Sunday Edition

Here are some of the most talked about things in the book blogging world right now:

1. Bree Despain, author of The Dark Divine, is having a very cool giveaway on her blog.

Qualified participants will be entered into a drawing to win one of three prizes:

1. A pedicure kit complete with my new THE DARK DIVINE nail polish! + An autographed ARC of THE DARK DIVINE + $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble.
2. Signed copy of MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS by Sydney Salter + Signed copy of LIFE IN THE PIT by Kristen Landon
3. A $30 gift card to Barnes & Noble

So, get over to Bree's blog and enter now! Contest ends midnight Aug. 29th.

2.
Everyone's talking about the meaning of this very cute T-shirt.
For those of you who don't know, R.U.H? means Are You Haunted?, which does allusion to Jessica Verday's The Hollow.
What I don't know is the meaning of that 2 over the H. Hmmm.
(picture by Khy @ Frenetic Reader)

3. Harlequin is having a HUGE, and when I say huge I mean massively giganticaly huge (I just made that up), contest in which you can win 10,000 dollars! And a complete Harlequin TEEN prize pack, including a copy of Intertwined, My Soul to Take, Elphame's Choice, an Intertwined t-shirt and a My Soul to Take t-shirt! Now that is amazing!
Unfortunately for me I can't enter, not being a US resident.
But if you live in the US, you most certainly need to enter now!

(i can't enter to win, but i might have lied a little to get this widget here. please grab it and post it on your blog, by just following a simple registration)


4. IHeartMonster is holding a really cool contest, where all you need to do is take a pic of yourself reading a book and send it to her. and you're already participating to win awesome prizes. Click on the button to enter.

5. Kristi @ The Story Siren has posted a very funny vlog on her page, full of mistakes when trying to record a vlog for her IMM feature. I'm sure that most of the people who record this vlogs have had a few mistakes too. Go over to her blog and watch as she tries to make a cool vlog, but fails time and time again.

And Maggie Stiefvater has done the same over at her blog. But she was not recording for an IMM, but to show us the many things she can do, besides from writing. And it's HI-LARIOUS! Go and check it out!

6. Many congratulations to the nominees for the BBAW!

A lot of my favourite blogs have been nominated and I'm super happy for them!
I can't wait to see the final list of nominees!

7. (from popsyndicate.com):

And now for the best: Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely), Alyson Noel (The Immortals series) and Kelley Armstrong (The Summoning) just might be the most incredible chicks ever. Not only do they represent three of the most popular teen authors, not only are they all New York Times Bestsellers, they’re all going on tour. Together.(!)

Got goose bumps yet? It gets so, so much better. In September of 2010, these three ladies are hitting the book tour circuit and eight different cities, and they’re bringing some of their friends. They call it the Smart Chicks Kick It tour, and here are just a few of the brilliant minds joining them: Rachel Vincent (The Morganville Vampires, Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Tithe), Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments) and so many more. For the constantly growing list, and to make a desperate plea to have the ladies hit your town, check out their Facebook page: http://bit.ly/FnTGV

I sooo wish I could be there!! Arghhhhhhhhh! Why do I live so far from these amazing people/events/book stores, signing, etc., etc.?

What have you been doing this week?
Are you going to enter these giveaways, cause you'd be a fool if you didn't!

xo,

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Sunday Edition #3

What have I been up to this week? Hmm, let's see...

*Shesten from IHeartMonster asked me which was my fav paranormal character.
To which question I answered: HERMIONE GRANGER!
See my post about her here.

*I read, reviewed and interviewed J.S. Buckingham, author of "The View From a One-Man World, The Way I See It".
Read my post here.

*I WON Twenty Boy Summer, by Sarah Ockler! YAY!
Can't wait till it gets here!
Visit Sarah's page here.

