I'm Back!!! ~ The Sunday Post (11) + Stacking the Shelves (12)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer where one talks about what they did this week, what books they obtained, general blog news. 

Loving the Language of Literacy Lookback:

Friday: {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Spotlight} Winter in the Soul:...
Thursday: Funny YouTube Videos X) : Feature and Follow Friday

 Thursday: #Tea Time #69 Rewind ~ When I Curse My Parents For...
Wednesday: {Book Review} Shatter Me #1: Tahereh Mafi
Tuesday: A-Z Bookish Survey
Monday: {Book Review} Winger #1: Andrew Smith

Loving the Language of Literacy Lookout:

I'm Back!!! ~ If you hadn't noticed, I was absent from the blogosphere from the 6th to the 13th of July. I was out of town and up in the mountains on those days and I had an absolute blast. I did archery (feeling TOTALLY badass like Katniss), kayaked, hiked, swam, reversed charaded (which is SO much fun), and more. I even had to sing before every meal because it was camp.... and what better to do than have kids sing for their suppers? I hadn't known how much I needed that period of relaxation without Internet, which meant no Blogging, Twitter, Instagram, and very little reading. I am completely recharged and have a number of ideas for discussions, bookish tags, reviews to write, and a lot more fun in store.

I Broke Down and Got an Instagram ~ I did it! I finally got myself a darned Instagram account. If you take a little looksie at my left sidebar, you will see a montage of my Instagram posts, and I'm still trying to figure out how to get a follow widget. My username is @sslluvsbooks exactly like my twitter user name if you would care to follow me for bookish shenanigans.

BookTubeathon is over today!!! ~ So I know I'm a blogger, and not a vlogger, but I have been avidly keeping up with the Book Tube-a-Thon that has been commencing the past week. I have (attempted) to follow the TBR challenges, and watching my favorite BookTubers do all the fun video challenges each day. Because of Book Tube-a-Thon, I have also managed to squeeze in some extra reading, which is always a good thing, and I just love the camaraderie and feeling of community that exudes from all the videos that have been posted.

Fierce Reads Summer Blockbuster Tour ~ I will be at the Grove this Wednesday (the 23rd) at 7 pm for this tour with lovely authors Ann Aguirre (Razorland Trilogy), Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles), Anna Banks (Syrena Legacy Trilogy), and Leigh Bardugo (Grisha Trilogy). I am psyched for the signing, and am so happy to have at least one book written by each author, so I will have a chance to get them signed. If I'm brave, I may even tell them that I am a book blogger, who knows anything can happen at a book signing. If you live in the LA area and are going to the signing as well, tell me in the comments, maybe we can have a secret symbol or some form of acknowledgement. And you know what a signing means? A RECAP POST!!! 

#TeaTimeRewind ~ If you missed this weeks #TeaTime (weekly liveshow on the Epic Reads YouTube channel), you may not know that Margot and Aubry (their names are spelled correctly!) would appreciate people to post/upload #TeaTimeRewind s because the comment section was overflowing so much this week, and it will give us Crumpets a chance to interact with each other. I designed a little banner which can be seen on MY #TeaTimeRewind it's nothing too special, but I think it's cute.

Kindle Unlimited ~ On Friday, Amazon launched a new program -Kindle Unlimited- which is dubbed "the Netflix for books." At a glance, it seems like a nifty new subscription service that will give us readers access to over 600,000 titles, but on the flip side, "What will this mean for authors?" On Tuesday, a discussion post will go live on the blog, and I definitely want to know what you think.

Books Read This Week: Because of my semi-participation in this week's Book Tube-a-Thon, I urged myself to read a little more than usual, and have read 4 full-length novels, a novella, and a picture book that isn't really a picture book. 

4/5: I read AND reviewed this book this week, and immensely enjoyed the romance, characters, and breakneck pace.

4/5: I read and scheduled my review for the sequel because I HAD to go to the library and pick this up and now I have to wait over 10 days for the last book -Ignite Me- to return to the library.

I don't want to reveal my rating for this book because I did do a promotional blog tour post , but I ended up disliking the it.

4/5: I read and loved The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and Wonderstruck DEFINITELY did not disappoint. My review is going live soon and I can't wait to share my thoughts.

4/5: For some reason, I thought about Winger CONSTANTLY while I read this book, and in my review, I will compare and contrast the two, because even though the plot/premise is different, the characters and writing style are very similar.

