Thursday, April 4, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday #143

Welcome to the Feature & Follow


Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.



How To Become a Featured Blog?

We pick our featured blogs randomly each week from the blogs who participated the week before.

Please be sure to feature your e-mail address clearly on your blog. Either on the main blog, on a Contact page, or on an About Me page. If I can't find your email easily, I will choose a different blog to feature.

Our Feature - Book Cupid



1. When did you start blogging?

I started blogging last December. Kept pushing the idea away saying I have no idea how to run a blog. But I still gave it shot and don't regret it one bit.

2. What is your favorite part of book blogging?

Fellow bloggers!! It is so refreshing to comment with other readers. I was getting tired of talking to myself about Jace Wayland.

3. What type of books do you mainly blog about?

I blog about YA and Middle-Grade books.

4. What is your favorite book(s)?

The Harry Potter series, Vampire Academy, The Gathering, Divergent... (we're going to run out of space)

5. What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?

Chatting up with Indie authors like Jen Minkman and T. Rae Mitchell. As a writer it encourages me to see that hard work does pay off in the end.

Q: Have you ever read a book that you thought you would hate -- ? Did you end up hating it? Did you end up loving it? Or would you never do that?


I'm in a bit of a hurry tonight so I'm going to take the less creative approach with my book choices. Good thing they both fit into this category!

Harry Potter and Twilight

Harry Potter: I hated fantasy prior to HP. I read it the summer I worked at Barnes & Noble only because everybody else was reading it. To my great surprise, I ended up falling in love with it. My obsession with all things HP has only grown over the years.

Twilight: I didn't read Twilight until October of 2008. By this time, the book was over-hyped and already controversial - even though the movies weren't out yet. I expected to find it to be a bit silly, but got hooked in immediately. Lately the series doesn't hold quite the cache that it once did, but I'm still a Twilight defender.


Now for the Follow Fun!

With GFC going the way of the dodo bird for many bloggers, there is no better time to start following blogs via RSS feed. If you use a reader, it would be great if you followed my RSS directly.



We have a new button, so update your blogs if you are used to doing this meme!

Alison Can Read Feature & Follow

RULES

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:
  1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
  2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
  3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
  4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
  5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
  6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
  7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
  8. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!
CAPTCHA:
I have an updated CAPTCHA post!

If you have CAPTCHA word verification enabled on your blog, please take it off. It makes it much more difficult for readers to comment. Please look at my CAPTCHA Eradication Post to learn how to get rid of it.




29 comments:

  1. Everyone told me how great Twilight was and I saw the movies and thought they were good but when I started reading it, I couldn't get into it and never finished. I usually don't read books that I think I will hate.

    Chelsea @ Starbucks & Books Obsession

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  2. I agree with you on Twilight. I love the Harry Potter movies, but I still can't get into the books. (Not sure why) Good choices.

    Here's My FF


    Jackie @Jackie's Book World

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  3. I read Harry Potter after the final installment had been published, and although I hadn't expected otherwise, I was astonished by how much I loved (and still love) the series. When I read Twilight I wasn't a huge reader, but the series made me want to read more, and although I have mixed feelings about the books NOW, I think it's one of the series I'll never regret having read. :)

    But I DO often read books I might or expect to dislike for all sorts of reasons. Great question!

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  4. Haha same here... I was always against reading HP because I didn't want to read what everyone else was hyping back then. SO glad I did :))))
    Happy Friday!

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  5. Twilight, I have loved since the beginning, movies books and all! Harry Potter is one I never got into, not even the movies to get me started....

    Come and check out my FF Nomi’s Paranormal Palace
    Old Follower :)

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  6. I saw both HP (and the Philosopher's Stone) and Twilight before I read the books so I was already hooked before I even opened the pages.

    Marilyn @ Marilyn's Mystery Blog

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  7. I had my own reasons thinking I wouldn't like Harry Potter too! Glad that I got over it pretty quickly!

    Here's my Follow Friday

    Have a GREAT weekend!

    Old Follower :)

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  8. Hi! This is the 2nd time Silk Screen Views is joining the blog hop.

    I enjoyed HP and Twilight. Though, not necessarily for the same reason everyone else does! I think people take Twilight much more seriously than it should be.

    I'm actually not a huge fan of a lot of books people love. One of them is the Sookie Stackhouse series. It's just not my thing. The writing... ugh. Don't get me started! Ha!

    I started following this blog last week. We prefer people to follow us on SSV via Wordpress, Email or Twitter. =)

    http://silkscreenviews.wordpress.com

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  9. Twilight was my pick, too. Much more than the fact that I actually liked it was the fact that this book opened me up to the idea of reading YA.