*I started a parallel blog to this one, in Spanish, for my friends and family to read, since not all of them speak English.
Do you speak Spanish?
If you do, head over to my parallel blog El Mono Relojero!
It's still under construction, since I have to "move" all of the posts I made here, over there.
But I'll finish it soon ;)


*I finished reading Marked!
I absolutely loved it (maybe even more than Twilight -yes, I said more than Twilight!)
I really liked that the main character (who is a girl, like in Twilight) can get to be so powerful and independant -unlike Twilight, where Bella practically dies when Edward leaves her (come on! that was way too overdramatic for me!). I still do love Twilight -I'll always love it- and this Series can not be compared to that story, they are completely different worlds.
But if I had to chose one to live in, it would be Zoey's world.
I actually think it's kind of cool to have a mystic tatoo on your forehead ;)
Anyway, I will always love Bella and Edward's love for each other, but this new Series (new to me) has me hooked!
I've started reading the second book from the Series, Betrayed, and so far so good.

*Books I'm waiting for:

*Kathryn's Beach, by Nadine Laman (she's sending it for me to review it!),
*Twenty Boy Summer, by Sarah Ockler (won in a giveaway),
*A Surprise Book From Mariana (that is not the title, it is a surprise), member of BookCrossing Argentina -oh, didn't I tell you? I joined BookCrossing! I hope I can get some people interested here in town, since there isn't a group here, and it'd be nice if there were.
*Since I joined BC, a woman in Germany contacted me, and told me she'd be willing to do a RABCK, by sending me The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I had no idea what RABCK meant, so I looked it up.
RABCK: Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness — this can take several forms, but the most common is when someone sends you a book without asking for a trade or postage reimbursement. It’s just the act of doing something nice for another BookCrosser.

She's sending me her book, as a gift, asking for nothing in return! How awesome is that?! But I'll have to wait a little while for it to get here, Argentina is a tiny bit apart from Germany, in case you didn't know...


*School's doing fine...
I got a 10 (like an A+) in History, while the rest of the class got 8s, 7s, and a few 9s... Just sayin'.
Winter break is coming next month, we usually have two weeks, but this time, since the teachers were on strike for too long, they are only giving us one week. ONE WEEK! No way I'm going to school, we didn't have anything to do with the fact that teachers' salaries sucked! They are entitled to strike if they want to, or not, but I'm not going to school because the Government refused to raise their salaries, really poor salaries, that is.
My mum, a teacher at a special children's school -children with disabilities- didn't strike because the Gov cut a LOT of money to those who did strike. But out of, say, 30 days of strike, she joined her co-workers in 3 or 4 days. She couldn't strike every day of it, but she was there in spirit.
You can read a previous post about this here. All photos were taken by ME :)


*Did you just see the little girl who sang at the Magic-Lakers game?
WOW, just that.
I'll look into her a little more, later.
My dad said that she used to have trouble communicating. I guess that it's not like that anymore!
Kudos to her!!!
I'm a Spurs fan, but... GO Lakers!

*All this Swine Flu's got the world going nuts trying to stay healthy. But I say:

*What about the Third World's diseases? I don't see anyone trying to help them as much as they are trying to sell you a cure for the SF.

*In Argentina we've got Dengue. Hospitals are now too busy trying to care for "potential" SF infected people, and they are leaving out Dengue infected people. This disease is now killing more people than the SF is, and no one is trying to find a cure for it.

*And what is the deal with the Swine Flu? I mean, it's just a Flu, people! Yes, you get sick. Yes, you get killer headaches and breathing problems and more stuff... but isn't it just like any other flu? The thing my friends, is that we are witnessing a move to sell us the idea that we'll all die unless we do something.
I think this is b-s. Farmaceutical companies rule a huge part of the world's economy. They are convincing us that we'll get SO sick, that we'll have to buy what solution they bring us. DO NOT believe every word they say, just be careful when you sneeze.

Just sharing my thoughts,
hope you share them too!
Ella ;)

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Sunday Edition #2

*Great news for our SGP friends, their site is UP AND RUNNING! YAY!

Go over to SoGoPro.com and join the fun!

AND, I'm completely honoured to be a member of the "Translating Crew"!
Vero, Irene and I are in charge of translating to Spanish the recent vlog transcripts, just like Vero and I did with the tutorials.


*My First Giveaway is going better than I'd hoped, with more than 20 people signed up!
You haven't joined yet? Please do!
(just remember, it's open to residents of the US and Canada ONLY)
Check it out here.

