I’m sure it is obvious that I love to read. I read whenever I get the chance. Now that I’m working full time again outside the home, reading time is not as frequent as before but I try to read daily even if it’s just a couple pages of my current book read (right now I’m reading Bitter Frost by Kailin Gow and One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare). My favorite reading spots include my reading chaise in my bedroom, outdoors in the sun, and of course when I get a moment of quietness, in a nice warm bath.

I remember my first love of books came from Dr. Seuss which then led to Nancy Drew mysteries (the originals) and the Sweet Valley Twins (the originals) in middle school. In high school the classics (don’t tell my English teachers!) and V.C Andrews (before she died) fascinated me and later I became entranced by the world of Stephen King (Misery was my favorite) and Anne Rice (the Mayfair Witches) in my early college days. As an adult I became hooked in the historical romance and paranormal romance genres.  I love a good story that transplants into a different place and time. I get so engaged sometimes I feel as if I’ve become the main heroine (of course I’d be the heroine!) and will often dream the scene again after reading.

I try to read a variety of books. Books that take me back to another time period or another world fascinate me, thrillers, adventure, and mystery get my heart pumping with excitement and have me solving a puzzling situation. Stories of struggle, discovery, and hope inspire me. And of course I’m a hopeless romantic so I love a good love story. We all know how it ends but the parts that get to that ending are filled with excitement and passion (at least the good ones are).

I’ve listed below some of my favorite genres that I found off Wikipedia (please note that NOTHING below are my own words)…

• Speculative fiction is an umbrella fiction genre generally encompassing the more specific genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history.

• Creative nonfiction (also known as literary or narrative nonfiction) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives.”Ultimately, the primary goal of the creative nonfiction writer is to communicate information, just like a reporter, but to shape it in a way that reads like fiction.”^[1] Forms within this genre include personal essays, memoir, travel writing, food writing, biography, literary journalism, and other hybridized essays.

• Historical romance is set before World War II.^[1] Many historical romances include contemporary attitudes, as, for example, the heroines often have far more education than was the norm in their time period.^[2]This subgenre includes a wide variety of other subgenres, including Regency romance.

• Inspirational fiction – Any good book can be an inspiration, but many of these books highlight people overcoming adversity or reaching new levels of understanding. Whether they pull themselves up by their own bootstraps or have help from a higher power, these books will uplift and entertain you.^[4]

• Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains.Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful excitement.

• Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term that is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective (either professional or amateur) investigates and solves a crime.

• Classical Literature refers to the great masterpieces of the Greek, Roman, and other ancient civilizations: Homer’s “Iliad,” Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” Virgil’s “Aeneid,” “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, along with works by other ancient writers in epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy, pastoral, and other forms.

What’s your favorite genre? Do you like it all or do you have a higher preference for one?

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The Book Faery Reviews 2 year blog anniversary winners are…

#10 – Carrie says: February 24, 2010 at 8:14 am -i  follow you on twitter @carrieactually and retweeted your tweet

#26 – adrian says: February 28, 2010 at 7:43 am – email subscriber, Happy b-day!!

Congratulations Carrie from Carrie Actually and Adrian! Carrie is the winner of the $75 B&N gift certificate, writing journal & pen, & True Blood Calendar. Adrian is the winner of the autographed books, more books, calendar, autographed CD, writing journal & pen and personalized bookplates & bookmark.

How To Never Look Fat Again by Charla Krupps

#11 – etirv says: February 6, 2010 at 12:42 am Google reader subscriber!

#15 – Beth C says: February 14, 2010 at 6:01 pm Would be nice to never look fat again! I subscribe. pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

#13 – Debbie Rodgers says: February 8, 2010 at 12:46 pm I subscribe by e-mail

#7 – Beth says: February 3, 2010 at 8:22 am I’m a RSS subscriber via Google Reader. BethsBookReviewBlog AT gmail DOT com

#3 – kaylen says: February 2, 2010 at 6:03 pm 10 lbs..ha….i’d like to look 70 lbs lighter. I guess I’ll settle for 10.

