Let's Talk About Bloglovin'

 

 

I’ve had my problems with Blogger feed. We’ve had a long feud for a long time now. I say bad things about it, then it won’t show me anything in my feed or it shows me only the feed for one blog, then I yell at it and it does comes up with an ERROR notice. But this is no longer the case.

You see, I’ve felt Blogger feed behind. I’m no longer using. I’ve got something better (hehehe)! I’ve got you *sorry, sorry, random quote*. No what I really have is BLOGLOVIN’.

I was really nervous at first to sign up and leave the ol’ Blogger feed behind, but it turns out it was for the better. Can I just say how awesome it is?

Firstly there is the thing that Bloglovin’ sends all your feed to your emails…DAILY! How awesome is it to check your mail and get your feed at the same time?! Let me tell you, it’s amazing.

Another thing I love is how you can favourite posts you really like. How often do you read a post then later wish to read it again, but have no idea where it is? Well with Bloglovin’ you can just favourite it and then you can find it again easily. Isn’t that just the most amazing idea? 

You also get a special page for your blog on Bloglovin’. You can claim it then see the people who are following it here. Because let’s just be honest, hardly anyone follows using FGC. 

But it gets even better, you can see what your friends are favourite-ing, reading and following. So if you ever need something to read, you can just look at what your friends are enjoying. Now isn’t that handy?

I also find Bloglovin’ is set out much better than your Blogger feed. It’s super easy to work your way around.

It also has to option of sharing your blog posts to your Social Medias automatically. That way I don’t have to remind myself to do it.

So yes, in my eyes Bloglovin’ is worth all the fuss it’s been given and more. If you don’t use it, I suggest you start. It’s one of the best blogging tools around.

But don’t just take my word on it? What do you think? Is there anything still better?

I'm just about over my blogging block. I should be back to writing properly from now on! Which I'm more than glad of because I've missed all of it.

 -Kat

I'm Book Crazy Again | Reviw: The Seer and the Sword

Blurb: Legend states that there exists a mighty sword that makes its possessor invincible to his enemies. But there is a curse on anyone who lifts the sword for conquest. King Kareed of Archeld goes after this sword anyway, winning it from the King of Bellandra. When he returns home from battle, he brings his daughter, Princess Torina, two special gifts. One is a unique crystal, in which she can view visions of the future. The other gift is the defeated king’s son Landen, who is to be her slave. Torina immediately releases Landen, who becomes a member of the King’s army and her close friend.

But trouble is lurking in the kingdom of Archeld and people are accusing Landen of plotting against the King. Torina refuses to believe he would hurt her family. Then Torina begins seeing deadly visions in her crystal. Can she save her father’s life and the future of her kingdom? via Goodreads

Romance: 4 out of 5 | It's a romance for goodness sake, but honestly, nothing too bad.

Violence:  4 out of 5 | There is lot's of fighting. Everyone fights, but it's all good. Nothing that you'd want to cover people's eyes for!

Language: 1 out of 5 |  I can't remember any, but some might have slipped passed. The worst would have been very light.

Age: 8+ | Great for most ages.

Rating: 5 out of 5 | I love this book!

My Thoughts: This book was thrilling and awe-inspiring. The characters were great, you could feel them and understand what they thought and felt.

I was smiling the whole way through this book. I am definitely going to read this one again!

Thanks for the recommendation on your blog Imogen. I really enjoyed this book!

So, I'm thinking about posting more book reviews over on this blog. If you like that idea, please tell me and I'll make sure to do it. Thanks for reading.

 -Kat

Let's Talk About Facebook, Is It Really All It's Made Out To Be?

I've been told by so many people to join this and join that, so today I thought I'd start a series of posts where I write about those sites I've joined and what I think of them. Every post in this series will highlight a different site.

Today's site is: Facebook! Yep, the classic. I know. This will be really interesting.

Firstly, let's talk about how I use it. When I first got Facebook, I decided to use it mainly for a blog page, but use my account for more personal things. Well, that's how I planned it.

Here's how everything turned out. I did create that page, but guess what?! I hardly ever post anything on it! It's really hard to remember to go on. The most I normally do is post my latest posts and nothing much extra. Though if I like something really well, I will share the link.

Even when posting my posts, it's really hard to remember to do it. It would be much easier if there was a way of doing it automatically, but there isn't for pages!

I never did end up using my personal timeline. Sometime I'll share something amazing from my feed, but that's like once in a million years!

Can I ask about the feed? This really annoys me. There doesn't seem to be any order to how it's laid out. It's just me or is it really badly laid out. It took me forever to work out how to change it from most popular posts up the top and make it most recent instead!

Another really annoying thing about the layout is that there are adds in the sidebar distracting you from the feed, like WHAT?! The add bar is nearly as thick as the post bar. That's crazy!

Is it really needed to get your blog out there? Where did this myth come from? I doubt that any of my views come from FB. In fact, hardly anyone even 'likes' my page.

I've found that's it's really hard to just get your page out there. Maybe it would help your blog, but only once you get the page itself noticed.

So it's another thing you have to keep advertising!

It sends a lot of emails. The default setting is to send you an email about just about everything! I don't even know if there is a way of changing this.

Most of the emails I get in my inbox are from FB, which is not the way I want it to be. I'd rather read about what's going on in the blogging world than who I might (or might not) know I FB.

This is a massive bugger, which I'm hoping to find a way of stopping. If you know how, please tell me!

