Discussion Post: Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover, or a Narrator by their Voice

I'm so far behind on my goal for discussion posts this year.  I had lots of ideas, but ran out of time.  As I've been listening to an audiobook with one of my favorite narrators this past week, I started thinking about how much I want to know what this narrator looks like.  If you're a romance audiobook fan, then you probably will recognize the name, Sebastian York.  His voice, it's just wowza.  It's like sex on tape.  Reminiscent of Barry White you might say.

 

Sorry about that, but I've been waiting to use this Castiel gif forever.  

Anyway, as far as I know, Sebastian York is one of those narrator mysteries, like Joe Arden and Shane East (although I think the last one is actually a pseudonym for Steve West).  

Of course, all I can think about is my lessons learned when I was a kid with the people on the radio.  I'd picture someone based on their voice, and then when they actually were somewhere live, or on TV or something, they looked soooooooooooo different from what my brain had built up as I listened to them.  

First, listen to Sebastian York's voice:

In my head, I see a very tough, muscular guy.  Like the covers of some of the books he narrates.

In one of the books by Meghan March that I listened to, I pictured him like the movie star Shemar Moore:

And even though I've met Jonny James, and you can hear him speak in the videos he often does on Facebook, I sometimes picture Sebastian York's voice with Jonny's looks.

And then there are the pictures posted on his? Twitter account, that look a lot like Tyler Hoechlin, the actor from MTV's Teen Wolf TV series.

But, as with my radio personality lesson, I can't help but wonder how far off my brain and ears are when they decide what he must look like.   Is he really a scrawny, skinny, nerdy guy?  (Okay with me, I like nerdy guys too!)  Is he an old man with a deep voice?  You've always got the James Earl Jones/Darth Vader voice as well!  What in the world could he possibly look like?

Anyway, it doesn't really matter.  I wish I had a recording of his voice, that wasn't a book I was listening to and wanted to stay awake to hear it all.  I'd put it on and fall asleep with his voice playing, hopefully giving me the types of dreams I could really enjoy.

 

Oooh, that gif reminds me I could totally see his voice coming from someone who looks like Jensen Ackles.

Here comes the discussion part.  Are you an audiobook fan?  Do you have any voices that you enjoy listening to as much as I love Sebastian York's voice?  If you are a fan of him as well, what do you think he looks like?  I'd love to see your picture ideas!  Drop a picture or link in the comments below for me.  

Also, while you're stopping by my blog, I've got a giveaway going on for another week I think, my Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop post, go check that out HERE. 

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?

 

Discussion Post: I'm Yes Then I'm No, I'm In Then I'm Out - Or the Beloved Books That I Just Couldn't Seem to Love

As always I didn't get around to my discussion post till the end of the month.  Partly because of how busy it has been with school getting started back up. And partly because I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to discuss.  Even now, my title isn't as good as I want it to be, but it was the best I could come up with at the moment, so hopefully it somewhat makes sense.  My discussion today is going to be about the books that either everyone seems to love and I tried, but just can't get into or don't quite get the fuss.   Of course I am going to throw in some GIFs because it is just so much fun to find them!

A reminder that the 2016 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.  If you want to check out any of my earlier posts you can go to these links:

• Fiction is Fiction - Or Why I Believe Teens are Smarter Than We Give Them Credit For,   

• It's In the Stars - Or Why I Don't Give Ratings on My Blog,   

• This Review Should Come With a Warning - Or Is It Okay to Review New Adult, Adult, and Young Adult on the Same Blog,   

• Copy, Paste, Repeat - Or How Many Places Do You Post Your Reviews.

• To DNF or Not to DNF, That is the Question - Or How Do You Decide if You Should Give Up on a Book?

So, my title refers to the Katy Perry song, Hot n Cold, but of course my favorite use of the song is in the Twilight parody by the Hillywood Show, which was also my first introduction to the YouTube sensation.  But what I'm going for with this post is all the books that everyone else is so "hot" for, and they just left me "cold" or at least "lukewarm". 

 

The first one is a series, and I want to duck here, because I'm afraid a lot of you are going to be throwing things at me through the internets.  I am on the 2nd book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, and I am just not feeling it.  

