BBAW – Fantasy Draft Style

Inspired by Kmont’s wonderful post, we Book Smugglers decided to have our very own book blogger appreciation post, in honor of Book Blogger Appreciation Week.

To keep things fun, we decided to do this Fantasy Draft style. Five picks alternating picks each, with a coin toss to determine who goes first.

Thea: Call it. Heads or Tails.

Ana: Heads.

Thea: (&^447392)@*;#^$%!!!(*&) *expletives* Ok. You go first. Who do you take as the overall #1 pick in the draft?

Ana: Woohoo! Ok, first up is Lurve ala Mode! I am a huge fan of Kmont’s posts. She is one of the craziest, funniest bloggers out there and I shamelessly admit that I am a stalker – hers is the first blog I check every morning and I refresh the page very often throughout the day. Her reviews are awesome, I love that she lets her imagination run wild when she writes and she is always very honest in her opinions. Plus, we share a common obsession with the Tairen Souls series.

Thea: I’ll take Me and My Books. I love Li’s site and her concise, informative reviews. I get a whole bunch of book recommendations from her blog, everything from science fiction like Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series to the hilarious mystery endeavors of Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody. Plus, I love a blogger that will call ’em like s/he sees ’em–Li’s not afraid to let you know if a particular book didn’t work for her, and why.

Ana: Ramblings on Romance! They were the source of inspiration behind the idea to start my own blog. Their reviews are really good and they have so many “exclusive” news and cool features and are the best book pimps out there – I started reading Meljean Brook, Nalini Singh, Lisa Kleypas, CL Wilson and Linnea Sinclair because of them and they have become my favorite writers. But those are not the main reasons for loving the blog – Kristie and Katie are simply the sweetest, coolest bloggers out there.

Thea: I’ll take Angieville. Seriously, I probably get a good majority of my book recommendations/ideas from Li and Angie. Angie’s reviews are also well written, informative, and she has this great knack for being concise. Half of the books Angie reviews are ones I have never heard of before, and I make a point of it to check out many of her recommendations. Recently, I have read and loved the books Clockwork Heart and A Curse Dark as Gold based on Angie’s reviews. Not to mention, her blog layout is so pretty! One of my favorite book review blogs out there.

Ana: I will pick Ciaralira next! I discovered her blog very recently and never looked back. She does amazing reviews (and has some amazing recommendations) but I think the best thing about her blog is her very in-depth and knowledgeable thoughts and tips on writing – event though I am not a writer myself (nor want to become one) , it is very interesting to read about it, it helps with the reviews and some of them have changed my perception of things. Plus she describes herself as a nerd – therefore, a sister in arms.

Thea: OOH! You bitch! That was my next pick! Ok. I’ll take Fantasy Debut. Tia’s blog is my favorite niche blog out there–again, I am constantly writing down book recs from her many great suggestions and author showcases. On Tia’s recommendation, I have read and loved Lisa Shearin’s Raine Benares books, and currently have a huge heap of other books sitting on my TBR mountain. I also love the interviews Tia has with debut authors. Really, I can’t say enough good things about this fantastic blog.

Ana: The Galaxy Express! Hands down one the best niche blogs out there – with musings about Sci-Fi Romance, practically a love celebration of the genre. There are not only reflections about the sci-fi -romance and its roots but it also showcases new writers. There are interviews, reviews and she also talks about TV Shows and Movies. I love it.

Thea: Next up, Urban Fantasy Land. I love this website, not so much for book reviews, but rather for the wealth of information the gals that run the site provide. This year marked my growing obsession with the UF genre–and after reading the Anita Blake, Mercy Thompson and Rachel Morgan books, I wasn’t really sure where to turn…that is, until I found this wonderful resource. Urban Fantasy Land does it all, providing upcoming release dates, new covers, author news, interviews, links to book reviews & giveaways, and other news for all things UF.

Ana: I have to go with CJ’s blog – The Thrillionth Page. She does reviews but in a different format which I happen to love: she posts her thoughts on the books she reads, as she goes along, and they are usually so interesting and stimulating , it is easily one of my favorite blogs.

Thea: For my final pick, I’ll take The Happily Ever After. Christine’s blog focuses on book reviews for romance, fantasy and young adult genres, but she also injects a whole lot of personality into every post. Christine, simply put, is a sweetheart. I love all her posts, whether they be instructions on how to make a watermelon-lemonade martini, pictures of her and her daughters going berry picking, or just damn good book reviews.

We present you with our 2008 BBAW Team!

So! Now that the draft is done, we want to give a shoutout to some honorable mentions.

The Book Binge – Loads of romance (all sub-genres) reviews and fantastic interviews and give-aways.

Fantasy Cafe – Provides incredibly thoughtful and well-written reviews of speculative fiction.

Meljean Brook’s Blog – Both of us luuurve Meljean, and stalk her blog on the daily. From Wonder Woman to book news, Meljean’s blog has got it going on.

Realms of Speculative Fiction – This four-person team writes some of the best speculative fiction reviews on the web. Plus, they do some movie and video game coverage as well, which is a great plus.

A Dribble of Ink – Aidan Moher’s blog also focuses on speculative fiction, providing book reviews and great author interviews. Also, he writes some damn good articles about blogging in general.

Karen Mahoney’s Blog – Karen is awesome, a fellow book nut, comic book fiend, and Gaiman fanatic. Naturally, we get along! She’s also an aspiring author (who just closed her first deal!) and her blog offers great writerly insights, book news, and blog pimpage too.

Thanks to all of you book bloggers out there! This one’s for you!