This Week at Midnight, it is halfway through January!
Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews. It gives us a chance to share with readers what we bought, borrowed, swapped, won or got for review each week. Because I love books, and you love books, so let’s see the books!
The Books
Purchased:
I do promise better pictures of these soon. They are too pretty for this crappy picture, but I have a headache.
Bought from Kayla’s Sale (@ The Thousand Lives):
The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler
The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne
Every Breath & Every Word by Ellie Marney
A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
e-ARCs
Via Edelweiss thanks to Margaret K. McElderry Books; and Netgalley thanks to Sourcebooks Fire
Kindle Books
Simply too excited for this!!
Weekly Shenanigans
The Smell of Other People’s Houses But really, none of them were bad!
Posts this Week:
- I reviewed umm… OH! Underwater, and participated in the blog tour- there’s still a giveaway happening!
- I talked about some series I swore I’d read in 2015 and absolutely did not.
- The January New Release Hop has begun!! Win some books!
- I am curious as to whether you love or loathe rating books with numbers!
Giveaways:
- The January Discussion Challenge link up and giveaway is happening!
- I have TWO Christmas giveaways happening!! YAY!
- You can win a copy of Underwater by Marisa Reichardt!
- The January New Release Hop has begun too!
Blogosphere Bulletin
- Cee @ The Novel Hermit, Alexa @ Alexa Loves Books, Hazel @ Stay Bookish, & Mel @ The Daily Prophecy have announced the sign ups for this year’s Love-a-Thon!
- Cait @ Paper Fury explains why having a big old TBR is just fine!
- Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction explains what blogging has done to her bookshelves.
- Silvara @ Fantasy of the Silver Dragon wants to know how many books you read at one time.
- Kyra @ Blog of a Bookaholic bravely shares how panic disorder affects her reading. A MUST read.
- Aentee @ Read at Midnight discusses the integrity in blogging
- Alyssa @ The Devil Orders Takeout shares some history behind Chinese teahouses (and explains how they were the Starbucks of their day!)
- Aentee @ The Social Potato asks if unique books really exist (I personally think no, not really.)
- Ezrah @ I Heart Romance and YA asks if you judge a blog by its cover
- Karen @ Kissin Blue Karen doesn’t care if her favorite show’s stars aren’t morally sound. Do you?
- Kaitlin @ Reading is My Treasure has some tips for those bloggers who want to request fewer ARCs
- Tonyalee @ Lilybloombooks turns THREE and has a celebration event!
- Brittany @ Please Feed the Bookworm reviews The Shannara Chronicles and The Shadowhunters series premieres!
- Mishma @ Chasing Faerytales discusses the pros and cons of co-blogging at a pre-established blog.
- Peach @ Rebelle Reads wonders if romance is the key to a successful YA book.
- Jess @ Curiouser and Curiouser talks about a very important topic- the school of thought that “Boys will be boys”, and why it is so harmful.
- Grace @ Rebel Mommy Reads read an actual book. She wants to know if you prefer physical or ebooks, and tells her thoughts!
- Cynthia @ Bingeing on Books talks about authors getting angry over negative reviews.
Random Musings:
I feel like this is a really busy bookish time of the year. There seems to be so much going on- all kinds of tours and events and anticipated releases. And I am pretty sure that I overbooked myself, which should come as a surprise to no one. I even bought a planner, but haven’t had time to fill it out, because I am failing that hard at organization.
Things we need to talk about this week:
- How on earth do you people keep your shit together?
- Did you watch either of the new YA book based new shows (The Shannara Chronicles and The Shadowhunters)? Thoughts if you did?
- The 100 comes back NEXT. WEEK. Are you ready? Can you ever actually be ready? Have you watched the trailers?
I just read your number rating post and I feel the need to add here that last year, I completely gave up on giving books star ratings. I could be quite a harsh rater, and people kept getting the impression that three stars was bad, and honestly? I just thought it was easier to express my thoughts with words — not numbers.
I actually DID watch Shadowhunters, and . . . I don’t even know. Part of me enjoyed it, and the other part was cringing literally every five seconds. But I do think it has potential.
But yeah. I would really love to know how people keep their shit together because after eighteen years I still have no freakin’ clue. >.<
Lots of pretty books. I love the cover of Uprooted. I am so interested in the Smell of Other People’s Houses – mainly because that title. I am glad it was good though!!! Oh and I don’t have my shit together. If the blog is going well my house is a mess, if I read 5 books this week then I haven’t replied to a single comment, if I am up to date on reviews I haven’t worked out. You get the picture. My planner helps a ton but even I haven’t been able to keep up with that like I would like. Ugh. Thanks for the link back 🙂 Have a great week!!
