Last week on FYFA (and in my life):
I’m writing this post today from my kids’ swim meet, so it might be a bit abbreviated (for instance, I don’t have pictures of the books I got in the mail this week, so I’ll have to put them in next week). I actually just sat down and said, “Hey, wait, it’s Sunday! I haven’t done my Sunday post. Being at a swim meet ALL weekend long throws my schedule off a bit, obviously, but I love that the kids are enjoying this sport. Ironically, my daughter quit gymnastics in large part because of the time commitment, and when we sat down and calculated it out, we realized they’re spending the same number of hours at swim practices as she was at gymnastics (12 hours per week). Still, the swim practice schedule is spread out a bit more and feels less overwhelming somehow. (It helps that Jaden and Danielle go together.)
Anyway, this has been a good week. I had time to travel the blogosphere a bit more than I’ve managed lately and the Discussion Challenge is underway for the year, which always makes me happy.
If you wrote a year-end (or December) wrap-up post, feel free to link it up in the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up. I haven’t managed to get the giveaway up yet and the link-ups are low this month (I think because a lot of people didn’t bother with December wrap-ups and didn’t realize they could link up year-end ones). The giveaway will go up this coming week sometime.
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog last week:
- Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall – Review
- Cursed Queen by Sarah Fine – Review
- Why Does Technology Scare Me So? Let’s Discuss!
Next week on FYFA:
- Review of A List of Cages by Robin Roe
- Review of White Heart of Justice and Pocket Full of Tinder by Jill Archer
- December Wrap-Up – Cause I’m late, but I can’t handle not writing one.
- Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway
- Let’s Discuss: Something bookish! 🙂
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
One birthday and one blogoversary this week. Head on over and wish these bloggers well 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 always fill out the birthday/blogoversary form!)
This week’s events:
- January 8th – Penni’s Perceptions‘ Blogoversary
- January 12th – Samantha @ Book Minx‘s Birthday
For Review:
All of these are from NetGalley. I go in spurts with NetGalley where I ignore it for a long time and then I go request several (same with Edelweiss). The List is a MG, which I requested almost solely on the cover—I’ll admit it. 🙂 I think The Pain Eater was one of the featured NetGalley picks. Revenge of the Evil Librarian is a sequel and I LOVED the first book. I was happy to be accepted for the tour of Long Way Home, since I’ve really enjoyed the other books in the series. And then there’s Etched in Bone. I was SO excited to see this book on NetGalley and I was just praying I’d get approved. YAY!!! Thank you, Sourcebooks, Second Story Press, Candlewick, Harlequin Teen and Berkley for these!!
Free:
Tracy Krimmer was a moderator of the NaNo FB group I was in, so when I saw that her book Caching In was free, I knew I needed to try it out! The Neverland Wars and Catalyst were gifts from Clean Teen Publishing for being a good little newsletter subscriber and actually opening their emails (who knew you could get rewarded for that?). Thanks!
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
Here are some posts I especially loved this week:
- Benish @ Beenazai shows off her A Court of Thorns & Roses inspired art series
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed above)
- January Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway – Link up your January discussions and enter to win!
Pre-Order Deals:
- Pre-order ULTIMATUM by K.M. Walton and you have a chance to win one of 12 incredible prize packs filled with cool, custom made swag and other amazing prizes. (ends 1/30)
- Pre-order THE SONG RISING by Samantha Shannon and receive exclusive badges and temporary tattoos to #JoinTheRevolution. (ends 3/6)
- Pre-order THE ALCHEMISTS OF LOOM by Elise Kova and receive a special envelope of swag unlocked in the Guild Games from the Dragon Queen herself. (ends 1/9)
- Pre-order A CONJURING OF LIGHT by V.E. Schwab for a chance to receive a book hugger signed by V. E. Schwab. (ends 2/28)
- Pre-order ROSEBLOOD by A.G. Howard and get a limited edition print of Thorn, designed by RoseBlood cover artist Nathália Suellen, and signed by A.G. Howard! (ends 1/9)
- Pre-order LONG WAY HOME by Katie McGarry & receive 3 bonus stories for FREE! (ends 1/30)
- Pre-order CARAVEL by Stephanie Garber and get a special free gift from the author and a signed, personalized copy. (ends 1/30)
- Pre-Order WINDWITCH by Susan Dennard to be eligible to receive a free pair of Windwitch-themed socks, patch and a signed bookplate! (ends 1/9)
- Preorder THE EDGE OF EVERYTHING by Jeff Giles to receive a keepsake metal bookmark! (ends 1/30)
Even More Awesome Giveaways on Other Sites:
- Looking forward to the release of The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye? Enter to win an ARC and Yuliana’s crown letter opener!
