Last week on FYFA (and in my life):
Not much to say about this week, which is probably a good thing – I needed a relaxing week after all the craziness of BEA. This afternoon, our family is headed out to an indoor waterpark (my daughter’s birthday gift), so that should be lots of fun! Other than that, it’s business as usual around here!
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog this past week:
- The Cage and The Hunt by Megan Shepherd – Review
- #BEA16 Day Three Wrap-Up & Giveaway!! – Still time to enter to win a copy of The Loose Ends List or a Strange the Dreamer swag pack that includes a sampler of the book!
- Bite-Sized Reviews – Top Ten Clues You’re Clueless, The Funnyman, Now and Again, The Guardian
- May Wrap-Up Round-Up – Link up your May wrap-up posts here and watch for the giveaway over at Falconer’s Library around June 8th!
Next week on FYFA:
- May Wrap-Up
- Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh – Review & Giveaway
- June Discussion Challenge Link-Up and Giveaway
- Let’s Discuss – something bookish! 🙂
Clean Sweep ARC Challenge April Update:
I read three books for the challenge this week, which brings my challenge total to twelve. You can see my update on my Clean Sweep Challenge Sign-up Post
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
Lots of things to celebrate next week! (Some of the June 1st ones might be blogs who have a blogoversary in June, but didn’t give an exact date – this is their blogoversary month!) I hope you’ll stop 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.)
- May 30 – Lauren @ ShootingStarsMag‘s Birthday
- June 1 – A Tree Grows In Bookland‘s Blogoversary
- June 1 – Falconer’s Library‘s Blogoversary
- June 1 – kimberlyfaye reads‘ Blogoversary
- June 2 – (un)Conventional Bookviews‘ Blogoversary
To Review:
Won:
I won Blackhearts via A Thousand Words A Million Books blogoversary celebration! Thanks so much to Aditi and, of course, to Nicole Castroman! I also won the cute anchor bracelet from Jenna-Lynne Duncan, in celebration of her upcoming book, Blue Tide (which sounds fabulous – can’t wait to read it!). The other book, Girls’ Weekend, showed up in the mail, so I’m assuming I won it? I have to confess that I have no recollection of this book and I couldn’t find any information about in my email, so … Anyway, it looks different than my typical read, but maybe it will help me branch out!
Audiobooks from SYNC:
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
I’m all caught up with the discussions that have been posted to the Discussion Challenge! Here are some of my favorites I’ve read recently:
- Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlights writes about Feminism & Double Standards in Books – Promiscuity and asks Why Is it Always Love? (I know I feature Kristen a lot in this section, but she just posts so many awesome, really thoughtful discussions!)
- AJ @ Read All the Things asks How Much Discussion Happens in a Discussion Post?
- Not a fan of gifs? Got My Book tells you how to succeed in Blocking gifs on Goodreads and also asks Are Our Children Being Audiobook Deprived?
- Silvara @ Fantasy of the Silver Dragon asks Do You Read Series Out Of Order? (NOOOOOOOOO!!!! But that’s just me.)
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed above)
- #BEA16 Day One Wrap-Up & Giveaway!! – Still time to enter to win a signed copy of one of my favorite NA books – When Joss Met Matt!
- #BEA16 Day Two Wrap-Up & Jennifer Niven Holding Up the Universe Giveaway!! – Still time to enter to win a signed ARC of Holding Up the Universe!
- While this isn’t technically on my blog, the giveaway for this month’s Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up is still going on over at 125 Pages! You can enter to win a Grab Bag of Goodies, Including 2 books from BEA16!
- Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys – Still time to enter to win my signed ARC copy of the book!
- May Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway – Link up your May discussion posts and enter to win a book of your choice!
Pre-Order Deals:
- Pre-order THIS SAVAGE SONG by V.E. Schwab from either Parnassus Books or Books of Wonder and you’ll get a signed/personalized hardcover and a set of limited edition HUMAN/MONSTER tattoos! (This book is amazing, and you should all order it.)
- Pre-order AUTOFOCUS by Lauren Gibaldi and get a camera keychain, a personalized note and more!
