Sunday Post #233

Posted June 4, 2017 by Lola in Sunday Post / 38 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?

Another busy week. I had 7 tours running at the same time for most of this week and I know now that this is going to be around the maximum of tours I can run at the same time as I managed just barely. I also put live four sign-up posts this week (two cover reveals, a book blitz and a blog tour), I had to sent out 3 or so media kits this week, finished up May’s assistant work and made a nice start of June’s assistant work as well. I am now open to organizing torus for non-fiction books as well and am organizing my first non-fiction tour at the moment.

It’s been really warm here this week, which made sleeping difficult at times. Some days or times are doable, but other times it’s just too warm. And I had a nasty headache from Wednesday evening till Thursday afternoon which meant I hardly did any work for the first half of the day. I also wrote a Lola’s Advice post, but it probably needs some more editing first as I wrote it while my headache was starting up.

I think I finally got out of my weird reading mood from the past few weeks. Yay! I actually read 3 books this week and all of them were four stars! After reading Keeping Kyler, which was great, I decided to read Which Summer Night’s Dream. Which was the review book I was most looking forward next. I realized I was in a cozy mood and picked up another cozy mystery next, Doughnuts and Deception. And I am now reading Fantasy of Frost, which is really good and I am already about halfway through. My evening read is still Missing, which had a bit of a slow start, but it’s really good now.

This year I’ve been trying hard to read new releases for which I got review copies close to the release day and while I think it’s a good goal to try and review the books I within a timely manner, I think that’s what ultimately caused my weird reading mood/ slump. I was so focused on what I had to read that it sucked the fun out of reading. And it’s not like I didn’t want to read those books on my list, but having them on the list and forcing myself to read them, just made me enjoy the books I was reading less. So from now onward I hope to try and find a balance between the two, still try and read some books close to the release if possible, especially for the ARC teams I am part of, but also try to mood read as much as possible. The strange thing is that even though I know I am a moodreader I do this to myself every once in a while, where I become so focused on reading review copies I lose track of my moodreading and eventually almost land in a slump because of it. I am also trying to sign-up for less review copies from netgalley and edelweiss and try to request a book only if it really appeals to me or if it’s an author I already know. For the rest of the year I hope to focus more on the authors whose ARC teams I am part of and reading some books I already own or got for review that I really want to read.

May Reading Stats

It’s time for my May reading Stats. My reading mood was a bit off the whole month and I just didn’t seem to be able to enjoy books as much as usually. So I didn’t read as much and I had a lot of 3 stars.

  • Amount of books read: 9 (1 more than in April)
  • Favorite book: Witch Summer Night’s Cream by HY Hanna
  • Most read genres: Contemporary Romance (3 books)
  • Most read age category: Adult (7 Adult books, and 2 NA books)
  • Authors I read most books from: Lydia Sherrer (I read two of her books this month)
  • New to me authors: 2; Meg Macy and Eve Langais

A few more stats. This month I read 7 self published books and 2 from publishers (1 from HarperCollins and 1 from Kensington). I read 5 different genres this month, 3 Contemporary Romance, 2 Urban Fantasy, 2 Cozy Mystery, 1 Paranormal Romance and 1 Fairytale Retelling. All 9 books were full length. I read 4 books that got a 4 star and 5 books that got a 3 stars. 6 of the books I read were books I received for review and 3 were books that I bought.
7 of the books I read where read on my ipad and 2 on my Kobo. I read 3 books written in 1st point of view and 6 in third person point of view. I read 5 books that took place in the US, 3 in the UK and 1 on Planet Neverland.
I only read 1 book that was a standalone, namely Crazy by Eve Langais. 1 book I read was a series starter, I didn’t read any series enders, but I did read 3 books that were the third in a series. 4 of the books I read had a human as main character, the other 5 had non-human main characters. 6 of the books I read had multiple point of views (both males and females), 3 books had a female main character.

Picture of the Week

Sorry no picture this week 🙁

What did I read this week?

Keeping KylerWitch Summer Night's CreamDoughnuts and Deception

This was such a great reading week! I actually read 3 books in a week and they were all 4 stars reads and I am about halfway through both of my current reads and they are great too. But best of all I got my joy in reading back and I just seemed to enjoy my reading time a lot more.
Keeping Kyler wrapped up the story of Faye and Kyler, but the series will continue with stories from the other Kennedy Boys. I already reviewed it this week, it was a good one. Witch Summer Night’s Cream was great and exactly the type of book I was in the mood for. I really enjoyed it and once I was finished I decided to pick up another cozy mystery instead of following my reading list and I read Doughnuts and Deception in a few days. Now I am reading Fantasy of Frost, another mood read pick. After this I hope to read paper Cranes as now I feel in the mood for reading that and I hope to review it on release day.

