And the Winners Are...

Sorry for the delay in WINNERS! I wanted to post yesterday because two contests ended on the 31st! You may not believe this, but everytime I put in everyone's name and all the entries that they've submitted, I hold my breath! I wish I just had enough for EVERYONE who helped me spread the word!!

The good news (other than for the two winners coming up) is this:

I have this month's LIZZY BLEU Gift Certificate to list TODAY or TOMORROW...I'm going to try to list it today. So, Please go over to her SHOP and pick out your favorite item to get ready to list ... just in case you win! OK?

NOW, the WINNER of "DAMAS, DRAMA and ANA RUIZ" By: Belinda Acosta Courtesy of Hachette Book Group is:

NATALIE W.

THE BIG WINNER of the $50.00 LIZZY BLEU Gift Certificate is:

TRIN

Ladies, You have 48 hours from NOW to contact me. You may do that through the "Contact Me" Button! IF I do not hear from you within that amount of time or IF the winner of the book(s) (from now on) have already won a copy...I will choose another winner! In turn, THAT Winner will have 48 hours. IF they do not contact...the prize is forfeited! The worst part for me, because I'm holding SO many giveaways is waiting for the information!

I'm going to try to resolve this by taking a Poll! I have FOUR more GIVEAWAYS to list today (3 with Reviews) ... and A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT IS COMING UP!

Keep entering and because I don't determine the winner, the times you can win is UNLIMITED! I STILL have a BIG MICHE BAG Giveaway, A BOOKSHELF and a TON of BOOKS...an Upcoming SPECIAL BIG Giveaway and Another LIZZY BLEU $50.00 Gift-Certificate. Just to name a FEW!

I want to THANK YOU ALL for making MY BLOG a FUN place to be! I read each and every comment. I will comment back for most or send emails. (I don't like to be in the middle of a contest thread because it messes up Random.Org for the winner(s). So, any Questions, Comments or Concerns...*Click* "Contact Me" and "Preach to the Princess"...

CONGRATULATIONS!!

KISSES ~ XXX

Sautday Spotlight! (And Giveaway)!

Today I'm trying out something new to me called "Saturday Spotlight". I'm pretty excited about it to be quite honest! The idea actually started with my guest blogger today. She's very kind and when I contacted her to see if she would mind if I did something similar, she wrote back immediately with a super-friendly email and a positive answer! So, how long with this run? Good Question! Each week, I'd like to host a different Blogger and depending just how many people I have interested, will depend on how long it runs!

If YOU would like to be featured in Saturday Spotlight, just hit the "contact" button and I will be more than happy to host you here, at Park-Avenue Princess!

Today's Blogger in "Saturday Spotlight" is Sophie from Mrs. Magoo Reads!

Name? Sophie

Your Blogger Alias? Mrs. Magoo

Name of Your Blog? Mrs. Magoo Reads

What's Your Blog URL? http://www.mrsmagooreads.com/

Can you give us a quick bio about yourself? I am a thirteen year old girl who has been blogging for almost two years (my blogoversary is on August 16!). I have loved to read for as long as I can remember, and now love blogging about it. Last year I was featured on TV for my blog.
Why did you start your blog? As the buzz about blogging got louder and louder around me, one day I thought it would just be cool to start a blog. After a bit of brainstorming, I decided to make my blog about something I love: books. Little did I know there was such a huge YA book blogging community!

What is your favorite genre and/or genres? I'm really not that picky about genres. I do, however, prefer realistic fiction over fantasy.

Who is your favorite author? Oh, I don't know if I can pick just one! JK Rowling, Stephenie Meyer (so sue me), and Scott Westerfeld.

What's your favorite book of all time? I think this pretty much corresponds with my favorite writers: Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Uglies.

Name and describe different features on your blog: Other than my reviews, I have Saturday's Scribe, where an author is either interviewed or writes a guest blog every Saturday. I also jumped onto Reviewer X's Retrospective meme, which comes every Sunday, where I link to every other post I made during the post. My most popular feature is Movie Monday. Every Monday I make a review video of a book I've reviewed, and it comes along with a contest to win that book! Last but not least, I profile other bloggers, and these often come with contests as well.

Do you use your own Review System? How is it Different? I start by listing the title and author, give it a grade, and name its "ideal audience", according to age and gender. Then I provide my own summary of the book, followed by my thoughts. I finish the review by providing links to buy the book through Amazon and/or IndieBound.

How is your blog unique from other blogs? I'd say Movie Monday is the most unique thing about my blog-- not a whole lot of other bloggers make review videos.

How do you market your blog? First, I make sure to have good content. I also do link exchanges and interview other bloggers (the links back actually generate a surprising amount of visitors!). My contests are also very popular and are a form of marketing themselves! :)

Can you give us 3 tips about content?

• 1. Make sure your reviews are the right length. I'm not going to read a very long review, but an extremely short one will lose my respect.


• 2. Add at least one unique element to your blog-- I want a reason to come back to yours rather than somebody else's.


• 3. Don't use chat speak on your blog!

Can you give us 3 tips about blog promotion?

• 1. Leave comments on other blogs. This is really hypocritical of me, as I hardly ever leave comments, but if anybody has any tips on fixing this bad habit, they'd be very welcome!


• 2. Be friendly to other bloggers.


• 3. Be patient. Nothing comes immediately.

Thanks so much for having me, Amy!!

You're More than Welcome Sophie! Come back anytime!

OK...I'm going to ask that you visit sophie and leave her a comment and you may also commet here!

THE GIVEAWAY!

Sophie has offered to do a free personalized "Header" for ONE Winner's blog. In order to win this, you must be a follower of both blogs! Want an 10 Extra Entries? Follow me on Twitter and Follow Sophie there as well (that's FIVE points for each follow) Just note it in the comments section! (Sophie wants me to note that she's not a PROFESSIONAL Graphics Designer...but does some pretty cool work and will help you to get the look you want)! Again, this is Sophie's contest. But, you MUST enter here and I will pick the Winner.

All enteries MUST be in by September 19th and WINNER drawn on Septmber 20th! *Note that I also have a contest to win a $20.00 Gift Card to the Bookstore of your choice on Mrs. Magoo Reads! Hurry, I think it ends on the 27th!

KISSES ~ XXX

Book Blogger Appreciation Week Sept. 14th - 18th

I just wanted to remind everyone to vote! vote! vote! That's right, it's that time of the year again where we, the book blogging community, can vote for the best of the best!

Here's the specifics posted by My Friend Amy on the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Site:

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Announcing the Second Annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week September 14-18, 2009
Last year over 400 blogs came together to celebrate the art of book blogging during the first ever Book Blogger Appreciation Week! I am so pleased to announce that the second annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week will be taking place September 14-18.

WHO Anyone who blogs about books is invited to participate. In fact, we want everyone who blogs about books and reading to be a part of this week!
WHAT A week where we come together, celebrate the contribution and hard work of book bloggers in promoting a culture of literacy, connecting readers to books and authors, and recogonizing the best among us with the Second Annual BBAW Awards. There will be special guest posts, daily blogging themes, and giveaways.
WHEN September 14-18, 2009
WHERE Here at the new Book Blogger Appreciation Week Blog! (Please note that this year there are three separate blogs and feeds—one for the main event, one for giveaways, and one for awards.)
WHY Because books matter. In a world full of options, the people talking about books pour hard work, time, energy, and money into creating a community around the written word. I, Amy, the founder of Book Blogger Appreciation Week love this community of bloggers and want to shower my appreciation on you!



WANT TO PARTICIPATE?
Please help us spread the word about Book Blogger Appreciation Week by posting about it on your blog, stumbling this post, twittering about it, and telling everyone you know that it’s time to have a party and celebrate book bloggers!

Please register by filling out the registration form! Registering ensures your inclusion in the BBAW 09 Database of Book Bloggers and enters you into the drawing for the BBAW 09 Grand Prize!

