Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
(Kate Daniels, #3)
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Format: ebook
Read: 4/7/2012
In Six Words: Tragic case of death by swooning.
Links
Ilona Andrews — Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook
Amazon — Paperback | Kindle
Add it to Goodreads
Book Order
1. Magic Bites
2. Magic Burns
3. Magic Strikes
4. Magic Bleeds
5. Magic Slays
6. Untitled (Feb. 2013)
7. Untitled (2013)
Why We Started Reading This Series
Both Kelly and I had heard about this series, but we were a little late to the party. Since neither of us had read it before, we decided to jointly review the first book, Magic Bites. We loved the first book so much that we decided to continue reviewing the series together. Seriously, there is mad love for this series happening on this blog. It is fast becoming one of my favorite series. And Magic Strikes is my favorite book of the series (thus far), and I think Kelly might agree. We will definitely continue with Kate Daniels’ world as soon as we possibly can!
Synopsis
Drafted to work for the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, mercenary Kate Daniels has more paranormal problems these days than she knows what to do with. And in Atlanta, where magic comes and goes like the tide, that’s saying a lot.
But when Kate’s werewolf friend Derek is discovered nearly dead, she must confront her greatest challenge yet. As her investigation leads her to the Midnight Games- an invitation only, no-holds-barred, ultimate preternatural fighting tournament- she and Curran, the Beast Lord, uncover a dark plot that may forever alter the face of Atlanta’s shapeshifting community.
-from Goodreads
Our Thoughts on Book 3
Kelly: For the love of small furry kittens, why did we wait so long to start this book??
Amanda: Because my life has been insanely busy and this was the first time I had time to read this book?
Kelly: Good point.
Amanda: You know we both have wanted to pick up the next book in the series ASAP upon finishing.
Kelly: Yes. YES! *looks covetously at the rest of the series*
Amanda: I probably shouldn’t have even read this one, but you know what? I’m glad I did.
Kelly: *raises hand* I want to have Curran’s magical babies now. And Derek’s. And Raphael’s.
Amanda: I believe you already said that. About Curran anyway. The Derek and Raphael thing is kind of new. Anyway. Magic Strikes was… delicious.
Kelly: Like Nutella.
Amanda: Mmm…Nutella. And we got answers about Kate’s father.
Kelly: OMG! Did we! I was a little surprised that I actually guessed the whole father thing, btw. You know that I’m the worst clue-decipher-er in the whole world. I figured that I was wrong just because I thought I was right.
Amanda: As the series progressed, I felt like it was less of a mystery, and more of a secret Kate was keeping. You know, like she just didn’t want to talk about who her father was, rather than it being some grand mystery we were supposed to figure out. And I’m guessing that we will see a lot more of the father story arc in the coming books. Especially since Kate did something that kind of blows her secret out of the water. Or blood. Whatever.
Kelly: I don’t see how this couldn’t be a big part of the storyline. I mean… BIG STUFF!
Amanda: And she did THE THING for Curran. And her friends. But mostly for Curran. You know, I was surprised at how little Curran actually appeared in this book, but every time he did… *swoons* *fans self*
Kelly: I believe I tweeted my thoughts on Curran to you at one point. *swoon swoon motherfucking swoon*
Amanda: Motherfucking swoon is right. That little romance is starting to heat up big time, and, even though it’s frustrating, I love how slowly it’s progressing and how effectively Curran is stalking Kate. Yes, stalking. Like a lion. Rawr.
Kelly: I love Kate’s thought process on Curran. It seems like she honestly doesn’t know how she feels. She likes him. She thinks he’s a sociopath. She thinks he hates her. She can’t stop her body from responding to him. She wants to make mad monkey love…err… lion love. Scratch that. Mad lion love sounds painful.
Amanda: Oh, and her dream? I laughed so hard. You know I have the weirdest dreams. Sparkly tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, people waving my own red heels at me. But Kate’s?
“I dreamed that Curran and I killed a dinosaur and then had sex in the dirt.”
