The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It’s a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on my blog and share news about what’s coming up in the week ahead.
This past week on FYFA (and in my life):
- Blog Redesign. As you may have noticed, I’ve changed the blog design a little bit. I found out that my Tweak Me theme was extremely old and wasn’t really supported anymore, so I upgraded to Tweak Me V2. The theme is super modifiable, so I could have kept my old backgrounds, but I decided I liked this cleaner look. I used colors from the old design to make the change less jarring. There were lots of settings to configure so it took a bit of work, but I’m really happy with how it turned out (though I may be making some more little changes as time goes on). What do you think? Any suggestions?
- What I Read:
- I read a manuscript from a new critique partner!
- I finished reading Nightingale by Deva Fagan and then I started reading In Every Generation by Kendare Blake.
- I continued listening to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria Schwab.
- What I Watched:
- I got Noah and Danielle to start watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Me! We’ve only watched a few episodes, but I’m all about the nostalgia, especially since I’ve been reading In Every Generation (which has many of the old favorite characters and captures their voices so well!)
- I watched the newest season of The Great British Baking Show. It’s always a fun watch!
- Noah’s been watching Stranger Things, so I’ve seen parts of season 1 with him (I’d already seen it years ago, but I never watched season 3).
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog since my last Sunday Post:
- DECEMBER 2021 MONTHLY WRAP-UP & BEST OF THE BUNCH
- CYBILS POETRY FINALISTS! AND BITE-SIZED REVIEWS OF EVERYWHERE BLUE, SNOW BIRDS, YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE EVERYTHING, AND CALL ME ATHENA
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.
- 1/15 – The Blacksheep Reader‘s Blogoversary
Book Haul:
For Review:
I received A Diary of the Plague Year by Elise Engler from Henry Holt & Co. I don’t review many adult titles, but this chronicle of 2020 in art was too intriguing to pass up.
Purchased:
I bought Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray so Danielle and I could read them together (she needs to read some more classics for her AP Lit class).
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
- Mar @ Bookiverse gives us 2022 Releases and new movie/TV adaptations that are coming out this year!
- Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader writes about Originality and Authenticity in the World of Published Fan-Fiction
NEW Pre-order Campaigns
Head over to my new Pre-Order Campaigns Page to see ALL of the pre-order deals, including pictures!!
Here’s the list of all the pre-order campaigns that I just added to the list this week:
Pre-order THE RAKE GETS RAVISHED by Sophie Jordan from Katy Budget Books to receive a signed and personalized copy of the book, along with exclusive swag. (US only) (Ends 2/21) CLICK FOR DETAILS
Pre-order FORWARD MARCH by Skye Quinlan OR request it from your local library to receive a signed bookplate and a double-sided bookmark. (US only) (Ends 3/7) CLICK FOR DETAILS
Pre-order THE TURNING POINTE by Vanessa L. Torres OR request it from your local library to receive fun swag. (Ends 2/22) CLICK FOR DETAILS
Pre-order A FAR WILDER MAGIC by Allison Saft OR request it from your local library to receive a set of 3 double-sided tarot cards, a signed bookplate, and the epilogue of Down Comes the Night! Pre-orders from Kepler’s Books will also receive an exclusive print. (INT) (Ends 3/15) CLICK FOR DETAILS
Pre-order THE LEVIATHAN by Rosie Andrews from Waterstones to be entered to win a two-night stay for two people at Cley Windmill in Norfolk and £100 towards travel expenses! (Great Britain only) (Ends 2/2) CLICK FOR DETAILS
Pre-order AMAH FARAWAY by Margaret Chiu Greanias, illustrated by Tracy Subisak from Green Bean Books or Linden Tree Books to receive risograph prints! (Ends 1/24) CLICK FOR DETAILS
Pre-order THE ATLAS SIX by Olivie Blake to receive an enamel pin and the never-before-seen short story “Sacred Hospitality”! (US/CAN) (Ends 2/28) CLICK FOR DETAILS
Pre-order NO FILTER AND OTHER LIES by Crystal Maldonado OR request it from your local library to be entered to win one of five prize packs featuring a holographic sticker, sticker sheet, signed art prints, a bookmark, and a pin! (INT) (Ends 2/7) CLICK FOR DETAILS
Awesome Giveaways:
(Make sure you scroll to see them all!)
- Twitter Giveaways:
- @mybookishsecret is giving away any book you want! (ends 1/31)
- @mariekeyn is giving away an AT THE END OF EVERYTHING Emotional Support Box (ends 1/10)
- @CLiwrites is giving away signed copies of CLUES TO THE UNIVERSE (ends 1/10)
- @JennieLy is giving away a book of your choice (ends 1/12)
- @julialynnrubin is giving away ARCs of THE AGATHAS & PRIMAL ANIMALS! (ends 1/14)
- @edwardanddamon is giving away one of her most anticipated reads! (ends 1/28)
-
@heedgmon is giving away signed ARCs of THE WITCH KING, and HELL FOLLOWED WITH US (ends 1/10)
- On my blog, you can enter the giveaway for the January 2022 Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway and the December Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up & Giveaway.
- Esther @ Bite Into Books is celebrating her 5th blogoversary with a giveaway!
- Angela @ Angel’s Guilty Pleasures has five giveaways going on for her blogoversary!
- Bookcrushin’ is giving away Any Release Featured on Their Best Of Lists
- Head over to Kait Plus Books for a chance to win SHATTERED MIDNIGHT
- Enter to win the Fierce Reads Winter 2022 Sneak Peek Sweepstakes
- Head over to KidLit411 for a chance to win Pirate Queens: Dauntless Women Who Dared to Rule the High Seas and THE WAY I SAY IT.
- Head over to Lisa Loves Literature for a chance to win 3 books from Lisa’s ARC pile.
- Head over to Literary Ramblings to enter to win the New Year New You Giveaway Hop or The Bone Spindler!
- Head over to JeanBookNerd for a chance to win Herman and The Princess Gull and more!
- Head over to Bookhounds YA for a chance to win TIGER HONOR, and more! (Check the sidebar)
- Lots of blogs participating in the January 2021 Of Books Giveaway Hop!
- Book Riot has lots of giveaways, including A $250 B&N Gift Card!
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’m glad that your theme update went well even though it was time-consuming.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
It was worth spending a bit of time on it!
Well it seems that we both had the same idea to redesign our blog! I love the new theme, it’s light and airy !
Yes, I love your new design too!!
I use Tweak Me V2 as well. The site looks great! Buffy was such a great show. Definitely one of my favorites.
It’s been really fun rewatching Buffy after all these years!
I love that you got others watching Buffy too! Buffy is so good!
Definitely agree with you! Buffy is my all-time favorite show.
Congrats on the book haul. The new design looks good.
Thank you!
I thought something was different here as I hopped over! I thought maybe it was my computer screen! Lol. It’s definitely a fresh look! I keep meaning to try to figure out something with my blog, but I have zero tech skills, and about zero patience for this side of technology, as I’m not good with it. Hence the same design for the last several years.
Nice new reads! Those are all new to me ones but I hope you enjoy them! I can’t wait to read In Every Generation myself! I’m trying to work it into my queue as soon as possible! Happy Reading!
Here’s my StS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
I don’t have any tech skills either, so I definitely have to rely on a good theme with relatively straightforward settings. It took a bit of playing, but I did get it all worked out eventually.
The blog redesign looks good! And I’ve been curious about that Blake book- I’ve never seen Buffy but it sounds fun!
I LOVE Buffy! You should definitely check it out sometime.
Yay for getting Noah and Danielle to watch Buffy with you! My husband and I love that show. I am curious about seeing In Every Generation. I hope you have a great week!
Buffy is actually holding up a lot better than I expected it to. And my daughter’s really enjoying it too – I”ve got her hooked now!
Awesome that you’re readng your critique partner’s manuscript. I can’t wait for the new season of Stranger Things.
Yes, this new critique partner’s book is great too, which makes it extra nice!
I like the redesign! Great British Baking Show and Stranger Things are two of my favorite shows. I’m glad everyone is enjoying them. Have a great week!
TGBBS has been great. I always like to have a show I can have on in the background without having to pay complete attention to it, and that one’s my go-to right now.
I’m glad you mentioned the blog redesign because I was thinking things looked different but then I started doubting myself. I think it looks good, I like the cleaner minimal look and I agree, keeping some of the old colours helps make it stay the same. I know I’ve not gone to the wrong site. I love you’re watching Buffy, I did a rewatch at the start of covid and it was brilliant.
I’ve had that happen when I go to a blog and I think, “Wait, this is different, right?” Yeah, I definitely didn’t want the blog to look unfamiliar to people when they jump by, but this gives the same feel with a little cleaner look. I’m liking it a lot!
The blog redesign looks great! It is a really clean look for sure. I hope you’re enjoying Stranger Things! Season 1 was my favorite of them, but then it could also be just that we watched Season 3 during the mess of the pandemic, and so I don’t know if I was in the right mindset for it.
My daughter said she wasn’t a big fan of season 3, but I definitely still want to watch it.
Love the redesign! I want to do mine so badly, but then I open the settings and… well, it just seems daunting, so I don’t 😂 That 2020 book does look really cool, I will definitely check that one out! Hope you enjoy the shows, too!
It was actually less daunting than I expected it to be. There were a few settings that I had to figure out (especially things that I had to change in multiple places so that everything would mesh together well), but it wasn’t as overwhelming as I thought it was going to be. Of course, I wasn’t doing a true overhaul and I stuck with colors that echoes my old site, so that helped me narrow things down.
There’s nothing like tucking into a new season of Great British Baking Show. And I do like the look of the new theme on the blog! I like clean design.
Yes, I think the cleaner look works better. Thanks!
I absolutely love it! I was thinking of buying that theme, since ours was having some hiccups…or so I thought, but it ended up being a plugin I was using eeps. Your new design is amazing ♥!
I love how flexible the Tweak Me theme is! Glad you got your problem solved easily, though!
The Great British Baking Show looks fun