This Valentine's Day, spread the #booklove & enter to win books + Amazon & Etsy gift cards!

Yes, you read that right! We're spreading the #booklove this weekend with the simplest, most exciting way EVER, and throwing a giveaway, to boot! After seeing so many books with a decent amount of reviews on Goodreads (indies especially), but realizing what a surprising number of those reviews never make it to actual purchasing sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords, I thought, maybe readers just need a little incentive! 

Reviews influence purchases...
which raise books in the ranks... 
which gets them in front of more readers...
which means they eventually get into more reader's hands... 

and that's exactly the point of spreading the #booklove: getting books to more readers! 

So. Here's how it works:

The main point of this giveaway is to encourage readers who've reviewed books on Goodreads to also share those reviews on other websites. Think of it as passing the word along, without having to do much more than copying and pasting! Easiest #booklove ever, right?! There will be no required links to share, nor will we require proof in any other way; it's all based on the honor system. We're simply encouraging readers to spread the word a little further. 

If you have no reviews to share but still want to get in the Valentine's Day spirit, feel free to share #booklove by mentioning a few of your current favorite authors or books on Twitter, Insta, Tumblr, FB, or anywhere else using the above graphic and/or by linking to this giveaway. (Don't forget to use the hashtag!) 

And now, here's what's up for grabs as a thank you for sharing the #booklove: one winner will receive TEN e-books, two novellas, an Etsy gift card, and an Amazon gift card! YAY! Read about the authors and gifts up for grabs below the Rafflecopter. As always, there's a free entry as well as other features that can get you extra entries. THANK YOU for helping us share the #booklove!

You've got sweet YA conspiracy theory, sweet NA Norse mythology, YA superheroes, YA magical realism (with a bit o' romance), and a YA space opera. Talk about lots of fun reading options!!! Remember, all readers are welcome to enter, but keep in mind that the entire spirit of the #booklove giveaway is to encourage readers to share thoughts/reviews already on Goodreads to other sites so that their favorites can be brought to the surface of the book sea that is the internet (or even be inspired to share their #booklove in some other way, like spreading word of mouth on social media or even writing review/s if they've been meaning to, but haven't gotten around to it yet). 

And now for the Rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Stacey Nash, author of Forget Me Not and Remember Me (link) 

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

ST Bende, author of The Elsker Saga (link)

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Hafsah Laziaf, author of Unbreathable (link)

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Cheyanne Young, author of the Powered trilogy (link)

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Jessica L. Brooks, author of the Flora series (link)

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble

11 Reasons Why I Love Book Bloggers

Recently, as I went through my favorite books, couples, and quotes looking for fun things fun to share on an feature at  Kayla's The Bibliophilic Nerds, it occurred to me that I was limiting the post to only authors and their fictional characters. But what about love with the readers? And love shared by those readers, with everyone else, all over the interwebs?

 Whoa! I thought. I’ve got an idea for a feature.

Which turns out to be quite apropos, considering If I Speak True’s blog tour just ended and I am seeing (for a second time) just how much work bloggers do on a daily basis. (Not that I didn't see it before... but when you're watching the process of a post from start to finish you definitely appreciate it more.)

So, without further ado, here’s my “love” list for Valentine's Day, because I love all ya'll, and you are SO appreciated:

11 Reasons Why I Love Book Bloggers

1) Book bloggers are the best. Eclectic group. Ever. Doesn't matter if they're thirteen and from the US or ninety-two and from Costa Rica; tall or short; love coffee or don't (gasp), all of them rock and share one thing: Their love for books. Therefore, they are equally amazing.

2) Book bloggers take time out of their busy schedules to share the books they’ve read with others. Not just once, not just twice, but time and time again, week after week, month after month, year after year. That's dedication, folks. 

3) Sometimes, after sharing the books they've read, they even recommend them, so others can fall in love with them, too.

4) Book bloggers love to squee about favorite characters. Which then gives the rest of us permission to squee with them. And then we all get to squee, and everybody’s happy. Until we read the next book. Then, we do it all over again. (Repeat this for every other emotion, too.)

