Swap clarification

I had a really good question about the virtual swaps, and so I wanted to make sure I posted it to make sure everyone read the clarification.

Thank you to Lili, who wanted to know if the fees had to be paid for each round you participate in. The answer is no. The fees are just a one time entry fee for however many rounds you choose to do.

However, if you left the swap and wanted to come back again later (like a few weeks later), you would need to pay the fee again. Essentially, once you get your package of books back, you have left the game.

If anyone else has clarifying questions, please let me know!

New Swap Is Here!

So here's the big news that I hinted at last week. Remember back in August when I started my travelling book swap? Well, it’s coming along quite nicely (four people left to go) and so I decided I could turn my attention to the next swap. One of the things that I heard from several people during the first round was a disappointment that it was only for US residents. Well this one will be open internationally!

I’m doing things a little differently this time around. For those of you who want to sign up for a travelling swap, don’t worry. They aren’t going anywhere, and you can still participate in this swap and a travelling swap. Or just one or the other. In order to accommodate international participants, rather than having a box that physically travels from house to house we will do a “virtual” box. So here’s the basics of how it will work:

Everyone who signs up will send the books they want to swap to me (including international swappers). Once I get all of them I will post a list of all the books I got and throw in several titles of my own to form our virtual “box”. Then everyone will take turns picking a title one at a time from the box. Once you’ve picked a book for every one you sent I’ll package up your new books and mail them back to you.

So what do you think? If you’re interested in participating, make sure you check out the specific rules. I've posted them separately so linking is a little easier in the future. Read through these and then use the form on that page to sign up. That's right, I'm going to make you click through to get to the form. That way I know you've at least seen the rules.

And here's a little sneak peek for you. I have no idea what others will be including, but I CAN tell you what I might add to the box. Sign up and you may get a chance at some of these:

Bliss by Lauren Myracle
Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis
Snap by Carol Snow
Runemarks by Joanne Harris
The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney
Jinxed by Day Leclaire
Backtracked by Pedro De Alacantara
The Other Side: A Teen's Guide to Ghost Hunting and the Paranormal by Marley Gibson
Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot
Losing Christina: Fog by Caroline B Cooney
Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer

Interested now? Great! Again, just make sure you've read the rules, and then sign up! You may get some of these, you may not, but you'll never know until you sign up. :)

Virtual Swap Rules

Here are the rules for the new virtual swaps. If you are interested in participating in a travelling swap instead (or in addition to this one) you can find details at that post. To help keep things as uncluttered as possible, I'm posting the rules separately from the announcement post.

1. Participating in the swap requires a minor fee to cover return postage. US Residents = $5, Canada Residents = $7, Other International = $12. These are in US dollars. I will also randomly be awarding $5 Amazon gift cards and extra books to random swapping participants, so fees also help cover those costs. Fees will be paid via PayPal. If this is a problem for you, email me to work out other arrangements.

2. Members who want to sign up will need to provide an email address, a mailing address and how many rounds they want to participate in. The number of books equals the number of rounds so if you send 2 books to the swap, you get to participate in 2 rounds, 3 books, 3 rounds, etc.

3. Books MUST be in good condition (used is fine) and must be Young Adult or books with Young Adult appeal. ARCs are fine. If you have any questions about whether your books qualify, just ask.

4. Once you’ve signed up and paid your fee, send your books to the address I will give you. Once I get a good number of books I’ll post a list of all of those available and start the swap.

5. At the beginning of each round I will use a list randomizer to determine the picking order. I will email you when it’s your turn to pick. When it’s your turn, look at the list of books and choose one. Email me to let me know your choice, or if you choose to pass. You will have 72 hours from my email to choose something before you get skipped. If you are skipped you will get one more chance to choose right before the round is over.

6. After everyone has either picked or passed the round will end. Those still participating will be shuffled again and a new round will begin. If you’ve picked your books for every round you signed up for (i.e. for 2 rounds if you sent 2 books) I will package up your new books and send them to you.

7. Players can leave the swap early only after participating in two rounds. If you leave before two rounds are up, your sent books are forfeit. At the end of the current round I will pull any book(s) you have already chosen and/or books you originally sent and send them back to you. If the books you originally sent are no longer available you will be allowed to pick from an alternate list until you have the same number of books you signed up with (i.e. until swapped books + alternate picks/books still available = number of books you sent).

