A Muggle's Magical Book Blog finds a new home!

Dear Muggle Friends,

I have been thinking of making a change for some time now and with Blogger doing strange things (like deleting my blog for 12 hours *dies*) I have decided to move on to greener pastures.

I now have my own domain, which you can find here:

New Home

Also as most of you know GFC is being delete from non-blogger sites soon. So if you would like to continue following this magical book blog you need to Subscribe to A Muggle's Magical Book Blog by Email. If you do decide to subscribe please let me know so I can return the favour.

If that's not your thing you can follow me via Facebook and Twitter.

With the move comes some blogging resolutions:

* Quality over Quantity!

* Only do "In my mailbox" and "Cover of the week" meme's

* Engage more with my followers

I appreciated each and everyone who has shared my blogger days with me and I hope to see you at A Muggle's Magical Book Blog new home!

Review: Switched

Switched (Trylle Trilogy #1) by Amanda Hocking

Published 2012 (first published 2010) by Macmillan Publishers Ltd,
Paperback, 238 pages
Source: Received from PanMacmillanSA for a honest review.

"When Wendy Everly was six-years-old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. It isn't until eleven years later that Wendy finds out her mother might've been telling the truth.

With the help of Finn Holmes, Wendy finds herself in a world she never knew existed - and it's one she's not sure if she wants to be a part of."

- From Goodreads

 

7/10

From the beginning of this novel I was hooked! It starts out with a bang that carries right through. The storyline was unique as well as the paranormal element.

Wendy gets thrown into this very interesting world of “Trylle” with their fascinating mythology and ways of life. Wendy is temperamental, entertaining, unpredictable and real. With a whole host of diverse and remarkable characters to complete this fascinating world.

The novel reads very quickly and you can easily read it in one sitting, forgetting about the world around you. The writing flows and the story includes everything you need in a YA novel – fun, excitement, romance, intrigue and action.

I can't point at anything I disliked about this novel, I just wanted something more.

But I can't wait to read the sequel to see where Ms. Hocking takes us!

http://amandahocking.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/#!/amanda_hocking

“Did you think you could treat me like shit at a dance, then sneak into my room in the middle of the night and tell me that I'm a troll with magical powers, and I'd just be like, yeah, that sounds right.”
― Amanda Hocking, Switched

Torn (Trylle Trilogy, #2) by Amanda Hocking  
 

 

Giveaways and Integrity

I have been thinking about this for a long time and I thought I would do a blog post and see what everyone else thinks.

When you enter a giveaway you normally have to follow a blog, tweet about it, share it on Facebook etc. Most of us are happy to do this because the prize is worth it. As a result, hosting a giveaway is a great way of gaining followers. But what if you don’t get your prize?

I have won tons of giveaways but I only receive about 50% of the prizes. Most of these giveaways are international and as I am in South Africa so I don’t really mind if I don’t get something. Things get lost in the post all the time and I don’t follow up unless I know the blogger well. Book Depository prizes always arrive so I now only enter international giveaways that get shipped from there. But now I’ve started to wonder if some bloggers are just using giveaways to get followers and then don’t bother sending out the prizes.

I ask this because in September last year I won a book from a fellow South African Book Blogger but never received it. It would have been shipped locally, so I fully expected to get it without any problems. But by October I still hadn’t received any email from the blogger. I contacted her on Goodreads, asking if she’d lost my email address. Nothing.

Eventually I tweeted her, and she replied saying her Goodreads account wasn’t working, that she had sent me a message, and my book was still waiting to be sent. She asked for my postal address, which I gave to her. I didn’t get any reply and I never received a book from her. It is now January.

Has anything like this every happened to anyone else? How did you handle it? I honestly feel that it shouldn’t be such a hassle. Or is it too much to expect bloggers to act with integrity in giveaways? I would die of shame if I promised someone something and never delivered. This is how I handle my own giveaways:

* I try my very best to stick to all the times laid out in my giveaway.
* I contact the winner via email, as well as on twitter if I can
* I send their prize straight away
* I follow up and ask if their prize has arrived

How do you handle giveaways? What’s your opinion on the whole issue?

My Blog can now be followed via email - top right hand corner.

Review: Twilight Audiobook

Twilight (Twilight #1) by Stephenie Meyer - read by Ilyana Kadushin

Published January 5th 2009 by Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Audio CD
Source: Library

"When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerising voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret. What Bella doesn't realise is the closer she gets to him, the more she is putting herself and those around her at risk. And it might be too late to turn back... Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight will have readers riveted right until the very last page is turned."

- From Goodreads

 

N/A

I have read the Twilight series several times and I'm sure my readers know that I enjoy the series. But wow the audio book was just bad. For one the voices wasn't my own so I had a very different Bella and Edward in my head suddenly.

Now I know that their relationship isn't the best and that it is creepy at times. I know most twilight fans ignore all these facts and just enjoy the story. But this Audio Book made it impossible!

It makes Bella sound even more desperate and Edward even more depraved.

Please if you haven't read Twilight, don't listen to the audio book first, and if you haven't listened to the Audio Book yet, but have read the book, stay away if you want to stay in the twilight bubble :)

 

Cover Of The Week

This weeks cover is....

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

What a beautiful cover!