    Stephanie (Go Flash Go) @ Read, Rinse, Repeat

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  10. I understand about feeling cynical because a book is over hyped! Old Follower! <a href="http://picturemereading.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/meme-feature-and-follow-friday-surprisingly-good-books/>FF</a>

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  11. Tough question, since I rarely pick up books that don't grab my attn in a good way :)

    Old Follower.

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  12. Me too! I read Twilight because my roommate insisted and I ended up loving it!

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  13. I saw the movies first before I have finally decided to read those books! hehe
    Happy Friday! :)

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  14. After reading HP, I realized it wasn't fantasy that I hated, it was the way (some) fantasy books were written. Childish and trite. HP opened my eyes and because of that I've discovered some GREAT fantasy!

    My FF

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  15. I'm a Twilight defender, too. I read Twilight in 2007, I think. Only the first book, and I liked it. I didn't read the remaining books until around 2011, because I wanted Edward and Bella to be together, but I didn't really want Bella to become a vampire (I mean, they drink blood! And I don't think they could ever have a pet dog, which makes me so sad :) ).

    Twilight isn't a favorite or anything, but I like it. And I get so frustrated with people hating on it all the time. I mean, certainly people shouldn't like it if they don't like it. But I feel like it is the "in" thing to do now, and sometimes people who don't like it think that people that do are stupid or something.

    Annnyway, so glad you loved HP! Favorite series ever!

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  16. I was hooked on Twilight way before the movies came out.

    Have a great weekend
    My FF

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  17. Thanks for the feature :) Harry Potter definitely changed me as well. I even went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the opening, lol.

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  18. i just finished t. rae mitchell's book, fate's fables, and loved it despite not being a fantasy reader. might have to look into others.

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  19. I resisted HP for a long time! But a teacher forced the book into my hands and I stayed up all night reading it. Thank god for great middle school teachers who put up with brats like me!

    My Feature and Follow.

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  20. Hi Alison! Thanks for answering my question about Richelle Mead's books the other day! :)

    I didn't think I'd like the HP books, either, but I'm so glad I read them. I picked up Twilight at a garage sale before I even knew anything about it and before I had even heard it was going to be a movie. I just liked the cover, lol. I ended up liking the first three, but I hated Breaking Dawn. I should have put Breaking Dawn as my answer come to think of it.

    Old follower. :) My FF

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  21. Totally thought you were going for some Twilight hate there--and then you didn't! I wouldn't describe myself as a "defender" by any means--I actually find some of the reasons for the book's appeal a little disturbing--but you really can't ignore that in some way, they are incredibly engaging novels. Books don't do that well if the storyteller isn't doing *something* right.

    And of course I love HP too. <3 Yay fantasy.

    Old follower. :) Here’s my FF.

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  22. Good question this week.

    old follower

    http://itchingforbooks.blogspot.com/2013/04/feature-and-follow-42.html

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  23. I agree about Harry Potter. The first time I read it, I just wanted to know what all the hype was about. Of course, then I was hooked for the rest of the series and have since read it several times over. :)

    New follower here: http://erinlfunk.blogspot.ca/

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  24. Old follower here :)

    I've always enjoyed fantasy, but I'd never actually heard of Harry Potter until I was assigned to read the 3rd book for a kid's lit class I was taking in college, and I thought, "That's dumb, why would I start with the third book?" So I went out, bought the first three, and as I was reading them, I started to notice that TONS of people around me were carrying around these books and reading them. XD

    Twilight I read because my sister read them and loved them, and I have to say, I was on board with book 1... but by the end of the series I was ready to just chuck it out the window. I have no problem with folks who love the series though, and wouldn't ever begrudge them that... I certainly love some pretty questionable books, haha!

    http://littlesqueed.blogspot.com/2013/04/feature-follow-and-book-blogger-hop.html

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  25. Mine answer is Fifty Shades of Grey and I didn't like it as expected!

    Happy Friday Allison!

    Jenai

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  26. Great answers Alison & once again we went in a similar direction. Seems I can rarely do a FFF without referencing both Harry Potter or Twilight either (but I wasn't in any rush so I have no excuse >.< LOL) I always love reading your thoughts on both though! Love the bit about how you mention your love for all things HP keeps growing ♥

    Thanks for sharing and hosting!
    Micheline @ Lunar Rainbows

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  27. This Hop is genius! I've been seeing a lot of Feature and Follow Friday posts on my feed but I never got to open and understand what they are all about.

    I completely agree about the Harry Potter thing. At first, I was afraid I wasn't going to like the movies, but once I watched them, I was hooked!

    Thanks for hosting! I followed your blog ;)

    http://ireadandtell.blogspot.com

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  28. Hey Alison! Sorry I'm late with this. I hope you had a great weekend :)

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