This past week on FYFA (and in my life):
I can’t believe that summer’s almost over! I’m both excited and terrified to have more time on my hands once school starts. Excited because … well, time!! Terrified because it means I’ll have no excuses for not making some real progress on my writing goals. LOL!
This week I participated in the Make Me Read It Readathon. I can’t say that I spent a lot of extra time reading, unfortunately, but I did read The Book Thief, started reading Strange the Dreamer, and started listening to Warcross. I guess that’s not so bad. Those were all books that have been on my Need to Read list for quite some time (especially The Book Thief!).
You guys will probably all hate me, but I ended up giving The Book Thief four stars. It feels almost sacrilegious to give it anything less than five, but it took me a long time to get into the book and actually connect to the characters. I thought the writing was gorgeous and unique, but I wasn’t actually interested in the story until about halfway through. Of course, the last quarter of the book killed me (you’d have to be made of granite to get through it without tears), but I still landed at four stars overall. A good rating, but I still feel like I need to duck to avoid any flying objects that might start coming at my head when my fellow bloggers read this!
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog since my last Sunday Post:
- Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart: Review & Giveaway – Still time to enter to win a copy!
- July Wrap-Up Round-Up “Make Me Read It” Giveaway – Check out people’s wrap-up posts (and link up your own, if you have one) and enter the giveaway!
- Goodreads’ YA Books Lists. Let’s Discuss.
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
Here are the birthdays and blogoversaries for 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, it’s easy! Just fill out the birthday/blogoversary form.)
- August 13th – Caffeinated Book Reviewer‘s Blogoversary
- August 16th – Read All the Things‘ Blogoversary
- August 17th – Penni @ Penni’s Perceptions‘ Birthday
For Review:
I got In Your Shoes in the mail from Delacorte Books for Young Readers. I love the concept of this book and can’t wait to read it!
Purchased:
Got my preorder of Dance of Thieves! I was in the middle of reading my review copy of this book when the Make Me Read It Readathon started, and I’m loving it! (I’ll probably go right back to it tomorrow.)
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
- Remember how I said I was going to catch up on discussion posts this week? It didn’t happen. Next week, I swear!
Pre-Order Deals:
Listed in order of release date. Any new deals that I just added to the list this week will be denoted with a *** so you can easily find them!
Please note: Almost all pre-order giveaways run “while supplies last,” so I can’t guarantee that they’ll be open until the date listed. Pre-0rder early for your best chance to get all the goodies!
- Pre-order A TOUCH OF GOLD by Annie Sullivan to receive a digital download of the map of the world and an awesome rose compact mirror. (US/CAN only)(ends 8/13)
- Pre-order FAKE BLOOD by Whitney Gardner to receive a signed bookplate and lapel pin. (INT)(ends 8/20)
- Pre-order TO BE HONEST by Maggie Ann Martin or request it at your local library to receive a signed bookmark, sticker, and personalized bookplate. Plus you’ll be entered to win a grand prize. (INT)(ends 8/20)
- Pre-order CITY OF GHOSTS by Victoria Schwab for a chance to win a signed copy of the book, a book themed necklace/pendant, and a secret treat from Edinburgh. (INT)(ends 8/27)
- Pre-order MIRAGE by Somaiya Daud to receive a set of Mirage-inspired nail polishes and a signed bookplate. (US Only)(ends 8/27)
- Pre-order RUIN OF STARS by Linsey Miller to receive a swag package and to be entered to win a grand prize. (US & CAN Only)(ends 8/27)
- Pre-order SEAFIRE by Natalie C. Parker to receive a branded pouch! (US Only)(ends 8/27)
- Pre-order HIDDEN PIECES by Paula Stokes to receive 2 signed bookmarks, a signed bookplate, a magnet, and 2 stickers. (INT)(ends 8/28)
- Pre-order MISS KOPP JUST WON’T QUIT by Amy Stewart to receive a signed bookplate and a chance to win the grand prize! (US Only)(ends 8/31)
- Pre-order A SPARK OF WHITE FIRE by Sangu Mandanna to receive an exclusive short story set in Esmae’s world and a chance to win a grand prize. (INT)(ends 9/3)