Amanda: I laughed and instantly highlighted it in my Kindle. I found a lot of quotes that I really really liked in this book, and any time a book makes me stop and highlight something, that’s the mark of a good book, I think.
Kelly: I LOVED that line! It had me giggling madly! I’m curious about what you thought about the mythology that was introduced in this book.
Amanda: I have a confession to make. I have a tendency to ignore mythology that is very complex and/or that I don’t know much about. That was the case here. On both accounts. Plus, I was waaaaaaay more focused on the romance. So, rather than be confused or wonder how the hell the mythology plays into it all, I pretty much skim through it. And I do this with all books, not just this series.
Kelly: I have a pretty good handle on Celtic and Greek mythology but I’m only mildly conversant in Hindu mythology. I honestly had some serious overload with the amount of info we were given here. To the point where I almost couldn’t follow which god was which and who they were fighting against. It was like being hit in the brainpan with a concentrated blast of Advanced Hindu Gods 101. Since I was also focused on the romance (and the carnage… oh, the carnage!), this was only slightly distracting but I think it helped for me that Kate was sorting through all this info at the same time we were.
Amanda: Yes. And that’s why I skim. It prevents overload and distractions. I think you probably have to have a good handle on Hindu mythology for it not to be a total information overload and to make sense of it all.
Kelly: I don’t think you’re wrong. All in all, I ended up LOVING this book. I am so happy that we’re getting answers and that Kate and Curran are starting to heat up even more! Rawr!
Amanda: I’m hoping for even more swooning in Magic Bleeds. And the need to take a very cold shower after we finish.
Kelly: Niiiiiiiiice. I don’t know if you noticed but the next book has a bit of girth to it. *looks innocent*
Amanda: Is it nice and big? You know how I love big things.
Kelly: #GutterPass!
Favorite Quotes
“Sometimes, she thought, things happen that are so bad you go deep inside, down past the point of screaming, into silence.”
“Altruism is a fog created by sly minds seeking to benefit from the energy and skill of others. Nothing more.”
“Fear is pain. It hurts. I sink into it and use it like a sharpening stone gliding against a sword. It makes me better, more aware. But I can’t be scared for too long, or it will wear me out.”
“Just reflecting on the fact that when the Universe punches you in the teeth, it never just lets you fall down. It kicks you in the ribs a couple of times and dumps mud on your head.”
Other Reviews
Ruby’s Reads
Mariya
Fiction Vixen
Clock Rewinders on a Book Binge is where Tara @ 25 Hour Books and I shamelessly plug each other, share the fantastic posts, giveaways, or whatever else we’ve found and loved by other awesome bloggers (or authors!) during the week, and talk about the books we plan on reading in the coming week.
Announcement
To reiterate: yes, Clock Rewinders is open to anyone. Please join us. I do, however, want to stress that Clock Rewinders was started to promote and share/link content from other bloggers; in short, it is about creating community. Please do not lose sight of this goal in your own posts. For more information about CR, please visit the Features page, where I have added additional information about participating.
In an effort to get Tara back into the swing of posting and sharing some of the responsibility for CR, we’re sharing the linky, so you can link up here or at 25 Hour Books. Please don’t forget to stop by her blog.
Subscription Notice:
In playing around with my subscribe to comments features, I realized that I disabled the ability to subscribe to new posts through WP.COM (i.e., if you clicked “receive notifications of new posts by email). I do not know if this service still actually works. If you subscribed this way, I highly suggest visiting my feed and signing up for an email subscription through Feedburner (and yes, that feature is enabled in my feed). The only option now in my comments section is to subscribe to REPLIES to YOUR comment. It is automatically checked. It sends you an email that I personally customized informing you of a new reply.
On a Book Bender Recap
- Blogoversary: Felicia on Reading and Blogging
- Top Off Tuesday — Uh… *stares* (a nipple stalker, licking, penis appearance — IT’S ALL HERE)
- Blogoversary: Ruby’s Predictions for the Future
- Blogoversary: Amy Thinks Book Bloggers are Awesome
- An Open Love Letter to the Book Blogging Community – I celebrated my actual blogoversary by writing a letter to express how much being a part of the book blogging community has meant to me.
