Welcome to October’s Monthly Minutes at Midnight!
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/From Publishers:
The Diabolic and The Empress by S.J. Kincaid
Smart Cookie by Elly Swartz (Lena has clearly claimed this one)
Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre
Thanks to Entangled Teen, authors Kim Savage and Rachel Caine, Big Honcho Media & Simon & Schuster, and Scholastic for the review copies!
eARCs:
Huge thanks to Harper, HMH and Simon & Schuster!!
Purchased:
I did have some pre-orders that came this month, but other than that, I was not bad at all!
Gifted/Traded:
Won Moxie from Holly and Macmillan, so thanks! And huge thanks to author Christa Avampato for the lovely gift of Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters! And for being a part of #ShatteringStigmas! Also thanks to Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl and author Jessika Fleck for Castaways! And thanks people who traded stuff with me too! 😀
Shenanigans Since Last Time:
I read 11 books this month. It was slow. My slump is eating me alive.
There were quite a few good ones this month! Of course nothing that blew me away, but I am pretty sure I am the problem, not the books. The Diabolic and The Empress, Invictus, The Knowing, and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe were my faves! Honestly, I think a couple of these could have been five stars if my brain didn’t hate me ?
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!
Guys, I am sorry, I fail again, because this month kind of kicked my ass. But I tried!
- Cait @ Paper Fury has sold her debut novel, A Thousand Perfect Notes! Add it to Goodreads, Pre-Order from Book Depository, and read Cait’s thoughts on all of it!
- Michelle @ Chelle’s Book Ramblings asks if a book can truly scare you
- Krysta @ Pages Unbound wonders if the canon is a series of happy accidents
- Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight has some lesser-known vampire book recs to share
- Laura @ Boats Against the Current explains why she is a Kindle convert
- Val @ The Innocent Smiley shares why she’s been seriously slacking
- AJ @ Read All the Things! talks about why we shouldn’t make assumptions when reading people’s reviews
- Cait @ Paper Fury discusses being a reader and writer with autism
- Sam @ We Live and Breathe Books wants to know if/how you use Goodreads
- Becky @ A Fool’s Ingenuity shares the all-too real struggle of figuring out what to read next
- Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Books discusses being overwhelmed by all the blogging things
- Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books has tips for how to not stress about blogging
- Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction shares her thoughts on banned books
- Vlora & Bianca @ Reviews and Cake talk historical events rarely seen in fiction
- Lindsey @ Lindsey Reads discusses the dark side of blogging
- Emma @ Miss Print tells us about the time her tweet went viral
Random Musings
Val came to visit meee! So that was fun. But we were losers and didn’t take any pictures- at least of ourselves together. But it was fun and I am sad that she had to go back to her (much warmer) home. Other than that… I didn’t really like this month. Sorry October, go float yourself.
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!
Things we need to talk about at this juncture:
- It has been 5 months since Praimfaya. How have we even made it this far? I don’t know. And I swear, if there is no news soon, I may not last any more months.
- I’ve apparently posted over 1,000 times. Which seems a little ridiculous, doesn’t it? Well, it happened.
- I am skipping NaNo. Here’s the thing: I am not in the right frame of mind at all. But instead of being a normal person who would use it as a way to get back into the swing of things, I will instead force myself to win, even if it means writing 50K words of actual bullshit. So really, what’s the point? But GOOD LUCK to anyone who is, I will be cheering you on!
- November is my birthday month! So I need to beef up my wishlists! Any new releases that I need to add?
Love the picture of Lena. Someone that cute could steal my book too. I am interested in In Her Skin. I thought Savage’s writing was lovely in her last book, and sort of want more. I don’t know how you are surviving your book slump. I almost went into one, where I kept DNFing book after book, but then I found something that made me feel really happy. I hope whatever you are experiencing passes quickly. And YES to all the “Fancy & New”. Obviously, I need Fierce Like a Firestorm, because I really liked the first book, but I have them all on my TBR.
Hahhaha I feel like I’ll probably end up reading the book TO her, so it’s a win either way. I loved Kim’s first book so I am excited for In Her Skin! And I don’t know how I am surviving my slump either- it is hard because every book I pick up, I have this tiny kernel of hope that it will be *the one*, but alas. I am glad you liked Wicked Like a Wildfire! A friend just told me she DNFed it and I was so sad because I want to love it, and now you have given me hope!