5) Not only do book bloggers share their feelings about the books they’ve read on their blogs, but a lot of times they go that extra mile and share those thoughts on websites (like Barnes and Noble or Amazon or Goodreads, for example). This is two-fold awesome: a) it helps lead readers to books and b) enables readers to make informed decisions regarding whether a book is their kind of thing. 

6) Book bloggers host giveaways constantly. Have you noticed this? I mean, nowhere else except in the blogosphere can you click around and enter book/swag giveaway after giveaway for free, just BECAUSE. They are like, full of sweet-book-sharing-awesomeness that never stops. (I don't know about you, but I imagine my favorite circus music when I see giveaways. Come one, come all, to the greatest giveaways on our blogs! Ahem. Anyway...)

7) Book bloggers bring their personalities to the table. You hardly ever see the same blog design twice, which is crazy, considering how many bloggers there are! I love checking out everyone’s designs. (I also tend to swoon over owl ones, as well as anything that mentions coffee. But you already knew that, didn't you, friends?)

8) Book bloggers do cool cover features (like this one, or this one) and make fan art and sometimes even start Pinterest boards (which sends #booklove fans into crazy town and makes authors feel so stinking special).

9) Some of the best memes have been thought up by book bloggers, like Top Ten Tuesday, Waiting on Wednesday, What's Next, New Releases, GIF posts, Hot Off the Presses, and so on. (If you're looking for more/new memes, holy canole does Bookshelf Fantasies have a list for you.)

10) Their blog titles are so stinkin' unique. Here are just a minute few, so you can see what I mean:

Perpetual Page Turner
Such a Novel Idea

Chasm of Books

Turning Pages

The NerdHerd Reads

A Day Dreamer's World 

The Book Addict's Guide

Feed Me Books Now

Oops I Read A Book Again

A Book and a Latte

Page Turner's Blog 

The Story Siren

Me My Shelf and I

Lit Up Review

YA Midnight Reads

Geeky Chiquitas

The Escapist

I'd So Rather Be Reading 

11) Not only do bloggers come up with/do fun memes and have great blog titles, but they do reading challenges, too! Like, all the time! A tiny smithereen of examples:

Standalone Reading Challenge 

2014 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge

2014 Reading Challenge: Indie-Fever

2014 TBR Pile Challenge

(This isn't on a blog, per se, but I even came across a reading challenge board on Pinterest and it lists quite a few.)

Now of course, there are way more than eleven reasons why book bloggers are awesome, but these are the ones that came to me. I know a LOT of us appreciate the book blogging community for various reasons, so everyone please feel free to add your reasons in the comments (or, better yet, do your own post on 11 reasons why you love book bloggers--using the banner the lovely Hafsah (@iceybooks/@iceydesigns) made)!

Okay now, fall in, everyone! Time to give all of the bloggers one big ***SQUEEZE***!!! 

Thank you for everything you guys do! *throws coffee bean confetti*


Disclaimers:

* as stated, there are many more bloggers who equally deserve thanks and credit. Each and every one of you is greatly appreciated, full of awesome, and most of you smell nice, too. If you aren't mentioned on this post, it's only because Lovemuffin put too many shots of espresso in my coffee and I'm on caffeine overload and my brain is going a thousand places at once and I can hardly even concen

** sometimes, authors are book bloggers, too, which means that they count as both. So to all of you authors who also blog and share the love of books with fellow authors/readers, you are totes included in the bloggerly love.

*** bloggers! If you have something you'd like to share, like a meme or reading challenge, ect. please feel free to do it in the comments! (YA and up appropriateness, please) 

**** when I said it would be cool of you to do your own 11 Reasons Why I Love Book Bloggers post, I wasn't kidding. It's Valentine's week. Heck, it's Valentine's month. Which means, basically... Go forth, and do it. Do it NOW.

***** wasn't trying to be demanding in that last comment... go forth and do it... please? Also: Here's a cookie.