Moving Day! Please Read.

Hi everyone!

The day has come that I'm saying goodbye to my Blogger blog and my .blogspot link. From now on I will not be posting again from this blog, and all of my reviews, guest posts and interviews will be moved to my new blog www.nyxbookreviews.com. Please come visit and say hi!

A note to all the GFC followers; GFC is disabled for all the non-Blogger blogs. Therefore, if you'd like to continue following me, make sure to either follow by RSS (the orange button at the top) or enter your email address at the "Follow by Email" form thingy in the sidebar. If you have any trouble following me on my new blog, please let me know.

It's still a work in progress, so please bear with me the upcoming few days (:

Review Copy Cleanup: Goals & Pile

And we're off! Today is the first day of the month-long event my bookish friend Vicky and me are hosting: the Review Copy Cleanup! If you haven't heard of our awesome event, go here to read more about it. Sign ups are still open, so if you're interested make sure to join the fun (: You can also follow our progress on Twitter, using the #RCCleanup hashtag.

I got a scary pile this time guys. My goal will be to read at least eight books from my pile. Since on a typical month I read around nine books, this should be a reachable goal. Here are the books I have, first paperbacks and then my astounding collection of Netgalleys:

• Shadows of the Past by E.A. Jensen
• Sequela by MP Kollman
• Breaking the Devil's Heart by H.A. Goodman
• Twilight's Ashes by Auler Ivis
• Mystery Time by Janet Hannah
• The Rose of Shanhasson by Burkhart
• Deadly Secrets by Leeann Burke
• Only the Strongest Survive by Ian Fox

...Right. I guess I will go reading now! *runs off*


If you made a goals post, let me know in the comments so I can visit you back (:

I'm On A Break!

Hi guys!

I've decided that it's time.

Time to stop blogging? Hell no! Time for my yearly vacation away from Nyx Book Reviews.

I took a break last year when blogging became too much of a chore and not a hobby for me. I think I stayed away for around two months, and in that time I retrieved my love for books, for blogging, for reading. I came back with tons of ideas and a whole new look on blogging.

And I want that. I want to come back here and make my blog even better than it is now. Because to be honest guys, I'm pretty damn proud of how much my blog grew this year. How I hosted my first event. Made new friends. Had the courage to contact authors. Took the leap and sit in front of a camera talking books.

But there is more to discover, and I need a fresh look. So, starting today I will stay clear from my blog for two weeks. That doesn't mean I'm entirely gone. I'll still be on Twitter, and will still update my reading progress over on Goodreads.

And when I get back, get ready. I'm putting together a big box of books giveaway. The Review Copy Cleanup is coming up. Reviews, interviews, guest posts, the whole affair. Self-hosting my blog. And a ton of other surprises.

I've got big plans my friends.

But in until then, enjoy the picture of this doggy.

Click me for more cuteness!

June Wrap Up & My Trip to Luxembourg

Aaaaand.. It's gone.

June is always one of the busiest months of the year for me, and this time it was no different. It's the big birthday month, with birthdays to celebrate every single week, one of them being my own 18th birthday. It's also the start of festival season. Music is my second passion, right after books. As a birthday gift my parents paid to let me go on a trip to Luxembourg with my boyfriend, and it was so much fun (: I've added some pictures of the trip down below, if you're interested.

Events:

• Kingdom Blog Tour. I had quite some fun interviewing the author, Anderson O'Donnel.
• Fanatical about Fiction. I joined this Youtube group of "booktubers". So far I've taped three vlogs, and I'm immensely enjoying this new direction. I'm still extremely shy when sitting in front of the camera, but I'm getting better at it every time.

Interviews:

• Interview with Theodore Weesner (The Car Thief)
• Interview with Anderson O'Donnell (Kingdom)

Guest Posts:

• Guest Post by Reyna Hawk on Character Creation
• Guest Post by RaShelle Workman on Fame or Fortune
• Guest Post by Barbara Jolie on Common Mistakes While Writing Guest Posts

Reviews:

• Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne (4/5 Stars)
• Wildthorn by Jane Eagland (4/5 Stars)
• Forever by Maggie Stiefvater (3/5 Stars)
• Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle (2.5/5 Stars)
• Insurgent by Veronica Roth (5/5 Stars)
• Matched by Ally Condie (3/5 Stars)

Book Favourites:

• Fracture by Megan Miranda
• Killer Unicorn series by Diana Peterfreund

Books read: 6

Pages read: 2228
Remaining TBR Hill: 117
Read more about the TBR Hill here

The beautiful city of Luxembourg

Striking a pose in Luxembourg

Me and friends at the festival

How the ground looked close to the stage

This guy did a belly slide in the mud

There was a tent where you could watch soccer & stay dry

Us getting REALLY wet at Biffy Clyro

Notice of Absence... I'm in Luxembourg!

