I have the crappiest internet in the whole world so no vlog today.

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (NetGalley)

I actually got this last week and forgot to include it…Also OMG you guys must read Finnikin of the Rock! It’s one of the best books I have ever read.

Tempest by Julie Cross
Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay
I Wanna Be You Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert
Jane by April Lindner (on Kindle. It’s bargain priced!)

Thumped by Megan McCafferty
Kiss Crush Collide by Christina Meredith

Thanks so much Sab!!

Happy Saturday everyone! It’s time for a new Saturday Situation, hosted by Candace at Candace’s Book Blog  and myself. So, here’s the scoop: I’m going to set up two Mister Linky’s. One for Giveaways that you want to promote and one for Posts that you want to promote. The posts can be reviews, discussions, rants, events you are planning, anything that you want people to read! I know there’s so many great posts out there that often go unread. Here’s your chance to tell the world! Feel free to link up to other bloggers posts as well! Let’s spread the love!

Reviews/Posts Linky!

In this Linky please link directly to any posts you want to share with the world!  Example: Name: Fallout Review URL: http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/2010/09/review-fallout-by-ellen-hopkins.html

Book Related Giveaways Linky!

In this Linky please link directly to any book related giveaways you have! Example: Name: Middle Grade Giveaway-It’s Raining Cupcakes and other Ends 9/30 URL:http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/2010/09/middle-grade-giveaway.html

Where to start:

First I would recommend starting a WordPress.com account just to see what you think and get used to the layout. WordPress.com is free but it has very limited customization options. (Pro account probably has more options but I’ve never used it) I think Blogger has way more options than the .com, that being said I don’t see the point of switching unless you are going to self host with WordPress.org. Now if you decide you want to go for it you can pick a hosting site. WordPress has a list of recommended ones. I went with Bluehost and I’ve had zero problems. Plus the guide below shows you how to set everything up with Bluehost.

These to guides really have almost everything you need. It’s step by step and it was what I and several others used. I highly suggest reading it from start to finish before attempting anything. Familiarize yourself with it and keep in mind that it’s not as hard as it sounds.

Awesome Guide Part One
Awesome Guide Part Two

I did run into two problem that weren’t address in the guides. These are issues that not everyone has I guess, but I still want to go over them so that if it happens to you you don’t have to have a meltdown like I did.

My first problem was with getting the Blogger Importer to work on WordPress. Google would not authorize it and I spent hours trying to figure out what the problem was. Finally I asked the fabulous Erica at The Book Cellar and she told me what the problem was then I found a small tutorial. So if you can’t get it to authorize use this fantastic tutorial. I had to do what it goes over in the first method. Then it worked like a dream!

Problem number two was kind of huge and scary, but of course it turned out to be a super easy fix. My Feedburner account wouldn’t work the day after I switched…then it didn’t work the next day or the next or the next. I had a breakdown. But! Turns out all I had to do is change my original source url in my Feedburner account. Now, the guides up there say you don’t have to do this if you are keeping the same domain, but I did and it fixed it instantly. There were a lot of tears those 4 days for something that was just that simple. So if you are keeping your same domain while switching (ie not going from a .blogspot to a .com) then I say leave Feedburner alone for 24 hours after you switch and if it doesn’t work after 24 hours then change your original feed url to the new WP one. That will save you lots of heartache. Oh and I did not lose any subscribers by doing that.

If you want to move to WP but don’t want to do it yourself here is a fantastic deal!

That’s really all my advice…If you want to know some facts about my move here they are:

I had 1,219 posts when I moved and 1,213 switched.
I had 14,002 and only 13,970 switched. (Which isn’t horrible.)
I don’t think that I lost any subscribers….You know how Feedburner fluctuates especially over the weekend. If I did lose any it was maybe 300 and I have since gained them back.

I’m really loving WordPress too! All the plugins are fantastic! It is more complicated than Blogger but it’s not bad after you get used to it. There is also a plethora of support forums for when you run into a problem.

On a semi related note, I am working on my new WordPress design as we speak! I’m really excited about it and I hope to have it up in the next few weeks. (I’m so tired of this one already) So hopefully I will start offering WP designs on my design site in the next couple of months.

Let me know if there are tips and tricks you want me to discuss!

