Reviews in Progress:

           Hi everyone! This time I can honestly say I haven't forgotten about the blog. So, if I haven't been uploading or making snazzy new changes, what have I been doing? Well, honestly, tackling this semester's workload. My classes have been heavy on the writing, reading, and research this semester and on top of that I have to do an investigation and  the first part of a thesis. So all in all my life has been somewhat hectic.

           Now, where reviews are concerned,  I have a few ideas in mind. I want to add more variety to the types of books reviewed here as well as to the content of the blog. Because my interests are more academically inclined now I've been toying with the idea of reviewing and writing about more academic topics and texts as well. I can't say there will be a lot in the way film and tv reviews, but I also want to expand on those. For anyone interested here is a short list of the reviews I plan to work on:

• The Goldfinch (film)
• Alice Isn't Dead (novel)
• Poetry books by Ramona Meisel 
• Continue the Guild Hunter series reviews 

           Now, aside from these, I've also considered adding reviews about a few podcasts I've been listening to. If these do end up being written and actually implemented into the site, the reviews would be about podcasts like: 

• Welcome to Night Vale
• The Magnus Archives
• Alice Isn't Dead

           Of course, seeing is believing. In all honesty the podcast reviews might take longer than the regular ones because I don't listen to podcasts very consistently. Nevertheless the previously mentioned reviews are some I've been dying to work on for a while and can't wait to upload. I don't yet have everything about this blog figured out yet like the formatting my sister used, but I'll be sure to annoy her as much as necessary so the content remains uniform across all review types. 

Kindest regards: 

P.S.: While my signature used to be Silros, it will now be changed to my own name. I will go through the previous posts making the necessary changes to avoid confusion, but for now know that this blog is still being run by the same sisters. 

"A Hopeful Future" or alternatively "Here we go again"

Hello dear readers:

You may remember a post here a few years back promising to get back into the swing of things and start posting reviews again, a post that as of today has been deleted. A lot of things happened between then and now and, clearly, the blog was never picked up again. That being said, it has been on my mind all this time and I have been meaning to come back here, tweak around with the blog, possibly incite my sisters wrath, and generally bring it back to life. Unfortunately something or other always seems to get in the way of things.

Now, it's been years since I wrote a book review, and much longer since I messed around with a blogs formatting. Nevertheless I'm somewhat eager to get started doing those things and more or less revamping the place a little, since my sister's aesthetic is so different from mine. Nothing too drastic of course, lest I incur my sisters rage and tempt her to hop on the next airplane home and murder me. Honestly, she's more likely to yell at me over the phone, but who knows, people do crazy things. (Jk I love you sis!)

Due to my lack of experience with the actual running and maintenance of this blog, it might take me some time to bring it up to speed and to somewhat more modern times. It doesn't help that my blog experience has so far been mostly limited to Tumblr. While I've talked to my sister a few times about sitting down together to tweak around the blog, it still hasn't happened and, at this rate, I highly doubt it will. So I've decided to sit down on my own, mess around with things, and hope I don't accidentally destroy the blog in the process.

Actually, speaking of, in case I don't deliver any results or updates here in the next few months, feel free to go yell at me on my studyblr account over on tumblr. Please remember to do so respectfully, of course. Any disrespectful messages will be deleted and not replied to.

I also feel the need to clarify that this is being written as a way to procrastinate studying for my finals, so my current momentum may wear off as soon as finals are over and done with in a week. I do have a few ideas already for the blog, but since I don't know how to implement them just yet, they might take a while.

So, back to stuff about the blog. If anyone is interested, here's my game plan for the next month and a half for this blog:

• Write an about me (not kidding I've been meaning to do this for like 6-8 years more or less)
• Add a fanfiction like tagging system to go along with the regular tagging system
• Update my signature (Silros isn't bad, but it has to go)
• Publish at least a new review every month
• Update links and information as necessary
• Change the icons 
• Change the header and background eventually (it isn't technically bad, but it could do with an upgrade)

Of course, these changes will take time, so even if I'm here working on things, it might be a bit before I can implement some of these. That being said, I'm really looking forward to making these things happen and slowly come back to writing reviews. Thank you so much for your time and patience, I hope to continue the journey we paused years ago without further setbacks. 

