Hi dear friends!
Time for a little weekly chit chat about how my week went and what happened on the blog. As usual I will link it up with @CaffeinatedReviewer.
In my personal life first
This week has been quite good as my hubs is healed (he got a cold last week), my son and daughter are happy at college and school and my visit to the obgyn revealed that my cyst on the ovary is gone!
No migraine either so I really do count my blessings this week.
Fall is finally upon us with leaves falling and today lots of rain and strong wind. Perfect weather to stay indoor curled up on the sofa with a good book. And that’s just what I’ve done this week!
On the blog (click on the graphic to read the post/review)
First of all I want to express gratitude to ALL OF YOU! Not only did I realize today that I am nearly at 500 followers on WordPress *how the heck did that happen?* but also because you keep liking and commenting my posts like mad and it really WARMS MY HEART!
You all know blogging takes time. Writing discussion posts or some fun posts like I try to do with the weekly memes takes a lot of time. It is fun and an outlet to my creativity but when I see all the likes and comments I seem to consistently get for months now well…I sometimes want to shed tears of joy!
So thank you for following my own brand of crazy!
Ok ok now I am nearly crying typing this so it’s time to go to something less sentimental 😉
Books I’ve read/reviewed
This week I’ve read 3 books and reviewed two so far as the third was finished today.
I’ve binge read Playing with Monsters and then Sleeping with Monsters by Amelia Hutchins after a member of our Facebook group left some famous first lines on our FB post (read the review you’ll know what I am speaking about). To my great horror and desperation, I realized that there was a third book to come with no date set yet!!!! How will I wait?
The third book I finished today was Sadie by Courtney Summers.
I will write the review tomorrow (hopefully) but I found the cover so inspirational that I just had to chase my pen, some paper and draw the cover to have it on my bookstagram. I don’t draw often these last years so I may be a little bit rusty but I was happy with the end result.
What am I saying here? No I am proud and will flount it here below LOL
I took some time this week to write about my most awaited books till the end of the year *know that it’s only a very small portion of what I’d like to read but as I haven’t won the lottery yet I have to put my credit card in my hubs hands from time to time telling him not to give it back before the end of the week/month even if I was pleading on my knees. The things we have to do not to go broke buying all the books *sigh**
The memes this week really inspired me!
When Shanah asked us to recommend our top 5 fantasy to non fantasy readers I confess that I went “all in” and had a blast writing this post. I was chuckling alone on the train getting shocked looks from other passengers as I typed the draft on my phone. Never mind I am used to be seen as the crazy chick laughing, swooning or crying on the train.
I titled this post “101 guide to pop your fantasy cherry and enjoy your first time…Top 5 or more fantasy reads”.
If you want to laugh, be my guest!
Then Dani made us speak about a character suffering from mental illness.
I confess that I could not stop at one character but chose to feature one character per kind of mental illness. Finding so many to feature raised the question if mental illness is hype in books ….
First Impression Friday was all about Amelia Hutchins books here above.
Then something happened yesterday that made me furious! Really, really mad. So angry that I just had to let some steam lose and write a post about it. I am speaking of readers rating books 1 stars when the book and even the ARCs have not been released yet! They haven’t read the book and rate it 1 star on GR. Then band with other friends and target all said author’s books! It was not a mistake (everyone can click on 1 star wanting to add to our TBR or some readers put 1 star to books they intend to read, kind of like a reminder). In one word: it was not an honest mistake it was just bashing by haters!
Last Sunday I told you that I entered the Blogoween event (an event hosted by Cloe @bookdragon and a bunch of other bloggers Anthony, Kaleena, Camilla, Lauren, Jamsu, Anna, Sam & Sophie) on Level 2.
Well the topics for this level (posting from October 24th to 31st) have been revealed this week and let me just say that I feel screwed! Some of them will make me think really hard! All ideas welcome by the way.
Here is the list of prompts:
Wednesday 24th
Prompt Title: Barely Breathing; Forever Haunted
Explanation: Books you’ve read that have left you emotionally crippled. => Forbidden or the Silver Cage
Host: Soph @ Bookwyrming Thoughts
Thursday 25th
Prompt Title: The Halloween Games
Explanation: Halloween-themed Hunger Games
Friday 26th
Prompt Title: What Spoopy Creature Are You?
Explanation: QUIZ (on the host blog), but everyone else can ponder what kind of spooky creature they would be
Saturday 27th
Prompt Title: Toil and Trouble
Explanation: Villain Halloween Theme – would you want a villain as a roommate, a villain as a companion in a haunted house, etc.
Sunday 28th
Prompt Title: I Summon Thee!
Explanation: Anything to do with resurrection – characters you wouldn’t resurrect, characters you would resurrect, etc.
