In My Mailbox - LIII

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh
Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott

A little lazy to take a pic, lol.

Quick thank you to Mariana for The Splash Award!

There is a great blog makeover contest going on! You should definitely check it out! It will end on January 20/10!

What you can win:

• A custom blog theme/template for selfhosted Wordpress or Blogger (no Wordpress.com, sorry, it’s not possible).
• With up to 15 credits in istockphoto images for the design (if you want more images, you’ll have to purchase them).
• And up to 3 revisions of the blog sketch!
• You will also get a 125 x 125 px banner for it!

Important Guidelines

• The design will include fonts that are free for commercial use (but you can choose to buy yourself a professional one, there’s some really cheap ones).
• The theme/template will include a credit link in the footer.
• The prize does not include plugin customization, or anything like that outside the theme itself. Uploading content to the blog is your responsability.
• If you have images you want included in the design, you must own them, or have a license for them. Using images right out of Google or other places won’t be possible.

Click the banner above to go to the site!

In My Mailbox - LII

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Death Mill Mansion: A Lighthearted Comedy by Will Hartzell-Baird
Scorched by Sharon Ashwood + Ravenous Bookmark + Cat Card

I was hoping there would be a sale of like, buy 3 get 1 free, at Indigo yesterday but there was none. If there is a sale going up soon at the bookstore, I will definitely purchase some new novels. I unfortunately didn't get any books as Christmas presents but I guess that is alright, considering the number I still have to read on my shelf. Did anyone get any books under their Christmas tree?

In My Mailbox - LI

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

Sekrit

The Received

Never After by Dan Elconin

Yep, I did buy a book, but it's for my Secret Santa. What novel is it? Well I can't say because I may ruin the present but just know that I have already reviewed it in the past. :) (Got a 5/5 rating!)

My t-shirt contest for Never Slow Dance with a Zombie ends this Saturday! Click here to join! International! :D

In My Mailbox - L

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Princess Princess vol. 2-3 by Mikiyo Tsuda

Thank you Az from Bookmooch for the great mooches! :D Since the holidays are coming up, I will likely go buy a book or two for gifts! But I don't think I will be able to post them here since whoever will get them could know. Px

Contest: Hey, if you guys haven't noticed, I am currently hosting another contest! You can win a super adorable t-shirt and signed bookmarks based on the YA zombie comedy Never Slow Dance with a Zombie! Click here to check it out!

In My Mailbox - XLIX

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Explorer X - Alpha by LM Preston + Goodies
What I Wore to Save the World by Maryrose Wood
The Book Buddy Pillow

Sorry the picture is a bit messy. ><

Thank you so much Jennifer Lawrence aka my Secret Santa for a fantastic gift! It is so awesome and I can not wait to use it! Those who are curious about the pillow's use:

"The Book Buddy™ holds both hardcover and softcover books in place with adjustable ribbons for hands-free reading. The special filling in the pillow makes any book feel practically weightless."

If you want to check it out, go to www.readingcomfort.com!

In My Mailbox - XLVIII

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

The Otherworldlies by Jennifer Ann Kogler
The Espressologist by Kristina Springer
The Girl with the Mermaid Hair by Delia Ephron

Thank you Jessica Secret for The Otherworldlies!

I have already drawn the winners for the 5 copies of Medina Hill but the results are on my other computer. I am having a pretty crappy day and I don't want to go through the hassle to turn on my PC. Please bear with me, I'll have the winners up sometime this week.

I have received an email from Lowell Dempsey who would like me to spread a word to you guys about Motionbox. I know that some YA book bloggers like to upload videos for memes such as IMM or for their own personal thing. If you are one, you might like to check out Motionbox.

"Motionbox makes it easy for individuals and families to upload, edit, store, and share their personal video memories, including those that have been captured in High Definition. In addition to free membership options, Motionbox a subscription-based Premium service featuring HD playback and sharing, unlimited storage, and download capabilities, and a Professional video hosting solution for small businesses and organizations."

Anyone who signs up within November may be one of the three lucky winners to get a free Roku player!

In My Mailbox - XLVII

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Call Me Mimi by Francis Chalifour
Yokaiden vol. 2 by Nina Matsumoto
Cindy Pon's bookplate & bookmark (Thanks Cindy!)

Quick thanks to Dahlia from Dahlia's Eclectic Mind for the Proximade Award, Kreativ Blogger, and The Zombie Chicken Award and Chioma from Black and Blue Ink for the Honest Scrap award. I'm don't have time to give out 10 honest facts about myself, maybe later.

