Love Reads!

Love reads has officially moved to its very own domain! I have finally work out the issues I was having and ta da! Visit it here at this wickedly easy to remember address   I already have a few posts up on www.lovereads.com Sorry but for some reason got an error trying to link the two up. a I hope to see many of you to migrate with me and show my new space as much love as this one. Last one there is a rotten egg!

**update**

I put up the first review! I am also going to add ad space for interested parties. I am so excited about this new turn of events in the adventure of Love Reads and hope that all of you will follow me to the best incarnation of Love Reads yet!

So, I have been thinking over the last few days and I have decided for now to keep Love Reads right where it is. I am still keeping the new domain and when I have more means (and disk space) I will open it up officially. I have great news for you or someone you know that enjoys teen chick lit I am building a second sister site to this one call Teen Reads. Not exactly that different in name I know but I figure it matches the other one quite well and is easy to remember. It will house YA girl lit like the prequels of gossip girl, the A-List and other titles like them. I’m really excited about this and I hope that you decide to follow TR as well!

I have be trolling the web, some of my favorite blogs, and Amazon (which to me is like a Payless) and have some great content coming your way. If you have seen anything interesting in your online travels or have and questions or ideas comment or contact me. I check all the comments and regularly visit my contactable sources like twitter and the like so I see what is put out there though I may not always reply.

Hope you all have a great weekend and I strongly suggest if your able to sit outside and read a bit while sipping your favorite drink because, as we all notice but hate to admit summers starting to wind down so go enjoy it!

There is now a presence in Second Life for Love Reads! For those of you who do not know what SL is feel free to check this site out for information. The particular area where Love Reads is now housed is called Publishing Island and is a area that is dedicated to authors, editors and other people who work in and around the industry in SL and real life. For those of you familiar with it, the SLURL will be added as soon as I can get it embed here.

I plan to create for Love Reads a mini-magazine both Adobe and in Second Life at some point, once I am able to get the needed software. I would also at some point branch out into maybe apparel and such in the more far off future. So, this seemed like a natural progression to be able to reach a wider audience.

I’d like to apoligize for my lack of posting there are many things going on in my life right now that need to be given some time. I am still reading and have a good size list now of books ready to be reviewed. I am also trying to get the funds together to move Love Reads now that it has a solid following to its own website and domain. I have enlisted the help of a good friend who is going to help me with issues for next to nothing. Do not get me wrong I do not have any bad blood for Today.com, but it is not what I am needing right now. As of right now other then widgets I cannot accommodate interested private advertisers as well as I would like and many of the different features I am looking for in expanding cannot be found here. Now, it is not happening right this minute; but soon. I am taking positive steps in that direction and I sincerely hope you will stick with me through this time as it would mean more to me then one could even imagine. Please go to the Contact Us for myTwitter info if you have it and add yourself to my following to keep day-to-day track.

Happy Reading!

Finally! I loaded my favorite program and made this awesome new banner! I had originally thought I would have someone make it, but after a few outrageous price quotes I decided to try it again. So, I loaded my Adobe In Design and tinkered around with the settings a bit and what you see above is the result. Hope you like it! Feel free to post what you think!

This week I have got as least two reviews to post for new titles. One is the sequel to Shoe Addicts Anonymous titled Secrets of a Shoe Addict. The other is the sequel to Odd Mom Out called Mrs. Perfect. Marta from the first book even makes a cameo!

I also plan to interview Beth Harbison the author of SAA and SOSA and maybe if I get lucky I’ll even be able to finish an post it by the end of the week.

<3

Hope everyone had a fantastic and safe Fourth of July! The day was also my birthday, I am now 24! Why am I telling you this? Well, I used much of the cash I was given to order books to review! All are current and by authors that either I know or seem promising. Do not worry I am still working hard getting upcoming titles as well, its slow goings at the moment because of the holiday, but as everyone trudges back to work with some semblance of a hangover still present I am sure I will hopefully be getting calls returned.

I also added a Amazon widget as you can see to my sidebar, I will continuously be updating it as I finish books. This way if you would like to read a book after reading one of my reviews all you have to do is find it on the widget and you are set! Hope you all enjoy the rest of your work week and don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled as I have a review and an interview coming out this week!