Sincerely:

Twice Tempted Teaser Quotes!!!

The sequel to Jeaniene Frost's Night Prince series is about to hit shelves at your favorite stores in the coming days. Like every time a new book is coming out, Mrs. Frost enjoys to drive us insane with little glimpses about the story. So in the spirit of torture (^.^) I give you Twice Tempted Teaser Quotes. These can also be found at Jeaniene's Website. Can you figure out who says what?

Dying to get your hands into this book? want to get a bigger glimpse a the story before it's released? Read Twice Tempted's first 20% HERE.

Note: Some days have two quotes per day, these are not necessarily a dialog, just two independent quotes.

Follow the links to read the Teaser Quotes or My Review from Once Burned.

Quote of the Day

March 4 (Day 1)

“If Hell could fart, it would smell like this.”

March 5 (Day 2)

“He’s gone, Leila.”

March 6 (Day 3)

“Trying to whet my appetite by pretending I can’t have it?”

March 7 (Day 4)

“You need to show more discretion or the next person I mesmerize will be you.” 

“It’s fine…I’m not getting any older.”

March 8 (Day 5)

“He’s already showing signs of…mental instability.”

March 9 (Day 6)

Psy-Changeling #12 Cover Revealed; Finally!!

The awaited cover reveal for the twelfth book in Nalini Singh's amazing Psy-Changeling series was today. We got to see not only the cover, but the book's title as well: Heart of Obsidian. Unfortunately there was no blurb revealed along the cover so we are still in the dark about who will be featured this time around. That, however, hasn't stop the net from buzzing about the endless possibilities. Personally I'm hoping for a book on Nikita; after all, she is the only one that keeps being refered as having a black heart or heart of stone ~.^

What about you? Share your theories on the comments section below, in the meantime, here is the cover for you pleasure/torture. Enjoy...

SPECS: (taken from Nalini Singh's website)

Title: Heart of Obsidian
Release Date: June 2013
Cover Art: Tony Mauro
Hand Lettering: Ron Zinn
Jacket Design: George Long (Art Director)

Best Reads of 2012

Another year ends and I would like to collect a small list of great reads from 2012. Now, because this is a sort of farewell to 2012 this list will only include works that were published during 2012. Some of them I haven’t reviewed yet, but don’t worry, those are coming. These are organized by genre and then by publication date.

So here I leave you with: The Best (of what I’ve read) of 2012!

Urban Fantasy

The Force of Wind (March 2, 2012)

by Elizabeth Hunter
My rating: ★★★★☆  
Find out more: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

How far would you go to protect the ones you love? 

What would you sacrifice to kill the one you hate? 

Join Giovanni Vecchio and Beatrice De Novo as they travel to a hidden island on the far edge of China and seek the help of an ancient immortal court. Can they weave their way through the tangled web of centuries-old alliances and ruthless feuds to find what they’ve been looking for? Friends will be revealed, enemies will find them, and a dangerous secret will come to light.

The Force of Wind is the third book in the four-part Elemental Mysteries series. It is a paranormal mystery/romance for adult readers.

Crimson Midnight (March 15, 2012)

by Amos Cassidy
My rating: ★★★★★  
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Rose wants excitement, bright lights and late nights, but she gets more than she bargained for when she swaps her wholesome country life for the hustle and bustle of London.

The city night is home to hungry shadows, eager to consume her.

Rose discovers there is more to this world than what the mundane eye sees, and that she herself is a part of it. Unexpected friendships are forged and unwanted, sometimes dangerous, attractions flare.

London becomes a playground for magic, danger and supernatural threat. While her life, and those of who she loves, hangs in the balance, she must endeavour to embrace her new nature and assist in identifying the hidden threat before it succeeds in its dark purpose.

