Hello everyone- it’s been a few days since I posted- which feels super strange! Every so often I just need a day or two off.
Now about this new feature… I realised that I read a helluva lot of books that I don’t review- which is a real shame, cos I feel like you only get a snapshot of my reading that way. So I came up with a new feature that every month of the year, I will do mini reviews for some of the books I’ve read to catch us all up to speed. And as I find there’s more of a backlog as the year goes on, I thought it would be a good idea for the number of books I include in the post to correspond to the month number- aka this month will be three cos it’s the third month! And the reason I decided to do it this way is cos my backlog of unreviewed books gets worse every month! (and let’s face it, a lot of us know that feeling in December when there are still 20 books left to review before the end of the year!)
And after that *really long* introduction- here are three mini reviews for the books I’ve read so far this year:
The One Memory of Flora Banks– personally I found this a very trippy reading experience, but enjoyable nonetheless! It didn’t go in the direction I expected- however it did get better as the story went along. Definitely worth a go in my opinion.
Rating: 4/5 bananas
The Watcher in the Shadows– this was a wonderful modern fairy tale. If you’ve been following my blog a while, you’ll know how much I love Carlos Ruiz Zafon- particularly his writing style (I swear he writes like a dream!). His books are so clearly designed by someone who simply loves stories. I feel like his work is the kind that will live forever- and this book is no exception.
Rating: 5/5 bananas
And the Mountains Echoed– There were some moments of absolute beauty in this and the fairytale at the beginning was perfect. But the flicking back and forth between narratives and characters that were of little relevance jarred and this ultimately messed with my overall enjoyment of the story. A decent read- but in no way his best work.
Rating: 3/5 bananas
So have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? And let me know what you think of this new feature in general- do you also struggle to get through all your reviews.
And in other news, I’m reading my *very first* ARC and am so excited!!! I swear when it got sent to me I was like this….
I am really glad you decided to do this feature. I personally don’t struggle with reviewing every book I read, beyond the normal blogger’s block, but I know other people do. I’ve seen this type of thing before and it really seems to help the blogger put the “review” behind them. Less baggage, almost literally.
So I hope this works out for you…
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Yeah it’s a real problem- I think it gets worse the more I read, cos then I have even less time to review books and then I feel even more guilty about it (and I feel silly for feeling guilty cos it usually meant I just read too many books- and why should I feel bad about that?). (Clearly I also need to stop overthinking this 😉 ) I’m really impressed with your ability to review everything- it’s fantastic! Haha thank you! I hope this will be a solution for me!
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Well, when you get to be as anti-social as me, you’ll have plenty of time to review ALL the books 🙂
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hehehe trust me, I’m anti-social enough as it is 😉
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Thank you so much for the reviews. And we love Elaine from Seinfeld, if you liked that sitcom, than you would surely love our humurous style at our Gastradamus blog. Please share your thoughts on our latest literature called Eaten an Eskimo. Your thoughts would do wonders for my morale
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You’re welcome! Absolutely, I’ll check it out 😊
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I want to read that Flora Banks book even more now that you said it was trippy!
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Ah you should!! It was really enjoyable 🙂
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Completely agree with you on the mountains echoed. I love this new feature! there are so many I leave unreviewed myself, it’s a shame!
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Ahh thank you!!! Glad to know I’m not alone with that one!! And thanks- yeah I really feel like it’s getting a bit ridiculous, especially since I’m being slower than usual with my reviews anyway! And then there’s a whole load that I just can’t get round to
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Absolutely. I completely understand those wrap up / quick review videos now. It must be so much harder to record and edit!
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Ah yes for sure!!
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Oooh I’m loving this new feature! And cograts on your first ARC! Did you sing up to Netgalley? Are you loving all the free books? Haha! 🙂
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Thank you!!! Ahh thanks- I’m so excited about it!! Yeah, recently- and I’m gonna pretend to not be totally inept and act like I know how it works 😉 Either way, free book I wanted to read anyway- YES PLEASE! 😉
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This feature is a good idea. I’m thinking I’m going to make something similar a regular for my blog this year. I really want to write more reviews – for a variety of titles/genres as well – but the time to do that, as you pointed out, does not always happen!
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Thank you!! Oh you should!! Hopefully it’ll help me get round this issue! Yes- exactly!!
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That marshmellow snowman is so cute!
And I have considered doing mini reviews more often, but I’m too chatty. I always end up writing more than I intended.
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I know right!! hehe that makes a lot of sense haha!!
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Congrats on the ARC 😀 They’re exciting, right??
I love the new feature! I’ve been trying to review all the books I read and so far so good, only one book is missing!
Everyone seems to have read The One Memory of Flora Banks and I’m alone, standing and claiming that no, I am not interested, and no I don’t know why xD
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Ahh yes!!! Ridiculously so!!! Ahh that’s brilliant!! Very envious 😉
Hehe that’s totally fine- I think I got interested because I saw so many reviews of it- but I’ve had plenty of times when the concept of a book just doesn’t grab me for no apparent reason! 🙂
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On a completely unrelated note, that marshmallow man is simply adorable!
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hehe thank you!! It really is 😉
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I need to read The One Memory of Flora Banks!! Also, I can’t get over how dang cute that snowman in the hot chocolate is. ADORABLE! 😍
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Ah it’s really good!! hehehe I know right 😉
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I LOVE that snowman in chocolate, so cute, I want that so badly right now haha. I can’t ever review all of the books I read, I have given up on trying haha, but mini reviews is a great solution 😀 Congratulations on the ARC! 🙂
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hahaha I know right 😉 me too!! yeah it feels impossible, but hopefully this will assuage the guilt a little- thank you!! And thanks- so excited about it!! 😀
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The new features really good can’t wait to read next months. Congratulations on the ARC.
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Thank you so much!! That’s very kind of you 🙂 And thanks- I’m very excited about it!
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Curious about The One Memory of Flora Banks being a trippy experience haha. I might have to look this one up! Love mini reviews 🙂
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Well it was very strange being inside the head of someone who can’t remember anything- but that’s all I’ll say!! Thank you!! 🙂
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Must. Read. My. Dusty. Copies. Of. Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Books. It just sounds too good to post-pone it even further away! Definitely a great idea to do these mini reviews. Wish I had a 20 book-to-review backlog. Really curious to know what that feels like! 😛 Oh, you fast readers. I envy y’all!
Congratulations on your first ARC though!!! It’s an amazing feeling, I totally approve!!! 😀
– Lashaan
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hahaha I absolutely *love* his work, so can really recommend it! haha well I wish I was more organised too… it’s getting a bit mental 😉
Thank you so much- it’s so exciting!! 😀
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I love the mini reviews, I’m lazy and like to read the quick blurb if I think I will like it.
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Ah thank you!! I’m so glad!! Awesome!! 🙂
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Great idea to do mini reviews, it’s nice to get a snapshot of several books at a time! And also good if it helps you to get through your backlog.
That’s really cool about the ARC too, I hope you have fun reading and reviewing it!!
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Thank you!! I’m glad you like it!! hehe yeah it’s kinda necessary at this point 😉 Thanks- I really enjoyed the book (finished it today) so looking forward to reviewing it!! 😀
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Excellent idea doing mini reviews. I’ve read The One Memory Of Flora Banks but haven’t reviewed it on my blog site and loved it.
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