5/5: This was my semi-picture book, based off of the famous poem by Shane Koyczan "To This Day" which went viral on YouTube. The pictures perfectly depicted the verses, and really embodied the message of it.

Quote of the Week: This week's quote is from The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and I love it because of how thought-provoking it is amidst all of the humor going on during the novel.

"I draw becayse words are too unpredictable.

I draw because words are too limited.

If you speak and write in English, or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other language, then only a certain percentage of human beings will get your meaning.

But when you draw a picture, everybody can understand it."

Random Story of the Week: You know that phrase "It's the little things in life...." that most teenagers (like myself) roll their eyes in response to adults when it is said? Well, I learned that this is true earlier this week. I am the resident dish washer in my house, and while I was washing the dishes a few days ago, I noticed we had gotten new wool steel. And I was so freaking happy that we got new wool steel. I am a teenager, and I NEVER thought I would be happy to get a common household item used to scrub dishes. Yup, my life is so exciting.

"Stacking the Shelves" is a meme when you list the books you've added to your shelves, virtual, physical, or whatever shape or form you get them. As people may know, “Stacking the Shelves” posts are hosted by “Tynga's Reviews”

{Disclaimer: I am in no means trying to brag about what I got, and merely shared this post for the benefit of my followers seeing what I purchased, and as a favor to the lovely people that sent me things. My haul is also rather large this particular week because it is cumulative from the past month or so}

As part of a daily deal on Amazon, I purchased the eVersions of The Testing (Joelle Charbonneau) and Of Poseidon (Anna Banks). I actually got through the first 15% of TT, but it never really picked up for me, I am considering going back, and giving it another chance. After the signing, I will most definitely be picking up OP after Anna has gotten my excited for the series.

Queen of Someday (Sherry D. Ficklin) is an ARC I received from Clean Teen Publishing via Netgalley and it is being released on October 7, 2014.

Wickedpedia (Chris Van Etten) does not seem like my usual book (it has a horror feel to it), but I am extremely excited to dig into it. Wickedpedia is an ARC I received from Scholastic via Netgalley and it was released on the June 21, 2014.

Phobic (Courtney Pearson) is also horror, and I am very scared (but psyched) to read this ARC which I received via Netgalley and it is being released on September 9, 2014.

The Beginning of Everything (Robyn Schneider) is a book I purchased through a Kindle Daily Deal, and a lot of people (including my hard-to-please friend that I hit with a book) enjoyed it.

All four of these books are Blog Tour ones I have received from Xpresso Book Tours (for all except Winter in the Soul) in exchange for reviews.

My tour stop for Gypsy by Trisha Leigh is August 31, 2014.

My tour stop for the Lore Anthology is August 20, 2014, and I can't wait to read it because I have never read an anthology before.

My tour stop for The ARtful by Wilbert Stanton is August 16, 2014.

My tour stop for Winter in the Soul by Jennifer Novotney has already passed and was posted on July 18, 2014.

The four of these books are eARCS from various publishers courtesy of Netgalley.

To This Day by Shane Koyczan courtesy of Annick Press released on July 17, 2014.

Creed by Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie courtesy of Flux to be released on November 8, 2014.

Oh Yeah, Audrey! by Tucker Shaw courtesy of Amulet Books to be released on October 14, 2014.

Heart of Dread: Frozen by Melissa De La Cruz and Michael Johnston courtesy of Hatchette Children's Books to be released October 2, 2014. 

And now we have my HUGE stacks of library books.  I'm not going to go into each book and why I borrowed it, because frankly, it's past midnight, and I feel almost dead. You can see I have stacked these books with a bit of a purpose in accordance to genre.

The Madman's Daughter: Megan Shepherd ~ Historical Fiction/Mystery
Noggin: John Corey Whaley ~ Contemporary/Realistic Fiction
Everything Leads to You: Nina Lacour ~ Contemporary Romance/Mystery
Panic: Lauren Oliver ~ Contemporary Romance/Thriller
Prisoner of Night and Fog: Anne Blankman ~ Historical Fiction/Romance
Since You've Been Gone: Morgan Matson ~ Contemporary Romance
Winger: Andrew Smith ~ Realistic Fiction/Coming-of-Age
Unravel Me: Tahereh Mafi ~ Dystopian Romance
Shatter Me: Tahereh Mafi ~ Dystopian Romance
Landry Park ~ Science Fiction/Romance
Parallel: Lauren Miller ~ Mystery/Romance
Unsouled: Neal Shusterman ~ Dystopian
The Fifth Wave: Rick Yancey ~ Science Fiction/Romance

*GASPS* I'm going on a Mini-Hiatus? : The Sunday Post (9) + Stacking the Shelves (1)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer where one talks about what they did this week, what books they obtained, general blog news.

