Last week on FYFA (and in my life):
I was going to write up a review of Letters to the Lost last night, but my family ended up watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and I realized it was the type of movie you just can’t look away from (I often blog while we’re watching TV, but this was not that type of movie!).
I’ve also finally started working out again, and I’m watching 13 Reasons Why while on the elliptical. I’ve watched the first three episodes and I’m definitely hooked. I’d planned to read the book first, but I actually think this might be a case where I prefer to do it the other way around—watch the show and then read the book and search for clues in the story for what I already know is going to happen. I have a few issues with the story (I feel pretty horrible for the people that Hannah Baker left behind), but I’m definitely planning to see the story through.
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog last week:
- Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray: 5 Soaring Stars
- Little Fun Club Blog Tour & $50 Giveaway: A Lit Box for Kids 0-12! – Still time to enter to win the $50 giveaway!
- Graphs Make Me Happy! Let’s Discuss.
Next week on FYFA:
- Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer: Review – I swear, I’m actually going to write a review for this fantastic book this week!
- April Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up (for those of you who are early birds)
- Let’s Discuss: Something bookish! 🙂
- I have no idea if I’ll get anything else up this week. I really need to focus on my editing project.
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
A couple of birthdays and blogoversaries this week! I hope you’ll go wish these bloggers well on their special days! Make sure you 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.)
- April 23rd – Shay @ I’m a Writer, I Write’s Birthday
- April 24th – Kaja @ Of Dragons and Hearts’ Birthday
Won:
I won The Most Dangerous Thing from FFBC blog tours! I also won a $5 Amazon gift card from the 2017 Series Enders Challenge!
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
Here are a few posts (or industry news articles) I loved this week:
- Apparently the Wheel of Time TV series is moving forward again!
- Quirk Books put up this really fun post: What If Les Miserables Was A DnD Game?
- Rachel over at Confessions of a Book Geek lists me as one of the Blogs You Should Be Following. (Thanks so much, Rachel!!) Make sure you check out the other blogs on her list—I found a few new ones to love!
- They released The Crown’s Game character art and it’s AMAZING!
- Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight tells us How to Go Bookishly Bankrupt (I’m following her advice quite well!)
- I found this new blog that I love called Highlit! Check out this Q&A with Christina June (I just read the book featured and really loved it) and see the beautiful watercolor that Dessa made to go with the book cover!
Pre-Order Deals:
I’m now putting these in order of release date to make it easier on myself (and you, I think). Any new deals that I just added to the list this week will be denoted with a *** so you can easily find them!
- ***Pre-order THE BATTLEMAGE by Taran Matharu to receive annotated chapters from the book! (ends 5/1)
- Pre-order DRAGONS LOVE TACOS 2 by Adam Rubin and receive a bumper sticker and a chance to win the Ultimate Taco Party Book Basket! (ends 5/1)
- Pre-order SPILL ZONE by Scott Westerfield and receive a set of Spill Zone tattoos! (ends 5/1)
- Pre-order THIS IS JUST MY FACE by Gabourey Sidibe and receive a set of buttons! (ends 5/1)
- Pre-order ALWAYS AND FOREVER, LARA JEAN by Jenny Han and get custom Lara Jean nail decals, a signed bookplate, and more! (ends 5/1)
- Pre-order A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN by Sarah J. Maas and receive an exclusive color poster of the official map! (ends 5/1)
- Pre-order GIRL OUT OF WATER by Laura Silverman and receive a signed postcard and playlist. You will also be entered to win one of two prize packs and one grand prize prize pack containing a $25 B&N gift card. (ends 5/1)
- Pre-order IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE by Christina June and get a bonus chapter from before ISWG begins! (ends 5/8)
- ***Pre-order THE NAMES THEY GAVE US by Emery Lord to receive an exclusive set of buttons! (ends 5/15)
- Pre-order THE CROWN’S FATE by Evelyn Skye, and you can get a limited edition bookmark and a set of 3 stickers–Team Vika, Team Nikolai, and Team Pasha! Plus, there’s an additional giveaway if you order from Kepler’s. (ends 5/15)
- Pre-order FLAME IN THE MIST by Renee Ahdieh and receive an exclusive button pack and a chance to win a trip to Book Con in NYC!! (ends 5/15)
- Pre-order BRANDED by Eric Smith and you’ll get a set of signed postcards of the covers, an Inked and Branded quote postcard set designed by author and illustrator Ashley Poston, and a handful of temporary tattoos! (ends 5/22)
- Pre-order DARK BREAKS THE DAWN by Sara B. Larson and get a signed bookmark (and you’ll be entered to win LOTS of other great prizes!!) (ends 5/29)
- ***Pre-order FOLLOW ME BACK by A.V. Geiger and receive a signed bookplate! You will also be entered to win a grand prize #EricThornObsessed backpack filled with fangirl themed goodies. (ends 6/5)
- Pre-order ENIGMA by Tonya Kuper receive an Enigma swag pack, including a signed book plate, plus the possibility of lots of other goodies as well! (ends 6/30)
- Pre-order WASTE OF SPACE by Gina Damico and receive a bookmark, a magnet, and a 4″x6″ print of Damico’s original hand-drawn sketch of the spaceship’s schematics. (ends 7/11)
- ***Pre-order WARCROSS by Marie Lu and receive “Life After Legend” an exclusive short story set after the events of the Legend Series (ends 9/11)
Other Current Giveaways on FYFA:
(Besides the ones listed with this week’s posts)
- The Dead Inside by Cyndy Etler: Review & Giveaway – Still time to enter to win a gift set!
