Last week on FYFA (and in my life):
Happy Valentine’s Day to those of you who celebrate it! We don’t really, since it’s right after my birthday, but my hubby and I did go out to dinner last night as a birthday/Valentines celebration. All three of our kiddos are gone this weekend at an overnight camp with church, so we had a day of freedom yesterday! That’s never happened before! We actually didn’t do all that much to take advantage, but we did enjoy the quiet!
I’ve been working on another proofreading project, and I’m really enjoying the book (huge bonus in my line of work), so the job has been very pleasant indeed. Somehow on the blog I managed to schedule several New Adult reads in a row – not sure how that happens sometimes – just when things end up falling, I guess. And then I’ll be starting out next week with a MG read, which feels a bit strange. In fact, I might push that one to later in the week …
Other than that, I’ve just been trying to catch up on blogging and life now (after the gymnastics meet last week sucked all of my time away). I managed to read and comment on all the discussion posts that have gone up so far (as of yesterday – you guys are rock stars and have been posting so many amazing discussions!), so now I just need to catch up on replying and commenting back! I’m getting there!
Here’s what you may have missed last week:
- Birthday & Third Blogoversary Giveaway – To celebrate my special days, I’ve decided that my followers need the chance to win books!
- Call Me, Maybe by Ellie Cahill – Review & Giveaway – Still time to enter to win a $25 gift card!
- Some Books Just Aren’t All That Memorable – Let’s Discuss
- To the Stars by Molly McAdams – Review & Giveaway – Still time to enter to win a signed copy of Letting Go and To The Stars and a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card!
- Stardust Destiny by Nazarea Andrews – Review & Giveaway – Still time to enter to win a signed paperback copy of STARDUST DESTINY with notes from Nazarea & a deleted scene!
- January Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway – Enter to win a stack of books (US) or a book of your choice (INT)
Next week on FYFA:
- Underground by Janelle Stalder – Review – This is going up later today!
- After the Woods by Kim Savage – Traveling ARC Review & Giveaway
- Abe Lincoln and the Selfie that Saved the Union by David Potter – MG Review
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
Believe it or not, there are no birthdays or blogoversaries coming up this week. But there are SIX coming up next week, so be sure to check back here next Sunday!
For Review:
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
Woo hoo! I caught up on discussions in our discussion challenge, so I read a plethora of fantastic discussions this week! Here are just a few of my favorites:
- Emma over at The Eggplant Emoji came to a bit of an epiphany and asks Is it actually better to watch the movie first?
- Silvara over at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon asks Do You Tweet Reviews To Publishers?
- Sara the Library Huntress asks Will Not Posting Every Day Kill Your Blog?
- SJ at A Tree Grows in Bookland gives us The Secret to Being a Happy Blogger.
- Kristen at Metaphors and Moonlight talks about Time Skips in Books.
- Katy at wildeonmyside writes about Terrible Mothers in Fiction.
- Shannon at It Starts at Midnight asks Can a Bookperson Love Too Many Books?
- Remember how I wrote that post about the cover model I was seeing everywhere? (I even made a Goodreads list for him!) Well, someone else took note as well. Joey at Thoughts and Afterthoughts writes about Why Your Book Boyfriend is a Cheater.
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed above)
- February Discussion Challenge Link-Up and Giveaway! – Link up your February discussions here and enter the giveaway!
- The Prophecy of Shadows by Michelle Madow – Last chance to enter to win a Kindle Fire!
- The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye – Still time to enter to win an autographed ARC of The Crown’s Game
Even More Awesome Giveaways on Other Sites:
There are tons of giveaways going on around the blogosphere!
- Lots of blogs participating in the New Release Giveaway Hop!
- And then there’s the #WOW2016 Valentine’s Day Blog Hop!
- Head over to It Starts at Midnight to win a Paperback Copy of Earth’s End or 2 E-book copies of Earth’s End and a Hardcover of REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton
- Clean Teen Publishing is giving away a Clean Teen Publishing Gift Basket with Kindle Fire, Books, Swag, and More!
- Author Hannah Fielding is giving away a £100/$150 Amazon Gift Card!
- Head over to The Irish Banana for a chance to win A Harper Teen Summer 2016 Catalog prizepack of 45+ books and A Finished Copy PreOrder of Any Book Featured On the Tour!