Loving the Language of Literacy Lookback:

• The Only Boy: Jordan Locke
• 101 Things I Hate: Life of a Blogger (2)
• Light Up the Night ~ Jess Moskaluke: Media Mondays (2)
• {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Only With You: Celia Gray
• 101 Things I Love: Life of a Blogger (1)

Loving the Language of Literacy Lookout:

• School is out this week! I cannot explain to you how freaking excited I am for this fact. What this also means is more time for reading, blogging, and fun in general. Joyce gave me a ton of awesome post ideas and there are going to be a ton of new series coming up on the blog.
• Eli @ Reality Lapse and Jessica @ Fly to Fiction are doing this amazing program called Book Bloggers and the Fandom Wars #BBFandomWars which is such a fun idea, and you should definitely sign up. I know the two ladies have worked extremely hard for this, and I also know they will make it as fun as possible.
• A lot of people have done blog posts about this, but SYNC is offering a TWO free audiobooks every week until August 20th, so take advantage of these great deals. Side note: I downloaded this week's book "Cruel Beauty" by Rosamond Hodge and am already IN LOVE with the story and will be posting my review very soon.
• Yesterday, you were given a glimpse of my four post series called "The Journey to Fortitude" which is super exciting. Everything, including the appearance, background info, and (of course) the backstory can be found in this post. 

• Oh my freaking god, Armchair BEA is this week. Since I can't make it to BEA itself, Armchair sounds like such a fun way to take part in the festivities, so there will be 5 days worth of craziness from yours truly. I hope to take advantage of this, and make some more friends, discover some awesome blogs, and so forth.

• I'm sure you are all wondering what I mean about the "*GASPS* I'm going on a Mini-Hiatus?" part of this post's title. Well I'm here to confirm the statement, I am going on a mini hiatus, but I will still be active on the blog. I will be on vacation from the 29th of May to the 11th of June. I don't know exactly how much time I will have for blogging during that time, which is why I have posts scheduled. I also asked the amazing (seriously, she's a lifesaver) Tina @ The Book Landers to (this is actually how I put it in my email) "babysit " my blog for me just to see if all the posts go up on the right days, and not incomplete, because I do have a tendency to do that.
• Also, because I will be gone for that time, and I don't want to schedule THAT many posts, I have a few guest posts scheduled from a few weirdos I actually want to call my friends. These are their short bios I asked them to write.
• This is my friend Aurora's bio. She is not only providing guest posts for while I'm on vacation, but she will also have one post a week on Loving the Language of Literacy because she wanted to see what it would be like blogging without having the make the full time commitment or work with somebody that she does't know (although I'm not that much better). 
• Hi guys! You can call me Aura. :)
• I guess you can call me a reader, despite the fact that I'm quite picky with just about everything, including food, activities, and yes, even books. Anyhow, some of you may know my Instagram fandom account, and I'll let you keep guessing until the end of this bio.
• My absolute favorite book series is the Lorien Legacies. If you haven't heard of that, I won't blame you...but you should know about it. And read it.
• So I'm going to conclude with all my book fandoms, from first to most recent: Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Divergent, Legend, Lorien Legacies, Mortal Instruments, The Fault in Our Stars, The Fifth Wave, Fangirl, Infernal Devices, and Looking For Alaska. (As of writing this bio, I'm currently reading Unsouled--the third book of the Unwind Dystology).
• My links include the following:
• http://instagram.com/lorictribute78 (Yep! Some of you may know me as lorictribute78!)
• http://lorics-and-legacies.tumblr.com/ (I'm on IG more often btw)
• This is my friend Joyce's bio and she's just doing this for while I'm gone and may contribute posts in the future for occasions like this if I bat my puppy dog eyes.
• Hey, this is Joyce, and I'll be writing some posts for Sofia whenever she's out or when she doesn't like you guys anymore (jk). I was born on Valentine's Day in SoCal, and I love bite marks and strawberry smoothies (THEY ARE TO DIE FOR). I love anime (i will not talk to you if you don't, jk), books, and good music (LISTEN TO MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS PLEASE). i'm fairly nice most of the time, but if you take my food, i can't guarantee that you'll walk out unscathed. And by that, I mean that you will find yourself with some bite marks and a black eye. :) That's it for now.
• Peace out,
• Joyce

