Book Blogger Hop (14) & Follow Friday (6)

It's Friday so it means it's time for Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday!

First off, the Book Blogger Hop is a weekly meme hosted by Jennifer of Crazy-for-Books. It is a way for all the book bloggers out there to get together and find out about each other's blogs. I've found a lot of great blogs and bloggers through this hop and it's always a lot of fun to take part in each week.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BEVERAGE WHILE READING OR BLOGGING, IF ANY? IS IT TEA, COFFEE, WATER, A GLASS OF WINE, OR SOMETHING ELSE?

I haven't really thought about this all that much. I can already say that regardless of what I'm doing I'm pretty much always going to have a glass of water somewhere close by. If it's colder then I'll probably have tea or hot chocolate around somewhere on top of the water. If it's not one of those three then I just have a glass of juice or milk around.

The Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View every week. It works a lot like the Book Blogger Hop except that it's only on Fridays. I haven't been taking part in this hop as long but I've found a lot of great new blogs through this one too.

THIS WEEK'S QUESION:

HOW MANY REVIEWS DO YOU LIKE TO DO A WEEK?

I would actually like to post more per week than I currently do but with school it gets a little difficult. Right now I'm not actually doing too bad and I have quite a few reviews written but I'm only posting one per week because with school getting busier and busier it's always good to have some already ready to go for when I won't have as much time to read books and write reviews for them. Though when I get the hang of it all I may start posting reviews more often again.

UPDATES:

It's Thanksgiving weekend !!! (At least it is in Canada). Before you all ask we eat the same food as for the American one but we do it to thank for a good harvest (hence why it's earlier in the year). That means I have quite an easy couple of weeks with school because of the holiday so I'm getting a lot of reading done. But I may be a little absent this weekend as I am at my grandparents' house and they only have Internet on one computer. I should be back Tuesday evening when I get back home.

ALSO DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY 150 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY! FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION HERE.

Waiting On Wednesday (10)

It's Wednesday again and with Wednesday comes Waiting on Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted each week by Jill of Breaking the Spine. For those who don't know, Waiting on Wednesday is a meme where book bloggers share what upcoming releases they are particularly excited for.

This week's pick:

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

So far not much as been revealed about this book but Sarah-Land has this little bit of information about the book:

What Happened to Goodbye is about a high school senior who, after her parents' divorce, has taken up the practice of assuming a new identity in each of the four towns she's lived in.

Just the fact that it was written by Sarah Dessen is enough to get me to read this book. I absolutely love all of her books and this one sounds really great too. I absolutely cannot wait for its release so I can actually read it.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen will be published in May 2011 by Penguin.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish each week. This week's Top Ten is about favorite authors which shouldn't be too difficult. So here are my Top Ten Favorite Authors (in no particular order):

Sarah Dessen

I have read every single one of her books and I go out to the bookstore to buy her new books pretty much the day they come out. She is an amazing writer and her stories are simply amazing to get lost in.

Meg Cabot

I had always loved reading but Meg Cabot's books are probably the ones who really got me addicted. Her books are always fun to read and her stories are always quite entertaining. I've read all of her Young Adult titles and most of her adult titles.

J.K. Rowling

She wrote Harry Potter, enough said. I don't want to call anyone stupid but if you don't get it, well yeah...

Simone Elkeles

She's a recent favorite but her books are just so great and I absolutely love reading them and always want more.

Richelle Mead

Also a recent favorite and beyond the words VAMPIRE ACADEMY I don't think I need to say much more.

Cassandra Clare

Do I really need to explain? She wrote The Mortal Instruments and now Clockwork Angel that should be enough.

Suzanne Collins

She wrote The Hunger Games books which are some of the best books ever. I hope she writes more books so I can keep loving her stories.

Margaret Stohl & Kami Garcia

Beautiful Creatures was amazing, their writing and story-telling abilities are amazing and I want Beautiful Darkness...NOW!

Alyson Noël

I love her Immortal series (granted those are the only books of her's that I've read) and I get wait to get next book in the series.

L.J. Smith

She wrote The Vampire Diaries for crying out loud. I love the original 3/4 books and the two new ones aren't bad, just different. Her other books are also great and I love reading anything that she wrote.

