1 Year Blog Anniversary Giveaway (Day 5) & Author Interview

I can't believe it is already November 11, 2012. A year ago to this day, I started out with a crazy idea to share my thoughts and love of books with other like minded people and never in a million years thought I would be where I am today. My little blog (that I was so dedicated to sat for an entire month with only 1 follower) has become so much more over this year. I now have 400 Followers (well 398 but dang well close) and that still blows my mind. While I am no where close to the crazy amount of followers some blogs have, I still cherish every single follower and every single comment. If it weren't for all you amazingly lovely people out there, I wouldn't be able to celebrate this day with all of you. So thank you SOOOO much for all of your love and support throughout this year and for many more to come. <3 XoXoXo

My blog in a year:

400 Followers
105 Book reviews
11 Author Interviews
5 Giveaways
378 Posts

My Amazing Followers (& where they hail from):

(catorgized from most page views to least)

United States 
Russia 
United Kingdom
Spain
Canada
Netherlands
Australia
Germany
Philippines
Argentina 

Post's with the most views:

The Hunger Games Read-Along: Chapter 22 (1297 Page Views)
300 Follower Giveaway (657 Page Views)
Magical Giveaway (515 Page Views)
Swift by Heather London Giveaway (266 Page Views)
Deity Blog Tour: Author Interview + Review + Giveaways (100 Page Views)

Honorable Mentions:

These 3 blogs (and the amazing ladies behind them) are the one's that first helped give my blog it's first push out there into the blogging world. They helped me learn how to walk this landscape and helped me become so comfortable in it that I started to run wild with the fun of it.

Lea @ LC's Adventures in Libraryland
She taught me my first lessons on html and coding things so they would show up correctly on my blog. It was ever so kind of here. Eventually, she opened up her own blog design site and she is the one responsible for the amazing layout that I now have on my blog. She is a great lady and I am happy to count her as one of my blogging buddies. 

Haley @ Ya-Aholic
She was the first lady to help promote my blog and get me know to this amazing blogging community. She helped jump-start my blog and I will always be so forever thankful to her for helping me out and always willing to answer any (and there were a few, lol) questions I had. She's a sweet girl.

Giselle @ Xpresso Reads
Here's was the first blog I ever stalked (on a constant basis...) and the first lady to put me on her blog roll. Her reviews have let me to a lot of great book series and she is also my greatest book blogger hero. I hope to one day be somewhere near as good a blogger as her. & I love how she has ventured out and done other things within the community as well... like her blog design site and tour site.

There are a ton other bloggers who have helped me out along the way and I want to let all of you know that I am extremely grateful and humbled by all the help, love & support you have shown me.

What to expect this next year on my blog:

MORE!!!! More Reviews.... More Giveaways.... More Author Interviews....

I hope to be able to step it up a little bit more for all of you. My lovelies. & I plan on sticking with all the meme's I currently follow and maybe finding 1 or 2 more. I want to be able to post something at least once a day so you always have something new to come back to and look at.

Author Interview @ Giveaway:

I am so very excited to bring you this interview that I have for you all today. It's is with one of my most recently added FAVORITE authors. I absolutely love her Shadow Falls Series. It ranked in my Top 5 Favorite Series for 2011-2012. & without further ado... I bring all of you C.C. Hunter.

C.C.: First, thank you so much for having me visit your blog. Bloggers have a special place in my heart. Now, to answer your question . . . 

1. What was the original inspiration behind you writing the Shadow Falls series?

I love talking about the inspiration behind my Shadow Falls series. The idea of the paranormal summer camp actually came from my editor at St. Martin's Press/Griffin. She had read some of my work years earlier and had liked my voice. So she contacted me and asked if I would like to try my hand at writing a young adult paranormal romance series. They had an idea, too. “Paranormal camp.” And that's all she said to me. She expected me to come up with the rest. But those two words were enough to get my imagination going. Once I got Kylie figured out, the rest of the characters sprang to life, and each of them brought a piece of the plotline with them. Now, I’ll be honest. When I started Born at Midnight the first book in the Shadow Falls series, I had no idea how the story would end. But that’s okay. That’s how my writing process works - I learn the specifics of the book as I write it. I think that’s why I love writing so much - I love finding out how the story ends, right along with my characters.

2. Who is the hardest character to write about? The easiest?

Because the book is told through Kylie’s point of view, I guess she is the hardest person to write because I had to know how she felt about everything--her friends, her two love interests, even runny scrambled eggs. But when I really got to know Kylie, after a few books, she became the easiest person to write. Della was always easy to write, I just had to remove that filter in my brain and say things just the way they are and not worry about things being politically correct, and I had her voice and personality down. I think the hardest person to write was Mario, the villain. I just plain ol’ didn’t like that guy. And that old bat came back in the last book, too, and those scenes were just hard to write.

3. Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?

Yes. Thank you! Without readers I would be writing my stories for no one. Well, I’m sure my hubby would read them, but probably not with the same vigor and aspiration as my fans do. Thank you for helping me climb the publishing ladder to a successful career. Thank you for loving my story people as much as I do. Thank you for laughing in the right places. For tearing up in the scenes that I teared up in when I wrote them. I’d also like to remind everyone to keep an eye out for my new series. If you enjoyed Shadow Falls you should enjoy my next one. It will have all the same elements, love, laughter, hot boys, and a paranormal world.

4. Do you work with an outline, or just write?

I’m what the writing world calls a true blue pantser. I don’t want to plot my stories, because if I know what’s going to happen then it’s boring to write it. I have to write up synopses with proposals, so I have to sort of have an idea of what’s going to happen, but it always changes from what I said was going to happen, because I want to write the story just the way the reader reads the story. I want to be surprised at what happens on the next page.

5. What scene in Whispers at Moonrise was your favorite to write about?

The scenes that I always love to write are those where Kylie, Miranda and Della are all sitting around the kitchen table laughing their butts off. But I do have to say that the last few scenes in Whispers at Moonrise were probably the most emotional scenes I’ve ever written. I cried like a baby when I wrote them. I could really feel Kylie’s pain. And so many of my readers have emailed me and said they cried as well. While making people cry isn’t a goal, I love knowing that they are as invested in my characters as I am.

Thank you again for having me. I love the opportunity to share things with my readers and fans. 

Shadow Falls Website

@CCHunterBooks

cc@cchunterbooks.com

C.C. Hunter grew up in Alabama, where she caught lightning bugs, ran barefoot, and regularly rescued potential princes, in the form of Alabama bullfrogs, from her brothers. Today, she's still fascinated with lightning bugs, mostly wears shoes, but has turned her focus to rescuing mammals. She now lives in Texas with her four rescued cats, one dog, and a prince of a husband, who for the record, is so not a frog. When she's not writing, she's reading, spending time with her family, or is shooting things-with a camera, not a gun.

C.C. Hunter is a pseudonym. Her real name is Christie Craig and she also writes humorous romantic suspense romance novels for Grand Central.

Giveaway:

Author: C.C. Hunter
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: October 02, 2012
Page Count: 400

Even at a camp for supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t… a werewolf.  With his pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the impossible.

As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante.  Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway.  Now Kylie must race to save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away forever.   In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing Kylie knows for sure.  Change is inevitable and all things must come to an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.

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Good Luck! & I hope you all have a wonderful week. Thank you for being the amazing followers you all are. =D