This commercial was made for the 2009 LG Mobile Fame Us! Contest and got first place! The film maker is totally genius and you should check out more videos here!

In My Mailbox - XLVI

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

Nightschool: The Weirn Books vol. 1 by Svetlana Chmakova

The Bought

None

The Received

Moyasimon vol. 1 by Masayuki Ishikawa
Night Head Genesis vol. 1 by George Iida and You Higuri
Kitchen Princess: Search for the Angel Cake by Miyuki Kobayashi and Natsumi Ando
I Hate You More Than Anyone! vol. 1 by Banri Hidaka
The Recipe for Gertrude vol. 2, 4 by Nari Kusakawa
Go Go Heaven!! vol. 1-2 by Keiko Yamada
Variante vol. 1, 4 by Iqura Sugimoto
Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Eon Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead

Homg, this is one of the best IMM weeks I had in quite awhile! I want to do a quick thank you to Cindy from Princess Bookie for hosting a great and huge giveaway! I received Give Up the Ghost from Megan because I won one of Cindy's contests. So thanks guys! And look forward to the reviews of the novels and mangas above folks!

Can someone let me know if I need to read Graceling by Kristin Cashore before going into Fire? In case I'll get lost if I jump right into Fire.

Also, I want to let you guys know there is a cool event you can join called the Holiday Swap! It's like Secret Santa! You guys should really check it out! Not only will you make someone else happy, byt you'll get your own little cool gift too! Click here or the image below to get more info! Who knows, I might be your Secret Santa. ;)

In My Mailbox - XLV

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Drawing Manga Animals, Chibis, and Other Adorable Creatures by J.C. Amberlyn
The Manga Artist's Workbook by Christopher Hart
Fairy Cube vol. 2 by Kaori Yuki
Kitty and the House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn
Sumomomo Momomo vol. 1 by Shinobu Ohtaka
Cat Paradise vol. 1 by Yuji Iwahara
Jack Frost vol. 1 by JinHo Ko
Nabari No Ou vol. 1 by Yuhki Kamatani
Ichiroh! vol. 1 by Mikage

I have received quite a bit of manga this week! I want to thank TD from Tiamat's Manga Reviews for hosting a great Yen Press contest! Lol, because of you, I finally have Yen Press titles in my manga collection! And thank you Az from Bookmooch for Fairy Cube! I luckily already have the first in the series and needed to continue it!

I was notified through my email from Laura of Tattooed Books that she presented me the One Lovely Blog Award! Thanks Laura!

In My Mailbox - XLIV

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

Vampire Doll vol. 6 by Erika Kari

The Received

The Ghost in the Shell by Shirow Masamune
Akira vol. 1 by Katsuhiro Otomo
The Official xxxHolic Guide

(Sorry for bad photo, I was sick earlier and was too lazy to take a better picture...)

All mangas this week!

When I hauled out the package from my mailbox that contained The Ghost in the Shell and Akira, I honestly thought that there were six mangas within. I got so excited and when I opened it, I was shocked. They were two huge mangas! I think I could have fainted because with school taking away ALL of my time from reviewing, I am expected to get through these two chunky mangas. But, I shall try!

Anyway, I have received an email from Lesley that her site Tactical Urban Gears is having a contest to win an Apple iTouch, iPhone, and 10 consolation prizes! You don't need to purchase anything! It ends on January 25th! Click the banner below to enter! (And remember to list me as your referral!)

Also, fellow blogger Liyana is hosting a giveaway for a $10 voucher to TUG! Click here! Her contest ends on Novermber 13th!


These are a couple of the shirts offered in the store! Ain't it cool?

Reminder to those who joined Cindy's great giveaways, she posted up the list of winners already! Click here to see if you have won! Congrats if you did!

In My Mailbox - XLIII

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

As You Wish by Jackson Pearce
Catwalk: Strike a Pose by Deborah Gregory
Little Black Lies by Tish Cohen
Flawless by Sara Shepard
The A-List: Hollywood Royalty by Zoey Dean
Mini swag

Thank you Book Muncher for The A-List: Hollywood Royalty and bookmarks!

Ah, finally a nice batch of YA novels! I have just finished As You Wish today so look forward to its review soon! I definitely can't wait to get my hands of Flawless since I've reviewed Pretty Little Liars awhile back. But I think I might have to hold it off because there are a few novels that must be reviewed first. So what did you guys get this week?

In My Mailbox - XLII

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

Only one novel this week and it's a memoir.

School has been such a drag and it's so hard to type out reviews more and more each day. Please bear with me!

