Happily Ever After Book Club discussion

I was just updating my blog and was thinking there are probably a lot of you that have review blogs like me. Mine has been sadly neglected the past couple years, I try and post when I have time, but I've fallen a little behind. Now that my kids are a little older and will be starting preschool this fall I plan on getting back into blogging and keeping my blog more up-to-date. Anyway, I thought this would be a fun place for everyone to share their blogs. So, if you have a review blog (of have a favorite blog that you follow) leave the link below.

Bookworm Nation (est 2008)
www.bookwormnation.blogspot.com

I just started one this month thanks to Kathy! Hehe.

Mine is KJ's Book Nook - www.kjsbooknook.blogspot.com.

I already follow Kathy's blog and now I'll be adding Kathy Jo!

Mine is Katie's Clean Book Collection and I started blogging about 15 months ago.

www.katiescleanbookcollection.blogspot.com

YAY! Katie I have finally gotten back on my laptop and added you to my list! Hehe. :)

I recently created a blog with the goal to find readers a quality clean read. There's only a couple of posts right now, but I plan on updating weekly. I read a pretty wide variety of genres. I hope you'll check it out!
http://thescribblingsprite.blogspot.com/

Oh my heck! The Scribbling Sprite! I love that! I'll definitely be checking it out later tonight when I'm on my laptop! Super cute name! :)

Just followed all three of these blogs. And I must say, I love the Swoony Awards idea!

Kathy Jo wrote: "Oh my heck! The Scribbling Sprite! I love that! I'll definitely be checking it out later tonight when I'm on my laptop! Super cute name! :)"

Thanks, Kathy Jo!

I'm excited to finally find some more places to feed my fairy tale retelling addictions! I hope you don't all mind, but for those of us who are stepping into the authoring world, do you accept requests from authors who need their books reviewed? I'm hoping to have my first Beauty and the Beast retelling published within the next month (Because Baby Girl is due in 5 weeks!), and I'm trying to plan ahead as much as possible, as I probably won't have time for a while after do a ton of work on my platform. Any advice would be appreciated! And thanks again for sharing! These blogs look like a lot of fun to read!

Brittany wrote: "I'm excited to finally find some more places to feed my fairy tale retelling addictions! I hope you don't all mind, but for those of us who are stepping into the authoring world, do you accept requ..."

Have you read Alethea Kontis? I just read the 3rd book in her series (Dearest) and haven't read any of the others yet, but it was fun! Fairy tale mash ups...

I do take requests from authors. I'm trying to cut back to only read the books that I would normally want to read because my schedule gets soooo full, but I have a very soft spot for Beauty and the Beast, so let me know if you want a review. I do know that the more an author gets out there (social media) and enlists bloggers, the better chance you have of getting the word of your book out. There are some great tour hosts who will set up tours for either a blitz/blast with info about your book or for reviews/spotlights. They do charge money, but it's a great way to get a bunch of bloggers on board. I could message you their sites if you're interested.

Good luck with your new babies(book and baby girl)!!

Katie wrote: "Brittany wrote: "I'm excited to finally find some more places to feed my fairy tale retelling addictions! I hope you don't all mind, but for those of us who are stepping into the authoring world, d..."

Thank you so much for your offer and your reply. I'll admit that I'm over the moon about Baby Girl, but my brain is a bit fried and frazzled. Lol. And I'll need to check out Dearest. I've read Enchanted, but I didn't know she had so many books out. And I totally understand the busy factor! I will send you the information when it's ready, but please don't feel pressured to read it until you have time. Family should always come before work/blogging/writing/etc., and I respect people who live by that! Thank you again.

Brittany wrote: "I'm excited to finally find some more places to feed my fairy tale retelling addictions! I hope you don't all mind, but for those of us who are stepping into the authoring world, do you accept requ..."

Always nice to meet another fairy tale lover! Shannon Hale's Goose Girl is one of my favorites, if you haven't read it.

Congratulations! A book and a baby girl! That's exciting.

I love Beauty and the Beast, and try to accept review requests when I can, so like Katie said, let me know if you need a reviewer.

Good luck with...well...everything!

Ally wrote: "Brittany wrote: "I'm excited to finally find some more places to feed my fairy tale retelling addictions! I hope you don't all mind, but for those of us who are stepping into the authoring world, d..."

Funny you should mention Goose Girl. I read that in eighth grade, and was thinking just the other day how I'd like to read it again.

Thank you so much! My baby shower is this weekend, so I feel like I'll be much more prepared for her after that. I guess this means we actually need to clear all the boxes out of the nursery, including the fishing and archery gear. Lol.

And I would love another reviewer! I'm trying to get the editing stage over with, so hopefully I'll be able to let you know in a few weeks! Thank you so much again for everything! I really needed the encouraging words. I'm so excited, but feeling a bit overwhelmed.

I also am a writer and have read other author's works. Good luck with the sweet baby.

I would review it too. We're ten weeks out from having our baby girl. Yay for babies!
I love fairytale retellings. My favorites are Wildwood Dancing, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, Ella Enchanted, Beauty, and My Unfair Godmother.

