Month: October 2015

Book & a Bomb: UNDER THE LIGHTS Giveaway!

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It’s time for another book and a bath-bomb giveaway!

This time I’ll be giving away a BRAND NEW PAPERBACK of UNDER THE LIGHTS by Dahlia Adler, and a PHOENIX RISING bath bomb

BLURB FROM BARNES & NOBLE: Young actor Josh Chester has never been sure that acting is for him–he’s mostly interested in the parties and the hot Hollywood girls that come with the job. But he ends up taking a job on the hit TV series Daylight Falls, opposite Vanessa Park, a girl who is immune to his charms and also his polar opposite. Vanessa loves her job, despite her parents’ disapproval. She’s pretty certain about everything in her life, until she meets her new career handler, a gorgeous girl named Bri. Then things start to get a little confusing. Under the Lights features an adorable romance between two young women, all set against the backdrop of Hollywood. As Vanessa confronts her emerging feelings for her handler, Bri, her co-star Josh confronts his realization that the Hollywood scene might not really be his cup of tea. Under the Lights is a story of self-discovery: learning that the person you always thought you were might not actually be the case anymore.

My thoughts:

This is one of my favorite books this year! It’s thoughtful, funny and just the right mix of Hollywood drama blended with real-life situations. Dahlia nails the characters’ voices, and the glitz of Hollywood.  If you don’t follow Dahlia Adler on Twitter, fix that now! She’s friendly, informative, and a true “reccing ball” for any book suggestions you want, especially YA.  Her next YA novel is called JUST VISITING, and it’s an awesome friendship story. You can preorder it here (LINK)

 

What better bath bomb to go with a tale of budding love among Hollywood’s lights than PHOENIX RISING?

FROM THE LUSH SITE: All the myth and magic of a Phoenix pressed into one bath time experience, which lets you arise at the end feeling refreshed and ready for the next 500 years. One of Lush’s patented double layer bath bombs, your Phoenix will sink to the bottom then rise in triumph, its’ mythical sparkling purple and green plumage unfurling through your bath water. It will release gentle shea butter, cocoa butter and jojoba oil to leave your skin feather soft, and exotic essential oils of fruit and spices, which take your mind on a flight of fancy to distant shores where you are lying on a beach drinking spiced rum

My thoughts: It’s glittery, it’s magical, and it smells like fruit and spices! What a perfect bath bomb for a romantic YA read that had it’s own dashes of spice and glittery fancy parties!

Not an international giveaway, but I will ship to Canada/Mexico!

Enter the giveaway here: Rafflecopter Link

Six Ways You’re Annoying on Twitter (and how to stop)

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Twitter can be really fun. However, it can also feel like walking into a rowdy Wild West bar… that’s on fire. People shouting, hashtags flying about, auto-dms punching you in the face…

Here are my biggest pet peeves in the wild world of Twitter and some way to avoid them.

 1. Auto-DMs

These, for me, are one of the most annoying things out there. It’s like waving to someone across the street and having them chase you down, throwing buisness cards like ninja stars at you. Not fun.

Quick-fix: Turn off the auto-dm and focus on making real connections.

 

2. Humblebragging

“My hubby bought me a latte and a donut, AND people think he looks like James Franco. #blessed”

“I never work out but somehow always fit in a size 0. #luckyme”

“Ugh, having a ten bedroom mansion makes it SO HARD to find a missing sock. Thank goodness for the maid. #crisisadverted”

“Only spent 813 bucks at Whole Foods! That’s what I call pennypinching. #success”

#shutupplease #nobodycares

Quick fix: It’s one thing to share good news. It’s another to constantly mention things that a lot of people don’t have. Ask yourself if you’re sharing a good thing or if you’re bragging to make yourself feel better.

 

3. All Output

Read my book! Read my blog post! Read my joke! Read my mind! LOOK AT MY PHOTOS! LOOK AT MEEEEEEEEEE

(As an extrovert, I’m guilty of this one.)

Quick fix: Try to respond to your friend’s tweets too, or retweet their interesting blog posts. You don’t want your feed to be all you tweeting. Interact.

 

4. Shouting at Celebrities

Just. Don’t.

J.K. Rowling will not blurb your book. Jennifer Lawerence will not marry you. Robert Carlyle will not give you Once Upon A Time spoilers.

Quick fix: First, ask if your tweet is polite enough you’d send it to a coworker. Then, make sure you’re not the 357th person responding to the celeb’s post.

4. Too many hashtags

I #wrote a #book. It’s #fun #magical #YA #Checkitout #amreading #amwriting #amhashtaging

It’s hard to read tweets like this. I catch myself scrolling past them because they look like spam. Also, if you use more than four hashtags, Twitter will actually flag the tweet as spam and not show it in searches, etc. Use minimal, powerful hashtags. (For example, don’t hashtag common words like “book”, instead use tags like #amreading)

Also, respect hashtags created by others. If you see people tweeting thoughts with a hashtag on the end, perhaps like #yesallwomen or #mswl, don’t just assume you can use the hashtag for whatever you want. Some are part of a converstation started by specific people, about specific topics. Some are only used by certain people. For example, #askagent is only for when agents are going to answer questions. Don’t put it on your tweet about a book.

5. Putting other books down/linking authors to negative reviews

*please note, this doesn’t mean “thou shalt not negatively review books”

What this means is A. derailing a book conversation.

Person A: I loved Harry Potter! Best book series ever

Person B: Me too. I wish Draco had a better arc

Perscon C: Fav books ever!

Person D:* tags everyone else in the convo* HARRY POTTER IS STUPID AND YOU’RE ALL STUPID FOR LIKING IT.

Yeah. Just don’t. If the person isn’t asking for opinions on the book, you don’t have to tell them yours. Likewise, be careful about tagging authors in your tweets. If someone is asking for book recommendations, and you tag the author, you’re bringing that author into a conversation where people could end up stating why they don’t like that author’s book

For example

Person A: I need a book with beagle puppies as main characters

Person B: Wishbone series!

Person A: Cool, but I’m looking for books.

Person C: I love BEAGLE MYSTERY MURDERS by @PUPPYAUTHOR

Person B: Yeah but @Puppyauthor writes the STUPIDEST BOOKS EVER.

@puppyauthor goes and cries in a corner.

Quick Fix: Be polite

6. Not Giving Credit to Artists

Twitter person: HEY LOOK AT THIS GREAT ART!

NO IDEA WHO PAINTED THIS BUT IT’S REAL PRETTY, RIGHT?????

Quick tip. If you want to retweet some cool fan art, FIND THE ARTIST. You can use google image search to do so. Not doing so is really unfair to the artist who has done so much work.

So, there’s my biggest pet peeves on Twitter. What are yours?