- Pre-order IGNITE THE STARS by Maura Milan to receive an enamel pin. (US only)(ends 9/3)
- Pre-order UNCHARTED by Erin Cashman to receive a bookmark, signed bookplate, 3 stickers and a card. Plus you’ll be entered to win even more! (INT)(ends 9/3)
- Pre-order your copy of JOSH AND HAZEL’S GUIDE TO NOT DATING to receive an exclusive signed bookplate! (US Only)(ends 9/3)
- Pre-order A ROOM AWAY FROM THE WOLVES to receive an 8×10″ art print with a quote, a 5×3″ sticker with a quote, and a signed and personalized “Property of Catherine House” bookplate. (US, CAN Only)(ends 9/3)
- Pre-order I’D RATHER BE READING by Anne Bogel (AKA Modern Mrs. Darcy) to receive her brand-new class, 7 Ways to Get More Out of Your Reading Life, the audio version of the book, and digital artwork from the book. Plus more goodies if you order two or more books. (ends 9/3)
- ***Pre-order SUMMER BIRD BLUE by Akemi Dawn Bowman to receive a signed bookplate, a bookmark featuring a quote from the book, an adorable enamel pin, and an exclusive promo card. (INT)(ends 9/10)
- ***Pre-order MERCI SUAREZ CHANGES GEARS by Meg Medina to receive an author-crafted bookmark, a laptop sticker, and a custom bicycle bell! (US Only)(ends 9/10)
- Pre-order AS SHE ASCENDS by Jodi Meadows to receive a signed bookplate, dragon stickers, a bookmark, and a dragon card! (INT)(ends 9/10)
- Pre-order THE NAVIGATOR’S TOUCH by Julia Ember to receive a signed and personalised postcard, a set of five character cards, a badass Viking warrior keychain, two stunning cover stickers and entry into a Grand Prize Pool! (USA, Canada, UK and EU)(ends 9/12)
- Pre-order LEADERSHIP IN TURBULENT TIMES by Doris Kearns Goodwin to receive a signed bookplate. (US Only)(ends 9/17)
- Pre-order WHAT THE WOODS KEEP by Katya de Becerra to receive a themed digital wallpaper, a short story of “Smoke and Mirrors,” and a query critique. (INT)(ends 9/17)
- Pre-order ESCAPING FROM HOUDINI by Kerri Maniscalco to receive 8 limited edition character cards. (US Only). You’ll also be entered to win an INT giveaway. (ends 9/17)
- Pre-order FOR A MUSE OF FIRE by Heidi Heilig to receive a signed bookmark & sheet music to La Lumière, as well as fully orchestrated mp3s of all 4 songs featured in the book! (INT)(ends 9/25)
- Pre-order THE LAST WISH OF SASHA CADE by Cheyanne Young to receive a signed bookplate, a bookmark, a sticker, and a wish bracelet. (US/CAN only)(ends 10/1)
- Pre-order GRIM LOVELIES by Megan Shepherd to receive a branded tote bag. You’ll also be entered to win the grand prize! (US Only)(ends 10/1)
- Pre-order THE LADY’S GUIDE TO PETTICOATS AND PIRACY by Mackenzi Lee to receive a digital, never-before-seen epilogue to The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. (US Only)(ends 10/1)
- Pre-order MISFITS by Jen Calonita to receive a Fairy Tale Reform School / Royal Academy Rebels crossover story—When Devin Met Gilly! (US Only)(ends 10/1)
- Pre-order THE SPY WITH THE RED BALLOON by Katherine Locke to receive nine character cards and a signed bookmark. (US Only)(ends 10/1)
- Pre-order THE DEVIL’S THIEF by Lisa Maxwell to receive character art, a map, a bookmark, and a signed bookplate. (INT)(ends 10/8)
- Pre-order BRIDGE OF CLAY by Markus Zusak to receive a book club kit containing a Collectible Print, a
Book Thief/Bridge of Clay Discussion Guide , 6 Coasters, a Debossed Notebook and 6 Pens. (US Only)(ends 10/9) - Pre-order ONE GIANT LEAP by Heather Kaczynski to receive a holographic character art print and a signed bookplate. (INT)(ends 10/22)
- Pre-order ALL THE WANDERING LIGHT by Heather Fawcett to receive an exclusive world map, a signed bookplate, a bookmark and two stickers. (INTL)(ends 12/3)
- Pre-order THE BIRDS, THE BEES, AND YOU AND ME by Olivia Hinebaugh to receive an enamel pin. (US Only)(ends 1/21)
- Pre-order THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE by Samantha Shannon to receive an exclusive signed poster. (USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand)(ends 2/25)
More Awesome Giveaways:
- Lisa @ Lisa Loves Literature is celebrating nine years of blogging with a giveaway!
- Aimee @ Aimee Always is celebrating her nineteenth birthday with a giveaway, and you can also head over there for a chance to win The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly (PH & INT’L).
- Are you one of those people who are fantastic at making graphics? Author Paula Stokes is hosting The Great Hidden Pieces Graphics Contest!