Past Tips and Tricks:
New Features in Blogger–new interface & mobile templates
More info on mobile templates & reply to comments in Blogger
A overview on the new Blogger interface
Pros & Cons of word verification
How to make a customized link bar
Things that slow your blog down
New Blogger app
How to add live links to comments
How to remove hidden HTML from your posts (this is a life saver!)
Info on getting your own domain name
How to get the external link to your Followers gadget
Automatically tweet links to your posts with Feedburner
Keeping Up With Your Books Read Throughout the Year
Getting share buttons to work in Blogger
Getting your full feed count through Feedburner

Release Date: February 21, 2012
Age Group: Young Adult
Received From: Publisher
IBSN: 9780803737204
Blurb:
Dying of a broken heart is just the beginning…. Welcome to forever.

BRIE’S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn’t love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally.

But now that she’s D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there’s Patrick, Brie’s mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul . . . who just might hold the key to her forever after.

With Patrick’s help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she’s ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

The first chapter of The Catastrophic History of You & Me sets up this fantastic premise. The first chapter hooks you. It was gorgeous and I thought ‘I am going to love this book.’ Unfortunately the rest of the story didn’t hold up for me.

The thing that held me back from loving the book was the characters. I found Brie to be pretty unlikeable. She was silly and immature. That’s just my opinion and I’m 25 so that might have a lot to do with it. I think I really would have loved this book when I was a tween or teen, but Brie just came off as a tiny but annoying for me. She was overly dramatic, always crumpling to the floor in tears and having breakdowns. Which is understandable in her situation, but it grew tiresome for me. I also didn’t like Patrick much. I never felt any spark between them. I never felt like I got to know him well.

I did however enjoy the premise. The dynamics of heaven were intriguing. I’ve saw a lot of reviews that take issue with the fact that Brie dies of an actual broken heart, but that didn’t even bother me. It is fiction, after all. I just wish that I could have liked the characters more, but oh well. Other people really seem to love the book so please still give it a chance and see how you like it.

 

July 10, 2012
MTV Books

A sexy and poignant romantic tale of a young daredevil pilot caught between two brothers.

High school senior Leah Jones loves nothing more than flying. While she’s in the air, it’s easy to forget life with her absentee mother at the low-rent end of a South Carolina beach town. When her flight instructor, Mr. Hall, hires her to fly for his banner advertising business, she sees it as her ticket out of the trailer park. And when he dies suddenly, she’s afraid her flying career is gone forever.

But Mr. Hall’s teenage sons, golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson, are determined to keep the banner planes flying. Though Leah has crushed on Grayson for years, she’s leery of getting involved in what now seems like a doomed business–until Grayson betrays her by digging up her most damning secret. Holding it over her head, he forces her to fly for secret reasons of his own, reasons involving Alec. Now Leah finds herself drawn into a battle between brothers–and the consequences could be deadly.

Add it Goodreads

That cover! *Dies*

July 5, 2012
Penguin

An all-day scavenger hunt in the name of eternal small-town glory
With only a week until graduation, there’s one last thing Mary and her friends must do together: participate in the Oyster Point High Official Unofficial Senior Week Scavenger Hunt. And Mary is determined to win.

Mary lost her spot at Georgetown to self-professed “it” bully Pete Lembo, and she’s not about to lose again. But everyone is racing for the finish line with complicated motives, and the team’s all-night adventure becomes all-night drama as shifting alliances, flared tempers, and crushing crushes take over. As the items and points pile up, Mary and her team must reinvent their strategy—and themselves—in order to win.

Add it on Goodreads

Scavenger hunts? YES PLEASE!

May 15, 2012
Hyperion

KYLIE:
Tijuana WHAT? I should be putting the finishing touches on my valedictorian speech. Graduation is TODAY! And is this a wedding band on my finger??

MAX:
It all started with Kylie’s laptop and a truck full of stolen electronics. Okay, it was kind of hot, the way she broke us out like some chick in an action movie. But now we’re stranded in Tijuana. With less than twenty-four hours before graduation. Awesome.

WILL:
Saving Kylie Flores from herself is kind of a full-time occupation. Luckily, I, Will Bixby, was born for the job. And when I found out she was stuck in Mexico with dreamy Max Langston, sure, I agreed to bring their passports across the border – but there’s no reason to rush back home right away. This party is just getting started.