Here I am again, telling you that I won't be around for four days! I'm going on a trip to Luxembourg (one of the tiniest countries in Europe) with my boyfriend. We'll do two days of sight-seeing in this pretty capital, and after that the scenery will be changed into something like this...

Which is a music festival called Rock-A-Field. I'm super excited but slightly nervous since I've never been there. So many of my favourite bands are playing, and a big bunch of my friends are going too, so I think it will be great fun.

Anyways, I won't be able to read or review during this time, but when I get back I have some cool new posts for you guys. Until then you can check out my vlogs, latest reviews, discussion posts or this picture of a dog wearing a shark costume.

May Wrap Up

May was quite a busy month for me. It's the month that I started writing my own book. It may have caused that I had less time for my blog and to comment on other people's blogs, but I promise to be better! June will be an incredibly busy month for me with my 18th birthday coming up (yay!) and a trip to Luxembourg. There has been some talk between me and Vicky from Books, Biscuits & Tea to host another Review Copy Cleanup in August, which is very exciting. I'll keep you posted!

Events:

• May Page Count Contest. I kind of slacked on this one. I didn't update the form every week, but then again, I didn't read that much this month either. These spring months are always so busy!
• The Mountain - I Sized It Up This one doesn't really count as an event, but I'm still proud of it. In this one I counted all of my unread books! You can find my current TBR Hill update below.
• Bout of Books 4.0 Readathon My favourite readathon! Yet again it was awesome fun to read with all of you, and my challenge was a definite success (:

Interviews:

• Interview with Ruth Warburton (A Witch in Winter)
• Interview with Lucy Felthouse (Off the Beaten Track)

Guest Posts:

• Guest Post by Kelsey (Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf) on Blogging

Reviews:

• Carrie by Stephen King (4/5 Stars)
• Blue Moon by Laurell K Hamilton (4/5 Stars)
• Ashfall by Mike Mullin (4/5 Stars)
• Eve by Anna Carey (3/5 Stars)
• The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry (4/5 Stars)
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (4/5 Stars)
• First Frost by Jennifer Estep (2/5 Stars)

Book Favourites:

• Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Books read: 8

Pages read: 2630
Remaining TBR Hill: 112
Read more about the TBR Hill here

Bout of Books 4.0 Readathon: Updates

I decided to make one big post where I update my progress instead of cluttering the sidebar with all these different posts.

For more info on the readathon, visit the Bout of Books website. You find see my reading stack and goals here.

I'll also be using this post to participate in some challenges (:


As part of the Monday challenge, Sarah asks: “What do you like best about readathons? Do you have any readathon traditions or rituals? If this is your first readathon, what do you like so far?”

Readathons are made of awesome! Seriously, if you've never participated in one, you should try it! So far I've been liking the low-pressure ones best. It's more about the community feel than actually reading a lot. You will still read more than you usually do - but it's not a contest.
I don't have any real traditions. I guess talking way too much on Twitter and forgetting to read is a tradition? I always make a neat little stack of books that I want to read as a visual reminder that I'm doing a readathon. And I eat lots of snacks!

Monday 5/14
Pages I've read today: 300
Number of books I’ve read today: 2
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Books: Ashfall by Mike Mullin & The Restaurant on the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

Tuesday 5/15
Pages I've read today: 200
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read: 2
Books: Eve by Anna Carey

Wednesday 5/16
Pages I've read today: 120
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Books: Eve by Anna Carey

Thursday 5/17
Pages I've read today: 0
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Books: No books! I didn't read a single thing today! ):

Friday 5/18
Pages I've read today: 40
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Books: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry & The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry

There's an awesome challenge today, hosted by The Reading Housewives of Indiana. It's about books AND shoes! I love shoes! Here are some book-shoe combos I made:

 I love these boots! I think Rachel would agree, even though they're not knee length.

Okay, these shoes have absolutely nothing to do with either zombies or unicorns, but they got such an awesome print that I had to put them next to something equally shiny.