Books Read This Week:

I didn't have the most successful reading week ever because I am still suffering from a MAJOR book hangover because of the book Tricks by Ellen Hopkins. This book.... the quote review is going live sometime next week, and I can't begin to describe it. It has a very morbid concept, but captured me with its unique writing style and received 5 Ink Jars. I also read Curses and Smoke: A Novel of Pompeii by Vicky Alvear Shectar which is being published on the 27th of May. This was a 2 Ink Jar book for many reasons, mainly because it frustrated me to death. I also just finished reading Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King. This book started out really strong for me, the narrator amazing, vivid, and honest but eventually was just "eh" and is being rated 3 Ink Jars. 

Language of Literacy Loves:

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you may know that I am TERRIBLE with names, but basically, this is a new feature where I will feature some of my favorite posts around the blogosphere this week. 

Jessica @ Fly to Fiction ~ Fiction Friction (9): Reading Books Outside Your Comfort Zone

April & Jen @ The Starry Eyed Revue ~ Our Love/Hate Relationship With Love Triangles

Alison @ Alison Can Read ~ BEA and Jealousy

Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner ~ 10 Things I Think My Husband is Sick of This Bookworm Saying

The YA Nightstand ~ Blogger's Pick #1

Quote of the Week:

This is also a new mini feature included in The Sundau Post where I will mention one of my favorite quotes from a book I read this week. And yes, you guessed it, this week's quote is from Tricks by Ellen Hopkins. This is just one of the many quotes I will be using for next week's quote review (sample here) that I am dying to write.

Album of the Week

Another new mini feature where I feature my favorite album I have been listening to that week. This week, Kina Grannis's original album -Elements- was released, and I was pleasantly surprised. Her voice is extremely unique, and her sound alternative and almost tribal in some songs. In two weeks a Media Mondays review is going live for it.

Random Story of the Week:

This mini feature is exactly what the title is called.... a random story.... from my week. This week's random story is how I came up with this feature. So my friend had invited me to visit her church's youth group, and one of the opening ice breakers was to introduce everyone, but before that, the head counselor HAD to tell us his random story of the week. My memory is bad, but I do remember just standing there, mouth agape, wondering what the heck he was talking about. It was about his mom wanting bananas, and a ladder. It was crazy and random. So that is how I came up with this feature.

"Stacking the Shelves" is a meme when you list the books you've added to your shelves, virtual, physical, or whatever shape or form you get them. I am now combining "Stacking the Shelves" with the "Sunday Post" because it is so much a personal preference about when and what you post "Stacking the Shelves" with. As people may know, “Stacking the Shelves” posts are hosted by “Tynga's Reviews”  

{Disclaimer: I am in no means trying to brag about what I got, and merely shared this post for the benefit of my followers seeing what I purchased, and as a favor to the lovely people that sent me things. My haul is also rather large this particular week because it is cumulative from the past month or so}

Some of you that live in the Long Beach area of SoCal might know about the $1 used bookstore. Otherwise known as one of the best book stores ever. It's tucked away behind the ferris wheel and was a completely random find the last time I went to Long Beach. It's the amazingly chaotic place where there is row upon row of books and every single on of them is a dollar. There are even hardcover books that look to be almost new for a dollar. Of course nothing is organized, and books are on every random surface, but that's what makes this place so fun. You never know what you're going to find. In a few minutes, I picked up five books, four which I have not read previously.

My friend Catherine also lent me the book Slated by Terry and I am very excited to sink my teeth into it.

I also obtained Cruel Beauty by Rosamond Hodge as well as Oedipus the King from SYNC Audiobooks and my first audiobook review is going live soon.

