New Adult Feature

Firstly, thank you to all of my new followers! I love you all, and I hope to get to know all of you in the future. Hugs all round!

Anyway, onto the actual post. Some of you may know that I don't just read Young Adult books, I also love reading adult novels. I just tend to read more YA because that's what I blog about. However, when I do read adult novels I always think about how I would review them given the chance. So I have been thinking, and I decided that I might like to try out an adult feature on my blog every fortnight or every week or something like that. A regular feature just for adults so that I can review adult novels, host author interviews for them and host some giveaways for my favourite books.

I just wanted to know what you guys think of this. Would you be interested in a feature such as this, or would you prefer I just focus on YA? Considering how many adult books I read, I probably wouldn't be reviewing them more often than once per fortnight but... Leave your thoughts in the comments below please!

Update: In Crete!

Hey everyone! Just to let you know, I'm in Crete (Greece) and I have no internet access. All of my posts for the next two weeks will be scheduled, and I won't be able to reply to comments until I get back.

I apologise for being absent for the past week, as you can imagine I've been incredibly busy with last minute shopping and packing!

I hope you're all having an amazing summer so far, and I'll speak to you all when I get back!

Blogger Help Needed!

*waves*

As some of you may know, I’m off to Crete for two weeks in July *woohoo* with my dad and stepfamily. I’m not going to be able to get online at all over the two weeks – a fact that I am rather upset about to be honest – and so I wanted to ask if any of you wanted to write a guest post for my blog.

If you are interested then fill in THIS FORM, and I’ll email you all of the details :)

Depending on how many people want to write a guest – I’m hoping there will be at least a couple! – then I’ll be scheduling a couple of reviews, and perhaps a couple of memes over the two weeks. However, guest posts would be preferable!

Guest posts can be on pretty much anything to do with books and/or to do with summer. I’ll need them before June 30^th, so you have plenty of time to write them! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you!

Thanks everyone!


ETA: Oh, and I'll be announcing the winner to my Divergent giveaway soonish. I apologise for taking so long!

More Internet Problems

Hi everyone. I just wanted to let you know that I'm having more internet problems at home at the moment. I have phoned our internet provider, she says she's sending me a cable to test the internet. If it still doesn't work, then it's the box or the wireless. God knows why it couldn't be fixed last week, but still.

I'll be back on Thursday, though, and hopefully I'll be able to write some reviews or posts and then type them up then.

I'm also struggling to read at the moment. I have exams in two/three weeks, and I'm panicking! So I'm not sure I'll be able to read much over the next few weeks. However, I will definitely be back on track after that!

I'm also going to make a small announcement at the end of the week. It's not really an announcement, but it kind of is. I don't really know what to call it without giving the game away. You'll just have to wait and see!

A Quick Apology

Hello my wonderful followers. As you can see by the title, this post consists of me making a quick apology to you guys for being away for much of last week. Some of you may know that it was my last week of school before Easter break, and I had a tough time getting everything ready to bring home to start revising, coursework improvements etc. That's why I hadn't been posting much during the week. I actually ran out of scheduled posts, because I'm stupid like that!

I was also absent this weekend because it's been sunny. *blushes* Wait! Wait. Let me explain. Saturday, I was out in the garden for a bit and fully intended to go inside and get some reviews/posts written, but then my stepbrother needed a lift to Northampton. Which is about two hours away if you include time for the tremendous amount of roadworks. So I went with him to drop him off there. 

Then on Sunday, I again fully meant to stop being lazy and write some posts but then my dad woke me up at 8am and told me that we're going to the seaside. He's spontaneous like that *rolls eyes*. 

I hope you all aren't too ashamed of me - because I'm pretty ashamed of myself! This week, though, I fully intend to make up for it by posting lots of reviews. Woo!

And here, I award you with a stunning picture of the wonderful Jensen Ackles ;) 

Credit: LIDIAELF @ Tumblr

Misha Collins: The Random Act

Hey people. I apologise for not posting yesterday as I was meant to. I'm kind of bogged down with work right now! But I'll still be blogging, so no need to fret. (I know, you were holding back tears, weren't you?)


The reason for this post today is to let you all know about Misha Collins' charity - Random Acts. If you don't know who Misha Collins is from his role on Supernatural as the angel Castiel, you may recognise him from the movie Girl, Interrupted or from the TV shows Charmed, 24 or CSI. 

