The Weekly Update: 5/7/17

 
 

Why is it still sporadically reaching lows of 62 in May in a place where we don’t even get winter? And who thought 9 in the morning on a Saturday was a good time to feed a whole tree through a wood chipper right outside my window? These are the burning questions I have this week.

Other than that, I ain’t got no real life news. Doing lots of different things for my tennis elbow and trying to kinda rest it some, but it still hurts because I’m hopeless at resting injuries and keep using it too much anyway. That’s about it. I didn’t even play The Sims, so I can’t even talk about that lol. I’m so exciting, I know.


Blog/Bookish Updates:

If any of you actually pay attention to categories for posts and/or the category that’s shown in each graphic, things might be confusing up in here for a while. It’s just that I changed/added/removed categories (again) and might be removing the category from post titles where it’s not necessary (still undecided), but I have TONS of graphics already created, and I’m not about to go change them. I’m also not gonna change the titles of all past posts. So the category shown in graphics or post titles might not match the actual category the post is in. The perfectionist in me wants to fix them all REAL badly, but the tennis elbow in me is like, “I will cut you.”

In other news, I’ve been in this kind of reading slump for the past few weeks and therefore struggled each time to figure out what to read next. I didn’t even find many review copies I was interested in for a while. But now, all the sudden, within the past two weeks, I’ve been bombarded with books. Five series I’m reading have come out with an ARC or release. Four of them were completely unexpected; I didn’t even know a new book would be coming out soon. Plus, for the Real Vampires books, I wanted to do a reread of the first two, so that meant two more books to read. I also got a couple other review copies because they sounded interesting. So now I’m kind of drowning in May/June releases lol.

 

Books I Received for Review:

 

The first was from the author, the second was from Curiosity Quills.

 

Books I Finished:

Organic by Jadah McCoy
Real Vampires Don't Sparkle by Amy Fecteau
 

Organic was alright but didn’t live up to the first book for me. Though it could’ve just been this reading slumpish thing I’ve been in. The Real Vampires book was a reread in preparation for the final book.

 

Song of the Week:

No song or video this week.

 

Laugh of the Week:

I’m trying out a new thing! I love Pinterest and it is honestly the best place to go when I need a laugh. So I thought it might be fun to share a fun pin or two each week! Which makes it really weird that this is actually a tumblr thing I’m sharing lol. What happened was, I found it on Pinterest, but this one has the gifs, so… I feel bad for the people in the first two (hope they’re ok!), but the drawings are just too funny.

http://tumblr.tastefullyoffensive.com/post/66191969324/portals-to-hell-by-hrmphfft

 

In Case You Missed It:

– I shared book covers featuring birds.
– I reviewed Children of the Moon by Laekan Zea Kemp, a YA urban fantasy with inconsistent paranormal aspects but fantastic character development.
– I reviewed Real Vampires Don’t Sparkle by Amy Fecteau, a hilarious but also intense M/M vampire book that defied some of the tropes.
– I reviewed Mariner’s Luck by Kirby Crow, a slow-paced, character-focused M/M high fantasy.

 

The Sunday Post Link-Up:

Once again, I’m linking up to The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer 🙂

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Have you found any good books, songs, or videos lately?
Are you also drowning in May/June release books?
Did you laugh as much at the Portals to Hell drawings as I did?

 
 
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Your Thoughts

 

52 thoughts on “The Weekly Update: 5/7/17

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  1. Greg

    A low of 62? We’re lucky to get a HIGH of 62 around here lately- today was a beautiful day but it didn’t get that warm. Glad the slump is over though!?! There are a ton of books in May/ June that I want, so yeah. And I haven’t had a slump in a while… which probably means one is coming??

    Bummer that Organic was disappointing. What I want to know is why she isn’t doing Tipsy reader anymore lol. Love the pin though- I’m like is that second one for real??? Who has a hole like that, I’m trying to figure out what place is?!?

    1. Kristen Burns

      It’s all relative, I guess, haha. 62 is cold here! But yeah, I’m glad that I seem to finally be getting over the slump too 🙂 Stay hopeful, maybe you won’t get hit with a slump!

      Lol I remember how you loved those tipsy reader videos. I think the second one is a fast food restaurant? Or maybe a bar? What I’m more confused about is why the 2nd guy runs over to check on the 1st guy but then just shuts the hatch door like, “Oh well, guess he’s a goner now”???

