Bookish Rants and Raves: Getting Shelved

I absolutely abhor getting shelved as a reader, and it’s funny, because the people that do it, aren’t authors or publishers, but other readers.

A fellow reader and I were talking the other day and she said to me: “I know you just read vampire books…”

Then she continued on with her sentence.

Excuse me, but I do not “just read vampire books” the last four books I read weren’t vampire books! The last three weren’t even paranormal in nature!

It infuriates me to know that just because a large selection of my reading material is mainly paranormal, other readers think it’s okay to shelve me as “one of those people that read just vampire books”.

This makes me so mad!

They think that they are on a higher grounding than me because this person in particular only reads mysteries and non-fiction, this person doesn’t …

Bookish Rants and Raves: Plagiarism

In light of recent events, it’s probably no surprise that Plagiarism is the topic of our Bookish Rants and Raves post this week.

As the plagiarism has come to light all of the Book Lovers have been affected in different ways. So we thought we would share the post this week and tell you our thoughts on Plagiarism and Trust in book blogging.

Amanda: Plagiarism for me is an old enemy. Having been plagiarised repeatedly in school and not being able to prove it, just the word “plagiarism” sends a shiver down my spine.

I try to be empathetic in everything I do in life, but plagiarism is not something I can’t get my head around, especially when it comes to book blogging. I can understand some of the motivations to consider plagiarism – free books, more followers and seeing a …

Bookish Rants or Raves: There’s NO Shame is Taking Second Place!

Lover Mine by J.R. Ward

It’s hard to ignore the spotlight and I do love my heroes and heroines. It doesn’t really matter if it’s the sexy Alpha Hero everyone wants to have for their own, or if it’s the no-holds-barred kickass heroines/heroes found in Urban Fantasy, those leading men and women have the difficult job of capturing your heart and making you dedicate a lot of your time in reading their stories.

We count on their stories to take us away from our own worlds and escaping to different realities. However important they may be though, what really makes their adventures and lives real is the people around them. The sidekicks and secondary characters who make the heroes and heroines’ stories even more compelling and real.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB) series by J.R. Ward, for example. For me, reading the …

Bookish Rants or Raves: Queer is NOT Weird!

I just want to get one thing off my chest, I am a proud supporter of the gay community. I avidly hate any and every type of prejudice and won’t stand for it, in any instance. 

I felt I needed to say that to get to my point LOL. we’re talking about books, so i wanted to talk about gay characters in UF and PNR and how much I love them!

They can be the gay best friend or the gay secondary character that steals the show, these people usually just make a story pop and give a much brighter realism to the fantastic worlds we get to read about constantly.

Who is is not dying to read Qhauy’s HEA? 

A sub genre that showed up more recently that rocks, is the M/M PNR. There …

Bookish Rants or Raves: An Urban Fantasy Fashion Show!

I have to admit, I am not a very fashionista kind of girl. I’d live in jeans and a T-Shirt if I have to, but I do like to think i have some sense of style and I do know how to dress appropriately in any given situation. 

However, I’m afraid to say that, that isn’t the case of most Urban Fantasy characters, is it?

If you think about it, some UF heroes and heroines have worn pretty mind boggling outfits haven’t they?

Out of the top of my mind I can recall, Jean-Claude’s open white billowing blouse over leathers, Rachel Morgan’s white leather outfit in “Pale Demon” and we cannot forget the regular appearance of leather in UF covers, being it, black, white of full body leather outfits that defy nature.

I mean, I cannot imagine doing all that fighting in leather! Seriously, it CANNOT be comfortable! LOL 

Bookish Rants or Raves: My Point of View on POVs!

Sometimes I see around the web an authors, reader or blogger say how much the Love/Hate a certain type of Point of View (POV) when it comes to novels and I thought this would be an interesting topic for discussion.

I personally, enjoy reading books written in first or third person. I feel that either POV has its qualities and bring something interesting to the table.

Like the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning”, where we get almost the whole story all told from the Heroine’s point of view. It might be constricting not getting to see any other characters actions for more of the time, but we get a deep insight in the Heroine’s mind and it makes understanding her that much easier.

“Every time I think I’m getting smarter I …

Bookish Rants or Raves: What About YA?

Y.A. Books are everywhere these days! From “Twilight” and “Harry Potter” getting to “The Hunger Games” and “I Am Number Four”, Y.A. is everywhere and personally, the sub-genre that most attracts me is Paranormal Y.A. or Sci-Fi Y.A.

To be quite honest I am not that familiar with “regular” Y.A. novels and series like “Perfect Chemistry” and I tend to get tired of Y.A. faster than I used to. I think I have just been enjoying Adult novels more and I try to go back and forth between them so I don’t too tired of either.

However, I do have a few Paranormal Y.A. series that I can’t get enough of, like: Rachel Vincent’s “Soul Screamers”, Richelle Mead’s Y.A. Books, Holly Black’s “Curse Workers” and Julie Kagawa’s “Iron …

Bookish Rants or Raves: Getting Stuck On Your Own Ways!

 Hey Everyone! I realized something really annoying recently, I am having a really hard time starting new book or series. I have come to notice that when it comes to the series I already love, I can get right into the newest book and I usually can’t wait for it. 

However, when it comes to a new series, even if it’s by an author I already really enjoy, I’m having a hard time feeling the right mood to start it =/. I realized this more recently when a lot of authors I love, started releasing new series that sound awesome and even though I have been buying those books, I can’t seem to be inclined to reading them =(

I’m starting to think I’m stuck in my ways, that I can’t …

Bookish Rants or Raves: Is Bigger, Better?

Hey Everyone! After this hiatus, when Authors took over our beloved Book Lovers Inc., I am back =)

I have been thinking about length when it comes to books. They can be in a series or standalone, but do the length matter? Do you prefer shorter books or longer ones? Full Novels or Novellas?

I am usually partial to Full length novels in general, but I have enjoyed a lot of Novellas and I feel that sometimes they are perfect in size to tell some stories that don’t really need 300+ pages to be told.

However, there are some Novellas or shorter length novels that have the potential to be so amazing, that the shorter length just doesn’t do it justice. In those cases, bigger would definitely be better.

Now, I want to know from you guys…

Do …

Bookish Rants or Raves: Getting Organized!

Ok so, a while back I talked about Bookish OCD, now I want to talk about keeping yourself organized when it comes to writing down the books you’ve read, need to read, review, etc…

I’ve found myself trying to be organized more and more. Last year I started keeping a spreadsheet of the books I read through 2010 and even though I stopped adding to it about halfway through the year, I did catch up in the end.

This year I started a 2011 spreadsheet and I’m actually adding the books I need to read for review and the order I plan to read them. I’m hoping to be more organized this year than I was in 2010 and stick with it. Goodreads and LibraryThing have both been amazing in helping me keep track of my books as well as FictFact, …