Rachel over at The Annex talks about how we should blog for ourselves and not to make other people happy.

"IRL I tend to be a really judge-y person. I kind of live in a world of black and white, right and wrong. But for some reason, when it comes to books and all things book-related, all that goes out the window. I appreciate people who are different. I appreciate reading about their differing thoughts about books, their different styles for their reviews, their different ways of running their blogs.

And I kind of believe that being a book blogger has made me a better person." -Rachel

What's Next is hosted by Icey Books really comes in handy when you have a bunch of books and aren't sure which to start next.

Icey Books needs help picking between:

*The Wicked and the Just

*Shadow and Bone

*Life After Theft

Go vote for which book you think she should read, help others find their next book, and join in the fun!

Savanah from Books With A Bite talks about a part of her life that is non book related, but definitely worth a share.  April is Autism Awareness month so I felt the need to share her story!  

1. Her son, Ben is on the Autism Spectrum and she discusses how the past few years have been as he was being diagnosed. 
2. A tear-triggering letter she wrote to her son

Dear Debby: Advice for YA Fictional Characters made me laugh out loud.  It was fun trying to figure out which character she's answering.

"Dear Debby,

The fate of the world is just within my grasp and only a simple boy has the potential to stop me.  My world needs cleansing and I’m just the person to do it considering how powerful I am..." 

Story Crush wrote a post on all the scenes in our favorite YA books that made them swoon.  If you're in need of a pick me up that'll make you melt check this out.

*Aria & Perry

*Mal & Alina

*Alex & Brittany

My new friend from Bloggiesta (@RebeccaScags) posted this list of bookish things that she wants to do someday.  I want to make my own list next week.  Check back Thursday the 4th for mine!

1. Make a deeper, personal connection with an author
2. Read 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
3. Vist as many libraries as I can in as many cities as I can
4. Read a book in another language (besides English)
5. Read 10 books of poetry
6. Read 20 books of short stories
7. Write a children’s book
8. Fill my wall of bookshelves with books

My brother keeps telling me to do a bookish podcast, but I wasn't sure how to do this.  So now that I'm listening to these two women discuss Diversity in YA I'm seeing how podcasts can be an awesome way to talk about books.  I'll def be listening to future ones from this blog.


*Simone Elkeles books: Alex is too stereotypical
*Eleanor & Park: Immigrant experience was from a racial standpoint.
*Reference to a certain Alien that lives in WV
*A perspective from someone with parents who have a diverse background.
*Having sex with vampires is not a good idea

Articles: Bout of Books  By: Amanda Photo from: Bout of Books Wanna make a dent in your TBR pile?  Join us in the Bout of Books event.  Set your goals and read as much as you can!  Participate in challenges, giveaways, and tweet chats.  If you can't make it to this one there will be more in the future.  Here's my goals and updates so you can get an idea of how it  works.	Giveaways: 1 Copy of PTL By: Eileen Photo from: goodreads Eileen is an awesome blogger and  she's giving away one copy of, in my opinion, the best debut contemp of 2012.  You have one more day to  get your entries in so don't wait to enter.
Getting to the Core  of your Characters By: C.S. Lakin Photo from: Live, Write, Thrive I love this author/editor's advice on how to break down the components of a story.  She's really helped me in my attempt to write a novel so I  hope she can help other aspiring authors out there.  Check out all her great articles.	500,000 Pg Views Giveaway By: Amanda, Jonathan, & Emily Photo from: Hippies & Beauty & Books oh my This blog is always giving great giveaways.  This one you can win: Grand Prize:  An Amazon Kindle Fire pre-loaded with 3 books of your choice 1st Prize: $50 Amazon Gift Card or $50 to spend at The Book Depository 2nd Prize: 2 book orders of your choice from Amazon or The Book Depository It ends August 30 at midnight!
Review: Article 5 Review By: Jenna Photo from: goodreads I had put this book on my to read list and then forgotten about it.  Jenna's review raves about it and now I'm really excited to get it and read it soon!	Featured Meme: Swoon Thursday By: YA Bound Photo from: YA Bound This meme is fairly new, but it sounds really fun.  You pick whatever you're currently reading and say what made you swoon so far in it and why.  I love falling for characters so I might start participating in this soon.
Featured Author: Photo from: goodreads This author is awesome.  I just read her new book Last Summer and loved it.  It's about a girl trying to help this guy she just met recover from his drug addiction.  And of course there is some romance in there and some drama.  She's also doing a giveaway to give away 5 copies!	Featured Tweeter:  @bookaddictguide I love reading this twitter friend's reviews.  Her review of Iron King reflected everything I thought of the book too.  I'm glad I wasn't the only one to not love it.  She's not afraid to be honest.  I see her around twitter often and she very friendly.