The Sunday Post (8)+Stacking the Shelves (10) 

Loving the Language of Literacy Lookout and Lookback

-Somebody remind me of the last time I did a Stacking the Shelves or The Sunday Post. The answer, it's been waaay too long. Anyway, I haven't been as active as I would have liked to be on the blog in these past two months because of a lovely concept we humans like to call school, or in others cases, work. There has just been project after essay after presentation all leading up the much highly anticipated OPEN HOUSE at school where the teachers get to show off how good students we have been the entire year with projects we completed for the purpose of displaying at Open House.  

-I ran for Student Council President. Yes, you heard that correctly, I, Sofia Li ran for student body president, and had to go through the trials and tribulations of campaigning, the speech, the poster, and everything else that accompanies the job. I had to overcome adversity, and a lot of other stuff which I will be talking about in a post next week which I am very excited about. The elections were this past Thursday, and the results are this upcoming Thursday, so no matter what those results are, I am going to share them along with my experience.

-I'm a mini authoress! For a school assignment (to show off for Open House, of course) we had to write chapter books, and mine is around 10,000 words, which I am very proud of. I asked around on Twitter, and will be sharing my experience writing this monstrosity of an assignment. You can also follow me on twitter @sslluvsbooks for almost hourly updates on the editing process....for the assignment due Monday....which isn't going so well.

-Media Mondays! You may have read in my April Monthly Wrap Up that I am starting a new feature on the blog called Media Mondays where I will review movies, music, and television once a week which I am super psyched about. The ironic thing is that I have a blog tour date on every single Monday in the entire month of May, so Media Mondays will be happening on Wednesdays for the time being. I already posted my first review of Nashville: On The Record which was so fun to watch/listen to/review

-Bout of Books 10 is happening this week and my goal is to read 5 books, you can find out what those five books are on my progress/goals/updates post.

Books Read this Week

Across the Universe: Beth Revis

Branded: Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki

Only With You: Celia Gray

Two Boys Kissing: David Levithan

Breaking Glass: Lisa Amowitz

Lookback:

• {Spoiler Free} The Shadow Throne (Ascendance Trilo...
• {Spoiler Alert} The Shadow Throne (The Ascendance ...
• I have actually met Marie Lu!: Feature and Follow ...
• Nashville: On the Record: Media Mondays (1)
• Book Covers I Would a Frame as Art: Top Ten Tuesda...
• {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Guest Post} Moon at Nine: Debo...
• {ARC Review} The Here and Now: Ann Brashares
• April 2014 Monthly Wrap-Up

Lookout:

Sunday: That is SO Cliche *hairflip* ---A short discussion piece about the many cliche premises and patterns in YA novel's plots

Monday: {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Assured Destruction: Michael F. Stewart

Tuesday: Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't: Top Ten Tuesday (9)

Wednesday: Blackfish: Media Mondays (2)

Thursday: 101 Things I Love: Life of a Blogger (1)

Friday: {ARC Review} Breaking Free: Abby Sher

Saturday: The Sunday Post (9)+Stacking the Shelves (11)

Giveaways:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Stacking the Shelves" is a meme when you list the books you've added to your shelves, virtual, physical, or whatever shape or form you get them. I am now combining "Stacking the Shelves" with the "Sunday Post" because it is so much a personal preference about when and what you post "Stacking the Shelves" with. As people may know, “Stacking the Shelves” posts are hosted by “Tynga's Reviews”  

{Disclaimer: I am in no means trying to brag about what I got, and merely shared this post for the benefit of my followers seeing what I so generously received, and as a favor to the lovely people that sent me things. My haul is also rather large this particular week because it is cumulative from the past month or so}

Library:
Across the Universe: Beth Revis
Two Boys Kissing: David Levithan
Every You, Every Me: David Levithan
The Darkest Minds: Alexandra Bracken
Shatter Me: Tahereh Mafi

Netgalley:
Minority of One: B.A. Binns ~ All the Colors of Love Publicity
Sweet Unrest: Lisa Maxwell ~ Flux
Of Scars and Stardust: Andrea Hannah ~ Flux
I Am the Weapon: Allen Zadoff ~ Little, Brown for Young Readers
Elixir: Ted Galdi ~ Ted Galdi
Runaway: S.M. Knowles ~ Mark My Words Book Publicity
Dare: Hannah Jayne ~ Sourcebooks Fire
Paradigm: Ceri A. Lowe ~ Bookoture
Breaking Free: Winter Page ~ Dreamspinner Press
The Young Woman's Guide to Setting Boundaries: ~
Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel: Sara Farizan ~ Algonquin Books
The Diamond Theif: Sharon Gosling ~ Capstone
The Gateway Through Which They Came: Heather Marie ~ Curiosity Quills Press

