This month has been kind of blah. Not sure why really. I just have no motivation to do anything. I am trying to rise above though. Over the last week, I did start doing some beta reading for a few people. For those who don't know, beta reading is when you read over an unpublished manuscript and give a thorough critique. I am doing it for free right now, but I am thinking I will expand to a paying service at some point and also over some copy editing and proofreading services. Feel free to check out my Beta Reading Services page!
My reading has just been so-so this month. I have read a few really good books this month. But most of my books have been kind of average. I am surprised I read as many books as I did. I lost my reading mojo towards the end of month, probably because I wasn't reading anything super compelling. I am feeling a reading slump coming on. Hopefully, I can muddle through before it gets too bad.
I read a total of 21 books this month (plus one manuscript that I beta read for someone):
Favorite book read this month:
This one was a little tough. While a lot of the books I read were average, I didn't read anything that was terrible. Crown Of Midnight was pretty disappointing in the fact that I was expecting so much more. I am giving up on this series. Maybe I'll get a lot of shocked reactions when I say that I just don't like Celeana that much. The first book in this series was pretty good, but this one was SO SLOW. The ending had a lot of action, but not enough to make me want to keep reading.
Reviews posted
Hidden Bodies (You #2) by Caroline Kepnes
Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate
You Were Here by Cori McCarthy
Room by Emma Donahue
Front Lines (Soldier Girl #1) by Michael Grant
How Many Letters Are In Goodbye? by Yvonne Cassidy
Into The Dim (Into The Dim #1) by Janet B. Taylor
Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine
Tripping Back Blue by Kara Storti
Top Ten Tuesday posts
Favorite Historical Time Period
Favorite Fictional Couples
Top Classics on my TBR
Other posts
Discussion: Stuff I hate to see in books
Discussion: Stuff I want to see more of in books
Discussion: Birth Control In Books
I created a new feature called Beyond The Books! Check out my first Beyond the Books post, as well as my second one.
RIP Harper Lee post
Also, I am hosting the giveaway for Nicole's February Wrap Up! Check back on March 10 for that.
How was your February? What was your favorite book of the month?
Hope the slump doesn't get too bad. :) I see several in your list there that I've been curious about, especially Into the Dim.I need to get to that one at some point...
ReplyDeleteGreg, I finally found a book that I LOVED, so hopefully that is a good sign. :) Into the Dim was really good. It starts out slow, but gets better. I think you would enjoy it.
DeleteVery cool on the beta reading. Hope it all goes well. The Love That Split the World is one I really need to get. I have been dying to read it for so long. Sorry Crown of Midnight wasn't better for you. I really enjoyed it but can understand how you feel about Celeana . My favorite book this month was Pivot Point. Have a great March!
ReplyDeleteThanks Grace! You really need to read The Love That Split The World. The writing was so beautiful. I hadn't even heard of Pivot Point until I saw that you reviewed it. I need to read your review. We do agree on a lot of books. :)
DeleteThat's great going with reading 21 books! But not so good on the slump, I think its a February thing! Have a great week and happy reading!
ReplyDeleteLaura @ http://a-reader-lives-a-thousand-lives.blogspot.co.uk
Thanks Laura! I think you are right. February was just not my month.
DeleteWOW you read 21 books - that is an awesome achievement! I'm so glad you enjoyed Love that SPlit the world, I know many who love it! A shame about CoM though, it's one of my favourites, but I kind of know what you mean.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeann! I am sad I didn't love CoM more, but oh well. Can't win them all, I guess.
DeleteThe beta reading sounds interesting. Are you enjoying it?
ReplyDelete21 books is amazing by the way!
Thanks Deborah! I am on my third manuscript and I am enjoying it so far. The manuscripts are extremely unpolished, but the writers are very talented. I don't know why, but that surprises me. I just have to be careful about taking on too much work at once.
DeleteHow do you have time to read all those books??? I wish I had that much time. Crown of Midnight was my least favorite read of this month too.
ReplyDeleteNerdgirl Review, I have always been a fast reader, but honestly I think it's mainly the fact that I am unemployed. That has a LOT to do with it. :)
DeleteAmazing books! I completely understand the reason for the reading slump. After reading so many so so books, it's just frustrating! The Love that Split the World is on my TBR list, I'm glad that you enjoyed that one!
ReplyDeleteThanks Suzanne! Luckily, I have now found a book that I LOVED, so I think I am okay. Hopefully . . .
DeleteI had the same meh feeling for February. Must have been something in the air.
ReplyDeleteYou did freaking awesome for books though. Am almost done with Stars Above. LOVE that series! Gotta get on with the rest of Sarah J. Maas books though... it's on my kindle waiting patiently.
Happy March!
fredamans, I do believe you are right. It must be a February thing. And how good is Stars Above?!? I am so sad that the series is over! The grief is real.
DeleteThat's a lot of books for being in a kind of slump:) I'm also doing some editing and a beta read. It can get hectic doing that and keeping up with reading and blogging.
ReplyDeleteMy Sunday Post - http://fuonlyknew.com/2016/02/28/whats-new-on-my-bookshelf-149-and-the-sunday-post/
Laura, yeah I did read a lot but I am a super fast reader. And I just didn't love a lot of books. Hopefully, that will pass though. And you are right about the beta reading. I had to refrain from accepting every single request. I have to be very careful about taking on too much work at once.
DeleteMy god, you've read so many books! I think I only read 10 or something... I enjoyed The Love that Split the World as well, but clearly not as much as you did. I gave it 3 stars. It was interesting, but I didn't like the romance all that much :/
ReplyDeleteLola, I can understand why the romance part of The Love That Split The World wasn't your cup of tea. It did take me a bit to grow into it but I ended up loving it. I am sorry you didn't enjoy it more.
