BBAW: My Personal Bookpushers

I'm a bit late on this, but now, as part of the great BBAW, it's time to talk about the reason I love book blogs the most: the book recommendations they bring my way. Specifically, the ones I would never have picked up otherwise but that I absolutely loved and can't imagine having never read.

Today we encourage you to blog about a book you read only because you discovered it on another book blog. Preferably, this will be a book you loved! You might also write a bit about the blog you discovered it on!

Ahem.

I've talked before about the gateway blogs that got me into the whole crazy, awesome book blogging world and Bookshelves of Doom is pretty much at the top of the list. I discovered Leila's supercool blog a long time ago now it seems and rarely a day goes by I don't check in to see what books are being challenged/banned across the nation, which books almost get her hit by cars, what the weather's like in Maine, etc. It was Leila's review that made me go out and buy the first Secret Society Girl book by Diana Peterfreund. And that, as you dear readers know, led to a most excellent love affair with a certain character. Several, actually. Amy is one of my very favorite heroines for how real she seems. And the enigmatic GHP...well. He can come round glinting his copper-penny eyes anytime. I also owe my discovery of Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey series to Bookshelves of Doom. It's the funny, incredibly involving way Leila writes her reviews that really gets me. Witness a snippet of her review of Silent in the Grave:

Silent in the Grave grabbed me from the first paragraph:

To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor.

Funny! A possible suggestion of future romance (dude, this is how my mind works -- I make predictions based on 27 words)! A twitching body! A mystery (Why is he twitching? Why is he almost dead? Why is the narrator so flip?)! In other words, a hell of a hook!

And then, the next paragraph made me happy, too:

I stared at him, not quite taking in the fact that he had just collapsed at my feet. He lay, curled like a question mark, his evening suit ink-black against the white marble of the floor. He was writhing, his fingers knotted.

The DRAMA! Writhing!

Obviously, I had to continue. And I did.

I laugh all the way to the bookstore is what I do. Then I just settle in and read. It was one of her posts that inspired my Top Ten Kick-A** Heroines of YA post and that's really when I started getting serious about "this blogging thing." Thank you so much, Leila!

Very shortly after I discovered Bookshelves of Doom, I ran across The YA YA YAs. Run by three YA librarians, this blog quickly became a go-to one for me. Trisha, Gayle, and Jolene do a bang-up job of covering a wide range of young adult novels and issues and I always look forward to what they have to say next. Most recently, I ran across Trisha's review of Perfect Chemistry:

Simone Elkeles’ Perfect Chemistry is a teen romance full of clichés, melodrama, an unrealistic denouement, and a completely over the top epilogue. And I freaking loved it. Ate it up with a spoon like it was an ice cream sundae.

Mmmm. There was no way I was passing this one up. Particularly given how I trust Trisha's reviews. She is extremely upfront and honest about a book. She lays it out for you and I can always tell whether or not it'll be one for me. Such an appreciated quality in a reviewer. And sure enough, Trisha came through again not long after with her review of Printz Award-winning Jellicoe Road. When she said it's not a book for everyone but that it's a book that demands your attention and that she loved it? I buy the book. I do not pass go and I do not ever experience buyer's remorse. What a beautiful, beautiful book it was. Thank you, Trisha!

And what post about blogs I love would be complete without a shout-out to my beloved Ana and Thea? (No kind of post is the correct answer, in case you were wondering). It's difficult for me to express the mighty crush I have on The Book Smugglers. Fortunately for me, it sounds like the feeling is mutual. I go to their site for humor, for romance, for kick-a** urban fantasy and scifi, and basically anything else I need in a given 24-hour period. From their nonsensical weekend polls to their deliciously long and insightful joint reviews, I am riveted. Taking notes. Nodding, laughing, talking-to-the-computer-screen enjoying myself. It's thanks to these two that I went ahead and picked up the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. Based on Thea's double feature review of the first two books (and the glowing Patricia Briggs quote on the cover), I jumped into Kate's crazy, psychedelic Atlanta headfirst. I fell in love with Kate from the word go. I ate up the world-building and was cautiously optimistic about the Beast Lord Curran. When each book got exponentially more mind-blowing, I was hooked. The most recent installment, Magic Strikes, is shockingly good and this series is easily in my top three favorite urban fantasy series. I also followed the Smugs' recommendation and gave Linnea Sinclair a shot, thereby falling in love with Games of Command. Sinclair is to space opera what Eva Ibbotson is to YA historicals. You know what to expect and you can absolutely count on her to deliver a good time. As Ana said, "Not a single one disappoints." The same can be said of The Book Smugglers. They are made of awesome. End of story.