The commenting problem continues and (amended) please help solve!

Hey everyone! I just want to let you that my Blogger commenting problem still hasn't been fixed even though the Blogger help page says the commenting blip has been solved. I know I'm not the only one battling with Blogger probelms too.  So if I'm usually a regular commenter on your blog but I haven't posted it recently or don't visit back in a meme post then that's the reason why- I apologise. I am still reading your posts! It's very annoying :(

I have figured out a way that I can comment on blogs without being signed in but only if a blog has the name/url commenting setting turned on. The only problem is that you can't turn that setting on separately from allowing anonymous commenters too, which could possibly mean spam. If you are willing to turn this option on (Blogger's spam catcher catches all my spam comments) in your blog settings then I- and other people experiencing the problem- would be very grateful but I totally understand if not. didn't have this setting turned on before this problem either in case of spam! However to do this, go to the settings panel in your Blogger dashboard and check the 'anyone can comment' box.

For the meantime please bear with me while I try to find a solution and I'll let you know if it gets fixed. If anyone else experienced the same problem and got it fixed, I'd be grateful to hear!




 Thank you to some brilliant advice from Joanne at Slice Of Life , I've now found a solution to the problem- thank you very much Joanne! This is where my plea comes in.

 I can comment on blogs that have 'full page' or 'pop up' commenting enabled in the comment settings in the settings tab of the Blogger dashboard. So I -and I'm sure all the other people experiencing the same problem- would be extremely grateful if other bloggers enabled this option on their blog in order that everyone can comment until the problem is fixed. Thank you so much if you do decide to this or spread the word- I really appreciate it!

Stephanie <3

In My Mailbox 12/6/11

A typically British postbox with pretty flowers :)

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren and is where bloggers share all the books that have made it into their house each week!

This last fortnight I got some fantastic books that I'm really excited to read. Here's all of them I got over the past two weeks:

For review:

David by Mary Hoffman

I'm taking part in the blog tour for this book in July and of course it's historical so I can't wait to read it! Oh, and did I mention it's set in Italy?

Haunting Violet by Alexandra Harvey

I haven't read any of Alexandra Harvey's books yet but I've heard great things about her books and the cover's really striking for it (it reminds me of Lauren Kate's covers because it's by the same artist). I'm interested to see what I make of the ghost and Victorian theme....

Tempest Rising

I love mermaids so I hope I enjoy this one too. The UK cover is totaly different to the US cover so I didn't realise i'd seen it before until I looked it up on Goodreads.

Won

Die For Me by Amy Plum (ARC)

Thank you to Emma from Book Angel's Booktopia for holding this fabulous giveaway.

I love the sound of the setting of the book- Paris!

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Discussion: Where do you usually read?

Last holidays whilst I was waiting for something with my mum, were in a park so I decided to settle down and read on the bench. I found that it was really nice to read outside in nature and it got me thinking about the places I like to read/ dream of reading in.

So here are the places that I read in:

My Bed

The place that I normally read in is my bed because I mostly read before I go to bed at night. It's just so cosy and relaxing curling up under the covers with a fluffy pillow/snuggly blanket and helps me to get lost in a book. When it gets cold in the winter, hot water bottles are even better! The last book I read whilst in bed was Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors, which I'm currently reading.



Dream reading bed...



How cute is this?

The photo above is what I imagine I used to look like reading with all my teddies on the bed when I was little!

This is also what I used to look like sneakily reading under the covers (probably an Enid Blyton book) when I was sent to bed ;)

On the bus

I used to hate reading in the car or on the bus but since I've moved to secondary school I've found that reading twenty minutes in the morning on the way to school and twenty minutes on the way back adds considerably to my reading time and I'll get a book finished twice as fast because I'm finding less time to read at home. Although the past month or so I haven't read on the bus at all because a friend has started getting on it too and we chat all the way!

On the sofa

At Christmas my family built a new guest room and it's become our library with lots of shelves for all our books (I got 1 but it's already been filled up!) There's also a new sofa  in there so I like to read on that because it's comfy. Here are some photos of awesome reading sofas I found:

Cute little reading nook :0

You don't even have to get up
to get the next book....

Okay, it doesn't look comfy but a few cushions would sort that out!

In the library

I like to read in my school library if I get to school really early or occasionally at break times.