8. Every once in awhile I will randomly select a swapper to receive either an extra book or a $5 Amazon.com gift card. This means that some of you will receive extra prizes and some of you will not.

9. New members will be allowed to join the swap at the beginning of a new round. As soon as your fee and books have been received you will be worked into the shuffle at the beginning of the next round. You can then play like normal.

And that’s it! All square on the rules? If you’re interested, use this form to sign up now. Looking forward to swapping with you!

Contest Monday: Win a Copy of Yesterday's Magic

As promised, here is the Contest Monday post for November. I'm going to extend the deadline for this one beyond just a week since it will be the only other contest I'm holding for November in preparation for the December project I've hinted at. Anyway, this week's prize is for a brand new hardback copy of Yesterday's Magic by Pamela Service.

About the Book (From Amazon.com): "When Heather McKenna is kidnapped by the sorceress Morgan LeFay, it is up to Heather’s friend Welly and the wizard Merlin (yes, that Merlin) to rescue her. Set five hundred years in the future following a nuclear devastation, the technological world has ground to a halt but magic is beginning to take hold again, and the powerful icons of myth are starting to fight over control of the world. From the Russian witch Baba Yaga, to the Native American trickster god, Raven, the most ancient magical forces are beginning to awaken, and they have very different ideas about the future of the earth.

This riveting sequel to Tomorrow's Magic continues Merlin and Arthur’s quest to reunite the world. "

How to Enter: To enter the contest, simply leave a comment on this post. IMPORTANT: Due to security concerns, do NOT include your email address in the comment. If you do, it will be deleted and you will not be entered. This new measure is designed to help protect your account from spam. If you can't/don't want to leave a comment, send an email to shadyglade (AT) mail (DOT) com with the subject line "Yesterday Contest" and include your name, your email address, and the correct subject line.

How to earn Extra Entries:

1. +1 for a sidebar post. Post a link in your comment.
2. +2 for a regular post. Post a link in your comment.
3. +1 Being or becoming a follower.
4. +2 For being referred by someone (let me know who).
5. +1 For every person you refer.

Rules: The contest is open until Wednesday, November 25th, 2009. Open to US and Canada residents, even if you've won a contest in the past. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator. One free entry per person allowed. See above for instructions to earn extra contest entries. Rules about claiming prizes can be found here. Questions? Post a comment or email and ask.

Good luck to everyone! I'll be announcing the winner at the end of November (probably the 30th).

*The amazing Contest Monday banner was designed by Liyana.

LOL of the Week: Maturity

I missed last week, so I wanted to be sure I didn't miss the LOL this week. So here we go:


If you'd like to learn more about LOLcats, you can check out the website, or read my review of the book.

Have a great week!

Some Updates and Holiday Cheer

Hey, sorry I've been a little absent this past week. As I mentioned on Monday, I did get over my cold, but my Mom caught it, so I've been playing nurse the past few days. Not to mention I've been spending a lot of time planning a certain upcoming event in December... but you'll have to wait to learn more about that.

And although you have to wait for that, there's another big announcement coming up next week that will be posted on Tuesday. So if you're not a subscriber, you'll want to come back for that. Also, a new contest will be posted Monday, so keep your eye open for that as well.

Tomorrow will be another Fall Into Reading Update. Despite my best intentions, I have not been doing those weekly as I planned. I blame it on the Cybils reading. And speaking of which, my posting may become more and more spotty as we get closer to December. Some people blog about their reading as they go, but I find I'm more the kind of person who blogs after the whole thing is over. During I just focus on reading. :)

For those who can't wait until December, here's a quick notice for you before you go. Some of you may have heard about this already, but there are two book swaps going on for bloggers during the holidays.

First off is the Book Bloggers Holiday Swap. I participated in this one last year and it was lots of fun. So of course I'm doing it again this year too. Deadline to sign up for this one is November 12th. Head over to the website to check out all the details, FAQs, and of course to sign up!

