The Book Cove

Something that I once stumbled upon was how to enable auto-post to social media sites when using blogger (also available on other sites). What it does is create a direct link to social media accounts and automatically updates the accounts with new posts from your blog via RSS feed.   Some may not know about this feature and its pros and cons. If you are one of those, I hope this post is helpful. This a great for a few reasons: 1.) It's a huge time saver 2.) Memory lapses won't stop your various social audiences from knowing what's new 3.) It's a huge time saver A lot of times I have scheduled posts on my blog. Because I work during the day (during the time when I would normally have my highest visitor response when posting) I try to make sure that I have a scheduled post ready to go at a certain time. The great thing about RSS feeds on blogs is that whether you have scheduled posts or manual posts, you can create a set-up to automatically update your so...

It has been a while since I posted a general update. So I figured now would be a good time to bring our readers up to speed. I'll try to keep it short and sweet! (Keyword try ) Review Status: As of April 1st, 2014 our book reviews will be slowing down. I (Jessi) am the primary reviewer here and I have a busy work schedule kicking in that requires some major prioritization (hello MS degree!). I have been selecting a few books every now and then to provide me with some nightly decompressing material - but even those few selections will be dwindling unfortunately.   Sigh. I know. Life decisions. Books or a degree ;-) Guest Review Opportunity: But guess what?! That means that there are plenty of opportunities for guest reviews to be posted! If interested in reviewing a book (The Book Cove can provide eBooks), please email us and we'll discuss some options! Book Tours and Promos: While it is unlikely that a review will be provided by us for a blog tou...

" Is it fair to use a scale rating system?"  This is a common topic among those in the book world and I figured that I'd throw out my two cents on how and why I rate books. I don't think there is any right or wrong answer. What it comes down to is doing what you're most comfortable with. It seems like the general "pro" group consensus is that rating provides a reference point for readers while the "con" consensus group is that rating is so subjective that it loses its meaning. I agree with both points. When you look at sites that use rating systems (Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble), it's hard to tell whether or not you should trust the rating . Some fans will flood the sites with biased ratings to promote the book. Opponents then come in and mark down all of the good reviews while leaving one star ratings. With those sites, it's usually the 3 star ratings that I trust the most. I guess I figure that the reviewer found both goo...

( Blurb ): Jada McLean is about to get married in nine days, when she walks in on her fiancé in a little more than a compromising position. Days later, she’s on a trip that she intends to be relaxing and a prelude to her fresh start, when she runs into the rude, obnoxious, but gorgeous Jonathan Kole. Jonathan Kole is San Francisco’s newest District Attorney. When he finds himself deeply attracted to a stunning beauty, he has no idea that she’s about to get into BIG trouble with the law—and he’ll be the one presiding over her trial. To make matters worse, his father is the lawyer representing her in the high-profile case. When a series of events force them together over New Year’s weekend, Jonathan’s feelings and ethics will come into question, while Jada comes to terms with the fact that she is falling for the man that will be responsible for attempting to put her behind bars… Little do they know, they're both about to fall into a whirlwind so deep, it will send both their lives ...

Orange Blossom will be the penultimate title in Sarah Daltry 's bestselling New Adult romance series, Flowering . The reading order and information about the other titles follows.   ----------------------- You already know their stories: Lily, the perfect princess, always living someone else's life. And Jack, the broken boy, who had stopped believing in hope. Somehow, though, they found each other and what was one night blossomed into a love story. Now, a year later, Jack and Lily are dreaming of the future. Despite all of his promises to himself that he would never be indebted to anyone, Jack makes a new promise - this time to Lily - that he will be there for her forever. But when life unravels for them, he starts to pull away, and Lily worries he's out of reach for good. When Jack does the unthinkable, Lily is left destroyed. Is it possible to have a happily ever after? Does love ever really save anyone?  "I’ve never understood a year. A year was alway...

Recently I was on a blog hop where the topic of "plot change-ups" came up. The point was to take a book that you didn't particularly like and re-vision the plot. Interestingly, the topic of epilogues popped up a lot. As it turns out, many readers took issue not with the main plot but with how the characters' lives progressed in the epilogue. Thinking about this, I too realized that a lot of my mixed feelings about a book have come from the "life revelations" experienced by characters in the epilogue. I don't know exactly what it is about an epilogue that can sway some readers' feelings in so few pages, but I think it has to do with a case of Too Much Information . Here's where I think epilogues throw people like me off. Reading involves a full immersion of yourself as a character(s). Even if an author lays out the exact description of every character and scene, readers still find yourself  injecting personal thoughts and ideas into a st...

What is Feature and Follow? F&F is a weekly blog hop that consists of book bloggers. It is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee . The rules of involvement are simple: 1.) Link up on the blog hop Linky gadget below this post, 2.) follow the hosts via their network of choice, 3.) follow the weekly featured blog(s) via their network of choice (listed as "featured" in the blog list below), and lastly, 4) check out the rest of the blogs on the hop! If you become a new follower of a blog, let them know and they will follow you back. The F&F is a great way to network, meet other book bloggers, and gain new followers. Even more so, it's a great way to drive fun discussion on a weekly topic. This week, the topic is: Recommend some of your favorite back-list books - books that are at least a few years old (I’m thinking 5-10 years old rather than classics). There are two FF posts today. One by Jessi (The Book Cove) and one by author L.A. Kelley (c...

What is Feature and Follow? F&F is a weekly blog hop that consists of book bloggers. It is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee . The rules of involvement are simple: 1.) Link up on the blog hop Linky gadget below this post, 2.) follow the hosts via their network of choice, 3.) follow the weekly featured blog(s) via their network of choice (listed as "featured" in the blog list below), and lastly, 4) check out the rest of the blogs on the hop! If you become a new follower of a blog, let them know and they will follow you back. The F&F is a great way to network, meet other book bloggers, and gain new followers. Even more so, it's a great way to drive fun discussion on a weekly topic. This week, the topic is: Change the Plot. If you could, what book would you change the ending or a plot thread? Go ahead and do it...change it. There are two FF posts today. One by Jessi (The Book Cove) re-writing Thief by Tarryn Fisher) and one by author L.A. Kelle...

A little while back I wrote a post on the downside of being a book reviewer . The feedback on that post ranged from empathy to "If it's such a downer, then why do you do it?" Every hobby or job has a downside. Just because those unfortunate or downer moments happen does not mean that the joy in the job is lost. For every one bad experience I've had, I've been fortunate to have 100 awesome experiences! This post breaks down a few of the reasons as to why being a book reviewer (or any kind of reviewer) is awesome! You have an endless supply of books - Whether you're hoarding free books from Amazon/eBook sites/NetGalley or spending your weekly pay on your wishlist or having your inbox/mailbox flooded with incoming requests, there is never a shortage of books! Sometimes it gets the best of you and you realize you just spent an entire weekend (...okay, week) doing nothing but reading. And you know what? That's okay! It's great! It's amazing! ...