Another Harrison book. The main character Madison loves colour and even has purple hair. I think she would like my new All Stars (:

Saturday 5/19
Pages I've read today: 0
Number of books I’ve read today: 0
Total number of books I’ve read: 3
Books: 0

Sunday 5/20
Pages I've read today: 100
Number of books I've read today: 0
Total number of books I've read: 3
Books: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Project And-Now-I'm-Gonna-Write-The-Damn-Thing

A lot of us readers are secretly admiring all of our favourite authors and think "I wish I could be an author someday"... I've been creating little stories in my head since I can remember and I've written a short story or two, but I never put one of my longer stories on paper. That was, until a week ago. I downloaded the free trial version of Scrivener (a writing software thing - for more info visit their site) and just got on with it.

I declare May the month where I will spend one hour every day to Project And-Now-I'm-Gonna-Write-The-Damn-Thing, or Project ANIGWTDT for short. Okay, I might have to work on the name for a bit.

For those of you who are curious about my writing endeavours, I made a separate blog for it. Visit me! I just posted a very cool excerpt, check it out (:

So what about you guys? Do you ever dream of becoming a published author? Or do you write yourself? (If so, leave me a link, I would love to add you to my little "Fellow Writers" list!)

The Mountain - I Sized It Up

Today I counted all the books that I own that I still have to read. Not ebook ones, I'm way to scared to count those, but just the books I have on my bookshelves. Guys, I was scared. I was afraid The Mountain would be like this:

I'm proud to say, it was more like this:

My TBR Mountain is more like a TBR Hill. You still don't want to climb it, but it doesn't scare you as much as its snow-topped big brother. As it turns out, I have 117 unread books. That's right, I passed the one-hundred mark. But I was fearing that I sneakily passed the two hundred too when I was looking the other way. I am so, so glad that it's just 117. That means that if I would stop blogging entirely, and I would continue reading as much as I do now, I would read through all of my books in just one year. That really doesn't feel like an endless supply, as I thought it would be.

Don't get me wrong, it's way too much still.

But I'm not beyond saviour, and that's something I'm proud of. I'm not buried by unread books just yet. So right here, right now, I declare a challenge with myself. I am going to reduce the size of my pile this year. At the end of this year in December, I will count all of my TBR books again. And it will not be 117 or more. Let's make a goal.

At the end of this year, I will have reduced my TBR Hill to 80 books.

Because, let's be honest, I will still be buying new books. I'll still get books for review. But I'll try to keep up with my reading, and won't go on a book buying spree when I don't even have time to read. I'll add a "Size of the Hill" part to my Monthly Updates from now on, so you guys can all follow my progress. Wish me luck!

I would love to know how your TBR Mountains are doing. When was the last time you dared to count? Feel free to leave a comment and share your experiences (:

April Wrap Up

I decided to start doing this monthly wrap up thing more regularly. April has yet again been my best blogging month so far (my blog just keeps on growing, and I'm so glad for all of you awesome readers). This month was pretty low on events as I had to take a break after co-hosting the Review Copy Cleanup in March. 

Events:

• April Page Count Contest. I never did make it in the top 20, but the contest did encourage me to read more, and not to be afraid to pick up a book that's high in page count. In the end I read exactly 3400 pages which is 300 more than I was going for. I'm quite proud that I achieved such a high number!
• Secret April Event: Illumine's Wish. It was very nice to be able to participate in this event (:
• Dewey's 24H Readathon. Okay, I didn't read that much during the readathon. But I participated in a few of the mini-challenges and slept through about half of the thing. Sleep is important too I guess.
• London Book Fair. Ha, it's not often a real life event makes it on my list! Definitely my favourite of this month.

Interviews:

• Interview with Justin Ordonez (author of Sykosa)
• Interview with J. Meyers (author of Intangible)

Guest Posts:

• Guest Post by Liz Reinhardt on Advice for Aspiring Writers

Reviews:

• Burnt Offerings by Laurell K. Hamilton (4/5 Stars)
• Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (4/5 Stars)
• Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall (5/5 Stars)
• Ripper by Amy Carol Reeves (4/5 Stars)
• Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (5/5 Stars)
• LoveLife by Rachel Spangler (3/5 Stars)
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer (5/5 Stars)
• Wither by Lauren DeStefano (3/5 Stars)
• The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (4/5 Stars)

Book Favourites:

• Fever series by Karen Marie Moning
• Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris

Books read: 9

Pages read: 3400

In My Mailbox - Why I'm Not Having One

As most of you know by now, there is massive drama going on in the YA blogging community once again. This time it concerns one of the biggest bloggers: Kristi from The Story Siren. Long story short: she has been accused of plagiarism, tried to sweep it under the rug, it came out anyway, she half-apologised, everyone got very angry, she apologised again, this time better. If you want more information about what happened and the evidence of plagiarism, there are a lot of blogs that have this information and are easy to find by searching for "The Story Siren" + "plagiarism".