On a deckchair in the garden

I do this very rarely but if it's sunny I like to go out in the garden to settle down with a book on a deckchair. Soaking up the sun whilst escaping in a good book = double win. The last book I read in this place was Sigrun's Secret by Marie Louise Jensen and it was also the place I read my first book on Kindle.

In the bath

This is something I've only taken to doing recently because I was always worried I would have a bit of a disaster with the book and ruin it because I'm quite clumsy. I gave it a go and as yet I haven't done that and I love reading in the tub now! It's just so utterly relaxing and means I can just focus on the book without any distractions. My little brother adores reading in the bath and it's rare to find him reading in a book anywhere else.... he even has a mini book pile in the bathroom. The last book I read in the bath was Precious Norman Honour by A.L Stumo.

So that's the places where I do read but I'm planning another post about my dream summery reading places outside and also particular places around the world!

Where do you usually read? What do you like about these places?

I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments section....

Book Review: Girl 15 Flirting For England by Sue Limb

Goodreads description

A hilarious prequel rounds out our funny chick lit series.

Jess Jordan is barely 15. Fred is her often-aggravating best guy friend; her father is a lonely bachelor; Flora is her gorgeous best friend, a constant liability; and Ben Jones is barely a twinkle in her eye. Into this innocent scene are dropped 30 or so helpless French exchange students. Jess and her mother are assigned to house Eduoard, a shy, awkward, and painfully English-deprived boy Jess’s age. To counter what Jess fears is Eduoard’s growing crush on her, Jess convinces her friend Fred to pose as her boyfriend, but he refuses to take their fake relationship seriously. Add a gorgeous, womanizing French student, an ill-fated camping trip in a student’s backyard, and Flora just being, well, Flora, and you have all the makings of an international incident. Will Jess be able to keep the peace, or even translate the whole debacle to the confused French students? The future of England is on the line. . . .

My Review

This book turned out exactly what I expected it to be: a humorous story about the many problems and boyfriend blues of a teenage girl. It is not the usual type of book that I would pick up but I found it a refreshing and welcome break. In the first chapter we meet Jess Jordan trying in vain to write the perfect introductory letter to her French exchange partner Eduoard who she is convinced he is going to be the hottest boy she has ever met. Suddenly she wishes she had paid attention in her French classes instead of messing around with her best friend Flora. When Eduoard finally arrives a few weeks later he is a far cry from what Jess imagined and her dream of a handsome French boyfriend is crushed......

Jess, the main character is one that I could relate to being around her age and the story revolves around her finding her place among her friends, experiencing her first boyfriend blues and coping with crushes as well as life's disasters and disappointments. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mum who works as a librarian (yay) and just like many teenage girls she is often embarrassed by them. They might not always be the best parents in the world and despite living apart it is obvious that they really care about Jess and want the best for her. One thing that stood out to me was that her mum was at home a lot of the time in the house scenes of the book for example chatting over breakfast with Jess and it was nice to see their relationship together. Jess also had to persuade her parents to let her do things and go out  and all this was a pleasant because in a lot of YA books the 'disappearing and non existent parents' theme is common.

I liked how I was left to imagine what Jess looked like for myself because she was never properly described in the book and I thought of her as not the most beautiful, smartest or most popular girl in the school but pretty and a good friend. Despite her many flaws, I thought she coped well in the situations she found herself and remained loyal to herself and her

friends.

The plot was lively and fast paced but preditable whilst the characters were sometimes a bit flat. For example the stock beauitfully gorgeous blonde haired best friend and the crazy and joke cracking guy best friend. However, Sue Limb's witty dialogue and banter made up for this. It had me in fits of giggles! There are some times when I'm just looking just for an escape or a laugh and not an amazing plot and exceptionally rounded characters. Girl 15' fitted this category very well and kept me wanting more.

Verdict:


‘Looking for a book that will give you a good giggle? The hilariously insane trials of Jess Jordan certainly did the trick for me and every teenage girl will relate to them. Read it if you're looking for a laugh.’