150 Follower Giveaway! (Closed)

I have reached 150 followers and so I'm hosting my first giveaway. I meant to do something when I got to 100 but school starting got in the way of that so I decided to do something now instead.

I've now been blogging for close to four months and having 150 people following my blog means a lot to me. This giveaway is to thank every one of my followers because they make blogging fun and worthwhile.

There are two prizes available, meaning 2 winners:

1. A choice of one of the books that has been reviewed on the blog (includes all the reviews that will be posted before the contest ends). A list can be found here.

2. A choice of any of the books that has been released during October.

The first winner will have the choice of which prize they want and the second will have a choice of any book that was released in October. Winners will have 48 hours to e-mail me their book choice, if I haven't heard from them after this time I will pick new winners.

Details:

- Contest is open INTERNATIONALLY wherever the Book Depository ships.

- Must be 13 or older to enter.

- Contest ends November 1st, 2010 at Midnight EST.

- Winners will be chosen using a random number generator (random.org)

- Winners will have 48 hours to reply, if they don't an other winner will be chosen.

- While comments are appreciated, you need to fill out the form below to be entered.

Extra Entries:

+2 for being a blog follower

+2 for following me on twitter (@emiliebookworld)

+2 for Tweeting about this giveaway

+5 for blogging about this giveaway

+2 for adding this giveaway to your sidebar

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED, THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED.

What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader by Adrianne Ambrose

Title: What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader

Author: Adrianne Ambrose

Publisher: Bell Bridge Books

Release Date: July 1, 2010

Source: From Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Eleven-year-old Elaine Rewitzer is funny, smart and happy being a geek, but when she wins a spot on the Cross Creek Middle School Buccaneers cheerleading squad, she gets totally into her new life. Her mega-brain best friend Bethany warns that Elaine will just become “part of the herd,” and her best geek-guy-pal, Tim, (who’s struggling with nose polyps) feels forgotten.

Will Elaine survive the roller coaster of the pre-teen cheerleader fame? Will she win the heart of the cutest boy on the basketball team? Will she confess her “uncool” love for comic books? Will she lose Bethany and Tim’s friendship for-evah?

Until I received an e-mail from Adrianne Ambrose asking me if I would review her book I had never really considered reviewing Middle Grade books. It’s not that I have anything against them, I guess I just forgot about them over the years. Now that I’ve read What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader I remember why I used to love these books. They are so much fun to read and everything always works out for everyone in the end.

Elaine wants to be a cheerleader but doesn’t want to tell her friends that she plans on trying out for the squad. They probably wouldn’t understand and would just make fun of her for wanting to try out. But then she actually becomes a cheerleader and all her hopes of becoming popular and finally talking to Todd Watson, the cutest boy on the basketball team, seem to be about to come true. But as it turns out, becoming a cheerleader doesn’t guarantee immediate popularity and she can’t admit to any of her new friends that she’s really into comic books because they would just think that she’s a total geek. When everything was supposed to be so good for Elaine things end up going from bad to worse.

I remember being eleven years old and being just like Elaine. I even had a diary and wrote just about everything in it. Even though I’m close to being ten years older than that now, I can still relate to Elaine. At least, the eleven-year-old in me totally did. Adrianne Ambrose really got what it feels like to be eleven years old and wanting to be popular. To me, Elaine was really realistic and I could easily have pictured my younger self in her place. Despite what people say about your high school years being tough middle school is just as hard. You’re only starting to be interested in certain things (boys) but still don’t want to let go of the things that made you happy when you were a little younger (like go trick-or-treating). A lot of middle school girls probably feel just like Elaine does in the book.

The story was really cute as well. It’s one of those books where you know everyone is going to live happily forever after but you still insist on reading it just because of how good it makes you feel. Reading the book, I just wanted to go back to middle school where everything was just so much easier even if at the time it seemed like I would never make it through alive. Half the time I could picture myself, as I was when in was eleven, in the story or just thinking “Oh I remember when this and that used to seem like the biggest problem I could have.” It was really fun to go back to that time through the story.

What I Learned From Being a Cheerleader was a great story. It reminded me of how much I used to love all those Middle Grade books and that I should really go back to reading them from time to time. I wish I could pass on this book to people of that age I know, but most of them are boys and I doubt many of them would want to read about a cheerleader, even if Elaine is a total comic book geek.