- Head over to Crossroad Reviews for a chance to win In 27 Days by Ally Gervais
- Head over to It Starts at Midnight for a chance to win Poison’s Kiss by Breeana Shields
- Clean Teen Publishing is giving away a mystery prize worth over $100
- The Dark Legends Giveaway is for a mega box of books, author swag and $100 in Amazon credit
- It’s Ohana Reads’ third Blogoversary and Stephanie is celebrating with a giveaway of one of her favorite books of 2016!
- Milky Way of Books is also three! She’s giving away a 2017 preorder!
- Head over to Adventures of a Book Junkie for a chance to win a Choice of one of Stacee’s top 10 books of 2016, a Choice of a pre-order of one of Stacee’s most anticipated 2017 releases, a Choice of one of Stacee’s top book boyfriends of 2016 and a Choice of one of Stacee’s favorite book covers of 2016!
- Terri @ Second Run Reviews is giving away One of Her Favorite Books of 2016
- It’s The Eater of Books blogoversary! Enter for a chance to win a Diverse YA Prize Pack and a Book of Choice (INT)
- Head over to Book Sniffer’s Anonymous for a chance to win a Signed Hardcover of the Alchemists of Loom (US/CAN)
- Enter to win a Clean Teen Publishing Mystery Box
- The Bookkeeper’s Secrets is doing a year-long giveaway!
- Cynthia over at Book Binges is celebrating her blogoversary with a giveaway!
- Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm is returning to blogging and celebrating with a giveaway of up to £40 of books from Book Depository (INT)
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
Got to love those freebies. You got some interesting books this week. I hope you love all of them.
Grace @ Books of Love
Yeah, I’d had my eyes on those books, so I was happy to get them!
I got The Neverland Wars too. The cover is so pretty, I downloaded it just for that. Ha ha.
I vaguely remember people talking about the book and saying it was good—but, yeah, it was pretty much the cover that got me. 🙂
I do the same thing with Netgalley, and then I always kick myself for requesting so many books. I hope you enjoy all the books you got, though. Also, I love that you included all the pre-order deals. I wish I had money to pre-order ALL THE BOOKS but alas I am a broke college kid haha. Hope you have a wonderful week.
I’ve been pretty good about not over-requesting on NetGalley and Edelweiss, but I do tend to do it in spurts for sure. And, yes, I agree that I’d love to pre-order ALL the books, but I can’t afford it either!!
I’ve never heard of that Caching In story, I’ll have to check it out! Sounds like some good books this week, I need to see what you thought of them all. I understand the busy thing. I am always trying to figure out if I can do a review at work without having the book there with me, and that’s why I’ve been doing some more mini-reviews instead to get caught up. Hope you have a great week! You can check out my Sunday Post in the link below!
I’ve been relying on mini reviews more often as well. I sometimes prefer them anyway.
I commend you for writing your post at the swim meet! I cannot work on posts on anything but my computer. I get too frustrated with the lack of full features and the sizing due to device screen.
Sports are a large commitment. Sometimes things seem like they are more than they actually are simply because they are more demanding or are all bunched up together. The swim meets seem to work out better for your kids, which is great that they are doing together!
I will have to go link up to December! In all last year, I was pretty bad about link ups across the board. Perhaps I should focus on that! I hope you enjoy The Neverland Wars. I loved it. I’ll be reading the second book soon.
I actually had my laptop at the swim meet. We’re there ALL weekend long—from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM both Saturday and Sunday—and the kids’ actual events are only a few minutes long but spread throughout the day. We enjoy the meets, but you definitely need to bring something else with you to do!
OOoh nice haul!! I’ve got to get caught up in Anne’s series! I’m two books behind now with this final one coming out! Whelp! LOL! The Neverland Wars is one I kept debating about. But yay for free reads!! Can’t wait for your thoughts on The Neverland Wars! Hope you enjoy all the lovely new reads!!