AWW YOU MENTIONED MEEEE I’M DYING OF HAPPY THANK YOU.??And omg those cover reveals excuse me while I fall on my face and need to add them. And sadness about your slump persisting. ? I haven’t read a book in days and I feel bad haha, but I’m about to read a bit of Language of Thorns and I’m SO EXCITED. It looks so so beautiful eeeep!
Also yay your birthday month!! And I totally understand not doing NaNo when you’re not in a good space for it. I’m kind of annoyed I’m not starting tomorrow … it takes away some of the specialness buuut I will get there eventually.?
PSH I always mention you hahaha. And of COURSE I am going to mention your extra exciting book news, come onnnn. Every person that read this should have pre-ordered by now, right? 😀
Language of Thorns does look quite pretty! I hope it was good (as I am sure you’ve finished by now hah) The good thing about NaNo for you is that you only need like, 2 days to write 50K, so maybe this is a good challenge for you, since having 30 probably isn’t really very challenging at this point!
So I had this whole plan about planning a novel and doing NaNo, but now it‘s the end of October and I have jack all, so I fail. I think I might skip it too, we‘ll see. Thanks for linking!! I hope November is kinder to you.
Bwhahha well, at least we can fail together, right? 😀 And seriously, November NEEDS to be kinder- though we’re not off to a great start, so I suppose we’ll see!
I’ve never officially done Nano, but I DO hope to get a lot more writing in this month because that’s been a long time coming, so we’ll see how I do. Happy Birthday month – I hope November is way better for you! And yay for a fun visit with Val. Bloggy friends are the best.
-Lauren
Aw thanks!! I hope you are able to get some writing done, too! I thought about it for a second last night and then was like… “nah”. Honestly, I am really wayy too distracted and stressed to bother trying at the moment.
Thanks for giving my post a shout-out! Now I need to look up Notes From My Captivity because that cover is EVERYTHING! I hope your slump gets better and you have a great November!
Aw of course, I loved your post!! And yes- the covers link to Goodreads! I agree, the cover is awesome- and let’s be real, so are books about captivity! ANd thanks so much 😀
Pretty package for Haven! I’m reading that one right now. While I don’t always mix well with fantasy, paranormal is right up my alley so I’m really loving Haven so far. What a cutie Lena is! How could you say no to that face? 🙂 There are some awesome covers within those eARCs. My favorite are Together at Midnight and Everless. Together at Midnight looks like a contemporary so I’ll have to look that one up. You know I love my contemporary. 🙂 October was a super slow reading month for me, too. I wa semi-slump all month and only managed 5 books. Gah! The horror! Let’s hope November is better for both of us. Birthday month makes it better already!
Oh YAY I am glad you are enjoying Haven! I hope to get to it soon- it’s funny, I hadn’t even heard of it until the mailing (so I mean, the mailing clearly worked hahah). Together at Midnight is a contemporary- and I enjoyed the author’s other book, so fingers crossed! I hope that November IS better for us both, we need it 🙂
Congrats on posting >1,000 times! That’s amazing! I’m completely with you on NaNoWriMo. I want to get back into writing…but second to last semester of law school with twelve billion things to do is not the right time. And an early happy birthday in case I forget later (which is very possible)!
Aw thanks so much!! I think law school is a VERY valid reason not to do NaNo! I mean, it’s better than my case of the blahs, that’s for sure 😉
Happy Birthday!! I love your pick of covers for this month they are all so pretty!! It looks like you got a lot of books read in October that is great. I hope you find one you love soon!!
Aw thank you so much!! 😀
how were invictus and into the bright unknown? I’m planning on reading them next month!
I liked Invictus a lot! Into the Bright Unknown was not *bad*, but it was a bit of a letdown honestly. I hope you enjoy them both though!
Wait, what’s Praimfaya?
Also I’m super imprsesed by that The Empress packaging – Simon went all out! I’m reading The Empress now and I’m not too sure how I feel about it. I think I prefer The Diabolic as a standalone.
And you’ll have to tell me how you like Walk the Earth a Stranger 3! I wasn’t really feeling the second book, but I really want to see how it all ends 🙂
HA it is the last episode of Season 4 of The 100- also, an event! But if you don’t watch the show… well, it just means that the hiatus is slowly killing me 😉
Seriously, the package was incredible! And I liked The Empress! I think I liked The Diabolic a bit better, but I think that as The Empress went on it got better, I hope it does for you too!
Into the Bright Unknown was… blah. I mean, it was okay. The characters and setting were fun. But not much happens? It didn’t need to be a thing, honestly. Like, I guess I am glad I read it, but it’s underwhelming compared to book 1 especially, and even book 2.
