The Power of WordPress: An Act of Selfless Kindness.

Once upon a time in a far away land and across a vast and treacherous ocean, a woman was on a mission. It was August 25th full of summer and excitement. The woman had convinced her husband to join her on the long drive, and the anticipation in the car was tangible. When she reached her destination nearly two hours early she sent emails with glee to a girl across the globe. A girl who was just as enthusiastic, sitting at her desk refreshing her emails. The woman queued with the determination only a true fan could have and when she finally reached the desk she took a deep breath.

~ * ~

WordPress can do a lot of things, but I never thought it would send me a book from across the globe.

I’m sure you all remember my participation in the 30 Day Book Challenge? It already seems like so long ago I was writing daily posts in the glare of the sun, feeling the warm grass beneath my feet while I tapped away at my keyboard, but according to my blog history it did happen! One of my posts had the theme an ‘author I wish people would read more’ and I chose to gush about Kelley Armstrong, a YA genius that gave me one of my biggest book hangovers to date.
Little did I know that this post would spark something quite extraordinary. 

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Reflections on the 30 Day Book Challenge

So the next time I come to you guys saying how I’ve found this spectacular, fun new challenge that I just HAVE to try, you need to tell me that I am insane and I should go back my natural habitat – my reading cave! Especially if it involves blogging for 30 days straight and severe reading withdrawal. Phhaaaaa, I’m just kidding… mostly. The majority of this challenge was an absolute blast, it was so much fun allowing myself to be nostalgic about old reads, I reveled in the challenge of pushing myself to write consistently and I am so proud that I didn’t even miss one day! Plus, all the wonderful reading suggestions you have given me will keep me going for a long time. 🙂 That being said, I’m also glad that it’s over now because I was feeling incredibly burnt out by the end, I was even considering a blog detox. The horror!

So what did I learn from this experience? Well, quite a darn lot actually! Here I present thee with the five possibly pointless life skills I learnt from the 30 Day Book Challenge.

DAY 30: A Book You Couldn’t Put Down.

Holy moley, day thirty! I MADE IT. I thought it would never come, it seemed so far away. But before I get too celebratory, lets get this post on the proverbial road. 🙂

There were so many books I could have chosen for this day of the challenge, so I tried to think of which I would like to spotlight that others may not have heard of or could have forgotten about. I also wanted to pick something that I had never mentioned on my blog before. With this train of thought, I decided upon 

DAY 29: A Book you Hated.

Awwwh man I feel mean writing this post. It’s one thing to write a sarcastic ranty review of a book I had a lot of problems with because it’s kind of relevant and in context, but to spotlight a book specifically to be negative about it seems a bit unnecessary. Especially with the word ‘hate’ – so harsh! I never say I hate anything, strongly dislike sure, but not hate. Unfortunately though, I do recollect one book that fits perfectly into this category, normally I can always find at least one redeeming quality in a novel, but with this one I was lost for words…

DAY 28: Favorite Quote From a Book.

My first thought when I saw this was how can I pick ONE favourite quote? Are they mad?

My second thought was, EVERYTHING TOLKIEN AN ROWLING.

Yeah, I’m not predictable, nu-uh.

It is only within the last year or so that I have started collecting quotes, which is probably a good thing because if I’d been doing it for longer this would be a full on essay! So this post is basically an eclectic mix of quotes I love, a few have been mentioned on the blog before in reviews or my meme Quoting the Quill, while others are entirely new. I hope you enjoy. 🙂

DAY 27: A Book That has Been on Your “To Read” List the Longest.

I am sad to say that there are some books I have had on my shelf for the longest time and completely neglected. I have mentioned before now that I am almost unable to bypass a good book deal, and my literature related whims can be impossible to control. It’s the one area of my life I allow myself to splurge on, everyone needs an outlet and reading is mine! But the problem with books is you have to invest the time, something which can be tough to do in 2013, a world of endless information, social networking, TV channels and music. Not to mention all our responsibilities, from family and friends to education and work.
Possibly my worst bookworm trait is that I get distracted by my current book purchases and so some of my older ones occasionally slip through the cracks and get left on my shelf to collect dust for years! So, allow me to direct you to the realm of my forgotten books. 🙂

DAY 26: A Book That Makes You Laugh Out Loud.

I don’t tend to seek out humorous books, I’m more of a dragons, demons and vampires kinda gal, so my laugh out loud moments normally come from unexpected places. I had to think about this question for a bit to come up with my answers, but when I did it was a light bulb moment of epic proportions! How could I have almost forgotten these two wonderful series?!