Angels by Dr. David Jeremiah

#3 – Margay says: February 14, 2010 at 3:31 pm – This sounds like such an interesting book, even as I come back to read this post again. So I just tweeted about it here: http://twitter.com/Margay/status/9111012979 Margay

Countess of Scandal by Laurel McKee

#5 – Beth says: February 14, 2010 at 6:44 pm Fun! Please enter me! I’m a RSS subscriber via Google Reader. BethsBookReviewBlog AT gmail DOT com

**Winners will be emailed within 24 hours of this post to request mailing addresses.

Please be on the look out and check our spam/junk boxes to make sure thebookfaeryreviews@gmail.com does not end up missed. **

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Emily from Darkling Treasures is stopping by The Book Faery Reviews today to  be showcased as one of our sponsors for The Book Faery Reviews 2 year book blog anniversary. She’s kindly created fabulous fantasy style book plates and faery bookmark for one of our lucky readers here.

FROM EMILY @ DARKLING TREASURES…My art is generally fantasy-based, yet somewhat eclectic as far as presentation goes; sometimes it will be just a painting on canvas, other times it could be a journal, a small zine, a series of sculptures…I like to work outside the box whenever possible.  I love to read and write, so I have taken to designing and creating stationery, journals, and book arts when I am not painting or sketching out ideas.

I’m inspired by my strange inner world, emotions, nature, and all the possibilities a blank sheet of paper holds.

ETSY SHOP – OFFICIAL WEBSITE – FACEBOOK

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I am a true bibliophile, so it’s a good thing I get to live alone at the merry age of 50.  I have a large library, but there are usually about 20 books, most on a wide range of interests I love to research, like ancient history, mythology, folklore, world religions, botany, etymology, Old and Middle English literature, archeology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, cosmology, geology, and ecology, and one or two for pure escapism, sharing my bed.  There are also three Yorkshire terriers maneuvering for space, so it’s also a good thing I have a king-sized bed!

I am a writer of fiction and poetry, and I write the monthly “Faeries, Elves, and Other Kin” column for www.PaganPages.org.  I believe in faeries and have been a practicing Faerie and Green (or Natural) Witch and Pagan for more than 30 years.  Well versed in many skills done the “old fashioned” way, such as the sewing arts (spinning, weaving, design and construction, embroidery, crochet, knitting, quilting), herbalism, forestry and hunting, organic gardening and farming, bookbinding and papermaking, carving and whittling, pottery and clay, I’m free to adapt modern materials or combine skills to create new and exciting items.  For instance, our forebears would never have introduced botanicals into their paper pulps, considering such things to be contaminants since they were striving to create perfectly smooth, white paper.  Today’s handmade paper often attempts to go backwards in time to days when the goal was to simply create a writing surface, now combined with the artist’s goals of visual and textural interest (and in my case, sweet smelling herbs and flowers, grasses and micas, ribbons and lace, wherever my imagination and the fae take me).

Currently, I have a lot of jewelry in my boutique, most of which I spent the last two years learning to create and making while recuperating from a debilitating illness.  While I will continue to offer new “baubles” as inspiration dictates, my two main areas of concentration will be “books” and “bags.”  I love to create handmade paper from junk mail and trash with botanicals and oddments thrown in to “spice” things up.  I enjoy making hand decorated paper as well.  For me, creating signatures from these papers and binding them into books fulfills spiritual, ecological and practical needs simultaneously and wondrously.  Creating handmade faerie tarot bags and pouches amuses my inner child and brings out the pixie in me as I incorporate colorful fibers, twinkling charms and bells, and handmade beads.  I enjoy saving calendars and continually find clever ways to keep their beautiful artwork alive by turning them into origami gift boxes, notebook folders for writing pads, and covered beaded ballpoint pens.  A real Green Witch lets nothing go to waste, but always seeks to transform the useless into something both functional and beautiful.

www.facebook.com/faefabfinds

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Kat @ Faery Fabulous Finds is one of The Book Faery Review 2 year book blog anniversary sponsors. She handmade 2 faery notepads & pens for a lucky reader at The Book Faery Reviews.