Come back often as there will be many updates! And follow us on Twitter!

AWARDS
BBAW Award Nominations will open tomorrow, July 15 on the BBAW Awards Blog.

So what are you waiting for? Go sign up and VOTE for YOUR Favorite Blogs!

Royal Giveaway (*Just Follow And Win*) **Sticky Post**

Hello Everyone!


OK...Lizzy Bleu sent me pictures of somethings that she has made up for the giveaway. I have a bracelet or cuff links (because the winner could either be a Princess or a Prince) and I also have an absolutely adorable bookmark! Now, if I get to 100 followers, I will add a twenty dollar gift certificate to Amazon where you can buy what you want...if we get over that...there will be gifts added. I am going to keep this post on top (if I can ever figure out the sticky post deal) and I'm going to add pictures, and updates here. This contest will run from NOW until the very last Friday in July, which happens to be July 31, 2009 at midnight EST! Good Luck and Have fun!

IMPORTANT! You need to POST HERE! Your initial post counts as ONE!

IF you FOLLOW (by pushing the follow button) before the end of the weekend (Sunday, July 20th at 12 pm EST) you get PLUS 10! Any day after that (PLUS THREE)

IF you FOLLOW (me on TWITTER) before the end of the weekend (Sunday, July 20, at 12 pm EST) you get PLUS 5! Any day after that for this contest it will be (Plus TWO)

IF you SUBSCRIBE (by MAIL) before the end of the weekend (Sunday at 12 pm EST) you get PLUS 5! Any day after that for this contest wil be also a (Plus TWO)

Now, if you do these things (and you need to do at least one to qualify besides posting) after that date, you will get the above PLUS points for each one that you do...and REMEMBER it is NOT who has the most points, but who's name gets drawn, but obviously the more times your name is IN, the greater your chance! GOOD LUCK! This really is a great prize!

Now, if you POST about this on your blog with a LINK BACK (you will earn PLUS THREE per time)

Everytime you TWEET about this and LINK BACK (you will earn PLUS TWO)

If someone mentions YOUR name in their post then YOU get (PLUS TWO) for each person!

You can obviously EARN A TON of POINTS so for each POST...try to keep your own tally. I will be doing the same as I check the links!

As we get more followers, the gift certificates will go up! There is going to be one certificate to AMAZON and one to LIZZY BLEU's Etsy SHOP which is full of ADORABLE things!

I'm going to list the pictures of the prizes below and I am going to say that if we reach 100 followers, there will be a $25.00 gift certificate to AMAZON (to buy books or whatever else you'd like) to start off with. For every 50 people people after the first 100 you will be given a gift certificate to LIZZY BLEU'S Etsy Shop and I will add on to the AMAZON gift certificate as well!

Remember, this is about NEW and OLD friends enjoying each other's company and blogs! So have fun and spread the word!

Now for the beautiful gifts sent to me by Lizzy this morning!







Now those are just too cute!

If you have any questions PLEASE leave a comment below or feel free to email me at IAmHiMaintenance(at)aol(dot)com!

We're almost half-way to 100! So, we're VERY close to the prize getting bigger!

Keep Reading!

KISSES ~ XXX

The Princess

A New Beginning!

Hi All!

Well, I'm finally home...

You have NO idea how good this feels! I can start reviewing again on a daily basis and I can hold contests and see all of my friends again.

But, I can't lie, there have been many changes made in my life. Permanent changes that have affected me greatly. I'm not ready to talk about all of them yet, but I will...in time. You've all been wonderful and to the authors and publishers "THANK YOU"! Can you hear me yelling?? See me waving *Waving Madly*!! Cancer is a horrible thing. It doesn't pick and choose. It's equally terrible to everyone! It doesn't care what you do, how old you are, what color you are, if you have a family or if you don't...