The first book, Cinder, was more interesting to me than this 2nd one, Scarlet, has been so far.  Even then, when I finished Cinder, I was still left a little bit unsure of what all the fuss was about.  It was okay, but nothing that I was now obsessed over.  But, I was able to get a copy of Scarlet for $4 at a Scholastic Warehouse book sale, and then I won the next three books in the series through a couple different giveaways.  I had heard from many people that book 2 was better than book 1, so I assumed by winning all those books that was a sign I was going to go on and be swept away once I started Scarlet.  Umm, no, it's not happening.  I started the book on August 6th, and since then I've read 4 other physical books, and that's not counting the ebooks I've read.  I usually keep a physical book up on my nightstand so that I will read that right before bed instead of staring at a screen, because I feel like it is probably better for my sleep.  But Scarlet has just not kept me reading.  I can't decide whether to push on through, or give up and then maybe just sell/trade all my copies of the books in the series as a big set.  

 

Next is the Heroes of Olympus series and The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan.  Now see, I loved the Percy Jackson series. 

But I had so much trouble keeping the characters straight in The Red Pyramid as each chapter went back and forth between them.  Which sucked, because I love Egyptian mythology and was so excited for that series.  

And then, when I struggled through The Lost Hero, all I could think was how many more words were used than were needed.  I looked at the size of the book, and thought about how if they'd left all those extra things out, it would have been probably the same length as the books in the Percy Jackson series, and still just as good as those.  Because of that I have not made myself read on, dreading the amount of time and extra stuff to skip over as I try to get to the main story.  

 

The last books I'm going to talk about that didn't blow me away are the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. 

 I actually love the Mortal Instruments series.  And I love Magnus Bane!  But I tried picking up and reading the first one in the series, Clockwork Angel, and just couldn't get into it.  I think it was actually one of my very first ever Books for Trade deals too!  So I have the copy sitting at home.  I don't know that I want to give up though.  I feel like maybe now sometime I might go back and try it again.  Just don't know when.   

So, are any of these books one that you loved?  Do you have any books like this that you don't like but everyone else does?  I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please chime in below!

Discussion Post: To DNF or Not To DNF, That Is The Question - Or How Do You Decide If You Should Give Up On A Book?

Once again my discussion post has been pushed off until the end of the month.  And it changed topics several times.  But, I've seen a lot of other posts about DNFing, so I thought I would join in since I have some big thoughts about it too, and of course there will be gifs.  Today I've chosen a bunch of gifs from a new favorite show, Brooklyn Nine Nine.  Also, a reminder that the 2016 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.  If you want to check out any of my earlier posts you can go to these links:

• Fiction is Fiction - Or Why I Believe Teens are Smarter Than We Give Them Credit For,   

• It's In the Stars - Or Why I Don't Give Ratings on My Blog,   

• This Review Should Come With a Warning - Or Is It Okay to Review New Adult, Adult, and Young Adult on the Same Blog,   

• Copy, Paste, Repeat - Or How Many Places Do You Post Your Reviews.

My title of course refers to Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" famous quote.  I often feel conflicted on whether to give up on a book.  There was a day though, before blogging, before working at a bookstore, when I didn't give up on books.  I either fought my way through to the bitter end, or I put a bookmark in it (yes, sometimes that was a folded page corner) and set the book aside to pick up and finish later.  Once Goodreads came around, I actually left those books on my currently reading shelf.  Until recently.  When I decided that having 20 books on my currently reading shelf was just silly.  So I moved those books to another shelf, the DNF one, or else I have another "series I may not finish" shelf on Goodreads.  My Goodreads DNF shelf has 68 books on it currently.

While it has gotten easier to decide to give up on a book due to all the other books I have to read just waiting on me, it still is never quite that easy.  When I have heard such great things about a book.  Or when I requested it on Netgalley or Edelweiss.  But I've also learned that I can still give those sites a review, and explain to them why I didn't finish it.  However, one thing is that I don't feel like I can give a review to other people if I haven't given it a fair chance.

The reason I don't do reviews on my DNF books is because I know that there are probably many other people who will enjoy the book.  But now, I begin to wonder if I should give more of a reason on Goodreads at least, to others looking to figure out whether they will like a book or  not.  So I guess one question I would like anyone reading this to discuss in the comments is about reviewing DNF books.  Do you DNF?  If you do, do you review them?  Whether you DNF or not, do you want to read a review of why someone did DNF?