Jessie wrote: "I would review it too. We're ten weeks out from having our baby girl. Yay for babies!
I love fairytale retellings. My favorites are Wildwood Dancing, [book:Sun and Moon, Ice and S..."

I second ALL of those recommendations! Except for Beauty, which I read too long ago to remember much of.

If you're writing your own retelling, it's probably best not to have other versions running through your head anyway :)

Jessie wrote: "I would review it too. We're ten weeks out from having our baby girl. Yay for babies!
I love fairytale retellings. My favorites are Wildwood Dancing, [book:Sun and Moon, Ice and S..."

I'm an Ella Enchanted fanatic. I read it so much growing up that I got a second copy, and can't get myself to either copy away...lol. And congrats on the baby girl! It's so exciting! Husband installed the car seat today, and I'm trying to finish up the nursery. I'll definitely have to look those other retellings up. I'm dying for some more retellings to read, particularly ones that I don't have to skip parts in for crudeness as I read. :-P

Katie wrote: "Brittany wrote: "I'm excited to finally find some more places to feed my fairy tale retelling addictions! I hope you don't all mind, but for those of us who are stepping into the authoring world, d..."

If you want to message me your email, I'll send you the coupon for a free download of Before Beauty on Smashwords. Not that you have to review it right now, I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row before Baby Girl decides to arrive. (The doctor hopes it will be before next week...lol. We'll see.)

Ally wrote: "Brittany wrote: "I'm excited to finally find some more places to feed my fairy tale retelling addictions! I hope you don't all mind, but for those of us who are stepping into the authoring world, d..."

If you want, I'll send you a free coupon code as well. Lol. Same thing I told Katie, you don't need to read it right now at all. I'm just sending these out before I forget. And that goes for anyone else here who would like to review it as well :-) Just message me your email and I'll send you the coupon for the free Smashwords ebook copy.

I've never used Smashwords, so I don't really know how that works. Do I need to sign up to get it? I'd love to read your book.

Ally wrote: "I've never used Smashwords, so I don't really know how that works. Do I need to sign up to get it? I'd love to read your book."

You just need to set up an account, and it's pretty easy. Then I'll email you a coupon code that gives you 100% off so you can download it in whatever file you need. They have many, many kinds of files so that most ereaders are covered.

Okay, thank you! I've been meaning to sign up for that anyway. :)

Hello everyone, very much enjoyed visiting all the blogs mentioned here and am following them on whatever option (Google+, Twitter, Facebook) was available :-)

I also have a blog:

A COZY MURDER IS ANNOUNCED

http://acozymurderisannounced.blogspo...

As the name implies, the main objective of my blog is to recommend wonderful authors of "Golden-Age" and "Cozy" Mystery.

However, there is a small section for those who prefer genres other than "Mystery" as well, including "Romance" :-)

I also write on general topics relevant to books, where everyone is welcome to participate in the discussions ...and there are also quotations, cartoons ...and much more...!

Hope you enjoy, thanks! :-)

Hi all, I have a blog, recently started it. I review clean romance, and you can find me here:
http://www.mylissasreviewsandbookthou...
or on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Mylissarevie...

Thanks, and happy blogging!

Hi everyone:
My name is Vera and my book review blog is an extension of my reading interest. I have stopped reviewing explicit and graphically sexual books as of August 2016. I had prior obligations I felt I must complete. This was not an indictment of any genre or author, rather a spiritual decision made after much prayer and thought.
Please come over and take a look www.verasbookreviewsandstuff.com

I have just finished a review of Driving Miss Crazy by D. J. Van Oss It was a hiliarious comedy romance. I loved it. It will publish on my blog in Dec. and appears on major sites now.


I would love to have your opinion.

vera

Wow ladies, after subscribing to all of the blogs listed above and glancing over them, I must say, my blog is very amateurish compared to all of these. I have worked very hard on it, but these blogs look so professionally designed. Kudos, ladies, kudos. I was a blog dummy when I started, and still am considered a newbie after 14 months of blogging. My SEO guy, is trying to get my blog higher in the search engines, but getting subscriptions to the blog has been slow going. I almost gave up a few times, but decided, God has it under control, just hang in there.

Can I ask, which blogs specifically read clean HEA books?

Check the profiles of people who review clean romance. Web address of books are often included. You can check my friends for possibilities. Many of them write blogs.

Marlene wrote: "Check the profiles of people who review clean romance. Web address of books are often included. You can check my friends for possibilities. Many of them write blogs."

Many of them don't say, they only confirm that they read clean romances

Kathy over at iamareader.com reviews only clean stuff. She has a bunch of associate reviewers who post on her site as well. So they review A Lot if books, and all are clean.

Annette wrote: "Kathy over at iamareader.com reviews only clean stuff. She has a bunch of associate reviewers who post on her site as well. So they review A Lot if books, and all are clean."

