The Return of the Weird Search Terms

Yes folks, the weird search terms are back!  The number of search terms I’ve received for Game of Thrones is up because of season four premiering on April 6 (yay!) but the number of weird search terms are up again.  Here are just some of the weirdest/funniest ones:

unsimulated sex scenes archive

is divergent anti christan

dj mainwolf

the outsiders is a crappy book

opera mad by 4

something bad about women in writing

hateful romance

were slaves buried alive in pyramids

jealous word

use a model to discuss your christmas holiday

can too much reading make mad

just naked people

why is it weird for people to change naked

nude men people

women dislike male nudity

Well, these are all weird.  There’s really nothing else to say aside from what is with all the people searching for naked people?  No, let me rephrase that: Why do people searching for naked people come to my blog and not a porn site?  I guess it’s one of life’s great mysteries.

So what do you think of these search terms?  What are some of the weirdest search terms you’ve ever had?

Amplified by Alexia Purdy

Amplified by Alexia Purdy(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Who wants to be the prey in a world full of hunters?

In the aftermath of the end of her world, April Tate decides that it’s high time to leave the city that never sleeps, Las Vegas. After learning the origins of a Zompire Plague remedy, she risks her life to steal the antidote, makes the decision to separate from Jeremy for a while, and joins a small band of new and old comrades on a trip to the Pacific Coast. There they search out a legendary hive of vampires who are more than just wild, blood drinking creatures, they could be the very people she needs to help her.

On a mission to save the last of humanity, April will use the antidote to save some from eternal damnation, but will her decision bring hope for the future or create an ever bigger, unforeseen devastation?

[Full disclosure: Alexia Purdy provided me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.]

I never quite know what to expect from Alexia Purdy but it’s usually good.  Amplified was no exception.  It was amazing!

April is a very changed person.  She’s found the best friend she thought was dead, is blood-bonded to Christian (her former enemy) and is determined to find the cure for the vampire plague that’s devastated her entire world.  Looking back on who she was in the first book, April has changed quite a bit.  She has to learn to let go of her mother, who committed suicide and she must do the same with her little brother because he wants to stay in the underground human city.  It’s time for her to grow up and move out and a lot of the book focuses on that as she journeys to find her way in a world that has been turned upside down.

The plot was very fast-paced, more so than the first two books in the series.  You have April seeking a cure at Christian’s old colony and then her travelling elsewhere.  There’s danger around every corner with Ferals and other nasty things lurking about.  Alexia Purdy rarely lets the pace drop and when she does it’s only so you can catch your breath before she throws the next plot twist at you.  It’s very intense and I honestly couldn’t put my Kindle down until I finished.

I liked how April’s world expanded throughout the novel.  We get to travel to different places and see how badly they were hit by the plague.  We get to see other parties vying for a cure and still others trying to suppress a cure at all costs.  There are some very important moral questions brought up and I like how at the end there’s still some ambiguity surrounding whether or not to release a cure into the world.  Have we seen the last of some of these important questions?  Absolutely not!  There’s still a long way to go and I know April will rise to face any challenges that come her way.

A kick-butt protagonist, excellent world-building, a fast-paced plot and some very interesting moral dilemmas make Amplified my favourite book in the Reign of Blood series so far.  I can’t wait for book 4!

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Amazon     Barnes and Noble     Goodreads

March Kindle Fire Giveaway

As you guys know I don’t usually post about giveaways but I think this is one has prizes everyone on this blog should get a shot at!  I mean, if you live in the States how can you turn down a free Kindle Fire?  And if you’re like me and live abroad there’s nothing wrong with $229 in Amazon gift cards or in PayPal cash.  So go on and enter.  Happy St. Patrick’s day!

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We are giving away 2 Kindles!!

The first one is available via the rafflecopter below. The 2nd is available only to bloggers who post about this giveaway. You can find info on how to enter in the rafflecopter.

Kindle Fire HDX March

Win a Kindle Fire HDX, Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash ($229 value)

Bloggers & Authors have joined together and each chipped in a little money towards a Kindle Fire HDX 7″.

Continue reading →

Reborn in Shadow by Cynthia Luhrs

Reborn in Shadow by Cynthia Luhrs(Cover picture courtesy of Cynthia Luhrs’ site.)

A GHOST GIVEN A SECOND CHANCE…
Hamish Campbell committed so many sins he’d lost track of them all. The worst? Murdering his brother in a fit of rage. Granted another chance by the god of Shadow, Lord Campbell joins the Shadow Walker brotherhood.

A WOMAN FULL OF LIGHT…
Anna Duncan is goodness personified, casting warmth on everyone she encounters. A chance encounter throws everything she knows upside down when she meets a man with haunted eyes. When a murderer sets his sights on Anna, she realizes the line between good and evil isn’t black and white but made up of varying shades of gray.

OUT OF DARKNESS, HOPE RISES
Though death draws them together, Hamish has too many secrets. If he’s not careful those secrets may spell the ruin of humanity and cost him the only woman he’s ever truly loved.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.]