I have recently been trying to be more proactive in terms of helping my blog reach as many interested readers as possible. The idea at first might seem easy, but let me tell you that it is not, especially if someone is just starting out such as myself. So, when I came across the Blogging Idol icon on Daily Blog Tips I was very excited at what I saw.

Daily Blog Tips, created Daniel Scocco has started a program that lasts the entire month of July and pits bloggers against each other in the quest for RSS and email subscription supremacy. The prizes for the winner are awesome, but as new as I am, I would be glad for just a few extra fans.

I want to be able as I said to reach as many loyal fans of chick lit as possible and I hope that in participating in this contest I can meet some of them. So, if you are so inclined please join the RSS or email feed. I have previously written a post about them here if you are unfamiliar with what exactly those terms mean. I plan to be running contests throughout the entire month to help bolster readership so sign up and maybe get some goodies in the process!

Today I was doing my usual stroll around my favorite blogs and came across a post written by one of the very insightful women at Trashionista . The post was actually linked to another post, which within it a case was stated that there has been a huge downfall in the merit of YA lit.

Now, as of this Friday I turn twenty-four so I do not consider myself that far outside YA’s demographic. I grew up during the authors supposed indication of the downfall of the genre. When I was in grade nine the first Gossip Girl (yes, it was a book) came out and I totally ate those books up. Though the occasional sexual references and swears left a little to be desired I liked what I found to be the underlying message. That message to me was, though it may seem you are unlike anyone in the troubles you face you are not alone. Sure, those girls threw around more trendy brand names then there are fish in the sea, but the troubles are always similar.

Another is a word I resent having been put into said article, and am appalled as a writer at its use is the statement that popular YA in today’s world has been ghettoized! Classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird were mentioned and though I in no way am stating those are not crucially important titles to read at some point books such as that were never meant exclusively as young adult books at the time of their publications for the most part. Take The Pigman for example by Paul Zindel. That is not as much of a classically regarded title as KAM but has in the last ten years has been on many high school and junior high reading lists for various reasons.

My point is this: Look at studies if you must or read a few of more YA and you will find on closer examination that just as the rest of the world does, these books change with the times. The messages may be presented differently and sometimes outlandishly so, but writers tend to play to what they believe their audiences would be most likely listen to. It may be put in a different way, but it is in no way GHETTO it is just different packaging.

I was surfing other book review blogs and such and I uncovered some GREAT news! Candice Bushnell, chick lit royalty, has a new book coming out! The books called One Madison Avenue and it is going to hit the shelves September 22, 2008. I promise on all that is S&TC that I will get my hands on a copy to review! I also plan on trying to wrangle an interview with her if possible. It is truly amazing how approachable many authors are these days.

This is turning out to be a great summer for Candice as the mega hit that is the Sex & The City movie (which I still haven’t seen!) has been raking in quite a bit of dough. I am sure that the movie only helps when it comes time for the new book to be published!

Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday! I just wanted to take a few moments to make you aware of our Feeds. For those of you not in the know, feeds are ways that you can read and keep track of my content without having to visit the site. We all have busy lives, whether its balancing kids, work, or life in general, sometimes life just gets in the way. This way you can still keep up with me even if you don’t have the time to find the site.

There are two ways you can do this, Email or RSS. Both are called subscriptions but I promise that neither cost money. For the RSS Feed all you need to do is click the icon and choose which reader that you use to keep track of other sites updates. My personal favorite is the Google Reader, but there are many different ones that you can choose from. The second option is via email. All you have to do for that is enter your email address and your done!

So, please join one the other or both if ya like so you can keep up with the latest happenings here at Love Reads! Happy Reading!

I love the book Dirty Girls Social Club! No, I do not mean some kinky website, I mean the smash debut novel from Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez! The book was one of my first chick lit reads and all time favorites. Ok, enough of my happy rant, I am writing to make you aware that the long awaited sequel is almost here! Dirty Girls on Top is set to be released July 8th, 2008! I received a review copy so that will be a posted review on the page in the near future, but I wanted to give you a bit of a primer to wet your appetite while you wait. Usnavy’s the most outspoken of all the sucias has a blog! It was created as part of the marketing campaign for the book and is filled with her straight talking attitude that we came to know in love. So, when you find some time go take a peek, there isn’t much there, but its worth reading. Word to the wise though it does cover mature topics so if your a lil sexy squeamish I suggest browsing with care. Happy Reading!

www.usnavysrivera.blogspot.com