Cinder doesn’t disappoint on any level. The narrator has a solid, pleasant voice and does a stellar job of distinguishing different characters and accents. With an intriguing plot (Cinderella meets Black plague meets desperate future world), I was captivated from start to finish. I frequently found myself sitting in my car after arriving home for “just 3 more minutes.” When the ten hours of audio finished, I was blown away by the ending. Cinder is the first book of a set and it left me craving more. Throughout the book I kept asking myself the following questions: Would Cinder find happiness? Would Kai figure out what happened in time? What was the cure for the disease? Is the doctor good or bad? Will Cinder save her sister? There are plenty of questions in this book to keep you jumping from start to finish, but the book is so well written that I stayed on the edge of my steering wheel for the entire ride.

Marissa Meyer noted on her twitter feed that the next book is not due out until next January and, frankly, I don’t know if I can wait that long. Cinder has brought me into this future world and the audiobook held me in it like a child being read a fairytale at night before bed. I found myself thinking about the book during the day and it allowed that escape that few novels do anymore. Cinder is an excellent young adult novel with no foul language, that I heard, and no real adult themes unless you count a cyborg almost short circuiting when in close contact with a handsome prince or an android giggling about picture a human prince in the nude as a real adult theme. I found them charming and like the things that young teenagers giggle about at slumber parties.

Cinder is a beautiful, sweet-natured, refreshing change of pace and I appreciate MacMillon Audio for allowing me a free copy to review. If you don’t believe me, have a listen for yourself to a short clip from Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

1 lucky blog reader will receive an audiobook version of Cinder by Marissa Meyer thanks to MacMillion Audio.

It can be yours if you win.

Here’s how to enter:

1) Leave a comment before March 23, 2012 at 5pm CST telling me what your favorite childrens book was when you were a child. (1 entry)

2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 entry each, but you must link them here SEPARATELY or they will not COUNT separately as I will be using a number randomizer to choose the winner–please do not spam your friends to win the contest as most sites frown on that)

3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it’s there and where I can find it. It’s pretty!

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**You must have a valid way of contacting you in your entry (which means you must leave your email address on the entry so I can send you a notice saying “YOU WON!”)
**If your email address bounces back to me, I will leave a post on my blog for 5 days and you will have the option to contact me for your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, doesn’t work, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Here are your random numbers:

1
Timestamp: 2011-12-16 00:21:05 UTC

1 lucky blog reader will receive an audiobook version of Tempest by Julie Cross thanks to MacMillion Audio.

It can be yours if you win.

Here’s how to enter:

1) Leave a comment before December 15, 2011 at 5pm CST telling me one thing you love about this time of year. (1 entry)

2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 entry each, but you must link them here SEPARATELY or they will not COUNT separately as I will be using a number randomizer to choose the winner–please do not spam your friends to win the contest as most sites frown on that)

3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it’s there and where I can find it. It’s pretty!

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**You must have a valid way of contacting you in your entry (which means you must leave your email address on the entry so I can send you a notice saying “YOU WON!”)
**If your email address bounces back to me, I will leave a post on my blog for 5 days and you will have the option to contact me for your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, doesn’t work, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Home Depot is offering a bunch of really cool tools for under $20 this holiday season. Being a really awesome company, they offered to send some bloggers some of the tools to review and giveaway (not review and keep–bah humbug) to their loyal readers. I got a super cool screwdriver set.

I’ll admit that when they said they were sending me screwdrivers to review that my initial reaction was “how on earth am I going to review screwdrivers? Don’t you just put it on the screw on turn it?” Yep. I’m crafty like that. When I got the screwdriver kit, though, I was like a kid in a candy store. It had all these cool little bit things. Every bit you could think of was in this kit (like 12 of them!). The batteries were included (YES!!!) so it makes an easy holiday gift. All I had to do was take the little paper out, which was thoughtful of them, so it didn’t drain the juice. I immediately started assembling and pushing the right and left buttons to watch the bits go back and forth.

And then…I did something that was decidedly male…I started looking for things to take apart. Oh yes. There had to be something in the house to take apart. And we’re just going to leave the story as to what was disassembled there because you really don’t need to know more about that. What I will say is that this screwdriver is AWESOME and I’m loathe to give it up (ARGH!). For $10, I’m considering putting it on my wishlist. Mom, are you reading this? Everyone needs a good screwdriver. If I hadn’t said I’d give it away, I might have actually given it to her as a gift. We love the freebies.