- Joint Reviews: Yea or Nay?
- Note: if you missed any of the blogoversary guest posts, you can view a list of them all RIGHT HERE. Or just click on my awesome Blogoversary button.
Meanwhile, in Amanda’s World
- Your responses to my blogoversary were amazing! If you read my open love letter, you already know I love you all, but I think I love everyone just a little bit more now as if it were even possible.
- I got my hair colored this week, and then tweeted a picture of the purple in my hair.
- While surfing Twitter, I came across Klouchebag. A far better alternative to Klout, if you ask me.
- Amy gave me advice about what kind of whoring is allowed. (hint: book whoring is OKAY)
- I’m going to a book signing with Kristin Cashore TODAY. If you want to see a recap of the event PLEASE SAY SO, and I will try to put together a post for Thursday.
- I FOUND GOODREADS ICONS! Seriously. Kelly and I totally flipped out because they were ON GOODREADS THIS WHOLE TIME. Goodreads > api > logos and images. So if anyone needs Goodreads icons, I found some. Plus, now my contact page is all tricked out with social media icons.
- I created the term “son of a giraffe shifter.” It is an alternative form of “son of a bitch.” You’re welcome for that.
- Jess gave me a one-day all-access Mexican card for Cinco de Mayo. ¡pero no hablo español!
On 25 Hour Books
- Tara’s 3rd Kindle — Tara got a new Kindle! Woo hoo! She is also saved from death by huggling, which I had been planning to dish out, had she not posted something.
Around the Book Blogging Community
Discussion Posts
- Ruby goes meta and has a discussion post about discussion posts.
- Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal wants to know how much is too much when it comes to post length. Yes, the age old question: does size really matter?
- Alisha @ Book Lovers, Inc wrote about series longevity. It is kind of interesting to ponder the reason to so many series success — or death.
- Amber @ Down the Rabbit Hole discusses sex in YA. I agree with Amber that sex in YA is good, so long as how it is portrayed sends a responsible and realistic message. The fact of the matter is, whether teens are exposed to sex in books or elsewhere, they are going to know about it. Might as well give them positive and healthy examples in books.
From the Authors
- Jeaniene Frost posted another snippet of Once Burned. Can she make us want to read this book any more than we already do?
- Thea Harrison told us pre-order news for Devil’s Gate and gave us the story blurb. And yes, you can now pre-order at Samhain Publishing or Amazon*
*The Amazon link does contain my Amazon Associates ID and should you pre-order Devil’s Gate, a very small portion will go towards me and this blog. - Ann Aguirre posted a short story from Fade’s POV. (this goes well with Smash’s Must Read Monday choice this week)
Must Check Out!
- The Zombie Craze, hosted by everyone’s favorite Zombie Queen, has begun!
- Amanda @ Letters Inside Out posted about 10 plugins for WP. I’m looking at you, WP.org users. I picked up the WP-Optimize plugin.
- I saw this retweeted on Twitter a couple times, and holy crap Anna’s (of Anna Reads) video of confessions [of a book freak] is awesome! AWESOME! It actually spurred me into learning how to use Windows Movie Maker.
- Adam from Hitting on Girls in Bookstores had some bookish horoscopes that amused me greatly. I’m a Leo. And yes, that horoscope totally fits me.
- And in case you missed it, Jenny of Supernatural Snark won the All Things Urban Fantasy Insurgent cover redesign contest. It was a well-deserved win. Jenny is amazing!
