Last week on FYFA (and in my life):
I purposely made this week a little lighter here on the blog so I’d have more time to visit other blogs and comment back. It’s been nice to have a bit of time to see what I’ve been missing! Other than that, nothing too new to report. I finished up that proofreading job I was telling you all about last week and will be starting a few new editing jobs very soon (hopefully not all at once!).
Here’s what you may have missed last week:
- Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers – Review
- Abe Lincoln and the Selfie that Saved the Union by David Potter – Middle Grade Review
- Can Book Blogging Lead to a Job? Let’s Discuss!
- After the Woods by Kim Savage – Traveling ARC Review & Giveaway
Next week on FYFA:
- Underground by Janelle Stalder – Review
- Air Awakens by Elise Kova – Review
- Let’s Discuss – Something bookish! 🙂
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
Six birthdays and blogoversaries coming up next week!! I hope you’ll stop on by these blogs and send the bloggers some cheer in honor of their special days! (And check out the calendar to see what you might have just missed or what’s coming up.)
- Feb 21st – Cilla @ Paved With Books‘ Birthday
- Feb 22nd – Charlie @ Girl of 1000 Wonders‘ Birthday
- Feb 23rd – SJ Bouquet @ A Tree Grows In Bookland‘s Birthday
- Feb 24th – Rachel @ Confessions of a Book Geek‘s Birthday
- Feb 27th – Alyssa @ The Devil Orders Takeout‘s Birthday AND her blogoversary, too!
For Review:
One for a blog tour and the other is my first audiobook for review! I’m listening to it and really enjoying it so far!
From My OTSP Secret Sister:
I decided to switch to a much lower monetary tier for #OTSPSecretSister this time (for a few various reasons). So imagine my surprise when I got all of these goodies in the mail for my birthday. I’m incredibly impressed with my sis’s craftiness! (The little pockets have special birthday cards and messages in them. The adorable jar had chocolate in it, but that’s already gone.) 🙂
Won:
Thanks so much to Shannon at It Starts at Midnight for my books!!
Bookish Item for Review:
Alicia over at Awesome Book Assessment has started a new shop called Alicia Craft and she’s graciously allowed me to be a rep. Once a month or so she’ll send me a product for review and I’ll tell you guys about it! She’s also giving my readers a discount if you want to buy from her shop – just use the coupon code: fyfa15 for your 15% discount! (And her prices are already really reasonable.) There’s no expiration, but you can only use the code once.
The first item I received is this cute Harry Potter necklace. The thing that makes Alicia’s books unique are that they actually have little pages! (You can read about her process HERE). The book cover is made out of cardboard, and I was wondering how sturdy they’d be, but I was surprised that they seemed to hold up really well – same with the binding of the pages in the book. But I think my favorite feature is the tiny book jacket printouts on the inside. The one thing I’m not positive about is how well these would hold up to getting wet – just like your real books, you might want to protect these from the elements! I think these books would make a fantastic gift – I’m thinking I’ll get one for my secret sister at some point!
***Disclosure: I received this product in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
As always, so many amazing discussions going on! Here are a few of my favorites:
- Kate @ Plethoric Thoughts writes about unrealistically perfect characters in books in On Literary Perfection and Spontaneity.
- Britt @ Please Feed the Bookworm talks about Cheating on your genre of choice.
- Lory @ Emerald City Book Review asks Am I a Writer?
- Emma @ The Eggplant Emoji asks Is reading on a Kindle the best—or do I just have terrible taste?
- Sara @ Library Huntress gives us a PSA: Update those Disqus Profiles!
- Wendy @ Falconer’s Library talks about The Haters-to-Lovers Trope.
- Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight tells us Why She’s NOT Giving Up ARCs!
- Cait @ Paper Fury asks us Do You Procrastinate Reading Books You’re 99% Positive You’ll Love? (Why, YES I DO!!!)
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed above)
- January Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway – Enter to win a stack of books (US) or a book of your choice (INT)
- Stardust Destiny by Nazarea Andrews – Still time to enter to win a signed paperback copy of STARDUST DESTINY with notes from Nazarea & a deleted scene!
- To the Stars by Molly McAdams – Last chance to enter to win a signed copy of Letting Go and To The Stars and a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card!
- 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 – Still time to enter to win a $25 gift card!
- February Discussion Challenge Link-Up and Giveaway! – Link up your February discussions here and enter the giveaway!
- 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!
- Head over to Lost in Lit for a chance to win one of 5 copies of TITANS!
- Head over to Pandora’s Books for a chance to win a Pre-Order of Unrivaled by Alyson Noel.
- Head over to Shooting Stars Mag for a chance to win a paperback copy of Trees of Life: A Colouring Experience by Jenna Lyn Field.
- Lots of blogs participating in the New Release Giveaway 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.
- 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!
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
Those are cool bookish items! I especially like the necklace. 🙂
Happy reading!
I’m totally going to check out Alicia’s shop–I love bookish gifts and items! And holy moly that’s a lot of giveaways and such, going on! I don’t usually do them, but a few are tempting me, so thanks for the run down! 😀
Happy reading!!
Alicia shop looks so cool. I love your necklace. It’s perfect. Have a great week.
Love the necklace and woot on your first audiobook for review!! Hope your week is wonderful and full of more bookish delight!
I might have to do that ocne as well, do a lighter week so I can stop by other blogs more. I am doign well to keep up with replying and commenting back, but not much time to visit blogs besides that sadly. And that’s great you have some editing jobs coming up soon.
Those gifts from your OTPS secret sister looks great! She sure is crafty! And that HP necklace looks great! Although it probably would be a good idea to keep it dry indeed, but I really like that it has real pages. I hope you’ll have a rgeat week!
THANKS SO MUCH for reviewing, Nicole! I’m glad it arrived safely. Yes, I agree, be careful about getting the books wet- if it’s raining out you can always take it off or tuck it into a jacket or shirt. Since I sealed the covers with Mod Podge, they can probably take a few drops of water, but not much more than that. (: Thanks again!
Great post this week on book blogging and jobs. Lots of good advice there and it was nice to hear how you got started too. Congrats on the win and the craft stuff. Nice.
Happy reading this week! 🙂
Lots of great stuff this week.Very cool you got your first audiobook for review. Looks like great stuff from your secret sister. Yay for winning books! Enjoy and have a great week!
Your sister got you some really cute things. Love how creative they are!! The Harry Potter book necklace is great – love how it really does seem like a real book. I’ll have to check out the shop!
-Lauren
I think I’m gonna start doing, an occasional light blog week just to catch up everything and make sure I don’t neglect other people’s blogs. The little HP necklace is so adorable! And I love that you already ate all the chocolate in the jar before you even made the post 😛
Wow! Look at all the fun stuff you got in that package! That’s awesome. I love that little book necklace. Super adorable. Once again, happy belated birthday and I hope you have a great week!
Awesome package! I LOVED until we meet again!!
Great haul! I especially like the necklace!
Good to see you are busy with your editing job. Love the haul! Lots of nice goodies.
Have fun listening to your first audio-book for review! Oh my goodness, that Harry Potter necklace is beyond adorable! I’m definitely going to be checking out her site, thanks!