However, now I have to give it to one of you. One slightly used and gleefully toyed with screwdriver is up for grabs.

It can be yours if you win.

Here’s how to enter:

1) Leave a comment before December 15, 2010 at 5pm CST telling me one thing you love about this time of year. (1 chance)

2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 chance each)

3) You can add the blueshelled facebook page to your facebook pages! This is going to make me really happy. (2 chances)

3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it’s there and where I can find it. It’s pretty!

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**I can only ship in the United States. I’m sorry to my International folks. I adore you, anyway.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address within a week of the drawing end in order to receive your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Things to remember here: 1/the giveaways are made possible by me and my sponsors. I rely on word of mouth to bring people to my blog. Please spread the word about blueshelled.com! 2/If you or anyone you know might be interested in sponsoring a giveaway here, please let me know. 3/ This blog sucks up the love. Thanks!

Thanks for reading and keep watching for more giveaways!

It could actually be post-traumatic stress from when I got my ears pierced. I only vaguely remember this. I was young. My mom could verify the age, but I’d guess I was 6 or 7 years old and I’d wanted them pierced for a while. Luckily for both of us, my mom’s best friend at the time was a beautician and she could do it for me. All went well until she pierced the first ear. Commence extreme wailing, gnashing of teeth and a refusal for her to do the second ear.

I wasn’t playing. There was to be no holding still for a second ear. I was doomed to go through life with only one ear pierced. One ear pierced with a fake gold stud and sapphire. I was going to look like someone from the boy-band Colour Me Badd. My mother wasn’t having it. She had to get creative. There was a happy meal in my future if I’d only consent to the ear piercing afterward.

I’m assuming I was bought because I have a hole in each ear. Actually, I have 2 holes in each ear as I got bold when I was around 14 or so. Regardless, I do believe the upset caused by that first encounter has given me a condition I call “angry ears.” It doesn’t let me wear earrings easily and I feared this review was going to be a nasty one.

It almost never happened. I never heard anything from the company and never saw anything in the mail. I deleted the emails and assumed that they decided against someone who was not a sure bet. I was wrong. My post office had held a package addressed to me for over a month because they “wanted to make sure it was me.”

…

I’ve always been me. I’m glad the post office figured it out.

Onto the review of the earrings from Diamondearrings.org. If you look at the site, the premise looks simple. You mention them on your blog, twitter, facebook, somewhere online, pay a cheapie fee for shipping and they send you some earrings that look like diamonds, but aren’t. Why bother? Because eventually they won’t do this anymore and they are going to rely on word of mouth for advertising and all those posts add up to some serious advertising.

Here’s why I think it’s going to work: The earrings are good. I was really pleasantly surprised. In the box, they looked a little bigger than what I’d normally wear. I’m a small earrings kind of girl and I require a clean look at all times. They wore really nicely, gave me a little bit of bling and I can wear them all day without experiencing ear fatigue or “angry ears.” I’m used to taking my earrings out and rubbing my ears for about 10 minutes. This was incredibly pleasant for me.

So, here’s what is going to happen. You are going to go look at the site and decide you want your own pair and enter my freebie giveaway to try to win a pair and avoid paying shipping or you’ll just try the deal on your own. One way or another, the earrings were really nice and a great surprise to me. Thanks again to the company for a new pair of classy, everyday earrings. I appreciate them greatly.

If you want to try your chances on my giveaway, here’s what you can do:

1) Visit DiamondEarrings.org and tell me what you think about the idea in a comment here.

For an additional entry each:

2) Stumble them on Stumble Upon

3) Twitter about them or this contest.

4) Facebook about them or this contest.

5) Write about them or this contest in your blog.

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline (October 20, 2010 at 5pm CST) won’t be included in the drawing.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address within a week of the drawing end in order to receive your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible if you do not receive your prize. If it gets lost, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Edit: My apologies to the winners the last 2 weeks. I haven’t mailed out the prizes due to lack of mailing boxes/envelopes. Those will go out on Monday. Please don’t hate me because I procrastinated.

It goes with most of the items in my wardrobe. My mother didn’t like the pattern because she thought it was busy, but when worn with a solid color shirt, I felt like it dressed up the outfit a great deal. With some dangly earrings and dress pants, I think it would be great and stylish. Probably the most attractive thing about this hat is it’s price, which is less than $15. Overall, this is a great deal for the cost and well worth it.

