Welcome to ‘s Monthly Minutes at Midnight!
Clearly, I did not listen to my own talk about not doing a recap, so here we are! Here’s the deal: I’ll share the books I’ve obtained, posts of interest from others, giveaways I have happening, and just general random shenanigans. You know I love a shenanigan.
The Books
For Review:
The Last Harvest by Kim Liggett
Thanks to author K.M. Walton, Tor Teen, and Big Honcho Media/Disney!!
eARCs:
Top row via Netgalley, thanks to Entangled, Disney, and Random House; bottom row via Edelweiss, thanks to HarperCollins!
Purchased:
The bottom five are from my Book Outlet Black Friday haul- the top three are UK editions, and Rebellion is the lesser of the two damaged copies Amazon sent me. Grr, Amazon. You can’t maul Clarke’s face like that and think it’s okay! (But the worse one had damage to Bellamy, which NO. Plus I will use glue and fix Clarke.)
From the Scholastic warehouse sale!!
Kindle Books:
Won/Gifted:
Because CHRISTMAS, yayyyy! Thanks, fam!
And DENTON!
Author Lance Rubin is the BEST, guys. He offered this up for #KidLitForAleppo, because he is generous and wonderful. And thanks to the event, I now know ways to donate to help- so if you want to, check out the hashtag or this post. The authors who did this are so amazing!
Shenanigans Since Last Time:
I read 9 books… 3 of which were re-reads, my 11th time reading The Hunger Games! I also linked, because I am awesome. A couple link to my reviews, where applicable.
This was actually a pretty great reading month! I mean, obviously I knew I’d love 3 of them 😉 But Exist Once More and Under a Painted Sky also made my end-of-year favorites! And not a one was less than 3 stars, so… yay!
Giveaways: Click Here, or on Sidebar
Blogosphere Bulletin
Here are some of the loveliest/most entertaining/super helpful/just plain interesting posts I found this month!
- Lexie & Natalie @ The Honest Bookclub share their favorite book bloggers. I, for one, find their taste impeccable 😉
- Nereyda @ Nick and Nereyda’s Infinite Booklist explains why she is a booknerd- and why we don’t need awards to be one!
- Zeee @ I Heart Romance & YA tells us why she is perfectly fine without ARCs in her life!
- Fleur @ Frankly books talks about the pros of having multiple editions of books- and the cons, too!
- Cait @ Paper Fury tells us the 8 kinds of reviewers… and has a QUIZ!
- Liselle @ Lunch-Time Librarian asks if BEA is pushing out book bloggers.
- Inge @ Of Wonderland wrote a beautiful post about being thankful for her mom (and dad!) and I cried.
- Cynthia @ Bingeing on Books asks how far you’d go to read
- Greg @ Book Haven wonders if some authors are too “big” to fail
- AJ @ Read all the Things! talks about those times when you just can’t comment back
- Rashika @ Xpresso Reads shares a list of books if you like reading about reading!
- Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction complied a big old list of challenges for 2017!
- Victoria @ Doodles and Scraps asks if it is okay for authors to comment on reviews
- Krysta @ Pages Unbound reminds us to stop apologizing for all the books we haven’t read
- Kelly @ Diva Booknerd celebrates 4 years of blogging!
- Molly @ Molly’s Book Nook shares 7 quick tips to help improve your blog
- Becky @ A Fool’s Ingenuity asks how soon is too soon when it comes to rereading
- Holly @ The Fox’s Hideaway shares 11 things that make her excited to read a book
- Puput @ Sparkling Letters shares things she has learned about mental illness from reading, in this very honest post
- Becca @ Faerily Bookish has ideas to chase the slumps away!
- Sydney @ Sydney’s Shelves tells us what makes her add a book to her TBR immediately!
- Alyssa @ The Eater of Books celebrates four years of blogging too!
Random Musings:
So, 2016 is over! I feel both relieved, and scared. Because… let’s be real, it is a scary time. But I also feel like maybe we’re a little more prepared, eyes are open? Like, I don’t know about you all, but the shitshow of 2016 blindsided the hell out of me, so maybe if we know what we’re up against… well, you get the idea. Also, lots of good books in 2017, so we can at least have a bit of happiness to look forward to? Sure! Hope you all had lovely holidays, if you celebrated any! Here’s a picture for you!
Fancy & New Since Last I Saw You!
I love looking at pretty covers! So here are some new ones that I have fallen in love with since our last update!
This was a slowww cover month. Which means some of these may not be new. And some of them may have been released today, as I type this post. #Cheating
Things we need to talk about at this juncture:
- The 100 Season 4. 25 Days. This is not a drill.
Also, let me know if you want to join Holly, Erica and me in some kind of… celebration! (We don’t even know what, but we are excited! Are you?) - ALAMW! This is happening so soon! In about 2 weeks, I will be with a whole bunch of my besties in Atlanta, where it will not be 4 degrees. This makes me happy on so many levels! Also, things will be a bit quiet that weekend/week around here 😀 Are any of you going?
- I let random.org choose my Goodreads Goal. How many books do you hope to read this year? Random decided I shall read 139. I was really saving myself from… well, myself. Because I would have tried to beat my last year number of 151 and would have driven myself batty because of it.
