Sunday Summary – 21st March 2019
Hasn’t the Easter weekend been fantastic? I mean, it’s not over yet, but we can appreciate it still! The weather over here has been glorious – and what have I done? Well, I’ve spent most of it inside… Fail, Rebecca. I’ve been for some short walks and out and about a little though. Its weekends like this that make me wish I had a garden. Never mind, I don’t. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing, because along with this springtime sunshine I get a healthy dose of hayfever. Fun.
This week has been a mixed bag of busy productivity and some relaxation time too! Things have been busy at work, but that’s okay as I am off next week! No special plans, just some well-deserved relaxation time; maybe some reading, a little baking for a cake sale and possibly meeting some friends. Now, a little less of what I am going to be doing next week and instead let’s take a look at what I have accomplished this week!
I’ve had a little breather from the blog tours for most of the week so I had the opportunity to write a couple of fun posts. My Top Ten Tuesday post about the struggles of book blogging was quite well received. I’m glad I am not the only person that has difficulty managing some of these things. If I had to name my top two out of the list, I’d say reading other blogs and using social media are the things I am worst at. It should be so simple too, which somehow just makes it worse… Of course, if you want to see what else I name on that list, I’d love if you could check it out and tell me what your difficulties are!
Another Down the TBR Hole post was the focus on Thursday. These reading lists just become so unruly with all the amazing books out there. I decided to drop 2/5 books on the list which is pretty fair I think.
Earlier today, I was back on the blog tour blitz! Today’s post features another crime fiction novel by K. J. McGillick called Trust Me. I’ve now read three of her books and signed up to read a fourth. I love her writing style and technique of building a dramatic plot line.
Books Read
I began the week by continuing to read Trust Me. As I mentioned above, my blog tour post was scheduled for today so getting the book read and my thoughts together were paramount. Concurrently with that, I have also been listening to Lock In by John Scalzi on my morning commutes to work. As I only have a couple of hours left on that one, I’m hoping to get that finished in the next week!
This weekend, I have finally finished reading Ewan Pendle and the Castle of Nightmares! I’ve been plodding away at it for so long now as I am doing a proofread as well as a read-for-review. I am grateful to have finally finished it at last for Shaun’s sake; he’s waited so long and patiently for my feedback. In addition to that, I have made a healthy start with reading Justice Gone by N. Lombardi Jr. This is my last blog tour of the month and I am well on track to getting this read in time for the tour next week.
As of tonight, I have also dipped into reading The Watcher of Dead Time by Edward Cox. I have been trying to get around to this book for so, so long now. It feels well deserved at this point!
Books Discovered
The only real point of note here is that my Audible credit landed this week! As promised, I used it to get myself a copy of Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman.
Edit – I tell a lie. I have just read the synopsis of The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell and it sounds amazing/funny/brilliant. That’s on the reading list now!
Coming Up…
What’s coming up? A week of intended bliss – that’s what’s coming up! Don’t worry, I may be taking a week off work but Reviewsfeed will still be ticking over as normal. My time off could probably be more enjoyable if I wasn’t having trouble with a noisy neighbour, but hey. I’m getting that sorted. For now, it’s just nice not to be at work.
With a planned blog tour post for Justice Gone later in the week, I’m thinking I’ll start on a lighter note. About a year ago was the last time I shared some favourite quotes of mine – that particular post was a Game of Thrones edition. I am thinking of picking on another favoured writer or series and sharing some of my favourite quotes with you all!
Then, the aforementioned blog tour post will be gracing your screens on Friday.
Aside from that, I’ll be doing as much reading and relaxing as physically possible.
Top Blog Posts of the Week
A Book. A Thought. – Down the TBR Hole #9
donnasbookblog – Blog Tour Review of Trust Me
books on the bookshelf – Book review: The Silent Patient
K. J. McGillick was born in New York and once she started to walk she never stopped running. But that’s what New Yorker’s do. Right? A Registered Nurse, a lawyer now author.
The largest commodity you have (and lose) when it comes to book blogging is time. A review post, when you take into consideration the time taken to read the book in question, can take several hours to produce. On average, for a 300-page book, I probably spend around four hours reading it and at least an hour and a half on my blog post itself. That’s quite a lot, right?
Sometimes, things are great! You can devour a book in two hours and get a review chucked together pretty damn quickly. It doesn’t always work that way though. If you’ve been slogging away and making slow progress for a little while, you feel the need for a break. There’s nothing wrong with that. My main hobby outside of the blog at the moment is playing Minecraft (such a nerd, I know). If I need a break from books, I’ll either try to build some new structures in my survival world; go explore some caves and/or strip mine or try (and usually fail) to build a redstone contraption. For those that don’t know, redstone is Minecraft’s equivalent of electricity. I’m not very good with it right now.
As a blogger, you would like to think I would read other people’s blogs. We’re all part of the same community; it’s only natural, right? Yes, you’re right, and again this is something I am prepared to admit I am terrible at.
Over-commitment
Writing posts last minute
Anti-socialism
Graphic design/ imagery
Posting reviews to other sites
Jennifer Macaire lives with her husband, three children, & various dogs & horses. She loves cooking, eating chocolate, growing herbs and flowering plants on her balcony, and playing golf. She grew up in upstate New York, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. She graduated from St. Peter and Paul high school in St. Thomas and moved to NYC where she modeled for five years for Elite. She met her husband at the polo club. All that is true. But she mostly likes to make up stories.
Colette Kebell is an eclectic author, though a relatively new one and thus far has self-published her books. Her books are light-hearted, fun and quirky and even considered by some to be inspirational. She publishes mostly for the English speaking market and the Italian one. Colette Kebell does not stick to just one genre when writing though, as you shall discover from her latest book to be launched on 5th April 2019
As a career, Colette spent her later years as a legal secretary. After a first attempt at writing many years ago (a book that still remains in her drawer) she resumed this passion a few years back, after being made redundant. After few book signing events and a book talk, which almost caused her to collapse with nerves, Colette now spends her time between her home in the UK and her home in France.
Today’s blog post is going to be a little bit special; I will be handing over to Mark Stay very shortly so he can tell you about himself and his recently published fantasy novel, The End of Magic. I took the opportunity to share my thoughts in 
Mark co-wrote Robot Overlords with director Jon Wright for Piers Tempest’s Tempo Productions. This was selected for the 58th BFI London Film Festival. Mark also wrote the film’s novelisation to critical acclaim.