A lot of things happening this week, for sure! I did not watch any shows that premiered. I don’t watch much TV as it is! I don’t know how to keep it together, I almost love my mind everyday! haha thanks for linking to my blogoversary post!
Yay for Uprooted! I love that book! The UK cover is so pretty! I really liked Game of Thrones too. I hope you like them. Martin is just so great at writing characters! Don’t look at anything GoT related though, huge spoilers!
I haven’t seen Shannara yet because I haven’t read the book. I tried one of Brook’s books before and didn’t finish it…
You already know what I thought about Shadow Hunters! Now I have to wait two weeks for the next episode! And of course episode two ended in a cliffhanger!
I watched both The Shannara Chronicles and Shadowhunters. I’ll have to watch more Shannara before I can say for sure if I’ll continue. Shadowhunters was great because they totally took an awesome turn from the books. Great week in books!
I had to laugh at the fact that you bought yourself an organizer and haven’t had time to fill it out. We are disorganization twins! I bought the Shannara books so I could read them before the show, but I didn’t get around to reading them. Now I guess I’ll have to start watching the series first because if I don’t start right away it will be too late to see the first one! #BookishProblems
Oh girl, I am with you on the planner. A couple weeks ago I bought one of the Happy Planners (by MAMBI) and a bunch of accessories and supplies for it and walked out of Hobby Lobby $75 poorer. And yeah… that lasted about a week. WTH was I thinking? That I would suddenly become an organized person? Bahaha! It was a nice thought. Maybe I’ll try again. Sure, why not. I rarely ever watch TV (there isn’t a single show I follow – I just turn it on now and then in case there’s a good movie on) but I did tune in for the Shadowhunters premiere. I wasn’t blown away but I think it has potential. Some of the dialogue was cringe-worthy – hopefully the scripts will improve. I thought Simon was the stand-out. That guy rocked it and was totally Simon.
So many pretty books. I’ve been seeing a lot of good reviews for The Smell of Other People’s Houses, so I might have to check that one out. I love the cover and the title.
I still need to get into The 100, can you imagine? I’ve heard too many good things to miss out any longer though! I own a copy of the book too – since it isn’t thick I might start with that and catch up on the show after. I LOVE your edition of Uprooted <3 I own the other version and to be honest, I kind of want to own both, they're both so pretty! The Orphan Queen is one I desperately need to get my hands on as well! Enjoy all your goodies Shannon^^
yaaay. You’re going to love Game of Thrones. I know they’re huge but they’re so worth it 😀 Happy reading!
Aww thank you for mentioning my post, Shannon! <3 Means a lot!
And WOW, you got such good books! I really want to read The Summer of Chasing Mermaids, Every Breath/Every Word, Uprooted and Night Owls. Hope you enjoy them! 🙂
I did watch The Shannara Chronicles and loved it. Thought it was a really good adaptation of the novel. Great haul of books by the way.
Grace @ Books of Love
My family watched the debut of The Shadowhunters; they seemed to like it. I wasn’t really interested as I’ve never read the books.
The beginning of the year does seem a bit hectic. I have a physical planner where I keep track of posts and what I need to schedule, so that helps. I like being able to hold it in my hands and whatnot so I don’t use an online system or anything like that!
-Lauren
Definitely seems like a busy time of year for bookish things — so many books coming out soon and events, etc. I need to get organized better!! Love your recap of discussion posts, going to check a bunch of them out now!!
Excited to start The Smell of Other’s Peoples Houses!!
Pfft, no one keeps their shit together. We all just pretend and some of us are FABULOUS at pretending. *flips hair* I was just trying to figure out which review to post tomorrow and realised aaall the books I’ve industriously read ahead of time DON’T COME OUT TILL MARCH DANGIT. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO??!? POST SOLELY REVIEWS IN MARCH?!?! March is gonna be a crazy time. 0_0 Ahem.
BUT.
Are you reading Game of Thrones??!?!? Omggg!!! Tell me if you need emotional support! I SHALL BE HERE FOR YOU. Also the Every Breath series is amazing. Like the most cutest friendship/romance of the world and I think my heart melted like 4 times. FOUR WHOLE TIMES, SHANNON. I hope you see what this means. Also ‘Straya, mate. The slang is so golden.
I NEED TO STILL WATCH SHADOWHUNTERS!! And I want to try the Shannara Chronicles too. Because elves and magic and stuff. Gah. I need more clones. *dashes off to get nothing productive done*
Straight away you have reminded me I need to read Uprooted, ah I love that cover!
With regards to my shit and the keeping of it together, well I am great believer in the happy balance of mostly winging it with a little bit of planning!
You are your own person and blog and therefore do not compare thyself to others!!!!!
