In My Mailbox - # 7

In My Mailbox is a weekly post hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where bloggers can discuss the books we got in the mail this week.

What I Didn’t Say

By: Keary Taylor

Published: April 30th 2012 by CreateSpace

326 pages

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Goodreads description—Getting drunk homecoming night your senior year is never a good idea, but Jake Hayes never expected it all to end with a car crash and a t-post embedded in his throat.

His biggest regret about it all? What he never said to Samantha Shay. He’s been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it’s too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.

When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he’ll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn’t limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she’ll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe if she’ll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn’t say before, even if he can’t actually say it.

(Amazon | Goodreads)

God, Girls, and Guys: Answers to Questions on Dating and Relationships

By: Robin Marsh & Lauren Nelson

Expected Publication: August 1st 2012 by Harvest House Publishers

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Amazon description--Following their popular devotional for teen girls, God, Girls, and Getting Connected, award-winning news anchor Robin Marsh, and Miss America 2007, Lauren Nelson, now help young women shape a healthy, biblical perspective on dating, emotions, and love.

With humor, Christ-centered counsel, and straight-talk to girls, Robin and Lauren share openly about their early dating misconceptions and their discovery of God’s Word as the best guide for every girl. Personal stories and relevant chapter topics encourage and empower young women to make smart, godly choices.

What is love?

How do I become the girl God wants me to be?

What does godly dating look like?

How far is too far?

What's he really thinking?

Does a perfect guy or perfect relationship exist?

This fresh resource honors the dreams and questions of today’s girl with a clear look at God’s hope for their heart.

(Amazon)

I plan to purchase Richelle Mead's The Golden Lily and Kristin Cashore's Fire this week. But I'll feature them more once I've actually bought them.

Graffiti Moon - Review

Graffiti Moon

By: Cath Crowley

Published: February 14th 2012 by Random House Children's Books

260 pages

Source: Won in Love in Bloom Giveaway Hop hosted by Kat @ The Aussie Zombie

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

(Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository)

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description—Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she’s going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He’s out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy’s stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she’s managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they’re suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

When I had the option to choose which book I wanted out of those available for the giveaway(The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, The Fine Art of Truth or Dare, Love and Leftovers, Wanderlove, Bittersweet, and Graffiti Moon), I looked them all up on Goodreads to see their descriptions and what others had rated them. While I originally thought I was going to pick The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Graffiti Moon caught my attention with the synopsis, and not just that but it was rated higher than most of the other options as well. So I changed my mind at the last minute. And boy am I glad I did. I still want to read The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, but I probably wouldn’t have sought out Graffiti Moon because I haven’t heard much hype about it.

Despite the decent ratings on Goodreads, I expected this book to be exactly what it sounds like. I wasn’t prepared for it to be so much more. Based on the synopsis, I wondered why in the world would Lucy just assume some guy who can paint graffiti is a guy she could fall for? I mean I get that he’s obviously talented, but the synopsis talks about birds and blue skies and I think to myself “what’s so special about that?”. But what the synopsis doesn’t tell you is that Lucy is an artist herself. AND that the way Shadow’s art is described in the book is so much more than birds and blue skies. Something about knowing Lucy is also an artist makes it more understandable how she could look at Shadow’s art and see his soul. But just some regular-Jane, non-artist person, I don’t know, that seemed kind of cooky.

And back to how Shadow’s art is described in the book…well…Cath Crowley does an excellent job of pulling you into this art-filled world. I’m not one of those people who can look at an art piece and get sucked into it. I can tell you if I think something is beautiful, quirky, or awesomely-weird, but I’m a surface kind of gal most of the time, blunt and to-the-point. But it was lovely to see Shadow’s art, and Lucy’s, through the eyes of an artist. And the words that Cath Crowley used to do so was done in a way that was nothing shy of art itself.

I’m not a huge poetry fan, though I do have an appreciation for it, and I can tell you what I like and dislike within the genre, but Poet’s words were pretty awesome too. More artistry.

The narration swaps back and forth between Ed and Lucy throughout the night, and Poet’s poetry is thrown in the mix as a separate form of narration. Sometimes the events overlapped. Like, Ed would have a chapter and when his chapter ended, Lucy’s picked up moments before his ended, so we get both perspectives on some moments. I liked this under this setting, but I can see where if I read books like this all the time, it might get old. I also liked how Cath Crowley didn’t give you 100% narration of the words said between the characters. Sometimes she just says “we talked about (insert subject)” and that’s all you really get. It leaves your imagination to play out the words for yourself. But again, too much of this would get old. I think she does it just enough so that you’re not annoyed.

