Fierce Reads Giveaway! Prizes from Authors Leigh Bardugo, Marissa Meyer, Anna Banks, Ann Aguirre and Josephine Angelini!

July 25, 2014July 25, 201441 Comments

It’s San Diego Comic Con weekend and while I know there a ton of you who are making your way there and having a blast, viagra there’s also a HUGE amount of you that are unable to be there. (Personally, sildenafil I choose NOT to go haha). But I have just the thing to make it a bit better…

ITS GIVEAWAY TIME!

Oh yes, cheapest time to get excited.

Now that I’ve mostly caught up on sending out actual giveaway prizes, I’m ready to jump back in the saddle and start holding giveaways again. I got behind a bit on them, but I scored some seriously awesome stuff at the Fierce Reads Blockbuster event at Barnes and Noble just a couple days ago and I’m ready for an epic giveaway!

Want to see the prize?

Oh, I know you do!

Check it out!

The Prize

This Fierce Reads Prize Pack Includes:

-One Advanced Reader’s Copy of Josephine Angelini’s Trial by Fire (not signed). This book does not release until September and it is AMAZING.

-One Signed Copy of Cinder by Marissa Meyer

-One Signed Copy of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

-One Sneak Peek Of Poseidon Booklet signed by author Anna Banks

-One Bookmark signed by Ann Aguirre

-3 Bookmarks (Anna Banks, Leigh Bardugo, Marissa Meyer), Unsigned

-6 buttons from The Grisha Trilogy, The Syrena Legacy and The Lunar Chronicles

Pretty epic right?

The Rules (yes, there has to be rules!)

The contest will run from today, July 25th to August 5th!

The winner will be contacted within 24 hours of contest end. If winner(s) do not respond within a 24 hour period of contact, their prize will be forfeited and a new winner will be chosen.

Come back every day to share on Twitter and Instagram to earn more entries!

If you check off an option on the rafflecopter, please make sure that you have fulfilled that option. Please be honest! I double check every winning entry and if you are dishonest, you will not win the prize!

This giveaway is in NO way endorsed by any authors, their publishers or any other affiliates.

What A Nerd Girl Says is not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged prizes. It HAS happened before, but only once!

How to Enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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It’s as simple as that! Don’t forget to share and post this for all your friend’s to see, and good luck!

Seven Deadly Sins Book Tag!

July 24, 2014July 24, 20142 Comments

So I’ve figured something out about me and book tags…

I don’t really get the actual process of them haha. You’re supposed to actually be TAGGED by someone before you do it. I don’t do that. I just see these on other people’s blogs and think they’re super cool and decided, order huh, hospital that’ll make a good post this week, and I do them.

I’m useless as a blogger sometimes, I swear.

But anyway, I saw this tag on my good friend Kayla’s blog, The Thousand Lives (check her out because her blog is superb!) and I decided it would be kind of fun so here we go!

GREED

What is your most inexpensive book?

That’s hard. Because I try to shop at used bookstores as much as I can. I also buy books ALL the time so I sort of lose track of when and where I bought them and how much I paid for them. That being said, I DO remember buying a hardback copy of Bloodlines in BEAUTIFUL condition at a used bookstore in Pasadena for 3 bucks. That was a total win!

WRATH

What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

Hmmm. Its hard to say. I usually like an author or I don’t like them. I don’t really have that in between. BUT. I will say this. I read Josephine Angelini’s Starcrossed trilogy and honestly wasn’t that impressed by it. It wasn’t that it was bad, because it wasn’t. She’s a terrific writer. I just didn’t care for the story that much. However, I just read the ARC of her new book, Trial by Fire, recently and that blew my mind and I totally love her for that book alone. I also would say Rick Riordan. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus but I’ve just never been able to get into Kane Chronicles. I just don’t like it at all. Ugh.

GLUTTONY

What book have you devoured over and over with no shame?

