One year blogosversary :D

(This actually happened 6 days ago, but *ahem* I obviously lose track of time)

I techincally first started book blogging in June 2011 as part of a uni assignment but really didn't know what I was doing and after the assignment finished, I looked back on it and thought "this is rubbish, I'm moving to Blogger" and I reinvented my previous blog and started to seriously get into blogging! At what I first thought would be a fun, small hobby, turned into something massive! I've made some amazing friends through this community and I've gotten to talk to some wonderful authors as well :).

I just want to thank EVERYBODY who has helped me, read my posts, commented on them, who follows my blog or who even follows me on Twitter, Facebook or any of that jazz :) You're all wonderful and you've made my experience blogging so interesting and so much fun!

As of now (after a year and 6 days!), I have:

Written 138 blog posts (139 now!)
69 of which were reviews
379 GFC followers
954 comments

While I didn't want to name any names, there are two major people I think I should definitely mention :)

- Brodie from Eleusinian Mysteries was the FIRST book blog I ever saw and started reading! She might not know it but she introduced the world of book blogging to me in January 2011! When I first started out, I harrassed emailed her with questions about blogging and she always tried to help me out where she could :) So thankyou!

- Amy from Following the Reader, MY FIRST REAL LIFE BLOGGING FRIEND! Amy and I started blogging around the same time then eventually discovered we went to the same uni! We *almost* met in a bookstore but we were both too socially awkward to actually say hi to eachother, so we officially met at uni instead ;) Best thing is, she doesn't mind my crazy tendencies (well, I don't think she does :O).

There are so many more of you who I love to pieces and who I consider friends in this amazing community :) but there's too many to name individually and I'm scared of missing out on somebody... but I LOVE YOU *hugs*

To celebrate, there will be two prizes - one for the Aussies and another one international,
Aussies will have the chance to win a signed copy of On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta and a book of their choice from the book depository ($15 limit).

The international winner will be able to choose two books from the Book Depository (check they ship to your country here!) with a limit of $30 all up :)

AUSSIE FORM :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

INTERNATIONAL FORM :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway details and conditions:

• I am not responsible for lost or damaged goods from The Book Depository
• Once this giveaway has finished, all personal information - including email/shipping address will be deleted
• Winner will be contacted by email and will have 72 hours to respond with your full mailing address (especially if you're in another country) otherwise another winner will be chosen
• I have the right to change giveaway details as I see fit
• You must be aged 13 or older 

Good luck everybody and thankyou thankyou thankyou for a wonderful year :) 

Birthday giveaway!

So, I know I'm a few weeks late on this, but to celebrate (or loathe) the fact that I turned 20 on the 18th July, I wanted to host a giveaway for you guys! There will be ONE winner who can choose ONE of the July releases below! I haven't read any of these yet but these are all books I'm seriously frothing over!

Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols
Losing Lila by Sarah Alderson
Endlessly by Kiersten White
Cold Fury by T.M. Goeglein
Team Human by Justine Larbalestier
The Forsaken by  Lisa M. Stasse
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield
The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway details and conditions:

• This is open internationally as long as the Book Depository ships to your country.
• I am not responsible for lost or damaged goods from The Book Depository
• Once this giveaway has finished, all personal information - including email/shipping address will be deleted
• Winner will be contacted by email and will have 72 hours to respond with your full mailing address (especially if you're in another country) otherwise another winner will be chosen
• I have the right to change giveaway details as I see fit
• You must be aged 13 or older 

Good luck!! :) 
(Oh, and make sure you check out the fun stuff happening for Author Appreciation August at Reading Wishes and Saz101!)

Blog Tour: Whispering Hills by Taryn [Excerpt & Giveaway]

Woohoo! My very first blog tour!
Today I'll be providing you guys with an awesome excerpt from Taryn Browning's new novel, Whispering Hills and a giveaway! (YAY!)

Check out SupaGurl Books for all the tour stops, if you're interested :)

Title: Whispering Hills
Author: Taryn Browning
Release Date: March 19th 2012
Add it: Goodreads

For as long as she can remember, 17-year-old Alexis Forbes can hear the thoughts of others. Most recently, she is disturbed by the dark, unfamiliar voice of a frightening killer: callous, cunning, charismatic…and dead. She hears his every sinister thought. But she can’t tell anyone. No one would believe her. 

Alexis is suddenly being haunted by a terrifying past she doesn’t remember, and a ghost with a serious score to settle. Even Chance, the gorgeous new guy she’s falling for, has his own ghostly secret. He’s definitely not like any guy she’s ever met. Alexis soon discovers she has a connection to the dead and it runs much deeper than she could ever imagine. 

