Where I Have Been

So I wanted to pop in really quick and give everyone a quick update on my status.  You may have noticed I haven't been around a lot lately.  Unfortunately like in December, my health has suddenly taken a dive.  I've also had a greatly increased level of stress at work due to a new computer system we're trying to get up and running.  With the medical problems and the job issues I've been so, so tired the past few weeks.  Something had to give, and as the blog does not pay my bills, and it doesn't keep my heart pumping, and lungs breathing, it was the thing that had to go. 

The good news is, I'm slowly recovering.  My goal is to ease back into things over the next few weeks, so I hope you can all be patient with me while that happens. 

In the meantime, for those of you who are wondering about the book battle.  Don't worry, it's still happening.  Round 2 is still coming up.  I'm hoping to be able to set things up in the next week or two, and get everything rescheduled and ready to go.  So if you're one of the Round 2 judges, look for an email with updates from me coming soon. 

Thanks for sticking with me through all of this.  Life is full of it's little ups and downs, isn't it?

Sync Week 4: Anna Dressed in Blood

Sorry for the short notice about this, but I wanted to make sure I posted about it so you don't miss this awesome opportunity!

This week's theme for Sync's free audiobook downloads is "women dressed in white".  The classic title is The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, which is cool, but the really cool part is the contemporary YA title: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake! This is one of the most popular books they've had available so far, and it's only available through July 11th. So make sure you grab it while you can!

Sync Audiobooks Week 3

I hope those of you who like audiobooks are keeping on top of the Sync offerings this summer.  I'm pleased to announce that this weekend there is yet another set of books (a modern YA and a classic pairing) that you can download for free.

Week 3's theme is "Be Careful What You Wish For" with an opportunity to download The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud and Tales from the Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang.  As always, you can snag these by going to sync's website before July 4th.

How do you feel about eBooks?

We interrupt the (somewhat sparce) Book Battle coverage today to bring up one of my new favorite things to talk about: eBooks.

I'm looking to get back into doing reviews again since I've been so lax about it over the past year or so.  And in going through books I've read organizing things, I realize that several of them are eBooks.  I got a Kindle for my birthday last year, so I've been picking up cheap eBooks and freebies over the last year doing that.

For those of you who don't know, Kindle also offers a lending program, where you can loan an ebook to someone with a Kindle (or Kindle app on their table, phone, or PC) for 2 weeks.  It's like borrowing a book from the library, only you can't renew it.

So my question is, would you, my readers, be interested in a highlight of the ebooks I have to lend?  Otherwise some of them once I'm done will just get deleted, but if anyone out there might be interested in borrowing them instead, I might keep them around.

Let me know what you all think.  Perhaps a new feature will be coming to The Shady Glade soon...

Sync Audiobooks Week 2

So I posted last week about the awesomness that is Sync, a website that is giving away free audiobooks all summer.

Week 2 is now upon us.  Apparently this week's theme is sisters, with the offerings being Francisco X. Stork's book Irises and the wonderful Jane Austen classic Sense and Sensibility (not as good as Pride and Prejudice, but still one of my favorites!).

These will be available until June 27th, so grab them now while you can!

Meanwhile, we're getting really close to seeing some action for the Blog Battle.  Round 1 is almost over, and that's when things really get started.  :)  So keep an eye out for that coming soon...

FREE Sync YA Audiobooks

Hey readers!

I know I've been absent a lot lately (much organization going on behind the scenes for the battle!), but I had to pop in really quick and share this with all of you.

One of my favorite things is to listen to audiobooks while I'm doing chores or in the car.  I just download them to my iPod and take them with me wherever I go.  My library even has a program (through OverDrive) that allows me to borrow audiobooks for my iPod from the library.  Cuz let's face it, audiobooks are expensive!

Which is why I'm so excited about this.  Sync YA is hosting a free download every week this summer.  The idea is not only to introduce new readers to audiobooks, but also to share some great books.  Every week they will bring a new YA audiobook to the site that you can download for free for that week only.  And they've even paired each book with a classic.  So it's a great way to get some of those required summer reading books too.  Did I mention it was FREE?  No catches, no gimmicks. I tried it myself; it really is free. What could be better than free books?

This week's title is the dyspotian book The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch from Scholastic Audio paired up with John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.  These will be replaced with a new pairing on 6/21, so you'll want to download both while you still can.

If you're looking ahead, they've posted the schedule of books that will be available for the rest of the summer as well.  There's some great new recent reads out there including Anna Dressed in Blood, Cleopatra's Moon, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  Check it out!

And now for something completely random...