Did you notice the shiny new links?

So after wanting to do this forever, I finally put up some "pages" for the blog.  They're up there at the top, right below the header.  See them? 

Okay, so they're kind of faint right now, and they didn't turn out exactly how I wanted them to, but it's a start.  I eventually want to switch to buttons instead of straight links.  But that involves a graphics edit program and some HTML and unfortunately I'm too busy with other things to mess with all of that at the moment.  Darn. 

But at least they are still there!  I've got several pages for my list of past posted reviews, including by title, author, or genre, as well as a few other lists and things up there too.  As always, it's a work in progress too...

Updates and News

Okay people. I know I’ve been a little absent again lately. It’s amazing how much real life when you have a 9 to 5 job just gets in the way sometimes. Cuz I don't actually work 9 to 5, it's more like I get up for work at 5:00 in the morning, and don't get home until 5:00 in the evening, and then I have to make dinner, finish any errands that need to be completed for the next day, and be in bed again by 9:00ish. :)

The latest thing on my list is the Cybils reading period, of course. I’m on the Young Adult Non-Fiction panel this year, which is completely new territory for me. So I’m going to start a new series of posts: My Adventures in Non-Fiction. It will be a (hopefully) weekly update on my general reading progress as I experience the world of YANF. I’m also going to try and make an effort to do better about reviewing the Cybils books. Unfortunately that means there won’t be many reviews of anything except Non-Fiction for awhile, but I’m going to try and mix in some other reviews from time to time as well.

In other news, I will be doing A Shady Glade Christmas again this year. Which means I will once again be asking for guest posts. So if you have a favorite Christmas/holiday tradition, movie, book, song, etc. you’d like to write about, send me an email at shadyglade (AT) mail (DOT) com and let me know. You don’t have to do the post right away, just email so I have an idea of how many volunteers I have. I’ll be putting out another “official” guest post call probably next week. Even if you’ve participated before, if you would like to join in again, that’s great. Otherwise everyone will have to listen to me all month. Haha. You can see posts done from the years of 2009-2011 (2012, last year, I was part of my "year off") by searching for posts with the Christmas label.

So here’s hoping things will get back on track soon!

New Feature Coming Soon: How to Get Free Books

This is an idea I've been kicking around for awhile now, and I've decided it's finally time to act on it. One thing I've seen in the last year that I've been blogging is that the YA blogosphere has literally exploded. When I started blogging almost 4 years ago, blogs like mine were few and far between. But the last year or so has seen an enormous expansion in YA bloggers. This is great, and I'm happy for every new blogger I meet.

Unfortunately, however, there are some new bloggers out there who have started blogging as a way to demand free books and ARCs from authors, publicists and publishers. And while it's true that having a literature blog can eventually lead to getting you free books (wayyyyyy down the line of course) that's not the only source. I hate to have any blogger cast a bad light on the blogging world as a whole, which sometimes happens with these less-than-professional interactions with new bloggers.

Blogging is the inspiration for these posts, but these tips can be used by anyone, blogger (old or new) or just a regular book lover. The economy is finally starting to recover, but for many families (like mine) money is still really tight. And reading is an expensive habit. So what's a book lover to do? Over the last 4 years I've learned a few tips and tricks to get free (and very cheap) books. I don't pretend to be an expert on this kind of thing, but I'd like to share my information with all of you, my dear readers.

Please understand that these tips are not intended to take the place of buying books. Because, let's face it, if we stop buying books the authors won't make any money and they'll stop writing them. But if by following my advice you're able to save a bit of money here and there, you can save it up to buy those books you're absolutely dying to have too.

So expect the first post next week on Thursday, followed by one a week or so until I run out of ideas. Meanwhile, if you have any of your own suggestions for getting free (or nearly free) books, you can drop me an email at shadyglade(AT)mail(DOT)com. And I'd love to hear what you think of the new feature. I'm always open to suggestions, you know!

