#021 Follow Friday

Happy Follow Me Friday, everyone! The long and short of it, life is crazy and reading is my life, basically. So, yeah this feature is awesomesauce.

Go visit Parajunkee's View or Allison Can Read, to get the deets on it and start having some fun. It's all about meeting some new people, finding new blogs to follow, and basically just having fun with awesome people.

This week the two awesome features are Shanan @ The Book Addict and Fran @ Books And Beyond. These two girls are just as fabulous as their blogs, so definitely show them some love! :D

THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK

"It’s Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. so we want to know what you are Thankful for – blogging related of course! Who has helped you out along the way? What books are you thankful for reading??"

The very first thing that I have to be thankful for is books in general, because without them my imagination wouldn't be as colorful as it is and I don't feel like my life would be completely as fullfilled as I would love for it to be. They are just simply an adventure of their own and they can definitely double as a savior in certain situations, as I've used them as a means of escapism. The second thing (which, is probably the most meaningful and closest to my heart) is the fact that I am extremely thankful for my the bff of my heart and soul sister as far as reading goes, Molli @ Once Upon A Prolouge. She is one of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of getting to know and she has definitely influenced me as far as books go.

We have bonded over many things, but the thing that I'm most grateful for is the fact that blogging about books and books in general, has helped to heal over our somewhat fractured and distant relationship. We are so much better and stronger now, than we were six months ago and I feel like I can't quite fully answer this question honestly, without making mention of her. I love reading with her, love listening to her views on various books and author's, and I just love sharing my interest in books with her in general. By listening to her and a few other fellow bloggers that I feel I've become a little closer with - I've started to open myself up to other genre's, new author's, and just a world of other things. It truly means something to me.

What else and am I forgetting to mention, there are SO MANY people that I am thankful for. Like, Rachel @ Parajunkee, Allison @ Allison Can Read, and Mimi @ with her fantastical enthusiasm and crazy colorful exhuberance as far as reading and blogging goes. Seriously, her wonderful sense of humor is just infectious and will make you smile and laugh. Rhiannon Paille, you guys if you haven't read her book then you really should. It's an amazing read, seriously. It's easily, one of my favorite reads of the year. I don't say that lightly, so...just go, get a copy of her book and sit down and read it. You will be blown away, I promise! This woman is seriously AH-MAZING and she's so much fun to get to know. Totally loveable! :)

Rebecca @ Kindle Fever, who was sweet enough to feature me (it was the first time I'd been featured on a blog since starting mine and I was honored) and just in general, because she is amazingly sweet and her blog is very informative and totally fun to read. Kristi @ The Story Siren, because her blog has been really influential and I have learned a lot about book blogging in general through her many tips and tricks.

I'm just so thankful for blogging in general and for this blog, because I started it as a way of being able to talk about the books that I love, to keep track of the books that I've already read and the books that I want to read, and it has become SO MUCH MORE because of you guys and you have made this experience so completely amazing. I thank you all for that, so much.

And I am extremely thankful for all of you guys.

The books that I am grateful for reading, that's a loaded question. lol. I don't even know how to narrow those down, without listing every book I've ever read. But, I'll try to limit it to a few.

Obviously it goes without saying that I'm probably the most thankful for V.C. Andrews herself and the books that she wrote, not the one's written by her ghost writer who shall remain nameless. I know that I've said this many times before, but it goes without saying that she is THE AUTHOR who really and truly changed the way that I read books forever. My Sweet Audrina and The Dollenganger series are probably the most influential of them all. I just really fell in love with the fact, that she wasn't afraid to tackle the controversial subjects and she took them on with great challenge and was able to deliver a beautifully tragic story that would stay with reader's long after the last page had been turned. I was completely inspired by the fact that she believed that "normal" was "mediocre" and that "life belonged to the rare, exceptional individual who dares to be different."

Cassandra Clare and The Mortal Instrument series is another one that I am extremely thankful for. It's one of my favorite young adult series that actually got me back into reading a lot more young adult fiction. I absolutely fell IN LOVE SO HARD with this series, the minute that I started reading it and I haven't been able to put it down. This series, is heart-pounding, adventurous, full of forbidden love, danger, and so much mythology that I don't see how anyone could resist it. The character's are fantastic and relatable, the plot is well developed and engaging, and the intrigue is sure to keep anyone flipping the pages. I just...I really have SO MUCH LOVE for this series. What Cassandra Clare does for The Mortal Instruments series is phenomenal. And she hasn't stopped there, she's started a pre-quel series to TMI called The Infernal Devices that is equally engaging and full of so much wow factor, they're incredibly hard to put down. I would urge anyone who enjoys young adult fiction to pick up this series and read it.

There are so many young adult author's who I'm thankful for and books written, that I've read. I think my favorite read of the year has been The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, because the the writing style was so different and just as unique as the story told. I am definitely looking forward to the sequel in the coming year. As I said there are so many things, as far as books are concerned, that I'm thankful for like new debut author's that I've introduced to, older author's who've been around that I haven't read before, and a ton of books that have been read and that are still currently residing on my "to be read" list that continuously grows.