 

The other question I have for discussion, if you do DNF, when do you decide to do it?  I've heard many different things.  Some do after 10%, others take their age subtracted from 100 and read that many pages first.  So far I haven't necessarily followed anything specific.  I do try to do at least 10%, but I go until I just can't keep reading, can't make myself read anymore without having to actually work to concentrate.

Please, chime in below and share your thoughts on this whole DNF thing with me!  I am always looking for any tips that make things easier, or make me feel better about doing something the way I'm already doing it.  And because I couldn't go without at least one Supernatural gif, here you go:

Discussion Post: Copy, Paste, Repeat - Or How Many Places Do You Post Your Reviews?

I'm a bit late this month with my 4th discussion post, as I just got too busy to get it done.  Wow, this summer is not slowing down from the school year!  Anyway, the 2016 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight. My first one was all about if teens are really as dumb as we think, and will expect what happens in books to be real life.  My second one was about giving ratings in your reviews.  My third one was about reviewing different age levels of books on the same blog.  You can go read my thoughts and then share what you think on those three HERE, HERE, and HERE.  This month I want to find out just where everyone posts their reviews.

I've always done on my blog for sure.  For awhile I would post the reviews on Goodreads and then use the html from that to put the review over on my blog too.  For the most part I do my full reviews still here on my blog.  But sometimes an author, especially the independently published ones, ask for you to also post your review on other sites like Amazon or Goodreads.  When they ask me to, I always do.  Of course since I work for Barnes and Noble, I then go post the review there as well, because I feel like I have to.  I just do.

But I always wonder if it is too repetitive to just copy and paste the exact same review straight from my blog.  Should I just post part of it and link back to my blog to drive the traffic back here?  I often do that on Goodreads. But I don't think I can do that on either Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  Plus, my blog reviews don't have really creative titles, but on Amazon it seems like you want your review title to be catchy so you get people to read the review.  And since on my blog my review almost always contains my own little personal synopsis of the story, do I need to do that on Amazon?  Or should I just put only the opinion parts of my review?

 

Since I've been reading so many more indie authors as free e-books lately, I feel like I need to make sure I not only review on my blog, but back on Amazon too.  But I don't always get it done, because so many of my reviews are scheduled in advance now that I am a bit behind on reviews.

So, my discussion today is really because I need your input and opinions on what you do, and how important you feel this topic is.  Please, please chime in below and help me figure this out!

It's in the Stars - Or Why I Don't Give Ratings on My Blog

 

Here we go, my 2nd discussion post as part of the 2016 Discussion Challenge hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.   My first one was all about if teens are really as dumb as we think, and will expect what happens in books to be real life.  You can go read my thoughts and then share what you think on that one HERE.   Today I want to talk about giving ratings to the books I read.  

I admit that I often go look at the stars or ratings that other blogs give sometimes before I read the actual review.  And whenever I finish a book I always give it a star rating on Goodreads. And if I leave a review on Barnes and Noble or Amazon, I give star reviews there too.  But here on my blog, ever since I quit just copying my reviews from Goodreads, I've not bothered to put the rating in the post.  

I'm not sure exactly why. But here is what I came up with when I tried to think about it a little more.  I feel like rating systems are often hard to use.  A lot of time I LOVE a book, but I know maybe it isn't the most well written, or maybe the story itself is really silly and superficial.  And maybe then I feel weird leaving it a 5 star review, when a book that was really well written and on a very deep subject, I didn't enjoy even though I feel like I should have because of what book it is, I would only leave a 3 star review.  Examples.  I love Twilight.  

I know that supposedly it is written horribly.  But to me, the writing grabbed me, and I couldn't put it, or any of the others in the series down.  To me, that is a good story, and it is well written.  A book I could not stand and had to force myself to get through, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night,

I know that really I should have thought it was a great book. Right?  I mean the character is autistic, and of course it didn't read like something I am used to, and it shouldn't read easy because it was written the way they would think and they think differently.  Another book that I couldn't even finish, yet so many people talk about what a great, profound book it is, is Dante's Inferno.  I was bored to tears.  And didn't finish it.  

Another issue.  I have a friend who is self publishing. And while I do like her stories, and enjoy reading them.  I often feel maybe it isn't as fair to compare it to traditionally published books that have editors that are paid to make sure it is done well.  Or if there is a book that I can see why other people really liked it, but I just didn't really care for it, I hate to mark it down, because then it is my opinion, not necessarily whether it is a good book or not.

