Sunday, June 7, 2015

THE SUNDAY POST #14



THE SUNDAY POST is a weekly feature hosted by Kimba at the Caffinated Book Reviewer. It is a chance to recap the previous week, share news, showcase books and/or bookish things we have received, and tell about what is coming up on our blog in the next week. You can view the guidelines, HERE

I think my posts should start being called The Sunday Evening Post. Ha!


This week is going to be my monthly wrap up for May, although I usually don't do them, because I got a couple of good hauls and had some of the downside of blogging hit me.

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I will start out with the bad occurrences so that I can end on a good note.

Before BEA last year I was very new to blogging and had no clue about this bookish convention until it was too late to make plans. I had a blogging buddy at that time, in fact she was my only blogging buddy back then, whom I had met in a Goodreads fan group. We had both just started blogging and had a lot in common (not being being young adults, but still loving YA, and being moms). The minute we knew BEA was being  held in NYC again in 2015 we started making plans and we talked about it together nearly everyday. She knew I was on a strict budget when we planned on a two nights hotel stay, and she assured me that this was perfect because she was going to be stretched thin too, and also not being able to leave her son for too long. When it came time to nail down whether we were staying Tuesday and Wednesday, or Wednesday and Thursday nights for hotel reservations, she informed me that she had made plans with other people to go to events on all three days, so she needed to stay three nights. When I told her she was telling me this too late to save more money, she said she could pay for a single for the extra night, but then would not be able to afford to eat the entire time she was there, so I politely bowed out so she could room with the people she had made plans with (without telling me). I was miffed because I had already scheduled that week off from work with no vacation pay because it wasn't allowed during the month of May, but never mentioned it to her. After that she quit DMing with me on Twitter, stopped commenting on my blog, and unfriended me on Facebook, even though I never said anything about being mad. I was gutted because we had become close friends, so I just silently faded into the background. I found out she was telling people I had decided not to go because of not being able to afford it, and my new job! I thought I was going to be able to shrug it off, but this really made me angry. The least she could have done was tell people the truth and how understanding I was about it. 



The second thing that happened was I mini-reviewed and rated an ARC I had read, on Goodreads like I always do, with my fresh from the read thoughts. I said that although I rated it 5 stars on GR, I was rating  it 4.5 stars on my blog. The author sent me a PM on Facebook asking me why! I explained my thoughts and she messaged me telling me why I was wrong! I was on her street team, but I didn't think that meant an automatic 5 star blog review. Needless to say, I am no longer on that team, and I was a good member, too. Since when is 4.5 stars not a fabulous rating? I think this was bad behavior on her part, so I am not going to waste my time reviewing her two books here on the blog.


The third thing (I guess all bad things come in threes) was I did a guest post review and the blogger told me not to worry because she would be correcting my grammar! What? I felt a tad bit insulted. Then she actually "corrected" some things to the lesser common, like making Biochemistry Major into biochemistry major, and hardcover into hard cover. I guess she wasn't happy unless she found something to fix. She also told me I could include up to three gifs, but didn't include the beautiful tarot card gifs I took the time to find. Anyway, you can read my review of THE RAVEN BOYS, HERE.



The month of May made me question why I blog.


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Now for the good stuff, BOOK MAIL...


BOOK OUTLET

The top book was an adorable science picture book for my Biochemistry Major son (ha ha). There were two ORLEANS paperbacks, but I had already posted one of them to Elizabeth at So Long... & Thanks For All the Fish, as a gift. The second one is for a giveaway, so be looking out for that. I love the dust jacket on RECKLESS, the first book in Cornelia Funke's series Mirror World.


There are two or three different covers, so I hope I can get all of them in hardcover to match.


I also won Erin's QUIRK BOOKS giveaway on her blog, THE BOOK NUT.

The books came with this special Quirk Books tote.





(next to my teetering pile of trade/donate books)


Hollow City matches my Mrs. Peregrine's PERFECTLY!



★ AND ★
ALSO
A
POSTER



My son has already stolen this to frame for his room!



Have a marvelous week!


21 comments:

  1. I have another poster if you want it. It's a different one in the series. Because you're awesome.

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    1. That would be fab because I am sure Sebastian would love a pair! You are awesome, too!