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WOW! The Book Faery Reviews is celebrating 2 years of book blogging! The Book Faery Reviews was born out of a need to document the books I had read and wanted to get a hold of for my own book shelves. Then I started to get asked to review books from various authors and those marketing books. As I began doing more reviews, I decided I wanted to start interviewing authors and guest posting many of them and even give away books to my few but loyal readers.

Who knew I’d be where I am at today as The Book Faery from The Book Faery Reviews. No I haven’t made it within the covers of some of my new favorite authors like I’ve seen of those other book review bloggers I’ve come to know. No I don’t yet have a Google Page Ranking of 4 like some of my other favorite book bloggers. And no I don’t have 1000s of readers…yet.

What I do have is the excitement of coming home to a doorstep of books and mailbox filled with stories. Walking through a bookstore and pointing out to my mom (who’s probably more of a book lover than me) the various books and authors I’ve been given the opportunity to connect with. My husband who’s more into video games than books looks at me as if I’ve turned into one of Cheryl Brooks creatures from another planet when I get all giddy working with an author. But of course as soon as an opportunity arises, I call my mom who’s drilling various questions into my head of things I need to ask the author.

I just love the interaction that I have with authors I never had before. They’re just like you and me. I love it when a previous author stops by to “pick on me” in Facebook or send out tons of notifications that he needs more stuff for Farmville (G.H. Monroe couldn’t possibly be that person…lol), I love it when they become a friend who jokes around with you and asks how the family is doing (Kristen Callender) and I remember feeling touched when another author told me they saw me as a strong person when I was feeling down (JW Nicklaus). They’re so human just like you and me. **I’m STILL trying to get the nerve to ask one of my favorite historical romance authors Sabrina Jeffries to have lunch with me…she happens to live near me and we’ve chatted a couple of times in FB but haven’t stalked her further than that…lol My mother on the other hand is ubber excited that Sarah Addison Allen is stopping by The Book Faery Reviews as a guest post and wishes I had the opportunity for a face to face interview. I could just imagine that scene…she’d be squealing next to me and taking over as mothers often do.

Who knew when I was reviewing Lisa See‘s novel “Snow Flower and The Secret Fan” or “Peony in Love” I’d get the opportunity to deal directly (thanks to TLC Book Tours) with the author for a guest post about the bond of sisterhood and help to promote her latest novel “Shanghai Girls”? I knew I didn’t and feel so lucky. Dorothy from Pump Up Your Book brought me in on her book tours with various authors as well and to be honest I can’t even remember how we connected but it’s been a fabulous relationship as we have fun promoting authors and their latest books.

The Book Faery Reviews has definitely evolved…when I “second” started here: http://tbfreviews.wordpress.com/ I looked like this…

Then I decided to become self-hosted and get more serious about The Book Faery Reviews. The layout and look you see here today is perhaps the 3rd look I’ve tried and my logo you see at the top of this post is the 2nd and longest logo I’ve had. You can see how it’s changed from the one above in the old web image.

SOOOO to celebrate all of the opportunities I’ve been given and to the ones to come in the future, The Book Faery Reviews is having it’s biggest giveaway!

Our Sponsors include…

• Bill Scheft – Check out his author guest post.
• Kat from Faerie Fabulous Finds – Check out her guest post.
• Emily from Darkling Treasures – Check out her guest post.
• John Mese & Dawn Kelsey – Check out their author guest post.
  

• autographed books
• more books
• e-books
• an autographed music CD from an actress/author/singer
• book & writing accessories
• $75 Barnes & Nobles gift card

Oh yeah…our biggest giveaway for sure here. Keep this page bookmarked as I’ll be updating it with images of the fabulous giveaway items along with spotlights of our wonderful sponsors.The Book Faery Reviews will randomly select TWO lucky United States Book Faery Review readers with a nice hodgepodge of book and writing related items.

Winners will be randomly selected March 1st, 2010 (my mom’s birthday).

Main Entry (REQUIRED): Leave a comment below AND become one of The Book Faery Review subscribers (E-mail OR RSS feed).

• 1 Extra Entry – Follow me on Twitter and tweet this giveaway. Be sure to add “@farrah1230 #tbfr” into your tweet so I can find it easily.
• 1 Extra Entry – Blog about this on your blog or social site. Be sure to leave the URL below in the comment section.