In late 2009, Misha asked his minions aka Twitter followers to come up with some project ideas for a privately organised charity group. Through various funds and methods, Random Acts was born, and in 2010 Misha ran 52 miles (83 km) to raise almost $85,000 for Random Acts, along with three Haiti orphanages and flood relief support in Pakistan. Amazing, huh? That's not all. He's also taken part in various other random acts of kindness, which you can view on the Random Acts website.


Okay, so why am I choosing now to let you all know about Misha's amazing escapades? It's because earlier this month, Misha posted a video on Youtube to inform people that despite the story of Haiti not making headlines any more - and thus a lot of the support drying up - he hasn't forgotten. So Random Acts are going back.


They're going to build a community centre, which houses orphans and is going to serve as a school, and a self-preserved fish farm. Misha is also inviting people to join him in Haiti to help to rebuild the community. That's right, he's giving people a chance to actually go and help the people of Haiti to rebuild. For more details, please visit the page on the Random Acts website. It really is a once in a lifetime chance - for most people - to really help. 


(I just wanted to add that if you haven't yet filled in my feedback form, please do so! All comments are completely anonymous. No, I don't have a secret IP Address tracker built into my Google form. I'm not going to hunt you down if you don't tell me you love me ;))

ISF: 100 Sled Dogs Shot and Killed in British Columbia

As a fan of Ian Somerhalder (LOST, Vampire Diaries) I've been following his work on the Ian Somerhalder Foundation for a few months now, since it launched. Recently, I read an article on his site which really disturbed me. 

The article told readers that a company in Whistler, Canada called Howling Dog Tours had shot and killed up to 100 sled dogs because tourism in the area can decreased after the winter. As a die hard animal lover, this really touched a nerve with me, and so I thought I'd blog about it to make you guys aware of this - if you weren't already. "They wanted to get rid of some of them, so they just shot them, killed them." Ian said.

This is the quote from Ian's website:

"A recent article by the Vancouver Sun revealed that the Howling Dog Tours manager who killed the dogs tried to contact the BC SPCA for help on two occasions.  The BC SPCA didn’t investigate the business and turned down the request to shelter the dogs, claiming the dogs were not adoptable."

I was personally disgusted that this sort of thing was allowed to happen. I am tearing up just writing about this, because it's not just tragic for those poor dogs that were shot, but it's tragic for any dogs that this could potentially happen to in the future.


The ISF is now petitioning for new legalistation to make sure that all animal shelters need to be regulated to follow a "rescue and save" plan, not a "seize and kill" plan. You can sign the petition regardless of your country, and you can choose for your details to be hidden from the public if you so wish. 


To sign the petition, either go to the Change website and find the petition on the right hand side, or use the widget below:

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

Internet Problems

It seems that something always has to go wrong when I have posts to write. First, there was my laptop going crazy. I sent it off to someone to get it fixed, he did nothing to it (because he apparently couldn't find anything wrong!) and so I had to fix it myself. And now my internet is playing up. It's always been pretty unpredictable. Seriously, SKY is the worst internet provider EVER. *angry face*


But it seems to be back in business now. So I'm going to get writing some reviews. I think I'm going to have to start scheduling posts long before I post them, so then if this happens again I'm not so screwed. 


I hope you guys didn't miss me too much over the past few days. *waves* :)

Cyclone Yasi

I'm sure most of you will have heard of the devastation that the state of Queensland, Australia, is about to go through. In about twenty minutes or so, the eye of Cyclone Yasi is going to hit the coast. 


Cyclone Yasi is the most powerful cyclone to have hit the Queensland state. It's now a Category 5 - the highest category on the scale. The eye of the storm is currently expected to last around three hours, with an average wind gust of 160km/h, and highs of 330km/h. I don't have to tell you that that is extraordinarily high.


The cyclone is almost as big as the United States, with the eye being large enough to cover the state of Texas.


I have a friend in Queensland who has had to move beneath her house, as she was told not to evacuate. Others are too late to be evacuated, and the emergency services have said that they are unable to help people in distress as "there is nothing [they] can do". There has already been a call in saying that someone is stranded.


I just wanted to let you all know of the current situation if you haven't heard yet, and that I am thinking of you all in Queensland right now. My thoughts are with you. Good luck.


If you can't access news channels covering the cyclone and want to keep updated, then just search "Cyclone Yasi" on Google News, and you'll get a lot of recent results. The Australian Yahoo site also updates everything regularly. Also, this Youtube channel is trying to provide regular, hourly updates.


