Weekly Recap #56: Week of 6/3 – 6/9
/34 Comments/by Suzanne
It’s time for another weekly recap post of all things happening on and off the blog. This week I’ll be linking to the Sunday Post, which is hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and to Stacking the Shelves, which is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.
This week has been a little off kilter for me because it started off with a mandatory training session that forced me to get up extra early on a Monday morning and drive an hour to the training center when my morning commute is usually 10 minutes. That was the worst, of course, but they did compensate for that misery a bit by serving us a delicious breakfast before the training started. I can be very forgiving when bacon, eggs, french toast, and fresh fruit are involved, lol. The training did eat up a lot of my time though so I spent most of the rest of the week playing catch up. Not fun but by the time I left on Friday, I was back on track, so yay!
Not too much else has been going on. My son finished all of his testing last week and will graduate from elementary school this Friday. I can’t believe I’m going to have a middle schooler on my hands. Where does the time go? I still remember his first day of preschool!
I had a pretty good reading week too. I finally (two weeks late!) finished the last of my May ARCs, Furyborn, and will review that this week. I have some mixed feelings about it but enjoyed it overall. I also finished one of my June ARCs and got started on another. And thanks to my longer commute this week, I also managed to finish A Man Called Ove, which had been on my TBR for two years. This week will be mostly devoted to my June ARCs but I am hoping to get through A Boy Made of Blocks, which is another that has been on my TBR for too long.
I also apologize for lagging behind on my blog hopping and replying to comments. I knew I would fall behind with my work schedule but had planned to get caught up on Saturday since there was a 90% chance of stormy weather all day that day. When I woke up though, the sun was shining and it was gorgeous outside and I ended up spending nearly all day and evening outside instead of at my computer. I hope to get mostly caught up today though since the rain that missed us yesterday is supposed to be here all day today.
I think that’s it for me. I hope everyone else has a great week! 🙂
WHAT I POSTED LAST WEEK
- [3 Jun] Weekly Recap #55: Week of 5/27 – 6/2
- [4 Jun] The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware ★★★★½
- [5 Jun] DNF Regrets – Top 10 Books I Wish I Had Quit Reading
- [6 Jun] Can’t Wait Wednesday – Spotlight on THE RAGING ONES by Krista & Becca Ritchie
- [7 Jun] DISCUSSION: Challenge Fatigue – Can One Have Too Many Reading Challenges?
- [8 Jun] Far from the Tree by Robin Benway ★★★★★
- [8 Jun] Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco ★★★★
WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK
UPCOMING REVIEWS
STACKING THE SHELVES
TOTALLY RANDOM
Backlist Briefs – Mini Reviews for FAR FROM THE TREE and HUNTING PRINCE DRACULA
/26 Comments/by SuzannePublished by HarperTeen on October 3, 2017
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 374
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
A contemporary novel about three adopted siblings who find each other at just the right moment.
Being the middle child has its ups and downs.
But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—
Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.
And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.
Review:
Robin Benway’s Far From the Tree is an incredibly moving and engaging read that grabbed hold of all of my emotions and didn’t let go until long after I reached the final page. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and sometimes it just really made me sad and frustrated. Why? Because Far From the Tree isn’t just a book about family. It also touches on some important social issues that really resonate, such as teen pregnancy and the stigma that seems to follow the teen mom but not the teen dad; the many fears that plague both kids who have been adopted as well as those who are stuck in the foster care system; the impact addiction can have on a family; and so many more.
Far From the Tree follows three teenagers, Grace, Mia, and Joaquin, who are related by blood, but who have never met because their mother gave each of them up soon after they were born. Grace and Mia were both adopted as babies, but Joaquin was never adopted and has spent his entire life drifting in and out of foster homes. Grace has lived most of her life knowing that she was adopted, but until a heart-to-heart conversation with her parents, she had no idea that she also had two siblings out there in the world. She sets out to find them and it’s just such an incredible moment to watch the three of them connect and gradually start to bond with each other, gradually sharing more and more about themselves, including most importantly, fears, whether rational or irrational, that have plagued them for most of their lives.
It’s incredibly easy to fall in love with all three siblings because Benway does such a wonderful job making each interaction feel authentic as she poignantly captures the awkwardness and all of the emotions that Grace, Mia, and Joaquin experience as they realize they’re not as alone as they each thought they were. If you’re looking for a beautifully written contemporary novel that explores what it truly means to be a family, look no further than Robin Benway’s Far From the Tree. 5 STARS
Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco
Also by this author: Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper, #1), Kingdom of the Wicked
Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper #2
on September 19, 2017
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction
Pages: 434
Also in this series: Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper, #1)
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS
Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper's true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe's best schools of forensic medicine...and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.
But her life's dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school's forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.
Review:
Hunting Prince Dracula is the second installment in Kerri Maniscalco’s Stalking Jack the Ripper series. I loved the first book in this series so much and I’m happy to report that the second book is just as good, if not better, than the first!
Audrey Rose and Thomas Cresswell were just as fabulous this time around, as they traveled together to Romania to study forensic medicine. Their witty and flirtatious banter fills the pages and serves as a fantastic counterpoint to the dark atmosphere and the danger that they of course find themselves enmeshed in once they enter the school, which turns out to be a super creepy castle. I don’t want to give away any details about the mystery itself but there’s blood, bodies, bats, stakes through the heart, and oh so much more, including the threat that perhaps the infamous Vlad the Impaler has returned from beyond the grave.