On Goodreads, you can't do half-stars, and there are some books that I don't want to give them a 2, or a 3, but honestly they don't really rate as a 3 or 4.  So that is another thing I think of.  And then sometimes the sites tell you what each star stands for.  On Amazon the ratings go:  1 star - I hate it, 2 stars - I don't like it, 3 stars - It's okay, 4 stars - I like it, 5 stars - I love it.  But sometimes I give books a 4 that I loved, because they had issues that kept me from giving them a 5.  On Goodreads they are different:  1 star - did not like it, 2 stars - It was okay, 3 stars - liked it, 4 stars - really liked it, 5 stars - it was amazing.  On Barnes and Noble:  1 star - poor, 2 stars - below average, 3 stars - good, 4 stars - very good, 5 stars - excellent.  

Okay, so those are my reasons for why I am not big at rating on my blog.  I know a lot of other blogs have their own rating systems, and they show what each star means on the side bar of their blog.  I do like that method for sure.  But for me, I think I just like to talk about the book on my blog and tell what I do and don't like about it.

What do you think of my reasons?  What do you think of ratings?  Please, leave me some discussion below. 

Fiction is Fiction - Or Why I Believe Teens Are Smarter Than We Give Them Credit For

 

So, this is my very first discussion post on my blog, joining into the 2016 Discussion Challenge hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts at Midnight.  I'm going to try to explain myself clearly, as well as make it fun with pictures and/or gifs.  Today I'm going to talk about what you might call a pet peeve of mine.  Over and over I hear books criticized, or even condemned, for the topics covered, or the way the characters are portrayed.  For instance, I'll start with talk about one of my favorite book series, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

Over and over I hear about how horrible it is that Bella depends on a boy to take care of her.  That's one issue people have. The other is that Edward is a stalker and horrible boyfriend.  First off, let me point you back to the title of this post:  Fiction is Fiction.  It's not real people!  Most of the time when I read, it is to lose myself in something that is not my reality.  Yes, Edward does save Bella from a lot of danger, because he loves her, and also because he is a vampire, so his supernatural power saves her from other supernatural creatures.  And, my biggest point, sorry, *SPOILER*, for anyone who hasn't actually read the whole series, in the end, Bella ends up saving everyone!  So yeah, that isn't an issue for me.  Maybe we could talk about him being possessive and a bad boyfriend/stalker next.  Again, I believe part of that is back to him being supernatural and obviously not sure if he should be a part of her life at first. But besides that, while yes, I do ship myself with Edward, it's not because I would expect a real guy to do those weird things, or be okay with a real guy doing those types of things.  I know it is fiction.  In real life there is so much that I would not put up with.  If yu want to call this a damsel in distress story, I guess you could for most of it, but then also so are most fairy tales.  And yes, I know many people, feminists, etc, are against them as well. 

Now, there was a book that I read a year or so ago, that made me feel like I shouldn't have enjoyed it and devoured it as quickly as I did, Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire.

This is a story of a definitely emotionally abusive relationship, there is no way you can say anything different about it.  And I felt bad reading and being sucked into the story because I know people who have been in those types of relationships, and it is not a good thing.   When I talked to one of my sisters about it, the sister who reads most of the same books I do and knows the person this made me think of, she is the one who brought me back to where I'm going with this post.  It is fiction.  While I might have enjoyed the steamier parts of the story, for the most part I was kept reading because I wanted to know what happened to the characters, and how they would handle it all.  

More and more I hear people saying that girls in books are bad examples for teens.  As if teens aren't smart enough to know what is fiction, or what is bad.  Yes, I know that there are people who do take what happens in books, or whatever they read, as truth.  But I don't believe it is something that we have to worry about all teens doing.  I was a teenager at one time.  Many years ago now, but I did not assume life should be like what I read in the book.  My biggest example is always the Flowers in the Attic series by V.C. Andrews.  