What did I cook for dinner this week?

This week I blogged about:

Review: Keeping Kyler by Siobhan Davis
Review: Bearly departed by Meg Macy

What to expect next week on the blog:

– Review: Crazy by Eve Langlais
– Review: Witch Summer Night’s Cream by HY Hanna

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

Review Opportunities:
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
Making Bad Choices by Rita Stradling
Cards From Khloe’s Flower Shop by Isabella Louise Anderson
Warren High: An Elephant Never Forgets by J.C. Roberts
A Distant Voice by Bridie Blake
Mother of Wolves by J Aislynn d’Merricksson
Check the full list of open review opportunities here.

Cover Reveals:
Sketches of My Soul by TC Booth – 6 June
Hearts are Like Balloons by Candace Robinson – 8 June
The She-Wolf of Kanta by Marlena Frank – 15 June – New!
Crash land on Kurai by SJ Pajonas – 16 June – New!
It Starts With L by Cassandra Fear – 21 June

Tours:
Book Blitz: Little Miss Tress by Tressa Rabbit – 4 till 10 June
Blog Tour: Scandal by Athena Grayson – 12 till 25 June
Book Blitz: All That Glitters by Tracy Krimmer – 19 till 25 June
Blog Tour: Hold Me Captive …Forever – 26 June till 9 July – New!
Blog Tour: Home Field by Laurie Winter – 30 June till 13 July
Book Blitz: Your crossroads. Your choice. by EJ Apicello – 3 till 9 July – New!

Book Haul:

I Still RememberDamned Either WayScene of the Grind

I Still Remember I got from the author as a thanks for organizing a cover reveal for the book. I am looking forward to reading this one. Damned Either Way I got for review from the author. I enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy and am looking forward to see how it ends. Scene of the Grind was discounted this week, so i bought a copy. I think I now own three of this author’s books, but haven’t read any of them yet.

Freebies I grabbed:

You can stop by my facebook post here to see some freebies and cheap/ discounted book I found last week. Here’s the Facebook post for next week.

Tags:


38 responses to “Sunday Post #233

  1. Wow! Seven tours in one week. That would definitely keep you hopping.

    That is great about figuring out what caused the slump and being able to fix it. I came to a similar conclusion last year and started working toward a split between reading books I had to read on a schedule (reviews) and books I was in the mood to read. It has worked out so much better.

    Your stats actually look pretty good considering you had so much work and hit a slump. Good variety in published types, authors, POVs, and genres. So hard to finish up a series, but glad you were able to read a few from ongoing series.

    That Scene of the Grind looks cute. I plan to read Tonya Kappes books at some point.

    Have a great week, Lola!
    Sophia Rose recently posted…Yakkety Yak- Doesn’t Count If You Didn’t Actually Read ItMy Profile

    • Yeah it definitely kept me busy to have so many torus going on in one week.

      I think that’s what I am leaning towards now as well, making a mix between books I want to read and review books. As even though I want to read those review books as well, if I only read those it can cause a slump.

      My stats definitely show I am reading a lot of series, even though I didn’t finish any series this month. And yes my stats were still pretty good and I did still read books, I just felt like I enjoyed them less than I normally would. So hopefully that’s over now.

  2. I’m exactly the same Lola. Sometimes I force myself to read to a schedule and it always backfires on me. It works so much better if I just read the book I want to read. Nowadays I read about 50% ARCs and 50% library/own books and it just feels so much better for me.
    Yay for 3 books that were 4 stars! Scene of the Grind has a fab cover. And good luck with the non fiction tours, I think that’s a great idea.
    Trish @ Between My Lines recently posted…The Sunday Post : Get your Bookish News – Prague, a city of alchemists and dreamersMy Profile

    • It actually went pretty okay for months and I a surprised I even managed to list read for so long before it backfired. I am hoping I can move towards a 50%/ 50% balance as well.

      I really like the cover for Scene of the Grind, I had my eyes on it since it released, so I had to grab it while it was only $0.99.

  3. Wow.. it sounds like you had a crazy busy week Lola!
    Good to hear you had such a good reading week. I’m finally getting back to my reading mood and it feels so good to be back!
    I did hear it was really hot here. We’ve been on our honeymoon so we missed that, but the warmth is still hanging in our home.
    Have a great week and happy reading.
    Maureen Bakker recently posted…The Sunday Post #51: Wedding & HoneymoonMy Profile

    • It definitely was a great week! Although the 7 tours in one week was a bit crazy, especially as 3 of those were blitzes.

