(Meme) Top Ten Tuesdays

Posted on by Cindy

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that is hosted by the bloggers over at The Broke and The Bookish . If you want to find out more or to see upcoming Top Ten Tuesday topics be sure to check them out.

Today’s topic is:  Top Ten Bookish People You Want To Meet (Authors, Bloggers, etc.)

I have actually been sitting on this post for awhile because I have been racking my brain over this one. This is a hard choice because who would I really want to meet.

I have been lucky enough to attend two BEA’s (Book Expo America) and I have gotten to meet so many bloggers through that as well as authors. So to sit and come up with a list is really hard. Not sure if I will make it to ten but I will give it a shot.

Authors:

  • Terry Spears is one author I would love to meet because I have been a fan of her’s since I started reading her books. I am always thrilled when I can have her on the blog.
  • Andrew McCarthy. I was suppose to meet him during BEA but unfortunetly the event got cancelled. I have been a fan of Andrew’s since the 80’s and the movies he did.
  • Molly Ringwald is another actress turned writer I would love to meet.
  • James Patterson. I love his books and I believe twice he has been at BEA and the lines were so long that I gave up.
  • Stephanie Chong because she is a Canadian author. I love her two books and missed out on meeting her at BEA this year.

Bloggers:

This one is a little harder because I follow so many fantastic blogs. I would love to list  you all but I can’t but I always look forward to meeting bloggers when I am out at events (author signings or BEA)

  • Lori from Pure Imagination she is an awesome blogger
  • Kim from Tales of a Ranting Ginger is an awesome Canadian blogger and is always so helpful. She isn’t a book blogger but a review blogger and one I look up to in that type of blogging.
  • Melissa from The Betty and Boo Chronicles. I missed out on meeting her in 2010 but hopefully when I make a stop in PA in the summer we will get the chance to meet up.
  • Angela from Reading Angel is someone I would love to meet one day.
  • Molly and Andy from The Bumbles Blog. We were exchange partners and they just seem like awesome people that I would love to meet although I have to admit I do more stalking then commenting on their blog.

There are so many bloggers and authors I would love to meet and hopefully one day it will happen.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Something New to the Blog

Posted on by Cindy

I have actually been sitting on this post for awhile and I finally decided to post it tonight. I had thought that eventually it would die down but it seems like its been increasing so I thought that I would address this now and make some changes to the blog.
For the past few months I have been getting tons of spam like comments from anonymous sources. Now I do love getting comments but not the ones that have nothing to do with the blog topic or ones that include links to another site that is hidden within the post.

I hope this doesn’t offend anyone and I do moderate my comments so technically you never see the spam comments. But do the increasing numbers now ( I use to average 4-5 spam comments a week but now its 5+ a day) I am no longer allowing anonymous comments.

To those spammers who are sending me spam you are really trying to hid it because you are going back to much older posts. Is it really worth it? 

So thankfully you my blogger friends never use the anonymous feature to post so it should all be good. Just remember if you comment and don’t see it, its because I have to approve all comments.

Have a good night.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Meme) Sunday’s In Bed With…..#15

Posted on by Cindy
I was just about to get ready for bed when I realized I had to do a Sundays In Bed With…. post. 

The awesome blogger behind this is Kate from Midnight Book Girl   not only is she an awesome blogger but she is was one of my roommates for BEA. YAY!!

Midnight Book Girl

Sundays In Bed With….is a meme I’ve started to share the book we’re spending the morning in bed with, or the one we’d like to stay curled up in bed with all Sunday if only our busy lives would allow! For fun, take a picture of the book in your bed, or simply write up a post or comment below sharing your Sundays in Bed With book. Quoted from Kate’s blog

Sadly this morning I am not in bed with anything because by the time this posts I will be at the arena watching Michael on the ice. He is in hockey camp and will be until next Sunday and then I am sure shortly after that it will be practices with a team.

So instead of a book cover let me leave you with a hockey picture from Thursdays practice:

He is the one in the yellow jersey and red socks skating towards the guy with the red gloves. I love watching him skate.