I know that there are many people that do only clean reviews but are they also HEA?
I'm looking for clean + HEA reviews

Most clean romances are HEA. I've been reading them for years and can't think of a single one that isn't. 😊

Most people who read clean romances are looking for a HEA, but I'm sure if they read a book that doesn't have a HEA they will probably mention it. I'd say 99.9% of the books I read are all HEA, but there will be a random one here or there that may not, but I would mention it in my review. It's been my experience that most book review bloggers read a LOT, so there may be a few non-HEA in their bunch. Best to just find a book you want to read and then research it, read reviews and then dive in.

Kathy wrote: "Most people who read clean romances are looking for a HEA, but I'm sure if they read a book that doesn't have a HEA they will probably mention it. I'd say 99.9% of the books I read are all HEA, but..."

Are the blogs in you Facourite review blogs also HEA?
(I'm aware they're clean but after checking some of them, they don't say that they're exlusive to HEA)
I know you might find this annoying but I just want to be sure

I don't know anyone that exclusively reads HEA only. I don't know if that's even possible. I mean, if they're like me they probably research a book a lot before reading, but even I'm surprised by the endings in some books. And while most of my review books have HEA, the middle can have some serious/non-happy parts, but end up well. The blogs I've listed are all basically clean/hea type blogs, but again, they might end up reading a random non-hea, but would probably list in in their reviews.

You should check out Janette Rallison, she write fun, HEA type books. I love her YA and Adult books. Always clean and always HEA. She always adds fun humor to her stories as well.

Other great YA authors: Kasie West, Elizabeth Eulberg, Tina Ferraro, Jenni James, Kristin Rae, Natalie Whipple, just to name a few.

This is a book blog I found that is full HEA
http://aestasbookblog.com

A YA HEA author I know is
Katie McGarry

Kathy wrote: "You should check out Janette Rallison, she write fun, HEA type books. I love her YA and Adult books. Always clean and always HEA. She always adds fun humor to her stories as well.
..."

Those are HEA authors, aren't they?

HEA wrote: "Kathy wrote: "You should check out Janette Rallison, she write fun, HEA type books. I love her YA and Adult books. Always clean and always HEA. She always adds fun humor to her stor..."

Yup

HEA wrote: "This is a book blog I found that is full HEA
http://aestasbookblog.com

A YA HEA author I know is
Katie McGarry"


Hmm, while it looks like Aestas Book Blog does love a good HEA, I don't think they're clean reads. At least not the ones I saw, looks like she reads more erotica with HEAs.

HEA wrote: "Kathy wrote: "You should check out Janette Rallison, she write fun, HEA type books. I love her YA and Adult books. Always clean and always HEA. She always adds fun humor to her stor..."

Yes, all those authors write HEAs.

Kathy wrote: "HEA wrote: "This is a book blog I found that is full HEA
http://aestasbookblog.com

A YA HEA author I know is
Katie McGarry"


Hmm, while it looks like Aestas Book Blog does love a good HEA, I don'..."

http://aestasbookblog.com/tag/ya/
I think there are more books that are YA but these ones are tagged so far

id just be cautious, YA doesn't always mean clean. I'd really check out the authors and reviews to be sure. Some still have bad content.

I just want to throw in here that while all the books I read END in HEA.. the journey to the end is often faced with bumps and bruises. There are some books out there that have zero conflict but in my opinion are not believable. You can't have a HEA without growing pains. If you are looking for straight HEA, I don't think we'll be able to help with that. We all have our own expectations for the books we read. It's what makes us all unique. If we were all the exact same and loved all the same things, life would be pretty boring.

I also want to reiterate that they only way you are going to know if you will like the book or not is to do your own research. Books I love, some of my bookish friends don't. What I say is clean. other bookish friends do not. We all know our limits and boundaries and in the end, you are going to be the only person who knows what you want. We can tell you the same things over and over again but ultimately is going to be up to you to decide.

Annette wrote: "Kathy over at iamareader.com reviews only clean stuff. She has a bunch of associate reviewers who post on her site as well. So they review A Lot if books, and all are clean."

Just an FYI... while the majority of the books Kathy over at I am a Reader reads are clean, there are some that are not. With that being said, she ALWAYS includes content warnings. But then again, it really does come down to the individual reader and what their preferences are.

Hi, guys, I started my blog in Decembre, it's still pretty new but I love posting content frequently (reviews, promotions, interviews...)

Home of Indie Authors

Let's follow each other =)

Zøe wrote: "Hi, guys, I started my blog in Decembre, it's still pretty new but I love posting content frequently (reviews, promotions, interviews...)

Home of Indie Authors

Let's follow each other =)"

Fun, I'll go check it out. :)

Quick ask for you all. I am planning on a blog (I have been saying this for years) but getting ready to start it now that I have a name. Anyway, what format do you use? Blogger/Wordpress/Something else?
Pros and cons for you? Thank you!
My blog will have a little bit of everything (that is who I am) but leading in with books.

I used to have a blogger many years ago, and now I'm using wordpress.
I find Wordpress much better, more user friendly, cool layouts, easy to arrange your menus so that your posts don't get lost... I would never go back to Blogger!!