Weekly Rewind 5.3.14

Weekly Rewind

The new books on my shelves, the links I loved, and my week in a nutshell.




Since I started this blog I've participated in Stacking the Shelves, which is a weekly feature hosted by Tyngas Reviews, and I'm going to continue linking to that meme. Throughout my student teaching semester I was using my weekend post as a way to let people know what's going on in my life, so I've decided to rename my weekend post because this feature is more personal than just what books I've received. The Weekly Rewind will be about what's going on with me and my blog, as well as about the books I've added to my shelves, and the links I've enjoyed over the past week from other blogs and the interwebs in general.  

My Life and Blog

Life: As most of you know, I had my hooding ceremony for my M.Ed on Sunday. The ceremony was lovely  and it was great to see my parents, but a bit anti-climatic considering the fact that I've been done with school since December. Regardless, it was great to see the classmates I grew close to during my program and go through the pomp and circumstance to make it official. 

I didn't take any sub jobs this week and it was kind of nice to have a break. A couple of job opportunities have popped up, so I spent Friday working on the gigantic applications (letters of intents, essays, uploading transcripts, etc). I know that the chances of me getting a job so quickly is practically nil, but I'm trying to keep my hopes up. Please send good thoughts my way!

The Blog: I took a bit of a blogging break this week. Again, my parents were in town for the first couple of days this week, and Friday was spent working on job applications. More than that, though, I haven't finished a book in over a week which is such a bummer since I was cruising along there for the first few months of this year. I just couldn't seem to get into anything even though I literally have over a hundred amazing sounding books at my fingertips between my very stocked Kindle, my library haul, and the many (many, many) unread books on my own shelves. Honestly, I think being overwhelmed was (and usually is) the majority of the problem. I just have SO many books to read. Gorgeous, awesome books, but don't have nearly enough time to do it. I freaking hate slumps. HATE them. On late Thursday night, I picked up We Were Liars and read a significant amount, so I'm hoping it is what I need. I've also been binge re-watching Dexter on Netflix after that disaster of a book Killer Instinct reminded me of how awesome it was. For those who left comments on that review: WATCH DEXTER. The first few seasons, especially, made for some of the best TV ever. Seriously.

• Wednesday: I'm waiting for Winterkill which has one of my favorite font treatments maybe ever.
• Thursday: I finally posted a review for The Break-Up Artist. While I enjoyed the writing for this book, I did find aspects pretty unrealistic which stopped me from loving it.

New Books: I've been super excited to dive into these. I'll admit sometimes I'm not always that excited for all my review books, but I can honestly say that I cannot wait to read each and every one of these.

For Review

   

 

We Were Liars  by e.lockhart

I'll read anything by e. lockhart. Like I said above, this seems to be helping with the reading slump which is awesome. At 40% or so, I think I know exactly what the "twist" is going to be. I'm pretty good at figuring twists out pretty early. I had Gone Girl pegged almost immediately. That sounds like bragging...Oh, who am I kidding? It's totally bragging.

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

SO excited for this book about a young Hollywood set designer.

The Sound by Sarah Alderson

I've been excited for this one since it came out across the pond last summer. An English nanny moves to Nantucket for the summer to be a nanny and gets mixed up in a murder mystery.

Nantucket Red by Leila Howard

I really enjoyed last summer's Nantucket Blue and am excited to see what is happening in Cricket's life now.

Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times by Emma Trevayne

Full confession: I have no idea what this is about. I just couldn't resist that GORGEOUS cover. 

The Secrets of Lily Graves by Sarah Strohmeyer

A girl who grew up in a house of female morticians becomes a suspect of a classmate's murder.

Second Star by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

This re-imagining of Peter Pan with Peter and Hook as rival surfers sounds awesome...but is getting disappointing star ratings. I'm hoping to love it anyway. I can be the black sheep.

Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia

Per GR: "A high school music festival goes awry when a young prodigy disappears from a hotel room that was the site of a famous murder/suicide fifteen years earlier, in a whip-smart novel sparkling with the dark and giddy pop culture pleasures of The Shining, Agatha Christie, and Glee."

Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu

A girl joins a club called Life by Committee where people tell a secret and get an assignment? I'm not exactly sure what that means. We'll see.

What I snagged from the library

Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout

This amnesia story looks fun, if not wholly original. I've never read anything by this author (yes, I know), so I'm excited to dive in.

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid

An updated look at Jane Austen's classic. 

Link Love

Blog Love:

• One of my very favorite blogs, The Starry-Eyed Revue, turns three this week. They are celebrating with a week of giveaways, so go check it out!
• Jen over at YA Romantics talks about how contemporaries are jumping on the series bandwagon in her post: Will YA Contemps Be the New Never-Ending Story?
• Christina from Confessions of a Book Addict posted an: Introduction to her "Summer Kickoff" Feature complete with an adorable collage. 
• Cait from The Notebook Sisters asks publishers to Please Stop Comparing Books to The Hunger Games.

Interwebs: 

• Huffington Post's article: 18 Books That Changed How We Felt About Ourselves as Women was interesting.
• Mental Floss posted 19 Things You Might Not Know About My So-Called Life which is my all-time favorite show. 
• Author C.J. Redwine shares: The 10 Things New Writers Need to Know.
• This clip of Michael Fassbender, Hugh Jackman, and James McAvoy dancing to Blurred Lines is glorious.

Anticipated Reviews

 Well that's it for me this week. Feel free to leave a link to whatever weekend post you do (Stacking the Shelves, In My Mailbox, etc). I love to see what books people have recently snagged and especially enjoy hearing about my fellow bloggers' weeks. I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend!