Guest Post: Dane Cobain on How My Book Blog Helps Me to Keep Up With Current Trends

It's always a great idea to get to know more authors and their insights! 

Since we believe that creating a book blog has benefited us in many ways, we would like to encourage you to create one yourself. We'll be handing the baton to Dane Cobain, who is not only an author but a book blogger as well, to show you his perspectives on book blogging. 

How My Book Blog Helps Me to Keep Up With Current Trends

Hi, folks! My name’s Dane Cobain, and I’m the author of a book called No Rest for the Wicked, as well as the proud owner and operator of a book blog called SocialBookshelves.com. In fact, that’s what I’m here to talk to you about today!

One of the perks of owning a book blog is that you get sent a lot of freebies – in fact, I’ve been offered free train travel and two nights in a 5* hotel in York so that I can cover York Literature Festival, and I’ll be talking about that a lot more in the coming months.

As a writer, it’s actually an invaluable source of inspiration, because I get sent books that I just wouldn’t usually buy. I’m a big fan of a lot of old authors, and so I could quite happily only purchase books from before I was born without being too upset.

But owning a book blog means that I get sent all kinds of stuff, from contemporary thrillers to children’s books, non-fiction and even erotica. One time, someone sent me an erotic novel which was customised to feature myself as the main character, and it was actually pretty good. Maybe not one to read on the bus, though.

If I didn’t receive this constant stream of contemporary work by the publishers and publicists that I work with, then I wouldn’t be able to compete with those same writers in the crowded marketplace. Plus, it’s a constant flow of new inspiration – literature is like a pool that we all swim in, and I find that the best thing to do is to just jump right in by reading any book that takes your fancy.

As a reader, I don’t confine myself to individual genres – in fact, that’s kind of what I’m like as a writer, but as a reader it’s even more noticeable. I don’t think that there’s a single genre that I wouldn’t be interested in reading, as many of my PR friends have found out.

So if you’re looking to be a better writer then you should work on being a better reader, too. Think about setting up a book blog – it’s a lot of fun, and you’re guaranteed at least one reader because if you do, I’ll check it out myself!


No Rest for the Wicked: Synopsis

When the Angels attack, there’s NO REST FOR THE WICKED.

Father Montgomery, an elderly priest with a secret past, begins to investigate after his parishioners come under attack, and with the help of Jones, a young businessman with an estranged child, Montgomery begins to track down the origin of the Angels.

The Angels are naked and androgynous. They speak in a dreadful harmony with no clear leader. These aren’t biblical cherubs tasked with the protection of the righteous – these are deadly creatures of light that have the power to completely eradicate.

When Jones himself is attacked, Father Montgomery knows he has to act fast. He speaks to the Angels and organises a final showdown where he’s asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.





Book Blitz: Unexpected by Lilly Avalon -- GUEST POST + GIVEAWAY!!!


Hey everyone! Today we have an author and book spotlight, featuring a guest post by the very talented Lily Avalon, author of the RESIST series and her upcoming novel, Unexpected. Go check her out in the links below!

She's also giving out a swag pack to a lucky winner! You can enter at the rafflecopter below. Good luck! :)

Giving Your Book Time to Breathe
by Lilly Avalon

Some books come easily, flowing from a writer's mind to their fingers onto the paper or computer. The inspiration continues to pour out and pretty soon the whole book is written in a matter of months, and in some cases, mere weeks.

Sometimes it doesn't work that way.

That was the case with Unexpected, my latest novel. The idea came to me last year in the spring, more than a year ago. I intended to make it the second book I published. Something just wasn't working, though, and I couldn't pinpoint what. So, I reluctantly set it aside to concentrate on a different book. It was hard to do since I had a decent portion of the story written.

After I wrote Resist, More Than Words, and Longing, I had to return to Unexpected. I felt it calling out to me, like something in my bones was telling me it was time. I opened the previous documents and read through the chapters and scenes again. It didn't take me long to figure outGI what was missing: I needed to tell it in dual POV! Last year, that thought never crossed my mind.

It made me realize how important it is to trust your instincts as a writer. All too often we get so focused on finishing our next story that we can miss the glaring holes--in the plot, in the characters, in the prose. The idea of setting a project aside can feel like failure. Couple that with having to start fresh with a new story, and it feels like going backwards.

BOOK BLITZ: Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid + GIVEAWAY and GUEST POST!!!


Let's Get Lost
Release Date: 07/29/14
Harlequin Teen

Summary from Goodreads:
Five strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost.

Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most.

There's HUDSON, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And BREE, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. ELLIOT believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love.

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth— sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.