  2. Trish @ Between My Lines

    I badly want to go back and fix the categories on my blog, remove some, and be more consistent with what I use. But I terrified of breaking everything. Maybe someday I’ll have more courage. Yours seems like a HUGE task, good luck!

    Those portals to hell are hilarious.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Actually I already got the rearranging out of the way using this mass edit plugin for categories and tags that makes it a lot easier than going one by one. But I’m not changing the post titles or graphics, so that just is what it is lol.

      Haha glad you also got a kick out of the portals to Hell!

  3. Mareli Thalwitzer

    Your portals to hell is really funny and we might end up there as well for laughing……!!!

    It’s not that I’m in a reading or blogging slump as much as I just don’t have any spare time. But my husband is away for 2 weeks now – so I might just get a bit more reading and blogging done!

    Have a good week and hope that tennis elbow will start getting better now!

  4. Wattle

    Haha those graphics are rather amusing 😛

    I hear you on the reading slumps, I’m just coming out of one myself (not sure if I’ve been successful yet). I hope you enjoy your new books! 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah I’m still not sure if I’m successfully out of the slump, but I actually *want* to get back to reading my current book (as opposed to lately not really wanting to pick up any books), so that’s a good sign! Thanks!

  5. Samantha

    That portal to hell thing is funny! And I know how you feel about the perfectionist thing. My brain would be FREAKING out but the rest of me would be like “Dial it down bitch”. Oh well!
    Hope you have a great week. I thought of you this week-I bought some peppermint oil to deal with some of our ant problems. So far, so good!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Honestly, if I didn’t have tennis elbow, I might actually be perfectionist enough to change all the old posts, haha. But the reality is that no one is going to care except me, so I’m not going to let myself freak out over it.

      Glad the peppermint oil is working for you! Makes the place smell nice too, haha.

  6. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

    Oh no, it sucks your tennis elbow is still being a nuisance. Rest up and fingers crossed next week will be better for it. I mean, not even any Simms updates! I have spent about 10 hours playing over the weekend, it’s kind of replaced reading for me. I might be in a slump. I’ve lost some of my reading motivation, I’m thinking the weekend break will do me good. It sucks you’re struggling to decide what to read as well, though. I normally try reading a light easy read but I’ve started reading books and I feel committed to finishing. Also, love the portal to hell thing, it’s hilarious.

    1. Kristen Burns

      That’s the problem, I hate having to decide between reading and simming lol. I read while the game is loading and during saves though, so I suppose that gets a little reading in at least. Seems like lots of us have been in a slump lately, must be going around. I also just haven’t really felt like reading anything. But I might finally be coming out of my slump with these series books. I think I cried laughing when I first saw the portals to hell thing lol.

  7. Barb (boxermommyreads)

    I’m starting to relate to your elbow issues. And if my husband tries to get me to go to Quick Care one more time I’m gonna start charging him for saying it. I KNOW what will help it but am just not good at doing it. Right now I’m having to be content to just try to manager it.

    Sorry about the wood chipper. Sounds like something Mr. Barb would do but we have a duplex currently resided by several drug users so we do things like that on purpose because their stupid antics have kept us up late at night. However, if I was trying to rest, like you, it would annoy the hell out of me.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Sorry you’re having pain too, it sucks :-/ But yeah, exactly, I know that I need to rest it, I’m just bad at that.

      Oh gosh, those sound like terrible neighbors. I’m a good neighbor though! I’m quiet and keep to myself! Lol. But actually this time it was the association where I live, not my neighbors.

  8. Ashley G.

    WHO CHIPS WOOD AT 9 AM?! Like why? They should be sleeping. Especially on a Saturday. I’m sorry someone woke at such an unearthly hour. *glares at general society* What is wrong with people?

    Ahem. On another note, I love that Portraits from Hell post. XD It’s hilarious! Hope things are going well for you. 🙂

  9. Evelina

    Oh man, that little comic 😀 hilarious. So good…
    Also, blog OCD totally understandable. But the good thing is that it’s usually only us who follow category names and such!
    And I was also in a reading slump, but went through a NetGalley spree and things are better now 😀

    1. Kristen Burns

      I’m glad everyone else finds it hilarious too lol.

      I agree, I’m pretty sure no one will care about the category thing except me, so I’m not gonna freak out over it.

      Haha, NG is a savior sometimes!

  10. Lola

    I am always amazed how many people start construction or whatever noise making thing so early in the morning. We also had a someone who started making noise early in the morning this week. Coincidentally I think he was chopping wood as well. I saw a lot fo wood and some machine that made noise when I looked outside.

    It’s strange how some months you get hardly new review copies and then other months you’re suddenly bombarded with them. I also have a bunch of May and June releases, so maybe it’s the timing? My reading has been a bit off lately, I think maybe this whole list reading is finally getting to me. I had two 3 star reads this week, although also one 4 star read luckily. I am in the mood for a cozy mystery so badly I probably just skip the list and start my next cozie with a deadline, so at least I can read a cozie. Luckily I have a cozy mystery with a deadline coming up, so I am not feeling too bad for pulling that to the front of the list.

    I am sorry to hear your tennis elbow keeps hurting so much. Those injuries where all you can do to help it is rest just seem like the worst. There’s little you can do without using your arms.

    That pin is kinda funny, lol! Thanks for sharing. I love Pinterest although my main use for it is to find new recipes I might make one day and drool over all the delicious food. I mostly follow food boards, so my pinterest feed is filled with food.

    I hope you enjoy your new reads and have a great week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Seriously, some people have no consideration!

      It always happens that way, right? No review copies and then all the sudden *BAM* a million at once. My reading has been off too though. I haven’t even been sticking to my review copies or lists though, so I have nothing to blame. But if everything on your list REALLY isn’t appealing to you and there’s another book you’re seriously craving, just read the book. Like, those times when you know exactly what you want to read and a book or genre or something completely pops out at you like READ ME NOW are kinda rare (for me at least), and I think it’s best to just go with the mood.

      Ugh, yeah, that’s the problem with this injury.

      At this point I mostly use Pinterest for laughs lol.

      Thanks, you too!

  11. Let's Get Beyond Tolerance

    haha love the portals to hell. I really like Pinterest, but I tend to actually find funnier things on Tumblr; maybe it’s just who I follow/what I search. LOL

    Sorry you’re drowning in May/June releases. I hope your reading slump is over!

    -Lauren

  12. Cai @ The Bookfeed Blog

    I totally get the perfectionist thing. I am in the process of adding archive pages to the blog which is obviously taking so long because it has to be in order.

    I am drawing in ARCS in general, I have 89 from NetGalley alone.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I feel your pain! I manually add reviews to my review archive, so it’s easy now since I just add one at a time, but it was a pain to add them when I first made the page!

      Oh wow, haha. At least you won’t run out of books!

  13. verushka

    That Pinterest pic is HILARIOUS! Some hidden gems there aren’t there? Somewhat overwhelming setimes though. There’s always so much coming at you.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Glad you love it too, haha. But idk, I have my Pinterest feed trained really well since I use it a lot, so it knows exactly what kinds of pins I like, haha. So, not overwhelming, but it does suck me in and drain hours of my time sometimes lol.

  14. Olivia

    Oh, Tennis arm… sounds painful. Hope it heals soon! I did a silly thing this winter and used to curl up with my laptop in front of the radiator and had really bad posture and one morning twisted my arm in a weird way and pain shot through it like nothing I ever felt before, realised I must have really annoyed a muscle haha… it’s been 2 months and it still hurts :/ 3 months of sitting wrong.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, it’s not very fun. Thanks 🙂 Oh no, that sucks when you end up injuring yourself from the simplest thing and then it takes forever to heal :-/ Hope you heal soon too!

  15. S. J. Pajonas

    Lolollol. That portals to hell post is hilarious! What’s up with the horse in the car? Lololol. Dying.

    Sorry you’ve hit a reading slump. I’ve been there several times the last few years. I’m now notorious for setting books aside in the first 5% if I’m not wowed and moving on because bad books will put me right into a slump for sure.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I have no idea why there’s a horse in the car either, haha, but that last drawing is fantastic.

      Yeah, slumps happen, I guess. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad book that does it to me though. Just sometimes I go through phases where I don’t really feel like reading any book.

  16. Amber Elise @ Du Livre

    Reading slumps are the absolute worst! I usually fall into mine in the summer time which makes me super late on Fall releases. I need to use pinterest more, it’s great for inspiration or just a laugh. I need to download the app again.

  17. chucklesthescot

    I’ve picked up a lot of books that I hope are going to be good. I’m in for a busy spell with things I need to get done away from books so who knows when I’ll get into my next book! I’ve got special edition Harry Potter books and a couple of political offerings being released in June but that’s about it for new releases. Not really much going on with me!

  18. Laurie @ Bark's Book Nonsense

    It’s 52 here mid-day right now. Our low tonight promises to be 37. What is going on with these weather patterns? Sorry to hear about your slump. I go through them a couple of times a year. It seems unavoidable 🙁

    That hellish cartoon was awesome. I needed a laugh and it gave me one!

  19. Jane @ Raincity Librarian

    All these Fahrenheit temperatures mean nothing to me….. 😉

    HA I love that gif series 😀

    I went through my blog and changed some titles and added some graphics…it seemed like a good idea at the time…and then I realised how many posts I’ve written over the past three years….. X_X

    1. Kristen Burns

      Haha, that’s how I feel when I see Celsius!

      Yeah, you never realize how many posts you have until you try to go back and change something in them lol.

  20. kris @ lemon-notes

    Meh I’ve been kind of sucking when it comes to videos and music lately. I just haven’t found anything fun!! THE MAY RELEASES ARE KILLLLING ME. Why must they all do this at once?? WHY.
    Also, I snorted at that portals to hell drawing so hard it made me launch into a coughing fit 😛

    1. Kristen Burns

      Me too. It bums me out when I go too long without finding any good new music :-/ But seriously, what’s with all the new releases all at once?!

      Haha sorry about your coughing fit. It made me laugh so hard that I cried 😛

  21. Geybie's Book Blog

    I’m feeling the same, Kristin. I’m having a hard time to choose which ones I’m gonna read this week. So far, I only have one standalone and a series which I love and need to read the three books left but other than them I have no option. I’m not interested in the books I’ve seen on netgalley and book tours. So I rely on friends recommendations. I got several candidates I’m eyeing, which is great. I’ve rarely felt this way. I usually have so many options. So… ?
    Anyway, I hope you enjoy all of these books. So many books. So happy for you. Happy reading, Kristin.
    Have a wonderful week. ?

  22. Cee Arr

    Ha, that portals of hell thing just brightened my morning (also, Satan apparently likes tea – who knew?)

    Since we use degrees C here, not degrees F, for a moment I thought you meant 62C, and therefore had actually melted. I do that a lot and then I’m like – oh! It’s fine! They just use a different scale and global warming hasn’t actually become *that* bad! Lol 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Glad I could brighten your morning 🙂 And I love portrayals of calm, good guy Satan lol.

      Hahahaha you cracked me up with the melting thing. I never understand C so I get confused by other people’s posts sometimes.

  23. Dragonfly @ Our Familiarium

    It must be nice to live where 62 is low! 🙂
    Funny you mention a reading slump and pinterest. My Sunday post and another post next week will be about it because I have been in such a writing and reading slump all I have done the last days is procrastinate in Pinterest. 🙂 BUT my post will be about how is that the most productive way to waste your writers time because I did come up with new ideas 🙂 These were fun so I’ll be looking forward to you pin of the week!
    And something else I would love you to talk about more is the Sims. I’m so curious. Can you make them do ANYTHING? like let’s say cheat on each other? if so that’s so cool! It’s like being a virtual writer! 🙂
    Yes you are definitely a perfectionist I would never notice that!

    1. Kristen Burns

      It is nice to live where it’s warm, as a matter of fact lol. I hate the cold.

      Yeah, I’ve been spending a lot of time on Pinterest since I just haven’t been able to concentrate on anything else. It really can be productive though! So much inspiration!

      You can make them do quite a lot, but maybe not EVERYTHING. Cheating? Yes. Or if you get them certain of these reward things (they get points for fulfilling wishes, then you can get rewards) to eliminate jealousy, you can even make a menage relationship lol. But yeah, I think one of the reasons I love playing is because I get to kinda make stories in a way by creating sims, giving them backstories, creating their lives, embellishing a bit in my mind…