The Complete Story of How I Became a Book Blogger

Posted on May 16, 2020 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

How I Became a Book Blogger

Hello, dear readers. Today, I decided to tell you a story that is important to me. @mrs.p.christie asked me, today, how I came to create my blog and she made me realize that I have never shared this story before with anyone besides, like, my brother or my personal diary.

I want to tell you what happened in detail.

I created my Goodreads account in 2012. Before Goodreads, I was on Booknode, which is an online community for francophone book lovers. But as much as I liked Booknode, it just wasn’t a big enough community for me and the selection of books to shelve and notes to give was very limited in my opinion, especially in the early 2010s. Continue reading →

Interview with a Book Publicist at Penguin Random House Canada

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

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Hello everyone! Today I have the opportunity to share with you an interview that I did with my favourite publicist at Penguin Radom House Canada, Samantha Devotta! I have been working with her since September and she’s always been helpful and a really good person to talk to in general. I hope you enjoy this interview and find it insightful. 🙂 Continue reading →

Review: The Naturals (The Naturals, #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

13597723 The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Borrowed
Publication Date: November 5th 2013
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 14+
Pacing: Fast
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Crime, Mystery, Love Triangle

BLURB:

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides—especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own. Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length. Continue reading →

Ultra Negative Review: The Crown’s Game (The Crown’s Game, #1) by Evelyn Skye

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye

My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Received: Borrowed
Publication Date: May 17th, 2016
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Point of View: 3rd Person & Alternative
Recommended Age: 13+
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Competition, Magic, Romance

BLURB:

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.
Continue reading →

Best Young Adult Books with Magic

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

Books with magical elements are my favourites, and therefore I decided to share the best ones I’ve ever read with you. Hopefully, you’ll get some recommendations out of this post. Cover leads to Goodreads and title leads to Book Depository.

birds Continue reading →

Review: I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls, #1) by Ally Carter

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

852470 I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publication Date: April 25th 2006
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 10+
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Espionage, Boarding School, Friendship, Action

BLURB:

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school-that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it’s really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist”-but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she’s on her most dangerous mission-falling in love. Continue reading →

How to Get Free ARCs from Publishers

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

How to Get Free ARCs from Publishers

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Part 1: Criteria

Getting ARCs from publishers is actually pretty easy, but you do need to do some things for that to happen.

Get a blog.

Obviously, you need a blog to receive ARCs. Publishers want someone who’s consistent in his reading and reviewing books and has an established readership. Continue reading →

Best Young Adult Books with Mild LGBT Themes

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

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Dear readers, I was reading an M/M romance erotica that was really disappointing me (off with Insta-Lust’s head!) when I decided to make a list of the best Young Adult books with mild LGBT themes I’ve read in my life. (Click on the covers to buy.)

Here it goes. Continue reading →

Review: Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

3521484 Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Received: Bought
Publicatio Date: December 23rd 2008
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 13+
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, High School

BLURB:

When “Perfect” Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter’s High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher’s pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace?

Parker doesn’t want to talk about it. She’d just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her conselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there’s a nice guy falling in love with her and he’s making her feel things again when she’d really rather not be feeling anything at all.

Nobody would have guessed she’d turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth.

Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault. Continue reading →

Review: Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Monica @ Hit or Miss Books

22297294 Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Received: Edelweiss
Publicatio Date: May 17th, 2016
Publisher: HarperTeen
Point of View: 1st Person & Feminine
Recommended Age: 12+
Genres & Themes: Young Adult, Mental Illness, Contemporary, Romance, High School, Sports, Family

BLURB:

Maguire is bad luck.

No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when Maguire is around. Like that time the rollercoaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or that time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash—and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch.

It’s safest for Maguire to hide out in her room, where she can cause less damage and avoid meeting new people who she could hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star. Jordy is confident, talented, and lucky, and he’s convinced he can help Maguire break her unlucky streak. Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for Jordy is to stay away. But it turns out staying away is harder than she thought.

From author Paula Stokes comes a funny and poignant novel about accepting the past, embracing the future, and learning to make your own luck. Continue reading →