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  2. Cheetos make everything better (love that pic)! Seriously tho, keep your chin up. I've heard of thing like that, never experienced it myself but then I don't do ARC's so probably don't piss anyone off- but it can happen to any of us at any time. Authors need to chill, bloggers don't OWE them anything, and I think most of them know that. Sorry about BEA... that would be VERY frustrating.

    Keep on keeping on, and don't let it stop you! Have a fabulous week!!! :)

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    1. Thanks! I needed a pep talk. I guess I have gotten used to most authors being overly appeciative for any little thing, even 4 star ratings usually. And I will concentrate on them and the faithful commenters that make me so happy. :D

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  3. First *hugs and cookies* I am so sorry you experienced all the ugliness of people in one month. Shake it off, hold your head up and know we are not all like that. Now where did you get that awesome coffee steam punk gif? I adore it!!!

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    1. Ha ha, feel free to steal! I get most of my gifs from Pinterest now. And thanks, yes, I need to concentrate on all the other wonderful authors and bloggers I have met and get happy!

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  4. Sorry your month was crappy (other than those books). If I were the author, I would have loved that you bumped up the rating on Goodreads, not complained that the blog one wasn't as high! I've had trouble with one of my guest posts as well- I sent it in, and the blogger had told me it would be published in March. It's June now- and I had to actually work pretty hard on the guest post, taking pictures, editing them, making it fit for public consumption. The rest of my guest post experiences have been positive, so I just figure it's the blogger's loss. That sucks that your BEA plans were put out of sorts. Hopefully this month there'll be people around you who restore your faith in the book blogosphere.
    ~Litha Nelle

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    1. Ha! I especially hate it if they ride your tail about getting a review done and then post it weeks later. She did send me a hardcover of the book to review, so I guess the grief was worth it. :D

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  5. Omg, I can't believe how rude those people were to you. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT. HOW DARE THEY? *builds a protective chocolate igloo around you* Seriously 4.5 stars is an incredible rating and being on a street-team should not make you have to give automatic high ratings. That kind of doubts the credibility, right? If you HAVE to give a certain rating. I'm always really miffed/disgusted when authors feel the need to fight about these things. It really drags their name down and makes people (like me!!) scared to work with authors. ANYWAY. I'm glad you have some awesome books and posters though and I hope this week is better. YOU ARE FABULOUS, JUST SAYIN'.

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    1. Thanks! It makes me happy being one of your minions, and I have already earth that chocolate igloo! You are fabulous, too, and a darn good nibblings herder. :D

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    2. "earth" ??????? Fhkeindle the Kindle demon thinks he is funny today. :D

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  6. Sorry you had a bad month. I hope things pick up in June.

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  7. 4.5 stars rating and you get an author asking why and then telling you why you were wrong?? Now that's so weird!! O_o And really not very good behaviour on the author's part at all!!

    And I'm so sorry about the whole BEA thing too...

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    1. Yeah, weird. No more street teams for me unless it is an author I already know well. Ha! Thanks, Pili, you are an awesome friend. :D

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  8. Wow. Welp, May is over! Here's to June restoring your faith in the blogging humanity. ;)

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    1. Yes! It has already been far far better. The weather has been chilly "sweater weather", too, and I love it. It is like getting extra fall days at the beginning of summer. :D

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  9. I love that poster! I'm sorry that May left you feeling that way, I'm right there with you though. Try not to let them bother you. If there is one thing I've learned about the book community is that it has an ugly die that most of us never expect to find. May really showed that and by the end of the month I was so burned out that I just wanted to throw in the towel...if I'm being honest June hasn't been much better.So hopefully it gets better for the both of us!

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    1. June has been much better for me, thanks! I am sorry to hear things haven't turned around for youu much, yet. I hope things change for you soon. Cait also had a problem with an author and a review this week. It must be something in the air. :/

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  10. Man I'm so sorry your May was so rough! But at least it wasn't all bad - that's some pretty awesome swag! And thanks again SO MUCH for sending me Orleans! I haven't had any time to read since I got ANOTHER job and have been too tired to read :(. But every time I see Orleans I get all excited about it all over again haha! I have a couple weeks of only working two jobs and not four, so I'm super looking forward to getting some quality reading time in!

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    1. I have missed you so much! And of course your mind twisting blog posts. Ha ha. I hope you have time to do a June wrap-up and give the specifics on your new jobs. :)

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