The characters were also so much more real and deep than I expected based off the synopsis. Especially Ed. I do love a guy with talent. I love my kicking-butt-taking-names guys too, but I’m a sucker for an artist. It doesn’t matter if he draws, paints, sculpts, (all of which my actual husband has a talent for) or whether he plays the piano, guitar, sings, etc. Give me a guy with talent and soul and I’m hooked. Ed doesn’t disappoint and neither does Leo (Poet).

Overall I was much more impressed than I expected to be. I had a teacher in high school that told me once if a C-student exceeds your expectations on a paper, you might give him an A, and if an A-student doesn’t live up to your expectations you might give them a B or C, even if the A-student’s paper was better written than the C-students. If I were grading based off of expectations, I’d give this one 5 stars, but I am not. I’ll still give it 4 stars. Maybe even a 4.4. Check out Graffiti Moon, and let me know what you think.

Also, thanks again, to Kat @ The Aussie Zombie for hosting the giveaway that won me this book.

Armchair BEA 2012 - Ask the Experts

Today is day 5 (the final day) at Armchair BEA and today’s topic is ask the experts.

I don't feel as though I have enough knowledge about the blogging world yet to really give my own advice. But the one piece of advice I keep telling myself is that I don't have to keep up with everyone else. Being competitive as I am, I have to remind myself that there is no competition here. How fast someone else reads and how often they might be able to post has no bearing upon myself. I read at the pace I read, and I post at the pace that I post. That is all I can do, and trying to put pressure on myself to do more than what I might be capable of does no one any good. Least of all me.

Now, in the spirit of “no question is a dumb question”…

How do you balance reading, maintaining your blog, having a life, and having a full-time job (assuming you have a full-time job, most of the bloggers I’ve seen do)?

What specifically is a hop or a giveaway hop?

Do you have any tips about hosting a self-sponsored giveaway?

Is there any unspoken (or spoken) giveaway etiquette?

How do you generate sponsors for giveaways?

Do you usually make being a follower of your blog mandatory for entry to your giveaways?

What are your preferred methods for following other blogs?

What do you look for as determinants for following another blog? Or do you follow just about any blog you come across?

Do you read self-published works?

Are you partnered with other sites, your local indie bookstore, or library? If so, what do you accomplish by doing so?

Do you do guest posts for other bloggers? Or do you have others write guest posts for your blog?

Do you schedule your posts ahead of time? If so, how far ahead do you schedule them?

What are your blogging pet peeves?

I’m sure there are many, many more questions that I have, but I’ll settle for any answers you can give me to these for now. Thanks guys.

Armchair BEA 2012 - Beyond the Blog

It’s day 4 here at Armchair BEA and today’s topic is life beyond the blog. Making money through your blog, writing for other places and sites, and networking outside the book blog community.

Unfortunately, I have very little to add here. I do post my reviews of books with spiritual topics on my brother's site, Chasing A Lion and I've written an article for his site called, Prayer, The Perfect Communication. I do plan to write more articles for his site as topics come to me, but honestly, I haven't even had time to think about any other topic I want to write about.

I've really enjoyed creating this site and everything that has come along with it. And though I wouldn't trade the experiences I've had here, I can't think about adding anything extra at the moment. Sometimes my lack of patience would love nothing more than to skip through the learning process and get to the part where I know it all (as if that ever even happens), but then I remember that I would miss the journey. It'd be like reading the last 50 pages of a good book without reading any of the beginning, where we meet the characters or the middle where we experience their conflicts. And what reward is the ending without the other? So while one day I might find myself in a position of writing for other sites, organization, etc, or making money reading books and/or working this blog (wouldn't that be a crazy dream), for now, I'm enjoying the journey, I'm happy where I am, and I'm just soaking it in one piece of information at a time.

Armchair BEA 2012 - Real-Life Experiences

So it’s day 3 here at Armchair BEA and today’s topic is a discussion of real life experiences be they...partnerships with the local literary scene, attending author events and signings, or getting together with bloggers in your area.

And well…I think to myself, “Self, you don’t really have any stories.” Even though I’ve had my blog for over a year, I still feel so new at it all. I don’t have tons of followers. I’m getting more page views. But I don’t post daily. I can’t get ARCs of every book I want. I haven’t read every book that I want to read (that my friends is an unachievable goal). Shoot, I can’t even read every book I want to read that I own. Since I’m still “new” to blogging, there’s so much I feel like I don’t know--such as how do I go about hosting a giveaway be it self-sponsored or sponsored by someone else. I didn’t even know I should be looking into partnerships with my local library (which I’ve yet to visit by the way, a crime I know) or a locally owned indie-bookstore (do we even have one of those? And how do I not know the answer to that?). How exactly do I go about doing this, and what is the goal I’m trying to achieve by doing so? All of this must be well thought out ahead of time (I’m a planner, you see.). But I’m trying not to stress out about any of those questions because I’m sure it will all come in due time, and when it does, I’ll be ready for it. In the meantime, I’ll just keep reading any free moment I can. That is the point of this afterall.