Because… that is a good way to decide stuff.
Okay hahah wow. Nice haul! I got Royal Bastards and Dress Codes for Small Towns too. Also quickly have to shout my love for The Foxhole Court because it’s awesome. And yes, Lexie and Natalie have amazing taste in blogs. XD Haha.
I love that you got the internet to decide your goodreads goal.? GOOD LUCK WITH IT ANYWAY!! And omg the cover for Wild Beauty has absolutely killed me. Is it bad that I’m auto-buying a book on cover alone??? *shrieks from the hilltops of happiness* I really need to read the author’s first two books though ahah.
And I really hope 2017 treats you better! I mean, I can’t see how American politics are going to get better (only worse? ugh) but I still hope it’s personally a fulfilling and good year for you. *sends cake and good wishes*
Nice haul. Thanks for the shoutout. I love your post. Wanna share any of those ARCS? kidding. But really you are awesome! Have a lovely day!
Ah, such an awesome haul! And I’m so glad you finished your THG reread. 🙂 How could you NOT fall in love with the cover for Wild Beauty?! I’m still drooling. Also, woohoo ALAMW! I’m so excited for you to visit my lovely city (where, yes, it will not be super cold– yay!). Happy reading this month, Shannon!
I hope you enjoy your new books! I’m glad that 2016 is over, and I’m trying really hard to be hopeful about this year.
All the books!! SO many great ones and look at the Denton copy. So cool! I love all of those covers you shared and they are all new to me. Have fun at ALAMW!!
So many awesome new books! Love the photo! I should put up our Christmas photo…
Royal Bastards- woot! Love the sound of that. I need more snarly fiction. And shadow Run because spaceships. I need to get on Netgalley, this no ARC BS is getting old! Three dark crowns I started reading today in Barnes & Noble and was hooked- so I’ve definitely decided to read that one. Can you believe I don’t have The 100 on DVD? I know! That has to change.
A stolen Crown and Two Roads From Here -love those. Haven’t seen either one! I like that cover style of Two Roads…
That is so awesome you used Random to pick a #. :):):) And… I am counting down to The 100. S4- that trailer looks sooo good. I hope they don’t split everybody up – I need the group together. Although Octavia’s apparently going full Grounder? She’s gonna be a BADASS this season…
So many awesome books! I got Royal Bastards too. It sounds fantastic! I want to read Uprooted so bad and I’m dying for that edition. I actually ordered it from Fishpond a couple of weeks ago, only to get a refund 2 days later because it wasn’t actually in stock. *cries* One day it will be mine!
I don’t know what A Stolen Crown is about, but that is a cute cover!! I loved Uprooted. Wow, 11x on Hunger Games! It is a great reread. I’ve only done it once so far.
Love that you used random.org to pick your goodreads goal.
I love the way you’ve chosen the figure for your Goodreads goal! I may try that next year, it’s a good way to mix up how many books you want to read. And what is up with all those new books! I am jealous. I can never show mine off as the majority end up being on my kindle. Showing off an ereader shelf just isn’t that impressive is it?
I hope this one didn’t take you four hours to write Shannon! :p And you got soo many books Shannon, I wish I lived by a Scholastic warehouse!
that’s so exciting that ALAMW is so soon, I completely forgot about it! I’m attempting to go to ALA in Chicago this spring.
I have NOT watched the new 100 trailer because I gotta wait for the hubs to watch it. I’m super excited to see how Clarke and gang get out of this nuclear mess though!
I like recaps of any kind. It’s just fun to see how everyone has been doing the pest week or month. You really got a lot of books last month, I got a bunch too with all the sales going on and receiving some Christmas money. I love that you used random.org to pick your goodreads goal, sounds like a fun way to decide on your goal. i hope you’ll make it! And I hope 2017 will be a great year!
Ooh, now I’m eager to go check out Shadow Run because that cover is completely awesome, and I probably need this book from Edelweiss. Obviously.
I realized Shadow Run was NetGalley not Edelweiss, and, yep, I requested it. And I had to go check out the UK cover of Unwind because … well, Unwind. I kind of love it!!
Ooh lots of great books. I really want to read My Sister Rosa. I need to buy a copy sometime soon!!
I am worried about this year, but I get what you mean about going in “eyes wide open.” I do hope that good prevails in most cases this year.
I just cannot decide about Passenger and Wayfarer. The reviews (specifically for Passenger) seem to be allover the place. I don’t know… it’s a definite maybe at this point. Bahaha. On the flipside I hear nothing but raves for Three Dark Crowns! I’m up in the air about Summer Days and Summer Nights. There were a few I really enjoyed in My True Love Gave To Me but overall it was a pretty mixed bag. If I do read the Summer one it will likely be a library loan. That cover of Wild Beauty is GAW-JUS!
Awesome book haul! I have heard great things about Wayfarer I hope you enjoy it!! I love all the pretty covers you picked!! Happy Reading!
Such a clever idea to have your GR challenge number ramdomly picked! I wish I could go to ALAMW. Have a fantastic time 🙂
I also loved that you used Random to generate the number of books to read. Very cool. I see so many titles pictured here that I hope to tackle this year.