Looking for Guest Posters, Guest Authors

Coming up in February I am in the process of putting together a little bloggy feature called "14 Days of Love."  This little feature will commence on February 8th @ 12:01 am and will conclude on February 21st (MY B-DAY! The BIG 27!)) @ 11:59 pm.

So here I am...Putting out a call for the following:

~ Guest Posters*
~ Guest Authors*
~ Individuals who might be interested in hosting or contributing to a giveaway

If you are interested in becoming a guest poster/guest author please feel free to drop me an email at bookjunkie221@gmail.com.

*Since this feature is about love and this is a YA blog, I am trying to guest post "love" related.

Bloggiesta Mini Challenge - Blogging Goals

I've been blogging here on For The Love of YA for a little while now and I think that if I am going to maintain this blog as well as my other blogs here on Blogger until I'm in a place to achieve one of my LONG Term goals I need to come up with some blogging goals.  So this is my list for now....I'm sure that I'll be adding and subtracting as time goes along.
For the Short Term:

~ Try to come up with a review format that works for me and stick with it.
~ Try to come up with a method to my madness...Like a regular posting schedule
~ Draw the contest winners from my two contests that ended in December...Budget constraints have prevented me from drawing the winners.
~ Get the review link ups for February done...I have 1 of the 3 done and scheduled for the 1st already.

For the Long Term:

~ By the end of the year - I want to have all three of my blogs joined.  Either here on blogger or moved over to wordpress and functioning satisfactorily.  With a design and layout that reader friendly.

Bloggiesta!

It's on like Donkey Kong!  I'm bound and determined to get my blogs under control!  I don't know how much time I'll be able to spend on it over the designated 2 remaining days but I'm going to do my best.  I've had some things come up in Real Life that take precident over the blogs.

So here's a list of things that I'd like to get done here on the blog (Blue are my list for now):

Write reviews.

Write backup posts for a rainy day.

Write that great post idea from three months back.

Work on series posts.

Write guest posts.

Put out invitations for guest posts.

Conduct and edit author interviews.

Create template posts for your future reads (ie: title, images, linking, tags, etc,) so you can open up, write review and post without being bogged down with technicalities

Clean up your tags, archives, books reviewed list, etc.

Create a text file (or Google Doc) of cheat sheets (html codes, post url’s, etc)

Improve your blog template, clean up sidebars, add a favicon, install those plugins that you’ve been meaning to do.

Add or edit your about me page, review policy, disclosure policy, privacy policy, create landing pages (for example – an about me for Twitter readers page) or any other pages you might have.

Any bloggy type housekeeping that you’ve been neglecting.

Clean up and update your challenge lists.  Link up your posts with hosts.

Make sure all of your social network profiles are up to date.  Be consistent in those profiles with color scheme, images, etc.

Go get a gravatar.

Visit the Blogging Tips group on the Book Blogs Ning and find ways to improve your blog.

Work on any specialized projects that you may have going.

Clean out and organize your feed reader and blog subscriptions.

Create an elevator pitch.

Make business cards.

Find a blogging buddy.

Analyze and re-evaulate your blog.

Back up your blog.

Learn more about blogging, read great articles, get inspired.

Make sure you have properly copyrighted your blog and know what to do when somebody reposts your material.

Brainstorm blogging topics.

Manage your feedreader.

Help other bloggers, answer questions, share your expertise (let’s face it – this is the best part of Bloggiesta!)

The sky’s the limit!

Book Blogger Hop and Friday Follow

"Why do you read the genre that you do?  What draws you to it?"

I like to read a LOT of different genre's....I like to keep my options open and I'm pretty much always open to learning new things.  But right now the genre that is really tripping my trigger is YA.  It just sucks me in!

What makes up your non-human family??

I have 2 dogs, Gus and Laci (who you can see in my blog header at The Book Junkie's Bookshelf) and 2 $.28 feeder goldfish that refuse to die...that's ok too.  I enjoy feeding them.

