Last week on FYFA (and in my life):
Had another relaxing week around here. Finished off a proofread and it looks like I have a new editing client – other than that, I’ve just been preparing for the new school year. We did have a fun family get-together yesterday, though, and we were convinced to play softball. Even the grandmas played! Now, I am NOT a sporty person. The idea of me trying to play a team sport is pretty much laughable. The rest of my immediate family isn’t much better. My daughter does gymnastics, but she looked at the baseball bat like it was a giant squid that she was supposed to hit a ball with, and my son swims but hasn’t played a team sport since he gave up on soccer when he was about six. We were pretty sure this was going to be a terrible idea, but we all actually had a ton of fun! Almost nobody even struck out (I seriously felt shocked every time I hit the ball). Guess I have to go into these sorts of things with a bit more of an open mind in the future!
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog last week:
- Blackmail Boyfriend by Chris Cannon (review)
- The Author I’ve Read the Most (a Sort-of Top Ten Tuesday Post)
- When We Were Human by Kate L. Mary (review)
- More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera (review)
- My Quest to Organize My Bloglovin’ Feed – Let’s Discuss
ARC August Update: This week, for ARC August, I read: Lost World by Kate L. Mary and Stepdog by Nicole Galland.
Next week on FYFA:
- Lost World by Kate L. Mary (review)
- Stepdog by Nicole Galland (review)
- Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell (review)
- Let’s Discuss – something bookish 🙂
Purchased:
Technically, my mom bought these when we were at Sams the other day. The whole Pretty Trilogy for just $7.00 was too hard to pass up.
The other two books are more for the kids, but I know I’ll be reading them too!
For Review:
Won:
I won this one from the Summer of Series event (which is still going on – check it out in the giveaways below!). Thanks so much Danielle and Lili and Speak (which is a division of Puffin)!
From My OTSP Secret Sister:
My Secret Sister sent me this awesome package! I love how she wrapped everything and gave me little clues with post-it notes! (The thing in the square box was cards, but I don’t want to show them because she had the great idea of giving them to me to use for my Secret Sister!)
From The Author:
I got this super sweet gift in the mail from Allie Juliette Mousseau with a personalized copy of her book and some swag. I have loved working with Allie since her very first book and am so glad that she’s finding success (the Novia that she mentions in the inscription is from her very first series – a YA fantasy trilogy.)
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
I have to confess that I got caught up in summer (and in organizing my Bloglovin’ feed) last week and got behind in my discussions again. I’ll catch up this week!
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed above)
- Summer Haikus by S.J. Pajonas (release day giveaway) – Still time to enter to win a paperback of the book (US) or an ebook (INT)
- What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi (review & giveaway) – Still time to enter to win a paperback ARC copy!
- July Wrap-Up Round Up Giveaway – Enter to win a book of your choice! (You don’t have to have participated in the link-up to enter the giveaway.)
- August Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway – It’s a new month and time for a new link-up! Join us and enter to win a fall release.
Even More Awesome Giveaways on Other Sites:
There are tons of giveaways going on around the blogosphere!
- Enter to win a book of your choice at Wishful Endings!
- Erin & Jaime over at Fiction Fare are celebrating their birthday by giving away a Surprise Birthday Box of Books!
- Clean Teen Publishing is giving away a mystery box of their books!
- Lisa over at Lisa Loves Literature is celebrating her 6th blogoversary with a giveaway!! Enter to win a book from The Book Depository!
- Danielle over at Love at First Page and Lili at Lili’s Reflections are doing a Summer of Series promotion and giving away LOTS of books, including a signed paperback of Addicted To You, a finished copy of While You Were Gone, a signed hardcover of Sekret, a signed Boomerang trilogy, winner’s choice of a signed book in the Project Paper Dolls series, a signed copy of Defiance by CJ Redwine, and a signed Rusk University book. Plus, there are lots more coming! (I actually won one of the giveaways for this summer event!)
- Shannon over at It Starts at Midnight is doing a really fun giveaway because she reached 1000 Bloglovin’ Followers! She has a US only giveaway AND and International giveaway!
- Nicole over at Quality Fangirls is hosting a BookCon giveaway. There are tons of different prizes like a signed Throne of Glass hardcover and lithograph poster, some TMI Swag, Illuminae and lots, lots more!