BECAUSE I am using Random.org you MUST leave a separate comment for each entry or your additional entries don’t count.

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If you would be interested in participating in The Book Faery Reviews blog anniversary celebration,
please email thebookfaeryreviews@gmail.com.

I’d like to get this rolling by Sunday, February 7th so it can last through the remaining month.

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Pedro!

Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize.

Adios Bloggiesta…it’s was great while it lasted…if you’re new and didn’t see my previous post about Bloggiesta, you can read all about it here. While I’m not entirely sure as to how much time I’ve spent participating, I can tell you what I’ve accomplished. I’ll be honest, I don’t typically write posts on the weekend but now that I’m working full time out of the home I don’t see me having much time during the week.

Out of curiosity – do you set some time to spend on your blog(s) writing and commenting?

My Bloggiesta Accomplishments:

1. Did some housecleaning in Google Reader…THAT was SCARY…I had OVER 1000 posts that had not been read since who knows when (I did however read a handful AND commented…WHOOT WHOOT!!), there were 24 blogs that had not yet been categorized and a couple blogs no longer being used or rarely updated that needed to be removed (if you don’t write it in at least every other week, I’m cleaning you off my list)
2. Wrote 2 (this post makes 3) for here and 3 posts at Farrah’s Little Place in the Blogosphere (sorry folks but the Bloggiesta posts are quite similar as I didn’t know which readers would be interested in reading about them)
3. Re-designed Farrah’s Little Place in the Blogosphere – I decided to go with the same theme that I use here BUT the logo’s and colors are obviously different. The background image is also different. Hope it makes viewing more pleasing and navigating around here easier for all.
4. Planned a couple book giveaways for the month of January.
5. Officially participating in Pam from MotherReader’s Comment Challenge where you comment on at least 5 book blogs a day. One of my blog resolutions was to get more involved with other bloggers by commenting on their posts so here I go. This challenge runs through the 28th of January.
6. Pam from Bookalicio.us reminded me to make sure my blogs were copyrighted appropriately so I made sure mine were up to date.
7. I did actually update my categories yesterday before realizing that Beth from Beth Fish Reads was doing a mini-challenge. Renamed / regrouped some of mine while I was re-designing my place around here. I made changes in my navigation bar for this.
8. Updated my Google & Blogger profiles so the latest information was out there for when I leave comments behind.
9. Jackie from Farm Lane Books reminded me to do my weekly blog back up and I did it.
10. Karin from Karin’s Book Nook reminded me that it’s important to check for dead links and I now am using dead-links.com to do the job for me. I actually discovered I had some!! EEK!!!

Well…it’s time to end for the night…
time to end my portion of Bloggiesta…
time to get everyone bathed and ready for tomorrow…
time to do a bit of yoga/meditation to wind down…
then it will be time to spend with hubby, a movie, and perhaps a book later…

Thank you Nastasha at Maw Books for organizing the 2nd edition of Bloggiesta!

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Pedro!

Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize.

So I’m late in catching in on the #bloggiesta event in Twitter that has been going on all weekend. I actually started in I believe yesterday early evening after responding with others participating on the Twitter party that @bloggiesta / @Mawbooks were hosting. It appears however that 1) I never signed up on Mr.Linky (doing so right after posting this intro) AND obviously 2) hadn’t thoroughly planned all that I try to accomplish during the challenge. Leave it to me to wait til the last minute but oh well, better late than never, right?!