While the overall formula for Hunting Prince Dracula is quite similar to that of the first book – there’s a mystery to be solved and Thomas and Audrey Rose get on each other’s nerves as they set out to solve it – what took the second book to a different level for me was the emotional turmoil that Audrey Rose experiences as a result of some of the things she learned about her family at the end of the first book. It’s a thread that follows her throughout Hunting Prince Dracula and it adds some welcome depth to her character, although I of course already loved Audrey Rose because she’s so ahead of her time and is such a feminist. I love watching her verbally filet anyone who tries to tell her she shouldn’t be at the school studying forensics. She just has such a feisty, take no prisoners attitude and I love it (as does Thomas)! I can’t wait to get my hands on the third book in the series to see what’s in store for Thomas and Audrey Rose next! 4 STARS
About Kerri Maniscalco
Kerri Maniscalco grew up in a semi-haunted house outside NYC where her fascination with gothic settings began. In her spare time she reads everything she can get her hands on, cooks all kinds of food with her family and friends, and drinks entirely too much tea while discussing life’s finer points with her cats.
Her first novel in this series, Stalking Jack the Ripper, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. It incorporates her love of forensic science and unsolved history.
About Robin Benway
Robin Benway is a National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of six novels for young adults, including Audrey, Wait!, the AKA series, and Emmy & Oliver. Her books have received numerous awards and recognition, including a 2008 Blue Ribbon Award from the Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books, 2009’s ALA Best Books for Young Adults, and 2014’s ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults. In addition, her novels have received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly, and have been published in more than twenty countries. Her most recent title, Emmy & Oliver, was published in 2015 by Harper Teen, and was named one of the best books of summer by the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle, and Publishers Weekly. Her latest book, Far From the Tree, won the 2017 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and was published on October 3, 2017 by Harper Teen.
Robin grew up in Orange County, California, attended NYU, where she was the 1997 recipient of the Seth Barkas Prize for Creative Writing, and is a graduate of UCLA. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she spends her time hanging out with her dog, Hudson, making coffee, and procrastinating on writing.
DISCUSSION: Challenge Fatigue – Can One Have Too Many Reading Challenges?
/40 Comments/by SuzanneI’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, mainly because I’ve signed up for more reading and blogging challenges this year than I ever have before, and although I only chose challenges that I felt aligned with goals I already hoped to achieve on my blog this year, I now find myself struggling to keep up with a few of them. In my mind, I’ve labeled this Challenge Fatigue.
What’s funny though (or at least it’s funny to me anyway) is that it’s not the actual reading part of the challenges that has me feeling a little burnt out. No, instead it’s the “housekeeping” aspect of the challenges that are bogging me down. You know, the part where you have to remember to go and do the linkups to show that you’re actually keeping up with the challenges, etc. Yeah, I totally suck at that. I try to be organized about it and have a tabbed spreadsheet to keep track of my challenges and make sure I remember to submit everything, but sometimes I just forget and then I have to backtrack and see what I’ve submitted and what I haven’t. It gets a little tedious at times. (Did I also mention that becoming more organized was also a goal of mine for 2018? Ha!)
So anyway, all of my struggles have me wondering at least for myself, how many challenges is too many? Right now I’m doing these five.
- Goodreads Challenge (Goal – 90 books, I’ve read 58 books so far)
- Debut Authors Challenge (Goal – 12 authors, I’ve read and reviewed 8 debuts so far)
- New Release Challenge (Goal – 30 books, Read and Reviewed 31 books)
- Beat the Backlist Challenge (Goal – 30 books, Read and Reviewed 16 books so far)
- Discussion Challenge (Goal – 12 posts, As of this post, I’ve done 5 discussions)
When I chose to do this many challenges, my first thought was to set the goals low so that they wouldn’t stress me out. I was torn though because there’s the other part of me that asks “Then what’s the point of even doing it if you’ve set the goal so low that you’ll easily achieve it? What’s challenging about that? It’s called a challenge for a reason!” Yeah, I hate that part of me too.
Out of the five challenges, I’ve already achieved my goal of 30 new releases and am over the halfway point on all of the other challenges, except the Discussion Challenge, where I’m only at 5 including the post that you’re currently reading. Discussion posts are not easy for me so this challenge has been the toughest, but in many ways, also the most valuable for me because it does truly challenge me to step out of my comfort zone. The others, rather than truly challenge me, have really just functioned more as just reminders of the goals I hoped to achieve on the blog: read and promote more debut authors, read more new releases but also keep moving through my endless backlist of books, etc. Did I really need challenges for those? Looking back, I honestly think I probably would have read the same numbers of books in each of those areas whether I had the challenge or not.
And now comes the quandary of what to do now that I am starting to meet my goals on them. Do I bump up the goals and continue or do I stop and call the challenge completed? I’m leaning toward just marking them complete and moving on to something else, but I guess we’ll see how I feel as I get closer to the finish line on each one. I have to admit I did feel a bit of relief when the host of the Beat the Backlist Challenge announced some changes to that challenge which translated to less “housekeeping” on my end.
Even though I’m okay overall with the 5 challenges, moving forward, I think I’ll probably do less of them, especially the ones that are meant to run all year round. I’ll probably stick to one or two of those, especially since I’m actually finding that I prefer the challenges that only last a month or two and also the shorter readathons. They feel like more a challenge because the timeframe is shorter, which also means less of the “housekeeping,” but the goals are usually still flexible so I can make them as challenging as I want to. Some favorites from the past two years for me are the Summer TBR Wipeout Challenge, the March Take Control of Your TBR Challenge, and the HoHoHo Readathon.