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Marianna

Marianna






"I suspect that some people who read this book will hate it....

Trade Me -  Courtney Milan

...I also suspect that some people will love it. It's very much a New Adult romance, Courtney Milan style." - Courtney Milan

 

I'm intrigued.

 

I've been working the most awful job these past six months!

But I quit it.

 

And now I don't feel dead inside anymore. So nice.

Currently Reading: World After by Susan Ee

World After  - Susan Ee

I really really really liked the first book of this series. Let's see how this one goes! :)

From "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

Reading progress update: I've read 5%.

Friends Without Benefits - Penny Reid

"None of these were deal breakers, because I didn’t want to date the guy. I wanted to hit that. Actually, I just wanted to hit something and soon.

 

I’d recently made up my mind and committed an unrepentant HIPAA violation when I scanned his last physical. He was disease free and had healthy cardiac and pulmonary systems. We would have a symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship. It would suit me quite well."

 

LOL. What a way to find a sex partner. Just look through your fellow doctors' physical charts!

 

I like her.

I just found out that...

Archangel's Shadows (Guild Hunter #7) - Nalini Singh Angels' Pawn - Nalini Singh

The next book in the Guild Hunter series is about Ashwini and Janvier!

 

 

I've been waiting for their story since I read Angels' Pawn years ago. I would have been satisfied with another novella but I'm not going to say no to a whole BOOK about them!

 

Expected release is November 2014 which is way too far away.

 

I'm still happy-dancing! :D

 

 

There is a sneak peak scene on Nalini's website: A Glimpse of Archangel's Shadows.

Branden Summers Photography

"A large dividing force behind creating this series was actually less about affecting the gay community directly, and more about giving a the general population a way to relate to gay imagery which is devoid of sex, victimization, or banality - themes that might usually prevent some folks from connecting.

 

The photographs are not documentations, they are dream illustrations of what open expressions of love in different cultures 'could' look like in a future, fore accepting time."             

-Branden Summers

 

So what I think that means is that the following photos are not of actual gay couples but of models posing as gay couples. I still find them incredibly moving.

 

 

 

This next one is my favorite. I want someone to write their story for me.

 

 

There are more photos from this series on the photogropher's website.

REBLOG: Bundled (New BookLikes Theme)

I haven't reviewed much in the last few weeks due to being obsessed with designing a new theme. I wasn't very satisfied with the last theme I submitted as the coding was a bit sloppy, lazy and rushed... so I hope this one will have less code errors and, overall, just be better.

 


So... what does this theme offer? Well, considering I'm a nut when it comes to giving the user options... this theme comes packed with 22 different colour choices (most shown above). 14 are colourful on a white background, 6 have a dark background and 2 are grey. You will have the option to upload a background image, a header image and even remove the avatar square in case you want your header to take up the full top space. You can change the font colour for the blog title and/or the description.

 

The theme columns can be flipped and there is a "notice box" on the menu column in case you want to enter a short note to your readers that you are on holiday or taking a reviewing break or whatever you want (the box will disappear if the notice is blank). You can also select whether you want the social media images to appear when you don't use them or have them hidden.

There is an available selection of 10 header fonts, 3 quotes/description fonts, 6 post fonts and 3 small fonts (timestamps, post tags, etc.). In addition to these, which are all served by Google Fonts, I've also included the option to select web-safe fonts (Impact, Comic Sans, Arial & Verdana) to reduce load time if you're trying to minimise load times on your blog (probably only useful for those that post tons of images, if not, the Google fonts are probably fine).

 

All these options are available at the very bottom of the customisation frame.

I made some minor changes to what is common in most of the available themes. The bookshelf has a menu separate from the regular menu navigation area and unrated books have a slight opacity. The time line is shown as a list instead of the alternating boxes for a more compact look. The following/followers pages are designed to show active users first and then inactive users (those who haven't logged in for 30 days) at the bottom with a slight opacity to differentiate between the two groups. The comments section will always have a background for easier reading as will the added widgets under the menu column. Oh, I also changed the "currently reading" section under the menu to display books with progress larger than those that don't have a progress % (this one was the trickiest to figure out and I hope there aren't any unforeseen bugs introduced with the change).

I'll be uploading this theme for consideration on Monday. Right now I just need to scan the code a zillion times to make sure everything is good to go. It will be a free theme because, who doesn't love free? Also, I am far from being a pro designer and there is a medium-high chance the theme will have bugs I was unable to see while testing because my blog is still relatively new and without content.

If you find any bugs (once it goes live and if you do use it, obviously) please report them in the comments below or send me a message. I check BookLikes more than I do my personal email account, so I'll likely respond here faster. Anywho, I hope everyone enjoys this new theme... I had a great time creating it and learning more about the twig engine! :)

Reblogged from Ungh... Arrr... Books!

I can't believe it!

I don't even know what to say.

 

I stopped reviewing on Goodreads because I morally disagreed with their actions toward reviewers. I've actually never had a bad interaction with an author. Goodreads hasn't ever deleted any of my reviews. I left because their behavior just didn't feel right.

