2017 Challenges Wrap-Up Post

Well, let's just say I didn't do that great on my challenges.  :-(  At least not with the lists I posted in my sign up link last December, HERE.

Let's recount my failures:

The four books I listed were Lair of Dreams, Places No One Knows, and Stealing Snow.  All are still waiting to be read.

Okay, this one I actually met my goal of four discussion posts for the year.  Here are links to them if you'd like to check them out:

1. I Just Can't Seem to Get Enough - Books - Or When Should I Quit Entering Giveaways for Books?

    2.  Say What You Want to Say and Let the Words Fall Out - or Is There One Right Way to Write a Book Review?

   3.  Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover - Or What's With All the Identical Covers?

   4.  So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish - Or When Should I Give Up on Blog Tours?

    

   

    

   So, for this one, I got a few of the ones I'd planned done: 

   The Countdown by Kimberly Derting, Sentinel by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Ashes by Laurie Halse Anderson were all reviewed HERE.   

   Fire and Ash by Jonathan Maberry I reviewed HERE.  

   None of the other series ending books I read were on my original list, but I did get others finished:

   Returned by Kimberley Griffiths Little, Buns by Alice Clayton, Salvaged by Jay Crownover, The Sacrifice of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie, The Keep of Ages by Caragh M. O'Brien, Shadow by Colleen Oakes, Wild by Sophie Jordan, and that is really all I can count.  The other series enders I read are actually series I just started in 2017, so I don't count them.  So I missed my goal of 12 by 1.

   

   I only got 3 of the 12 books on my list done for this, and they're all mentioned above:  The Countdown by Kimberly Derting, Fire and Ash by Jonathan Maberry, and Tease by Sophie Jordan.  Another fail.

   

   
   

   Okay, of my three blogging resolutions, I completed one, sort of completed the second one, and didn't do the third one, or keep track of it anyway.  I made sure to label the titles of all the posts with "Review" or "Discussion", etc.  I got images created for my stars, but haven't started using them.  Here is one:

   
   I really need to start using them!  The third one that I didn't complete, or at least didn't keep track of to know if I even got close, was to comment on 7 different blogs every week.  I did do a lot more commenting this year, though, so I am glad I did do some of it.
   

   
   

    My writing goals didn't go much better. I didn't finish either of my NaNoWriMo stories that I'd started.  And when I tried to do the short stories, I got caught up in the very first story.  Now, I've added to that one, and even got it started posting on Wattpad, but I need to finish a story!  So failed, for the most part.  I did get a lot of writing time in for the year, even though I lost my writing partner, when I lost that friend who didn't like one of my reviews of her books.  I did pick up a new writing partner though, and have recently found some possible new partners or a group even on Facebook.  

    

   I'm still debating about what challenges I'm going to sign up for in 2018.  I need to change the way I do some things on my blog.  I want more time to write, and want to keep to no more than one post a day, whenever possible.  I have to quit signing up for tons of blog tours, as one of my discussion posts talked about.  I also am still trying to decide how high to set my Goodreads reading challenge.  I always try to increase my goal each year. This year they started allowing you to post that you'd read a book more than once, so a few of my reads this year were re-reads, but I did go over my goal of 250.  I'm thinking to set my goal right where it is again for next year.  We'll see.  Expect a post on all that kind of stuff probably on the 1st or 2nd.

    

   So, how did you do on your challenges in 2017?   How are you planning to challenge yourself in 2018?

Discussion Post: Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover - Or What's With All the Identical Covers?

So, lately, I've noticed a lot of self-published books having the exact same cover.  The same people/couple, etc.  I understand that costs are expensive to have a brand new cover made, but when you use a picture that is kind of a unique couple, well, I don't know.  Sometimes it bothers me because I already identify that picture with the book I've already read.  Let me show you a couple of examples:

This is a book I read and loved, you can read my review HERE.   Lately I've subscribed to a lot more authors' emails and a few always put the pictures of their own books in every email, and I've seen a few with this exact couple, just maybe reversed, or the tattoos are missing.  Look at these below:

See, exact same picture, just reversed and missing the tattoos, or not quite centered on the cover.

Here is another one I'm seeing several just like it:

I have read this one, review is HERE.  And here is a matching one.

Now here is another favorite book, and this one is actually one I've seen in a physical bookstore.  HERE is my review of it.