And if the sociopathic entity has his way, she’ll finally be sentenced to the fate she escaped thirteen years ago.

Excerpt:

After telling Brooke about the horrible voice I’d heard at school, I paced the floor, from her dresser and back again, wearing a perfect line in the carpet.

     I tripped over a pile of community college textbooks at the base of her desk. “I’m going to the lake.” I wasn’t sure if I was justifying my actions out loud, or just forcing myself to do something—anything—to locate the girl.

     “For what? There’s nothing you can do.” She shot in front of me, blocking my path. “You’ve got to calm down before Mom hears you.” 

     “Trust me, she won’t. She’s too wrapped up in the bake sale and the October Festival to care.” I attempted to push by her, but she had me by at least twenty pounds and four inches. At five-foot-two, I wasn’t much of a match. “Move out of my way. If I can’t tell the cops, the least I can do is check it out. It’s a big lake. I’ll be fine.” 

     “Seriously, Alex, you have no idea if a murder actually occurred. So you heard it. It could have been hypothetical. You know, a guy who’s pissed off at his girlfriend.” 

     I stared at her, gazing into my own light brown eyes. People always said we looked similar, only Brooke’s curly auburn hair settled around her shoulders. Mine streamed clear down my back and refused to hold an ounce of curl.

     “Okay, fine. You’re never wrong.” Brooke stepped away from the door. “Go. You’re not going to listen to me anyway.”

     “I knew you were going to move. You made the decision before you said it.” I smiled victoriously.

     “Save it,” she laughed, smiling tightly. “You and your telepathic mumbo jumbo suck.” She placed her arm out to block me again. “Why don’t you just probe the minds of every student at school? Someone’s bound to confess.”

     “I guess it’s a mental glitch in my ‘psychic’ radar,” I replied. “But I can’t just probe them like aliens. You know I can’t eavesdrop at will.”

     Her eyes lit up. “But wouldn’t that be awesome?” she grinned, no doubt plotting how she’d use the ability to read her college professors’ minds, or the minds of guys she had interest in.

     Even though she couldn’t fully understand my ability, she loved and accepted me anyway. She did her best to support me when the voices became too overwhelming, but many times she treated my telepathy as something humorous or fantastic – both of which, it was not. Brooke joked because she didn’t understand how burdensome it was too literally hear other people’s decisions. As I had discovered today at school, the thoughts weren’t always pretty.

There will be three winners!

Each winner will either receive:

1. An e-copy of Whispering Hills

2. A Dark Seeker bookmark OR

3. A Whispering Hills bookmark

Winner of Taryn Browning's, Dark Seeker!

So, it's been a few days since the winner of the Dark Seeker giveaway had to be announced (I seriously apologise, I'll get my life back in order soon! It's not been the greatest time for me!) so the winner of an e-copy of Dark Seeker and JUMBO bookmarks is 

Kaity W!

100 Follower Giveaway Winners!!!

Hey guys!
I'm probably a few days late in announcing this, but it's time to announce the winners of my 100 follower giveaway! Now there were a staggering 772 entries from 146 different people! The winners have been emailed and have both responded!! They were picked by a random number generator and with much desk banging from my behalf due to the extra entries - let's just say, next time I'm definitely sticking with Rafflecopter. SO. MUCH. EASIER.

So enough rambling, let's announce the winners :)

Mesa @ The Sagacity Quest,
who chose Under The Never Sky

LadyVampire @ LadyVampire's Lair,
who chose Drink, Slay, Love

I will be organising the postage from The Book Depository sometime today!
Thankyou to all of those who entered and I just wanna say that I love all of my old and new followers :)

Guest Post! Taryn Browning's Top 5 Book Crushes!

Thankyou, Taneika, for having me on your blog. This has been so much fun! I thought I'd write a post about my favourite male characters in YA literature. Yes, each of them is good-looking, but they also have a vulnerable side that makes them more "real". I care about what happens to them. So here they are in no particular order...

Edward from Twilight: Edward was my very first book crush, so I had to include him in the list.

Jace from the Mortal Instruments: Jace is physically the perfect guy (in my eyes), and he has a really fun personality to back it up. Not only is he gorgeous, but he knows he is. I don't know why this is so appealing, but with him, it just is.

Dimitri from The Vampire Academy: I'm usually attracted to blondes, but not this time. Dimitri is tough, strong, moral, and well, just plain HOT!

Four from Divergent: Oh my, what can I say about Four – totally swoon-worthy!!! Yes, he's a blonde, so that helps, but he's also a really cool character. I'm really looking forward to reading Insurgent.

Adam from Shatter Me: I recently read Shatter Me and immediately knew I was adding Adam to my list of book crushes. I love how he treats Juliette and how devoted he is to his little brother. He is an all-around great guy. What's not to love about Adam!