- Head over to Book Slaying for a chance to win a copy of See All the Stars by Kit Frick
- Anne @ Books of My Heart is doing a Series on Saturday feature with a giveaway. This week’s is the first book in a space opera series!
- Lots of blogs participating in the Lazy Days of August Giveaway Hop!
- AJ @ Read All the Things is celebrating her fifth blogoversary with a giveaway!
- And Alice @ Arctic Books is celebrating three years of blogging with a giveaway!
- Lots of blogs participating in the August New Release Giveaway Hop!
- Every week Mindy McGinnis has a giveaway on her blog Writer Writer Pants on Fire. This week’s is an ARC of Dry by Neal & Jarrod Shusterman
- Head over to XPresso Reads for a chance to win HIDDEN PIECES by Paula Stokes
- Head over to Angel’s Guilty Pleasures for a chance to win her Win It Wednesday giveaway.
- Head over to Bookish for LOTS of giveaways!
- Anne @ Books of My Heart is doing a Read-Along of the Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series and she’s giving away a Signed print copy of Magic Triumphs (US only) or an Amazon digital copy (INT).
- Enter Read It Forward’s weekly giveaway! This one is: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
Summer just ended here and that means uni, which also means NO TIME. D: Can we swap places? XD Good luck with your goals! 😉 I also hope you love Warcross!!! I also read Strange the Dreamer and liked it, but it wasn’t a favorite.
I’m also hosting a giveaway on my blog for my birthday. 🙂
Hope uni is going well!
I have grabby hands for In Your Shoes. It sounds wonderful, and Wendy has raved about Gephart in the past.
I’m looking forward to reading it!!
Oh my god, The Book thief is one of my most favorite books ever and I can’t believe you say those mean things about it. But hey, 4 stars isn’t all that bad. Don’t worry, I am not gonna hit you!
And Yay, summer is almost done…
I’m glad you can forgive me. 😉
To be honest I never read The Book Thief! Whoops! We had a copy somewhere, but it’s a genre that I just can’t read! There are a few historical fiction like books I read way back when that I likely couldn’t read again now and still enjoy them. But 4 stars is still good though! For me 3 stars is still good! That’s what 3 stars equates to for me. Really only 1 star books are ones that I didn’t like, anything above that had something to it that I enjoyed!
Nice new reads too! LOVED Dance of Thieves! Hope you’re enjoying it too!
Here’s my STS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
Obviously, it took me a while to get to it too. I definitely don’t feel like 4 stars is bad, it’s just that so many people told me this was an all-time favorite that I almost felt bad for not absolutely loving it at first.
I promise I won’t throw anything—I haven’t read The Book Thief yet! I have seen the film and quite liked it, though. Here’s hoping you enjoy Warcross and Strange; those have been two of my favorite reads this year 🙂 Hope you have a good week, Nicole!
I really need to see the movie now!
I’m so looking forward to this new phase in your life because I love your blog and I’m so excited about you becoming an author I cannot imagine how i it going to be when you have even have more time on my hands! The Book Thief is on my TBR and I cannot find the motivation to read so I’m not that disappointed you gave it 4 stars 🙂
Thanks so much, Daniela! I’m really looking forward to being able to devote more time to writing.
I watched The Book Thief but haven’t read the book so I won’t throw anything. LOL Love how you showcased your new books. Happy reading:)
I really want to see the movie now too.
I keep saying I’ll get a discussion post done, and then I don’t. I’m behind on review books too! Gah! Have to get two finished by Wednesday and had one I should have reviewed today! And school starts this week, so no idea how I’m going to get it done. Discussions will have to wait. Have a great week!
I know how time seems to get away from you. It can seem crazy sometimes!
How dare you not ADORE The Book Thief? LOL Nah, I’m kidding. I mean, I totally love The Book Thief, but everyone feels differently and it is a book that I can see being hard to get into at first.
-Lauren
I did eventually love it, but it took me longer than I would have liked to warm up to it.
You didn’t give 5 stars to the book I spent 6 months writing a giant thesis about?! *Throws laptop across room.* How dare you! Haha, I’m kidding. One of my mentors actually said the exact same thing. She almost gave up on the book because she didn’t like Death and couldn’t get interested in the story.
I totally failed at the readathon. I ended up getting a Denver Five Things Pass and wandered around the city for a week instead of reading. Oops.
(Ducks) So sorry. Maybe I just need to read your thesis so that I can appreciate it more.
I didn’t do so great at the readathon either. I mean, I did finish one book, started listening to another and (barely) started reading a third, but that’s sort of miserable results. Also, it might not have helped The Book Thief that I stopped reading a book I was very into for the readathon and then had to jump into the beginning of a book I wasn’t yet invested in.