Now, of course, as soon as I started working on this post, I couldn't find any of the ones that matched this one. But I'll keep my eyes open for before I post this just in case they pop up again.

Okay, and while this next one I haven't been seeing exact copies, the fakeness of the inserted babies on some covers is crazy!  Like this one:

So, have you noticed any matching covers like this?  I don't necessarily mind having the same person or couple on the covers, it's just when they're basically in the exact same position, same picture. That bugs me.  What do you think?

And because my discussion posts need at least one gif:

Discussion Post: I Just Can't Seem to Get Enough - Books - Or When Should I Quit Entering Giveaways for Books?

As I mentioned in my discussion post earlier this week, about how you write your reviews, I am behind on my discussion posts.  So I got this second one done during my Mini-Blog Ahead that I participated in at the end of June.  I'm actually on my way to Orlando for my family vacation, probably while you're reading this.  So, I will definitely reply to all comments, but maybe not until I get back home on Tuesday. 

A reminder that the 2017 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.

The title of this discussion posts comes from a Depeche Mode song, Just Can't Get Enough.  If you're not familiar with it, enjoy the video:

I'm guessing that a lot of you are pretty much similar to me, self-proclaimed book addicts.  I have a TBR list on Goodreads that has almost 3,000 titles on it.  I have another TBR shelf on goodreads that is made up of the books I physically own or have free e-book copies of that is almost 1000 titles long.  Yet, whenever I hear about new books coming out by my favorite authors, or even debut authors that sound just like books I already love, I seem to HAVE to have them.  I have a physical book shelf at home, a five shelf tall bookshelf, packed full of books.  I now have three shelves on a smaller bookshelf in my bedroom packed full of books as well.  I will never get through all of these books.  And yet, I want more.  I can't seem to get enough!

 

While I've discovered in the past year the awesome $1 finds at the Dollar Tree stores, that keep me stopping into them every couple of weeks, all of the ones around where I live, I have realized it is a bit of an addiction just that.  I tell myself that since so many of the books I get are ones that I donate to the high school library where I work, it is okay.

 

I used to enter every single giveaway I could.  But then I started winning.  I quit doing that on Goodreads unless I knew I was going to read it. But I still like to enter giveaways on blogs.  Often it will be for a book that I want to read, but also know my students will want to read, and even though I know I might not be able to get to it right away, I go ahead and enter, and then I can put it in my school library for my students to enjoy, and when I get time, it will be there ready for me.  And whenever I win, this is me below!

 

But I wonder sometimes if maybe a blogger as well-established as I am, one who holds their own giveaways, should stop entering other blogs' giveaways?

What do you think?  Do you still enter giveaways for books?  Do you think there is a time when people should stop entering and just accept what they have, or just buy instead of hoping to win a book?

Discussion Post: Say What You Want to Say and Let the Words Fall Out - or Is There One Right Way to Write a Book Review?

So, let's see.  My goal was to do 4 discussion posts for the year. That's one every 3 months.  So far in 2017, I've done a big old fat zero discussion posts.  Oh sure, I keep thinking of ideas to do, but then I run out of the time to actually sit and write them out.  Or I have so many other things I want to write, like my novel, or other blog posts to do, or books to read to actually review for my book review blog.  Anyway, I participated in the Mini-Blog Ahead in June, and so I decided to get some of my discussion posts done during that.  Also, I'm posting it this week because I'm getting ready to go to Orlando later this week, and I don't want to worry about my blog while I'm on a family trip.  Also, it's always fun to try to go out and find fun GIFs to add.  So enjoy those as well!

A reminder that the 2017 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.




Today my post is a kind of personal one really, and the title refers to the Sara Bareilles song Brave, the video that I've shared above.  Earlier this year I lost a friend.  In the email she sent me telling me why, she said that she didn't want me to write any more "book report" reviews on her books.  I was a little hurt at this.  In the past I've always done a recap of the story as my review, partly because it is how I would do a book talk for my students at the library where I work, in order to get them interested in a book.  It's also something I do occasionally to get customers interested in books at the bookstore where I work part time when they ask for recommendations.  At first I decided to kind of just ignore her little dig, as I have had many people comment that they liked how I wrote my reviews.  


via GIPHY

But then, just recently, I got sent a form to join another blog tour group, and one of the things on their application was about not writing a summary of the book.  Then this past week, I even saw an author say something about how a review was not a summary of the story.  Now because of how far behind I've been on reviews, I've just been sharing the synopsis of the book from Goodreads, and then what used to be the last paragraph of each of my reviews, where I tell what I did or did not like about the book.  