Easy cheesy, fresh and squeezy. I have read the Harry Potter series so much, I can’t even begin to count how many times. I probably have read each one about 50 times each and I’m not exaggerating. I love that series and I can quote them easily and I rock the HP trivia, for real. I also would say Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce. Have you seen my copy of that book…I’ve torn it up…

SLOTH

What book have you neglected due to laziness?

A lot of books :/ But I think mostly…Game of Thrones. My dad bought me the entire series for Christmas in 2012 and I still haven’t read it. I read the first one, and about 100 pages into the second and I just can’t keep going. I know its going to take a bigger effort and all that but I can’t get myself to put in that effort. Sigh. Hopefully soon.

I’ll also say The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling). I started reading it before my Nook crashed and wiped out what page I was on. I have the book still, obviously, but I don’t remember where I was and its pure laziness that is keeping me from finding my spot again.

PRIDE

What book do you talk about in order to sound like an intellectual reader?

I don’t know that I really do, to be honest. I feel like I’m so upfront about my loyalty to YA literature and how I think there’s so much good YA out there. I spend a lot of my time supporting and defending YA lit and I’ve never really tried to make myself seem smarter than I am. I do love books like To Kill a Mockingbird, Gone with the Wind, Brave New World, but I never talk about them to make myself seem smarter.

LUST

What attributes do you find attractive in male or female characters?

Wow. This could go on for awhile. In guy characters, I tend to like the dark, tortured, sarcastic ones. Think Jace Lightwood of The Mortal Instruments, Jared Lynburn of the Lynburn Legacy, Adrian Ivashkov of the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series. I like the fighters, usually, and the ones that are quick and clever. I like the guys that usually withhold their emotions but are so deep and beautiful when they share them. Of course, a guy like this in real life would probably make me roll my eyes but in books, I’m a sucker for the “bad” boy. Sirius Black. Han Solo. The guys that are bad boys but deep down, so good. For girl characters, its broader. I like fighters, I like girls who are smart and clever and who can handle on their own. I like girls who are loyal to their families and their friends. My main girl crush is Rose Hathaway and I just love everything about her.

ENVY

What book would you most like to receive as a gift?

Difficult question. I don’t much like people buying me books haha because I like to pick out my own books. HOWEVER, I’ve been really wanting to read Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches and I just can’t bring myself to buy it every time I go to the store. Maybe someone will buy it for me haha!

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Thanks for reading my impromptu book tag and if you decide to play along, link yours in the comment so I can see!

Happy Reading!

Tuesday Top Ten-My ‘Auto-Buy’ Authors!

July 8, 2014July 12, 20191 Comment

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the Tuesday Top Ten!

I honestly have had a crazy week, and I’ve been so incredibly busy that I honestly couldn’t even remember if I did a Tuesday Top Ten last week. Turns out I did!

I got the idea for this week’s top ten from my dear friend Kayla’s blog! She did a booktag where she posted what authors she owned the most books of from her auto-buy list. I thought it was kind of fun but…I have over 500 books and I don’t have bookshelves so that’s a lot of work for me. But then I thought, well, I don’t have an idea for this week’s Tuesday Top Ten so voila! Now I have one.

All ten authors are authors that from right this moment (and perhaps before), I will buy everything they release, without even thinking about it. You know what I mean. Those kind of authors that you’ve read enough books to trust them, so that when they release a new book, you immediately want to pick it up and read it. Those ones.

Here are my top ten, erm, eleven:

11. Richelle Mead

Its funny that a year ago, I would have scoffed at this, rolled my eyes at the cover of Vampire Academy, and never known how amazing this author is. Luckily, I put aside my vampire prejudices and read this book. Now I’m addicted to VA and Bloodlines, absolutely adore Richelle and I have a VA tattoo now. I will buy anything she writes because she takes something that has been done over and over again, has been beaten to a pulp and makes it fun, fresh, adventurous, sexy and amazing. Richelle Mead is incredible and I will be picking up every single one of her books from now on, easily.

