Tag Archives: Monthly Recap

Dec
05

November 2015: Recap & Wrap-Up!

November honestly FLEW by. After half of month of Fortnight of Fright posts, November is always a sort of catch-up month with posting reviews and other features. It was on and off with reading and I fluctuated from being super ahead to almost behind and then ahead again.

I attempted NaNoWriMo and kicked off hard with a few thousand words… and then life got in the way! It ended up being a super busy month and I had to catch up on reading and blogging so writing got pushed to the back burner, but I’m happy that I at least got SOME writing done!

FunStats

  • Number of Books Read: 4. HAHA wow, that’s worse than I thought
  • Popular Search Terms:  “books like divergent” // “lunar chronicles quiz” // “books similar to harry potter” // “illuminae files plot”
  • More Amusing Search Terms: “instagram +get cash as quick as one day” (uh… no.) // “throne of glass family tree” (ooooh) // “in what stephanie plum book does morelli break up with Stephanie” (oh lawd, like all of them?)
  • Most Referrals (non-social media): The Perpetual Page Turner, Bookmark Lit, It Starts at Midnight
  • Where My Blog Most Often Leads You (non-internal/social media): Society6, Novelly Yours Bookish Candles (my shop! Thank you!!!!), Fandlemonium

Popularposts

 THINGS I CAN'T EXPLAIN       THE TROUBLE WITH DESTINY

Reviews Posted

Goodreads Reading Progress

GR nov 2015

Featured on Book and a Beverage

Other Features & Discussions

Events

MARISSA MEYER AT ANDERSON’S BOOKSHOP (11/10): I attended the “Lunar Ball” event hosted by Anderson’s LaGrange in celebration of WINTER! Marissa Meyer hit the streets for her WINTER tour and let me tell ya, this turn out was HUGE. Luckily waiting in line wasn’t too bad because there were tons of fun things to do like a “fauxto booth”, madlibs, photo ops, and more games!


I just adored meeting Marissa and it was so great to see her again! She was a gracious host for all of her fans too. Part of her main feature was that she told the audience the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and I was ridiculously impressed that she was able to tell it from memory!



My friend Lisa came with me so it was great to have a friend with me the whole time and of course, we ended up meeting other bloggers there too. It’s always so much fun chatting with book people!

I STARTED MY OWN ETSY SHOP! Okay, so this isn’t really an EVENT but I’ll include it in here anyway! I’m so excited to share my new Etsy shop for bookish candles! I started working on candle making a while ago and I was finally ready to share them with the public! I’ve already had a few sales so if you’re interested in ordering some as holiday gifts, stop on by!! –> Novelly Yours


November’s Top Instagrams

 

 

A photo posted by Brittany S. (@bookaddictsguide) on

 

 



 

What’s in store for December?

  • I’m still so far behind on writing reviews! Prepare for a whole bunch of those coming up!
  • Another Social Media Support Sunday post! I’m planning things out for Pinterest.
  • The holiday season? I don’t usually do anything festive on the blog like I do for Halloween but I’m sure I’ll do another wrap up of Secret Santa swaps!
Nov
01

October 2015: Recap & Wrap-Up!

October felt like a pretty good reading month! I got stuck on a couple of books that felt like they took a while but I also felt super accomplished! It probably also helped that we had two weeks of A Fortnight of Fright so I had toooons of time to complete future posts! 😉

FunStats

  • Number of Books Read: 11! Wow, that’s a great number for this month!!
  • Popular Search Terms:  “books similar to divergent” and “books like divergent” // “book gift guide” (coming back, bigger and better, in November!!) // “otsp secret sister” // “lunar chronicles characters”
  • More Amusing Search Terms: “how to tell someone they have been chosen as secret sister” // “goodreads books about witches and mortal husbands” // “cool names for book addicts” // “what fandom should you join if you love harry potter”
  • Most Referrals (non-social media): The Perpetual Page Turner, So Obsessed With, GReads! 
  • Where My Blog Most Often Leads You (non-internal/social media): Fandlemonium, Tripping Over Books, Don’t Take My Books Away

Popularposts

 QUEEN OF SHADOWS       A MADNESS SO DISCREET

Reviews Posted

Goodreads Reading Progress

GR October 2015

Featured on Book and a Beverage

Fortnight of Fright Posts

Other Features & Discussions

Events

ANDERSON’S BOOKSHOP YA LIT CONFERENCE (10/10 – 10/11): I first attended Anderson’s YA Literature conference two years ago (but didn’t come for the Fandom Frenzy day on Sunday) and being able to attend any YA literature conference so conveniently close, I knew I had to go again! (I couldn’t last year with all of the wedding planning and my wedding right around the corner!) This year I attended both days — the conference on Saturday and the Fandom Frenzy event on Sunday.