New Feature: Reactions

In case you hadn't noticed, there's something new at the bottom of each one of these posts. I've added something called "reactions" to my posts. Feed readers may need to visit the actual blog to see these.

Reactions are like a little mini-poll for each post. So now if you don't necessarily want to comment, but you still liked the post, you can click on a reaction and let me know. Right now I have just the defaults (funny, interesting, and cool). If you have a word you'd like to suggest, let me know and I'll add it.

Of course, I hope you don't stop commenting. Just remember, those that don't comment don't get to win the Comment Contest. :)

Swap is a Go: Details here

Due to the overwhelming positive response I received on my travelling book swap post, this is something I’m going to start. Any of you artistically minded folks want to make us a Travelling Book Swap button? Haha.

So here’s the details. Read these over, and if you want to participate, email me to sign up with the subject line “swap sign up”.

How it works:
-Sign up for the swap
-I will start a box filled with 6-10 books and send it to the first person on the list.
-When you get the box take out the books you want to keep.
-Put books in the box to replace those you took out.
-Send out the box to the next person on the list.
-Wait until the box has finished the rounds to see if you win an additional prize!
That’s it!

You will need to sign up:
There is a $5 entrance fee to cover costs and prizes. You will get details on how to pay after signing up.
A physical mailing address in the US (I’m currently working on an international swap, more details later)
The ability to mail packages with delivery confirmation
Books to trade that meet the trading requirements (see below)

Rules:
1. I must have your address and entrance fee in order to put you on the list.
2. Once you get the box, you must email me to let you know you received it. Include a list of what books are in the box when you receive it. I will respond with the address of the next person on the list.
3. Your books must meet the trading requirements (see below)
4. Put in as many books as you take out. So if you take 2, put 2 back in. You are welcome to include extra books if you want.
5. You have 5 days to mail the box back out once you get it. If this is problem, you must email me and let me know. This makes sure the box makes it’s way along at a quicker pace.
6. The box MUST be mailed with delivery confirmation. This will cost you less than $1 extra and it ensures the box does not get lost along the way. I suggest you mail media mail which takes a little longer, but is a lot cheaper.
7. Once you’ve mailed your box, send me an email with the delivery confirmation number.
8. If the box gets “lost” while in your possession (not after you’ve mailed it) or do not replace the books you take out, you will be banned from future swaps.
9. If you don’t mail the box within 5 days you won’t be eligible for prizes at the end of the swap.

Book trading requirements:
1. Books must be YA (or adult or middle grade with YA appeal)
2. Books must be in good condition. This means no stains/water damage, bindings in good condition, covers in good condition, etc. Some wear and tear is fine.
3. Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) ARE allowed provided they meet the conditions above.
4. Basically, if it’s something you wouldn’t want to get, don’t put in the box.
5. You can include books that don’t meet these conditions, but they will considered “extra” and won’t count toward the number you need to replace.
If you have questions about whether a book you have is eligible, feel free to email and ask.

I think that covers just about everything. If you have any questions, let me know!

New Feature (maybe): Swap Exchange

So I’ve been kicking around an idea for a few weeks, I think I’ve finally got enough details worked out to share it with all of you.

Some of you may be aware of the fact that I am a member of several book trading websites. But there are still a lot of you out there who aren’t. The reason I bring this up is because I’m thinking about starting my own travelling box swap.

Here’s the basics. Everyone who signs up to participate will get sent a box with a set number of books in it. You take out the ones you want, put the same number as you took out back into the box, and send it to the next person on the list. Easy right?

So would any of you want to participate in one of these with me? I’d really like to do this, but if no one else is interested, it’s a moot point. This first one would be for US only (but if it works out I will try to figure out a way to do international too). You would have to pay for postage for the box, but Media Mail is relatively cheap. There would also be a small entrance fee (probably $5). I hate asking for money, but the fee Number 1. Covers costs of running the swap and Number 2. Acts as collateral to discourage the box getting “lost” while it’s in your possession. BUT when the swap is over I will be giving out additional books as prizes, as well as having a drawing for gift card prizes just for the people who particpated in the swap. So many of you will get your $5 back in prizes at the end.

