SIGNED swag giveaway! Open Int :)

Hey guys, I know I promised this giveaway about a week ago but life go in the way... okay, Assassin's Creed got in the way, too. I bought an Xbox with my sister last week and we've never owned one (or a playstation, or a game boy, or any gaming device) before. So I've been busy climbing roofs and throwing knives at people :P

I love those leaps of faith from spires. Picture found here.

Ahem. Anyway, why this giveaway? First off, because I haven't done one independently of any hop or promo in quite a while. Secondly, thanks to you guys the blog just passed 68,000 pageviews! That might seem ridiculous to some of the bigger bloggers but it means a lot to me, so thank you! :) The amount of followers, commenters, and regular pageviews is something I had never anticipated a year ago! I hope I can keep posting things that will have you coming back! Sorry there haven't been many reviews, I'll try to post at least one next week! I'm also planning on a post with tips for new bloggers, though I feel a bit strange acting like I'm some sort of 'expert' in a position to dole out advice.

Thirdly, I recently looked over the amount of swag I accumulated in the past 2 years or so and realized that I don't really need all of this stuff. Of some signed bookmarks I got about half a dozen, so I might as well give a couple of them away ;)

The deets

• There are 3 swagpacks, 2 of them containing signed things, 1 unsigned but with more items to make it fairer
• One entry per person/household, but you may enter all 3 rafflecopter forms. You can only win once though.
• Open internationally, items to be shipped by me. I'm not responsible for stuff that is lost in the mail.
• All entries will be verified before I pick a winner. You cheat - you're DELETED.
• Winner has 48 hours to respond to my email, after that I will pick someone else.
• I reserve the right to make small changes to the rules/rafflecopter form and/or end the giveaway early.

Here are the pictures of what you can win, you'll find the rafflecopter forms below them at he bottom. Good luck!

Swag pack 1

- signed bookmark for Phoenix by Elizabeth Richards

-signed bookmark for Black City by Elizabeth Richards

-iPhone 4/4S skin for Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake (unsigned)

Swag pack 2

- signed bookmark for Phoenix by Elizabeth Richards

-signed bookmark for Black City by Elizabeth Richards

-signed bookmark for The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton

-bookmark for Adaptation by Malinda Lo (unsigned)

Swag pack 3

All of this is unsigned!!

-Dark Companion by Marta Acosta bookmark

-Dark Companion by Marta Acosta iPhone 4/4s skin

-Fierce Reads bookmark

-The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton pin/button (safety pin on the back)

-Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare cover postcard

If there is any problem with the entry forms or if you have a question, let me know on twitter! @Butterfly_Ghost

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Top Ten Favorite Book Covers of 2012

Hey guys :) Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you can spend some relaxed days with your loved ones and eat tons of cookies ;) I'm sure eating more than I should, but my mom's are just too good to resist ^^''

Anyhow, today is the second day of the Top 10 of 2012 event co-hosted by Rachel from Fiktshun,  Lisa from A Life Bound By Books, Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic and Jaime from Two Chicks on Books and Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads.

And it's all about the cover-pretty of 2012! Choosing was really hard for me and I'm sure I simply forgot about quite a few really amazing ones. They must be for books published in 2012, and it would be better if we'd actually read them though it's not necessary.


Here I go... click the covers to get to Goodreads.







I haven't read Opal, Ten Tiny Breaths, and Blackbirds yet but the covers and descriptions sound awesome! I generally tried to choose different types of covers. I like the more abstract, illustration-design of Unspken and Blackbrids a lot, but of course I also like girls in pretty dresses... and there are so many amazing covers of that type around now! Also, I would love to have included Clockwork Princess and Splintered but those won't be out until next year.

Here are my three honorable mentions:


Two more pretty dress covers I really liked. And I like the simplicity of the cover for Confessions of an Angry Girl.

What do you guys think of my choices, and what made it onto your lists?

My Six Month Blogoversary & Giveaway

Wow. I can't believe my half-year milestone of blogging crept up (and past) me like this! I seem to be forever unprepared for these things. I made my first post here on May 24th, though theoretically it might be better to count the days from when I posted my first review, which would set the six months mark at December 16. I wanted to post this a little in advance, but then end-of-semester-madness and near-disaster happened.

No matter which way you put it, time simply flew for me this past year! Half a year ago I never could have imaged the place I feel I'm at with this blog right now. I never thought I'd be reading ARCs (okay, they're digital so far but so what?!) or that my blog would have around 500 followers! That number seemed astronomical. And though I know not every one of you reads each of my posts, I want to thank you all for sticking around! I'm happy about every pageview and every single comment makes me smile before I even look at it! I feel like I've come to 'know' some of the more regular commenters and their blogs a bit. I know this sounds silly - it's just a few lines after all. But I feel that way anyway.

Not being social and part of the community enough is one thing I regret quite a bit at this point. I'm shy about approaching people, and I don't really know where or how. Are there forums or websites where bloggers 'talk shop', so to speak? Or is it all on Twitter? Another problem is that I'm so busy I often don't have the time to catch up on my twitter feed at all. This was especially bad for the last month or so. I overbooked my university schedule this semester, and along with my two jobs and occasionally meeting friends and reading and writing (not as much as I'd like) it's just all getting a bit much. That's also the reason why there have been more promo/meme posts lately and less reviews - something I want to balance out better in the future! I can't wait for the holidays and I hope I'll do better next semester!

There are still things I want to improve. Like a header, or a blog button. If you have any suggestions about what type of post you'd like to see, feel free to tell me in the comments! I've also been thinking about adding a weekly poetry-meme for a while now. What do you think of that?