ya fandom frenzy

The conference was fairly similar to two years ago but it also felt more friendly to the public/non-educators. The conference, I’d say, is mostly geared toward teachers and librarians so I felt kind of out of place and under-qualified to be there when I went two years ago. Although that’s still more of the main focus, I felt like the keynote speeches and important info from Anderson’s appealed to an audience of readers as well. Of course, as a reader I feel rather strongly (just as strongly?) about putting this books into the hands of readers. Since this was geared more towards educators, it was more about getting these books into the hands of teens whereas I just want to put them in anyone’s hands who might enjoy them (since I personally don’t know many teens and can’t really say much about their education except for the fact that so many people no matter what age can benefit from these amazing books).
There were various panels where the authors answered questions from a moderator as well as from attendees so those were a lot of fun as well! Especially when I’m not able to attend panels at events like BEA because it’s just so incredibly busy, it was a nice change of pace from the more hectic conference feel!

The Fandom Frenzy day… Whooooo boy, they’re not kidding when they call it a FRENZY. It was a jam-packed day from start to finish! There were lots of fun things from trivia to games to “speed dating” with the authors. It was a lot of fun but I really wish the program had actually slowed down a LOT so we could all spend more time with the authors during the “speed date” thing instead of trying to throw as many fun activities in there as we could. I’d be willing to sacrifice some game time to chat with an author for more than a minute and thirty seconds. And those poor authors were so exhausted with that too! It was also super loud in there so it was so hard to hear some of the more quiet authors and we just didn’t have time to talk with anyone.

leigh bardugo

All in all, it was a ton of fun and I’ll definintely do it again but wow, what a whirlwind that Fandom Frenzy day was! I did get a bunch of books signed and met some amazing authors (some for the umpteenth time, some for the first) and as always, Leigh Bardugo was so gracious to sign all of my Grisha collection! She’s a queen.

October’s Top Instagrams



 


What’s in store for November?

  • WINTER IS COMING!!! I cannot wait for Winter’s release. And I’ll be finishing up the #TLCReadAlong with anyone else who wants to join in for the very last leg!
  • Lots and lots of reviews! With a Fortnight of Fright taking up two (glorious) weeks, I have a lot of reviews backed up and ready to go.
  • My first video review! EEEEEP. I had tried before and it totally did not work but coming in November, you can see my video review of THINGS I CAN’T EXPLAIN.

 

Oct
03

September 2015: Recap & Wrap-Up!

I think I say it nearly every month but this month FLEW by. I feel like I had a good reading month and did a lot of catching up on review copies, re-reads, and a bunch of other things I wanted to read. I still wasn’t knocking books out left and right but I feel like I read a significant amount and the fact that I feel accomplished and satisfied is a win right there!

FunStats

  • Number of Books Read: 10! That’s a pretty good month!
  • Popular Search Terms:  “books like harry potter” and “books like anna and the french kiss” // “best friends romance books” // “the lunar chronicles personality test”
  • More Amusing Search Terms: “clash of kings cake” // “alina starkov mbti” (Love!) // “broken heart boy crying” (I don’t even…?) // “fixer role with addicts” (Ahh. No.)
  • Most Referrals (non-social media): The Broke and the Bookish, Rather Be Reading, GReads!
  • Where My Blog Most Often Leads You (non-internal/social media): MTBI Personality Test, Harry Potter MBTI Chart, Uppercase Box

Popularposts

 RED QUEEN       ILLUMINAE

Reviews Posted

  • RED QUEEN felt like a mash-up of a lot of things that I’ve read… but I was definitely still captivated!
  • I was so excited for DREAMSTRIDER but it fell fairly flat for me. I was just hoping for so much more!
  • I listened to the audiobook of PANIC by Lauren Oliver and thought it was enjoyable but ultimately a little disappointing.
  • I kept on reading the Stephanie Plum series with EXPLOSIVE EIGHTEEN!
  • If you don’t have ILLUMINAE on your reading list, you definitely need to add it! It was amazing!!
  • I tried to do a video review of THE DETOUR but the video failed… but I managed to save the audio so you can check out my audio review instead!
  • My re-read review of SCARLET was in the form of a “10 Things” list!
  • I posted a review for FIRST & THEN by Emma Mills

Goodreads Reading Progress

september 2015 gr

Featured on Book and a Beverage

Other Features & Discussions

September’s Top Instagrams

(They were all about QUEEN OF SHADOWS hahaha)




What’s in store for October?