There are plenty of cool things, though. Let's say that as a plus for FB, there are plenty of cool things on it. If you're following the right people and 'liking' the right pages, you can find helps of cool quotes, jokes and links.

But finding those people is just so hard! I don't know how I found the few people I did. Unless you know the name of who you want to find, then search isn't much good for you.

There are also a lot of games on FB, I've never played them personally, but I've got friends who've and they say that they're heaps of fun.

Let's finish this up. These are only a few things and they're all from just one girl, but I hope this helps you. If you have FB, feel free to send me a friend request!

Was it worth it? Honestly, no. I don't have much I do on FB, so it's honestly just a big waste of time for me, but who knows, it might be better than you.

What's my rating? 3 out of 5. I know it's low, but I was really disappointed with this one. If I'd known all about it earlier, I wouldn't have joined.

Maybe I'm doing thing wrong on FB, but I'm still learning. For the moment I'll keep using it, if you want to have the links to my blog posts in your feed and the occasional link, then please like my page!

Also, before you go, I still looking for guest posters. So if you're interested in writing a post for (Almost) Completely Mad, then feel free to send me an email: almostcompletelymad@gmail.com I'd also be willing to guest post on your blog as well. Just ask me and I'd be more than willing. Thanks for stopping by! 

 -Kat

Come All Yee Bookish Ones!

Today, I'm getting deep. In November, Blood of Olympus came out and of course, I just had to get it. After putting off reading it due to mixed feelings about House of Hades and many other books just begging to be read, I finally picked it up and got on with it.

In this post I've decided to do something I've never done before, I'm going to post a book review! Like WHAT?!

To start with, let's just mention the narrators!
One thing I love about Rick Riordan's books is that he always shows his books from several points of view. So you get to hear everyone's thought and feelings.

I think that Blood of Olympus's choice of narrators where especially awesome. Now Percy is amazing (in fact he's amazing), but we do get to see quite a lot of him. It's like he's always in the limelight, which is ok, but the team is rather big and it's nice to hear about the others.

But this book wasn't didn't have Percy as a narrator. I literally couldn't believe it! WHY NO PERCY?! I thought that being the last book they'd try to put the light on Percy, but they didn't.

Instead, Jason, Leo and Piper got to shine along with two really surprising people...Nicko and Reyna. I was pleasantly pleased with pick. I've always secretly wanted to know more about these two and it turns out that they're both really deep and deserve to be counted as part of the team.

Can we just take a moment for the planning that went into this book?
Some books you can just tell have had hours spent planning them. Blood of Olympus is one of those books. Everything about it worked like a clock work.

Things that most people would over look had been mentioned and put to good use. Which is really nice to see.

The characters, I just can't describe them.
I simply adore character with personalities and feelings! What's better is characters that you can relate to.

Leo is one of those character. I'm sure it's a well known fact that I simply adore Leo, but there's a reason.

One thing I like most about Leo is how he's always cheerful, but underneath he's suffering and worrying away. But unlike some characters I could mention, he doesn't ever moan about, in fact he does the opposite and tries to hide it from everyone else.

Also, the end. I can't believe that Leo was brave enough to do that. He knew full well what he was heading into and he just did it. Come on, how many characters can do that?

And Nikko, the way that he changed and matured was CRAZY! I couldn't believe how he got over Percy and moved on. He seemed to grow up.

What really surprised me though, is how his mood changed! Everyone knows him to be the really moody guy who doesn't like talking to anyone else, but this Nikko was so different thanks to Reyna. Seriously, that girl needs a gold medal!

I couldn't talk about these characters forever, they all were really deep, but let's move on!

The ending, let's talk about this!
Ok, I have mixed feelings about this. In some ways it was amazing, but in others it was really mean. Let me explain as best I can.

In the other books it did all this working up to Gaia and how she wouldn't be easy to defeat and they seemed to continue that in this book, but then at the end it changed!

It was almost like Rick Riordan couldn't decide how to write it or had a certain amount of words he wanted it to be.

Everything seemed rather rushed. After the first bit everything hurried up. The big battle didn't really seem that big anymore.

And can I just say, it didn't seem like it was that hard to beat Gaia. It seemed almost too easy, yes I know that 'HE' died, but come on, they could of played it out just a bit more.

But on the plus side, after the battle, everything seemed to be perfect. It was just how I like things to be. Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter becoming friends was amazing. I can't just imagine that amount fun they'd get up to together. Can you imagine those games of Capture the Flag?

I liked how there were regrets, that everyone didn't just move on, forget which so often happens in these books. People seemed to suffer from the dead and be sad.

Also, Leo, can we just say how amazing he was at the end. No one could have done as much as him. I think he needs a silent moment.

Lastly, let's just talk Jason.
Jason's promise was so perfect. I hope he actually can finished off what Percy started. I think that this is amazing and also, can I just hope that this means that there will be more books with both Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood? Maybe a new group of demi-gods evens.

Do you remember when Jason made the promise to finished the job off? And how it was under water? Wasn't it just so funny how Jason saved Percy when they were underwater? I just had to mention this because it was one of my favourite parts in the whole book.

Round off time!
My finally thoughts on this book are: AMAZING!!! The ending might have been a bit of a let down, but it was still totally worth the read..

I rate this book 5 out of 5. So if you haven't yet read it, go and go it...NOW!

Until next time,

-Kat