Must See Blogs + Contest

Today is the first day of the Book Blogger Appreciation Week and we’re being asked a great question:

What book blogs mean something to you?  Who are your most trusted sources for recommendations, your greatest help, the blogger you turn to for a laugh or to vent?  Whose writing do you admire or who introduced you to a whole new genre you didn’t know about?  We want to hear all about them…because we want to know them too!  Please share about the blogs we haven’t had a chance to meet via BBAW and let the party begin!

There are times when I love book bloggers and other times I dislike them.  I love them because they always introduce me to all these great new novels.  It’s because of them that my TBR list is well over 700 books; however, this is also the reason I dislike them.  My TBR list is over 700 books!  How am I suppose to get to them all.

Book bloggers are great because I can’t read all the novels that are being published, there’s just not enough time, however hearing what others have to say gives me a clue as to which ones I might like and which ones not to waste my time on.  Granted, I’m not going to like everything everyone else reads, but that’s why I love that fact that there are so many book bloggers out there.  I don’t have to trust the word of one person, but I can run a simple Google blog search and find hundreds of results.

I do have a few sites that I read pretty much daily, or as much as the monkey lets me, and I know I can get some pretty good recommendations from them.  They may not know that since I tend to be a huge lurker, and I really don’t comment on their reviews (I don’t want their review to influence mine), but they are my daily newspaper and I always look forward to reading what they have to say.  Let me introduce them to you:

• Alpha Heroes – I grew up on the romance genre, but I’ve been out of it for awhile now.  Nicola keeps me in the know when it comes to the great novels that are being released right now.  Plus she has some amazingly awesome discussion pieces on the various aspects of the romance genre.
• Amberkatze’s Book Blog – It is very rare for Amber and I to disagree on a book, so if she’s given it a great review, then I know it’s a book I need to try.  I have found some great novels thanks to her and she is the main culprit who allowed my TBR list to grow in the first place.
• Babbling About Books – I know that whenever I need to smile or see something hilarious with vampires, Katiebabs will come through.  Yeah, she’s a little chatty, but her articles are always entertaining and worth discussing.
• Darque Reviews – Another great site for some great reviews.  Kimberly is awesome at keeping spoilers out of her reviews and yet she still tells me what I want to know.  Another culprit that continues to let my TBR list grow, but I can never stop myself from seeing what she has going on next.
• Lurv a  la Mode – I’ve always known that Kmont had some great articles, but it’s only been recently that I’ve added her to my Google Reader.  I’m not sure why – she has some great content and she’s one of the sites I do tend to comment on more.  You’ll find more at Lurv a la Mode than just reviews, but the reviews are just as fabulous.  She’s actually impeding my focus at the moment with her current review of Ilona Andrew’s On the Edge.
• SciFiGuy – Okay, I know he made the shortlist for Best Speculative Fiction, but he so deserves it.  Doug has a great site and he deserves the recognition.  I know I get a lot of my news from him.
• Stainless Steel Droppings – What can I say about Carl that hasn’t already been said?  Carl puts together some great challenges (I need to get caught up in the RIP Challenge), and I love how he spotlights different artists.  I have found some great talent thanks to him.
• Tez Says – Tez is awesome.  Tez is great.  Tez help feeds my list neurosis by having all the latest releases and covers.  She’s also the one reviewer that I’ve found to disagree with me on books and I love it when she does.  Her reviews always make me think about the books in different ways and that’s one of the reasons I love the blogosphere.  Everyone was not meant to love the same book and discussions are awesome.

Okay, so that is not all of the blogs I love, but I can’t spotlight them all. There are a ton of fabulous blogs out there that are worth checking out and since that is the spirit of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I’m going to give you an incentive to check some out.  I have three great hardcovers to give away to three people.

Do you want to get your hands on Skin Trade by Laurell K Hamilton, Kushiel’s Mercy by Jacqueline Carey or a signed copy of Blood Promise by Richelle Mead?  All you have to do is discover three new blogs.  That’s it.  There will be three winners, one for each novel, so you only have to find a new blog for each book you want and yes they have to be different. Each night, I’ll look to see what new sites have been discovered and I’ll feature them the next day.  All I ask is as you discover new sites, make sure you leave a comment for the blogger so they know you found them via BBAW.  Easy peasy, right?  A great place to find new sites is over at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week website.  There are a ton of links to new sites going on, plus a ton more contests.

I’ll determine the winner with help from the Research Randomizer.  All entries must be in by 8:00 am EST time on Sept 19th.

Edited to add on 9/18 – Contest has closed, but please continue telling us about the great blogs you found in the comments!.