10. Jennifer L. Armentrout

This is a very…I will buy everything she publishes from here on out. I don’t own everything by her at this point. I have read the entire Lux series (so far) and I don’t own it all. I have read the entire Covenant series and again, don’t own them. But I’ve read so much from her now, and I’ve been so thoroughly impressed by her, again and again, that any time there is a new release for her, I’m determined to head to the bookstore in order to purchase her new book. I trust her to take me on adventure, to make me laugh and to have perfectly steamy scenes that leave me panting for more.

9. Marie Lu

After reading the entire Legend trilogy, and being completely blown away from beginning to end, I’ve developed not only an addiction to Marie Lu, but a complete trust in her. I was ready to dive happily into her new book, The Young Elites, and worked my ass off to get a copy of it at ALA. I read it just last week and it blew my mind. I already have my ARC of it but I know that when it is released in October, I will totally be picking it up. I trust Marie Lu to write an incredible story every single time, and she will be one that I will be following for quite some time.

8. Veronica Roth

The Divergent series means so incredibly much to me; I don’t get tattoos of series just because I feel like it. I love Veronica Roth. I love her characters and her stories. I picked up the Four collection and read it in about an hour. I trust her, and I want to read everything that she puts out. She’s the same age as me so I know that she has a great future as a writer in front of her. Right now, I am unsure of what she is working on. Everyone is just talking about the new Four collection and I don’t think there’s anything set in stone planned for the future. Whatever it is though, you can definitely count on me to purchase it on the day it comes out.

7. Tamora Pierce

There is a stipulation to this, even though she’s totally tied for first in the list of my favorite authors. I buy every single thing Tamora Pierce writes as long as its in the Tortall world. Everything she has written in that world has just blown my mind and I love going back again and again and again. She hasn’t put anything out in that world for awhile, which makes me sad, but I always eagerly await a new one. I need to go back and read her Circle books, in the hope of getting an “auto-buy” feeling for those as well :)

6. Andrew Smith

Okay, yes, I need to go back and buy all the books he’s already released since I don’t own all of them, but of the ones I’ve read and own, I just can’t imagine him disappointing me. He is an absolutely incredible author and every book I read makes me love him even more. From now on, every time he releases a book, I will be at the bookstore, grabbing a copy (or two…or three…) and making sure its in my collection. I trust him enough to always make me a happy reader.

5. Jessica Brody

Did I just use a picture of Jessica Brody from the first time I ever met her, over a year ago at WonderCon 2013? Yes, yes, I did. Apparently when I google “Jessica Brody author”, most of the pictures that pop up are the ones from my blog…which is kind of cool and maybe a bit creepy and stalkerish. But the point is, I’ll buy all Jessica Brody’s books because they’re all so good! I’ve read them all (except the Fidelity Files, which I’m working on), and she makes me laugh and she’s a great writer and I love supporting her. Its easy to imagine going to the bookstore on her release days and picking up her new book!

4. Sarah Dessen

I’ve literally bought every single Sarah Dessen book, on the day its released, since I was about fourteen years old. I doubt that is going to change any time soon, unless she starts writing truly awful books.Even then though… Sarah is one of those authors that usually makes me happy, and I love reading her books. Her last couple have been a little lacking compared to some of her earlier ones but I still buy each one with much eagerness because I know what a terrific writer she is and I always look forward to the great stories she tells. Plus they’re always the perfect summer books and I just love that.

3. Cassandra Clare

Whatever you feel about her, that’s your deal. I ran into a lot of people at ALA who don’t like her, and that’s your deal. But she is literally one of my favorite authors ever, I have a tattoo from her series and I will buy each and every one of her books on the day they come out, no matter what. I absolutely hated City of Fallen Angels, and I’m upfront and honest about that. But that didn’t keep me from continuing to buy The Infernal Devices series or from picking up the next TMI book, Lost Souls, the following year. I will pick up a copy of The Iron Trials (her novel with Holly Black) this fall (though I already have an ARC copy of it), and I’ll pick up a copy of The Bane Chronicles and Lady Midnight and so on. This is one author that I’m definitely going to continue to buy, because even though she writes a dud sometimes, she writes a great book that makes me happy too.

2. Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot has been one of my favorite authors since I was 12 years old, when I first picked up a copy of The Princess Diaries. I’ve literally bought every single book of hers, on the release day, since then. That’s 14 years of complete dedication. In fact, a few months ago, I thought “Wait…how is it Meg isn’t releasing anything this year?” Not even a week later, Meg announced two new adult books, based off of two of her very popular YA series. Those will most definitely be auto buys, without even pausing or thinking about it.

1. J.K. Rowling

She’s my favorite author in the entire world and she’s written a total of 10 books. Which seems like a lot but the first one came out in 1998, and that was nearly 20 years ago. She wrote the Harry Potter series and when that was over, I thought I would never again be able to experience the beautiful and incredible writing and storytelling of her again. Then The Casual Vacancy came out. Not one of my favorites but I did enjoy it and I purchased it immediately. As soon as it was revealed that she was Robert Galbraith, and that The Cuckoo’s Calling was, in fact, her novel, I immediately went on my e-reader and bought it. (I had to; at the time, bookstores didn’t carry enough copies to meet the sudden demand). Just recently I purchased The Silkworm, the sequel. I will continue to buy every single thing she writes, even if its, like, a history of toothpicks or something because I will read anything this queen writes :)

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Who are some of your favorite auto-buy authors? Share in the comments!

Vlog: My Adventures in Las Vegas for the ALA Annual Conference 2014!

July 2, 20146 Comments

WHEW! I am SO exhausted everyone. I just had one of the most incredible weekends possible, price and yeah, I’m fairly pooped.

For those of you who don’t know, or don’t follow me on Instagram or Twitter, I just the previous Friday through Monday in Las Vegas, NV for the American Library Association Annual Conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Now if you’re not sure what that is, I’ll explain. The ALA AC is basically a conference for librarians to come together and talk about books, libraries and all sorts of things. They talk about banned books, ways to get children, teens and adults to read, what programs to bring to their libraries…all sorts of things. It’s literally an entire weekend about books. Its sort of like a BEA convention except way more professional, because its through ALA and its centered on librarians and publishers and that sort of thing.

Now, outside people are invited to go, of course. There is a badge that is designated just for those people, that can get them on the exhibit floor, where they can mingle, talk about books, meet authors and grab ARCs.

Now, Courtney, who you may know as one of my good friends and the youth services librarian behind the epic Ontario Teen Book Fest, has been encouraging me to attend for awhile. I didn’t think that I had a place, as a blogger, and not a professional but she disagreed. Then at TBF, Jessica Brody jumped into the conversation as well, pointing out how passionate and hard working I am and that I definitely should go.

Because here’s the thing: bloggers don’t have the best reputation at ALA. They have a reputation for being fangirly (there’s a time and a place, people) and grabby. I guess a few years ago, a blogger went to ALA and while all the librarians are busy in panels and such, grabbed a TON of ARCs…over 100, easily. She had also brought her sister, and her sister grabbed doubles of everything. An exhibit hall badge is a mere 35 dollars, while librarians and such pay over 200 for theirs, plus travel expenses and hotel and all of that. And a lot of librarians were left hanging on ARCs that they genuinely wanted.

So I was nervous about going but I was encouraged to go, and Vegas is only a 4 hour drive for me, so I booked a hotel, started saving all my tip money from work and decided to go.

And I’m SO SO SO SO glad that I did. It was an absolutely incredible experience. I only experienced the blogger negative attitude a few times, but for the most part, people were nice and welcoming. Honestly, I think a lot has to do with the fact that I know when to be professional about What A Nerd Girl Says. I also made sure to grab only books that I knew I wanted or that really sounded great. I knew people who left with 80-100 books but I only left with 40 and I’m very pleased with that.

