"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)

Let's Talk: Favorite Childhood Book

Since I’m spending the Christmas break at my parent’s home I've had the chance to go through my pile of read books. Among them is sitting one of the first books I read as a child and one of the main reasons I fell in love with the Fantasy genre to begin with. This made me think about the very first set of fantasy books that I had, at least that I remember. I had the typical children books, the re-written Grimm’s Fairy Tales published by people I don’t even remember. You know which ones I mean, the more or less 10 pages long books that you can find even at the supermarket or the drugstore. But then my aunt went vacationing to Disney World and she came back totting 7 huge books for me; big enough to reach my waist when I was a kid. Those books where my first reading treasures.

Two of those books where mostly board games with storytelling intertwined; the other 4 where the Disney’s princess fairy tales movies turned into books (Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty); and the last one, the last one was my personal favorite. It was a spiral-bound, suitcase shaped, story book with a few games in some of its pages. The book was a series of short stories (one related to the next) about forest creatures and their everyday lives. It had mice, birds, squirrels, bunnies, foxes, turtles, and others, as well as dragons, gnomes, fairies, and elves. It was a beautiful story about friendship and love, about mischiefs vs intentional harm. The type of story that its meant to teach kids a moral lesson.

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…

Merry Christmas to You and Your Love Ones

May this Christmas day be filled with happiness, joy, family, friends and all that special people in your life. May you be cover in health, love, kindness, and affection. Regardless of your believes, may this be a merry, merry Christmas...

Let's Talk: Book Déjà Vu

With the end of 2012 approaching lot’s of reading challenges have sprung, most of them are aimed at finishing, or rather, diminishing our eternally growing To-Be-Read (TRB) piles. If you are like me, you have read countless books on the same genres. So I wonder

What book(s) have you read that has one or more element that reminds you of a previous novel? For example, I’m currently reading How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire (Love at Stake, Book 1) by Kerrelyn Sparks [currently $0.99 at Amazon] and I’m at a part that although is not developing the same way, in its essence it reminds me of Jeaniene Frost’s Halfway to the Grave. Another one was when I began Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breed Series –I love it, but throughout the first three books I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was reading another version of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood. So I ask you, which book(s) have you read that gives you a déjà vu?

Long Overdue, Hi Again!

Hello my amazing followers!!!! I know, I know, it's been way too long since the last time I did anything here in the blog. I had no intention to abandon you at all, but college has a way of messing with time frames immensely.

Because of this, and because I still have about one more year and a half to go before I finish my degree I'll remain on and off the blog. I'll will still blog (as well as my sister occasionally) but will not be as frequent as before.

I'll try to be more active, I have a bunch of books that I have read, but I haven't yet reviewed. I'm planning to filter those in as this trimester moves along. Also, there is a new Blog Tour on the horizon due at the end of November (check the Upcoming Tours section on the sidebar for more details).

Now, unto something else I wanted to talk about. I finally fixed the drop down menu! YES! I've been struggling (as you may know) with finding a menu scheme that works correctly. That is, that doesn't drops behind the blog's main bar and side bar. That it actually drops propertly to the sides as I want it to, and most importantly, that is multi-leveled. Yay!! I succeded!!

Please feel free to try out the menu and leave me some feedback in the comments section below. It will be greatly appretiated.

Thanks for this feat goes to Rahul Ippar from Helper Blogger and his post on how to Create Multi Level Drop Down Menu in Blogger. Thanks you so much for that wonderful post. And thank you, my great followers for sticking around all this time ~.^

Blog Tour: Crimson Darkness

Hey there my amazing followers and lurkers. How have you all been lately? Welcome back to another wonderful blog tour. Today's authors are visiting us for the third time; this time to promote their sequel novel Crimson Darkness, which will be released as soon as September 1st, 2012.

If the name sounds familiar to you, that's because they also dropped by recently to give me and small group of bloggers an exclusive look at the book's Cover Real. (Psst... want to take a peek at the cover? CLICK ON THIS LINK, let that be our little secret).

So who's visiting us today you may ask? Well, not one, but two authors; the writing duo of Amos Cassidy. And for their visit they are giving you, my amazing readers, a never before published scene from their debut novel Crimson Midnight, the first book on the Crimson series. You can read my review of Crimson Midnight HERE. You can also drop by and read the author interview from the previous tour HERE.

Now, without further ado, I leave you in the hands of Amos Cassidy:

Blog Tour: The Viking's Witch

Welcome back my amazing followers, today I have another author Spotlight for you. We are being visited today by Kelly A Wilkins, who’s touring the blog-o-sphere promoting her new novel, a Historical Fiction named The Viking’s Witch.

Who's the Author?

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

Blog Tour: Circe by Jessica Penot

Hello again my amazing followers, today we are welcoming another great author who's promoting her book, a psychological thriller called Circe.

What is Circe exactly? Here is the book's description:

Dr. Black is a good man with a few vices. He is willing to sacrifice his career for his wife, Pria. He takes an internship at a hick institution in Southern Alabama to make his wife happy, but once he is situated in this old hospital, he finds that old habits die-hard. He is sexually compulsive and easily seduced by his supervisor, Cassie, who takes him to the bowls of the institution and shows him its tragic history. As Dr. Black loses himself in his obsession with Cassie, he becomes convinced that she is the key to Circe's mythology and magic and a series of bizarre murders leaves him convinced that she has opened the gates to another world. Madness and sanity begin to blur for Dr. Black and he becomes entangled in the mystery at the heart of Circe. A mystery that's as old as the ancient hospital itself. A mystery that could incriminate Cassie, an old god, or Dr. Black himself.

