Feature and Follow Friday #173

Welcome to the Feature & Follow

---

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and you must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.

---

How To Become a Featured Blog?

We pick our featured blogs randomly each week from the blogs who participated the week before.

Please be sure to feature your e-mail address clearly on your blog. Either on the main blog, on a Contact page, or on an About Me page. If I can't find your email easily, I will choose a different blog to feature.

Our Feature - Reading With a Vengeance

1. When did you start blogging?

I started in April of 2012, which conveniently enough is also MY birthday. It wasn’t intentional.

2. What is your favorite part of book blogging?

The people who message me and comment on my blog. I love my readers so much. I get lots of people saying that they’ve learned stuff from me, which always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, and I get lots of people who teach me stuff with their informative comments, which means more warm fuzzies. I’m basically just warm and fuzzy all around. (Sort of ironic, since my blog is about 90% snark.)

3. What type of books do you mainly blog about?

I typically do YA adventure/paranormal/fantasy/etc-not-contemporary. It wasn’t my intention when I started, but I let my readers vote on which books I review (usually) and they just keep suggesting/picking YA books. I’m not complaining. I enjoy the Young Adult genre; always have.

4. What are your favorite books?

Anything by Tamora Pierce. I grew up reading that woman’s books, and they’re some of the few from my childhood that have stood up to re-reading them as an adult. (Also, Briar Moss is my favoritest ever. Of anything.) I’m also a big fan of the Animorphs, the Lunar Chronicles, Christopher Moore, Diane Duane, Laini Taylor, Robin McKinley...wait, I’ve stopped listing books somehow.

5. What has been the best thing that has happened to you because of book blogging?

Hm, I think the first time someone sent me a message saying they’d bought a book because of me. I was so flattered, I got up and danced a little jig.

Q: What book are you embarrassed to admit you LOVED? (try to think beyond Twilight).

My default answer to this question is one of my favorite quotes: "There's no such thing as guilty pleasures; there are only pleasures."

That being said, there are still a few things I'm embarrassed to have read. Although it's a very slight degree of embarrassment - I can't think of anything that I'm super ashamed of. I liked a few of the Gossip Girl and Clique series books. I don't know if that's really embarrassing but I don't shout from the rooftops that I've read them.

When I was a kid, I was embarrassed to admit how much I loved the Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley Twins. Turns out that everyone else I knew must have been embarrassed about reading them too, because most of the girls my age loved those books - unbeknownst to me at the time. We all gush about the books now and saying you were a fan gives you some good late 80's / early 90's street cred.

And despite the fact that I advocate strongly against the Adults Reading YA stigma, I still don't run around advertising the fact that most of what I read is YA. So that's genre shame added to the shame of feeling ashamed

---

Now for the Follow Fun!

With GFC going the way of the dodo bird for many bloggers, there is no better time to start following blogs via RSS feed. If you use a reader, it would be great if you followed my RSS directly.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

We have a new button, so update your blogs if you are used to doing this meme!

RULES

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
8. If you're new to the follow friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

Next Week's Question:

Vlog Feature: Tell us why you would be the best feature ever in a vlog. The best two will get picked for next week’s feature. If you do not want to participate, just tell us why you can’t be caught on video.

CAPTCHA:

I have an updated CAPTCHA post!

If you have CAPTCHA word verification enabled on your blog, please take it off. It makes it much more difficult for readers to comment. Please look at my CAPTCHA Eradication Post to learn how to get rid of it.