- March Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway – Still time to enter to win a book from my giveaway/trade list.
- April Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway – Link up your discussions here and enter the giveaway!
Latest FYFA Giveaway Winners!!:
I thought it would be fun to add a little congratulations here to the latest winners of my giveaways. Plus, this will help remind me to send them out. LOL!
- Congrats to Danielle, who won the February Wrap-Up Round-Up giveaway! She chose Aftermath by Clara Kensie (which I loved!)
Even More Awesome Giveaways on Other Sites:
- Riveted is giving away the full Program Series by Suzanne Young!
- Head over to Pink Polka Dot Books for a chance to win a Complete Set of Sarah Dessen’s Books in Paperback!
- Michelle over @ Fit Kitty Mama is celebrating her 1st blogoversary and she’s giving away a Kindle Fire!
- Head over to Brittany’s Book Rambles for a chance to win a Print copy of Meg & Linus
- Kelly @ Effortlessly Reading wants us to know she’s still alive and well and she’s giving away a 2017 release to prove it!
- Head over to Geybie’s Book Blog for a chance to win a $50 Amazon Gift Code or Paypal Cash
- Lots of blogs participating in the April New Release Giveaway Hop!
- Head over to BookHounds to enter to win a copy of The Takedown by Corrie Wang and a Defy the Stars prize pack that includes a $25 gift card!
- Head over to It Starts at Midnight for giveaways of ARENA and GAUNTLET and a Signed ARC of First We Were IV
- Another chance to win Defy the Stars here at YA Books Central!
- Enter to win the first two Harry Potter Illustrated Books!
- Enter to win a Pre-order of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, Dare Mighty Things, and Gray Wolf Island
- Tracy & MC @ Cornerfolds are celebrating the blog’s 3rd blogoversary with a giveaway of two of Tracy’s favorite books!
- XPresso Book Tours is giving away an Amazon Fire HD 8 and a $200 Amazon Gift Card!
- The Bookkeeper’s Secrets is doing a year-long 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!
I just started Letters to the Lost last night. Didn’t get very far into it before I had to call it a night but I’m already enjoying it. I’m so interested to learn Declan’s back story. I agree that The Crown’s Game character art is fantastic! I saw that on Friday and it totally amped up my excitement for the next book (which I just pre-ordered this morning). Hope you have a great week, Nicole! 🙂
I hope you loved it! I’ll have to go check out your blog for a review…
Wow, Highlit is certainly a gorgeous blog. I have design envy after browsing around there. And Nicole, I am always impressed by the amount of work that must go into your Sunday posts, all to benefit the community. Thank you!
Isn’t it pretty? I need to go back and read more!
Nice! Yeah I find I do a lot of my blogging with a TV show on. Though with the shows I really like I generally watch those instead of multitask watching! LOL!
Nice new read! Haven’t heard of it but I hope you love it once you read it!
Here’s my STS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
Some shows are great for multi-tasking—some, not so much.
I loved Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I need money so I can buy the DVD though. I loved the book 13 Reasons Why. It is one I think everyone should read. As someone who has dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts in the past, reading it was so close to things I’ve felt in the past, and I wonder if everyone knows how people take things they may say in passing. I need Netflix so I can watch it! Have a great week!
Check out my Sunday Post
It’s interesting to hear the perspective of someone who suffered from depression and can relate to the book/show on that level. I finished the show and I really want to read the book now to compare.
Oh gosh, I loved Fantastic Beasts. I really need to own that one. I’m in the midst of Thirteen Reasons Why. I read the book like 10 years ago – when it came out and I LOVED it. My sister’s watched the whole show and it’s quite different – according to her – but she still really liked it. So I’ll be curious to see how you like the book after the show. 🙂
-Lauren
I finished the show, and now I just need to read the book. It will be interesting to compare.
I too blog while watching television. I usually put on something where I don’t have to follow closely. I started 13 Reasons too and liking it so far. I haven’t started the book yet either.
Another great post and thanks for sharing everything:)
My Sunday Post
Blogging and watching TV works as long as it’s not a show you really need to concentrate on.
I finished up 13 Reasons Why and thought it was quite good, although I agree about some of the people she left behind. Mainly Clay and her poor parents! Good show though. And I still need to see Fantastic Beasts…
Defy The Stars does seem to be getting glowing reviews for the most part.
I finally finished the series and I’m still on the fence about some things. I’m planning to read the book too, to get that perspective.
I blog with TV on too. Only way to get it all in!!! I really liked 13 Reasons Why. I had read the book a while ago so I didn’t really remember much. Congrats on your win!! Have a great week!
Blogging while watching TV is the perfect combo!
I watch TV while blogging, too. I still need to see Fantastic Beasts. I hated the 13 Reasons Why book, so I’m not going to watch the show. I seem to be a black sheep with that, though, because everybody loves the show.
I can’t handle only doing one thing at a time!
It’s interesting that you hated the book 13 Reasons. I’m curious to read the book after watching the show. There are definitely some things about the show that disturbed me.
I bought Letters to the Lost and I’m looking forward to reading it. Brigid is a friend, and I adore her books!
I met Brigid at RT a couple of years ago and she seemed like such a genuinely sweet person!
Oh I can’t wait for your review of Letters to the Lost! I’m so intrigues about that book! BUT I understand… Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them! Nope you can’t look away from this one.
I can;t wait for your review of 13 Reasons Why either! I have read such controversial reviews for this book and show! and I can tell you are feeling that way too.
No, Fantastic Beasts was definitely the type of movie that demanded my full attention!
I’ve been super curious about Letters to the Lost, so I can’t wait to read your review! Thank you so much for putting this awesome post together 😀
Brittany @ Brittany’s Book Rambles
I love putting together my Sunday Posts—it’s fun to let people know about all the exciting things going on in my little corner of the bookish community! 🙂
I really like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I haven’t yet seen (or read) 13 Reasons Why, but I keep hearing about it. I imagine at some point I will watch it. It seems to be quite controversial, which in and of itself makes me even more curious.
I hope you have a great week!
Yes, there’s lots of controversy surrounding it!
I often “watch” TV as background while working on the computer. I’ve also started watching 13 Reasons Why this past weekend. I’m in episode 6 currently. I think Hannah weaved a very intricate plan in her creation of the tapes. The way some (on the tapes) gang together or exclude others is also interesting to me, as well as her mother’s journey for understanding and answers. As someone whose family has lived the aftermath of more than one suicide, it is a high-interest topic for me.
Our family has had to deal with the aftermath of suicide as well, and it can definitely be a painful topic to broach. Now that I’ve finished watching the series, I really want to read the book to compare and then I’ll probably write a post on my thoughts …
What the heck is this show everyone keeps talking about??! Man, I still haven’t seen Fantastic Beasts since I don’t go to theaters or even know where to rent movies anymore lol, but I want to, and I’m glad you liked it!
13 Reasons Why is based on Jay Asher’s book (by the same name, though I think the number is spelled out). It’s been a pretty controversial show because it has some graphic depictions of rape and suicide. I’d like to read the book now that I’ve watched the show and I’ll probably end up writing a post with my thoughts.
I’ve read 13 Reasons Why long time ago and loved it. I’m not sure about the show; I rarely enjoy adaptations of books I loved. Have a great week, Nicole!
Now that I’ve watched the whole series, I really want to go read the book. I usually do it the other way around, but this time I flipped it.
It’s been a long time since I’ve read Claudia Gray! I need to get more of her work!
This was my first by her, but I’ll definitely be reading more!