LILY:
I just walked in on my boyfriend, Max Langston, canoodling with Kylie Flores, freak of the century. Still, I can’t completely hold it against him. He NEEDS me. It’s even clearer now. And I’m not giving him up without a fight.

Add it on Goodreads

This sounds sooo unique!

Waiting on Wednesday was created by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Head over there to see more WoW’s!

Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It’s a miracle… at first. Then the tensions start to build. His reintroduction to his old life isn’t going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he’d be able to put the pieces back together. But there’s something that’s keeping his memory blocked. Something unspeakable…

I love Lisa McMann’s books. I still say that the Wake trilogy is one the contributing factors in my love of YA. I also really loved Cryer’s Cross. I can always count on McMann to deliver a compelling and honest book. Dead To You is no exception although I probably didn’t love it as much as her other books.

The concept of this book is incredible. A kidnapped boy returns home after 8 years. The story mostly focuses on the current situation of Ethan’s family and not what happened in the past with the kidnapping. I thought that was a really interesting way to do the story because you never think of what happens after. You would assume that things are happy, right? That’s not the case with Ethan’s family at all. When he returns things start crumbling under his feet.

Ethan was interesting but I don’t think I ever really felt a connection with him. He was struggling with all these unfathomable issues but he still felt very closed off. That really makes sense later on in the story, but it still kept me from absolutely loving the book.

This book is really hard to review without giving something away! The ending is…a killer and it left me the tiniest bit unsatisfied. Overall I still enjoyed the book. This premise delivered in Lisa McMann’s haunting writing makes for a captivating read.

3.5

There is a really cute cat moment right at the end…just FIY.

Trafficked by Kim Purcell

Dead To You by Lisa McMann

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth (my review)

The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison

Happy Saturday everyone! It’s time for a new Saturday Situation, hosted by Candace at Candace’s Book Blog  and myself. So, here’s the scoop: I’m going to set up two Mister Linky’s. One for Giveaways that you want to promote and one for Posts that you want to promote. The posts can be reviews, discussions, rants, events you are planning, anything that you want people to read! I know there’s so many great posts out there that often go unread. Here’s your chance to tell the world! Feel free to link up to other bloggers posts as well! Let’s spread the love!

Reviews/Posts Linky!

In this Linky please link directly to any posts you want to share with the world!  Example: Name: Fallout Review URL: http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/2010/09/review-fallout-by-ellen-hopkins.html

Book Related Giveaways Linky!

In this Linky please link directly to any book related giveaways you have! Example: Name: Middle Grade Giveaway-It’s Raining Cupcakes and other Ends 9/30 URL:http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/2010/09/middle-grade-giveaway.html

You’re going to have to switch back to old Blogger because the option you need doesn’t show up in the new interface. To switch back click the little gear icon on the right side of your dashboard then select the Switch to old Blogger option. Then go to Settings- Site Feed. Put the url that Feedburner gives you in the Post Feed Redirect option.

Then save and you’re done! Allow Feedburner about 24 hours to update your count.

Now on to the second simple trick. This one is a tiny bit selfish….because I want you guys to have pictures on your comments here and it’s super easy. See I always thought you had to have a WordPress profile in order to have a picture show up with your comment. That’s not the case at all. Just go here: http://en.gravatar.com/ and set up your gravatar. It’s associated with your email address so it will always show up on WP sites!

Let me know if there are tips and tricks you want me to discuss!

Past Tips and Tricks:
New Features in Blogger–new interface & mobile templates
More info on mobile templates & reply to comments in Blogger
A overview on the new Blogger interface
Pros & Cons of word verification
How to make a customized link bar
Things that slow your blog down
New Blogger app
How to add live links to comments
How to remove hidden HTML from your posts (this is a life saver!)
Info on getting your own domain name
How to get the external link to your Followers gadget
Automatically tweet links to your posts with Feedburner
Keeping Up With Your Books Read Throughout the Year
Getting share buttons to work in Blogger

Open Internationally
Ends 2/9
Must be 13 or older to enter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Girl, Interrupted meets Beautiful Creaturesin this fast-paced thriller

When sixteen-year-old Faye arrives at Holbrook Academy, she doesn’t expect to find herself exactly where she needs to be. After years of strange waking visions and nightmares, her only comfort the bones of dead animals, Faye is afraid she’s going crazy. Fast.