Other Websites:
Cyclone Video HQ - Thanks Nicola!


In comparison to Katrina:

Another Update: [Insert Original, Humourous Name Here]

Hello fellow readers!


How are you all doing? Good, I hope. And I hope you all had a brilliant Christmas/holiday and are looking forward to 2011! I know I certainly am. 


I know I've been absent this week, but I've been so busy with family events and other stuff like that, I've not had time to blog. And obviously, however much I disagree, family stuff has to come before reading and blogging. *sad face*


I just wanted to let you all know that I am here, I'm alive, and I now have 110 followers on this blog, and 100 subscribers on my Youtube channel! Have you figured out what that means yet? 


That's right, I'm hosting my first giveaway! It's only going to be a little one, but I think most of you will enjoy it :) I'll let you in on it tomorrow when I have time to make a video to go along with the post! So make sure you stop by for that.


Have a lovely day/evening/night everybody!


Amber

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas all of you wonderful, wonderful people! I hope you and your families have a brilliant day today/tomorrow, and you get everything you wish for :)


And most of all, I hope you all get an amazing pile of books! I look forward to seeing all of your book hauls/IMMs! 


Much love, 


Amber
<3

101 Followers!

So today I finally reached 100 followers on my blog! Well, I actually exceeded 100, because I now have 101! This is AMAZING! And it means we're halfway toward my 100 follower giveaway.


Does that last bit sound confusing? I bet it does, as it looks like I'm contradicting myself. However, I'm not - I promise! The reason this is only halfway toward my 100 follower giveaway, is because the other half of the conditions are for me to reach 100 subscribers on my YouTube channel. 


At the moment, I have 69 (giggle), so we're almost there - but not quite! So stay tuned, and I shall hopefully be announcing the giveaway early in the new year. 


I'm really excited about it!


Thank you all so much! I love that you all read and comment. Even if I don't always reply to you as fast as I probably should, I do read each and every comment and sit there with a massive grin on my face. I'm grinning now! 


I think everyone should join in with my happy dance :D

Update

Hey everyone,


I just wanted to let you all know that it's unlikely that I will be posting much this week, as it's the last week of school before the Christmas break and there's a lot of stuff that I need to get done. However, I do finish school on Friday, so I'm hoping to get a review of Birth of a Killer by Darren Shan up by the weekend. And then of course there's In My Mailbox!


I hope you all have a great week, and I'll speak to you all soon!

New Followers, Giveaways and Pickles

I just wanted to say a a huge welcome to all of my new followers! It means the world to me that I now have over 50 of you following my blog. Thank you, all of you!


Because of how amazing you all are, I've decided that I'm going to do a giveaway! But wait before you get excited and start happy dancing. I'm not doing a giveaway until I reach 100 followers here on my blog, and 100 subscribers on my YT channel. This isn't because I want more followers (which, you know, I wouldn't mind ;)) it's just because I have no money right now, and it's so close to Christmas I doubt I'll be able to borrow any. So, I'm waiting until I reach those two goals. Okay? :) 


And onto my third point of the day - pickles. Actually, there is no point. I was watching Spongebob and they were talking about pickles. 


Thanks again, and I hope you all have a brilliant weekend!

Changes

As you have probably noticed, I've changed the URL and name of my blog. I've done this for reasons I would rather not go into right now, but I apologise if I've confused you! I promise it wasn't intentional :)

Hey Hey; Update :)

Hi everyone!


Just a quick update for you all. I wanted to apologise for not blogging so much over the past week or so - but I do have a good reason excuse! It's my birthday on Sunday and I've been hassling over sorting everything out for my meal, etc. As well as sorting out cars/taxis/guests/restaurants/times, I've been trying to juggle my A-Level coursework which, as it turns out, is a lot easier than sorting out the meal.


What I'm trying to say (but apparently failing) is that this week is pretty hectic, so I won't be able to post that much. However, I will be back next week with a couple of reviews amongst other things.


I hope you're all doing okay! 


Amber :)

I'm Back And Raring To GO!

Hi all, so those two followers who have been following me for a few months now know that I haven't been posting since May. I'm not really sure as to why that is, I guess I just lost my mojo. But I'm now back, and I've decided to concentrate more on books and reviews here and then perhaps make another blog for snail mail. Or I may just use this one for both. I'm not sure yet (:

So I just wanted to say 'Heyyyyyy' and I promise I won't leave for such a long time next time!

Amber

- x