Hope your having a good long weekend and that you manage to find some time read this week. Its hard to believe that this is the last long weekend of the summer. Where did the time go?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Recap) Smart Chicks Kick It! Tour comes to Montreal

Posted on by Cindy

If you remember recently I mentioned that the Smart Chicks Kick It tour was making a stop here in Pointe Claire (which is a burb of Montreal) for the Third and final tour. Well today was that day.

I actually arrived at Chapters at 11am to save a few seats for a few bloggers (which I will get to shortly) and by then there was already a few people waiting. So needless to say I am really happy that I got their early.

Before I begin my recap of the day (I was actually one of the last bloggers to leave) I just want to give out a huge shout out to Tamara (she is the manager of the children’s section) “Dude, You are totally freaking amazing!” I can’t speak for the other bloggers but you rock and thanks for all that you did for us. We totally appreciate it. I will now make time to read Tiger’s Curse 🙂 and you so know you will see me next week in the store 🙂

Okay now to the recap. The whole day was amazing. Its been awhile since I have been to an author signing like this.

Another huge thank you goes out to our host, Mathieu (who is the Marketing Manager for Eastern Canada for Chapters) who did everything in his power to make us feel welcomed and made sure we all left happy. He was very gracious with his time for us crazy bloggers.

Like I managed earlier I got there for 11 to talk with Tamara and to meet Mathieu and there was already a few people there so I was really happy that I got there when I did because before long it started to fill up. There was roughly 200 people who attended.

This time we took a ton of pictures. Here I am with Cindy B and Stephanie (one of her co-bloggers) from Tynga’s Reviews

We managed to grab a group photo of the bloggers before the event started and thanks to the awesome Clare for Ontario for taking this for us. (I hope I spelled your name right?)

(bottom: Emilie from Emilie’s Book World (Ottawa Blogger), Lucy from Moonlight Gleam’s Bookshelf and AH from Bad Ass Book Reviews (she is a Montreal blogger who literally lives about 5 minutes from me.)

(top: Stephanie from Tynga’s Review , Ciara from Lost at Midnight Reviews (Ottawa Blogger) Cindy B from Tynga’s Reviews and myself.)

Of course I had to get a pic of Lucy and myself.

I was worried about getting there so early because it only was starting at 2pm but honestly the time flew by and it didn’t seem like we were there that long but then again when you have awesome company the time flies by.

Before you knew it the authors were coming out. They all introduced themselves and I have to say Kelley keep the ball rolling and things went smoothly with Q&As, offering prizes and more Q&As.

The authors on this leg of the tour is Rosemary Clement-Moore, Melissa De La Cruz,  Melissa Marr

Kelley Armstrong, Maragret Stohl, Rachel Caine and Kami Garcia.

I was lucky enough to win a book:

I graciously passed this on to Cindy B because she didn’t have this and I had an ARC of the book. I love the cover of this, don’t you?

After the Q&A it was time for the signing and I was lucky enough to get all my books signed by all the authors with the exception I thought Kelley had signed my copy of Entralled but she didn’t. Oh well I will keep that for the next time she is in town and hopefully it won’t be another 3 years.

 Rosemary Clement-Moore (signing my books)

For some reason I don’t have a picture with Melissa De La Cruz. Hmm not sure if the person took it with someone else’s camera or what but its okay cause I got to meet Melissa when she was in town last year and I almost fan girled when she told me she remembered me.

 

Next in line was Melissa Marr and she graciously signed all my books in one shot so I didn’t have to go back to the end of the line. Thank you Melissa you rock.

Can I just say that by far the funniest ones at the signing was Margaret and Kami? Plus Maragret had on the most amazing shoes ever. I tried to grab a photo of them but they came out very blurry and it was later that I was noticing Kami’s as well. 

Rachel Caine was another awesome author and she was one of the authors I talked to the most at this event (I stood in line numerous times so that Ciara could get all her books signed). She had some awesome bookmarks and I am sad that I didn’t get to grab the white one.

Kelley was another author I got to see and talk to alot because I was helping the other bloggers get their books signed. This was by far the longest line. Kelley is another one of those authors who will talk with you and not make you feel rushed even though there could be a million people behind you.