I have only one story of meeting an actual author, and I’ve mentioned it on my site before; but I’ve never really gone into full detail mode. So I guess that’ll be my experience that I share. (What’s up with me being so repetitive with my Armchair BEA posts?)

My tale starts on a May day back in 2010. My husband and I are remodeling our house. Built in the 1960s, there’s been quite a lot of work we’ve had to put into it. Well, it so happens that my dad used to work for a contractor and has years and years of construction experience, and while we love to utilize that experience whenever we can, Russ tries really hard (and does a great job) of doing everything he can on his own—he’s independent that way. But it just so happens that this was a two man job—and by man I mean I couldn’t have really helped that much. So we planned it with my dad to come over and help Russ put in our new front door on May 22nd 2010.

While the men did manly things, screwed things in, hammered some stuff, made a few trips to Lowes, etc., I was supposed to be working on some school work (ugh!). And yeah, I did some of that. But I also got sidetracked researching something else and came across an Indie Bookstore in Fairhope, Alabama called Page and Palette. And so I stopped on their website. I wasn’t on their page mere moments before I saw that Richelle Mead, the author of the Vampire Academy series, would be stopping by their store that very same day from 6:00pm to 8:00pm for a book signing. Are you serious? I couldn’t believe my eyes. I literally stared at that site for several minutes re-reading their advertisement about her appearance. Because what in the world was a best-selling author such as herself doing coming to Alabama? We have no major cities, and Fairhope isn’t even the biggest city in Alabama by any stretch of the imagination (although it’s a pretty cool little place). But who cares? Spirit Bound (book 5 in the Vampire Academy series) released only days before, on May 18th. And so I guess this was just part of her book tour, albeit a weird stop along the way.

So what did I do? I panicked, a little. And then I called up my sister-in-law to tell her all about it and see if she wanted to make a spontaneous trip to Fairhope with me. It was only like 2 ½ hours away, and we have family in Mobile, so we were both semi-familiar with the area of Fairhope. We had to make this happen. I invited my sister to go with us, but at the time she hadn’t read the Vampire Academy series (she’s since listened to them all on audiobook) so she opted out of going. I literally had less than 2 hours to shower, get dressed, meet my sister-in-law in Montgomery (30 minutes away from my house), and then get on the road to Fairhope.

Holly (my SNL) finished reading Spirit Bound in the car on the way to the signing (I’d already finished it the night before at 1:40am). And we were off. We did get semi-lost. Though luckily our cousin from Mobile was able to give us directions to fix our mistake. I might have turned into oncoming traffic (who could see the concrete barrier separating the four lane? Not I). We arrived finally at Page and Palette only to be fairly close to the very back of the line. We waited patiently, Me talking of books, especially ones we saw on the shelves and such. I was too shy to say much to Richelle Mead once we got up there. Holly didn’t so much have that problem. It wasn’t that I was star struck so much as what is there that I could say that she hasn’t heard from thousands of other fans. Luckily I had Holly with me or we wouldn’t have gotten our picture taken with her.

Holly

After getting our books signed (only Spirit Bound because who knew you could get your others signed too?), we walked back to our car. Drove to Chick-fil-a, where I got a #5 Combo 8-pack with a Coke, yum, and where we laughed at some teenage girls that came in, and discussed how glad we were not to be that young (more to the point, that immature) anymore. And then proceeded to drive back to Montgomery. Dropped Holly off. And then headed home to Husband and my new front door.

That was probably one of the most spontaneous things I’ve ever done in my life. It was an extremely fun road trip and I’m glad I got to share it with one of my book buddies and for all intents and purposes sister. It was a really great day. My first author signing. I’ll never forget it.

Much appreciation to Page and Palette for hosting, organizing, and however they got her there. And major kudos to Richelle Mead for taking a chance on a small town in Alabama. I’ve since learned that Page and Palette hosts events as regularly as they can and have various other book signings and author events as well. Though Richelle Mead didn’t make it back to Alabama for Last Sacrifice like I hoped, maybe Page and Palette can persuade her (or her agent, publicist, whoever) to come by for one of the Bloodlines books. A girl can hope, right?

And that ladies and gent is my one experience—much longer than I intended it to be. If you have any ideas, suggestions, information, whatever about the topics I was stressing about at the beginning of this post, please feel free to leave them in my comments below, or email me if it’s too long (sandyrfarmer@gmail.com). What are your book experiences?