- Pre-order DEFENDING TAYLOR by Miranda Kenneally and enter to WIN Defending Taylor water bottles or a GRAND PRIZE gym bag prize pack.
- Pre-order HOW IT ENDS by Catherine Lo and be entered for a chance to win matching Alex & Ani friendship bracelets!
- Pre-order THE DARKEST TORMENT by Gena Showalter and get an e-copy of The Darkest Day, a short Lords of the Underworld scene, or an e-copy of Kat in Zombieland, an AiZ short story. Plus, you’ll be entered to win more prizes!
- Pre-order IVORY & BONE by Julie Eshbaugh and get a swag pack – you’ll also be entered to win other prizes!
Even More Awesome Giveaways on Other Sites:
There are tons of giveaways going on around the blogosphere!
- Cait over at Paperfury is celebrating her five year blogoversary with several awesome bookish item giveaways!
- YA author Ingrid Seymour is giving away 12 YA hardcover books and more! (There are some great books here!!!)
- Head over to It Starts at Midnight because Shannon’s giving away an ARC of THE HUNT (US ONLY) by Megan Shepherd
- Lots of blogs participating in the May New Release Giveaway Hop!
- Tonyalee over at Lilybloombooks has created a Middle Grade Madness link-up. Link-up your reviews of middle grade books (or comment on linked reviews) and enter to win one!
- Enter to have your name in the list of casualties in Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff!!
- Rachel @ A Perfection Called Books is running the Meet the Newbies event where you can win 1 Pre-Order or Finished Copy of Any Debut Novel Featured on Meet the Newbies (INT) – Several of the tour stops also have individual giveaways as well!
- Lori over at Writing My Own Fairy Tale does a Friday Grab Bag where she gives away an ARC from her ARC list.
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 got a much needed relaxing week after BEA. Have fun at the water park today!! Yay for the book win – enjoy!!! Have a great week!
We had lots of fun at the water park!!
Haha you just checked me up and made my day with your comment about my discussions 😀 You know what’s funny is that before I started posting them, I was so worried no one would like them or end up participating in them.
Anyway, I’m glad you had a nice, relaxing weekend after the BEA craziness. An indoor waterpark sounds fun! And ooh, a random book in the mail? It didn’t have any sort of letter? That’s odd. But books showing up is always a nice surprise!
I love your discussions! I always know I’m going to be reading something really thoughtful when I head to your blog!
Thanks for including me. *squealing*
Always happy to point out a great discussion or a great tip!!
A great week on the blog, over all. 🙂
Happy reading, Nicole!
Oooh nice!! Yay for the win!!! I still need to read Blackhearts myself!! Though I did hear about its killer cliffhanger, so maybe I might wait to read it with the next book!! LOL! Happy Reading!
Here’s my STS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
That’s good to know – I might have to hold off, myself.
I think everyone deserves a week pass after BEA. It seems very draining from what I’ve heard from those who attend. Waterparks are always fun! My brother should get a two week pass in July and he wants to go to one (in the heat of summer!). Happy reading!
Yes, it seems like BEA just sucks all of the energy from you – it’s hard to get back into the swing of things!
Have fun at the water park and have a great Memorial Day too! <3
I hope you had fun at the waterpark! That sounds really good right now.
Thanks for the link to the blog post about if you read series out of order. I almost always read series out of order. I tend to either start with whatever book sounds the best to me or I’ll skip ahead in a series if the next one(s) don’t interest me as much.
Hope you had fun at the water park! I think an indoor one would be a lot of fun – I just love swimming indoors, because the water is usually nice. haha I’m so ready to swim though!
-Lauren
Hope you had a blast at the indoor water park! I’ve never even heard of one of those (how did I miss that when I lived back there! *wishing I could go back in time*) – here on the West Coast they are all outdoor – so that sounds really neat! Especially since you could probably go to it year round?
And I’m sooooo excited to see what you think of Ivory and Bone! That book sounds like it is going to be beyond amazing or just meh and I can’t wait to hear which way it went for you!
I am so jealous you got to BEA! One of these years I am going to make the trek! I’m sure the hubby won’t be impressed, but it’ll be like heaven to me!
Winging it looks great!