FF: What Are Your Blog Goals?

Okay, this may be a bit early, since it's only Thursday night, but call me Butter because I'm on a roll!  Feature & Follow is hosted by the lovely bloggers Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read, and today they are featuring Angela's Anxious Life, and inquiring minds want to know:

Q: What do you hope to accomplish with your blog? Is it to one day become an author yourself, just for fun, maybe get some online attention, or maybe something very different?

I blog for one reason only, Total World Domination, and nothing short of that will do.   Just joking, I will totally settle for meeting lovely bookish people, talking about books, and having fun.  If you took away all the arcs (which I don't get a lot of, most of mine come from an arc tour I participate in- where generous bloggers who are awesome and get sent arcs share them with all of us who don't, and BEA) and even if you take my Feedburner stats away (again! Yes, Google, I am glaring at you now), I'd still do this.  I've always been a reader, but finding books to read used to seem like a hard thing to do.  Blogging has blown that door wide open, and now it's hard to find the time to read all the books I want to!  So that's why I do this, for the love of books, and it's just a great way to turn a previously solitary hobby into something that connects me with all of you. Getting to visit all your blogs and poke through your bookshelves online without getting hit with breaking and entering charges or restraining orders is also a major plus!

And because if I blog enough, I'm hoping to build up the karma to earn this:

As always, if you follow me (and you should, because I need an audience to blog to because otherwise I won't build up all the karma necessary to get the above item), let me know, and I'll return the favor.

AND, this month my awesome blogger friends and I are hosting Bloggers Dressed In Blood and we are giving away lots of awesome books AND a Kindle Touch, because we are cool like that and October is the bestest month of the year.  So check it out.

Also, it's Banned Book Week, so go read something that will make people nervous!

Feature and Follow: Northern Plunder

I just celebrated my 3rd Blogoversary and I feel like meeting some new bloggers!  I love participating in Parajunkee and Alison Can Read's meme Feature and Follow because I've discovered a lot of wonderful blogs through it.  This week the spotlight is on Northern Plunder- I would have followed her even if that wasn't part of the meme because she listed The Stand as one of her favorite books... and as you can tell, I have some love for Stephen King. ;)

This week's question is:

Q: What hyped up book was worth all of the fuss?

Answer: Sooo many!  Probably the first that comes to mind is Anna and the French Kiss.  To be honest the cover was just so-so and it was EVERYWHERE.  I'm pretty sure the Pope blogged about it.  All my closest blogger friends loved it, and with that kind of pressure built up I just expected not to love it.  Fortunately it is worth all the hype!  Sometimes the masses aren't just ooohing and ahhhing over a book simply because it's new and shiny, sometimes the book really is just that good.  I have a feeling when I finally read Scorpio Races, I'll have that same WhyTheHellDidIWaitSoLong feeling. And you will feel that way about The Raven Boys.  Which I will be gushing about soon!

If you give me a follow, let me know and I'll be sure to return the favor!

Hop and Follow Friday: Series and What I'm Reading

It's time to HOP! Stop by Crazy For Books and join in on the fun!

Question: What book series do you never want to see end?

I rarely ever want series to end!  But here's the ones I want to go to infinity and beyond:

Harry Potter series by J K Rowling, it's not over for me, people!

The Heather Wells series by Meg Cabot

The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich- I feel that this series could survive Plum getting married and becoming a mom, I'm just not ready to let go of Grandma and Lula!

The John Wayne Cleaver series by Dan Wells, because demon hunting serial killers should never stop!

There's probably more, but that's all I can think of right now. If you're hopping, let me know, and if you give a follow, I'll follow you back!

What series do you never want to see end?

It's been too long since I've done a Feature and Follow too, but with Readathon almost here and my 3rd Blogoversary coming on the 16th of this month, I'm feeling the need to connect with the blogging community (and, okay, yeah, I'd like to read 500 GFC followers this month because I'm shallow and easy to please).

This week's Feature and Follow question is:

Q: What book(s) are you reading right now? What do you think of it?

