♥ Urban Fantasy ♥
Undead and Undermined (Undead...Deceived By The Others (H&W In...BloodlustCold Touch (Extrasensory Agent...A Taste of the Nightlife: A Va...Viper Moon (Earth Witches, #1)
by
  by
by
by
  by
  by
Night Veil (The Indigo Court S...Vision Impossible: A Psychic E... by
  by
  by

♥ Paranormal Romance ♥
Breaking WavesSkin DiveVampire Instinct
by
by
by

♥ Historical Romance ♥
Heartbreak Creek (A Runaway Br...The Devilish Montague: The Reb...

by
by

♥ Contemporary Romance ♥
One Summer: A Shelter Bay Nove...Heat WavesBurning Down the Spouse (Ex Tr...Rising, FreestyleCan't Hurry Love (Three Kisses...
by
by
  by
  by
  by

♥ Romantic Suspense ♥
Dangerous PleasureDarkness at Dawn
by
by

♥ Christian / Amish Fiction ♥

Calico Bride 
by

♥ YA ♥

Sirensong (Faeriewalker #3)Pretty Little Liars #9: Twiste...OverbiteSummer Break (Glee, #3)ParadiseNow Is the Time for Running
The Joshua Files: Ice ShockA Scary Scene in a Scary MovieFalling for HamletWhite CrowSummer Break (Glee, #3)Original Sin (Personal Demons,...
Stolen Girl: A Good Girl's Gui...Stealing Bases
  by

♥ Children’s Literature ♥
None

Happy Shopping and Happy Reading!

 
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