I'm not joining the "did she do it or did she not" discussion here, this post is only meant to explain why I personally decided not to participate in the In My Mailbox meme any more. Everyone can decide for themselves where they stand on this.

The worst offence here for me isn't the plagiarism itself. No, she shouldn't have done it and she should have known better. But if she had just said "Oops! I'm so sorry! I'm adding your name as an inspiration to these posts right now!" that would have been fine with me. The fact that she tried to hide it made it worse for me. She consciously lied about it to thousands of her readers. I do not accept this, and refuse to support her blog. She has tons of ads on there, and I don't want her to make money off me after all this. I'm not going as far as some bloggers, who are not only boycotting The Story Siren but all products and publishers that are associated with her (for example - they're not buying Insurgent). I'm just not considering myself one of her readers and will not act like one.

There are tons of alternatives to show of your mailbox springing up, including memes hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea and Tynga at Tynga's Reviews, and I'm sure more will follow later today. I hope over time these memes can be united to one again (:

Update: Another substitute is hosted by Kimberly over at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Notice of Absence... I'm in London!

In case you're wondering why Nyx Book Reviews hasn't been updated for a few days... That's because I am attending the London Book Fair!

I'm away until April 20th. I'll post a few updates about the #lbf12 on my Twitter profile, but I won't be able to keep up my usual posting schedule. When I get back I will have tons of stories, new books and awesome stuffs to give away!

So while you're here anyway, here are some things you can do:

• Enter my current giveaway
• Read my older reviews
• Meet some authors through interviews & guest posts
• Participate in the ramblings

Or you can click on the picture of this adorable doggy and be amazed by pages of pages of cuteness. I won't hold it against you.

See you again soon!

I'm Going to the London Book Fair!

Most of the time, living in the Netherlands is kind of annoying if you are a book blogger. It means it's pretty much impossible to go to signings, meetings, and other fun blogging stuff. You have to work harder to get publishers to send review copies to you, because let's face it, you're more expensive to ship to. One of the fun parts of living in the Netherlands is that I live just a six-hour train ride from London away.

So when I found out that London is the host of the massive London Book Fair, I was thrilled! It meant I could finally go to one of the big bookish events that all of the US bloggers rave about. It's the BEA of Europe! 

After a little while of discussing and weighing every penny... it is decided that I am going to the London Book Fair! I have no idea what to expect, since this is my first time there, and I can't really find other bloggers that have attended. I believe it's only open for public since a year, so it's a little bit less commercially orientated. What should I wear? Which seminars do I have to attend? I have no idea!

So I'm looking for other European bloggers that are thinking about attending the Fair. Or maybe people that have visited the Fair before! I'm looking forward to hear about your experiences (:

New Blog Design!

I've been wrestling with my old design quite a while now, and with the Review Copy Cleanup event coming up, I thought my blog could use a nice new layout!

It's not perfect yet (my sidebar got pretty messed up), but I'm very happy with the result.

I bought this template over at suckmylolly.com. She's got some great designs for very low prices, go check her out!

So, what do you all think of the new Nyx Book Reviews? (:

January Wrap Up

I decided to do a little wrap up of everything I did this January. It was the best blogging month I've had so far. I reached 250 followers, did a bunch of events and read a lot.

Events:

• Busting the Newbie Blues. I really enjoyed doing this event again. I met a whole lot of new bloggers and have tried to give the newbies some advice (: I also learned how to make a button, which makes me very happy.
• Bout of Books 3.0. I also participated in the BoB 2.0, so I was glad I had enough time to participate in this one too. I also had my very first challenge, which was very successful. January was definitely a month of firsts (:
• A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon. I really can't say no to readathons, so when someone asked me to join this one I jumped at it. It was a lot of fun, and I even won something!
• The Hunger Games Readalong. It has only started for a few days now, but I guess it counts as January. There are still some places left for hosts, so if you're interested you can sign up.

Interviews:

• Interview with KE Payne (author of Me@you.com)
• Interview with Rod Tyson (author of Curse of Ancient Shadows)
• Interview with Brodi Ashton (author of Everneath)

Guest Posts:

• Guest Post by Shannon Mayer on KDP Select
• Guest Post by Emily Cale on Writing

Reviews:

• Alienation by Jon S. Lewis (4/5 Stars)
• Demon's Fall by Karalynn Lee (2/5 Stars)
• Blood Beast by Darren Shan (3/5 Stars)
• Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder (4/5 Stars)
• Me@you.com by KE Payne (3/5 Stars)
• Feed by Mira Grant (4/5 Stars)
• Everneath by Brodi Ashton (4.5/5 Stars)
• Blood Work by Kim Harrison (5/5 Stars)
• Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (2/5 Stars)

Books read: 9

Pages read: 3710

250 Followers!

So I have some great news to share with you guys... I reached 250 followers! I've been noticing a steady stream of new people on Nyx Book Reviews, and I think it's totally awesome.