Search Terms
gave you a chance and you blew it — Bastard!
who narrated hexed — Well, if we’re talking Hexed by Kevin Hearne, it was Luke Daniels, and he is, quite frankly, amazing.
darkfever series when are the sex scenes — At least you’re honest about what you’re really looking for. PS. it’s a few books in.
how to organize a spreadsheet for a readathon contes — I actually know nothing about readathons. Nothing at all. I mean, it’s not like I run one, or anything.
bender binder note book — I… don’t have any of these. Sorry.
where can i read fire burn and cauldron bubble — Wherever you normally read books. Personally, I enjoy reading in my bedroom or the living room. I get far too distracted in front of the computer.
do i have to buy books for remedial classes — Probably. I think this is usually a good way to learn.
Books, I Read Them
I guess it was a really really slow reading week for me. The only thing I read was Stolen, and that was with the ever lovely Smash. Look for our joint review on the 25th.
Books, I Got Them
People Mentioned
Books Received
- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (THANK YOU, KELLY!)
- Shift by MR Merrick
- On the Edge by Ilona Andrews
- Social Suicide by Gemma Halliday
- The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong
- Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Linky
I am writing this post for two reasons. 1. I’m curious and 2. I have a bit of a confession to make. My deep dark secret1 leads to my curiosity, and, quite frankly, the aforementioned secret kind of muddles my thought process on joint reviews. Thus far in my blogging career, I have participated in a number of joint reviews2 and have a number more in the works3. When it comes to joint reviews, I can’t really claim innocence4. Joint reviews and I are pretty well acquainted.
I enjoy writing joint reviews, because I like the experience of reading a book with someone else. It usually involves a number of text messages, emails, and tweets back and forth about the awesomeness or not so awesomeness of the book. We can discuss the book thoroughly together, without worry of spoiling anyone, before we write a review. It’s not often we get to do this in the public blogosphere, since we obviously do not really wish to spoil events in the book for everyone else. I also think that, generally speaking, there is less pressure to write a review, because you share the responsibility with another person. If you are at a loss for something to say, chances are that your partner can pick up the slack. Win-win, right?
Well, not necessarily.
Joint reviews are typically a hit or miss with me when it comes to reading them5.
I find that my enjoyment of reading a joint review depends on a number of factors:
- My knowledge of or familiarity with both parties of the joint review.
- How well the two people’s style of reviewing mesh.
- The actual flow of the review.
I have no idea whether other people feel the same way, or if I’m alone in my opinions. Maybe I am being extra judgmental6. This leads me to the discussion portion of this post, where I want your opinions!
Do you like reading joint reviews? What makes reading a joint review enjoyable? Am I just thinking crazily7?
1The “deep dark” was added to the word secret for dramatic effect. Secret is actually neither deep or nor dark.
2Six, if you want to be technical.
3Three that are scheduled, one that is confirmed, and one that is assumed. Again, should you want to be technical about it.
4I can and will, of course, claim complete innocence in everything else.
5This is my secret. Please don’t hate me for it.
6If I am, please tell me! But I don’t want this blog to get all name-cally, so just tell me: “The giraffe shifters are watching you” instead, and I’ll know exactly what you mean.
7On second thought, I’d rather you not answer this question.
Amy @ bookgoonie asked me if she could do her guest post in vlog form, and I said, “Heck yes!” After watching it, I’m doubly glad she did and I think you will be, too. It embodies everything I love about book bloggers.
Now, in her vlog, Amy mentions that she’s waiting for her membership card to the #NakedWerewolf Society. Well, Amy… since you were kind enough to make such an awesome vlog for my blogoversary, I have a little something for you (courtesy of Kelly):
Today we have Ruby of Ruby’s Reads continuing the blogoversary celebration. Today is the last day of guest posts, and tomorrow is the last day of the celebration, when On a Book Bender actually for real turns 1.
Wait–How Long Did You Say I’ve Been Blogging?
As Amanda’s blogging senior of eight (nine?) months, I am naturally a font of bloggy wisdom. Therefore, when she approached me thusly: “O, Great One, I beseech thee, give me guidance on this, my second year of blogging,” (accompanied of course, by the ritual offering of #NakedWerewolves and the obeisance that was naturally due to me), I responded:
“My child, the sophomore year of blogging is a sacred time. Cherish it, and it will cherish you.”
And, my friends, what truth I spoke! In the second year of your blog, I predict the following things:
- You will really, truly, begin to see the fruits of your labor. You’ve seen them before, but now? They will smack you upside the head and then smile beatifically at you.
- The feeling of constantly playing catch-up will lessen. It won’t entirely disappear, but by this time, you’ll be more familiar with blogging events you missed out on because you didn’t even know about them until they were happening. There will also be less of that interminable “WoW? TSC? SEO? WTF IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW?!” head-in-hands panicking.
- You’ll realize that you’ve made friends, and formulated friendships. Seriously, this is the time to reflect on those first days of blogging when you didn’t know anyone, and to repay the kindnesses that bloggers showed you during your newbie days.
- Now that you have been blogging for a year, you’ll have a readership. For me, the year mark was when I finally stopped putting so much pressure on myself to “get my name out there.” I don’t mean I stopped worrying about it completely, or that I don’t continue to feel bad when I lose followers or people unsubscribe (I freaking wish they didn’t send me an email every time someone did), but that it’s become easier to content myself with organic growth. To wit: I predict that you will feel a zillion times more comfortable letting your content speak for itself in year two.
- My final prediction is that you’ll realize that there’s still a lot to learn. The learning curve may not be as steep as it once was, but there will be goals to set and aspirations to achieve. Your blog is a living thing. It needs nourishment and TLC. What I’m saying is: Huggle your blog. You both deserve it. Congrats on your first blogoversary!
It’s that time again — Tuesday! — which means I give you shirtless men and you try to steal them away from me. Top Off Tuesdays was started by Felicia, Christi and me. It is where we (and you!) share the book covers that make us swoon. Head over to Felicia’s blog to share your Top Off Tuesday link or to see what everyone has posted.
Let’s start off May the right way, shall we?
Today I have Felicia, the Geeky Blogger here to talk about how blogging has affected her reading habits. And then she has a special something something for you!
Howdy Y’all!
I am so happy to be crashing at Amanda’s pad for today. I am also thrilled to be talking about one of my favorite subjects: Reading and how it has changed since I started blogging. I have been at blogging for 3.5 years so parts of the changes are blogging based and some are technology/industry based. Before I get started I wanted to throw at a quick thank you to Amanda for letting me ramble!
A little bit about me: I have been blogging for 6 years but finally split my book blog off to its own entity 3.5 years ago. When I started my book blog, I had no idea that there was a book blogging community. I started it to track how many books I could read in the year. I had no idea that people would read my blog so I didn’t put much thought into what I was reading or what I thought about the books. A lot has changed over the years (to be expected) but what changed the most were my reading habits. I have to say that truly shocked me!
BEFORE BOOK BLOGGING (or BBB):
- I would browse books in bookstores relying heavily on the back cover blurbs and covers to make my purchasing/reading decisions.
- I would get frustrated that my favorite genre (PNR) was very limited on the shelves at the bookstore. I would have to hunt and hunt to find the books that I needed. This was a particular problem with series. I would read out of order (hated it) or just stock pile till I could find them all.
- I would pretty much buy whatever PNR books were out because I wasn’t sure if I would see them on the book shelves again. My reading was solely based on what was available.
- I only had a few friends and family members that I could talk to about books. They would usually wait for me to read something and tell them if it was good.
- The only other genre I read was Mystery/Thrillers but the same problem reared its ugly head: finding all the books in the series and being very limited in choices. I really hated that my reading was limited to few choices.
AFTER BOOK BLOGGING (or ABB):
- I now find most of books through book bloggers, goodreads, or library thing. (NOTE: I didn’t even know about goodreads or library thing before book blogging. These were probably my favorite finds in my first year). They have changed (forever) how I pick books to read.