*This week I found the funniest Twilight-related blog: Lauren's Bite.
If you still haven't seen it, and even if you don't like Twilight at all, you should definitely take a look, and have a good laugh! I recommend it!

*I have my Graduate jacket, YAY!
Check it out here.
Ya tengo mi Campera de Egresados! WII! Mirala acá.

*NADAL LOST AGAINST SODERLING!!!

(and my Mama is still in love with Federer)
2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 4-6 y 6-7 (2-7).

*MTV Movie Awards airs today, Sunday May 31st @ 9PM ET
NewMoonMovie.org will be hosting the event of the season along with the talented gals from LetterstoTwilight, TwiCrackAddict, and LaurensBite to give us live, unofficial, instantaneous coverage of the action on screen at the MTV Movie Awards as it happens!
Don't forget to vote for Twilight for Best Movie!

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

(yeva!!!)

*I'm still reading Eva Luna, and hope to finish it this week. I'm not as fast a reader as most of you out there, the only books I read really fast were the HP and Twilight Sagas. I like to read slowly and enjoy...

That's is for now, my monkey friends!

greetings from the dark 'branch',

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Sunday Edition #1

*Thanks to I Heart Monster for introducing me to this new book, Give up the Ghost by Megan Crewe. Check out an excerpt from Chapter One here.

*I thought this chapter was: ;) GREAT!

*Storyline: (from Megan's website)
Cass McKenna much prefers the company of ghosts over "breathers." Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody... and Cass loves dirt. She's on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school.
But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass's whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees.

As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim's life, she's surprised to realize he's not so bad--and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it's time to give the living another chance...

*Release date for this book's set for September 15th.
Preorder this book on Amazon.

*******

*Things are getting quite hectic for our SGP friends (if you haven't checked out their blog yet, follow this link). They keep up updated on their journey to create the coolest film production company the world has ever seen (and I'm not just saying). One Tree Hill's actress, Hilarie Burton; writer, Nick Gray; and producer Kelly Tenney, make us feel that we're part of their crew. SGP's Street Team (of which I'm a proud member) is a place where we share thoughts on how the Crew's doing, and with the upcoming website (that is supposedly going to be up this Wednesday!), we get the chance to put our little grain of sand by helping mighty Ali, help the Crew with some details for the new site. It makes me feel (and I think it's not just me) that they really want to know what their fans are saying. They are really down to earth people, and I just can't help to laugh out loud with their awesome vlogs!
So, to them, and all of those that are on this now getting-larger-little-engine-that-could, I say BRAVO!

p.s.: check out this cool video that KT shared with us yesterday, it's really nice, and like he said "it made me think of all our friends around the world helping SGP... Take 5 minutes and listen."

*******
Reading Challenges
*I've oficially given up on Hamlet. I just can't concentrate while reading it! I thought this book was :( COMPLETELY BORING!

*****

Random Section
Give Up the Ghost Character Quiz

You're most like Cass!

*Cass McKenna has had it pretty tough--first her best friend turned the whole school against her, then she started seeing ghosts everywhere she looked. It's no wonder she's isolated herself from everyone but the dead. But Cass has a strong sense of morality, stubbornness to spare, and plenty of compassion for those who deserve it. When the popular kids are taking advantage of their more clueless peers, Cass isn't afraid to fight back.

Right on! Now you take this quiz.

********

*I have oficially started writing my new story, and I'm loving how it's turning out! So, I thought I'd share a bit about it with you all.

It tells the story of Alma, young/old woman/lady (she doesn't quite know), after having been kicked out of Heaven (now, I'm not a believer, no offence to those who are, but the story line just came to me and I had to make the most of it, so I decided I wasn't going to change it) for stealing innocent people's souls. She's just a carefree (person?) who "took" the souls of those whom she thought didn't deserve to live. For instance, an unfaithful husband who cheeted on his wife. She took his soul, but without permission from her boss, who constantly told her "it wasn't (his) time to go".

And that's it for today, I don't want to ruin it!

*************

p.s.: I'm still waiting for Elise's copy of "The Pillowman" to arrive, I'll write a review as soon as I finish it.

Have a great Sunday night everyone!

greetings from the dark road,

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