I wanted to do something creative for this challenge but was feeling totally uninspired. I consulted my very creative cousin Melissa for advice, and she came up with the idea to build a book pyramid. We were a little pressed for time and didn't get to build it as big as we would have liked, but we were still pretty happy with our effort:
Be sure to leave a link to your bookish snapshots! :)
I'm so glad that the guidelines for this post said that we could include more than one of our favorite quotes about love or friendship, because picking just one would be impossible. So, without further ado, here are some of my all-time favorites:
"The important people in our lives leave imprints. They may stay or go in the physical realm, but they are always there in your heart, because they helped form your heart. There's no getting over that." — Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
"'The you that you were then, who you are now, who you'll be,' he began quietly, as if sensing my thoughts, 'I love you. With my whole heart. My whole life, however long I'm lucky enough to get, nothing will change for me.'" — In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken
"He looked at his friend, perhaps for the last time, and said what he had always known, from the moment they'd met, when he'd understood that the prince was his brother in soul. 'I love you.'" — Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
"I could not tell you if I loved you the first moment I saw you, or if it was the second or third or fourth. But I remember the first moment I looked at you walking toward me and realizing that somehow the rest of the world seemed to vanish when I was with you. That you were the center of everything I did and felt and thought." — Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
"In that moment, Blue was a little in love with all of them. Their magic. Their quest. Their awfulness and strangeness. Her raven boys." — The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
"'You can be just friends with people, you know,' Orla said. 'I think it's crazy how you're in love with all those raven boys.'
Orla wasn't wrong, of course. But what she didn't realize about Blue and her boys was that they were all in love with one another. She was no less obsessed with them than they were with her, or one another, analyzing every conversation and gesture, drawing out every joke into a longer and longer running gag, spending each moment either with one another or thinking about when next they would be with one another. Blue was perfectly aware that it was possible to have a friendship that wasn't all-encompassing, that wasn't blinding, deafening, maddening, quickening. It was jut that now that she'd had this kind, she didn't want the other." — Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
Be sure to link me up to your quote posts! :)
I really love composing book spine poetry—probably the only poetry I can decently write, lol. I was looking through my shelves and noticed I had quite a few books with "shadow" in the title, so that was my inspiration here:
Shadows:
The shadow of the wind,
Shadow of night,
Silver shadows.
Changeless
Timeless
Linger forever
In the afterlight.
Be sure to leave a link to your book spine poetry so I can check it out! :)
I'm so excited to be participating in the 2015 Book Blogger Love-A-Thon! I missed out on last year's event, so I'm really glad that I could take part this year! I'm looking forward to checking out everyone's posts today and tomorrow!
Here's a little bit more about the blog and me:
1. What’s your name?
Lee.
2. Where in the world are you blogging from?
Florida, where I've lived since 2008, but I'll always be a New Yorker at heart. :D
3. How did you get into blogging in the first place?
My cousin Ally and I didn't have anyone else to talk about books with besides each other, so we decided to start a book blog where we could chat about books as much as we wanted!
4. How did you come up with your blog name?
Credit for that goes entirely to Ally. We both wrote down possible names and then picked the one we liked best, which was one from her list.
5. What genre do you read and review the most on your blog?
Mostly YA paranormal and fantasy.
6. What other types of posts do you do on your blog, apart from reviews?
The occasional discussion post, which I've been trying to make more of an effort to write more frequently this year. I also write Game of Thrones episode recaps.
7. Best blogging experience so far?
Being able to connect with others who love reading as much as I do. There are no words to describe the feeling when someone else TOTALLY understands your love for a certain book, character, etc.!
8. Favorite thing about the blogging community?
The camaraderie.
9. Name the 5 books you’re most excited for this 2015!
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater, A Court of Thorns and Roses and Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas, Prudence by Gail Carriger, and Shaming the Devil by Melina Marchetta.
10. What’s an underrated book or series that you think everyone should read?
Anything by Melina Marchetta, especially her Lumatere Chronicles series. I know a lot of you probably already know how amazing her books are, but I think even more readers should get to know how awesome they are!
11. Which book boy or girl would be your book BFF?
I think I'd get along really well with Alexia from Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series. We're both really sarcastic, and I'm possibly also soulless like she is? XD
12. Apart from reading, what are your other hobbies or interests?
Photography/goofing around with Photoshop, knitting, going for long walks.
13. Apart from book shopping, what else do you like shopping for?
Craft supplies. Stores like Michael's pose a serious danger to my wallet.