You can own some items from Coveryourhair.com as well! They have graciously offered to sponsor a surprise giveaway for the readers of my blog. They will mail a box containing $25 worth of surprise freebies that can be shipped worldwide to the winner of my weekly July drawing!

It can be yours if you win.

Here’s how to enter and the types of chances you can take to win. All entries WILL BE VERIFIED. If it can’t be verified, it doesn’t count. If you make it easier for me to verify by linking me to it, I will like you more as a person. Leave a comment before July 22, 2010 at 5pm CST telling me which of these you’ve done so I can verify your entries.

1) Visit http://CoverYourHair.com and write into your blog comment which items you would love to have.

For additional entries:

2) Join our Google Friend Connect:
Go to http://www.coveryourhair.com/blog/ Click “Join This Site” in the Google Friend Connect box.

2) Stumble them on Stumble Upon

3) Follow them on twitter

4) Subscribe to their Blog feed

5) Add Coveryourhair.com to your blog roll

6) Follow them on Networked Blogs,
Go to http://www.coveryourhair.com/blog/ and click “Follow This Blog” on the Networked Blog box.

7) Bookmark on on Delicious

8 ) Fan them on Facebook

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address within a week of the drawing end in order to receive your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible if you do not receive your prize. If it gets lost, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

I decided to break up the make-up and give the guys an opportunity to maybe participate this week if they wanted to do so as well. This time I’m giving away something I consider so cool it’s ice cold. This little flexpod minitripod gripper can hold digital cameras and camcorders and the best part is that you can wrap the legs around objects so it doesn’t require a flat surface to get your picture/video. It is one of the coolest little gadgets I’ve seen. See that amazed face in the picture. That was me saying “OoOOOoOoO.”

It can be yours if you win.

Here’s how to enter and the types of chances you can take to win. Please make one comment with a note to all of the things you’ve done to enter. All entries WILL BE VERIFIED. If it can’t be verified, it doesn’t count. If you make it easier for me to verify by linking me to it, I will like you more as a person

1) Leave a comment before July 15, 2010 at 5pm CST telling me one thing you’ve done or want to do this summer. (1 chance)

2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 chance each)

3) You can add the blueshelled facebook page to your facebook pages! This is going to make me really happy. (2 chances)

3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it’s there and where I can find it. It’s pretty!

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address within a week of the drawing end in order to receive your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Things to remember here: 1/the giveaways are made possible by me. I rely on word of mouth to bring people to my blog. Please spread the word about blueshelled.com! 2/If you or anyone you know might be interested in sponsoring a giveaway here, please let me know. 3/ This blog sucks up the love. Thanks!

As such, you’re in luck…I’m giving stuff away. And I’m not talking a little bit. I’m talking a little bit every week in the month of July. Every Friday new items will be posted for giveaway and you can win as many times as the randomizer hits your number, as long as you are in the U.S. (for my giveaways). I know. I’m a bummer, but customs is not my friend. HOWEVER, for the third week of giveaways, I’m working with the company Coveryourhair.com, and that lovely group will ship WORLDWIDE. So, don’t give up on me, please? I haven’t forgotten you at all.

The first giveaway is makeup and skincare! As you can see there is a Too Faced palette, some Oil of Olay skincare, some Estee Lauder skincare (for face AND body), Estee Lauder mascara and lip gloss as well as an ultra glam bag.

Here’s how to enter and the types of chances you can take to win. Please make one comment with a note to all of the things you’ve done to enter. All entries WILL BE VERIFIED. If it can’t be verified, it doesn’t count. If you make it easier for me to verify by linking me to it, I will like you more as a person

1) Leave a comment before July 8, 2010 at 5pm CST telling me one thing you’ve done or want to do this summer. (1 chance)

2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 chance each)

3) You can add the blueshelled facebook page to your facebook pages! This is going to make me really happy. (2 chances)

3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it’s there and where I can find it. It’s pretty!

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address within a week of the drawing end in order to receive your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Things to remember here: 1/the giveaways are made possible by me. I rely on word of mouth to bring people to my blog. Please spread the word about blueshelled.com! 2/If you or anyone you know might be interested in sponsoring a giveaway here, please let me know. 3/ This blog sucks up the love. Thanks!