August Recap & Best of the Bunch

Posted September 1, 2016 by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction in Best of the Bunch, Monthly Recap / 27 Comments

Aug-Wrap-Up

My Goings On in August:

  • I completed my first course for my copyediting certificate through UC San Diego. Happy to report that I got a very solid A (which I would kind of hope since I’ve already been copyediting for a few years!). Now I need to decide if I jump right into the next course – I think that’s the plan.
  • School is back in session. My older two each started two classes at our homeschool co-op (pre-algebra and Spanish for my daughter, algebra and government for my son) and my son started taking a beginning Japanese class at our local community college. (He also went to a Japanese immersion camp at the beginning of the month.) After Labor Day, the rest of our co-op classes start, including the ones I’m teaching. My youngest son has special needs, so he goes to public school, and his classes started last week.
  • My son and I went to a pre-pub dinner for S.J. Kincaid’s The Diabolic. Watch the blog for a recap (and a chance to win a signed ARC) next week!

On Twitter:

This tweet exchange made my day:

Tweets

Most Popular Posts:

What Do You Think of Goodreads’ New Look?

July Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway

August Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway

Why I Can’t Choose a Favorite of Anything – This is actually a really old post that consistently gets a lot of hits, and I can’t figure out exactly why. (I usually just ignore it in my stats, but this time I decided to mention it). All I can assume is that there are lots of people out there with this affliction and they think I might have some sage advice on the topic. (Spoiler alert: No wisdom to be found.)

Other Features & Discussions:

Top Ten Books I’d Buy if Someone Handed Me a Loaded Gift Card

July Recap & Best of the Bunch – In case you missed pics of all the fun activities we did while our exchange student was with us, you can find them here!

Victoria Schwab Event Recap

Sex and Violence in YA Books: Is There a Difference? Let’s Discuss!

How Reading Can Help Us “See” Hidden Disabilities. Let’s Discuss!

My Foray into Anime and Manga – Let’s Discuss!

August Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up – Link up your August recaps here!

 My 2016 Reading Progress:

Still over 30 books ahead on my Goodreads goal. It’s been a good reading year!

Goodreads-Progress

August 2016 Reviews

I barely got any reviews up at the beginning of the month, but managed to make up for it a little at the end. Still a slow reviewing month for me. I’m definitely behind (just a look in the right sidebar to see just how far behind)—I need to post some more bite-sized reviews to catch up!

Nevernight2Furthermore2Treason2Just-a-GirlMe-Before-YouBeen-Here-All-Along

  • Nevernight by Jay Kristoff | Review | Rating: 3/5
  • Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • Treason by S.M. Boyce| Review | Rating: 5/5
  • Just a Girl by Ellie Cahill| Review | Rating: 3.5/5
  • Me Before You by Jojo Moyes| Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • Been Here All Along by Sandy Hall | Review | Rating: 4/5

Thousandth-FloorPS-I-Like-YouSin-Eater's-DaughterSleeping-PrinceThe-Scourge

  • The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • P.S. I Like You by Kasie West| Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury | Review | Rating: 3.5/5
  • The Sleeping Prince by Melinda Salisbury | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • The Scourge by Jennifer A. Nielsen | Review | Rating: 4/5

August Best of the Bunch:

This is one of those weird months where, just by looking at the numbers, my decision should be easy: There’s only one five star read in the bunch. But when I went to go post this, I was actually really surprised that I gave Treason five stars. It’s not that the book wasn’t fantastic—it really was!—but I’ve been reserving my five star ratings for all-time favorites lately, and I’m not sure that this particular book in the series is going to stand out to me enough to garner that title. I’m guessing I wrote my review on a “just-finished-that-amazing-book” high and simply couldn’t contain myself. But after giving it a little distance, I’m not sure that I’d say it’s all that much better than my 4.5 star reads. Maybe it ties with The Sleeping Prince? (And possibly even P.S. I Like You, though the books are as different as night and day and very hard to compare.) Still, I’ll go with my ratings here:

Treason

Reading Challenges:

2016-Discussion-Challenge

Status: 28/49 Discussions posted

Back on track with my discussions this month!