    • That’s really warm! It must be nice to have at least that window AC to cool things down a little bit. It’s so hard to sleep when it’s warm.

  4. Wow that is a busy week. And it’s been hot here too- I finally had to turn on the AC. We get a lot of humidity in the summer though. Hope the temps moderate for you. I get in the mood for a cozy mystery every once in a while but the right one has to come along. Speaking of which, I guess I haven’t read one in ages lol.

    Nice stats for May. I think I only read 5 books? Not a great month for me but hey maybe June will be better? If I can stay off netflix that is…
    Greg recently posted…Sunday Post #197My Profile

    • We don’t have AC here sadly. We also have a lot of humidity here as we’re so close to the sea and have lots of water. This week was a lot cooler luckily, but it’s warming up again now.

      I was in a cozy mystery mood and read two and now I am in a fantasy mood again, lol.

      I hope June will be a better reading month for you!

    • Sometimes it just helps to pick a book because you want to and not because you have to read it. Even though all those review books are books I want to read, if you only read that it still can feel forced.

  5. You sound very busy, Lola 🙂 I hope this means your blogtours are going well!
    I’m glad you’ve enjoyed more of the books you’ve read lately 🙂 I’m back to reading much more, too… but I have a huge pile of books I need to review now 🙂
    Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading.
    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews recently posted…Five Year BlogoversaryMy Profile

  6. Wow that does sound like a busy week! But I’m glad you’re finally getting out of your weird reading mood! For me, I feel like I have found a good balance between mood reading and review copies, but I just haven’t been wanting to read at all. Or maybe the books just haven’t been that good. I’m reading Damned Either Way right now, but it’s kind of slow, so it’s not really helping lol. But still, at least it’s a series book, so I was able to jump right in! Looking forward to your thoughts when you read it too 🙂
    Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…The Weekly Update: 6/4/17My Profile

    • I really need to work on finding that balance. I just have a hard time with it as I want to read all the review copies and feel a sort of push to read those, but I have to do more moodreading as else I land in slumps like this. It’s really great how much I’ve been enjoying reading since I mood read a few books.

      Glad to hear you got Damned Either Way too! Too bad it’s a bit slow so far, I hope it gets better.

  7. You had an incredibly busy week! Wow! I don’t know how you kept everything straight, but good for you! I’m looking forward to your review on Witch’s Summer Night Cream. Interesting title!

    • Luckily 4 of those were blog tours and didn’t have a lot of stops each day, but yeah it was a tad crazy.

      I am feeling better now, but I did have another headache this week.

  8. Ugh, I’m sorry to hear that your head was bothering you and that it’s been a bit too hot to rest. That’s always a problem when you can’t get the sleep you need. But being busy is good! I’m excited that you have all of this work! Yay!
    S. J. Pajonas recently posted…Sunday Update – June 4, 2017My Profile

    • I thought I was getting another headache yesterday, but luckily it went away fast. The heat can make it difficult to sleep, especially when it’s just getting warm, after a while I get a bit more used to it.

      I also am excited to have all this work :).

  9. I can certainly relate to not wanting to be “forced” to read something you are not in the mood for. I am kinda there myself right now. So many books I want to read. But not the one I need to read. DNF is definitely on my mind right now. I am glad you got your reading mood back though! And I hope you find something to help your headaches!
    Lorna recently posted…Audiobook Review: Rendezvous With Yesterday by Dianne Duvall (@Mollykatie112, @DianneDuvall, @Kirsten_Potter)My Profile

    • It worked for a long time to just follow my list, but it’s so freeing to just read what I want sometimes now as well. I just really needed to let my list loose for a bit.

  10. Wow I can’t even imagine keeping track of 7 tours at the same time! Plus the four sign-up posts and media kits and all that! Good for you Lola! And It’s great that you are expanding to non-fiction tours as well.
    Yup I find it hard to write too when the weather is not nice and releases deadlines can get to any bookworm! BUT HEY! Yay you still managed to finally get out of your weird reading mood! Isn’t it great when you finally realized what you were in the mood for ? Unfortunately I’m still no there 🙁
    Dragonfly @ Our Familiarium recently posted…It’s a wrap! – May 2017 – Springgedon’s climaxMy Profile

    • Well luckily most of that work can be done in one or two hours at most, depending on how many stops each tour has. It’s more that combined with everything else, it does get busy.

      I am so happy I got out of my weird reading mood and found out what I wanted to read.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #234My Profile

    • Luckily it was a bit cooler this week, but it’s warming up again now It really takes some time to adjust to the heat.

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