14. At a party, the DJ suddenly changes the song – and it’s your song. What song would be playing?
"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?" by Elvis Costello & The Attractions.
15. Pick out either a book you want turned into a film/TV show, or a film/TV show you want turned into a book.
I'd love to see the Parasol Protectorate series adapted for either the big or small screen!
Please be sure to leave me the links to your questionnaires because I'd love to take a look at them! Thanks for stopping by! :)
Dear Younger Blogging Self,
It's really hard to believe that it's been almost a year since Ally and you set out together on this little adventure. You know what they say about hindsight being 20/20, so Future You is here to offer some observations and maybe even some helpful advice.
You knew going into this that blogging was going to be a lot of work, but perhaps you underestimated just how much. It's not as simple as reading a book and writing about what you thought of it. Those reviews need to be formatted, images need to be uploaded, links need to be shared. That's something you really were not prepared for—the social networking component of book blogging. You had no clue what Twitter was all about a year ago. It was definitely something you should have researched during the planning stages of the blog instead of learning on the fly a few months after the blog went live. Your Facebook page and Pinterest still need major work, too, so those are two items on your to-do list that you need to take care of this year.
The most important thing you need to remember is that blogging is supposed to be fun. You're doing this because you love books and chatting with other readers. Stressing out because you didn't participate in a meme for a few weeks isn't fun. Worry about page views isn't fun. When something turns into a daily grind, you need to step back and think about why you got into this in the first place. Allowing blogging to become a chore will lead to burnout, and you came very close to it last year. In your heart, you don't want that to happen because thanks to blogging, you're more in love with reading than ever, and you've rediscovered your love of writing. So, continue to hold to the resolution you made at the beginning of 2013: blog because you enjoy it, and because you love books.
Sincerely,
Your Future Blogging Self
(Who hopes she's a tiny bit wiser now)
We loved the idea of this challenge, which was to create a poem only using book titles! It was a lot of fun, but it was also quite difficult. We couldn't really think of any rhyming titles, so we went with more of a free verse approach here:
We're thrilled to be a part of the 2013 Book Blogger Love-a-Thon, hosted by Alexa Loves Books and Kate's Tales of Books and Bands! As part of this 24-hour event, we're excited to chat with Ashley and Nicole, the bloggers behind The Quiet Concert. Be sure to check out and follow their blog, as well as follow them on Twitter!
Welcome to Rally the Readers, Ashley and Nicole! We appreciate you both taking the time to chat with us today!
We love the name of your blog! How did you come up with it?
Thank you! We really wish we had a cool story to tell here about something that inspired us but in reality we just threw potential titles and word combinations back and forth until we came up with something we both liked. We liked the title because it sounded pretty and full of meaning in a way only oxymoronic random titles can!
Like us, you’re a team blog. Are there any particular blogging challenges you’ve come across as a result of that?
Hah . . . yes. Team blogging takes a lot of communication, something we haven’t quite mastered yet. We recently created a review/meme/other post schedule to tell us who is supposed to do what and when, which has definitely made things run a little smoother (no more last minute meme participations, or posting book reviews 30 minutes apart!). But we are still trying to figure out the whole twitter and email thing so that we aren’t both responding to something (or assuming the other is). And lately we’ve been wanting to read a lot of the same books so we’ve been trying to figure out how to do so while keeping a steady review flow!
Who are some of your favorite authors?
Nicole: I love Melina Marchetta, Kristin Cashore and Richelle Mead!
Ashley: I am a big fan of Maggie Stiefvater and Cassandra Clare!
Disaster scenario: you're both on a sinking ship where the other passengers are all literary characters. The lifeboat only holds 6 people. Which 4 characters do you take with you and why?
1. Katsa from Graceling! Her survival grace can keep us alive!
2. Christian from Unearthly. If Katsa can’t save us, Christian can fly us home!
3. Will Herondale from Infernal Devices! He’ll keep the mood up with his humor and he’s a pretty face to look at!
4. Evie from The Diviners! We just want to meet her.
A few random questions:
Favorite TV show?
We both watch a LOT of TV.
Ashley: I’m loving Homeland at the moment.
Nicole: REVENGE!
Which book character would you dress up as for Halloween?
Ashley: Tessa from The Infernal Devices!
Nicole: Me too!!
Favorite spot to read?
Nicole: I probably read the most in my bed, but I love reading on the couch in front of the fire with my cat on my lap!
Ashley: Not an everyday spot, but I love to read at the beach!
Thank you both again for your time! It was great getting to know you better!