  As always, I'm reading tons of books all at once!  I'm hosting a Carrie by Stephen King readalong, but I'm also participating in an It by Stephen King readalong too.  I'm almost halfway thru It, which is my goal for this month's discussion, and I'm just starting Carrie.  I got The Archived by Victoria Schwab in the mail yesterday for an ARC tour, so I need to start that today.  Plus I'm reading Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris that Kim was sweet enough to let me borrow.  I was listening to Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain, but I'm putting it on hold until I'm done with It.  While I can read lots of books at once, I can't really listen to two at once because I have limited audio book time.  However, I am both listening to and reading It in physical form.  I wish I could just spend two days listening to Steven Webber read It, but sadly my family just wouldn't understand. 

It and Carrie are both re-reads, and I love them both for various reasons, and I probably love It a little more each time I read it.  Now that I'm the same age that the Loser's Club members are in 1985, I'm connecting on a whole other level.  Deadlocked is good so far, but I'm worried by how much time Bill is getting.  I don't think Sookie will end up with Eric at the end of the series, but if it's Bill I will throw up all over the last book.  Throw up!  It's too soon to tell with The Archived, but the summary is so promising!

What are you reading?  New or old follower?  Let me know and I'll follow you back!

Feature and Follow #95

I must be feeling particularly social this week, maybe because it's only a month until I'll be in NYC for BEA, but I'm doing Alison Can Read and Parajunkee's Feature and Follow.

Q. What is one thing you wish you could tell your favorite author?

A. I'm not really a stalker, Mr. King.

It's true, I'm not a stalker.  I am far too lazy to stalk people.  Although, I have a feeling I'd probably have to explain to several of my favorite authors that I'm not a stalker because I fear I give off that Annie Wilkes vibe (but that's preposterous because I can't stand the sound of breaking bones... or even cracking knuckles).

Sigh, I am really going to have to practice a non-crazy yet still admiring smile for BEA.  A smile that says, yes, I love your books, but no, I'm not going to kidnap you and chain you to my guest bed until you write a novel just for me.  So far, mirror results have shown little progress.  I'll keep working at it, because the only thing worse than giving a creepy smile to authors is not smiling at all and looking scary/intense.

Ugh, why can't the BEA be a masked ball?  I look good in masks.

So, if my answer hasn't scared you away and you've decided to give me a follow, just let me know and I'll return it!  

Feature and Follow #87

I haven't done this meme in a long time, so I thought I'd give it a whirl!

Today's question is:

Q: Have you ever looked at book’s cover and thought, This is going to horrible? But, was instead pleasantly surprised? Show us the cover and tell us about the book.

You know, gorgeous covers stick in my mind, but bad ones tend to fade in my memory.  A recent book I read who's cover I wasn't impressed by was Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris.  I was a little wary of reading this book because although I've read her Sookie Stackhouse series, I didn't know if I wanted to read about another series of books with a Sookie like heroine.  And the cover didn't really erase my doubts.

Although I do have a physical copy of this book, I ended up listening to it on audio, which is a great equalizer when it comes to book covers.  You can't hear a bad cover on audio!  And I ended up really liking Grave Sight, which features the very un-Sookie like Harper Connelly.  It felt more like a real mystery and less like a paranormal soap opera- not that I'm against paranormal soap operas, I am Team Eric after all.

Anyway, I get the whole picture frame tie in, but the colors are pastel-ish, and the title of the book is way to sloppy and hard to see with that horrible pink wallpaper behind it.  I just don't dig it.  I think maybe all the beautiful YA covers of the last few years have turned me into a cover snob.  I hope not!  Because there are plenty of pretty books that contain horrible stories inside.  But that, my friends, is a Feature and Follow topic for another day.

So, what's your Ugly Duckling cover/Beautiful Swan story pick?

And if you follow me, be sure to let me know so I can return the favor!

And please feel free to sign up for my Signed Giveaway of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  There's still plenty of time left, and you can give my blogger friends some follow love too!