- I have discovered and fell in love with genres that I wouldn’t have even glanced at prior to book blogging. My genres now include horror (never saw that coming), contemporary romance (huh? I hated that), historical romance (reliving my original falling in love with romance), zombies (never saw that coming either), mystery/thrillers (making a huge comeback in my world), independents (never knew they existed), and YA (which I would have NEVER even looked at if not for book blogging).
- I have an expanded group of friends to chat about books and that has a direct impact on my reading. I bump up books on my TBR whenever a friend says that it rocked or is a “must” read.
- I plan reads with friends so that we can discuss a book! I would have never done this previously.
- I branch out of my comfort zone way and very seldom question doing it. Ok, I still question it occasionally with YA but I try to be way more open minded.
- I kind of quit reading mysteries/thrillers for a while (which made me sad) because of the overload of choices that I found through book blogging! That is a negative in my estimation but I am changing that as we speak!
Book Blogging has changed my reading practices drastically and in most cases for the better. I realize that part of that comes with advancement of technology: more people being online, ereaders, authors being more accessible online to promote their books, availability of books to be shipped with little or no shipping costs, and social networking. There is a chance that some of the changes in my reading habits would have been organic to the times but I believe that book blogging accelerated that change. I also believe that book blogging has made me a better reader. I appreciate books and the act of reading more! Reading not only fulfills its number 1 goal of entertaining me but now it has the added pleasure of sharing my joy with others.
So how has book blogging (or reading book blogs) changed your reading habits?
Fine print:
- Open to anywhere the Book Depository ships.
- Will run until Thursday, May 3rd.
- I reserve the right to delete any questionable entries.
- Winner has 48 hours to respond to winner email before a new one is chosen.
- Please remember to thank Felicia for her generosity. You won’t find a nicer blogger than Felicia.
Clock Rewinders on a Book Binge is where Tara @ 25 Hour Books and I shamelessly plug each other, share the fantastic posts, giveaways, or whatever else we’ve found and loved by other awesome bloggers (or authors!) during the week, and talk about the books we plan on reading in the coming week.
Announcement
I have been asked about participation in Clock Rewinders: yes, it is open to anyone. Please join us. I do, however, want to stress that Clock Rewinders was started to promote and share/link content from other bloggers; in short, it is about creating community. I do not want to lose sight of this goal, as it is a cornerstone of my blogging philosophy. If you choose to join Clock Rewinders, please help us to strengthen the community.
When Tara and I started Clock Rewinders, I included a section on books I was reading or planning on reading. I did this because I was reading books so quickly that my reviews for those books were being published a month or more after I finished the book. Over time, this section disappeared. Beginning this week, I intend to bring it back into my posts.
On a Book Bender Recap
- Audiobook Review: Hexed by Kevin Hearne – Kevin Hearne simply writes enjoyable stories.
- Top Off Tuesday — A little off the bottom
- Audiobook Review: Hammered by Kevin Hearne – Fabulous continuation of Iron Druid series!
- Blogoversary: Beginning Fun with Alexa
- Blogoversary: Hannah’s Blogging Tips
- Blogoversary: Smash on the Awesomeness of Book Blogging
- Blogoversary: Kai’s Blogging Tips
- Blogoversary: Jenny on What She Learned Her First Year of Blogging
Meanwhile, In Amanda’s World
- THE SEMESTER IS OVER! *does a happy jig* (but I’m going back for summer semester, so the happiness will likely be short lived)
- I was interviewed over at Michelle Muto’s blog. I think it turned into more of a guest post about how authors should and should not interact with bloggers. But Michelle kindly let me get up on my soapbox for a while.
- Kelly made an appearance on my arm and on my whiteboard.
- My winner for Ruby’s Birthday Book Giveaway Hop was Missie, the Unread Reader! Yay Missie!
- I’ve been really terrible at reading or doing anything productive this week. Unless you count watching Buffy as being productive.
- Speaking of being terrible at reading, I decided to drop my Goodreads goal from 150 to 100. I found the “you are 14 books behind” message to be far too discouraging. So I lowered my goal and am giving myself permission to just kind of relax and do nothing rather than feel pressure to get caught up again.