Rating: 3 stars

1 Year Blogoversary Celebration: Books I wouldn't have read without book blogging

Over the past year I've read some amazing books and my TBR list has grown out of control and I know that I probably wouldn't ever have read/ discovered some of these books I've loved (or not loved) if it wasn't for book blogging. And I want to celebrate these books! Here's a list of then:

Vampire Academy and Frostbite by Richelle Mead

I always said to myself that I would never read a vampire book before I started blogging despite never even trying one. I had a preconceived idea that I would hate all paranormal books before I'd even given them a chance. This changed when I was recommended the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead by Jess Hearts Books and saw how many other bloggers enjoyed them too. When I was asked if I would like to review Vampire Academy by the publisher for the release of Last Sacrifice, I took the chance gladly and was surprised to find that I actually liked it. I've now read the second book too and plan to read the rest of the series too.

Other paranormal books I quite liked are and would never have read before are:

The Need Pixies series by Carrie Jones

Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Waterfall by Lisa T Bergen

I haven't reviewed Waterfall yet but I read it last month and oh did I LOVE it! It was as if everything I love in a book had been rolled into the perfect package. I'm so excited about reading the sequel Cascade, which was just released. The reason I might not have discovered it without blogging is that its published in the US and I wouldn't have found it in the library or my local bookshop. It was Small Review's fantastic review of it that real persuaded me to read it so thank you Small :D

Other US books I might not have discovered are:

The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson

The Queen's Daughter by Susan Coventry

Prisoners Of The Palace by Michaela Mcoll

Bumped by Megan Mcafferty

I didn't use to read dystopian books but when I saw all the praise and good reviews for Bumped around the blogosphere it sparked my interest and I got an e-galley off NetGalley. Whilst in the end, Bumped wasn't the book for me I'm still glad that I read it.

This goes the same for Delirium by Lauren Oliver and Matched by Allie Condie

Contemporary books

I had read very few contemporary books before blogging and I think this was because I found in my early reading experiences that the historical books for children were more interesting to read because they had more description and more believable characters than contemporaries like Jaquelin Wilson's books I tried (not that I'm bashing Wilson at all- she's fantastic at getting some children into reading!) . However I've found several that I've really liked through review books and recommendations and my idea of contemporaries has been changed:

Drawing With Light and Breathing Underwater by Julia Green

When I was sent these I enjoyed reading them more than I thought I would and I've recommended them to several people at my school. My favourite thing about them was the beautiful descriptions because I'd never encountered them in a contemporary book before.

Flawless by Lara Chapman

I liked this one for it's strong and likable characters each with their own flaws-a recommended read!

What books have you read that you probably wouldn't have without the book blogosphere?

1 Year Blogoversary Celebration: Blogging firsts and other facts

As part of my blogoversary celebration, this post is a little reflection on my first year as a book blogger  in stats and my blogging firsts. I've said it before in my other blogoversary posts but thank you to everyone who has made my 'blogging firsts' happen!

Blogging Firsts 

1. My first ever comment was from Bookalicious Ramblings (thank you)
2. My first ever follower was Bookalicious Ramblings (thank you)
3. My first review was I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend by Cora Harrison
4. The first giveaway I held was for reaching 150 followers
5. My first author interview was with Sophie Mckenzie
6. My first guest post was from Jess from Jess Heart's Books on the Vampire Academy series
7. The first book I won from a blog was Nine Days A Queen by Carolyn Meyer from Kelsey Sutton- A YA writer
8. The first Coverlicious post I wrote was on different Pride and Prejudice covers

Stats and other randsom facts

1. I've written 275 posts

1. I don't know quite how many reviews I've written because I keep forgetting to tag them (yes, I plan to do this from now on....)
2. I've done 5 author interviews, which have all been lots of fun! Thank you to all the authors :)
3. I've had 2 guest posts on the blog, which I really enjoyed reading
4. I gained 331 followers in my first year- you're all awesome!
5. I've held 4 giveaways and am now holding my fifth (yay!)
6. I've participated in In My Mailbox 19 times
7. I've participated in Waiting On Wednesday 14 times
8. I've written 17 Coverlicious posts
9. I've had several blog backgrounds but I've stuck with the header I use now right from the beginning
10. The first challenge I participated in was the Jane Austen 2010 Challenge
11. I'm hosting the Georgette Heyer Challenge 2011 and so far I've loved the Heyer books I've read

Remember to check out the international blogoversary giveaway I'm holding HERE- Thank you to everyone who has entered already!