- Kissin’ Blue Karen has a giveaway for a hardcover of REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton.
- Jessica over at A GREAT Read is celebrating her 7th blogoversary with a giveaway – enter to win $20 worth of books!
- Tonya at Lilybloombooks is celebrating her 3rd blogoversary and she’s giving away a Kindle Fire (US) and Two Books from TBD (INT)
- Help your favorite Indie bookstore gain the chance to win $3000 and you get a chance to win a $50 gift card in the process!
- Stuck in Books is celebrating their fifth blogoversary with LOTS of giveaways! Some of them have ended, but there’s still quite a few going on, so just check their sidebar – the current ones are all listed there!
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
Sounds like you had a great week, and happy belated birthday!
Thanks, Jazmen!!
Well, it’s a snowy day here in my city so I don’t know if I can persuade my husband to watch a movie with me to celebrate Valentine’s Day. :/ Yay, for alone time with the hubs!
Happy reading, Nicole!
It’s snowing here today, too. The kids are back this afternoon, so our freedom is almost over. 🙂
It’s snowing here in Iowa today and it is quite cozy inside. We are hoping the snow lets up a bit so we can journey out to a movie and grab some Chinese on the way home. We are celebrating Valentine’s Day in a low key way. 🙂
I think I’ll be having Markus Zusak fest on my blog in March/April. He’s visiting so I’m re-reading The Book Thief and I’m going to move onto I Am the Messenger then Underdogs. 🙂 I’ve often thought of having a time travel review theme, too. I have A LOT of time travel books.
It’s snowing here too. We’re hanging out watching episodes of Chuck until it’s time to pick up the kids! 🙂
Wait, does one of your kids do gymnastics? I used to do gymnastics! That *is* great that you’re enjoying the book you’re proofreading. I can only imagine how maddening it must be having to read through all the books you don’t like! (By the way, how did you get into proofreading? I always wonder how people get bookish jobs like that. I would totally read it if you made a post about that.) Have a great week, and thanks for mentioning my discussion post 🙂
Oh, you’re right, that would be a great topic for a post! I should do that! Maybe I’ll try to make that this week’s discussion.
Oh, and yes – my daughter is a gymnast. Level 4 (though she technically leveled out earlier in the season – some of those level 5 skills are evading her at this point). It’s such a fun sport – I’d much rather watch gymnastics than pretty much any other sport. LOL!
That’s awesome that she does gymnastics! It’s a great sport, for a lot of reasons. But I’m out of the loop nowadays. I don’t even know what’s required for level 5 anymore, but it seems like the sport is always getting more difficult! It’s pretty much the only sport I watch though, so I definitely agree with you there lol.
That’s great you are getting caught up on blogging and commenting back. I really need to schedule things more – feeling a bit blah lately so haven’t had tons of motivation. haha
-Lauren
Oh MAN Nicole, I failed at remembering your birthday! I am SO. SORRY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, albeit belated. (Feel free to blame it on the illness my children brought back from school that kept me in bed for like, a day and a half, and I will too.) And WOW, no kids?! That is awesome! That has not ever happened to me either! Glad that you were able to enjoy some quiet time 🙂 And thanks so much for linking up to my post, you’re the best!
You amaze me! How do you know about all the giveaways? I should start doing a give away on my blog just for fun ;)!
We don’t typically do valentines day either, but we did spend the day watching movies!!
Sounds like you had a busy week but with some special times for your birthday as well, which is always fun 🙂 I’m not big on Valentine’s Day either – I don’t really see the point but whatever I guess LOL! Anyway, I’m glad that work is treating you well and of course I always like to hear about you every week ♥
That’s awesome that you had a few days without the kids. How nice! Everyone needs a break now and then, especially when you homeschool! Glad to hear that the gymnastics meet is done too. That must be a load off! 🙂
That’s amazing that you both had a day with no kiddos! I’m sure that was very welcomed after your gymnastics weekend. Here’s hoping that the rest of your week has been going smooth. Oh, and I’m smiling so huge at the I Swear I’ve Seen This Guy Before post! YES! There are certain cover models out there that just pop up on all of the book covers lol.