- Starting tomorrow, Kelly, Hannah, Logan, and I are going to attempt a mini NaNo. Just a week full of writing fun. Yay!
- Can I just say that my blogoversary has made me LOVE all my book blogging friends EVEN MORE than I already do? It’s true. YOU ARE ALL AWESOME AND AMAZING.
On 25 Hour Books
- Have to start somewhere — Help encourage Tara’s return to book blogging!
- Mini Review: The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter *** – who knew pain was so sexy?
Around the Book Blogging Community
Cover Reveals
- Ann Aguirre revealed the cover of Outpost. It is creepy good! In her post, she also has giveaway for an Outpost ARC. And, if that’s not enough for you, Heroes and Heartbreakers has a short story set in the same world. Note, though, that you must register for/sign in to their site before you can read the entire story.
- Michelle Hodkin revealed the cover of the next Mara Dyer book, called The Evolution of Mara Dyer. I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely a fan.
- Fiction Vixen put together a page of WordPress resources. For those of you on WP.org, it’s probably worth bookmarking.
- TBR pile out of control? Stephanie @ Once Upon a Chapter has started Operation: TBR Reduction. Join her and work on reducing your TBR books!
- If you’re like me, you a) have avoided all the Insurgent hoopla, and yet b) are really excited for its release on Tuesday. It’s been months since I’ve read Divergent, but Veronica Roth has kindly provided a bit of a recap on her blog so that her readers can dive right back into Tris’s world with Insurgent. Want to make sure you get your copy of Insurgent and support me at the same time? Get it on Amazon! (too much?)
- Felicia the Geeky Blogger confesses that she takes weekends off. I’ve included this in the helpful posts section because I think Felicia offers some valid points about blogging and not letting it take over your life.
- Lauren DeStefano has a very helpful guide to becoming a published author. Yay!
- Carolyn Crane offers some really REALLY good advice on writing. In fact, I think her advice is so sound that you can basically apply it to any part of your life.
- Sign up for the fourth Bout of Books. It’s May 14th through May 20th.
- This week we also announced the Bout of Books 4.0 schedule and asked for your input about Twitter chats. We need your input!
- Please help us spread the word! Visit the BoB blog, grab the button, and, if you are so inclined, post about it on your blog. Thank you! :)
Search Terms
cute puppies loving people — Well, there aren’t people in this, but I suggest watching this video of cute puppies.
“never been to a book signing” — You must remedy this IMMEDIATELY!
grimspace any good? — Yes! I liked it.
can an english teacher make grammar mistakes — Yes. In fact, the more time I spend with my students, the worse my grammar gets.
vempayrs sexy galrs imege.com — Uh-huh. I like that sexy is the only word (unless you count .com as a word) that is spelled correctly.
Books, I Read Them
I’m in this huge “now that I have time to read I don’t know what I want to read!” crisis. My solution right now is relatively simple: one physical book (the girl who) and one ebook. I am liking The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, but at over 600 pages, it’s got heft. It’s also a little bit, um, drier? than what I’m used to. I need to get back to reading mysteries, I think. Balance is good and important, lest I want to burn myself out. I finished Angel Burn earlier in the week (review May 23rd) and then moved onto Something Secret This Way Comes.
Books, I Got Them
- Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde (won from Ruby’s Reads)
Linky
When I first starting blogging and was compiling a list of bloggers to stalk follow, I asked Tara who were must-haves. If you stalk err…follow Jenny of Supernatural Snark, you know why Tara recommended her. Simply put: Jenny is awesome. She’s funny, she’s snarky, and she has some of the best and well-written content in the book blogging community. *huggles her* And now she’s here! On my blog!
THINGS I LEARNED MY FIRST YEAR OF BLOGGING
First of all, I want to thank Amanda for letting me come ramble on her blog and go off on a tangent that focuses almost entirely on me and not so much on generally helpful advice for other bloggers. I feel like Amanda didn’t really anticipate this happening, but I like to keep people on their toes and talk about myself, obviously, whenever possible. I’m a very modest and humble person you see.