Early Praise:
“Reminiscent of John Green’s Paper Towns and road trip novels that feature a teen paving the way to adulthood, Alsaid’s debut is a gem among contemporary YA novels.” – School Library Journal

“Five love stories, beautifully woven together by a special girl in search of adventure, hope, and full appreciation of life’s simple pleasures. A do-not-miss.  ” – Justine Magazine

“Moving and poignant.”  - Glitter Magazine

“An entertaining and romantic road-trip debut.” – Kirkus

"Leila's quest to find the Northern Lights takes readers on a captivating cross-country journey, where four strangers' adventures collide into one riveting tale of finding yourself." ―YABooksCentral.com

“This will likely be a popular summer hit, especially for older teen about to embark on their own journeys of self-discovery.” –Booklist

About the Author
Adi Alsaid was born and raised in Mexico City, then studied at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While in class, he mostly read fiction and continuously failed to fill out crossword puzzles, so it's no surprise that after graduating, he did not go into business world but rather packed up his apartment into his car and escaped to the California coastline to become a writer. He's now back in his hometown, where he writes, coaches high school and elementary basketball, and has perfected the art of making every dish he eats or cooks as spicy as possible. In addition to Mexico, he's lived in Tel Aviv, Las Vegas, and Monterey, California. A tingly feeling in his feet tells him more places will eventually be added to the list. Let's Get Lost is his YA debut.  
Let's Get Lost Website!

Author Links:
 photo iconwebsite-32x32_zps1f477f69.png  photo icongoodreads32_zps60f83491.png  photo icontwitter-32x32_zpsae13e2b2.png  photo iconfacebook-32x32_zps64a79d4a.png

***GIVEAWAY***
1 signed hard cover copy of Let’s Get Lost
1 Let’s Get Lost luggage tag
1 Harlequin TEEN notebook
1 Let’s Get Lost sachel
1 Harlequin TEEN tote bag
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz Organized by:


GUEST POST: Adi’s First Trip Alone


My sister likes to say that before I came back from my trip to Israel, she’d never heard me speak. That’s probably an exaggeration, but not an extreme one. When I boarded the plane to Israel on the eve of my eighteenth birthday, I was a shy kid, reserved, talkative only with my closest friends.

My brother puts it a different way: “Before, you couldn’t decide if you cared or not. Then you decided you didn’t.” He said this when we shared an apartment in college, when I was doing things like taking spontaneous road trips to Baker, California just to have lunch, or founding a student organization at UNLV called Students for the Advancement of Silliness. I brought my first girlfriend to the top floor of a library and rained down thirty notecards with book quotations on them. I wrote editorials in the school newspaper about choosing to be happier.

Let me be clear about this: I didn’t notice it happening. In Israel, I read a lot. I walked around a lot. Though fluent in Hebrew, I didn’t speak a lot, because outside of my grandmother and some cousins, I didn’t know anyone. I could have made friends on the basketball courts where I played, or the bar full of American expats and travelers from all over the world, but I didn’t. By the end I was having more and more conversations with people there, because I’d learned that if I didn’t I could go days without saying a word. But that didn’t feel like growth; it just felt like loneliness, which wasn’t anything new. I had fun in Israel, and though I’d imagined something life-changing (I brought a notebook, thinking that maybe I’d write a book while there), I left thinking it hadn’t happened. The first day I returned to Mexico and had coffee with a friend, within twenty minutes, she said, “You’ve changed.”

It’s not like I went to Israel and came back a new person. I was simply more myself. The layer of shyness that usually hid parts of me from the world was washed away by the Mediterranean, or burned away from my skin from the suntan I gained on the beaches of Tel Aviv. I broke out of my proverbial shell, deciding, as my brother pointed out, that I no longer cared to reside within it.

Here’s what I’m trying to get at, and why Leila’s travels in Let’s Get Lost serve as the perfect backdrop to five coming-of-age stories: Travel leads to self-discovery. You grow, even if you don’t notice it happening. Especially if you do it at the age I did, the age the characters in the book are, the world seeps into your cracks and pulls you further out.

Guest Post: Marie Landry's Top 5 Contemporary YA Reads



My Top 5 Contemporary YA Reads
A Guest post by Marie Landry

Since the first two books in the Angel Island series are YA (here’s a secret: the third book will be New Adult), and since I absolutely adore contemporary YA, I thought I’d share five of my favourite books with you. These are the books I recommend most when someone asks me for must-read YA contemporary. 

Displaying Marie-Landry-Top-5-Fave-Contemporary-YA.jpg

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
I love this book so much. Anna is such an easy character to relate to, and Etienne is one of my favourite book boyfriends. Plus the story is set in Paris - what could be better than that? I reread this book last April and was worried I wouldn’t enjoy it as much the second time around, but I loved it even more than the first time. I think I’m just about due for another reread. ;-)

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
I adore road trip books, and this one is my favourite. It’s funny, emotional, sweet, romantic, and just basically perfect.

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
This book has the perfect mixture of emotion, humour, drama, and romance. It’s sweet, funny, heartbreaking, and sexy. I would love to be part of the Garrett family.

If Only We by Jessica Sankiewicz
This is a contemporary story with a hint of wibbly wobbly timey wimey goodness. It’s a very relatable coming-of-age story with some great life lessons. It’s perfect for anyone who loves stories about second chances.

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
This is a book that packs an emotional punch. It deals with a lot of heavy issues, but it has a really beautiful romance, and moments of humour to balance it all out. There are also great aspects of family and friendship in the book, which I love.

This list easily could have had a dozen books or more, but those are five of my very favourite contemporary reads. What are some of your favourites?

Popular Posts

Like us on Facebook

Stalk Us

2015 Reading Challenge

2015 Reading Challenge
Kimi has read 3 books toward her goal of 100 books.
hide