SO…here are my plans (I’ll update this post as I work on things):

1. Go through Google Reader…clean out, organize, start reading through (I’m SOOO AFRAID of this one, honestly can’t remember the last time I went through it since I’ve been working FT outside of the home again)
2. Write 2-4 posts this weekend (Sat-Sun) for here and/or Farrah’s Little Place in the Blogosphere.
3. Re-design Farrah’s Little Place in the Blogosphere (finished that one late last night actually…last week I spent time changing things a bit here)
   
4. Plan out some giveaways for The Book Faery Reviews (scheduled a couple for this month)
5. Finish reading my latest review book Shanghai Girls by Lisa See so I can post a review here later this week
6. Come up with book related topics for The Book Faery Reviews
   

Here are the mini-challenges that are going on that I might try to swing by on:

• Rebecca from The Book Lady’s Blog – 2010 Resolutions. You know you got them!
• Pam from MotherReader – Blogging is about community, so check out this Comment Challenge (watch for a Mr. Linky to be up on Saturday for you to complete this challenge).
• Danielle from There’s a Book – Blogging takes time & I’m sure we’d all love to blog faster. Using a cheat sheet is just one idea of how to save time.
• Pam from Bookalicio.us – There is nothing worse than seeing your post on somebody else’s blog. Talking about blog copyright and what you need to be doing to protect yourself.
• Beth from Beth Fish Reads – Using categories & labels to find what you’re looking for.
• Jackie from Farm Lane Books – Do not lose it all! How to back up your blog.
• Karin from Karin’s Book Nook – There is nothing worse than landing on 404 error pages. It’s time to go on a dead link hunt!
• Chelle from Tempting Persephone – You have some great content. But can people find it? Here’s showing off the best of the best.
• Kristen from Bookworming in the 21st Century – Introducing a new blogger mentoring program and forum.
• Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelves – Got nothing to say (not likely – that’s why you’re blogging in the first place!) but here is an opportunity to brainstorm blogging topics.

Props goes out to Nastasha at Maw Books for organizing the 2nd edition of Bloggiesta and to the following sponsors:

• Scholastic
• Hachette Book Group
• Peachtree Publishers
• Lisa Roe, Publicist
• Bloomsbury Publishing

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The thing I love about listening to an audio book is that I can really get into it when the narrator uses the right accent and vocal expression. The only thing I wish would be more frequent with audio books is the use of a male AND female narrator. It’s kind of odd listening to a female voice speak for the male and vice versa. And sometimes I feel as if a story takes me longer to get through when I’m listening to the story versus when I read it myself. Perhaps because I’m a faster reader??

Last week I picked up some audio CD’s from the library and I’m now scrubbing through my downloaded audio books to decide which to transfer to my MP3 player instead of toting CDs around with me.

I did however pick up these titles that I can’t wait to get through:

• The Lady in Question by Victoria Alexander (Fiction-Historical Romance) - Been listening to this one this past week.
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Fiction-Suspense)
• Rebecca’s Tale by Sally Beauman (Fiction-Suspense)

I honestly can’t decide which one to get to next after I’m finished with The Lady in Question…the other two look so good!

My library is a member of Netlibrary which I personally think is awesome. You can “check out” e-books and audio books for like 3 weeks to download to a PC or MP3 player. It is filled with TONS of GOOD TITLES…not just the classics or books nobody’s ever heard of. Although…I’ve just literally discovered that they no longer have audio books, just the e-books. Boo…

Places you can download audio books for FREE include:

• Librivox
• Learn Out Loud
• Books Should Be Free
• Free Classic Audio Books
• OpenCulture Free Audio books
• Podiobooks

Places to “Rent/Check Out” an audio book for a fee include:

• Audiobookworm
• Booksfree.com (kind of like a Netflix for audio books)

Places to PURCHASE audio books include:

• Barnes & Nobles
• Audible.com
• CastLibrary.com
• Just Audio Books
• Audio Bookstore

Have you listened to any good audio books lately? Please share with us your latest!

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Main Entry (REQUIRED): Tell me what you think of the new look AND Subscribe by email OR RSS feed.

• 1 Extra Entry – Subscribe via RSS feed OR Subscribe by email.
• 1 Extra Entry – Follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/farrah1230) AND tweet this giveaway.
  Be sure to add in @farrah1230 #tbfr
• 1 Extra Entry – Post about this giveaway on your blog, etc AND leave me the link.
• 5 Extra Entries – Subscribe to The Book Faery Reviews via Kindle. (Add this entry in 5x in the comments to get the 5 entries.)

Because I’ll be using random.org to randomly select the lucky reader, leave a comment for EACH action. If the main entry is not done, you will be excluded. This giveaway will go on for the remainder of January 2010.

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