In all honesty though, there’s so much I’ve learned in my almost two years of blogging (how time has flown!) both about reviewing books and about myself in particular, and that’s really been half the fun. Hopefully some of you can relate to my below thoughts, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I was out in left field all by myself. Left field and I are good, good friends.
I’m awkward.
This seems like a random “thing to have learned from blogging” doesn’t it? But it’s true. I work from home, so my social interactions are often rather limited to my husband and my clients. When I started blogging, one of my goals was to make sure the blog sounded like me. I wanted readers who clicked on Supernatural Snark to be able to recognize the tone of what they were reading and go “I’m on Jenny’s blog, this sounds like her”, so I tried to flood my blog with as much personality as possible.
This is where I ran into trouble initially. I’m snarky, and often times that doesn’t really translate well online, coming across as snobby or bitchy or any number of other things because people who don’t know me can’t hear my voice and the sarcasm that constantly drips from it. Also, my mouth is extra enormous because it often needs to accommodate my foot. Put all of that together and I can be either humorous or irritating to people. Sometimes both. Humorously irritating?
Point is however, that once I got over the nervousness of putting myself out there on the blog, it’s really been something I’ve tried to incorporate more and more often. The blog is me. Not a persona. Just me in all my wonky glory, so I encourage all bloggers to put themselves out there a bit and show their dorkiness, their enthusiasm, their sense of humor or anything else that makes them them.
Blogging is like having poison ivy.
What? Is this quite possibly the most convoluted list of non-helpful blogging tips ever? Maybe. But I think the above is true. In the beginning, the blog was all new and shiny and I wanted to spend every waking moment building it, talking to new friends, and finding new books. I loved the blog. I needed the blog. And then the inevitable happened: the blog became my sole focus.
I couldn’t stop thinking about it and ways to make it better. I commented like a machine. I tweeted like it was my job. I blog-hopped like there was no tomorrow. The blog got under my skin, a constant itch always there begging me to scratch it. Buy one more book Jenny. Post one more review. Enter one more contest. It became overwhelming.
It took me a long time to learn how to balance my life and the blog, and to find a schedule of reading and reviewing that worked for me without making it feel as though I had a second job. What helped me the most you ask? Talking to other bloggers. They’re like calamine lotion – they soothe me and make me feel more comfortable. Don’t be afraid to reach out to them when things get to be too much because they most likely can relate!
Review books are not required reading.
High school was a while ago for me (yikes), but I remember clearly the mail I got every summer with a list of required reading (AP English nerd, party of one). Books like Moby Dick, Crime and Punishment, and Brave New World. Books I HAD to read because I was going to be tested on them. More often than not, I hated every single one of those books for no other reason than I was being forced to read them (and despite the fact that I actually loved to read). Feeling like I absolutely had to finish a book sucked all the fun out of the experience for me.
I thought this could never happen with the blog. The blog would feature all books I wanted to read! Books made of win! Once the blog was a little more established, I started getting a few review requests here and there, and what blogger isn’t super excited that someone actually sought them out and asked them to read their book? I was ecstatic. For a little while. As the review requests became steadier I started to feel obligated to say yes. That’s why I started the blog right? To review books? It got to the point where I was no longer choosing the books I reviewed, but was allowing them to be chosen for me, and I flashed back to those required reading lists in high school.
Like with the blogging schedule, it took a very long time for me to work up the courage to decline requests and not feel horribly guilty doing so. I stopped chastising myself for being self-important. I ceased with the “who’s too good to accept review requests? Oh that’s right, you are. You are an a-hole.” I started the blog to have fun with something I’m passionate about, and fun for me comes from reading books I genuinely want to read, not ones I have to.
So that was my incredibly long post about a couple of the things I’ve learned as I’ve gone along. Thanks to anyone who made it to the end of the post and to Amanda again for having me!