Bought:
The Golden Cage: Kaitlyn Davis
Concealed in Shadows: Gabrielle Arrowsmith
The Shadow Prince: Stacey O'Neale
Stung: Bethany Wiggins

Blog Tour:
Only With You: Celia Gray
Assured Destruction: Michael F. Stewart
Branded: Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki

Giveaway:

I generously received a basket of books and things from Spencer Hill Press. Now when they told me I was receiving a 'basket of books' I never thought I would receive an actual basket, with a bunch of swag related to picnicing with it. I got two spoon straws, a soft, fleece blanket, adorable mason jar water containers, the basket itself, and around a dozen books that have found places on my LARGE TBR shelf.

Monthly Wrap Up + The Sunday Post + Stacking the Shelves

Best of the Bunch is a monthly blog hop at the end of each month hosted by Always Lost in Stories, where we can share which books we have read or reviewed in that month, decide on our personal favourite and give that book our Best of the Bunch award.

To join in simply write your blog post telling us which books you have read or reviewed over the month, (and which book gets your Best of the Bunch award for that month), and then stop back here to add your link to the Mr. Linky. Visit the other blogs in the links to get some awesome new book recommendations.

Loving the Language of Literacy Lookout and Lookback

-I have reached ONE HUNDRED Bloglovin followers. I remember less than four months ago when I had just started Loving the Langauge of Literacy and look how far I have come since then. Thank you so much everyone that has followed me and I appreciate every single one of you Bloglovin, GFC, and  Feedly  followers.

-I have a TON of new ideas and discussion posts that are in the process of being drafted. You may have seen my first out of six Divergent Trilogy Series posts. The movie review was first, and my review of Allegiant is coming your way tomorrow. I also have a 4+ post series planned for the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg that I can't wait to share with you.

-I have discovered aCal, IFTTT, Evernote, Tweetdeck, and Posts. Yes, I am aware that these apps have been in existence for a long time but I recently downloaded them and am loving it. I swear, I downloaded 7 calendar apps until I found a one with multiple color coding and aCal was the one. IFTTT lets me back up posts and numerous recipes. Evernote lets me back up posts, organize my frazzled self, and records all of my Amazon purchases....which may not be a good thing. Tweetdeck let me follow the #Bloggiesta twitter chats. Posts lets me edit, schedule, past HTML and everything else that Blogger doesn't.

-I participated in Spring #Bloggiesta and got actual goals accomplished which felt awesome.

-I've gotten accepted for a lot of ARCs via Netgalley which could either be a good or bad thing, so expect to see a lot of ARC Reviews in the coming months because there are some phenomenal books.

-I'm part of the Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose Street Team. So for the next four weeks, there will be plenty of posts and tweets for this astounding novel.

-I'm going to the Los Angeles Festival of Books! :) There will be two recap posts for this.

-I am doing my best with the whole scheduling posts ahead of time thing, but all of the teachers are dumping project after project on their students because Open House is next month. That means I won't have nearly as much time to read and write posts, but I promise I will try my very hardest.

Books Read in March:

House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus #4): Rick Riordan

The Distance Between Us: Kasies West

Colonization: Aubrie Dionne

Six Months Later: Natalie D. Richards

Reconaissance: Aubrie Dionne

Alliance: Aubrie Dionne

Allegiant: Veronica Roth

Me Since You: Laura Wiess

Breaking Free: The True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Modern Slavery: Abby Sher

The Cellar: Natasha Preston

March Posts:

Music Mondays (2) + It's Monday! What Are You Reading (1) 

Monday Memes 

Popular Authors I've Never Read: Top Ten Tuesday (6)

All Time Favorite Middle Grade Books: Top Ten Tuesday (7)

Books On My Spring 2014 TBR List: Top 10 Tuesday (8)

WWW Wednesdays (2) 

Feature and Follow Friday (2) 

Stacking the Shelves (8)~ Powells Addition 

Best of the Bunch Montly Wrap-Up+Sunday Memes

{ARC Review} Moon at Nine: Deborah Ellis

House of Hades: Rick Riorda

{ARC Review} Me Since You: Laura Wiess 

The Cellar: Natasha Preston 

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Journey to Landaran: Judy Goodwin