  • We’re continuing the Lunar Chronicles (Re)Read Along continues with CRESS in October! Here are all the details you need to join in!
  • Alyssa, Amy and I are hosting A Fortnight of Fright once again this year! Sign-ups are closed but we’re excited for the posts to start on October 17th!
  • Reviews for QUEEN OF SHADOWS, THE DREAM THIEVES re-read, A MADNESS SO DISCREET, and more!
  • I’m also on the blog tour of A MADNESS SO DISCREET and I’ll have an interview with author Mindy McGinnis!

 

Sep
02

August 2015: Recap & Wrap-Up!

I kind of spent the month of August playing catch-up. I struggled through a couple of slower books and finally picked up the pace again once I shook a mini-reading slump but overall I think it went well!

FunStats

  • Number of Books Read: 10! Whew, that’s the best month I’ve had in a while!!
  • Popular Search Terms:  “books like divergent” and “books like anna and the french kiss” // “lunar chronicles personality quizzes” // “secret sisters get to know you game”
  • More Amusing Search Terms: “how to do french kiss step by step” (why is this a thing???) // “tamlin x feyre lemon” (Lemon?) // “it the word presign correct” (what page did you land on?) // “locke lamora disguises” (LOVE THIS)
  • Most Referrals (non-social media): Alexa Loves Books, Perpetual Page Turner, Rather Be Reading
  • Where My Blog Most Often Leads You (non-internal/social media): Join the Resistance with The Lunar Chronicles, Tripping Over Books, Books Take You Places

Popularposts

 ARMADA       INK AND BONE

Other Reviews Posted

  • The ARMADA audiobook was fantastic!
  • I struggled with INK AND BONE and ultimately decided it wasn’t the book for me.
  • I finally read GONE GIRL for the first time!
  • VENGEANCE ROAD was my first Western and I really had so much fun reading it!
  • I love YA thrillers and THE FIXER was no exception!
  • It’s so hard to read a new book by your favorite author sometimes. I REALLY enjoyed SIX OF CROWS but didn’t quite fall head over heels for it.

Goodreads Reading Progress

GR august

Featured on Book and a Beverage

Other Features & Discussions

August’s Top Instagrams




What’s in store for September?

    • I’m on the blog tour for FIRST & THEN and THE DETOUR and I’m so excited for both of them!
    • A fun character personality post that I am VERY excited for on the 1st!
    • More LUNAR CHRONICLES (RE)READ ALONG fun with SCARLET all throughout September!
    • Reviews for books like Dreamstrider, Illuminae, and more!

 

Aug
01

July 2015: Recap & Wrap-Up!

JulyRecap

July was a really, really weird month. I had a lot of things going on at home and I’m guessing that was part of the reason I didn’t read as much but I sort of fell into a reading slump! I’m always an audiobook listener but I feel like I spent a lot more time listening to audios this month than reading a physical book!

FunStats

  • Number of Books Read: 8 — I guess that’s not TOO bad! It’s one more than I read last month, at least.
  • Popular Search Terms:  “books like divergent” and “books like anna and the french kiss” // “lunar chronicles personality quizzes” // “otsp secret sister”
  • More Amusing Search Terms: “how to do french kiss step by step” // “throne of glass costume” (Yes, please) // “romance novel dead lover” (hmm)
  • Most Referrals (non-social media): Perpetual Page Turner, Rather Be Reading, GReads!
  • Where My Blog Most Often Leads You (non-internal/social media): Books Take You Places, Tripping Over Books, Book Nerds Across America

Popularposts

 THE ACCIDENT SEASON       SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE

Other Reviews Posted

Goodreads Reading Progress

july 2015 goodreads

Featured on Book and a Beverage

Other Features & Discussions

Events

  • I went to Anderson’s to see Erica O’Rourke, Amber Lough, Joelle Charbonneau, and Christa Desir! Always such a delight to see Erica again!!

July’s Top Instagrams

 

 

 


 

 

What’s in store for August?

  • A bunch more authors will be featured on Book and a Beverage!
  • I need to catch up on the blog a bit! LIFE has been so busy but hopefully I’ll have some more time for reading and I can shake this little reading slump!
  • I’m hosting a LUNAR CHRONICLES (RE)READ ALONG all throughout August, September, October, November, AND a bit in December. We’re reading CINDER in August! Come join us!!!