My choice...to fight back. And that I did. Did I win? To me, somewhat...and I know you all don't understand what I mean yet, but you will. I'm just not ready to talk about it yet and when I am, you'll be the first to know. A few closer friends online do know. I chose to tell them through private emails that they've sent to me. But enough about *C*...and more about BLOGGING, BLOGGERS and BOOKS!! YAY!!

I've received some really great books to review recently and I will get those posted! And today, I received a friend request on Face Book from my favorite Thriller writer Rick R. Reed! He now has ten (10) published Novels and I couldn't be happier for him! Continued success to you Rick! I was extremely surprised and honored that he was looking for me and wondering how I was doing. It made me *blush* a little... Anyway, he has a great post on the blog entitled "In Cold Blog" about his real life stalker experience and it's quite scary...you should check it out!

Another great thing...I've been book blogging over a year! It seems like yesterday! I can't believe it .... SO, in honor of that, I'm thinking up a great GIVE-A-WAY while we speak (or AS I TYPE!). Going through the blogs, I see just how much I've missed and some of it was quite a shock...

Dewey...I don't know what to say. I couldn't believe what I was reading and my prayers and heart go out to her and her family! I was sad I missed the read-a-thon. I missed so much. Those things made me sad and mad. It made me think of my own family and friends...my friends on line and what cancer "took away" from ME! I have been reading all of your blogs, just not posting on many! I've been lurking for a bit...Nymeth? Congrats on your "Dangerous Alphabet Book"... how cool is that?? Trish, I missed you greatly! And so many of you I tried to contact personally in a letter. J.Kaye? Your BLOG looks AMAZING! I promise to catch up on everyone and what they are doing...I also hope to have many of you stopping by here to catch up with me as well! So stop by and pass my blog on!

There are other things to "ME" besides reading and I think that I might let you all in on those things in between reviews as well...just in case...you never know. I don't want you to think ALL I do is READ. I love FASHION, PINK, CHOCOLATE and SATC...SHOES....SHOES AND SHOES! This year I think I'm going to let it all out. I have to. And not for you...for ME! So, if you want to learn about new authors, favorites, books and ME....the PRINCESS behind the BLOG, PLEASE stay tuned!

*PHEW!* I am SOOOO Glad to be back!! Unfortunately, that's all for now! Until then...

XXX ~ KISSES

PRINCESS

Random Thoughts

Hi all : )

It's pretty late on Saturday night (whoops! Sunday Morning), and I just had some "random thoughts". I'll share them, although I can't guarantee you'll walk away any smarter! lol

Since I've started blogging >Achooo< UGh I have an awful cold......I've met some pretty wonderful and generous people in our little "book blogging community". I'm sure you all know who you are and I'm really quite impressed with the kindess and generosity that is shown.

Normally you hear about all the bad things that go on in cyberspace. (I know there IS a lot of it that goes on as well) Is our little group the exception to the rule? Or are we in the majority? Either way, I'm still amazed and perfectly happy with all of my new friends. They've opened up a new world for me and inspired me to keep my own blog going (which I never thought possible) I will start a list over on the side as soon as I figure out how. I think it's important to support these wonderful people that make reading and blogging so much fun!

I review myself. I don't usually post on my blog (obviously) but, maybe I'll start or at least have the book I'm reading and a little bit about it here on the site.

Also, I hear that BYFAB Week is coming up...So, that's going to be MY FIRST CONTEST. It's going to start on MONDAY and I'll post about it then...I'm thinking that I will choose a winner on Sunday of that week. But, who knows? I'm sure I'll change my mind and the "RULES" before then! This is going to be exciting for me! I'd like to give back something for all of the kindness, support and not to mention the generosity that I've gotten in just this short time. : )

So, STAY TUNED for my FIRST CONTEST that surely won't be my last!

Here are a few things that you SHOULD know:

The PRINCESS makes the RULES and HER DECISION is FINAL

The contest will be something easy...PROMISE

YOU have to be willing to send ME your address so that you may collect your prize!

That's all for now ... It MUST be getting late here on the East Coast!

Toodles

XXX- Kisses

THE PRINCESS