So what do you think? Are you interested? You get the chance to swap out some of your old books you’re done with for different ones, you get to connect with people from all over the country, and you might get some additional prizes at the end. If this sounds like something you’d like to do, leave me a comment and/or vote in the poll in the right sidebar. If I get enough interest, I’ll post the details so you can sign up later.

I’m excited! I think it would be lots of fun. Anyone care to join me?

Working on updates

So as I (finally) have a little time to work on the blog, I'm trying to get a few updates done. Looking over my archives, I noticed I didn't post any of my monthly updates except site searches. So I'm working on those, as well as updating/adding stuff to the sidebars. You'll also notice I finally had time to put the background to how it was pre-4th of July.

More soon when I get done!

Name Those Categories!

So, judging by the comments I received on this post, many of you think my recommendation week is a good idea. Cool! I think it's a good idea too.

I'm still toying around with ideas on how I want to implement it, but here's where I need your help at the moment. In order to make this work, I need a theme/category for each week. I can come up with some, but I'd like to know what you'd like to hear recommendations about.

These can be broad or more specific, but try to make them more specific than just a genre. In other words don't say "fantasy". Okay. What kind of fantasy? Do you like paranormal fantasy? High fantasy? Just fairies? Just vampires?

Here's another broad example: historical fiction. Okay. What time period? Do you want to include time travel in that? Let me know.

One last example before I open this up: summer reads. The reason this one bugs me is because, personally, I think every great book is a great summer read. But not everyone sees it that way. So do you mean books that take place in summer? Light, fluffy, fun-but-no-substance reads? Chicklit and/or romance books?

Anyway, start suggesting away. I'll take every suggestion (and add in some of my own) and maybe we'll get this thing going!

I Can't Decide...Help!

So I had another idea this morning... Man! I've been on something lately...

Anyway, I can't seem to decide if this is something worth doing or not. I really like the idea of it, but I would hate for it to fall flat. So who better to ask than you, my readers?

This idea was inspired by a rather lengthy exchange between myself and one of my readers about a good book to take on a long summer trip. It was quite the challenge, and I had fun recommending books that would fit into the specifications she was looking for. So I thought, wouldn't this be fun to do on a regular basis.

Essentially, here's the gist of what would go on. After choosing some sort of theme/genre, I would have a "recommendation week" for that week's theme. The first post would be a list of books I recommend in that week's theme, and I would also ask for comments on your favorite recommendations. If I get my act together on reviews, I would also include at least one review throughout the week of one of my recommended readers. The week would end with a complied list of your recommendations.

So why would I want to do this? I love recommending books to people. I'm not sure why, but I always have. And although it's fun to do it through reviews, doing it in themes is fun too. Also, I think with a lot of blogs people tend to get caught up in the latest and greatest. And although I love recent buzz, I feel kinda sad that a lot of great older books get overlooked sometimes.

Anyway, that's the idea. What do you think?

Welcome to Funnybone Fridays

Did I mention here's another feature? June is turning out to be full of all sorts of suprises. :-)

Today I'm introducing a new feature I call Funnybone Friday (go alliteration!). In the vein of the LOL of the week, this is just a small something to get your weekend started on the right note. So these will always be posted at 5:00 on Fridays, since that's the offical start of the weekend. I don't expect this to be a regular feature, but every once and awhile I'll throw things up. This could be a picture, a comic, a youtube clip, anything I feel like sharing that made me smile.

So today, here's a clip from Monty Python about joke warfare. Enjoy!


If you want to see more from this episode, it's available on the Monty Python's Flying Circus: Set 1 DVD.

New Features: The Random Contest

I guess instead of having New Features week, I should have just called June New Features month. Oh well. I keep having all these great ideas for new stuff!