So without further ado, please welcome Jessica Penot, who will talk to us today about...

The Characters of Circe

I have written many books at this point and I think Circe is my best novel. It wasn’t the easiest to write, but it is my best novel. As I begin to read reviews of Circe, I realize that what made it so hard to write is that it was driven by an antihero. It is driven by a man who isn’t likeable and who is utterly, tragically flawed. He struggles with his own flaws and at times, he wants to be good, but his struggle is as doomed as he is. Writing a character like this was difficult. It is hard to find the shades of gray in such a character, to trace back to the childhood tragedies and black cognitions that make such a man. It is also difficult to make a character like this readable and interesting enough to be compelling. I think I accomplished this.

Chit-Chatting: Was biblical Cain the first Vampire?

*Stands in the road looking at the passersby wondering the best way to approach. The proverbial light bulb goes on and she says...*

Hello my amazing followers, I have a questions that I will love to ask you. I'm hoping that I can engage you in conversation; get to know your opinions a bit better. So...

What's your take on the whole "Cain as the original Vampire" trend that's going around?

Background:
I just began a vampire book called Grace Through Blood, and the very first thing that can be read is a Bible quote (the book only uses verses 10, 12 and 15):

Interview with John Raab from Suspense Magazine

I want to ask you all, how many of you love a good Mystery and Suspense story? I’m not sure if it’s just curiosity or what exactly, but sometimes I love to read (or watch) a good story that scares me or that keeps me at the edge of my seat. If I get the opportunity to read it for free, well, even better. That is exactly what Green Lake it’s building up to be, a great and thrilling read. Green Lake it’s a special, ongoing project by the creators of Suspense Magazine; a website dedicated to, like the name suggests, suspense, mystery, horror and thriller fiction. And today we welcome the magazine’s own CEO and Publisher, Mr. John Raab.

Me: First of all welcome to Journey with Words and thank you for stopping by today.

John: Thank you for having me here, I’m delighted to stop by.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself.

John: I’m the CEO / Publisher of Suspense Magazine. Not only am I a fan of books, but also sports and music. I’m married with four children and live in Los Angeles, CA. Other than that, I’m a pretty boring person on the outside, but my brain won’t stop working and always think of new ways to scare people.

Q: For those who haven’t heard from Suspense Magazine yet, what can you tell us about it? How long have it been running?

John: Suspense Magazine is a monthly magazine that is dedicated at bringing the inside information on the suspense / mystery / thriller / horror genre. We started the magazine almost five years ago and have been fortunate to not only still be around, but grow to 17 countries. We are an all-electronic magazine, giving us the ability to spread out to the entire globe and cover the genre from many angles. The publishing world today is so crazy, keeping up with it is a difficult task in itself.

Q: There are so many great articles on the magazine, how do you narrow down and choose what goes and what stays for each issue?

Standing Up from the Crowd

Product: Kindle Touch Skin (Goth Forest & Flower of Fire)
Brand: Decalgirl
Dimensions:

Front: 6 ½ inches long x 4 ½ inches wide
Back (main): 5 ¾ inches long x 4 ½ inches wide
Top & Speaker Strips (back): Less than ½ inch long x 4 ½ inches wide

My Rating: ★★★★★
Get them @: Amazon

Goth Forest
Flower of Fire

I bought two of these items for Xmas, one for me and one as a gift for my sister. For me I chose Decalgirl Kindle Touch Skin - Goth Forest and for my sister I bought Decalgirl Kindle Touch Skin - Flower of Fire. They both look amazing and they both fit perfectly in the kindle. The colors are very vibrant and simply beautiful. The underside of the stickers seems to be vinyl, yet the stickers I got are matte. It comes with a paper with instructions on how to apply it, but I suggest that you watch the video tutorial on the item's page; it’s far more descriptive than the three step page.

Perfect Fit!

Product: Timbuk2 Kindle and Kindle Touch Envelope Sleeve
Brand: Timbuk2
Dimensions:

8 inches long,
5 ¾ inches wide; when closed,
8 ½ inches wide; when open,
About ¾ of an inch thick on the er... thickest part (the flap when closed).

My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get them @: Amazon (follow the links below)

The Kindle, regardless of the model, is such a fragile equipment that it is recommended to get it a good cover if you plan to tow it back and forth. And a big part of the allure of the kindle (of any reading device really) is the portability and book capacity. So when I bough me and my sister a kindle accessories where necessary.
This part review is for the Timbuk2 Kindle and Kindle Touch ENVELOPE SLEEVE, Grey/Cold Blue.

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?

New Blogger (sort of..)

Hello Everyone,

Hope you are all doing great today! I wanted to drop by and let you all know that my sister has joined me (again) in reviewing books for Journey with Words. She had previously joined but due to her academic load -she is a high school student- she couldn't review the books. Now it's summer and she will be guest posting here, at least until classes begin anew on August. Any post that you see signed as:

...means it was done by her.

Let's give her a warm welcome!

Silros is a 15-year-old high school student best know among her friends as the Mad Hatter's daughter. She will be reviewing Young Adult books as well as Children Books. Her first review for the blog is The Bad Beginning, the first book on Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Thank you,