What Do You Think of Goodreads’ New Look?
Sex and Violence in YA Books: Is There a Difference?
How Reading Can Help Us “See” Hidden Disabilities
My Foray into Anime and Manga
Audiobook Acceleration
I Dream in YA!
The Perils of Growing a Bigger Blog
Is Celibacy Shaming a Thing?
Fun with Spam!
#BEA16 Day One Wrap-Up & Giveaway!!
#BEA16 Day Two Wrap-Up & Jennifer Niven Holding Up the Universe Giveaway!!
#BEA16 Day Three Wrap-Up and Giveaway
Do Stats and Reports Help You?
Do Author Bios Ever Make You Want to Read a Book?
BEA is Coming Soon! What You Need to Know. (BEA Tips)

A Completely Useless (but kind of fun) Bookish Infographic

The Series Dilemma

Sometimes You Just Need to Disappear for a Little While
How Much Do You Read?
The Fine Line Between “Inspired By” and “Copycat”
Can Book Blogging Lead to a Job

Some Books Just Aren’t All That Memorable
Books that Intimidate Us
2015 End of Year Book Survey
Replying to Comments on Older Posts
What Blogging Has Done to My Bookshelves
What Type of YA MC Would You Be?
Culling the TBR

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts at Midnight

Unique Format Challenge

Status: 4/5 Books Read

The Memory Book was written as a journal—definitely fits this challenge!

 
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Shooting Stars Mag

diverse challenge1

Status: 14/12 Books Read

I’m only counting Been Here All Along for this one this month – LGBT

‘m HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Chasing Faerytales & Read Sleep Repeat

ShelfLove-Challenge-2016

Status: 10/21-30 Books Read

Yikes! Not a one! BEA books are killing me when it comes to this challenge.

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Chapter Break, Second Run Reviews & Bookworm Brandee

seriesmonth

Status: 5/12 Series Finished

None. Though, I think technically, according to the rules, I could count the Sin Eater Series since I read both of the books that have been published so far.

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Love at First Page

SeriesStarterChallenge

Status: 7/9-10 New Series

The Sin Eater’s Daughter counts for this one for sure!

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Lisa Loves Literature

Wrap-Up Round-Up!

Don’t forget to link your August wrap-up posts up to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up! And check out the giveaway, which will be posted right here on FYFA on the 8th!

2016-Monthly-Wrap-Up-Round-Up320

 

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27 responses to “August Recap & Best of the Bunch

  1. You’re so busy! It’s a wonder where you find the time for everything. You’re very inspiring to be honest. For a minute there, I wanted to see how I can improve myself by going to school. :/ I really want to.

    • School definitely makes things a bit more hectic. I’m still debating (very last minute) if I want to jump right into the second class or give myself the fall off since we’re getting into the swing of things with school. The class starts in less than a couple of weeks, so I have to decide soon!!

  2. Congrats on your A! That’s fantastic. I hope your kid’s schooling is going well. 🙂 It’s still a bit weird for me to NOT be in school. haha I didn’t do a monthly post for this blog but I did one here: http://www.letsgetbeyondtolerance.blogspot.com. I need to start doing them on ShootingStars more. I think it just sneaks up on me and I don’t have time/room to post!

    -Lauren

    ShootingStarsMag recently posted: The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg
  3. Oooh so many pretty books!! I’m excited that you liked The Thousandth Floor tho because I’ve seen lots of negative reviews for it but I just got an eARC so I’m hoping I like it.? heheh and omg I wrote this post AGES AGO about YA books without romance and another one about con-artist books and they are legit my #1 clicked on posts of ever. I get so many hits on them it’s hilarious. Apparently people really want to be con artists. Ahem. I’m sure…I’m sure it’s fine. *whistles innocently*

    Congrats on being 30 books ahead of schedule too!! WOOOO. I think I’m that far ahead too… I think. I won’t be if I keep blogging all night instead of reading.? hhehe.

    • To get to the your reading progress on Goodreads, click on My Books and then click on the Stats link (next to the search bar). You’ll then see a list of the years you’ve been on Goodreads, and clicking on a year will bring up your summary for that year. I love seeing my stats this way!

  4. Congrats on completing your first class… and with an A! Go you! 🙂 And 30 books ahead of your GR goal – nice. I’m 10 or 11 books over and it tickles me to no end. LOL P.S. I Like You looks so adorable and like a “me book.” I have it on hold at the library and can’t wait to read it.

    Tanya @ Girl Plus Books recently posted: Freebie Friday: Giveaway #01

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