Today I'm introducing the new feature called Random Contests. Why Random Contests? Well, because they are random. The posting will be random, the entries random, the length random, the prizes random. If I feel like putting up a contest, I'll put up a contest. Sometimes you'll have to do something to enter, sometimes you'll have to be fast, and sometimes you'll just have to be lucky.

Today's contest is going to be one of the luck kind. If you've been paying attention to my posts you'll know that I'm a bit of a Jane Austen fan. In order to win you'll need to correctly answer this question: How many Jane Austen or Austen-inspired books do I have on my bookshelves? This would include books written by Jane Austen, books about Jane Austen (fiction or nonfiction), or books inspired by Jane Austen (such as yesterday's WOW feature, Prada & Prejudice). So take a guess!

Rules: To enter, post your answer in the comments below, or send your answer to me by email with the subject "Austen Guess." More than one person can guess the same number. One entry per person. Entries will be open until noon PST on Saturday June 13th. The person who guesses the right number of books will be the winner. In the event that two (or more) people guess correctly, a winner will be randomly selected from the correct guesses. Please note that comments made on this post don't count for this month's comment contest.

Today's random prize: The winner of this contest will get their choice of either 1 free book listed in my Bookmooch inventory, or a Bookmooch point for you to request your own book. Obviously you will need to be a Bookmooch member for the latter prize. Don't know what Bookmooch is all about? You can read more about it in my post. If we have runners-up, each will get an extra entry into either the current Contest Monday or Comment Contests, whichever they choose.

So good luck to everyone. Now guess away!

New Feature: LOL of the week

Okay, so I guess I lied when I said yesterday was the end of New Features week. Because I just now thought of an idea of something else. I call it LOL of the week.

Some of you may remember my review of the I Can Has Cheezburger? book back in February. Well, I have some many LOLs that I'd like to share. So on Sundays (since I usually don't have much time to post anything) I'll be sharing an LOL with you to help lighten up your week from the beginning.

Welcome to the first post:

For those of you who have trouble getting up on Mondays. ;-)

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!

Thanks for the Awards

It's Saturday, which means it's time to say goodbye to New Features week. Hmmm. That sentence makes me feel like I'm in the Mickey Mouse Club (and now it's time to say goodbye...)

Anyway, back on topic. I hope you've enjoyed the look at all the new stuff I'm implementing this month. Today I want to catch up on all the wonderful blog awards people have given me in the past few weeks. I'm shamefully behind on these, so I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you're reading this message consider yourself tagged for all these awards. You are all awesome in my book.

The reason this counts for New Features week is because these awards will eventually go into the sidebar (probably the left one) later to show my everlasting gratitude for everyone who made them available.

So without further ado, here we go:


Thank you to both Liyana and Bingo who gave me the One Lovely Blog Award.


Senfaye over at A Maze of Books passed on the Let's Be Friends Award. According to her post "blogs that received the Let’s Be Friends Award are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers." That's so sweet! Thank you Senfaye!


Wendy at Wendy's Minding Spot and Book ♥ Soulmates both nominated me for the Literary Blogger Award. This lovely award "acknowledges bloggers who energize & inspire reading by going the extra mile. These amazing bloggers make reading fun & enhance the delight of reading!" Thank you Wendy!

Liyana tagged a whole bunch of people for awards on her blog. Thank you Liyana, and check out her post to see if you're on the list too!

Thank you again to everyone! That concludes New Features week. Tomorrow will commence with the last monthly feature, the May Site Searches. From there on, who knows! Let me know what you think of all the new stuff too.

New Features: Books Now Available

It's time for another addition as part of New Features week. Today's feature will be a monthly installment I like to call Now Available.

It occurred to me while going through my blog the past few weeks that many of the books I feature (either through WOW or a contest) are not available when I feature them. This means you can pre-order your copy, but if you're one of those people who like to buy a book in person, or maybe borrow it from the library/a friend, you have to wait until the release date. And who can remember all those dates? I have to keep a calendar to stay straight!