The next swap is a Secret Santa swap brought to you courtsey of Kate at The Neverending Shelf. Deadline to sign up for this one is November 15th. You can sign up for this one even if you're not a blogger. I also signed up for this one, so I may get one of you as my partner. That is, if you sign up too...

Anyway, that's it for me right now. Going to go check on mom.

Waiting on Wednesday: 11.4.09

Today's WOW post continues right along with the 2010 release theme of last week. Today's feature is:

Princess for Hire by Lindsay Leavitt

About the Book (from Amazon.com): "When an immaculately dressed woman steps out of an iridescent bubble and asks you if you'd like to become a substitute princess, do you

a) run
b) faint
c) say Yes!

For Desi Bascomb, who's been longing for a bit of glamour in her Idaho life, the choice is a definite C--that is, once she can stop pinching herself. As her new agent Meredith explains, Desi has a rare magical ability: when she applies the ancient Egyptian formula "Royal Rouge," she can transform temporarily into the exact lookalike of any princess who needs her subbing services. Dream come true, right?

Well, Desi soon discovers that subbing involves a lot more than wearing a tiara and waving at cameras. Like, what do you do when a bullying older sister puts you on a heinous crash diet? Or when the tribal villagers gather to watch you perform a ceremonial dance you don't know? Or when a princess's conflicted sweetheart shows up to break things off--and you know she would want you to change his mind?

In this hilarious, winning debut, one girl's dream of glamour transforms into something bigger: the desire to make a positive impact. And an impact Desi makes, one royal fiasco at a time. "

What can I say about this one? In case you hadn't noticed from my profile picture, I am a total princess nut. Pretty much if it has "princess" in the title I want to read it. Beyond that, the plot of this one sounds totally interesting. Who wouldn't want to have this job? Plus, I've lived in Idaho, so I can totally understand the lack of local glamor. (No offense to those who still live there! Idaho just wasn't my thing.) And the cover too. It's pink. Got to love pink. :) On an interesting side note, I have one of those Eiffel Tower keychains that's show on the left side. One of my friends brought it back for me from Paris. (My friend when to Paris and all I got was this lousy t-shirt keychain...)

Princess for Hire will be released on March 16th, 2010 and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com:

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine. All included links are Amazon Affliate links.

Teaser Tuesday: 11.03.09

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters:

"She still sang no shanties, turned no happy reels, as Elinor was accustomed to see her undertake at odd intervals..."

Okay, this is the second teaser from this book, but I'm still working on it. Most of the other things I've been reading lately are graphic novels for the Cybils, and those are kind of hard to tease. You miss so much without seeing the art that goes with the words. Anyway, I'm off to go read and see if I can't get through the book this week!

Contest Roundup: November 2

Time for another contest roundup. I've been meaning to do one of these for a few weeks, but didn't get to last week because I was sick. So here we go today.

First of all there's still some chances to win here at The Shady Glade. If you missed the previous announcement, by request I am extending the deadline for the Scavenger Hunt Contest for one week. So you've still got a few days left to get your answers in for that prize pack. You also have a chance to win an ARC of Chosen from the House of Night series by participating in this month's comment contest.

Jennifer over at Extreme Book Reviews is hosting her very first contest for an ARC copy of Hush, Hush. You've got very good odds entering this one, so make sure you check it out. Ends Nov 7th.

Lori at Pure Imagination is having another giveaway for a three book prize pack that includes Wings, Going Bovine and The Night Runner. Hurry and enter, because it ends Nov 4th!

Fangs, Fur and Fey is celebrating their 3 year anniversary by giving away prizes to 23 people. 22 people will get a $20 gift certificate and the first place winner gets a Kindle. As in a $300 Amazon Kindle. Wow. Open to the US and Canada, ends Nov 13th.

YA Book Queen is having a 100 followers contest (almost 200 now). Winners will get to choose from six books including Blood Promise, Shiver, Catching Fire, Meridian, etc. Ends Nov 20th.

The Neverending Shelf is giving away a copy of Fallen by Lauren Kate. I've been dying to read this one, so I'm envious of the person who wins this. Open worldwide, ends Nov 18th.

That's it for this week. If you know of a contest you'd like included, leave me a comment and let me know!

