Reader Girls Blog

On Monday we reached another milestone: our blogoversary . Has it already been one year since we decided to blog about our love of reading and books? One year of seeing how amazing the community of book reviewers and bloggers really is. Wow. We have enjoyed the weekly memes and contests, meeting and reading the variety of opinions around the blogosphere, participating in book tours and contacting authors. We find we approach our reading a little differently and keep a pen handy to jot down page numbers and make notes.  The one thing that hasn't changed is the simple joy we get from being enveloped by a story--the power of words on a page or screen. With the growing popularity of e-readers our own reading experiences have changed to include digital books. The YA market is incredibly hot and we think it's great. Unfortunately a happening market can make our deciding what to read next difficult (since there are so many titles we would like to dive right into). And with the...

We wanted to post and share something we thought was simply wonderful: the Book Blogger Holiday Swap . On their site they say the swap is "...an annual Secret Santa gift exchange between book bloggers, now in its fourth year! You can read a little more about its history if you click over to the  About page ." We decided to participate and signed up last month. We soon received an email with our Santee information so we could decide on a great gift. After we did, we sent our information about our package (tracking info) to the Swap crew and that was it! Easy and fun.  When an unexpected  package arrived at our house, we realized it was from the Swap. Our gift included The Book of the Bizarre (a cool book of information), a gorgeous Celtic bookmark and a very cute desktop aquarium.  Whomever our Santa was we would like to say THANK YOU!  And thanks to everyone at the Book Blogger Holiday Swap site for their work. Their motto is: Where book bloggers celebra...

Recently we reached what we considered a milestone: 500 followers ! For some this may not seem like a lot, but to us it is. We started our blog to share our love of reading and have been amazed by the tremendous amount of book lovers who share our love and blog. We wanted to thank everyone by having a contest. We have an ARC of Sisters Red by Jackson Pierce we would like to give away to one of our readers. This giveaway is open internationally. Here's a summary of Sisters Red : Scarlet March lives to hunt the Fenris--the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead. Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside h...

Midwinter's Eve Giveaway Hop, run by Inspired Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer blog, is on! From today until midnight of the 22nd, over a hundred blogs are participating. Please check them out and enter. ReaderGirls is giving away an ARC of Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. Summary: BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.  PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape. Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi fi...

We would like to welcome author Lucie Simone to ReaderGirls today. Ms. Simone is the author of the romantic comedy,  Hollywood Ending (published by Simon and Fig, 240 pages). First, we'll give everyone a summary of what her book is about: Trina Stewart needs cash. Fast. She's barely got enough dough to keep her fanny off the streets, let alone any spending money for hot nights clubbing on Sunset Strip. And her job teaching English as a Second Language is seriously lacking in both pay and glamour. But not just any job will do. She's after a real Hollywood job. The kind that makes her $100,000 in film school debt and ten years in Tinsel Town not seem like such a big fat waste of time and money. But a girl can't fritter away all her time fretting over her next paycheck, can she? Certainly not when a man like Matiu Wulf, a sexy Maori from New Zealand, parks his oh-so-fine self in the apartment above hers while he takes his best shot at Showbiz. If only Matiu didn'...

We have joined  PARAJUNKEE'S VIEW VAMPIRE CHALLENGE 2011 . This challenge runs from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011. All we need to do is read 20 books where a vampire is the main character. Since we love vampire stories this should be easy and we like that books can be YA or adult and published in any year. This challenge will also help us catch up on some of the bloodsucking titles we have piled on our bookcase shelves we haven't gotten around to reading (yet). Titles TBA.

This week we chose a book by an adult paranormal author Laurie loves to read: Lynn Viehl. Next spring her foray into the YA market, After Midnight: The Youngbloods, Book 1 , will be published by Flux Books (336 pages). Summary: Sixteen-year-old Catlyn Youngblood isn’t happy about moving to Lost Lake, Florida. While she’s used to living a gypsy’s life with her brothers, there is something very odd about this small backwoods town. But Trick, her oldest brother and guardian, wants to settle down on their new farm and breed horses, and this time Cat may even have a chance to make some friends. After a disastrous first day at school, Cat meets Jesse Raven, a boy who like her rides his horse after midnight. At first Jesse seems as unreceptive as the rest of Lost Lake, until Cat discovers he's just as lonely and friendless as she is. Troubling warnings to avoid the wealthy, reclusive Ravens worry Cat, as do more problems at school, but not enough to stop meeting Jesse. Lost Lake i...