Last week on FYFA (and in my life):
This summer has been crazy busy for me! Between having Carmen here from Spain, driving the kids to their various appointments and activities and schoolwork that we’re still taking care of (including my youngest’s special reading program, which takes an hour and a half a day), I feel like I’m running myself ragged. This week, I only managed to get two posts up (and, as you can see, my Sunday Post is going up much later than usual). I was thinking of working on another one, but decided to instead spend the extra time I had visiting other blogs and commenting. That will probably be my strategy next week as well because I know I’m going to be limited on time again.
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog:
- Audiobook Acceleration – Let’s Discuss! (And a Poll!) – I want to know what speed you listen to audiobooks on. Take my poll!
- Bite-Sized Reviews – Truly Madly Guilty, Rebel of the Sands, Thieving Weasels
Next week on FYFA:
- Once again, not much. Hopefully a couple of reviews. Or something.
- Let’s Discuss – something bookish! 🙂
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
A few birthdays and blogoversaries this week! I hope you’ll visit these folks and congratulate them on their special days! Check out the calendar to see what you might have just missed or what’s coming up. (If you want to be added to the calendar, you can just fill out the birthday/blogoversary form!)
- July 20th – Boats Against The Current‘s Blogoversary
- July 20th – Mostly YA Lit‘s Blogoversary
- July 22nd – Lloyd @ The Book Sage‘s Birthday
- July 23rd – Wendy @ Falconer’s Library‘s Birthday
Won:
I won Unbound from the Diverse Readathon giveaway at I Heart Romance and YA. Thanks so much, Zeee! (I got a physical copy, but didn’t have a chance to take a picture of the actual book – so this will have to do.)
I also won Witch Hunter and King Slayer (along with a necklace and some fun swag) from Virginia Boecker! I’m excited to read them!
For Review:
Thanks to Random House Kids for Supergirl at Super Hero High! My daughter already read it and loved it! I’ll be reading it soon!
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
Here are some of my favorite discussions I’ve read this week:
- Cait over at Paper Fury wrote about 10 Things Book Bloggers Should Not Be Worrying About and Why You Should Definitely Write A Book
- Shannon at It Starts at Midnight talks about Swag With Swagger: Bookish Crap You’ll Actually Use
- Laura at Boats Against the Current tells us 5 Little Things [She’s] Done To Boost [Her] Blog
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed above)
- Defending Taylor by Miranda Kenneally – Review & Giveaway
- The Siege by Mark Alpert – Review & Giveaway
- July Discussion Challenge Link-Up and Giveaway! – Link up your July discussions and enter to win!
- June Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway – Check out some June wrap-up posts and enter to win!
Pre-Order Deals:
- Pre-order THE TELLING by Alexandra Sirowy and get exclusive swag!
- Pre-order AS I DESCENDED by Robin Talley to receive bookmarks and stickers featuring the book’s beautiful cover, plus a signed bookplate!
- Pre-order FOREVER DOON by Carey Corp & Lorie Langdon and get some awesome exclusives!
- Pre-order FATAL IDENTITY by Marie Force and enter to win a Bookclub Skype visit with Marie Force + $250 Visa card + backlist of the Fatal series.
- Pre-order STEALING SNOW by Danielle Paige to receive a compact mirror!
- Pre-order Sarah J. Maas’s EMPIRE OF STORMS to receive a ToG notebook and/or preorder THE THRONE OF GLASS COLORING BOOK and get a ToG coloring pencils set!!
- Pre-order YOU WILL KNOW ME by Megan Abbott and Little, Brown Books will send you a free copy of one of her paperbacks!
Even More Awesome Giveaways on Other Sites:
There are tons of giveaways going on around the blogosphere!
- Head over to Read Write Love 28 for a chance to win a Preorder of Signs of You by Emily France! (INT okay as long as BD sends)
- Head over to It Starts at Midnight for a chance to win a complete set of signed first edition Air Awakens Hardcovers OR a Paperback of ANY Air Awakens Book; 2 e-book copies and Bookmarks
- Head to BeachBoundBooks for a chance to win All Six Books in the Theodore Boone Series Plus a Custom Legal Pad & Membership in the Theodore Boone Fan Club.
