The Weekly Update: 5/1/16

 
 

So I’ve been really stressed and tired and a little out of it lately, but I actually had a pretty good week both on and off the blog. And the comments I’ve gotten this week on the discussion post have been off the chain! (I’ve never used that phrase before, seemed like fun to give it a try. How’d I do?) Seriously though, I love when discussion posts turn into actual discussion. You guys are the best!

In other news, my laptop is being sent back to me finally, again, supposedly fixed. We all know how that went last time (it came back to me still broken), so I’m not celebrating until I actually have it in my hands and see it working properly. I’ll update you all on that next week.

And now onto the bookish stuff!


Blog/Bookish Updates:

Wanna hear something funny, guys? At the start of the year, before I started requesting ARCs, I was afraid I might not have enough books to review two a week! -_- But right now I have reviews slotted all the way up to July 7th, and it’s kind of stressing me out because, I mean, a get a book in April but I can’t tell people about it until July?! I also like to post books around their time of publication, at least within a month, so that can be a problem too. I don’t want to bombard my readers with reviews, but I might start posting three reviews *some* weeks.

Also, random, but I’m super excited for to share my review of A Criminal Magic with you all this week. It has a fun, little quiz I made and everything!

Books I Received for Review:

The Haunted Pub by Melanie Tushmore | books, reading
Girl in the Shadows by Gwenda Bond | books, reading, book covers
Braineater Jones by Stephen Kozeniewski | books, reading, book covers
Triad Blood by Nathan Burgoine | books, reading, book covers
 

SOMEBODY PLEASE MAKE ME STOP REQUESTING STANDALONES. I DON’T EVEN LIKE THEM. Ok, I do like them sometimes, but it’s rare that I like a standalone more than a series. Yet, for some reason, I can’t stop myself. But yay! I’m happy that I finally got approved for Girl in the Shadows! Be on the lookout for my review of Girl on a Wire soon since I want to get that one posted on my blog first. I’m also excited about Braineater Jones because it’s about a zombie in the Prohibition Era. I get to read another urban fantasy set in the Prohibition Era! (The other was A Criminal Magic.) So yeah, I’ve had a good Netgalley week πŸ˜€ The bad news is that I’m never gonna get to those backlisted books I want to read, haha.

Books I Finished:

Tone Deaf by Olivia Rivers | books, reading, book covers
Sex Criminals Vol. 2 by Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky | books, reading, book covers
Deadgirl by B.C. Johnson | books, reading, book covers
Deadgirl: Ghostlight by B.C. Johnson | books, reading, book covers
 

I know, I actually read a contemporary this week! *GASP* It had a deaf protagonist though, which is why I read it, and I enjoyed it well enough. I finally got to read the second volume of Sex Criminals, but it kind of disappointed me after how much I loved the first one. (Mini review here.) Deadgirl started off on rocky ground for me but got better about halfway through the first book. I haven’t quite finished the second, but I’ll finish it today. Reviews for Tone Deaf and both Deadgirl books coming soon.

Song of the Week:

“Spark” by Backstage Cast – This is the theme song for the show Backstage on Disney Channel. It’s a nice song, but it’s also proving to be a really good show, especially in terms of diversity. I might do a post about it.

 

In Case You Missed It:

– I shared book covers featuring CIRCUS!
– I reviewed Bleeding Heart by Melissa Graves, an adorable, M-M vampire romance.
– I talked about whether or not I think it’s appropriate for 15-year-olds to read 50 Shades of Grey and asked for your opinion.
– I reviewed The Other Side of Gravity by Shelly Crane, a fluffy sci-fi romance that just didn’t work for me.

The Sunday Post Link-Up:

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

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Did you find any good books or music last week?
How often do you post book reviews on your blog?

 
 
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37 thoughts on “The Weekly Update: 5/1/16

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  1. Daniela Ark

    Sorry to hear you have been stressed and tired but you kinda of sound happy so I’ll be happy too πŸ™‚ I was JUST thinking the same when I was looking at all the reviews I have pending to post! I’ve have to start posting at least twice to catch up πŸ™‚
    I think you should post as many reviews as you want/can! I love your reviews. Never too many πŸ™‚
    Hummm uh *cringing* Yay you got the circus book happy for YOU. I’ll read that review during the day though :p

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks. I did have good things happen this week though, despite the stress, so I am happy about that.

      Aww shucks, now I’m gonna post seven reviews a week just for you! Just kidding lol. I’m thinking maybe 3 reviews every other week. (And the usual 2 on the in between weeks.) But thanks, I’m glad someone likes my reviews πŸ™‚

      At first I was confused like, why is she cringing? But then I realized, the circus thing lol. Girl on a Wire really isn’t creepy though, so I imagine this one won’t be either. I think you could survive reading them πŸ˜‰

    1. Kristen Burns

      ARCs in general are an addiction lol. But I only have five books out on Netgalley right now, so I’m not doing too bad. It’s just that I keep requesting the damn standalones.

      Thanks πŸ™‚ *fingers crossed*

  2. Natalie

    Lol too many books to review is a good problem to have πŸ™‚ I just requested some ARCs from NetGalley for the first time about a week ago, so I’ll probably be joining you with the freakout soon!

    1. Kristen Burns

      You know, you do make a good point. As far as problems go, it’s not a bad one to have, haha. My problem isn’t even that I have too many read, it’s that I don’t have enough days to review them all lol. But yay! That’s awesome that you started requesting πŸ™‚ I just started in January, but it’s a little addictive πŸ˜›

  3. Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

    Stress is so tiring! I hope next week will be calmer so that you will feel more on top of things, Kristen.
    I have the same ‘problem’ with ARCs, too. I have a lot of them, and I also have the books I have bought… And I only post one post per day (most of the time) and three reviews per week… So yeah, I feel you. It’s really good that you have stuff scheduled up until July, though.
    Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks πŸ™‚

      Well, by scheduled I just meant put in my blog schedule spreadsheet lol, but I haven’t actually read all the books yet. But it’s not getting the books read that I’m worried about. You post three reviews a week though, so that makes me more assured about my idea to start posting three reviews every other week and see how that works for me.

      You have a great week too πŸ™‚

  4. Greg

    Hey the laptops coming back lol. Celebration time (if it works) With Toshiba I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t… but we’ll be positive. πŸ™‚ I’ve noticed too that I’m scheduling reviews weeks out just because I have all the other day s filled up. Who knew there’d be so little time? Kinda crazy.

    I usually like a series more than a standalone too, although I’ve read a couple standalones recently and it was kinda nice to be done. Duologies seem to be a bit more common too, and I like those.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah no celebrating yet lol. I wouldn’t be surprised if it still doesn’t work either. But this laptop I’m using now seems to be getting more screwed up by the day -_-

      Right? Not enough days in the week. I can’t believe I thought I wouldn’t have enough reviews.

      I mean, I have loved some standalone, it’s just less common for me. And if I do love something, well, then I want more of it. I’ve never read a duology, but I think I’d still like longer series better.

  5. Geraldine @ Corralling Books

    AHAHA same omg – i keep requesting standalones – and in general i have to stop requesting – but ahhh they always sound so good xD
    Hope the next week is better for you though, and that you feel less stressed and tired! Sending you good vibes!

  6. sjhigbee

    Fingers crossed regarding the laptop. I appreciate what you’re saying about feeling stressed, but as ever, your content is well written and engrossing. I loved the circus covers post and your interesting discussion on whether 15 yr olds should read Fifty Shades of Grey. I hope this next week is a good one for you and, for what it’s worth, I reckon you should review books as often as you want to…

    1. Kristen Burns

      Aww thank you for making me feel good πŸ™‚ I’m glad you liked my other posts as well, and yeah, I suppose I shouldn’t worry so much about adding some extra reviews if that’s what I think is best!

  7. Lauren Helms

    Ok, so I’m so overwhelmed with ARCs right now. I over requested for May and June and I don’t have enough time to read them all. Not to mention, when I request ARCs from the publicity companies, they’ve been taking longer and longer lately to send out the ARCs. It stresses me out having 10 days or less to read a book. Anyways, I found lots of great music this week. My current fave – See Through Heart by SEBELL. And lastly, For the past couple of months, I’ve posted reviews on my blog 4-5 times a week. My goal is 3-4, so I’m doing well!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol see, my problem isn’t that I don’t have time to read them, just that I don’t have enough days to review them. That is stressful when the blog tour/publicity companies give you such a short amount of time to read and review the books though since you might have other books, you might be in the middle of something, you might be busy that week, etc.

      This See Through Heart song is nice πŸ™‚ And awesome, ok, I guess I don’t need to worry so much that 3 reviews a week will be too many!

  8. Peyton @A Bookish Mess

    The addiction to the books is real! && I try my hardest to stay away from the stand alone novels as well. I love the series, mainly because I do not want the characters to end! I do read a few here and there, depending on how much the synopsis speaks to me! Hope you have a fantastic week & happy reading!

    My Sunday Post
    Peyton @A Bookish Mess

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, I like series because I like to get super deep with characters, and it usually takes me a while to truly get invested. And if I do get invested right away, then I want more books about them! But sometimes those damn standalones sound so good lol. You have a great week too πŸ™‚

  9. Tiffany

    The stress is why I’ve backed off of requesting ARCs. There’s just too many books coming out this year I want to read. Besides, I never read all of the books from last year’s Romantic Times Convention, and now I have books I got yesterday at Yallwest. At this rate, I’ll never catch up with or without ARCs. Remember, this is fun. Don’t let the stress get to you, and make you dread blogging or reading in general.

    1. Kristen Burns

      It’s not so much stress about reading the books, more just getting the reviews posted on time. But I am trying to maybe take a little break just so I can get to some backlisted books I really want. (Ok so those will be review copies too lol, but still, I just want a break to do some series binge-reading, and those don’t have any specific date to be reviewed by.) But you’re right that this is supposed to fun, not stressful, so if I can remove the stress by posting more often, it makes sense that I should just do that πŸ™‚

  10. Lola

    I am sorry to hear you’ve been a bit stressed and out of it lately, but I am glad to hear you had a good week. And yes it’s fun when discussion posts turn into actual discussions. It’s always interesting to see which topics work best. I hope your laptop actually works when you get it back this time, fingers crossed!

    Wow sounds like you’re really ahead with your review posts, I don’t read fast enough for it, but I do know the feeling of not getting to talk about the book you’re reading now for weeks. I am two weeks ahead at the moment and that’s because I only scheduled one review post for next week. Maybe you can leave some spots open on your blog, so you can review a book soon after reading it once in awhile. For me it’s usually the book picked at my to-be read list poll and it can be fun to actually share your review soon after reading it. And posting more reviews in one week sometimes helps too. I always enjoy reading your review,s so I wouldn’t mind seeing more reviews.

    I don’t read a lot of standalones either, but they can be fun. I actually had a good netgalley week as well, I got approved for the one book I was waiting for and didn’t request anything besides that. I got a lot other review books though, so it’s good I didn’t got as many netgalley books this week.
    Tone Deaf sounds interesting with the deaf protagonist, I am looking forward to your review of that one! I hope you’ll have a good week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks, the stressful stuff has been going on for a while now, but that’s why it’s great when some good stuff happens πŸ™‚ Discussion posts are the best when people get really into them! And it is interesting to see what works well, it usually surprises me lol. Thanks about the laptop πŸ™‚

      I don’t actually have the books read yet, so I’m not actually ahead lol. I just have them penciled into the schedule, like, I’m gonna post a review for this book on this day. Leaving spots open doesn’t really work though because I’m trying to get reviews posted around the time of publication. So I’m basically posting them in order of publication date at this point. But I’ve decided that I will start posting three reviews some weeks, and that’ll make things easier on me. And thank you for liking my reviews πŸ™‚

      Netgalley was good but also a weird coincidence this week for me because all the same day I got one book that I had literally just requested, one I’d been waiting on for about a week, and one I’d been waiting on for over a month. Anyway, I’m glad you had a good week with Netgalley and ARCs too πŸ™‚ Idk if Tone Deaf would be for you because I’m not sure if you like heavy books? But I guess you’ll be able to decide when you see the review lol.

  11. Maureen's Books (@MaureenHinten)

    How awesome that your discussion post was such a success this week. That’s really great.
    Ow.. and jeej on your laptop finally getting back. That took a long time!! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it works great this time!
    Awesome new books Kirsten! They look amazing! And who knows.. maybe you’ll start liking standalones more. πŸ˜‰
    Have a great week and Happy Reading!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks πŸ™‚ And ugh, yeah, the laptop has taken forever this time, so they better have fixed it for real! I am excited for my books, even if some of them are standalones πŸ˜› I mean, a zombie in the prohibition era? I can’t not be excited for that lol. You have a great week too!

  12. Deborah

    I haven’t heard of ‘off the chain’ before?! I think it worked.

    Glad you had a good week and it’s great you got good engagement on the blog. Mine’s always a bit hit and miss. My book reviews rarely get any comments. I used to close comments for that reason but opened them after someone mentioned they’d like to comment but wonder now….

    1. Kristen Burns

      Hahaha I’m glad it worked for someone, especially since that was probably the first and last time I’ll ever use that phrase.

      Same here with the book reviews. I leave comments open, but, with rare exception, they don’t get much interaction. But I’ve come to love discussion posts since those do the best, and it’s so fun seeing what everyone else thinks.

  13. Laura Thomas

    I did request one Netgalley ARC this week and forgot to mention it on my post. Trying real hard to stay away from ARCs right now except those sent from authors I’ve been reading. Sorry about the stress but it looks like you have some fabulous reads to take care of that.

    1. Kristen Burns

      It seems like nobody actually manages to stay away from ARCs no matter how hard we try lol. Thanks, reading is definitely the best cure I know of for stress πŸ™‚

  14. Kei @ The Lovely Pages Reviews

    I have a book for July 7th too – could that be the same book OMG! I usually post my reviews on GR after I’m finished with them, helps me keep things organized, plus it helps the book if the rating is positive so why not? But when I don’t like a book to be published, I keep my review for a later date. I love Netgalley, seriously what would I do without it? Also, I feel the same about standalones. Very picky!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Haha πŸ˜› I don’t like to post any reviews to GR until I’ve got the post up on my blog. That’s how I stay organized, so kind of the opposite to you lol. But I agree that I like to postpone the review a bit if it’s negative so that I feel like less of a jerk. Being the first review and having it be negative just makes me feel bad. I do love Netgalley though!

  15. Bookworm Brandee

    I’m feeling ya with the stressed and tired. Maybe the time of year?!? I’m ready for less stress though. Maybe after May 20th when my daughter graduates… lol I also understand how you’re feeling about posting reviews so long after you’ve read the book. I’ve been working at scheduling posts and am into late June…and I’m thinking, but what about these new books I’m going to read? When am I supposed to post those reviews? I’m new to scheduling so far in advance…it’s gonna be an adjustment! lol But you feel free to post 3 reviews in a week. We’ll read ’em! πŸ™‚ I hope your laptop is as good as new when it returns. And I hope you enjoy all your new books! I’m looking forward to your review of A Criminal Magic!

    1. Kristen Burns

      I’m ready for less stress too lol. But yeah! When I read a good book, I want to talk about it right away while I’m all excited about it! Not to mention, in addition to the review copies, I still have books I read last year and really liked but haven’t gotten to review yet! (For example, Bleeding Heart I read in November.) Thanks though for reading my reviews, regardless of how many I post πŸ™‚ And thanks about the laptop and new books! And yay, I’m glad someone is excited for my Criminal Magic review! You totally have to take the quiz lol.