But her first night at Holbrook, she feels strangely connected to the school and the island it sits on, like she’s come home. She’s even made her first real friends, but odd things keep happening to them. Every morning they wake on the floors of their dorm rooms with their hands stained red.

Faye knows she’s the reason, but what does it all mean? The handsome Kel tries to help her unravel the mystery, but Faye is certain she can’t trust him; in fact, he may be trying to kill her – and the rest of the world too.

Rich, compelling writing will keep the pages turning in this riveting and tautly told psychological thriller.

Here is the newest piece of art Harbinger art:

Click the image to go to the gallery 

Aren’t you guys excited for this book!? You definitely will be after this trailer:

Release Date: February 21, 2012
Series: Chemical Garden #2
Age Group: Young Adult
Received From: Publisher
IBSN: 9781442409071
Blurb:
Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago – surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous – and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion…by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price – now that she has more to lose than ever.

I didn’t adore Wither as much as some. I mostly just thought it was okay. So I was a tiny bit wary going into Fever. Usually sequels aren’t quite as good as their predecessor, but I was pleasantly surprised with the first half of Fever. I even thought ‘Hey, this is better than Wither!’ I was really fascinated by the carnival and Madame. It was on the darker side and I do enjoy dark and twisty things, but unfortunately the second half of the book came about and I just didn’t like it as much.

The rest of the book just fell a little flat for me and I would even go so far as to say the last 100 pages were just a tiny bit boring.. It seemed like everything that happened at the carnival had no real purpose to the rest of the story.

Rhine also feels flat to me. I do think she was more developed in this one than in the first book. The thing that bothers me the most about her is that she never speaks up. She doesn’t take action until it’s too late and that is just tiresome. Also in book 1 I felt that the romance was pretty nonexistent, it was no different with this one. There no passion between Rhine and Gabriel. It seems like they are ‘together’ for convenience instead of any real feelings. I still feel like the most passion and personality in the entire book comes from Linden. There were some new characters introduced that I liked, Lilac, Maddie, and Silas. But they were a little irrelevant to the overall plot. I’ll be curious to see what kind of role they play in book 3.

This review sounds more negative that I would like, but I’m just being honest. I really want to love this series, but to me it’s only okay. I am definitely in the minority because most people love it.

Posts will definitely be back to normal tomorrow. Plus I think I will have a Yay I Switched to WordPress Giveaway soon! In the meantime If you find any broken links please let me know! Just in case, I would adore you forever if you used one of the options on the sidebar to subscribe.

Thanks soooooo much to Hannah, Erica, and the nice WP person for helping me out a lot!!

Oh if you were wondering….I love WP so far (other than the scary scary rss thing).

For anyone wondering how the switch went I had 1,219 posts and it switched 1,213 for me. I have no idea which ones didn’t transfer and I’m honestly not very worried about it.  I had 14,002 comments and it only switched something like 13,970. Which I don’t like, but I can live with it I guess. As of right now I have all of my subscribers. Here’s hoping that that doesn’t change! Feedburner is not working at the moment…I really hope that’s because my domain is still propagating. So Google Reader isn’t updating either. It that doesn’t fix itself I’ll probably cry. Lots. So…I hope it fixes soon.

If you find any broken links please let me know! Just in case, I would adore you forever if you used one of the options on the sidebar to subscribe. Reviews and such will be back to normal tomorrow.

Hello lovelies! I’m finally doing it! I’m moving to WordPress starting today. I’ve thought long and hard about it and decided it was finally time to make the move. It’s been over 3 years since I started this blog and I’m really ready to…spice things up a bit. Self-hosted WordPress is going to allow Pure Imagination to grow in ways that Blogger will not.

I’m pretty excited about but also preeeetty scared. I’m doing the move myself and it’s a little intimidating. Hopefully I will have everything up and running by Sunday evening/Monday morning. Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly. Wish me luck.

I would love it if you would subscribe to the blog! That way you can continue to receive updates!

You can do that by clicking one of the subscribe options on the sidebar or clicking above!