I honestly didn’t expect to like Hamish.  His actions make him an evil, cheating, lying, brother-killing traitor so why on earth would he be brought back from the dead 400 years later to be one of the good guys?  And yet Hamish seems to have changed.  He really does regret all the actions and events leading up to his murder of Colin.  His horrible childhood really doesn’t excuse his actions toward his own brother, but I am definitely more sympathetic toward him than I was before.  I feel like I can understand what led to his jealousy of Colin and his affair with Abigail.

The characters in this one were wonderful.  Hamish goes through a very powerful personal journey of forgiveness, proving that with a little help no one is beyond redemption.  Anna is a little naive and sweet but her refusal to see the bad things in the world reminds me of a friend of mine.  Yes, she’s rather naive, but it’s realistically so and her views on humanity do change slightly the more she’s with Hamish.  Even if the rest of the novel was awful, Cynthia Luhrs’ characters would be enough reason to read it.

The rest of the novel is not awful, thankfully.  I found the plot was much more fast-paced than the previous books in part because of the rising tensions between Shadow Walkers and Day Walkers are reaching the boiling point.  Dayne and Thorne are at each others’ throats and we really learn the importance of Draken being introduced in Desired by Shadow.  There’s actually a greater, overarching plan for the series rather than just a bunch of vaguely connected romances that end with each book.  Cynthia Luhrs ends this one on such a cliffhanger that I can’t wait for Embraced by Shadow.

I love how she also expanded on the world of Shadow Walkers and Day Walkers.  We learn a little more about Draken and Fury as well as the fae.  It was interesting to see things from Thorne’s point of view as he’s tormented by the apparition he believes is the long-lost love he killed in a jealous rage.  I don’t fully understand his reasons for bringing Hamish back but it seems they’ll be fully revealed in the next novel.  For now the explanation presented in Reborn in Shadow is satisfying.

If you’ve loved the series so far, you’ll love Reborn in Shadow as well.  Hamish will surprise you, I guarantee!

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Amazon     Barnes and Noble   Goodreads

Some Thoughts About Book Blogging & Statistics

I’ve had my own book blog for over two years and it’s actually taken me this long to come to the following conclusions:

1.  Followers are way more important than daily views (generally).

On a more emotional level, it’s nice to know that currently more than 750 people enjoyed my blog enough to hit that follow button.  But what I’ve found in my two years of blogging is that followers really are more important than daily views.  Your average person stumbling across a blog isn’t going to leave a comment, but a follower might.  Followers are the more engaged, active members of your blogging community and for me that’s why they’re more important than the number of daily hits I get.

Aside from that on a purely marketing standpoint, blog tour companies, authors and publishers seem to be far more concerned about follower statistics than daily hits.  When signing up for blog tour companies I’ve only been asked once about daily hits (and I’ve signed up for 6 companies).  And publishers/authors are generally not all that concerned about daily hits as long as you have a decent number of followers.  I may only average 200 hits per day, but because of my 752 followers I get approved for a lot more review requests than I would if I had only 100 followers and 300+ hits per day.

2.  Book reviews suck statistics-wise.

I’ve written nearly 500 book reviews but those are not what bring people to my blog.  No, it’s my rants and articles that bring that most traffic.  With season 4 of Game of Thrones coming up on April 6 my traffic has experienced an enormous spike because I’m suddenly getting nearly one hundred hits per day on my rant Why Girls Hate Game of Thrones—A Rebuttal.  They’re not from people getting mad at the author for the initial ignorant article.  They’re from people searching things like ‘map of westeros’ and ‘game of thrones women’.  It’s sad to say, but for book bloggers, book reviews are not going to get you very far stats-wise.

3.  Blog tours rarely boost traffic.

I haven’t actually taken place in many blog tours yet but I can say that the ones I have taken part in have done absolutely nothing to enhance my traffic.  They’re a great promotional tool for authors to get their work out there and noticed in the blogosphere but for us bloggers they don’t really do much.  Sure, the host-only giveaways are sometimes a great incentive as well as the fact that you’re getting more free books to read, but if you’re only in it to increase your stats you’d be better off writing a book review.

That’s not to say that blog tours don’t benefit bloggers as well.  They’re good at helping you find awesome new authors.  Thanks to blog tours I have some new favourite books in Andromeda’s Fall by Abigail Owen and The Collector of Dying Breaths by M. J. Rose.  So if you’re not a big statistics fanatic, blog tours can be very beneficial by bringing books you otherwise never would have heard of to your attention.

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If I had to give any advice from this article I’d say to my fellow book bloggers: don’t worry too much about statistics.  Sure, keep an eye on them if you want to be approved for those popular ARCs, but don’t let them run your life.  The internet is a fickle place and although one week you may have a huge increase in traffic the next week you’ll have a 50% decrease in traffic.  Worry more about building your community and getting some dedicated followers and you’ll do just fine.