But anyway, I met a ton of amazing authors, librarians, writers, bloggers, all sorts of people. It was INCREDIBLE. I’m blown away by the fantastic experience I had. I learned that next year’s conference will be in San Francisco so I’m definitely planning a trip for that because I just feel like I can’t miss this again! I also did a ton of networking and handed out SO many business cards!

But enough of that. Now its time to check out my official vlog video for the entire event! Enjoy!

Don’t forget, you can also see all the photos from my “crazy” weekend in Vegas here in this album on the official What a Nerd Girl Says Facebook page.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Noggin by John Corey Whaley

June 22, 2014June 19, 2014Leave a comment

Genre:

Young Adult, treat Contemporary, visit this site Light Sci-Fi

Pages:

356

Part of a Series?:

Release Date:

April 8th, 2012

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Listen — Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t.

Now he’s alive again.

Simple as that.

The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he’s still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she’s not his girlfriend anymore? That’s a bit fuzzy too.

Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars.

Oh well, you only live twice.

My Review:

Look, its hard for me to give a 5 out of a 5 on a book. I used to just hand it out like it was free candy or something. But once I became a blogger, and really started reading books, not just for pleasure, but to really see what books were good, I started handing them out less. You have to earn that five out of five. You have to show me you deserve it.

John Corey Whaley did just that. I had seen him at a panel at the Festival of Books with Andrew Smith (literary god), Rainbow Rowell (the FEEEELS), E. Lockhart (I gotta get my hands on her new book) and Aaron Hartzler (can he be my best friend?). He was funny, his book sounded amazing and I was like, I gotta do this. I developed a massive crush on him that day.

And okay, he’s awesomely gay and has a boyfriend and whatnot, but whatever, people. I can so have a crush on him. I have a best friend crush on him. Or something. Moving on.

I saw him again at Ontario Teen Book Fest, and since I was the resident blogger for that, I was able to spend a bit of time with him, and he was just awesome. He was SO funny, and he told me that Godzilla was his fictional crush, and that Grasshopper Jungle would be the book he wished he had as a teen and I was like, this man is beautiful and I need to read his books.

So when my sister brought home Noggin from the library, I grabbed it from her, and proceeded to read it. She was angry because she’s the one that got it, but I told her I’d finish it before she would even crack it open and I was right.

This book is BRILLIANT. The whole time that I was in Travis’ head, I was a mess of emotions. This kid has it totally rough and I was on his side the whole time. So many people were getting angry and mad at him, getting upset at the way he was acting but they didn’t understand. He was pushing best friend and his girlfriend for things that seemed strange and wrong to them but it felt right to him. Imagine going to sleep tonight, and waking up, and everyone you knew was five years older, and had moved on without you. That’s pretty much exactly what happens with Travis. He never expects to wake up, and if he does, its going to be long after the people he’s known has been gone. He never expects to feel like it was a nap. He still wants his best friend in his life, he still loves his girlfriend incredibly and to have them moved on without him is so hard and I was on Travis’ side the whole time.

When you first read the synopsis, you’re thinking its a sort of science fiction book but its definitely not. Travis’ head is frozen, and they figure out a way to reawaken it on another body just a mere five years after his “death”. That’s where the science fiction ends. The story is of Travis struggling to find his place in the world where he is a rare thing, and where the world has moved on without him. He literally has to tackle this, without the people he’s always relied on, and they’ve done it already, they know who they are, they’ve moved past and its incredible and real. Corey writes this book so well, and there are parts when I want to laugh, and there are parts where I want to cry and there’s more than one part where I’m like, I would hate to be him. I would both love that idea of a second chance at life but hate that everyone had moved on without me. How hard, how emotional for anyone.

John Corey Whaley is an incredible author, and I have his first novel in my TBR pile, waiting for me to come and dive in soon. I can’t wait to read more by him because he tells a great story, and he has a way of balancing humor and romance and basic human emotion in one gigantic beautiful story.