 

Today I noticed this in my inbox:

 

Hi Marianna,
 
We are contacting you in regard to the following review:
 
 
As the review is predominantly about the author's behavior and not about the book, it violates our review guidelines. We will give you 2 calendar days to decide what to do, whether that means backing up the information through our export feature for your personal records or editing the content to comply with our guidelines.  If the review continues to break our rules, it will be deleted per our policy after 2 days.
 
In the future, if you are concerned about the behavior of an author or another member, please either flag the content or report the issue to us via email so that we can handle the situation. 
 
Best regards,
The Goodreads Team
 

 

This situation is frustrating, infuriating and ... just a bit funny because this is the review they want me to take down:

 

(Booklikes book link.)

 

I actually wanted to write a really looong rant about that book. It pissed me off so much that I had pages of quotes and notes and opinions.

 

I had such a strong reaction to it because I read it not too long after the whole Goodreads Debacle. I was feeling a bit sensitive about reviewers rights and here comes a book that does the exact same thing that many a BBAuthor has done to reviewers who gave their book a low rating.

 

In this book a smart and interesting teenage girl who reviews music and movies on the internet is reduced to just another internet troll jealous of the artist's success. All this time that she was reviewing products she thought she was giving her honest opinion but no, she was actually giving low reviews because she is a bitter girl who realizes that she will never do as much as the artist. She deserves to be abandoned and scored by everyone around her. Her mother, her uncle, her best friend, her whole town but especially the artist. She doesn't deserve their love.

 

Like I said. BULLSHIT.

 

This pissed me off big time but as you can see, after thinking about it I decided to just wash my hands off it all and write down the bare reason for my low rating. Take-it as-you-will style.

 

Goodreads took it as an attack on the authors.

 

 

I am now in the position of having to defend a review that doesn't even once mention the authors. I don't know how much more about the book's plot a review could get. I practically spoiled it!

 

Is there someone I can write? Can I ask Goodreads to reconsider?  I don't know.

 

What I do know is that I shouldn't have to!

 

Why in the world is Goodreads putting reviewers in the position of having to prove their innocence?

 

REBLOG: Which Pill Would You Choose?

 

My answer:

 

I would choose the blue pill! And the universe I would choose is Tamora Pierce's Tortall. I've been re reading her books for so many years now they feel like home.

 

I'm down with a cold or a flu, don't know which, so I'm re-reading my favorite books for comfort.

 

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

 

Thalia @ Pictures in the Words' post

 

All Hail Grimlock's post

 

Original post by Hunger For Knowledge

 

LINK: The Culture Show: Jon Ronson meets Malcolm Gladwell (YouTube)

There's a new delete option on Leafmarks!

 

Last week I was trying to organize my Leafmarks shelves and came across one full of books that I just didn't want on there.

 

Although Leafmarks gave the option of moving the books from the soon to be deleted exclusive shelf to another, there wasn't the option of deleting all the books on that shelf.

 

This seemed like a logical addition so I asked for it and voila, Jacquie delivered!

 

It will not work with the default shelves "read", "to-read" and "currently-reading" so this is not the way to clear your shelves completely.

 

However, I'm thinking this will be a nice workaround for multiple book deletion. (Hopefully, that will come soon.)

 

I have made for myself an "adelete" exclusive shelf. I added the 'a' so it will be the first option in the drop down menu. If I need to delete many books I will drop them in there and delete them all in one go later.

 

This is not the most elegant solution but at least I will never again have to click "OK" thirty times in a row on those pop up windows!

 

 

LINK: Magic Breaks Excerpt (Chapters One and Two)

Magic Breaks  -  Ilona Andrews

"The excerpt is provided as a sneak peek and will contain grammatical and punctuation errors.  Once again, it’s provided as is.  Read at your own risk." 

--Ilona Andrews' Blog.

 

Magic Breaks expected release date is July 29, 2014. 

 

That's practically August!

 

AUGUST!!

 

... please?

Currently Reading: Written in Red

Written in Red - Anne Bishop

This is a re-read for me. 

 

I'm gonna try to figure out what is it that I loved so much about this book and collect some favorite quotes.

 

The next book of this series, Murder of Crows, is coming out on March 4th.

 

I'm getting myself ready.

 

REBLOG: Clarifying Lengths

(I've been using "short story" and "novella" interchangeably and I've never even heard of a "novelette" before!)  -Marianna

_____________________________

Someone messaged me, asking what a "novelette" was. I answered them in messages, but felt there might be more of you out there that do not know what label certain word counts come with. 

 

Because of verbose authors like Stephen King, some people confuse novelettes and novellas with short stories. The designation doesn't mean much to the average reader, but some people can feel cheated upon reading a short story that is only a few thousand words in length, when, in fact, it's exactly what was promised.  

 

This was taken directly from Wikipedia, and is the industry standard. The only thing missing from this list is Flash Fiction, which is anything under a thousand words. 

 

 

ClassificationWord count
Novel over 40,000 words
Novella 17,500 to 40,000 words
Novelette 7,500 to 17,500 words
Short story under 7,500 words

 

 

Reblogged from Lornographic Material

H and h.

I was reading reviews and noticed a person shortening "heroine" as h and "hero" as H.

 

Is this a normal practice or just that reviewers preference?

If this is a standard why does the heroine get the lowercase letter?