In My Mailbox - XLI

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

Ah, today's my post-17th birthday! Lol! Thank you everyone you wished me a happy birthday yesterday. =)

Anyway, I didn't get much this week. I don't mind (but no one got me any books for my birthday... Sadface). I still have to review a couple of books but with school demanding my time, I just am so lazy! My words and thoughts are slipping too. I only have part of this week scheduled and after that, my reviews will become more infrequent. :(

I started this new meme thingie called Q4U. Basically I just ask a question to you lovely readers and you simply give me your opinion on it. Please click here to answer the first question!

In My Mailbox - XL

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

Crown vol. 1 by Shinji Wada and You Higuri

The Received

Invisible Touch by Kelly Parra
Never Bite a Boy on the First Date by Tamara Summers

It's been awhile since I bought anything huh? I just had a random urge last Sunday to get a manga since I haven't bought any for a long time. Crown is actually the first manga I bought solely because of a review (by MangaBlog) and it's pretty cool. I'll be working on the review of it soon.

Strange, and for some reason the picture I took of Kelly's autograph is to the side. Huh, I'm too lazy to change that now!

I got tagged by Diane from The Book Resort to list 5 book related items on my desk & 5 non book related items. Hm, should I pick the desk in my room or the one I'm at (computer)? Okay, computer desk then!

Book Related

Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates by Philip Caveney
Everything Sucks by Hannah Friedman
Crown vol. 1 by Shinji Wada and You Higuri
Gage Canadian Dictionary
Oxford Paperback English

Non-Book Related

Cut-up pieces of my chemistry notes
Gluestick
Half-empty water bottle
Cordless phone
The purple minion of Hades from Disney's Hecules

I don't tag others so if you want to do this, feel free!

In My Mailbox - XXXIX + Swag Winner!

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Warrior Princess by Frewin Jones
Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith
Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox
Medina Hill by Trilby Kent

I seriously thought I wouldn't get any books this week. But nope, I did! Yay! I need to put my HarperTeen reviews up, ack! I have only finished reading one of their novels this past month. Have to work on the review of it soon...

I have received an email from Shane Daley that fellow book bloggers may be interested in!

"BookCaster.com presents a showcase for authors promoting their work through videos. Listings contain book summaries as well as information about the author and publisher. Listings may also contain links to reviews and author websites, providing a full multimedia experience.

Best of all, submissions are free!

You can visit the site at http://www.BookCaster.com."

You should definitely check it out!

Anyway, my contest to win a bunch of great swags ended yesterday! So now I will randomly get a winner through the randomizer! And the winner is...

elnice

Congrats! Contact me at faked_sugartone at hotmail ASAP!

3 winners from Stop, Drop, and Read!'s first blogoversary contacted me to let me know that they have received their prize. If you were a winner and have received your prize, can you let me know here in the post? Thanks!

In My Mailbox - XXXVIII

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Running on the Cracks by Julia Donaldson

Since I have only got one novel this week, I decided to not take a picture (mainly because I'm lazy...).

I have received an email from Jessica of booksalemanager.com. Here is something that you bloggers may be interested in if you are the type to get deals on books.

"All across the nation, many Friends of the Library organizations hold book sales that feature cheap books that were either donated or removed from circulation. Typically these sales sell books, CDs, magazines, and DvD's for rock bottom prices. A typical sale will sell most of their items for under 3 dollars.

Being charity organizations, these Friends of the Library organizations often have limited resources to advertise and promote their sales. As such, many people are never made aware of the excellent deals they are missing within their own communities. That's where booksalemanager.com comes ins. We are attempting to bridge the gap between Organizations looking to more effectively advertise their sale, and people looking to find more places to get good deals on books and media.

Friends of the Library organizations and other non-profit groups can freely advertise their sale on our site. Our site currently has 2500 active listings, and we have been adding over 100 everyday.

People looking to find sales can use our powerful search tools to find these sales. They can search by state, zip code, sale size, and date ranged. Furthermore, people can create an account and save sales to their calendar to help them better track the sales they want to go to. You can also sign up for notifications to be emailed when a new sale in your area is listed, or a reminder email a few days before the sales on your calendar so you don’t ever miss a sale you want to attend."

Sounds pretty cool huh? If you want to check it out, go to booksalemanager.com!

There's also a James Patterson contest over Temppatt if you want to check it out! (Like, this contest is seriously everywhere!)

In My Mailbox - XXXVII

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

The Bought

Case Closed: The Desperate Truth

The Received

The Bay Bridged vol. 1
Everything Sucks by Hannah Friedman
Swag from Cynthea Liu (forgot to show)

Hm, I only got one novel to review this week. I didn't intend to borrow any novels since school starts in a couple of days but I decided that this would be the last time for me. And although Case Closed is not a manga, I decided why not show it anyway? Lol, I do review films after all.