To aid those of you who have this problem, I'm starting the feature Now Available. Each month I'll go through my blog archives and pick out any book that was featured in the past month and has now become available. That way you can buy/borrow/whatever right away. I've seen this done with reviews on a few other blogs, but why not with contests too? Especially since I usually don't post a review before the release date.

So here's a list of all the books featured on this blog since January that have now become available. Remember, this only applies to those books that were featured before their release date. I'll also provide a link to each original post in case you're interested. Now, this list will be long because, like the wish list yesterday, it's the first one. In case you're wondering, these are listed in chronological order, with the oldest feature at the top and the newest featured ones at the bottom.

These featured books are now available in a store near you:
The Girls by Tucker Shaw (Read original post here)
Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee (Read original post here)
Alis by Naomi Rich (Read original post here)
Wild Orchid: A Retelling of the Ballad of Mulan by Cameron Dokey (Read original post here)
My Life in Pink & Green by Lisa Greenwald (Read original post here)
The Season by Sarah MacLean (Read original post here)
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry (Read original post here)
Willow by Julia Hoban
Riding the Universe by Gaby Triana (Read original post here)
The King's Rose by Alisa Libby (Read original post here)
Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull (Read original post here)
The Unknowns: A Mystery by Benedict Carey (Read original post here)
Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede (Read original post here)
Reality Check by Peter Abrahams (Read original post here)
Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce (Read original post here)
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn (Read original post here)
Cathy's Ring by by Sean Stewart & Jordan Weisman (Read original post here)
Wings by Aprilynne Pike (Read original post here)
Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison (Read original post here)
The Waters & the Wild by Francesca Lia Block (Read original post here)
The Reluctant Heiress by Eva Ibbotson (Read original post here)
The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn (Read original post here)

New Features: My Wishlist

I have people ask me about what books I'm waiting for all the time. So today's new feature is My Wishlist. Every month, I will be posting the new books I've added to my wishlist during the previous month. This give you a peek into my TBR pile (careful it creaks!) and learn about some great new books. Some of these you will recognize from Waiting on Wednesday posts, and some you may not have seen before.

I'm also a member of several swapping sites, but I don't get to trade much outside of them. So this is a way to connect with other booklovers out there. If you have any of the books on my list and you want to trade, send me an email. I've got some great books to give away.

So here's my wishlist so far. If you ever want to refer back to it, it will be going in one of the sidebars soon (probably the left one). This one will be long (since it's the first one) but hopefully every additional month won't be too long. :-)

Alyssa's Wishlist
If you have any of these and want to trade, send me an email so I can tell you what I currently have available!
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn
A Sweet Disorder by Jacqueline Kolosov
Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
Alis by Naomi Rich
Aurelia by Anne Osterlund
Belle: A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" by Cameron Dokey
Bride Of The Water God Volume 3 by Mi-Kyung Yun
City of Secrets (Stravaganza) by Mary Hoffman
The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King
Firebirds Soaring: An Anthology by Various
Fortune's Folly by Deva Fagan
The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney's Hollywood Studios by The Imagineers
Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison
Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper
Once a Princess by Sherwood Smith
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith
The Princess and the Bear by Mette Ivie Harrison
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George
Sovay by Celia Rees
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry
The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn
The Imagineering Way by The Imagineers
The Immortal Realm (The Faerie Path #4) by Frewin Jones
The King's Rose by Alisa Libby
The Plague by Joanna Dahme
The Princess Plot by Kirsten Boie
The Reluctant Heiress by Eva Ibbotson
The Trouble with Kings by Sherwood Smith
Wild Orchid: A Retelling of "The Ballad of Mulan" by Cameron Dokey
Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
Twice a Prince by Sherwood Smith
Two Girls of Gettysburg by Lisa Klein
Warrior Princess by Frewin Jones