Happy Saturday everyone! It’s time for a new Saturday Situation, hosted by Candace at Candace’s Book Blog  and myself. So, here’s the scoop: I’m going to set up two Mister Linky’s. One for Giveaways that you want to promote and one for Posts that you want to promote. The posts can be reviews, discussions, rants, events you are planning, anything that you want people to read! I know there’s so many great posts out there that often go unread. Here’s your chance to tell the world! Feel free to link up to other bloggers posts as well! Let’s spread the love!

In this Linky please link directly to any posts you want to share with the world!  Example: Name: Fallout Review URL: http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/2010/09/review-fallout-by-ellen-hopkins.html

In this Linky please link directly to any book related giveaways you have! Example: Name: Middle Grade Giveaway-It’s Raining Cupcakes and other Ends 9/30 URL:http://www.pureimaginationblog.com/2010/09/middle-grade-giveaway.html

This is a very quick and easy Tips & Tricks! Have you noticed the nifty little share buttons at the bottom of some bloggers posts? Do you want the for yourself? I really do recommend using them. It’s a really easy way for people to share your content. So to get them simply go to your Layout page and click Edit at the bottom of your post box:

Then just click the box next to the share buttons. But maybe you have done this and they aren’t showing up? I know this is the case for lots of people but never fear, there is an easy way yo fix that problem.

First things first BACK UP YOUR TEMPLATE. Please do this. Go to Edit HTML(old interface) or Template (new interface) then Click Backup/Restore and download template.

Now go to your Template page (or Edit HTML in old Blogger). Click on Edit HTML. At the bottom of your html box it says Revert Widget Templates. Click that.

(If you have a signature that shows up automatically with every post use this tutorial instead, because doing it this way will more than likely delete your signature)

View your blog. They should be showing up now! Now if that didn’t work you need to do this…which is a tiny bit harder but works! (Just BACK UP YOUR TEMPLATE before you do that)

Clicking the revert widget templates should also make the new threaded comments work!

Let me know if there are tips and tricks you want me to discuss!

Past Tips and Tricks:
New Features in Blogger–new interface & mobile templates
More info on mobile templates & reply to comments in Blogger
A overview on the new Blogger interface
Pros & Cons of word verification
How to make a customized link bar
Things that slow your blog down
New Blogger app
How to add live links to comments
How to remove hidden HTML from your posts (this is a life saver!)
Info on getting your own domain name
How to get the external link to your Followers gadget
Automatically tweet links to your posts with Feedburner
Keeping Up With Your Books Read Throughout the Year

Release Date: February 16, 2012
Age Group: Young Adult
Received From: Publisher
IBSN: 9780525422198
Blurb:
Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev’s band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she’s abandoning their plans – and Colby – to start college in the fall.
But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev’s already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what’s next?
Morris Award—finalist Nina LaCour draws together the beauty and influences of music and art to brilliantly capture a group of friends on the brink of the rest of their lives.

 The Disenchantments sounded like my kind of book from the start. That cover is unique and fun, it’s about a girl band, and a road trip/tour. All those tidbits lead to high expectations which sometimes leads to disappointment. Not in this case. This story and Nina LaCour’s gorgeous writing blew all of my expectations away.

The cover kind of suggests a fun lighthearted book. While the book is fun, it is not lighthearted. Colby is in a very difficult spot and we as the reader we must struggle through that with him. He was very complex and realistic. It was one of those male narratives that I absolutely love. My heart broke for him on several occasions.

The girls were great! Meg, Alexa, and Bev were quirky and confident. I really loved the whole band aspect. What I really loved though, was that Colby wasn’t a part of it. He was an outsider looking in and it really gave more depth to the friendship between the girls and the connection between Colby and Bev.

The road trip elements were fabulous. Who doesn’t love a story about a road trip? But what really stood out to me is LaCour’s beautiful writing. There were many passages that made me close my eyes and just take it in. I really wish that I would have marked them somehow, but I was so engrossed in the story that it was hard to put the book down. Even for that. I loved the writing and story in Hold Still and this book proves that it was not just a one hit wonder. This review in no way does The Disenchantments justice. I loved it and I suspect that Nina LaCour will be on my favorite authors list with her next book. I loved this and I think you will too, so read it! Soon.