Awesome haul! I tried reading Hold Still a few summers ago but for some reason I couldn’t get through it. I hope you have better luck than me! I hope you enjoy your new beauties and have a lovely week. 🙂
Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian
Oooo, a book sale! I wouldn’t mind if bloggers did book sales, especially for some of the hardcovers I want to add to my collections but don’t want to buy on Amazon/B&N. Lovely haul! I hope you enjoy all of your new books!
Have a fabulous week, Shannon. 🙂
Check out my STS post!
All great finds! Some of these I have my eyes on so I look forward to seeing what you think!
Ooh, you got AGOT and ACOK? I hope you enjoy, try not to get too attached! Lots of lovely covers there, although Blackheart looks an awful lot like Passenger. I’m sure you’ll manage this busy period, although you might want to try using that planner 😛
Thank you for the shout out, as always 😀
Quite honestly, right now I am not keeping my shit together. I feel like everything is falling through the cracks. Though normally I am a stodgy calendar girl. The only thing I am interested in is sleeping and spending rare and precious time with the man.
I just did a post on how I keep my shit together with Bullet Journaling. I have way too many balls in the air. When one drops, they all fall like dominios. I haven’t started watching either the Shadowhunter or The 100. Should I?
How do I keep my shit together? It’s all smoke and mirrors, sweetheart, all smoke and mirrors! 🙂
I hope you have another stellar week, Shannon. I’m still trying to read at least one GOOD book yet this month. It’s been a few duds so far.
I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU STOLE EVERY WORD AND EVERY BREATH FROM ME! Mad. Just kidding. I got my books from Kayla too but I haven’t even opened the package up yet hahah. ALSO. YOUR QUESTIONS. I don’t have my life together, I don’t know how people do it. I guess just not procrastinate? And, I did watch Shadowhunters last night on TV out of boredom. It was really…..bad….acting. So cringeworthy. I don’t think the series will ever get the shows or movies it deserves, maybe. Who knows. And whoops, I’ll probably never catch up with the 100.
I knew there was one of your posts I forgot to go comment on, I’ll have to go to your one on number ratings. It was a great post! I finally watched the first episode of Shannara, it was good enough that I’ll keep watching. I know a lot of people are calling Shadowhunters cheesy, but I really enjoyed it! Other than Izzy, I don’t remember her being anything like that in the book. And I’m also not completely 100% sold on the actor playing Jace. You can check out my Sunday post in the link below!
Yay! Thanks for sharing my post! I am all kinds of thrilled. <3
I have still yet to read Night Owls / The Anatomical Shape of a Heart but I SHALL. The covers are so GORG tho. (I had no idea The Summer of Chasing Mermaids was already on paperback omg. How time flies.) Yay for planners, but IRL, I am seriously terrible at planning things. I've tried planning out everything in life from blog stuff to school stuff to life in general. I usually wait until the last day with things, then freak later. not suggested obvs. lollll
I absolutely loved “Uprooted”. It was such a fun fantasy read. Happy reading!
Tsuki’s STS
I also want to know how people keep it together! Haha, I agree- I am overbooked and I thought I wouldn’t be. LOL. I need to use my planner again too. I did watch Shadowhunters. I wasn’t super impressed but I’ll keep giving it a watch!
I definitely want to read The Summer of Chasing Mermaids, Uprooted, and Ellie Marney’s books! They sound great!
Have a great week Shannon!
What a great book haul you had. So many pretty books!
I have The Shannara Chronicles recorded but have yet to watch them. But I have watched the first episode of The Shadow Hunters, and while I wasn’t crazy thrilled with it, it wasn’t that bad. Just a bit of a shock to take in since it’s so different from the book. I’m too far behind with The 100 to start this newest season, have to catch up on Netflix, lol.
YAS! I love this haul, namely because you got some pretty awesome books in there. I’m not sure how you’ll feel about A Game of Thrones, but personally, I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I have yet to try book two but I so, so need to. Can’t wait to know what you’ll think. And Night Owls is just the epitome of romance contemporary books. So yes. Please devour and love it <3
Yup, I definitely feel like there’s a lot happening as well! Lots of challenges, tours, street teams, releases and events, it’s kind of hard to keep up with. So many beautiful books here Shannon, exciting that you’ve picked up Ellie Marney’s series and Uprooted which is MY FAVOURITE. Hope you enjoy them lovely!
NO Shannon, I am NOT ready for The 100! The Flash came back today and I was so…discouraged and distracted by everything going on today that I had no desire to watch it. I need a break from all thing but I’ll be ready for my shows soon (Flash, Arrow, The 100)
Enjoy your new books!
Yay for ‘Orphan Queen.’ Read that one a while back and thought it was really entertaining.
As for Shadowhunters and Shannara, yes I watch BOTH. But then I’ve not read the books, so I’m judging them strictly as TV shows, and well, they’re kind of new “guilty pleasure addictions! 😉 You?