 

So I guess the question I am asking you, my fellow bloggers, is what you think about the format of someone's reviews.  I mean, I know that everyone has certain types of reviews that they prefer to read, as well as they have a certain way that they choose to write their own reviews.  But do you feel like it is anyone else's job to tell a blogger/reviewer how to review a book?  I feel like it should be up to everyone to review how they want. And as long as it is their own work, they haven't stolen any other reviews' words and passed them off as their own, and maybe no spoilers, why shouldn't they do it their own way?  What do you think?  Do you have a certain way you like to review?  What types of reviews do you prefer to read?  Am I being overly sensitive about this subject?

 

January End of the Month Wrap-Up Post

Hmm, my life doesn't seem to slow down!  Oh well, going to try to do better with the end of the month posts, but am not going to stress about the weekly posts all the time.  I've been a bit stressed because my Goodreads goal has me 7 books behind at the moment, but I've only got it set at 5 books over how many I read last year. We'll see how that goes.  Let's do an update of all my challenges.

Well, I'll keep hanging my head in shame.  Goal of 4 books, but none of this done yet!

My goal for this one was 4 discussions for the year.  Haven't done one yet, but do have a couple ideas to do one in February.

My goal was 12 books for the year, and so far I've done 3!!  Totally on track with this one.  Although I don't have all the reviews posted yet.

1. The Countdown (The Taking #3) by Kimberly Derting
2. Sentinel (Covenant #5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
3.  Ashes (Seeds of America #3) by Laurie Halse Anderson

My goal for this was 12 as well, only one done so far, but that is still on track.  And it is one that counted for the last challenge.

• The Countdown (The Taking #3) by Kimberly Derting

My two categories that I picked were blogging and writing.  Here's how I'm doing on them so far.

1. Blogging - I don't think I'm going to keep up with the labeling all my posts whether they are ARCs or etc.  I put that in my book info at the beginning of the reviews, I figure that's good.  I think I'm commenting on 7 blogs a week?  Not positive.  Need to keep better track of that this month.  I am working on getting an image for my blog made, so that is in the works.  
2. Writing - I'm also giving up on the writing a short story every week.  I tried the first week, but it is going longer than a short story, so I'm just going to keep working on it.  I do need to work on finishing my past NaNoWriMo stories.  But I kinda want to finish the short story I started on first, make it a very short one.  Maybe get it fixed up and see how it does on Amazon or something.  :-)  As for spending an hour a week at least on writing, I'd say that's been at least every other week.  So going to keep up with that.

I'm so glad that is all the challenges I'm doing this year.  Although I am going to participate in the Mini-Blog ahead challenge at the beginning of March, which will be really helpful for when I go to ApollyCon at the end of March.  I can't believe how close it is getting!  I've started getting all the books I want signed together, and I think I might need to take a suitcase just for that.  :-)

Alright, here are some statistics from January:

• # of books read:  15, that is down from the 19 a month I was doing before Christmas.
• # of full reviews posted on blog:  8-10, if you count the two I did for two of JLA's books in one post
• # of mini-reviews posted on blog:  19-21, again depends on those two I mentioned above

Possible February October TBR (that hasn't already been read):

• The Wish Granter by CJ Redwine
• Long May She Reigh by Rhiannon Thomas
• Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
• Sad Perfect by Stephanie Elliot
• Reignited (Reawakened #0.5) by Colleen Houck
• The Great Pursuit (Eurona Duology #2) by Wendy Higgins
• The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale
• Geekarella by Ashley Poston
• Max by Sarah Cohen-Scali
• Lifeblood (Everlife #2) by Gena Showalter
• The Shack by William Paul Young
• Denton Little's Still Not Dead (Denton Little #2) by Lance Rubin
• Wrong Bed, Right Guy (Come Undone #1) by Katee Robert
• The Cinderella Arrangement by Vanessa Waltz
• Screwdrivered (Cocktail #3) by Alice Clayton
• Neil Patrick Harris:  Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris

We'll see what else I end up with time to read!  Hopefully I'm not missing any review books in that. 

If you've done your own January Wrap-Up Post, be sure to go link up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction so you can get entered into a giveaway, as well as get more visitors to your post!