Last week on FYFA (and in my life):
Another relatively uneventful week here in the Hewitt household. I did take the kids to the local Japanese gardens (which is rated as the best in North America). My older son is taking Japanese and he’s fascinated with everything having to do with Japan. His goal in life is to someday work for Nintendo in Japan. 🙂 So, this trip was lots of fun because we had a tour where they taught us not just about the plants but about the Japanese culture that goes along with them (the way they structure the gardens, how they build their buildings, etc). So, the garden tour was both gorgeous and educational!
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog this past week:
- Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh – Review and Giveaway – Still time to enter to win a pre-order of the book!
- June Discussion Challenge Link-Up and Giveaway! – Link up your June discussions and enter to win!
- May Recap & Best of the Bunch – Find out what went on in May!
- The Loose Ends List by Carrie Firestone – ARC Review
- Out of Play by Nyrae Dawn and Jolene Perry – Review, Interview & Authors’ Top Ten Addictions
- The Perils of Growing a Bigger Blog – Let’s Discuss!
Next week on FYFA:
- The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout – Review
- Wanderlost by Jen Malone – Review
- Let’s Discuss – something bookish! 🙂
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
Believe it or not there are NO blogger birthdays or blogoversaries this week! (Well, none that have been submitted to me.) But check out the calendar to see what you might have just missed or what’s coming up.
To Review:
From Paperbackswap:
Free:
I participated in the Apocalyptic Summer FB Party and there were a few books featured that are free. I checked them out and downloaded the ones that looked really good to me! Check them out on Amazon to see if they’re still free!
Purchased:
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
Here are some of my favorite discussions I’ve read this week:
- Tiffany @ The Bookish Thought talks about five reactions that fangirls have after reading a book!
- Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight talks about how indecisive she is and asks you to help her choose her books in a grand game she’s calling The Indecision Games.
- Cait @ Paper Fury tells us How to Translate What the Bookworm Creature is Saying
- Karen @ Kissin’ Blue Karen shares some Amazon Secrets and invites you to learn more!
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!
- #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!
- Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys – Last chance to enter to win my signed ARC copy of the book!
- May Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway – Last chance to 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 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!
- Karen @ Kissin’ Blue Karen wrote a BEA wrap-up and is giving away a pre-order of a book she picked up there and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight does the same!
- 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! You can link up May reviews for a few more days or you can link up June reviews on this post.
- 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!
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
The tour of the gardens sounds like it was great. I read How to Keep Rolling After a Fall and thought it was adorable – Hope you enjoy it!! Have a great week!
Yay! I’m so glad it’s as cute as it looks – I’ve been looking forward to reading it!
Aw, Japanese garden sound amazing. that’s awesome he is wants to learn more about Japan! Hope you have a great week! 🙂
Yes, it’s nice when he’s actually really excited about something on his own and I’m not forcing him to learn about it. He’s actually going to be headed to a Japanese immersion camp for two weeks in August, and he’s super excited about that!
The gardens sound lovely and I like that they also teach about some of the Japanese culture. It’s amazing that your son is learning Japanese. I understand it’s one of the hardest languages to comprehend!
My Sunday Post
Yes, there are SO many different characters to learn (they have like three different sets that they use for different things). And that’s just the characters – not even learning actual words! I know I couldn’t manage it, but he loves it!
That Japanese Garden sounds very cool! I’m glad you all enjoyed it 🙂 I’ve been wanting to read Alienated (or the first one if that’s not the first one), so I’ll be curious to see your thoughts if you review that. Have a great week!
I’ve had Alienated on my TBR for forever (I have to confess that the cover is what caught my attention at first). I’ll have to let you know how it is!!
The Japanese are fascinating and I really like how as a family your are supporting your son’s interest by exploring Japanese culture together. Has he read any interesting fiction or non-fiction books about Japan?
Actually, no, not yet – but we’ve been talking about finding him some books he’d enjoy. That’s definitely on my “to do very soon” list!
The Japanese Gardens and Tour sounds really fun. I am glad you got to take your son for that. Nintendo seems like a good goal. My littlest guy decided a few months ago that he wants to be an astronaut, so now we are planning a trip to Cape Canaveral. It is so good to reach high and have your parents support that goal. Have a great week!
I figure if video games makes him really interested in learning something, why not go with it? I’m just happy that he’s excited about it!
Hey secret sis! The Japanese garden sounds like fun. And Alienated! I love that series! Can’t wait for the final book to come out later this year. Hope you have a good week coming up. You can check out my Sunday Post in the link below!
Hi, secret sis! 🙂 I’ve been meaning to read Alienated for a really long time, so I’m excited to start on it – and I won’t have to wait long to finish the series!
That’s cool that your son is so interested in Japan! Did you see that the Chicago Japan Fest is coming up in a week or two? I think it’s technically in Arlington Heights, but it looks like a lot of fun. Arlington Heights also has a really great (and huge) Japanese grocery store. If your son is interested in trying Japanese snacks that’s a great place to get some.
I had no idea about Japan Fest – thanks so much for telling me about it!! I will definitely have to check that out!
I love Japanese Gardens, they are always on my itinerary if I visit some place that has one. I took my nieces & nephews to the one here; and, despite how young they are, they really liked it.
It was gorgeous! And I loved learning about everything too – at some point in the future, we really want to take the tour of their guest house, which looks amazing!
Glad the Japanese Garden trip went well; it sounds quite lovely. That is so cool your son is taking Japanese. I’m so bad with languages. A friend of mine went to Japan last year and loved it! Another friend went too, but for less time – he really loved it too.
-Lauren
I learned Spanish in high school, but have pretty much forgotten all of it. We’d definitely love to visit Japan someday – I think it’s fantastic to experience other cultures.
I WANT TO GO TO THAT JAPANESE GARDEN! That sounds amazing! I’m so jealous. I bet it was a great time. And that’s great that your son is learning Japanese too. Ganbatte to him!
I’ve told Jaden about your books – the parts that are appropriate for a 13-year-old, of course! 🙂
Oh, and the gardens were gorgeous – I had no idea that it was the top rated Japanese gardens in North America before we went, so it’s awesome that we got to see it!
A Japanese garden tour sounds really fascinating. Glad you guys had fun. I kind of wish I had something like that near me to go to.
I’m sure the gardens were breathtaking! I need to find day-trips like that to go do this summer.
I bought the audio for Alienated last year and I started listening to it but I just can’t get into it! I really want to know what you think when you read it, Nicole!