Now that we’ve revealed all five of our runners-up, it’s time to announce the top 4 winners in our Contest of Epic. We begin today with our fourth place winner, Sandy L.:
I confess: the free books attracted me first. Cassandra Clare had just retweeted about a writing contest on a site called “Novel Novice.” I entered, but it wasn’t until the winners were posted that I really started to browse around. What I discovered was a group of bloggers who absolutely loved books as much as I do, and who wanted to share their excitement for these books.
Now, I’m always poking around Novel Novice. Their reviews are honest (there is no sugar-coating, no bashing – thank you!), to the point (concise, no rambling), and most of all I like how they don’t give star ratings – which is something I never understood. The amount of awesome in a book shouldn’t be measured; it can’t and shouldn’t be quantified. I also like how they’ll sometimes post more than one review of a book. It shows a lack of bias, a promotion of varying points of view. And the interviews. Sometimes it’s not their reviews that convince me to purchase a book, but the fun interviews they do with authors. I don’t know if this is intentional, but they sure are sneaky! The site is organized, easy to navigate through. I never have trouble finding what I need. All in all, very professional but still fun as well.
Most importantly, they put so much effort into making Novel Novice an awesome place! (Take, for example, the organization it took to put together such an amazing contest of epic!) On their mission statement, Novel Novice promises a “place where teens and young adults can come to find great new books to read, and share their own reading recommendations” – Yes, I’d agree with that – “a place where students can show off their work related to books and literature.” – Yep, sounds about right!
I respect and adore Novel Novice for their dedication to reviewing books, but also for all the behind the scenes work they do. I look to Novel Novice for a model and a source to base my own reviews off of, and thankfully they’re here for me. They do it for us, true, but it isn’t Us and Them. It’s a We, because they’re one of us too.
They are so awesome, in fact, they inspire corny poetry!
Novel Novice shows a lot of promise
When it comes to your book selection.
If you’re in search of something neat
Head on over to their direction!
Novel Novice 
Ooo. Love the “corny” poem!
Very nicely put. Congrats Sandy.