- 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 July reviews on this post.
- Novel Ink is celebrating it’s 4 year blogoversary with a giveaway!
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
Gosh. You run a tight ship. Busy as well. I don’t know how you do it! Anyway, I hope you’ll be able to breathe soon, but I’m sure you’re enjoying the hustle and bustle of being a mom to your kiddos.
Enjoy all your books this week!
Some days I think I’m crazy! Luckily, things have been falling into place for the most part – the only thing that’s really suffering is me posting on my blog more often, but in the grand scheme of things I know that blogging has to take last place sometimes. It’s just a fact of life!
Don’t worry about fewer posts in a week. Sometimes I don’t know how some blogs get as many posts up a week as they do – I guess scheduling ahead a lot of the time, but STILL! I hope things aren’t too stressful!
-Lauren
Yeah, I’ve never managed to be a scheduler, so when I have a busy week, I just don’t manage to get as much posted. (I actually DID already have the audiobook post written and just needed to add the poll and the graphic, otherwise I don’t know if I would have managed that one either!) It’s okay, though – I’m not going to stress about it because there’s no point. I’d rather spend my time reading and commenting right now when I can.
Yikes, it does sound like you’ve had a busy week. Don’t stress about the lack of time for blogging, we all have busy or overwhelming weeks sometimes!
But yay, that’s awesome that you won some books! That’s bound to make any week better 😀
I’m managing not to really stress about it. I think I’m making a good decision with just posting less for a few weeks. Once our exchange student is gone things will go a bit more back to normal. I don’t want to ruin our time with her by stressing over blogging!
I’m feeling kind of overwhelmed too. I’m going to take a blogging break soon and try to regroup. Thanks for always being so great about reaching out and commenting!
Sometimes we just need to give ourselves a break and be fine with that. I’m managing to stay zen about it right now. 🙂 I think my scattered time is better spent reading and commenting that fretting about posting right now.
It sounds like you’ve been busy. Don’t stress about blogging. We’ll still be here when you get back :). I hope you enjoy UnBound. I really liked it.
I’m actually managing not to stress about it. I decided midway through the week that I’d rather focus on replying, reading other blogs and commenting than stressing about getting more posts up. I’m preferring this strategy for now.
The Witch Hunter and The King Slayer look good. Congrats on winning those. Hope you enjoy your new books! Have a great week!
SP
Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know
What a busy week! I hope you guys are enjoying having Carmen in your home. I loved all the foreign exchange students we had at school.
Hope you get some rest sometime soon.
I loved Unwind, and the 2nd book, but haven’t been able to get into the next one, I think because it’s been so long since I read them. But I really want to! Great win! Thanks for visiting my Sunday Post earlier!
My summer has been crazy busy as well! I wish it would slow down and give me a little time to catch up. 🙂 I hope the exchange student situation is going well and that you get a break this week!
I have been busy as well! I came back from vacation and feel like I’ve been going non-stop since then with little time to blog. But I’m looking forward to getting back on track.
I took a personal day yesterday and got my inbox all cleaned out. Now I think I can focus on commenting on other blogs. This weekend, I hope to catch up on posts and reviews. *crosses fingers*
Thank you for reminding me about the ToS pre-order offer. Of course, I pre-ordered a while ago and forgot they would probably have a promo for this.
It has been a busy summer for both of us. I have been posting less as well and weighing reading blogs/commenting or posting carefully. Its hard to be so busy with a high profile blog. I just keep thinking, this too shall pass. I almost can’t wait for summer to be over. That’s sad because it has been a lot of fun for the most part.
Ohhh that’s so exciting that you also won Witch Hunter and King Slayer! I can’t wait to see what you think of them! Hope this week has been a tad bit easier for you! It’s been crazy over here too … we’re getting our house prepped to sale and spending more hours than I thought I would each week working on the details of the house we’re having built, plus moving my parents here and researching places for my Grandparents. Sleep? What’s sleep ?. Good luck this week too!!