Thursday, September 1, 2011

Follower Appreciation and 1 Year Anniversary Celebration!!

We hit 500 followers recently and to show you all how much we adore you and appreciate you spending your blog reading time with us, we'd like to give away a few prizes :D Here are the deets!

To Enter:

1) You must be a follower
2) Leave a comment on THIS post - and to help pay things forward a bit, we'd love you to share either the title and author of the best book you've read so far this year, or the link to a blog you love to visit - or both! :)

That's it!

We will take entries until 11:59 pm on Wednesday Sept 7th and the winners will be announced one week from today on Thursday the 8th.

And yes, I said WINNERS!! Because we love you all so much, we are giving away SIX fantastic prize packs! Here is what you can win:

PRIZE PACK 1
A Magical World by Michelle Raynor
Tempted by PC and Kristin Cast
a first chapter critique by Michelle
assorted Homework Helper swag 1: bookmarks, pens, calendar magnets, a mouse pad (see pic below)

PRIZE PACK 2
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
a first chapter critique by Katrina
Oliver Awesome "owl on a book" locket (see pic below)

PRIZE PACK 3
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
Homework Helpers: Essays and Term Papers by Michelle McLean (signed!)
First Chapter Crit by Kristal
Homework Helpers swag 2: bookmarks, pens, calendar magnets, a mouse pad

PRIZE PACK 4
The Deathday Letter by Shaun David Hutchison
Savvy by Ingrid Law
First chapter crit by Amparo
$10 Amazon gift card

PRIZE PACK 5
Samantha Sotto's Before Ever After with autographed book plate!
Liz Michalski's Evenfall
10 Page Crit by Kelly
A custom banner for your blog or website created by Kristal

PRIZE PACK 6
WTF by Peter Lerangis
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
First chap crit by Lindsay
Homework Helpers T-shirt (see pic below)

(locket in Prize Pack 2)                   (shirt in Pack 6; swag in Packs 1 and 3)
Also! We will be holding another awesome Mystery Agent contest on Sept 15th! We'll post more details soon. Annnd we've added an Events tab to the top margin. Info and links regarding giveaways, Mystery Agent contests, book releases, and any other exciting happenings can be found there :D

Thanks again to all our wonderful followers and good luck to everyone!!!

38 comments:

Charity Bradford said...

Whoot! I'd love to win the books in prize pack #2!

Hmmm, this year I've read so many great books its hard to choose. I really enjoyed Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater.

And here is a site I find invaluable: The Other Side of the Story by Janice Hardy author of the Shifter series.

Kelly Polark said...

I just read A Scary Good Book by Anita Laydon Miller. It was an awesome mg mystery!
I so want to read The Deathday Letters!!

Thanks for a great contest!

Tracey Joseph said...

The best book I've read so far was definitely Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard.

Great contest.

Taryn said...

These all sound awesome! The best books I've read this year are . . . Anna Dressed in Blood, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Wildefire, Divergent, and Lola and the Boy Next Door. It's been a good year :)

E. Arroyo said...

Awesome! Best book so far...that's a tough one. I'd have to say The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. It blew my mind away.

Theresa Milstein said...

What a wonderful contest.

Choosing one book I loved this year? That's hard. I'm going to say Chime by Franny Billingsley because the voice was so unique.

tmisltein at gmail dot com

Do I have to choose which package I hope to win?

Tom M Franklin said...

Great contest! Thanks for sharing so much with us.

My favorite book this year has been THE ALCHEMIST by Michael Scott. My only frustration is that I have to wait an entire year for the sixth (and final) book to come out.


-- Tom

Michelle McLean said...

@Theresa - no, we'll just use handy Mr. Random.org to pick winners for each package :)

Loving all the book and blog recommends!!

Rebecca said...

Thanks for this contest. I'd have to say one of the best books I've read this year is Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. A very enjoyable read!

Lori M. Lee said...

Thanks so much for such an amazing contest!

Best book I've read this year... hm. That's so hard! I'm going to have to say Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan b/c it made me cry no less than two times.

LinWash said...

You're all so wonderful! What a great giveaway! The best books: Mare's War by Tanita S. Davis; Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier, One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams--Garcia, and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
Two great sites: http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/
http://writingya.blogspot.com/

Angie said...

Operation awesome, you are awesome!!! I don't think I can pick a single best book that I've read this year, though some really good ones are Raw Blue by Kirsty Eager, Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley, and The Chosen One by Carol Williams.

adktd2bks@yahoo.com

John Sankovich said...

This sounds great. You guys are awesome. I think the best book I've read this year so far is a series of books. "The Hunger Games." It was a tough choice being that I think I've read about 30 books this year and for some reason this one sticks out to me as memorable. There are a few others that were really good, but these were probably the top tier.

Becca Puglisi said...

Congrats! Don't sign me up for the contest, but I'd like to say that Chime by Franny Billingsley is probably my favorite so far.