November Comment Contest: Win a Copy of Chosen

It's a new month, which means it's time to have a new comment contest!

How to enter: Each qualifying comment you leave on this blog equals one entry into the pot. The more you comment, the better chance you have at winning. Your fate is in your own hands. So if you really want the book, comment a lot! The top 10 commentors will get extra entries into the contest. At the end of the month I randomly pick one winner for the prize. It's that easy. Qualifying comments do not include "please enter me" or other contest-related comments.

This month you have a chance to win a new ARC copy of Chosen: A House of Night Novel by PC and Kristen Cast. This is book three in the House of Night Series. To win it, comment away until 11:59 p.m. PST on November 30th. This contest also will include all comments made from October 24th and on, since I closed last month's contest a little early.

About the Book (from Amazon.com): *Spoiler warning for those who haven't read Book 1* "Bloodlust and dark forces are at work at the House of Night, and fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird’s adventures at the school take a mysterious turn. Those who appear to be friends are turning out to be enemies. And, oddly enough, sworn enemies are also turning into friends. So begins the gripping third installment of this “highly addictive series” (Romantic Times), in which Zoey’s mettle will be tested like never before. Her best friend, Stevie Rae, is undead and struggling to maintain a grip on her humanity. Zoey doesn’t have a clue how to help her, but she does know that anything she and Stevie Rae discover must be kept secret from everyone else at the House of Night, where trust has become a rare commodity. Speaking of rare, Zoey finds herself in the very unexpected and rare position of having three boyfriends. Mix a little bloodlust into the equation and the situation has the potential to spell social disaster. Just when it seems things couldn’t get any tougher, vampyres start turning up dead. Really dead. But, as Zoey and her friends find out, things are not always what they seem…"

Winners, Winners, Winners

Hey everyone! I'm pretty much over the cold now and I'm back in business. I was cleaning out my bookshelves yesterday and realized I had a lot of prizes to still give away. So it's time to announce some winners!

First of all, I have to unclaimed prizes. The first is a copy of Gone from Contest Monday waaaaaaaay back in September! I totally thought this had been claimed already, but I guess not. So someone's going to get a second chance at it. As usual, I will list the old winner and a new winner, and the first to email me out of the two gets the book. So here we go. The winners of Gone are

Faye (old winner)

or Dani. (new winner)

Good luck to the both of you!

And here's another unclaimed prize, with the same drill. This one is from September's Comment Contest who won A Practical Guide to Vampires. But again, it hasn't been claimed yet. So here's the two winners. First to email me gets it!

A Bookshelf Monstrosity (old winner) or elnice (new winner)

*EDIT* Both of these winners have already emailed, so Shooting Stars Mag is the new (third) winner!

Next I can't believe I forgot this, but I haven't yet announced the winner of the Cybils contest. *smacks forehead* See what being sick will do to your mind? Thank you to everyone who entered by nominating a Cybils title. And especially those who contributed a GN title. I'm having fun reading those suggestions. And now the winner of the prize pack (Must Love Black, Switch, and Kamira) is

Kate (neverendingshelf)

Congrats! Don't forget to email me with your address so I can send you your prize.

And last but not least, I have the winners of the We Love Authors contest to announce. Due to the number of entries I received I decided to split the four book prize pack between three people. First prize gets to pick two books, second and third place get to pick one book. So our winners are

First place: natalierenae (pick two books)
Second place: A. Nicole (pick one book)
Third place: Alexa (lovinfitch) (pick one book)

Winners, email me and let me know which of the four books (Eyes Like Stars, Swan Maiden, The Real Real, and Aurelia) you want. First one to email gets first pick, second one to email gets second pick and last one to email gets what's left.

And although these aren't winners, I do have two contest announcements to make. The first is that there will only be one Contest Monday post for November, which will take place next Monday. This is because I'm still recovering from postage costs from the blogoversary as well as the fact that I want to have lots of contests for December. But mums the word on that. You'll have to wait until December to find out!

The second announcement is that by request I am extending the deadline for the Scavenger Hunt Contest for one week. So you've still got a few days left to get your answers in for this prize pack.

That's it for now. Contest roundup and November comment contest posted later today!