You know it never hurts to ask if a group photo is possible and we were lucky to be able to grab a group photo with Melissa, Rosemary,Melissa, Rachel and Margret plus our honoree Montreal Book Blogger  Mathieu. Kami is missing from the photo because she ran to the bathroom and Kelley was still signing.

 

When Kelley was done we were able to grab another picture and this time Melissa, Kami, and Rachel posed with us.

This next picture was actually taken while Kelley was still signing but I had to take it and Rosemary graciously allowed me to take this photo. This is Rosemary rocking the winter mitts of Canada. These first became famous when we held the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

It was a totally amazing event and I am so happy that they stopped in Montreal and they will in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia tomorrow (Sunday) at 2pm at the Chapters for their last Canadian stop and the following authors will be there: Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Melissa de la Cruz, Charles de Lint, Sarah Rees Brennan and Jeri Smith-Ready. How awesome would it be to see Sarah Rees Brennan and Jeri Smith-Ready?

There is also one more tour stop and this will wrap up the tour its September 18th, 2012, 7:00 pm, Oxford Valley Barnes & Noble, Philadelphia, PA:
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Rachel Caine, Rosemary Clement-Moore, Melissa de la Cruz, Kami Garcia, and Sarah Rees Brennan .

If you get the chance I highly recommend taking part in the tour. The authors are so amazing and you will have so much fun.

Thanks to Kelley and Melissa for organizing this, to Rosemary, Rachel, Margaret, Melissa and Kami for coming to Montreal and dealing with all the crazyness. Sadly Carrie Ryan was suppose to come but had to back out at the end for medical reasons. Get well soon Carrie and I hope you come to Montreal when you get better.

Also thanks to Chapters for hosting this awesome event and to the fantastic staff you guys rocked and kept it all calm and organized.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(BBAW) Wrapping up the Week

Posted on by Cindy

Can you believe how fast the week flew by? Its hard to believe that we are doing our wrap up posts.

Thankfully this isn’t good bye but hello. I discovered so many awesome blogs this time around and I think I actually commented on a few of them too so that is a step in the right direction. I have add so many new blogs to my blog roll that I am excited to check out.

In discovering new blogs you also discover new books and I think this week alone I managed to add a ton to my every growing wishlist and books that I had sitting on my TBR pile that need to be brought up further on the list because of so many great reviews.

I love taking part this year and was happy with the no awards this year. Would I like it to be like this all the time? Hmm not sure.

Looking forward to BBAW 2013. I hope you all had fun and enjoyed the week.

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

(Review) The Land of Stories – The Wishing Spell

Posted on by Cindy

Title: The Land of Stories – The Wishing Spell (book 1)
Author: Chris Colfer
Pub Date: July 2012
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Pages: 448

Source: I received an ARC (signed) copy when I attend BEA this year and then I went out an bought a finished copy when it was released.

About the book:
Alex and Conner Bailey”s world is about to change, in this fast-paced adventure that uniquely combines our modern day world with the enchanting realm of classic fairy tales.

The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.

But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.

Photobucket

I have to admit that I am a huge Glee fan. I watch the show weekly  and buy the cds when they come out. I was super excited when I found out that Chris was writing a book and even more excited when I heard that he was going to be at the Children’s Author Breakfast that was happening during BEA. I quickly bought my ticket for the breakfast when they announced it. There was no way I was going to miss out on that event.

As soon as the breakfast was over I quickly made a beeline for the Little Brown booth to find out when the signing was happening. I was quickly informed that there was an “unofficial” line starting so I got in line asap. I had gotten a number ( I think it was 55 or so) and the above picture is what I took as he was signing my book. I was basically gushing telling him how much I loved Kurt and that he was doing an awesome job and that I was dying to read his book.

For taking part in the breakfast I was able to get an advance readers copy of Chris’s book and this awesome tote bag which I love to pieces.

I loved how the arc was presented as it wasn’t  just a book but it was in a cute packaging.

Just before I get into my review I will be adding other pictures to this post that are involved with the book.

I have been wanting to read this book since I got it but held off because I knew that if I loved it, I would be gushing about it non stop and that wouldn’t be far to my friends and family who happen to enjoy Chris and would want to read the book because there would be no way I would lend out my signed copy to anyone.

When I began the book I swore that this wasn’t going to be one of those books I would zip through because I wanted to savour every moment and every word. I think I did really well and read it within a week and limiting myself to reading it just at night.

All I can say is that I loved the book and this is something that I have told Michael he should read one day soon. I loved the idea behind the book and wondered how it would all play out and Chris did a fantastic job.

I loved the cover.

This is the finished copy as you probably already know. I actually love the cover more in person.

This was Chris’s version when he was 10 years old. Some similar items in them both.

Then on the inside cover there is a map:

As you can see Chris’s version and the final version once again very similar and I think that is awesome that the illustator would do that.

Quite honestly I wasn’t sure what to expect and if I would even love the book. I was nervous because I had high hopes for the book and I am so happy that it lived up to my expectations of it. I loved it and honestly I would reread this again.

If your like me when you were little reading those fantastic fairy tales you probably wondered what would happen after the happily ever after right?  Well Chris takes us to that place and we discover what happens and not everything is hunky doory so to speak and that good and evil still interact.

One of the reason I wanted to have a finished copy of the book was because of the map so I could follow along on the journey Alex and Conner were going to take since there was no map in the ARC. I think having that map was useful for me and adds to the book.

Alex and Conner are twins (brother and sister) and their grandmother has given them this book to look after and its all the fairy tales that they knew and loved since they were little. When one day strange things begin to happen and they are sucked into the book landing in a fairy tale. In order to get back to their normal life the kids have to set out on a journey to recover items to make a spell to go back. While they succeed or be stuck in the fairy tale world? What they discover will surprise them.

I loved how there was just enough action going on to keep you interested and I am sure middle graders would love this kind of book.

I thought Chris did an excellent job on his first book and I would read his next book because he did a great job with the storyline, the characters, describing it all perfectly and staying true to the original fairy tale.

I should also mention that Chris has another book coming out in November (2012) called Struck By Lightening: The Carson Phillips Journal (about the book: Struck By Lightning: The Carson Phillips Journal follows the story of outcast high school senior Carson Phillips who blackmails the most popular students in his school into contributing to his literary journal to bolster his college application; his goal in life is to get into Northwestern and eventually become the editor of The New Yorker.

At once laugh-out-loud funny, deliciously dark, and remarkably smart, Struck By Lightning unearths the dirt that lies just below the surface of high school.

The film Stuck By Lightning is set to be released by Tribeca Film later this year and features Colfer’s own original screenplay. Colfer also stars in the film alongside Allison Janney, Christina Hendricks, Dermot Mulroney, Sarah Hyland, and Polly Bergen.)

Just a reminder the Season Premier is on tonight. I will be watching, will you?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Smart Chicks Kick It Tour Coming

Posted on by Cindy

I am super excited that Smart Chicks Kick It tour is coming to my area this coming Saturday September 15th. Its the third and final tour and I am so happy that they included Montreal into this stop.

As soon as this tour was announced I slowly began to add to my books that I wanted to get signed and planned the event out. I am so happy that so many local bloggers and some from Ontario will be coming to the event. Hopefully we can arrange something either before or afterwards with the bloggers.

So this is my must sign pile.

I have been reading Kelley Armstrong’s young adult novel so I want to get them signed plus I have one of her adult books that I will get signed as well. I think I have all of Rosemary Clement-Moore’s books (except Highway to Hell), I have Melissa De La Cruz’s latest book for her to sign (I got to meet Melissa at Salon Du Livre last year and she graciously signed all of her books for me), I have all of Melissa Marr’s books (apart from one that I got signed at BEA in 2010), I didn’t have any of Rachel Caine’s books so I thought I would start with her new series and finally Kami Garci and Margaret Stohl I have them all apart from their new one.

Then if time permits I will get my anthologies signed although I have to go through them because Carrie Ryan was suppose to be coming but had to back out at the last minute. Carrie we will miss you but hope that you can make it out this way soon.

Is anyone else coming to Montreal for the signing? If so are you going with this many books? Am I crazy?

copyright 2010, Cindy (Cindy’s Love Of Books)
If you are reading this on a blog or website other than Cindy’s Love Of Books or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.