Becca @ The Bookshelf Muse

Janet Johnson said...

Wow, you guys never cease to amaze me with your awesomeness!

I really love Stina Lindenblatt's blog, Seeing Creative:

http://www.stinalindenblatt.com/

C.R. Evers said...

You guys are so awesome! So far the best book I've read this year is Everfound, the last book in the Everlost triology by Neal Shusterman. I'm also reading a great book right now, called Maze Runner. I forgot the authors name. I think the last name is Dashel.

Thanks for the contest and thanks for being awesome! :0)

Meradeth Houston said...

My favorite book so far was Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini. So much fun!

Great contest!

Tracy N. Jorgensen said...

Yay! Best book I've read this year is an old one. THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by Ursula LeGuin. Loved it though.

A.J. Locke said...

This is great! My favorite book that I've read this year is City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Christina Mercer said...

What wonderful prizes!! I'd have to go with "THE HELP" and the movie was also fabulous :-)

Emily R. King said...

I want to win! Such great giveaways! Thanks for the opportunity!

Sarah Nicolas said...

Congrats on the 500 followers!

The best book I've read this year is actually a self-published book called Angelfall by Susan Ee. I reviewed it here: http://www.siftreviews.com/2011/08/angelfall-by-susan-ee.html

Everyone should check it out!

Alison Miller said...

Wow! Thanks for an amazing giveaway! I would love any of the prize packs!

Best read? Please don't make me choose. I read the awesomeness that is Divergent, Where She Went, the entire Hunger Games series back in January, and I just finished Beauty Queens. I could list more. So many!

Angelica R. Jackson said...

A book I read recently that totally charmed me is The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker. I featured it in my Road Trip Wednesday yesterday, in fact.

And here are a few blogs for your enjoyment that I discovered recently:
http://evemariemont.blogspot.com/

http://the-history-girls.blogspot.com/

And I wanted to take this opportunity to thank OA for all you do! So many contests and so much vital info.

Angie Lockett said...

Congrats on 500 followers! Way to be awesome!

Best book I've read this year has already been mentioned in here. It was definitely the Hunger Games series (I'm just starting the third one now)but Cassandra Clare's City of Fallen Angels was also fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Great contest, and congrats on the followers!

Louisa said...

Thank you for the ace contest OA. Hmm such a hard choice, but I'd have to say G R Martin's Game of Thrones...phew it took me a while, but was well worth it!

Lisa B. said...

Thanks so much for the contest and congrats on the anniversary!

Now I can't really give you one favorite book, so I'll give you three. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, Red Glove by Holly Black (both part two of a trilogy), and The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade (this one really caught me by surprise). I could go on and on, but these are my top three so far this year.

Tina Moss said...

Congrats on 500 followers! Some of my favorite books that I've read this year are...

Gena Showalter's LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD series
Kiersten White's PARANORMALCY

And some of my favorite blogs are by these fab writers...

http://paranormalpointofview.blogspot.com/ - Lisa Gail Green
http://heathermccorkle.blogspot.com/ - Heather McCorkle
http://www.yelenacasale.blogspot.com/ - Yelena Casale

Shari said...

Amazing contest! Thanks.

One of the best books I've read would have to be Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald. Also,Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. Okay, I realize that's two, but one is MG and the other is YA. So it's like there's only one. . . of each.

Faith E. Hough said...

Thanks for the great contest!
You do know how hard it is to pick just one book, right? :) But I'll go with the one I just finished: Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl--it was great!

Anonymous said...

Awesome contest... who doesn't love to win book and related items:)

Fav. book this year - Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater.

LHughes said...

Favorite Book of the Year: Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld

I know I'm late in discovering the Uglies series, but whatever. I'm still loving it right now!

And I'd love to know where I could buy the owl locket... as I probably won't win it... I collect owls :)

Wannabe Writer said...

Great contest. I've got my fingers crossed for #5.

I've read a lot of great stuff this year, but I've finally gotten around to reading The Hunger Games and am really enjoying the series.

Jess T. said...

This looks great! A lot of good books this year, but I've really been enjoying Artemis Fowl recently.

Good book review site: ax20b.wordpress.com

Chen Yan Chang said...

Congrats on your milestone! I think the best book I've read this year was an ARC of WINGS OF THE WICKED by Courtney Allison Moulton! It was such an amazing sequel to ANGELFIRE!

GFC: cyc

jadedlittlegirlx AT gmail DOT com

Sophia Chang said...

These are such great prizes!

This was a good reading year for me: I discovered Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series AND Vampire Academy. I finally read How's Moving Castle, which reminded me why I love and write fantasy the most. Vampire Crush has the best voice I've read all year.

Kristin Lenz said...

I just discovered your blog thanks to: http://www.stinalindenblatt.com/2011/09/blogging-about-writing.html

And just in time to enter this great giveaway! I just finished the best book: Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter. Congrats on your 500 followers!