An Urban Fantasy filled with moon-praising, flat-dwelling vampires, chic corporate werewolves, bar-tending warlocks, ravenous demons and much, much more.

Step inside…

It's Official, We Have a Policy!

Hello everyone, I wanted to late you know that I finally added the policy to the blog. It's a bit long, but you can use the links to jump to the various sections more quickly if you want to start out of order.

Just click any of the navigation links to reach a section:

Then, click on the arrow on the bottom right corner of your screen to come back up:

If you have any comments or questions drop them on the comments section below

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have Winner!

June 30, 2012 was the last day to enter for a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card in celebration of Journey with Words reaching its first 100 Followers!

Thank you so much to every single one of you that participated on the Giveaway, as well as thank you to all of you who support the blog by visiting. Recently I also reached the first 10,000 page views; again Thank You!

So, without further ado, the winner of the 100 Followers Giveaway is *drum-roll...*

Facebook Pages and Recent Changes

Are you following Journey with Words on Facebook? If you are, are you getting all the posts on your News Feed? I know I don’t post every single day, but you might not be getting even the ones I do post. Why? Because it seems that Facebook is changing its engine to force us to pay to push our feed unto yours.

Facebook’s new feature only shows the Page content on the feeds of those who have had more interaction with any given page. If you like to see the content but don’t comment or “like” many or any of the links and messages, you will not receive the updates on your News Feed.

But, like everything in life, there seems to be a workaround to this new “feature;” two actually. Thanks go to Cinda Baxter from Always Upward: The Blog for noticing this issue and more importantly, for letting us all know about it and how to fix it. I read about these workarounds on her blog first; I’m only re-posting it so that you, my followers, are aware. All credit goes to her (included on the credit section below).

So what can you do if you’d like to see our updates in your News Feed? Click on the links to reach their respective section:

• Be sure to have the “Show in News Feed” Checked, or 
• Create a Fan List, don't forget to 
• Read the Credits! 

So, here is how: (Psst, This can be applied to as many Pages as you “Like”)

Blog Affiliation

Blog Affiliation and what it means to Journey with Words and its followers.

I have caved; Journey with Words is officially affiliated. What’s an affiliate? Which are my affiliations? What does this means for me and the blog? What does this means for you, the follower? How does it affect the blog? Will reviews be influenced by this? Why did I do it? What will I use the money for? I’ll answer your questions here.

What is an affiliate program?
Affiliate programs or “affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's own marketing efforts.” (Taken from Wikipedia)

Basically, for every customer that I refer to the affiliated site I get paid a commission.

Which are my affiliations?
I have applied (and been approved) to two affiliation programs; Amazon Associates and The Book Depository Affiliate Program. Therefore, only links to either of those two websites will have any effect on commissions. I sometimes add links to other places (sites) like Goodreads or Smashwords. You will usually see them in posts that are tied to a Blog Tour or Hop (or related event); I do not have any affiliation with those sites. I only add them to give you guys better content.

What does this means for the blog?
For the blog it means that now, whenever you click on a link that takes you to Amazon or Book Depository, there is a chance that I get a commission from the transaction. The commission percent begins at 4% from the sale.

What does this means for me?
This means that now I have a way, or at least the possibility, to maintain the blog effectively.

What does this means for you, the follower?

Giveaway and Apology

100 Followers Giveaway and an Apology from me to you.

When I started blogging last October I wasn’t even sure what I wanted to do with the blog to begin with. I knew I wanted to be involved in the literary community but I didn’t know how. At first I was just doing the occasional review. See, I want to write my own series, I’ve been having these characters doing the rounds in my head for such a long time now that I was thinking that maybe by starting a blog I could somehow get them out. Feat that I started but I’m nowhere near half way through, let alone finishing it. So slowly I shifted my blog’s focus from me into book reviews. And I have to say that so far I have found an incredibly supportive community that I had truly no idea of its magnitude. Still, 7 months later, I’m not sure I can fully grasp it.