Don't forget to check out Kai from Dark Seeker. In Dark Seeker, Kai is the gorgeous hybrid bad-boy with a jaded past that Janie is trained to hunt. But, they describe him best (thanks ladies)...

"Browning had me completely on edge in regards to Kai. His storyline is full of mystery and I constantly found myself wondering about his heritage. I'll tell you this - it certainly isn't an answer you would suspect. I don't want to spoil anything for you guys, but I will tell you this - I LOVED Kai. I have found myself a new book boyfriend. He's endearing and sweet, yet tough at the same time. He's got a backbone, but he has a conscience too. And Janie and Kai together? Magic, my dears. Pure magic. The two are easily one of my favourite new young adult duos." - That Bookish Girl

"As my aunt would say, "Oh, Lawdy". Talk about one sizzling hot bad-boy. Kai is everything Janie has been warned about and trained to kill. But when she starts uncovering secrets from Kai's past, she discovers that everything is not what is seems." - The Bookish Babes

"Kai is adorable, I knew from the first scene with them together I was going to love him and I do." - Book Passion for Life

"Kai... dear, sweet Kai. Ok so guess what? I got me a new fictional boyfriend to add to my list! Kai is a hot mystery." - Girls on YA Books

"Kai... Oh how I fell for this boy from the moment he jumped on the page. All hello, I'm here and look at me. He is amazing considering all he's been through *nope not telling* He is a strong, sexy, snarky and very loveable guy. I really went all fangirl for him." - SupaGurl Books

" The chemistry between Kai and Janie was so intense!" - Livin' Life Through Books

"Kai was just perfect. He captured my heart from the beginning. He was strong, sweet, but at the same time a bit cold. He had a tough past and it showed with how he dealt with his feelings. I loved it and I loved reading about his past. It made him feel so real. He's definitely going into my book boyfriend list. He was just so sweet and swoon-worthy!" - My Cute Bookshelf

"Kai is a gorgeous mystery; he is sarcastic and stubborn and has a knack for showing up wherever Janie is. His guily weighs heavily on him and I was eager to learn more of his past and secrets. He brought out not only the worst in her but also the best. Kai for me was a wonderful male love interest for Janie and I really liked his little bouts of jealousy." - Obsession With Books

" Kai - oh...Kai, Kai, Kai - I love everything about you, my tortured hero. From your green eyes to your scarred chest - from your motorcycle (that I really want) to your blood stained book." - Cassandra

"And Kai. Oh, well I love him. He is incredibily emotional, and the things that he has been through is so gut-wrenching and raw that you understand why is he so protective and you understand why he is the way he is." - Flipping Through the Pages 

Who are your book crushes? There are so many to choose from and even more I could add to my list!! :)

Thankyou Taryn for writing this guest post and writing such a fabulous book :) Yeah, so if you haven't already gathered, Kai is HOT. My Dark Seeker review does no justice to his hotness. Anyway, Taryn has been kind enough to let me host a giveaway! There is an e-copy of Dark Seeker up for grabs AND jumbo bookmarks!

100 Follower Giveaway!!

100 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
Yayyy! Thankyou everybody for following me and making my first few months of blogging fantastic! I've enjoyed blogging and sharing with you all so much and I wanted to thankyou by holding my first giveaway (YAY!)

The winner/s will have the choice of ONE of the following books from The Book Depository: 

  Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - Jennifer E. Smith

Melody Burning - Whitley Strieber

Lola and the Boy Next Door - Stephanie Perkins

Drink, Slay, Love - Sarah Beth Durst

Legend - Marie Lu

The Future of Us - Jay Asher

Crave - Melissa Darnell

Cinder - Marissa Meyer

These are all books I've read and loved or am ITCHING to read myself!!

 To enter, read the details and conditions below and then fill out the form :)

Giveaway details:

• This is open internationally as long as the Book Depository ships to your country.
• Must be a GFC follower! (If there are problems, feel free to follow me on Twitter)
• This giveaway will end on the 28th of January (that way the books will actually be available)
• If I hit another blogging milestone during this giveaway, I will be probably be super happy so I may pick two winners :)

Giveaway conditions:

• I am not responsible for lost or damaged goods from The Book Depository
• Once this giveaway has finished, all personal information - including email/shipping address will be deleted
• Winner will be contacted by email and will have 72 hours to respond with your full mailing address (especially if you're in another country) otherwise another winner will be chosen
• The winner will be chosen by random.org
• I have the right to change giveaway details as I see fit
• You must be aged 13 or older

Thankyou so so much to Amy from Following the Reader for helping me with the ENTIRE giveaway and thankyou to Mimi Valentine for all your help! You two are amazing!