- Candace’s Book Blog and Pure Imagination have a weekly post called Saturday Situation, where people can link up their giveaways and reviews that need some more love. There are hundreds of posts listed there, so you should definitely check it out!
- Kritika over at Snowflakes and Spider Silk is doing a read-along of The Gentleman Bastard series (AKA Lies of Locke Lomora) and is giving away a pre-order of the fourth book in the series.
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
Hahah! I’m not the most coordinated person in the entire world either. My husband was a huge sports guy in high school, and we’re afraid that the kids got the uninterested-in-sports gene from me.
Congratulations on your wins, and happy reading!
Yeah, I think my kids got the non-sports gene from both me AND my husband. Um, oops!
Looks like your kids are not into sports, but that might change. Who knows? I love when authors sign books, makes it that much more personal. I hope you love all of your new books this week. They look amazing.
Grace @ Books of Love
Well, my daughter has gymnastics, which she loves, but put a bat in her hand and she’s lost!
Sounds like a fun week for you all!
It was. Surprise, surprise!
That’s great that you all had a better time playing softball than you thought you would. I’m definitely not a big sport person, but it seems like just hanging out with the family and playing would be fun.
Yes, it turned out way better than I expected it to!
Playing a sports game as a family can be so fun! For years we would celebrate Easter at my mother’s older sister’s house, and we would always have a softball game in the front yard. Mind you, there are six in my mother’s family – plus spouses – and around 15 grandkids at the time who could walk, which meant you played. Even my grouchy grandfather would play. Those were some fun times!
Yep, it was a requirement – we were all playing! Made for a fun afternoon, though!
Aw glad you had fun with the family. Sometimes things you would never do turn out to be fun. Love your package from your Secret Sister. I have to look into doing that next time. Enjoy your books!!
We had so much fun – it was a big surprise! And my secret sister had a fantastic idea with her post-its!
OOoh very nice!! I still want to read Isle of the Lost myself! I heard it was YA but reads like a very young YA or borderline MG! We’ll just see how I like it! I still want to watch that Descendants movie too! Though bits I’ve seen already look a little corny! But it’s Disney Channel, they’re bound to be corny! I can LOL at the 90s ones I used to watch too. Sadly, they don’t really play them anymore!
Hope you enjoy the new reads!
Here’s my STS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
My daughter is only 11, but I read that it would be okay for her age group and it’s the type of book she really likes. I definitely want to read it too!
Wolf by Wolf looks so good. I can’t wait to read your review. Thanks for sharing all the giveaways. I never win them, but entering is fun. Happy reading!
Hey, you never know when you’ll get lucky! I won one this week!
Great secret sister package. I like it when everything is wrapped up all nice, too. It makes small things so special, like a Christmas stocking!
Totally – it makes it all so much more special!
Ahhh, I am so awful at sports . . . ALL sports. Ha. I am so glad you guys had fun though. Sounds like a great time.
Me too! Sports and I do not agree!
Sounds like you had a blast!! I’m not very sporty either. I usually fail big time. But sometimes the awkwardness can make it even more fun! 🙂
Yes, this is definitely one of those cases where awkwardness just added to the fun.
I am excited for Isle! I hope you enjoy it! And Legend, rocks my world! I love OTSP Secret Sis so much!
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
I love it too!!! Secret Sister is so fantastic!
Fun book haul! I hope you enjoy your new reads. 🙂 I’m very curious about Wolf by Wolf – it’s getting good early reviews and sounds fascinating.
I’m excited about that one – can’t wait to read it!
Relaxing weeks are always good! Congrats on the new client! Enjoy your new reads Nicole!
Naomi @ Naomi’s Reading Palace
Thanks, Naomi!!
AWww that family fun day sounds like it was a lot of fun with the grandmas playing too! Legend is a great book, what a cute package from your OTP. Thanks for sharing Nicole!
I definitely think that getting caught up in summer is a good thing, Nicole! It’s nice to take a break and just read, work on our own blog, and that’s it 🙂
I hope you’re having a fantastic week – it’s already the weekend again (and it’s almost 6pm here) so have a wonderful weekend, too.