Wow, you got so many books! There are so many good ones, and yay for Moxie, I love that book so much so I smile whenever I see it now. I feel like I’m going to be that person in a bookshop just passing it to people to read. Boo for your brain till hating on you reading. It sucks when you know it’s you and not the books, you feel like apologising when you finish. I hope your brain gets back into the reading zone for you soon, no one wants to read and not be enjoying it to the full extent. This month will be the month to coincide with your brithday (my positive thinking has to help, right?).
Aw thanks! And yes Moxie is SO good, I am glad that it exists in the world hahha. I turn it facing forward in bookstores (well, I do that with several books but yes hah) And exactly- I feel bad that I am being rude to all the books ? Thanks, I hope I can get my act together soon too. And your positive thinking certainly can’t hurt 😉
Over 1,000 posts!!! OMG! What an accomplishment!!!! Here’s to 1,000 more! I can’t image writing 50K words in a month. My brain would probably explode and my fingers and eyeballs would run away.
Happy Birthday!!! I hope you have an amazing birthday month!!
Aww thank you so much!! Seriously, my fingers did in fact hurt when I did it last year! I even got like, bruises on my wrist so I had to buy some kind of key pad thingies. Glad to not worry about that right now haha
YAY HAPPY 1000th POST. PROUD OF YOU SHAMOM.
Also, have I ever mentioned how much I love your posts. AND YOU DID NOT FAIL AT THE DISCUSSION POSTS? Because I’m there. But anyways. I have new books to discover, and maybe even request later (because I was just thinking that I was bad at that haha). ALSO OMG IT’S A LITTLE LENA. She is a smart cookie so she does deserve that book.
Thanks Vallll. You are so sweet. HA so it’s an automatic win if your post appears? Great, from now on I’ll ONLY add yours, and then we’ll call it a day. I have forgotten how to request books and maybe that is a good thing. I thought you didn’t like ARCs anymore anyway 😉
11 books still sounds like an amazing reading month to me 😉 I’m glad you read so many great books, especially The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, I’m so looking forward to reading that one 🙂 Did you enjoy John Green’s book? 🙂
I’m happy you got an ARC of Together at Midnight, that book sounds adorable, I can’t wait to read it 🙂
1 000 BLOG POSTS, this is so, SO incredible, wow, also #goals. You had loads of things to say, which is pretty amazing. Here’s to… 1000 more blog posts? 😉
I hope you’ll have a fabulous November and…happy early birthday!! <3 <3 And thank you so, so much for sharing my post! <3 <3
Aw thank you! Loneliest Girl was so good, and so unexpected! I did like Turtles- though I didn’t *LOVE* it? Like it was definitely a solid 4 star, I’d say. Together at Midnight does sound cute, I hope you get to read it soon too!
And right? I wonder how many more posts I have in me- I doubt another 1k hahahha. And of course!! 😀
Looks like you read some great books there! All of the covers are so striking too! I’m sorry to hear you have a bit of a slump going on. Those really suck.
Aw thanks! I agree, slumps are rough! I just want this one to end… someday? Hahha.
11 books is a slow month? :0 that’s a good month by my standards xD you must read very fast. I would be glad to read 11 while in a slump, I’d say you are still rocking it 😀
Well- the thing is, even though I READ 11, I still haven’t read a book I’d consider a favorite since March or something crazy. So… I guess that is why? 11 is not terrible, though I am a relatively fast reader I suppose- but I feel like I am not doing the books justice, you know? Ah well, hopefully it’ll pass one of these days 😀
Yeah, actually, that is a good point 🙂 maybe it’s just not the right books then 🙂 but I know what you mean. Hopefully a good one comes your way soon 🙂
I hope your BIRTHDAY MONTH is treating you better than October. That picture of your little one is adorable, and I agree with AJ that the cover for Notes from My Captivity makes me want to run out and get my hands on it.
As far as slumps go–I wonder if rating each book makes us more likely to feel bad about not finding any “perfect” books. I don’t think it’s something I would have noticed back when I was just a reader, not a blogger. Because I’m assuming you are finding books you like, even if you don’t love them. I sure hope you find that book, or move through this part of life, or whatever is needed to bring the magic back. I bet it will be a book you don’t even expect that will just blow you away.
Sorry you had a rough month, but I’m glad Val could make it a little better for you. Love that adorable pic of your daughter!
Happy birthday month! Your daughter does look like a smart cookie! Very cute smile. I have Turtles All the Way Down on my birthday wish list (next month) as well as THUG and Dear Martin.