B-Fest @ Barnes & Noble June 10-12th #BFESTBUZZ

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Have you checked out your local B&N lately? For one magical weekend in June, lovers of young adult fiction can come together for trivia, games, giveaways and author events at their local B&N stores. You can find out more (as well as your local B&N events) by clicking the banner up top, but here’s some of the local highlights that I’m looking forward to.

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Book Review: Broken Fate

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Zeus gave her one simple job: Kill every human. Atropos-daughter of Zeus and the third goddess of Fate from Greek mythology -spends her eternal life snipping human lifelines when their mortal lives are over. As if being a killer doesn’t make life miserable enough, she and her Fate-wielding sisters must live amongst the humans on Earth thanks to a long-running feud between their mother and Zeus. Living on Earth means they must mingle with the mortals, attend the local high school, and attempt to fit in-or at least not stand out too much.

Killing and mingling don’t mix, which is why Atropos’ number-one rule is to avoid all relationships with the humans. Caring for the people she has to kill is a fast track to insanity. However, when Alex Morgan walks into her first-period English class, she knows she’s in for trouble. He’s the worst kind of human for her to like-one with a rapidly approaching expiration date. And he makes Atropos want to break all the rules.

Pro – I pretty much agreed with everything Sophie (Atropos) said about life, death and acceptance thereof. We would probably be good friends.

Cons – I kind of wanted to stab Alex several times, for various reasons mostly involving himΒ not getting it.Β Also part of a series! Dammit.

Spoiler – There’s a spoiler beneath in my review. If you’d prefer to read the review minus the spoiler I suggest you check out my GR review, as the spoiler is hidden there.

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#ArmchairBEA: That’s a Wrap!

Well its the end of Armchair BEA. Is it weird that I also feel the same kind of sadness as when I leave physical BEA? I mean, don’t get me wrong – damn are my knees happier that I didn’t spend all that time kneeling, sitting, standing and carrying loads of books. Also let’s just say I didn’t miss waking up at 5:30am and not falling into bed until 11pm.

How was my first Armchair BEA that I participated in? Swell! I made some new friends, saw new blogs, won some books and got to talk about the books/series I really enjoy. Hey and I introduced a bunch of you to new books (and games! and graphic novels!) that’s a boon in my book for sure!

I did miss the adrenaline rush of 9am when the floor opens and you try to simultaneously walk at a fast clip, dodge those who don’t listen to the rules and spot all the pretty new books and swag put out. Or scoring an ARC that I really wanted to hold in my hands. Seeing the authors and trading stories (though thanks to the #BEA16 hashtag I was able to follow some of the very fun shenanigans that happened).

As a brief recap this was my week!

What was your favorite day? Remember my Giveaway is open untilΒ  Monday May 16th so there’s time to enter!

lexie

Lexie Words

#ArmchairBEA: Surviving Fictional Worlds + Giveaway!

Welcome back to day 4 of ArmchairBEA! Hopefully you’ve been following along (if not check out the official ArmchairBEA website or my tag #ABEA2K16 to learn more). While over in Chicago BEA is over and BookCon is upon us those of us enjoying things virtually still have a load to talk about!

Today’s topic is “surviving fictional worlds” and there’s a bonus giveaway at the end if you think you’re up for it!

Issue:

We all know that sometimes, the worlds we love in fiction can be dangerous. Which fictional worlds would you want to live in? Which worlds do you never want to dive into? Which worlds are you content to stay behind the glass, so to speak, rather than wishing to dive through the page? And once you get there, what would you do?

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#ArmchairBEA: Beyond the Book

Today’s topic(s) cover looking beyond novels and the blog – both for books and for the blog.

Issue:

Beyond the traditional form of the novel, what are your favorite alternative forms (graphic novels, audiobooks, webcomics, etc)? Do you have any favorite works within these alternate forms? How do you think the changing format affects the reading experience?

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#ArmchairBEA: Blog Aesthetics

Today’s topic(s) cover aesthetics – both for books and for the blog. Much like my Diversity in Publishing post yesterday I’m going to apply the IRAC method to this so I don’t go too far off point.

Issue:

As a book blogger, in whatever form that takes, branding is important. Your colors, your fonts, your style of review, all of these things come together to make the “brand” of your blog – something that makes your reviews and posts and websites, all your various content, immediately recognizable to the people looking for you. What do you do to create a brand on your site? Do you think about these things?

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#ArmchairBEA: Book Aesthetics

Today’s topic(s) cover aesthetics – both for books and for the blog. Much like my Diversity in Publishing post yesterday I’m going to apply the IRAC method to this so I don’t go too far off point.

Issue:

How often do you judge a book by its cover? How often are you surprised by what you find? Do you strategize and make sure every book in your series has the same cover design (as far as you are able to) and type? How important is it for the visual art on the outside of the book to match or coordinate with the literature art on the inside?

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#ArmchairBEA: Diversity in Publishing

When I started writing this piece it became this three page long…something which I realized wasn’t helpful. It was rambly and verbose and had no real direction. So we’re gonna do what I did in school and that’s the IRAC method:

I – Issue, what am I trying to answer?
R* – Response, my answer to the question.
A – Application, this would be where I back up my response.
C – Conclusion, summing things up

(I adjusted the R. It normally should be β€œRule”, but this isn’t a legal case. Yet.)

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#ArmchairBEA: My Introduction

Armchair BEAWell hello folks πŸ˜€ As this is my first time in…gosh 9 years of blogging not attending BEA I found myself feeling the anxiousness of not being around my blogging buddies. Armchair BEA is here to fill that hole!

Firstly let me introduce myself shall I? Note I co-blog with my friend Tasch, but its just little old me hanging around with ABEA πŸ™‚

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IBD 2016 Highlight: The Doylestown Bookshop

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Yesterday I discussed the books I got at Farley’s Bookshop (New Hope, PA) and today I wanted to discuss the books I got at Doylestown as well as the YA presentation from their RHKids rep Bobbie.

What’s Independent Bookstore Day? It was a day for book lovers to unite and visit their local (or not so local!) indie bookstores for activities, exclusive merchandise and best of all BOOKS. Since my particular area didn’t have any participating I traveled outside my normal sphere to a couple of shops I was interested in. Along with my friend Mel and her almost six year old daughter Aeryn we made a morning of it!

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