Thank you Stephanie Kuehnert for The Bay Bridged!

In My Mailbox (Vlog) - III

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Bought

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon
Sebastian Darke: The Prince of Pirates by Philip Caveney

The Borrowed

None

The Received

Bookmarks from The Page Flipper
I Like You by Amy Sedaris
The Heights, the Depths, and Everything in Between by Sally Nemeth
Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin
Eragon & Eldest by Christopher Paolini
2 Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
2 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling + 2 pins
Hottie by Johnathan Berstein
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott
Tsubasa vol. 1
I Love You, Beth Cooper CD
Confessions of a First Daughter by Cassidy Calloway
Ninja Girls vol. 1 by Hosana Tanaka
X-Men Misfits vol. 1 by Raina Telegemeier, Dave Roman, and Anzu
Four-Eyed Prince vol. 1 by Wataru Mizukami
Shoujo Art Studio by Yishan Li

Delivering for Yan from Books By Their Cover

TMI by Sarah Quigley
Castration Celebration by Jake Wizner
The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong
Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters
Heartbreak River by Tricia Mills

Homg, it took ages for me to upload these vlogs! I think I died, searching for ways to upload them faster because waiting for 12 hours was way too long! And so sorry for the poor and dark quality!

Quick thank you to Lindsay from Just Another Book Addict =) for the Lemonade Award!

Announcement: Today is the last day to join all of the contests for my blogoversary! Quick, sign up now! All links above! Entries will be closed at 11:59 PM EST!

In My Mailbox (Vlog) - II + BBAW

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

None

The Bought

None

The Received

Blank Slate vol. 1 by Aya Kanno
Gakuen Prince vol. 2 by Jun Yuzuki
Switch by Carol Snow
Beating Heart by A.M. Jenkins

Doing an early IMM because I'm heading off to California tomorrow! Next week's IMM will be delayed until I get back! And quick thank you to ~The Book Pixie for the Your Blog Rocks Award!

Wdebo is celebrating her first blogoversary and birthday! She's giving away some pretty cool prizes so click here to check it out!

I was surprised when I went to check my email to find out that I was nominated for Best Graphic Novel Review Blog and Cultural Review Blog! Cultural Review Blog?? Hm, I'm still puzzling over that one. I rummaged back in my archive for links and was horrified that my "cultural" novel reviews weren't so great back when my blog was still new. Ah well, it's still something.

But I want to thank you so much to whoever nominated me! It made me really happy to know that you think so highly of my blog! Anyway, I decided to do a little meme for BBAW.

1) What has been one of the highlights of blogging for you?

Being able to communicate with fantastic bloggers and authors around the world and discovering all of the amazing YA books out there! Believe it or not, I sort of stopped reading regular novels before I decided to blog at one point of my life. But now, I have a huge selection and my brain is indulging them all! To all my blogger friends, love you all!

2) What blogger has helped you out with your blog by answering questions, linking to you, or inspiring you?

The Story Siren and In Bed With Books were the two blogs that stood out to me before I started blogging. They inspired me to start blogging because I was done summer school at the time and had nothing better to do for the next month. From there, Stop, Drop, and Read! was born.

3) What one question do you have about BBAW that someone who participated last year could answer?

Hm, I really don't have one! My blog was still pretty new when last year BBAW came around so I was quite unfamiliar with it. But I am definitely looking forward to this year's!

There is also a great contest you can join for Harlequin Teen! Check below!

In My Mailbox (Vlog) - I

To do your own In My Mailbox, please check out how to at The Story Siren!

The Borrowed

Dragon Drive vol. 12 by Ken-ichi Sakura
N A N A vol. 13 by Ai Yazawa
Violet by Design by Melissa Walker
America's Next Top Model (forgot to show)

The Bought

None

The Received

Monster by A. Lee Martinez
Never Slow Dance with a Zombie by E. Van Lowe
Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert
How It Works by Laura Weiss

I received some awards but since there are so many posts to go through, I'll just give my thanks to the individuals here. Thanks to: MissAttitude, Leslie, Tynga, and Casey for the lovely blog awards! :D Hopefully I didn't forget anyone!

Yes, all giveaways will end on August 31/09! You guys still have time to enter them all! :) There are only two more this week so stay tune!

Oh! I forgot to mention! I'm heading to California for a week of vacation this Saturday! Yay! No worries, I will have tons of reviews scheduled up!