Welcome to November’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. Also, covers all link to Goodreads and/or reviews, because I am awesome. I link up with the Wrap-Up-Round-Up, because of course I do.
The Books
For Review/From Publishers:
Game Changer by Neal Shusterman ♦ The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold
Huge thanks to SparkPoint Studio and Random House/Bookish First- legit my most anticipated books of 2021!!
eARCs:
Huge thanks to the publishers, so many most-anticipated books here! (Also look at me, not going too overboard!)
Purchased:
Only two, and only because they were legitimate steals that I could not pass up! I loved Black Sun, and am excited to read Anxious People (because I am anxious people!) And thanks to the gift card from Kel, I didn’t have to! Thanks, Kel!!
Won/Gifted/Traded:
HUGE thanks to Amber, Beth, Wendy, Kel (see above), Lena with help from me, and my mom for these lovely and much appreciated gifts!
Shenanigans Since Last Time:
I read 15 books this month. Not bad at all!
Pretty solid bunch here! Nothing that was under 3 stars, so that has to be a win!
Giveaways: Click Here, or on Sidebar
Blogosphere Bulletin
Some of the loveliest/most entertaining/super helpful/just plain interesting posts I found this month! (Sorry there are fewer than normal- I know you guys all have amazing posts but I am not feeling great so I am cutting it shorter!)
- Taylor and Ben shared tons of lovely Shattering Stigmas posts
- Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Booksshares why she thinks book bloggers should be paid (that’s a HARD yes from this girl)
- Greg @ Greg’s Book Haven asks if you decorate with books
- AJ @ Read All the Things! shares a holiday book gift guide for babies and toddlers
- Lory @ The Emerald City Book Review asks if memoirs should be considered fiction
- Maude @ Psyched About Books shares why she reads more than one book at a time
- Chana & Malka @ Paper Procrastinators explain why they are now Bookshop Affiliates (I should do this, too!)
- Laura @ Daydreaming Dragons discusses the pros and cons of book blogging
- Amber @ Du Livre, Nick at The Infinite Limits of Love, Lynell at the Weekend Reader, and Ari have joined to create the first annual Swoon Awards
- Chana & Malka @ Paper Procrastinators share their blogging dos and don’ts
- Wendy @ Falconer’s Library asks who ratings are for
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!
Pretty covers are pretty, and this month blessed our eyes!
Things we need to talk about at this juncture:
- I have finally decided how I shall recap The 100! With a bunch of “best of” (or worst of, or anything of the like) lists! Maybe one a month? Who knows, but I intend to start them next month!
- Shattering Stigmas happened! Please send tons of love to the guest posters- none of this would be possible without them!
- The best (maybe only?) good news out of 2020, Joe & Kamala!! And of course, Four Seasons Total Landscaping was just the icing on the cake, right? Anyway, enjoy this one moment of good tidings!
Happy December! I love the photo of your kids. If I put a Biden flag on my house, I’d probably get murdered. I’m glad you had a good reading month because you read a few books that are on my TBR. I’m looking forward to them.
Bwhahah that made me chuckle but the truth is it is sad too! My neighborhood looked like some kind of Sign Wars tbh. I was happy to join the winning side ? Oh yay, I hope you like the ones on your TBR! They were all at least decent, yay!
Happy December!
I’m glad you had a great reading month! I hope you enjoyed Mexican Gothic. I read that last month and really enjoyed it, although I was definitely surprised by the direction it took!
Omg I love your Biden/Harris blog. Election week was absolute pure hell, and I can’t believe it somehow still isn’t over? Come on January 20!
I’m so happy you loved Black Sun! I can’t wait to see where everything goes. It ended on such a dark note.
You have been truly blessed by the book gods. Advanced copies of your most anticipated releases, and nothing under three stars. I loved Cracked Up to Be. I know people hated the MC, but I thought the book was fantastic.
Goodness gracious, tomorrow it IS December, isn’t it?
*cue internal panic*
Great set of books, and I’m proud of you for getting to a place, emotionally, where you can keep posting happy and entertaining things about The 100. 🙂
Looks like a great month! Hope December is just as fab.
I am SO happy about Joe and Kamala. Seriously. We needed this.
You got some awesome looking books – and oooh pretty covers. Need to go check out some of those books!!!
And I’m a Bookshop.org affiliate, so yes, do it! Gotta support some independent bookstores.
-Lauren
Game Changer and Electric Kingdom I requested from the usual suspects (NG/EW), but of course I got rejected…I think it’s more an “INT blogger” thing (some books are just “wish for it” when it comes to us, and we know how that goes) than a “small blog” thing…Anyhow, I’m looking forward to your thoughts!
Happy December! You got a solid amount of reading done and nothing under 3 stars? THat’s a great reading month. November was a month but I agree that once the news finally came in that Joe and Kamala won it was great but the stress of waiting was awful!
I have Black Sun on audio but I’m reading at the pace of sleep addled slug so who knows when I’ll finish lol
When Biden won I understood that phrase…I let out the breath I was holding. It was like a huge weight was lifted off of me that day.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
I loved the Unwind series by Shusterman, I’ve really got to catch up! Looks like you got some good books for future reading, as well as you read some really good ones this past month. Have a great December!
Lisa Loves Literature
Happy December, Shannon!! I’m so, so curious about Game Changer, it sounds like such a good read. I can’t believe I haven’t read anything from the author yet! 🙂
Thank you so, so much for sharing my post <3 I hope December has been kind to you so far, take care <3
SO happy that we finally got some good political news—now if we can just get you know who to vacate the premises. 2020 has felt like a whirlwind—can’t say I’m sad to see it go.
Great reading month! I recently found Polaris rising through Ilona Andrews’ blog and I very quickly devoured the whole series. What did you think about it?
I am so happy Biden is now officially President Elect! Excellent birthday gift for me when the Electoral College voted this past Monday. I’m currently reading The Electric Kingdom and am enjoying how the plot pieces are coming together. I’m glad you were able to read 15 books without any disappointments. Merry Christmas!