I read that series, over and over, back in those days I didn't have piles of books to read, so my favorite books would be re-read until I did buy a new one every once in awhile.  Just because I read that series doesn't mean I then wanted to fall in love with my brother.  Another V.C. Andrews book I read a lot, My Sweet Audrina, didn't romanticize rape for me.  The funny thing to me was that my parents took away all of my Teen Silhouette Romance series books, but left these V.C. Andrews books.  They didn't want me to get all the silly romantic ideas, yet these books with incest, and later Stephen King's horror stories, were okay for me to read.  Why is it that people think someone can read the horror or science fiction stories and understand they're not real, yet when it comes to romantic stories, readers are too stupid to not know those are fiction?  

Finally, I want to bring up the series that I am so obsessed with now that I had to get a tattoo to show my love for it, the After series, by Anna Todd.

I know that the relationship in this book is a horrible, terrible, emotionally abusive one.  And the things that happen to Tessa, that the guy Hardin even is a part of at the beginning, yes, not something I should even think is a good thing.  But I couldn't help it.  I fell in love with the characters, both of them flawed, not just Hardin.  And over and over they fought through this, and there were so many times as I read that I knew I would have been done, things that Tessa let go that there is no way I would have. But that is why it is fiction.  You can read about a relationship like this, and you can have the characters work and maybe improve themselves like we wish would happen in real life, and it's a nice story.  One you can fall in love with, but not have to try out for yourself.  There is talk of how this book glorifies rape in the reviews I've seen online, and it is not true. There is no rape in the books.  There are bad things that happen, but never are they romanticized or glorified.  Yes I'm an adult now, but even if I was a teen reading these, which I don't really feel they are teen books, I wouldn't have felt this is how a relationship should be.

Now give me your thoughts.  Surely I'm not the only person smart enough to know fiction is fiction, right?  I have dealt with teenagers on a daily basis for almost 20 years now, working in education as a teacher for 17 years, and a librarian now for 3 more.  The teenagers I know, for the most part, are smarter than many people give them credit.  A story is a story. They learn in their English classes about symbolism, which helps them to know that fiction isn't a true thing, that what happens in the book isn't what they should expect as real life.  You might say that maybe since I've never been in any situations like this I don't have the right to chime in on this.  But you'd be wrong.  I had very bad experiences in college, ones that even to this day, it is hard not to say that it was my own fault that it happened.  But not one of them do I blame on some book I read making me think it was okay.

Wow, this got a little bit deep and depressing I think.  I guess I just feel strongly about this topic.  Please comment below and tell me your feelings on this topic.  Do you totally disagree with me?  Do you somewhat see what I'm trying to say?  I want everyone to have their own opinion and be able to express it in my comments below, no name calling just because we disagree, let's talk about it, what do you say?

Discussion Challenge 2016 Sign Up Post

So, I've decided that I want to join into this Challenge, hosted by Nicole at  Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon at It Starts at Midnight.   I don't know that I'm going to do more than one post a month, but I still want to try it out.  I've already got an idea I want to talk about tomorrow, so I thought I'd go ahead and do my sign up post tonight.  If you think this sounds like a good challenge, you can go read all the information on what to do HERE.  For now I'm going to set my goal to do about one discussion post a month.  So that will put me in the bottom level for my goal, 1-12:  Discussion Dabbler.  I'm okay with that for now.  If it goes well this year, then maybe I'll try for more next year if the challenge is continued.

I will do an update at the end of each month with my other Challenge updates.

October New Release Giveaway Hop

I'm so excited to participate in this Hop once again which is hosted by Librarian Lavender and It Starts at Midnight! This is open to anyone that the Book Depository ships to.  You can check HERE if you don't know for that.   There are a bunch of books shown in the banner above that are for this month.  But I'm going to make this simple.  You can pick whatever book you want, that is an October release, that I can get from The Book Depository for up to $17.  Just fill out the Rafflecopter below, then be sure to go to all the links on the Linky at the bottom of this post and enter for more chances to win a October New Release.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

June New Release Giveaway Hop

I'm so excited to participate in this Hop once again which is hosted by Librarian Lavender and It Starts at Midnight! This is open to anyone that the Book Depository ships to.  You can check HERE if you don't know for that.  There are a bunch of books shown in the banner above that are for this month.  But I'm going to make this simple.  You can pick whatever book you want, that is a June release, that I can get from The Book Depository for up to $17.  Just fill out the Rafflecopter below, then be sure to go to all the links on the Linky at the bottom of this post and enter for more chances to win a June New Release.

a Rafflecopter giveaway