Waiting On Wednesday

WOW is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

Synopsis:


"Dark and beautiful, sensual and dangerous, utterly enthralling. Karen Mahoney is a brilliant storyteller, blending magic and alchemy with bold, captivating characters who step right off the page and draw you into their world. You'll fall under this book's spell."
—Richelle Mead, New York Times & USA Today bestselling author
Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.
When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.
"Mahoney's debut sizzles with romance and alchemical swashbuckling, but it's the steadfast character of Donna Underwood that kept me hooked. Her choices, her loyalty, her determination—all make for a refreshing and captivating read. The only problem with The Iron Witch is that the next book can't come fast enough."
—Tiffany Trent, author of In the Serpent's Coils

Link up your January reviews - Paranormal YA Challenge

This is the place to link up your January reviews for the 2011 Paranormal YA Challenge.  I can hardly wait to see what books I'm going to be adding to my already out of control wishlist!  If you aren't participating in the challenge and would like to click here to go to the sign up post.

Link up your January Reviews - YA Romance Challenge

This is the place to link up your January reviews for the 2011 YA Romance Reading Challenge.  I'm betting that I find a few more books to add to my already out of control wishlist!  If your not participating in the challenge and would like to click here to go to the sign up post.

Link up you January Reviews for YA Challenge

Here is the place for you to link up your January reviews for the 2011 YA Reading Challenge.  I just know I'm going to find TONS more books that I'm going to want to read by checking out your reviews!  If you aren't participating in the challenge and would like to click here to go to the sign up post.

Update on being hacked

After hearing from several bloggers out there in the bloggy world I have come to realize that I may have jumped ship too quickly.  After the security measures I've already put into place I have decided that I am going to remain here.  I apologize for any confusion I may have caused...believe me it wasn't intentional....I tend to do things like this when I'm really tired.

Jamie

I've been HACKED!

Have I mentioned how much I REALLY don't like bad people?!  I really don't.  I like the bad people who hacked my blogger account even less! I've been doing what I can to remedy the situation but it doesn't seem to be working (dang hackers!).  As a result of this very unfortunate situation I am in the process of moving my book blogging venture to a new account.  You can find me at my new book blogging home Once Upon A Time.....  So far all I have up on there is 1 review of my first ever Christian fiction novel and some goals I have set for myself for 2011. For those who are participating in challenges that I am hosting....I will continue to monitor this account and get rid of any "bad" posts as soon as I find them.  I will also be linking my reviews back to the original challenge post from the new blog. If you have any questions you can e-mail me at bookjunkie221@gmail.com.

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger

Title: The DUFF

Author: Kody Keplinger

Series: 

Genre: YA, YA Romance

Publisher: Little Brown/Poppy Books

Release Date: 2010, September 7

Format: Hardcover, 288 pages

Source: Public Library

Rating: 4/5

Challenges: 2011 YA Challenge, 2011 Outdo Yourself Challenge, 2011 YA Romance Challenge, 2011 Support Your Local Library Challenge, 100+ Reading Challenge, 2011 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.  
But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Review:

I started this book really early this morning (for those who are new here I work third shift so when your up I'm sleeping and vice versa) and I could NOT put it down. It was one of those that I really liked but at the same time it annoyed me.  It's difficult to explain really.

When I picked up this book at the library I thought that the premise was interesting. Life at home is rough for Bianca so she goes looking for an escape....and finds it in her enemy Wesley Rush.  I guess what annoyed me about there relationship is that from the beginning it pretty much entirely sexual. Which I didn't find out until I started reading.  That's what started it...Oh, but there's more.

I really liked the characters a lot (with a few annoyances thrown in).  I think that the author did a pretty good job of depicting a marriage that's not so great, as well as being a child of divorced parents.  I do think that at times the main characters were written in a negative manner....I don't know if it was because the author was trying to write from the mindset of a teenager or what, but there were times that Wesley came off as pretty much 100% teenage man whore and Bianca came off as pretty selfish and, in my opinion, needy at times.

Overall, I thought that the premise and writing as a whole were really pretty great for a debut author.  If you've seen what I've rated this book above (4/5) you might be asking yourself...What the heck?!  There's a fair amount of negativity in this review how did it score so high?  But like I said above...I REALLY liked this book even though it annoyed the heck out of me at times.

Gentlemen/Ladies.....

Start your reading challenge engines! In the next few days (hopefully) I will have a post up for each challenge where you can post your reviews (if you intend to review the books you've been reading).  So there it is...short and sweet.  Let the reading challenges begin!