Host: Clo @ Book Dragons
Monday 29th
Prompt Title: Halloween In A Fictional World
Explanation: pick any fictional world that you’d love to experience halloween in
Tuesday 30th
Prompt Title: Trapped With You
Explanation: characters I’d want with me if I were trapped in a haunted house
Wednesday 31st
Prompt Title: The Veil Is Thin
Explanation – The 31st Oct is supposed to be a day when the veil between our world and the otherworld, is at it’s thinnest. As such, it was originally a day to ward of evil spirits; what spirits are you hoping to ward off? (e.g. paranormal characters, evil characters, writers block, procrastination etc.)
In the blogosphere this week:
Shruti on @thisislit will post several times about marketing our blog! How cool is that right?
https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/78139437/posts/2002099125#comments
Suzanne the Bookish Libra explained why we should give audiobooks a chance (something I haven’t done so far)
Something I want to share with you this Sunday are four songs that I keep listening to these days as they fit my mood or just because I find their rhythm insane (love the rhythm of Youngblood!!!)
Love this roadtrip song by George Ezra! It is upbeat and brings joy to my day 😀
This one is a Belgian group that I really love listening to and this song is just inspirational and out of this world. Listen till the chorus please as Matthew’s voice is really beautiful!
I love Keith’s urban’s voice and I love the lyrics as they are so true!
I can’t resist this one! I really shimmy and beat my table when I listen to Youngblood!
Now do tell me how was your week?
Thanks for reading always!
Sophie
I love your brand of crazy! =)
I have seen you rant about Sadie and I received it in my first unplugged box so you know I want to read that one right away! =)
Have a wonderful week and glad the hubby is better.
Mary
Thank you so much Mary and have fun with your reads 😉
That is fabulous that you heard great news from you doctor, and everyone in the family is healthy. Congrats on reaching 500 subscribers 🙂 Blogoween sounds like a lot of fun, I’ll be on the lookout for all the posts. Have a wonderful week ahead.
Thank you so much Jovita! <3
YAY for all the good news this week <3 and congratulations on reaching 500 followers, that's amazing and so well deserved. I'm happy that people are showing you all the love you deserve! <3 <3
I had to double check because I thought that was the Sadie cover and the Sadie cover. Right next to each other. I read three times to make sure it was a drawing, because WOW it is incredibly well done, I am just, in love. WOW.
I hope you'll have a wonderful week!! xx
Oh thank you so much Marie! I am blushing right now <3 <3 <3
yay congrats on your 500 followers that is indeed AWESOME!
Even awesomer news are those health news. YAY!
I want to read many of the books you have here! Especially Sadie 🙂
Thank you so much Daniela!!!
Well, first off, CONGRATS on almost reaching 500 followers *throws confetti*. Second off, DANG THAT PICTURE YOU DREW IS GOOD. Like, really good!!! I think I’m going to stalk you on instagram now just so I can like it again haha. I haven’t read Sadie yet, but I’ve heard that it’s good, so maybe I will 🙂 Thanks for a lovely post!
Oh Kat thank you so much! And stalk all that you want LOL
I too am so excited for The Darkest Star (luckily I got an ARC!), Queen of Air and Darkness, Fall and Kingdom of Ash! All the book goodness!
I’m doing blogoween too but I’m doing the easy level (1) = 13 Halloween themed posts non-sequential. Good luck!
Oh I don’t know if I would call 13 posts easy Nicci LOL
I am so happy for all the good news in your life. Being healthy feels so good.
And congratulations on 500 subscribers. That’s really great. I am yet to read Sadie but hope to read it soon. Your drawing looks amazing.
Ahh, I too hate it when people rate the books 1 star just to show hate for the author, especially when they haven’t read it. Why do so? You can simply ignore the book if you hate it so much.
I hope you have a lovely upcoming week!
Thank you so much Sim and I wish you a lovely week too! <3
Yay for fall! WE had a really blustery few days too, with all the rain and super high winds. It was kinda nice though, in a fallish way haha!
Blogoween is looking like it’s gonna be pretty awesome, I’m looking forward to seeing all the posts for that!
Thank you so much Greg! Raking my brain right now 😉
Yeah! For some many good things happening in your life. There is nothing like being healthy and all your loved ones feeling happy. Congratulations on 500 subscribers! Five years and WLABB still isn’t there. >_< Someday (maybe?) I don't do spooky or scary, but I am looking forward to your Blogoween posts. Hope it's tons of fun!
Thank you Sam but you deserve much more than 500 honestly!!!
You have a true talents and it shows in your fun and creative posts. I always read every single word so I don’t miss something. And I love the gifs you use. Looking forward to what you have to share next week!
Awwww you are making me blush Laura! Thank you SO MUCH!
I cannot wait to read Sadie. I’ve heard lots of wonderful things about it and am planning to pick it up in October. Speaking of October, Blogoween sounds like so much fun. I already have plans for my blog in October, but if I didn’t, this would certainly interest me. I hope you have a wonderful upcoming week!
Thank you so much Alicia! I hope yours is being great too 😉