SBPT15 Week 4: "Dreaming the Writing Dream: 6 Authors Who Inspired Me to Write" - List by Mia (Mia in Narnia)

THE INTRO

Welcome to the Summer Blogger Promo Tour, hosted by The Book Bratz! 

If you're not familiar with it, the SBPT is like a temporary meme, only much more fun and interesting. Basically, a grand total of 56 bloggers who signed up for it have been divided in groups of 8 bloggers each. Every group gets to swap posts through the whole summer - that is, every blogger in the group (plus the host) is featured on one of their companions' blogs every Sunday, always contributing with a different and original post. You can read all about the SBPT here and here.

My blog stop today is at Mia in Narnia, with a post titled Top 5 Series More People Must Read (where I hope you'll be introduced to some stuff you might like...).

And now, without further ado, let me introduce one of my blog tour pals!
Offbeat YA is proud to present Mia (Mia in Narnia) [...yes, by chance we are each other's guest today!], who wants to become a writer and is sharing her Most Inspiring Authors list with us.

Victoria Scott: "Four Houses"

Title: Four Houses* [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
   *Note: read it for free on Wattpad
Series: None
Author: Victoria Scott [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife
Year: 2011 (expanded and reissued 2014)
Age: 14+
Stars: 3.5/5
Pros: Peculiar story. Atmospheric writing.
Cons: Reverse chronology detracts from tension. Lead's voice sounds a bit too adult.
Will appeal to: Those who like a well-told story with a sensual vibe.

Blurb: A frightened girl. An empty field. Four houses. Which house would you choose?
FOUR HOUSES is a dark short story told in an unusual format that leaves readers wondering how they'd react if found in the same situation as seventeen-year-old Maddy. (Amazon)

Review: I've been wanting to read Four Houses for years, but since I can't shop on Amazon and the like for lack of a credit card, this ebook has been sitting in my TBR list endlessly, while I was waiting for it to appear in physical form (perhaps as a novel companion). It turns out that I was right not to lose hope, because Victoria Scott has recently made a generous move and uploaded Four Houses on Wattpad!
[Note: I assume this is the 2014 enhanced version, not the 2011 release]. [...]

SBPT15 Week 3: "Hailing from Europe: How the Other Half Blogs" - Double Interview with Veronika (The Regal Critiques)

THE INTRO

Welcome to the Summer Blogger Promo Tour, hosted by The Book Bratz! 

If you're not familiar with it, the SBPT is like a temporary meme, only much more fun and interesting. Basically, a grand total of 56 bloggers who signed up for it have been divided in groups of 8 bloggers each. Every group gets to swap posts through the whole summer - that is, every blogger in the group (plus the host) is featured on one of their companions' blogs every Sunday, always contributing with a different and original post. You can read all about the SBPT here and here.

My blog stop today is at The Petite Book Blogger, where you can read my post titled Better Left Alone: Sometimes Strong Books Don't Need a Sequel, in which I share my thoughts about a few serialized novels that - IMO - didn't need a follow-up. But it is meant to be a discussion post, so feel free to stop by and speak your mind!

And now, without further ado, let me introduce one of my blog tour pals!
Offbeat YA is proud to present Veronika (The Regal Critiques), who agreed to participate in a double interview with me. The reason why we came up with the idea is because we're the only European bloggers in this leg of the SBPT - as you know, I'm Italian, and Veronika is Hungarian - so we thought it would be fun to compare our experiences as not-English-speaking book bloggers who decided to join the INT blogging community.

Veronika and Ruzaika's homeland
[My bad! I assumed that Ruzaika was Hungarian since she's Veronika's co-blogger,
but as a matter of fact she's from Sri Lanka! I only learned it after this post was up.
I'm deeply sorry for my mistake!]

Before we get to the actual post, I have to mention a few things:
1) Veronika's blog was titled Reading Is Dreaming with Open Eyes till a few weeks ago, and she used to tend to her blog alone. While in the process of changing the name, she also teamed up with her friend Ruzaika, who is now her very active and enthusiastic co-blogger. This blog tour was organised before Ruzaika joined The Regal Critiques, so I'm doing this interview with Veronika alone, but you'll find both girls' profiles and Twitter handles below.
2) I titled this post "How the Other Half Blogs" because the saying "how the other half lives" popped into my mind. That saying, actually, comes from a book title: "How the Other Half Lives" by Jacob Riis, documenting the hardships of living in a 1880 NY slum. My using this turn of phrase isn't meant to be disrespectful of course. Also, technically, you might object that the blogging world is not divided into two halves only...the American bloggers on one side, and on the other the European, African, Asian and Australian bloggers, all in a big cauldron. The fact is, this title was just a way for me to point out that there are many not-English speaking individuals in the book blogging community, who blog in English nonetheless and have different experiences to share. A few of which are highlighted below :).
3) This is the first half of our interview. The second batch of Q&A will be posted on The Regal Critiques on Sunday, August 2nd, and it will focus more on the whole blogging experience.
(Edit Aug. 2nd: here it is!).

SBPT15 Week 2: "Audiobooks: 5 Not-to-Miss Releases" - Recommendations by Jess (Little Book Heaven)

THE INTRO

Welcome to the Summer Blogger Promo Tour, hosted by The Book Bratz! 

If you're not familiar with it, the SBPT is like a temporary meme, only much more fun and interesting. Basically, a grand total of 56 bloggers who signed up for it have been divided in groups of 8 bloggers each. Every group gets to swap posts through the whole summer - that is, every blogger in the group (plus the host) is featured on one of their companions' blogs every Sunday, always contributing with a different and original post. You can read all about the SBPT here and here.

My blog stop today is at Marissa Nicole Reads, where you can read my post titled 5 Contemporary Novels to Read if You Need a Break from Romance (which is pretty self explanatory...).

And now, without further ado, let me introduce one of my blog tour pals!
Offbeat YA is proud to present Jess (Little Book Heaven), who kindly agreed to share her Top 5 Audiobooks with us.

SBPT15 Week 1: "Painting the Roses Red" - A Short Story by Nicole (The Book Bandit)

THE INTRO

Welcome to the Summer Blogger Promo Tour, hosted by The Book Bratz! 

If you're not familiar with it, the SBPT is like a temporary meme, only much more fun and interesting. Basically, a grand total of 56 bloggers who signed up for it have been divided in groups of 8 bloggers each. Every group gets to swap posts through the whole summer - that is, every blogger in the group (plus the host) is featured on one of their companions' blogs every Sunday, always contributing with a different and original post. You can read all about the SBPT here and here.

My blog stop today is at Emily Reads Everything, where you can read my post titled Afterlife Special, in which I fangirl about the Afterlife genre in YA and share some recommendations.

And now, without further ado, let me introduce one of my blog tour pals!
Offbeat YA is proud to present Nicole (The Book Bandit), who kindly agreed to share one of her short stories with us. Painting the Roses Red first appeared on Little Women Stories.