Saturday, May 3, 2014

Weekly Rewind 5.3.14

Saturday, May 3, 2014 12:18 AM with 25 comments




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

 16143347 18667779 18723063 
18453185 18332010 18635076 
18465577 Bellweather Rhapsody 17693452


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.
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


13418925 18778806

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:
Interwebs: 

Anticipated Reviews

16143347 18667801 15792316
 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!

25 comments:

  1. Good luck on the job hunt, Natalie. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't read anything by Jennifer L Armentrout either, but I have a copy of Don't Look Back to get to at some point. I sometimes feel really overwhelmed by all of the books I have to read as well. It looks like you've got some really interesting books to add to your collection!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Completely agree about Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times, I just want the book to look at it. Prettiness....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wishing you all the best in your job hunt! I has a big three week reading slump which was horrible but thankfully I'm back on track now. Last November I had 30 books to review and panic set in-I started to feel that I had taken on too much and reading became a chore for a while. I've had to cut back on reviews this year so I can tackle my own tbrs. Hope you get your reading mojo back soon!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh that blurred lines clip was AWESOME. Gosh, I'm laughing so hard! (Also freaking excited about X-Men, adfljakfda). Aw, but nice you had a bit of a break and a nice time with your folks! I really want to read We Were Liars because all I hear is amazing stuff about it!! My StS!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This looks like a great haul! I'm intrigued by Val McDermid's update of Northanger Abbey, I didn't know anything about that.

    My StS.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great Haul!! We Were Liars, Don't Look Back, The Secrets of Lily Graves, and Nantucket Blue and Red are all on my TBR list.

    I'm sure you will work yourself out of your slump soon. It happens to all of us.

    I hope you enjoy all of your new books!! Here is my STS: http://jacquesbooknook.blogspot.com/2014/05/stacking-shelves-finally-forever-by.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. We Were Liars is SO GOOD - I hope you enjoy it. Everything Leads to You has such a beautiful cover and after I heard it has a main character who's somehow involved with film world/interested in films, I got super excited because I love books that have film fans as characters :)
    Have a good Saturday and enjoy these books :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. We all go through reading slumps. its normal to feel overwhelmed at times. You got some really nice looking books. Enjoy them.

    Grace
    Books of Love

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congratulations on your hooding ceremony and good luck with job searching!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good luck on finding a job and happy reading!

    Tsuki’s STS

    ReplyDelete
  12. Glad you are back! I am excited for all your reviews!
    Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings

    ReplyDelete
  13. Awesome books! You know I sort of felt "meh" about Second Star, but enjoyed Nantucket Red. I hope you do as well. I thought We Were Liars was good, but not great. I think I built it up in my mind since it got sooo much early attention. Good luck with the job search. Fingers crossed for you!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Awesome haul! I've seen We Were Liars around quite a lot and it looks really amazing, so I can definitely see why you are anticipating it. The Sound looks really interesting as well. I hope you enjoy your books. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Amazing haul! I have been seeing We Were Liars alot and heard great things about it. Hope you like all of your new books! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  16. I didn't really like We Were Liars, but I guess I'm the weird one. I'm so jealous of Don't Look Back! Happy reading :D
    Stacking the Shelves
    Dress Up That Cover - Doll Bones by Holly Black

    ReplyDelete
  17. Sending lots of positive job vobes your way, Nat! And, I am so hoping that you love We Were Liars (no pressure!)

    I love the cover of Bellweather, this is the first I'd heard of it but the mystery aspect sounds great!

    Mands @ The Bookish Manicurist

    ReplyDelete
  18. We Were Liars was just an OK read for me. Everyone seems to be raving about that book, but I thought it was a pretty good read, but nothing great. Lily Graves is a fun read as in Nantucket Red. I didn't love it as much as Blue but it's a good beach read, nonetheless.

    Check Out My STS

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for linking my post :)
    I liked We Were Liars. I didn't figure out the twist in that, but I eventually figured out the one in Gone Girl. I think I read that they are changing it up somehow for the film.

    I liked Second Star! And I have only read one JLA book but I thought Don't Look Back was pretty fun -- I always love those slightly-cheesy movies where the heroine gets threatening notes and that happens in the book.

    Congrats on getting your degree and good luck on the applications ;)
    Jen @ YA Romantics

    ReplyDelete
  20. What an awesome week! I enjoyed Second Star. I actually just posted the review up on my blog.
    Unfortunately not much of Jen Armentrout's stuff is really original, but I must admit that woman can write. Her Lux series is my favorite.

    Jenny @ She Imagined It
    My STS!

    ReplyDelete
  21. My So Called Life! One of my favorite tv shows. Can't imagine anyone else playing Angela Chase.

    I really enjoyed Don't Look Back. Can't believe you haven't read JLA! I loved her Lux series and Covenant series…those are my favorites. H

    Have fun reading, hope reading We Were Liars gets you out of your slump! ~Pam

    ReplyDelete
  22. BIG congrats on your ceremony! When I graduated with my B.S., I was so DONE by the time May rolled around. SO I feel you.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hope you enjoyed your break this past week. Second Star is on my TBR. Hope you love it and your other new books!
    Here are my newest additions.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'm reviewing Second Star this week as well. Congratulations on the ceremony and I hope you enjoyed the break! My STS

    ReplyDelete
  25. Congrats on the ceremony! And look at all those new summery books! I can't wait to tackle my Summer TBR pile. :) Can't wait to see what you think of Second Star. Oh, and thanks for mentioning our little celebration. :D Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete

Hello, there! Thanks for taking the time to comment. I read each and every one and will do my best to respond--usually on your blog instead of on mine. I will, however, always answer direct questions. Due to serious time restraints, this blog is now an award free zone, but I appreciate the thought!