Enough of my prattling and rambling. This is a celebration post after all, so let there be presents and a giveaway! Unfortunately, since it's so close to the holidays, I have to watch my money a bit so I can't give away two packages of three books each like last time, but I have selection of both old and new releases for you to choose from. Also, to help get the word out there about some indie authors I really enjoy, there's also a rafflecopter for a kindle eBook of your choice from the selection. So there are TWO rafflecopter forms for you to fill out and TWO chances to win. Both giveaways are INTERNATIONAL but please check the rules for details!


Rules:

• One entry per person / household. I check IP addresses.
• You must be at least 13 years old.
• Giveaway is international provided that The Book Depository ships to you. For the eBook giveaway you have to be able to accept kindle gifts.
• I will email the winner and they'll have 48 hours to respond. After that time has passed, I'll pick someone new.
• You may enter one or both rafflecopter forms.
• I will check all entries before picking a winner. Cheaters will be disqualified.
• Once the book has been shipped, I am no longer responsible for it.
• I will choose whichever edition is cheapest on The Book Depository.
• If a book is from a series and you already have it, you may choose a different installment of the same series.
• I reserve the right to change entry options or end the giveaway early.

If you have any questions, either email me or send me a tweet @Butterfly_Ghost. Good luck to everyone, and happy holidays! :)

Paperback choices:






a Rafflecopter giveaway

Indie eBook choices:


 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stacking the Shelves: Dystopian & Steampunk Edition

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted at Tynga's Reviews that allows us to showcase all the bookish goodies we got in the past week. These can be print books, ebooks, bought books, borrowed ones, review books, swag... you got it, you share it.


Books I had ordered that finally arrived:

Black City, by Elizabeth Richards
Divergent, by Veronica Roth
The Infernal Devices Manga: Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare (illustrator: HyeKyung Baeck)
Parasol Protectorate Box (books 1-5), by Gail Carriger


If you've been following this blog for any amount of time you know how much I've been CRAVING Black City!! I got it yesterday and I'm already more than halfway through. You can see the sticky notes. I got Divergent today on a whim. I was feeling sad (I'll explain later) and buying books in a physical store makes me happy. I've wanted the Infernal Devices manga ever since it was first announced - I love the series and I love manga, so... perfect combination. I've also been meaning to read Gail Carriger's books for forever so when I saw a boxset (at a great price) would be out, I preordered it. I need more steampunk in my life.


From Netgalley:



Dance of Shadows, by Yelena Black
Elemental: The First, by Alexandra May


Bought:



The Secret of Ella & Micha, by Jessica Sorensen


For a blog tour:



The Breakaway, by Michelle Davidson Argyle

What did you get this week?

Stacking the Shelves: I won sweet and signed stuff

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme created by Tynga's Reviews to show off all the books and other book-related awesomeness we bought, borrowed, won, found or however acquired during the past week.

Since I decided that I was fed up with my book buying ban last week, I ordered quite a ton of stuff (bargains!) but not all of it has arrived yet. I'm also really sorry for the lack of reviews lately :( I'm really busy with university stuff, and now I have NaNoWriMo on top of everything... I'm always behind and feel like I'm running after my life and never able to quite catch up and basically half-assing everything by trying :/ I have to hand in an essay draft by Sunday and as of this morning, I didn't even know what to write on. I do now, but I still don't have a clear thesis, much less secondary literature or anything like an outline. And I'm working tomorrow and then leaving to visit family... yeah. I don't see this one working out either.

I got two physical books:

Days of Blood and Starlight, by Laini Taylor
Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2), by C.C. Hunter

I was soooo happy when DoBaS arrived in the mail!!! It's so gorgeous, and... really big. Which means that the cover is even more stunning. Can't wait to get around to reading this one - the writing of DoSaB was so gorgeous!
I really enjoyed Born at Midnight, the first book in the Shadow Falls series, when I read it over the summer. I hope the sequel is just as addictive.

I also won two books in giveaways:

 

The Blemished, by Sarah Dalton
Affinity - Bird in a Guilded Cage, by Mary E. Merrell

Click the covers to get to the Goodreads pages.
I love both covers, especially the one for The Blemished. Purple is my favorite color ^^ (I'm sure you never would've guessed from my blog design...)

Furthermore, I just got this eBook from amazon for free:

The Light Tamer, by Devyn Dawson

I linked to amazon because the description there is better than the one on goodreads.


The list goes on... I got approved for two books on NetGalley:


Again, click to get to goodreads.

I requested The Stone Demon yesterday afternoon as soon as I read a tweet of Karen Mahoney's that it was on NetGalley! I love her Iron Witch Trilogy! To my total surprise, I was approved just hours later o.O
City of Dark Magic is a book I requested weeks ago and didn't really expect to hear back about anymore. I mean, it's Penguin. And my blog isn't exactly 'big'. When I got the email I expected a rejection, and was left blinking at the screen for a while when I got accepted instead o.O I started reading it late last night because it's out on the 27th and I really like the opening so far! The tone is very special.

And finally....

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!! I can't wait to read Black City!! I have it on preorder and can't wait for its pretty, hardcover self to make an appearance at my door! So I was super-excited to get an email from Elizabeth Richards that I'd won a bunch of SIGNED bookmarks for both Black City and its sequel, Phoenix!!
They are so so pretty! All shiny and smooth and gleamy and signed. The picture does not do them justice ^^

Also, because I don't need all of them for myself, you guys can expect a giveaway, problem along with my review ;)
 
Alright, I'm at the end of my haul. Have you read any of the books I got, or are they on your TBR? And what did you get this week?