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Alliance (Paradise Reclaimed #3) Aubrie Dionne 

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} The Making of Nebraska Brown: Louise Caoila 

{Blog Tour+Giveaway} The Prophecy: S.P. Cervantes 

March Challenges & Readathons Goals/Updates/Results

Spring 2014 Challenges 

Spring 2014 Bloggiesta

Ides of March Challenges

#COYER Mini-Challenges

The Book Vs. The Movie~ Divergent Trilogy Series Part 1 of6 

{Book Blast+Giveaway} Final Stand: Rose Garcia 

April 2014 Goals:

I usually don't like to put my goals for followers because you honestly can't choose who follows you, and there's no magic recipe for someone to follow you. The numbers I have here are merely projections on past experience and I am not trying to say I'm entitled to those followers I wish to have.

35 Posts

13 Reviews

4 Lean In Series Posts

4 Divergent Trilogy Series Posts

Parts 1 & 2 of the Los Angeles Festival of Books Recap

Post Everyday

150 Bloglovin Followers

25 GFC Followers

15 Linky Followers

10 RSS Followers

700 Twitter Followers

15 Books Read

5 Blog Tour Books Read

4 Netgalley Books Read

4 Review Request Books Read

Challenge Updates:

COYER: 3 Technically 7 including blog tour books

March Madness Reads: 13

Take Control of Your TBR Pile 12

Ebooks 18/25 

Dystopia 9 /20

Library 17/50

Mad Reviewer 27/104

Standalone  13/

Women 30/25 COMPLETED

First Reads 21/

Chunksters 3/10

Real Books 15/

Netgalley 6/21

New Author 21/50

February Best of the Bunch:

I know having three books completely defeats the purpose of a 'Best of the Bunch' but to be fair, I did read 14, so 3 isn't even a 4th of all the books I read. I recently (as in two days ago) reviewed Obsidian Eyes by A. W. Exley for a blog tour. House of Hades was a portal back to my childhood and a wonderful read. Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls who Escaped Modern Slavery was a life-changing read and my only regret is that I cannot review this book for another month.  

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on the blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

Lookback:

• {Blog Tour+Giveaway+Review} Obsidian Eyes: A.W. Exley
• April Fools: Feature and Follow Friday (3)
• {Promo Post+Giveaway} Rush Too Far: Abbi Glines
• Skin and Bones, Smoke & Steelheart: Mini Reviews (1) 
• I'm Getting Back in the Game: Readers Workouts (1) 
• 
  

Lookout:

4/7 {Divergent Trilogy Series 2/6} Allegiant: Veronica Roth
4/8 What I've Learned.......My 4 Month Blogoversary
4/8 Race Recap: Reader's Workouts (2)
4/9 Lean In: Sheryl Sandberg
4/10 {Promo Post + Trailer Reveal} Dear Nobody: The True Diary of Mary Rose 
4/11 The False Prince: Jennifer A. Nilesen 
4/12 {Divergent Series 3/6} The Hunger Games VS. The Divergent Trilogy
4/13 The Sunday Post + Stacking the Shelves. 

"Stacking the Shelves" is a meme when you list the books you've added to your shelves, virtual, physical, or whatever shape or form you get them. I am now combining "Stacking the Shelves" with the "Sunday Post" because it is so much a personal preference about when and what you post "Stacking the Shelves" with. I am doing this meme once a week, so you will probably see nothing but library books because originally, I only did "Stacking the Shelves" as an every-time-I-go-to-the-library thing. As people may know, “Stacking the Shelves” posts are hosted by “Tynga's Reviews”  

{Disclaimer: I am in no means trying to brag about what I got, and merely shared this post for the benefit of my followers seeing what I so generously received, and as a favor to the lovely people that sent me things}

Two weeks ago, I did a SIXTEEN book Stacking the Shelves post. I am sad to admit, but happy to have four more additions to my hard copy collection. Meanwhile, my eBook additions are.....lengthy to say the least.

Netgalley & Blog Tour & Review Oppurtunity eBooks

Hard Copy Book Orders & eBook Giveaway Wins

I want to thank Scholastic, Flux, Entangled Publishing, James Lorimer & Company, Macmilan Children's Publishing Group, Sourcebooks Fire, Dundurn, Bold Strokes Books, Inc.