Oh, and question for you: for the Discussion Challenge that you are hosting, are we given prompts at some point? I know I added my email to the subscription list, and I know it’s only been a week into the year already, but just wanted to be sure that prompts are sent out at some point. Felt a panic because I was thinking, how am I going to get this challenge rolling?! LOL! Already one week into 2017 and I am panicking about meeting my challenges for the year! LOL!
Here’s my STS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
There aren’t specific required topics for the discussion challenge, BUT I have two years’ worth of suggested topics listed on our Discussion Post Ideas page. This is the first year that we’re not giving a few suggestions every month, but I figured with the long list of past suggestions people should have enough to go off of.
Okay, thanks! Definitely bookmarking this page now! LOL!
Great!
I’m glad your daughter is at least enjoying swimming more even if the time commitment is the same! I would rather spend more time on one day than little bits every day, ya know?!
Enjoy your books and have a great week!
Actually, this is the opposite—gymnastics was four times a week, but for three hours every time, whereas swimming is still 12 hours but spread over five days. It’s actually mostly the timing that makes swimming better, though. Gymnastics started at 5:15 and went until 8:15, so it just felt like it took up ALL of the day’s free time. She’d have to eat really early and then wouldn’t get home until it was too late to do much else. We much prefer the swimming schedule since it generally starts (and ends) later.
Happy Sunday! Glad you had a good week. Under a Rose Tainted Skies looks awesome and I’ve added that one to my list- I love the sound of it and yours is like the third positive review I’ve seen, so I’m in. I like too that the MC’s mom and their relationship is a big part of the story, and done well, since it’s YA that’s refreshing.
I love that cover of The Neverland Wars.
Have a great week!
I know. We don’t see nearly enough good parental relationships in YA!
That’s great two of your kids go to swimming together. I think having a buddy makes certain things more fun. Plus, if the hours are spread out more throughout the week, that has to be handy!
-Lauren
They like doing things together. I’m grateful to have kids that get along so well!
At least the schedule is more spread out for all of you. The swim meets sound exciting. Lots of great new reads too. I actually opened up some invites from Netgalley but got out of there before I accepted any. Whew! Close call. LOL
It’s a dangerous game, that NetGalley.
Holy smokes, 12 hours a week is quite the time commitment! I can’t imagine being that dedicated when I was a teenager, good for her!
Yes, that’s true. It’s strange that it felt overwhelming when she was in gymnastics, but it doesn’t feel that way for swimming. I think it helps that the two of them are doing it together because they’re really close and they didn’t like it when she had to leave and Jaden stayed home. Except now my youngest is home by himself—but he plays by himself more often anyway because he can’t do everything the two older ones can do.
I hope you and the kids had fun at the swim meet. Enjoy your new books!
Thanks—it was a great weekend.
I hope your kiddos had a fabulous time at their swim meet! And I love all of the books your received! I’m planning on picking up a book by Katie McGarry, for the first time, next month. So I hope you love Long Way Home!
Hope you enjoy your first McGarry read!
Bishop rocks. I try to only type in the books I am looking for on NetGalley, otherwise, I get in trouble…lol. I hope it is super warm at the swim meet. It is so cold! Have a wonderful week!
The swim meets are actually VERY warm for the swimmers. Can be a bit toasty for the spectators! 🙂
I am so blown away that you were able to post this from a swim meet! Seriously? You have up’d my #blogginggoals
Glad to hear about gymnastics! I know it was a huge commitment for you and now that is off your plate.
So many interesting books this week. It just occurred to me how overwhelmed my TBR is for 2017, already! Considering it is Jan 10 already, I fear I am starting the year way behind. I hope you enjoy all your new books though. Have a great week!
That’s how I feel too. I started putting books into my calendar, and I’m already falling behind!! As far as blogging at a swim meet, there’s actually LOTS of free time since we’re there all weekend and the kids’ actual swims are only a few minutes each!
Kids have so many time commitments! I feel like we’re doing something Every. Single. Day. Ugh. Lol. You got some nice books there! I hope you enjoy them. 🙂
We’re definitely doing something every day. Especially if you include the stuff we do for our homeschooling since we take a lot more classes outside of the house this year.
I’m reading Long Way Home now and loving it. Katie McGarry has long been my go-to author when it comes to YA contemporary. I simply love her writing, her characters, her stories. Getting back into the world of the Reign of Terror MC has been great.:)
I’ve loved the rest of the series, so I’m excited to read this one too!