UPDATE: The Giveaway is over and the WINNER IS.....

Apology

So why am I apologizing? Because I’ve been so focus on getting my Google Friend Connect (GFC) to reach the first 100 followers (currently at 87) that I had completely bypassed and ignored all of you that have so amazingly follow me through email. Yes, I had not realized that as of today I have 121 followers through email. So I’m sorry, I should have seen this sooner. But, I have some news for all of you.

Giveaway, Open Internationally!

In honor of my blog breaking through the first 100 followers milestone I’m having a Giveaway beginning today and going through all the month of June.

What’s the prize?

A $25 Amazon Gift Card to the lucky winner.

With or Without CAPTCHA?

Hello my amazing followers and lurkers, hope you guys are all doing great. I have an important question to ask you. What is your opinion about CAPTCHA?

Don't know what CAPTCHA is? CAPTCHA is that image that you see with scrambled letter and/or numbers whenever you are going to post a comment in most sites nowadays. It is used to verify that the computer through which the comment is being made is handled by a human instead of a bot. This, in turn, helps to weed out spammers from actual followers. But it seems that it also deters people from commenting at all.

The wonderful ladies at the Vampire Book Club were asking their followers to voice their opinions on the matter. Apparently, the topic on how much people dislike this feature has been doing the rounds on the net with an impressively big number of bloggers, articles and videos on how to get rid of this feature. I'm sorry to say that I was oblivious to it, so thank you Chelsea for that great post.

Some CAPTCHAs are simpler than others, some are almost impossible to read. I have to admit that when the CAPTCHA is too difficult to read I give up on commenting altogether. My question is, do you?

For the time being I have disabled this extra step from my blog to see if it makes any difference when it comes to new comments. Still, I will love to know your honest opinions on this feature and whether or not you are happy to see it go. Please answer the following poll and express your opinions on the comments section below.

Poll:

Is Captcha Stopping you from Commenting?
	Yes, I hate captcha!
	Sometimes, depending on the captcha.
	No, I comment regardless
pollcode.com free polls

VOTE for Journey with Words!!

I'm so excited for this! The Association of American Publishers and Goodreads have partner up to bring the first Independent Book Blogger Awards to celebrate us bloggers all around.

The contest will have two rounds. The first one opens up today April 10, 2012 @ 12:00am EST until 11:59pm EST on April 23, 2012. The first round is for public voting and you most be a member of Goodreads in order to vote; the following is taken from the Contest Terms:

Voters are limited to one vote per person per category. Voters will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite Independent Blogger during the Voting Period by reviewing the Posts each blog, using as a suggested guide the following criteria:

• quality of writing (well-written, cohesive, succinct, without spelling or grammatical errors),

• quality of analysis (illustrates blogger’s knowledge and comfort with the topic at hand),

• visual design and presentation (design and layout of the blog should be aesthetically pleasing without detracting from the focus of the content),

• audience tone (dialogue reflects intended audience), and

• reader discussion/impact (relative concentration of the types of discussion that the blog prompts among its readers, regardless of whether the discussion is positive or negative in nature).

Blog Tour Hosting

"

Attention my amazing followers and lurkers! 

If you have a book reviewing blog and you want to host some blog tours head over to Innovative Online Book Tours and fill out their Tour Host Application. They are a new company which is endeavoring to connect reviewers with what they love to do the most, read and talk about books. There has been an influx of authors asking for the company's services and an "all hands on deck" call has been shouted. If you want to discover new authors and new amazing reads drop by and check them out. With them you can "Explore the possibilities... On Your Terms".




The following is a list of the genres supported by Innovative Online Book Tours:

• Paranormal Romance 
• Urban Fantasy 
• Horror 
• Contemporary 
• Historical Romance 
• Romance 
• Historical Fiction* different from Historical Romance 
• Mystery 
• Fantasy 
• Sci-Fi 
• Thriller 
• Steampunk