To thank the old and the new alike I'll of course be hosting a giveaway. I already have it scheduled February 14th (because I hate Valentine's Day and would like to make that day a bit more enjoyable). It's going to be another choose your own Book Depository book kind of thing (:

If I reach 300 followers at any time between now and the end of the giveaway I will add another winner. Because I really like you guys. And I like giving people gifts.

Thank you all for making blogging a great experience <3

***

Happy New Year! & 2011 Wrap Up

First off I would like to wish all of you a Happy New year!! I hope you all have a healthy year filled with wonderful books.

As I did last year, I will make a big list with a lot of numbers for the year of 2011. But first, I would like to compare where I am now to my resolutions of last year. Try to post more regularly, check. At least one review up every week, check. Get 250 blog followers. Okay, I'm still working on that one. I'm currently on 218, which I'm still very proud of.

For 2012 I hope to get my blog to continue growing. I'll be reading more of my books for review and try to post them closer to the publishing date. Maybe get some more interviews/guest posts with authors if possible. And get 400 followers! I'm planning to take over the world, you know.

2011 in numbers:
Books Read: 90
Pages Read: 26298
Average Pages a Book: 292
Most Books Read By One Author: 4 (tie between Karen Marie Moning & J.K. Rowling)
Books Reviewed: 67 (74% of books read)

Blog Posts: 195
Followers: 218
Comments: 620
Total Page Views: 12636 (8,5x more than last year)
Most Viewed From: 5829, United States (46% of all page views)
Most Views in a Month: 2249, December (18% of all page views)

***

Project Book Blogger Reviews

As some of you might have noticed, I had a call-out for reviewers last week here on my blog. I got some responses, but I would love to have some more reviewers for my little project. I'm especially looking for reviewers that like epic-fantasy, horror, mysteries and paranormal romance. If you don't sign up.. Well, Mister Creepy Cat here will find you.

The first Project Book Blogger reviews (as I like to call them) will get online in about two to three weeks, depending on how long the participants take to read and review their ARCs. I'm very excited, and hope that PBB will be a success!

In other news...

I love how the singer is being tortured by his band mates.

This is the band Royal Republic which is totally awesome. I'm going to see them for the second time next week Friday.

Hope you enjoy the musical intermezzo, and happy reading!

Bout of Books 2.0 Readathon Starting Line

Well, as I had so much fun this weekend in the Wonderfully Wicked Readathon, I thought I'd participate in the Bout of Books 2.0 Readathon too, starting today (October 24th) running until the 29th. You can still sign up here!

My Goals:

• Read at least 3 books
• Have a lot of fun and meet some awesome bloggers!

Books I will try to read:

• Carrie by Stephen King
• Dark Reunion (The Vampire Diaries #4) by L.J. Smith
• Dreamfever (Fever #4) by Karen Marie Moning
• The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Hitchhiker's Guide #2) by Douglas Adams
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• The Mysterious Lady Law by Robert Appleton

Or any other book that catches my fancy (:


My first update: 10/24

Number of books I’ve read today: 1/3rd
Total number of books I’ve read: 1/3rd
Today #insixwords: I like creepy books like Carrie
Books: Carrie by Stephen King

Update: 11/24

Number of books I’ve read today: 2/3rd
Total number of books I’ve read: 1
Today #insixwords: Wish I had more reading time
Books: Carrie by Stephen King

The Wonderfully Wicked Readathon Wrap-Up Post

And so the Wonderfully Wicked Readathon, or #WWreadathon as it's also known, comes to an end for me. I had a GREAT time, and it was wonderful to meet such awesome people.
Even though I spent MASSIVE amounts of time on Twitter (yes, I blame you all for that!) it was one of the most productive readathons I have ever participated in. I managed to read three books in three days, something I haven't accomplished any more since I was like six, and all the books I read contained 200 words.

Mindless babbling aside, these are my stats:

• Total books read: 3
• Total pages read: 916
• Average pages per day: 305
• Challenges participated in: 2 (have to work on this one next time..)
• Updates posted: >9000, I am not going to count all of my #WWreadathon tweets!

The books I read:

But, there is even more readathon fun at the horizon! Starting tomorrow, I will also participate in the Bouts of Books Readathon! More about that will be posted later this week (: