Sunday Post #211

Posted January 1, 2017 by Lola in Sunday Post / 40 Comments

sunday post

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, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

What happened this week?

Happy New Year! I hope 2017 will be a good year. This week I spent some time looking back upon 2016 and I talked about the best books I read in 2016. I also spent some time looking forward and eventually decided to do a more global goal post where I list what goals I like to achieve in 2017 and then at the end of the year look back. It was a pretty okay week. I got some work done and did some gaming and reading. I finished two more great reads this year and am looking forward to 2017.

And last week was Christmas, here in the Netherlands we have two Christmas days. The first Christmas day we had lunch with my mom, her husband, my sister and her boyfriend. It was fun to see everyone and we had a nice lunch. After that we went back home, I was a bit tired and decided to take a nap. Then we spent a quiet evening at home. It was lovely. I had bought my boyfriend a co-op game for Christmas which we have been playing a bit. On the second Christmas day we visited my boyfriend his parents, we unpacked presents and had a multi course dinner. We got some leftovers home with us and ate that the next day.

As I said before I’ve been looking back upon this year, both personal and business wise. I made more money with my business than last year, but not a lot, I had hoped for a bigger growth, so I am hoping to focus more on that next year. And the slight growth my business had is mostly thanks to the extra assistant work I did this year, as I actually organized less tours than last year. In 2015 I organized 35 tours and only 30 in 2016. I have decided to change things up a bit next year. I am hoping to do more discounts and hopefully grow my newsletter for authors. And I will send out a newsletter when a new discount goes live. I’ve been planning which discounts to run when next year and it’s making me excited for next year. I also have listed a few of my business wise goals in the goal post I have scheduled for next week.

Picture of the Week

No picture of the week this week 🙁

What did I read this week?

Speak No EvilLove Lies and Hocus Pocus Beginnings

I really enjoyed Speak no Evil, it was a great read and I can’t wait for book 3 in the series. I finished Love Lies and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings on the last day of the year so it still counts for this week and the last year, lol. It was a really good one and I already started book 2! I would recommend it to everyone who likes a good fantasy book set in the modern time with magic. After reading the book I realize how perfect the cover is, lots of small details that fit the characters and the cover image helped me visualize the characters.

What did I cook for dinner this week?

This week I blogged about:

– Review: The Trouble With Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis
– Lola’s Ramblings: Best Books I read in 2016
– Reading Challenges 2016: Fourth Quarterly Recap
– Review: Wild Game by Alisa Woods

What to expect next week on the blog:

– Lola’s Advice: What to post on social media
– Review: Where we Were by Kellie Sheridan
– Lola’s Ramblings: Goals for 2017
– My To-Be Read List #29: poll

Tours open for sign-up on Lola’s Blog Tours:

Review Opportunities:
– Don’t Call Me Kit Kat by K.J. Farnham
– Name of Ra by Kelsey Ketch
– Single Chicas by Sandra C Lopez
– Here Comes the Witch by Ani Gonzalez
– Newborn by Edward Hoorneart
– Necromancer by Graeme Ing
– Teach Your Heart by Tracey Alvarez
– Naughty or Nice by Jessie Logan
– Right Under Your Nose by Holly Tierney-Bedord
– Fated Memories by Joan Carney
– Remember by Joan Carney
– Finding Kyler by Siobhan Davis – New!
Check the full list of open review opportunities here.

Cover Reveals:
There are no open cover reveals at the moment.

Tours:
– Book Blitz: Swords & Stilettos by Kristin D. Van Risseghem – 4 till 10 January
– Book Blitz: Four of a Kind by Kellie Sheridan – 4 till 10 January
– Book Blitz: Finding Kyler by Siobhan Davis – 9 till 15 January
– Book Blitz: Lana’s Ex Prom Date by Amy Sparling – 16 till 22 January
– Book Blitz: Amanda Lester Series by Paula Berinstein – 30 January till 5 February
– Book Blitz: Reckless Hearts by Heather Van Fleet– 7 till 13 February
– Book Blitz: Melancholy Ghost by Kat Mayor – 21 till 27 February – New!

Book Haul:

AwakeningFeyguardLove Lies and Hocus Pocus RevelationsFour of a Kind

Awakening I got for review form the author. Feyguard was only 0.99$ and I’ve read one other book by this author, so I decided to grab the box set. I was reading the fist Lilly Singer book and enjoyed it so much I bought the second book,Love Lies and Hocus Pocus Revelations, before I even finished reading it. I just started reading this one, right after I finished the first book. I got Four of a Kind through netgalley, yay! The prequel novella was very good, so looking forward to reading this one.

Freebies I grabbed:

I got the following freebies this week (they were free when I got them):

Also check out my facebook post here where I list freebies and cheap books during the week.

Tags:

40 responses to “Sunday Post #211”

    • Lola

      Yes having two Christmas days is pretty neat. It makes me feel better to have a plan in place for 2017 and I hope it will help my business grow more this year. and glad to hear you think the newsletter is a great feature :).

      Reply
  2. Sophia Rose

    Good to hear that you had a lovely Christmas with both sides of your family and a nice one together at home. We did the same.
    Super news that your business did well and that you have a strong plan for the new year to grow it even more.

    Your new modern fantasy series does look good. I’ll have to check it out. Looking forward to your new year goals post.
    Sophia Rose recently posted…Hit Man by Michele MannonMy Profile

    Reply
    • Lola

      It was a good Christmas and it’s nice to be able to see everyone in those two days. I am glad my business did go well, even though i had hoped for more growth, but it’s good to have a plan for 2017.

      I am totally hooked to that fantasy series. It’s so good! My reviews will be coming to the blog soon, but I can tell you I gave the second book a rare 5 star to give an idea of how much I enjoyed them :).

      Reply
  4. Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight

    Happy New Year! It sounds like you had a relaxing Christmas, it sounds nice 🙂 I’m sorry your business didn’t grow as much as you wanted it to :-/ Good luck with your plans for this year, I’m sure it takes times to figure these things out and maybe it’ll grow a lot this year!

    Ok, I could have sworn I commented something about the Love, Lies, & Hocus Pocus book while it was in your sidebar because the cover is so catchy, but now I don’t recall… I’m confused lol. But that’s awesome that you loved it and have already bought the next one! And you and I both like having illustrated covers that show the actual characters since it helps us visualize.

    What other book did you read by Anthea Sharp? I read The Dark Realm last year and it wasn’t bad, but it didn’t stand out to me either.
    Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…The Weekly Update: 1/1/17My Profile

    Reply
    • Lola

      Thanks! Happy new year to you too! I had hoped to grow my business more, but I think my reluctance to do discounts until now had held me back. But I have a solid plan in place for 2017, so I hope that helps. And I have to do more to market myself, but as we talked about before I am not as good with that.

      The cover really is great! And it fits the story and characters, I love that. I think covers can really help me visualize the characters, especially covers like this where the cover image fits the descriptions so well. The cover artist did an awesome job with the cover, even the cats look exactly like how he’s described in the book. I am already 17% in the next book. It’s so good!

      I think it’s the dark realm that I read, I read it years ago, so I can’t remember much, but I think I enjoyed it. This is a more recent series I think and with the box set being 0.99$ I was curious enough to pick it up.

      Reply
  5. Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

    Happy New Year, Lola! I hope it will be a good one, filled with love, joy, happiness, success and good health 🙂

    It’s good that your business is doing better, even with less tours. I hope you’ll be able to make it grow in ways that will make it even more profitable for you 🙂

    Christmas time with family is so nice. I love just spending lazy days with the people I love 🙂 Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading.
    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews recently posted…2016 New Release Challenge Wrap-Up PostMy Profile

    Reply
    • Lola

      Happy new year to you too Lexxie!

      It was a small increase only, but I am still glad with that. The assistant work was a big chunk of my income this year. Although I do hope to organize more tours as well next year.

      We had a nice Christmas, although it was a tad busy.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #211My Profile

      Reply
  9. Michelle @Because Reading

    Glad you had a great Christmas! Thank you so much for picking me to do your banner designs. I have had a productive year because of you and as much as I am hoping this year brings more, I enjoy working with you! 🙂

    I hope the New Year brings you love, happiness and a productive business!
    Happy New Year, my friend!
    Have a great week and happy reading!
    Michelle @Because Reading recently posted…Monthly Rewind ~ December and End of Year ChallengesMy Profile

    Reply
    • Lola

      I am so glad to hear that! And I am still so happy you said yes as I enjoy working with you too. Let’s hope I have even more banners to design for you this year :). I am always excited to see how you will design the banner. So far this year is off to a good start with tours and I am hoping to get a few more booked while my current discount is going on.

      Happy new year to you too my friend!

      Reply
  13. Greg

    Happy New Year Lola!!! Glad you had nice holidays- I always like a quiet night at home after visiting and it’s nice you can do that. My relatives are a couple of hours away so usually have to travel, still it was nice to see them.

    Good luck with the business this year and hope it continues to grow. Looking forward to your Advice and ramblings posts this week. Hope 2017 starts off great for you. 🙂
    Greg recently posted…Sunday Post #175My Profile

    Reply
    • Lola

      It was nice to have a quiet evening at home after the visiting. My mom and her husband were the ones that had to travel this year, so we didn’t have to.

      I hope you’ll enjoy my Advice and Ramblings posts this week! And I hope 2017 will be a good year for all of us!

      Reply
  14. S. J. Pajonas

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It sounds like you had a lovely time with your family for the holidays, and you’re off to a good start for 2017. 🙂 I’m looking forward to hearing more from you in your newsletter this year!
    S. J. Pajonas recently posted…2017: The Year I Have FunMy Profile

    Reply
    • Lola

      I hope to focus more on my newsletter this year and I am so happy I launched it in 2016. I hope you had a fun Christmas and happy new year!

      Reply
  16. Kathy

    Happy New Year! Your Christmas celebration sounds like a lot of fun and a great time to be with your family. I love the cover of Love,Lies and Hocus Pocus and I’ll check this series out. Even though your business for 2016 didn’t go as planned it’s good to hear you are staying positive and have plans for 2017. I wish you all the best for the new year!!
    Kathy recently posted…Weekly Wrap-Up #113My Profile

    Reply
    • Lola

      I just read book 2 in that series as well and I actually gave it a 5 star. It’s such a good series.

      It feels good to have plans for 2017 and I hope it’s an even better year business wise.

      Reply
  17. Wattle

    Happy New Year! It sounds like you had a nice Christmas, it’s always a good opportunity to spend time with family 🙂

    Good luck expanding your business over the next year! And enjoy all the new books you got this past week 🙂
    Wattle recently posted…2017 Reading ChallengesMy Profile

    Reply
    • Lola

      It was a cookie mix I had gotten, it had all the ingredients and you only had to add an egg and butter. They were pretty good. I’ll have to see if I can find a recipe to make something similar.

      Reply

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