Delete*fingers in my ears* lalalala! I can't hear you about Celeana. lol. My reading slump is looking up, so hope you get some extra good books in.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha Christy. I know, I know. So many people love her. I am sorry!!
DeleteYOU READ SO MANY BOOKS. But also I sympathise with not feeling motivated. Gah. That really gets to me sometimes.
ReplyDeleteOhhhh but I want to read your review of The Love that Split the World!!
Loony Literate, yes I did! Hopefully, I can get my motivation back. I hate that so much. You should check out my Goodreads profile for the detailed review of The Love That Split The World. I loved it so much!
DeleteHonestly I don't think you're missing anything if you give up on the Throne of Glass books now. XD I loved the first two, but I felt like they went soooo rapidly downhill after that. D: Ahem.
ReplyDeleteOmg 21 books is amazing!! And I hope your beta-reading business kicks off really well!!
Cait, yeah that's what I figured about Throne of Glass. Most of the people who love it say it goes downhill after the second one. And if I didn't love this one . . . yeah. I don't usually quit a series, but I am okay quitting this one.
DeleteWow, you had an epic reading month! I haven't ready any of these books yet, but The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever looks right up my alley :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Library Huntress! The Greatest Zombie Movie ever was one of the average ones for me. It was a little too immature for me. But maybe you will love it more. :)
DeleteI think maybe give Heir of Fire a try and see if you like the direction it's going and then maybe call it quits? Because I find in Heir of fire there's a lot of plot-changing etc. OOO, I seriously want to read The Love that Split the World! I've heard so many great things! Hope you get your motivation back soon though, it's a horrible feeling to have :( Lovely post :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristin! I hate this feeling . . . like I don't even want to read or something. Gah.
DeleteWoohoo!! You've read so many books this month (I still can't believe it 21 books?) but I'm so happy for you!! :) I totally get what you mean when you say you have no motivation for anything- I get that a lot and I just feel like restarting everything again! I read pretty average books this month but I did enjoy read The Young Elites this month!
ReplyDeleteAlicia hashtaglovebooks.com
#LoveBooks Alicia, oh wow The Young Elites was so good! I am glad you loved that one.
DeleteYou had a fantastic month. I will check out your favorite. I loved Crown of Midnight and the direction the series is taking, but I know a lot of folks struggled with it. I hope March delivers plenty of book highs :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Kimba! Already my books in March have been much better, so I think it was just a February thing.
DeleteWow, congrats on the amazing month! I read TLTSTW in December and gave it 4.5/5 stars; I'm glad to see you enjoyed it just as much! So sad and, yes, shocked to see that you are giving up on the Throne of Glass series. They are so well-loved and for some reason, a lot of people say CoM is actually their favorite of their series. I'm on Heir of Fire right now and I, personally, enjoyed ToG more than CoM.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jess! Yeah, I know so many people love The Throne of Glass series. I am a bit disappointed that I didn't love the series more too. Oh well, can't win them all, I guess.
DeleteYou had a great month! I won a copy of The Love That Split the World, but I haven't read it yet. I need to read Into the Dim and Ink and Bone has been on my shelf forever. I think I even pre-ordered it, *sigh. Sorry to hear you didn't like Crown of Midnight. I guess it isn't for everyone.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of Wreckage? I really loved that book and sobbed like a baby towards the ending.
Happy reading!
I run a meme on my site called Beyond the Books, but it sounds completely different then what your are.
Karen, that is so great that you won a copy of The Love That Split The World! I am sure you will love it. Both Into the Dim and Ink and Bone were really, really good. Into the Dim did start out a bit slow, but I ended up loving it. I hope you do too. And yes, Wreckage was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. It was so gripping and so emotional! There were so many surprises with that one. I didn't even know that you had a feature called Beyond the Books too. I swear, I didn't try to copy it! :) It sounds like the features are different anyway.
Deletewow, you had Sarah J Maas and Marissa Meyer? Lucky you- I want to read those very much. I hope you find a book to hold your interest/and/or revive your reading, you have such great books!!
ReplyDeleteMy Feb Wrap Up Post
http://thebestbasicblogger.blogspot.com/2016/03/february-wrap-up-post.html
Thanks Joann!
DeleteI feel you! I got so many test on February that I just want to lay in my bed and do nothing everytime I get home! Anyway,you read so many great books! I haven't read TLTSTW yet, but I'm looking forward to read it since it sounds awesome. Glad you love it too! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tiffany! I am sure you will love TLTSTW. It's amazing!
DeleteConsidering how many people talk about the ToG series, I sure see a lot of people who are bored with it. I'm not sure if I should jump on the bandwagon or not. Maybe I'll wait until it's completely finished.
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Nicole, if I were you, I would at least wait until the series is over. Then again, many people who loved it find that it went downhill after the third book.
DeleteThat's amazing that you read 22 books! Good luck with your beta reading services, and hopefully March will be a better month for you :D
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Cilla! Believe me, March has been much better in terms of reading quality. :)
DeleteI've gotta admit--I tried Throne of Glass TWICE--once just picked it up on a whim, then again later when I found out how popular it was--and never made it past about 50 pages. This is why it's good there's so many different books and authors, right? You're never going to please everyone! I'm looking forward to TLTSTW though. The cover is awesome.
ReplyDeleteWendy, oh I am so glad to find someone who is not a fan of this series! It's just so boring. Guess you can't win them all. :) TLTSTW is really, really good. I hope you love it!
Delete