I haven’t read The Book Thief yet so no throwing here. 🙂 I did like Warcross. And I don’t know where time went exactly- I feel like there’s been a time warp or something and it’s suddenly mid- August? Something’s clearly not right. 🙂
Hope Strange the Dreamer is good- I’ve heard so much, I do want to read it at some point.
Have a great week Nicole!
I’m really enjoying Warcross so far. I’m listening to that one. And I started reading Strange the Dreamer, but took a break to finish Dance of Thieves first.
If your Summer is almost over… mine is coming! Whoop Whoop!
I still have to read The Book Thief… one day, I swear!
Have a great week Nicole!
Ha! Yes, it’s coming for you!
I’ve yet to read The Book Thief and I’m almost hesitant to do so because it is *so* loved. I feel like there’s pressure to immediately love it and proclaim it the Best Book Ever. LOL I haven’t heard of In Your Shoes before… will have to go check that one out.
Yeah, that might have actually made it harder for me—such high expectations!
Funny that I have almost no desire to read the Book Thief. And I don’t expect everyone to like all the same books, so I think it would be wrong of people to be mad at you for not liking something someone else loved! 🙂 Are you only homeschooling one kid now? It’ll probably be nice for some of them to head back to school!
I know that there really shouldn’t be an expectation that everyone should love any book, but I can’t tell you the number of people who insisted I NEEDED to read this book because it was one of their absolute favorites. I couldn’t help but feel like I was supposed to adore it too. 🙂
I’m barely homeschooling at all anymore. Jade is still technically homeschooled, but she’s taking all of her classes at the local community college, so the only thing I’m doing is helping her figure out her classes, teachers, etc.
You’ll be fine once summer is over. Sure, so much more free time but once you adjust I think you’ll make great progress with your writing, summer is the time when it’s easiest to make excuses to yourself without feeling guilty. I’ve actually never managed to finish The Book Thief so don’t feel guilty about your 4 star rating, it just never hooks me in and I don’t know why. I should love it!
Glad I’m not the only one who wasn’t completely enthralled with The Book Thief, especially at the beginning.
Sounds like you did pretty good on your readathon. I hope you’re enjoying Strange the Dreamer and Warcross. Those are two of my favorites 🙂
I’m still working on those—didn’t quite finish them during the readathon, but at least it got me to read them.
The Book Thief is also on the same list for me….way past due. What classes are you teaching this year?
I’m actually not teaching this year, believe it or not. Danielle is going to public high school (a freshman) and Jade is taking all of her classes at the local community college. I plan to focus on my writing this year, so wish me luck!!
Don’t worry, I haven’t heard of The Book Thief (at least I don’t think I have…) so I won’t be throwing anything. 😉
Ha! Guess I’m safe with you, then.
Hard to believe that summer is coming to an end. I loved The Book Thief, have yet to watch the movie. Have a great August.
I really want to see the movie now.
I can’t believe summer is almost over, I am not ready for it to end. Though I worked for most of the summer, I still love that season so very much, the long days and sunshine and… not ready for winter, at all haha.
Best of luck for your writing goals, you can do this! 😀
Oh, me too. Late spring and summer are definitely my favorite seasons.
Aw don’t feel so bad about the 4 star review for The Book Thief. Most important is that we’re honest about our feelings. Not everyone is going to agree with us or like our rating, but that’s okay. ♥
And I’m not ready for summer to be over, I want another few weeks or at least another month before my kiddos had to go back to school. Their summers feel so short compared to what we got as kids.
I don’t feel bad about it, but it is an interesting conundrum. This is another one of those cases that makes me realize how incredibly subjective ratings are. When I compare TBT to some books that I’ve given higher ratings, it really comes down to how the book makes me feel, even if I can objectively say, “Well, The Book Thief has better writing.”
YES YES YES to writing more *waves and winks*
I heard many people saying what you said about not connecting with the Book Thief characters that much so you are not alone.
I’m listening Dance Thieves now [well if THAT can be called “listening” playing the first paragraph over and over because I cannot concentrate LOL] BUT the writing sounds so good! I hope we like it! 🙂
Concentration is not my forte lately either. LOL!
You took such a cute photo with the In Her Shoes book and all your shoes around it <3 Love it! Yay for time coming up to crack on with those writing goals. I hope you are able to smash through them. It's okay to give popular books less than 5 stars! If you didn't love it that much, you just didn't, and that's fine. To each their own opinion 😉
Thanks! I thought that shoe picture would be fun!