Friday 5 May 2017

Rachel's Year of the Paperback - April Update

I've been so busy in the past few days I haven't had a chance to finish writing this post. A combination of long days at work, and then quite a few lovely bookish events in my spare time! Actually only remembered to do this, as I received a new ARC yesterday that I need to put onto my May draft of this post that I haven't started yet! 


Me (left), Samantha Tonge (middle),
Sharon from ShazsBookBlog (right)
During April I got to meet the lovely Samantha Tonge to talk about The New Beginnings Coffee Club, received a huge goody bags of books (not listed here as I mainly have e-copies), and had a great afternoon. I also went to the Blogger'Author Shenanigans where amongst getting to chat with loads of fab people, we had an ARC swap table, and I've managed to nab for myself The Vets At Hope Green by Sheila Norton that I am really looking forward to starting.   And last night...oh wait we are in May now, I may tell you what lovely people I met at Juliet Ashton's launch party next month!

In April it was a bit of a mixed month, as I went through a couple of days where I suddenly realised that I need to start being a bit more selective with which unsolicited review copies I intend to review, so have culled a few of them (I'm sorry). 

I did manage to read 8 paperbacks though, and without receiving as many it looks like I may finally be making progress in reducing the stack. However if the various prizes I have won recently all show up during May, it will take a miracle to keep up the progress! 

Paperbacks Read (8)

Now That I've Found You by Ciara Geraghty - 3.5 Star Review
The CEO Buys In by Nancy Herkness - 4 Star Review
My Sister by Michelle Adams - 4 Star Review
The Woman Who Met Her Match by Fiona Gibson - 3 Star Review
The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin - 5 Star Review
Daydream Believer by Lizzie Fayke - Review coming on 7th May
The Last Piece of My Heart by Paige Toon - Review coming on 18th May
The A to Z of Everything by Debbie Johnson - Review will be 27th June on the blog tour

Review Paperbacks Received (3)

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
The Woman Who Met Her Match by Fiona Gibson
The Second Sister by Claire Kendal

Paperbacks from events (1)

The Vets at Hope Green by Sheila Norton

Paperbacks DNF - (1)

I don't normally mention books I don't finish, and I won't mention this by name, but in the interests of keeping the maths adding up, I need to acknowledge that there was one book I just couldn't get into. 

Paperbacks Transferred to Giveaway Stacks - (2)

Occasionally as you can see I receive unsolicited books, I often if they look interesting will keep them and attempt to read them. However in the case of at least two of these books I'm coming to the conclusion that I just won't ever read them, as I have so many other books that I would rather read, so will give them away in competitions on the blog at some point in the future. 

So with 8 read, 3 others removed from the count for various reasons and only 4 gained, that works out as a new stack indentation of 7 books, which definitely sounds encouraging. I am though a bit worried that I seem to be barely buying paperbacks so far this year,, although I'd say from May to July/August all the lovely summery books will be out and I know there are many many I have my eyes on, so who knows what impulse buys I may have (especially when I hit an airport towards the end of May!). 

And so I can keep a track:

Start of year - 96
End of January - 94
End of February - 97

End of March - 93
End of April - 86


3 comments:

  1. Sooo jealous you got to read the new Paige Toon book already - even though you've certainly earned it with all the hard work you put in your blog =) Still, not long to go now until it's published.
    I've read The Vets at Hope Green last month once the final part was out. This is what I always do with serialized novels; I wait until the final part is out and then start with the first as I don't like to read them in instalments but can't bear to wait a couple of months more until the complete version is out! I really loved The Vets at Hope Green, it's exactly my kind of read. So Happy Reading!
    I've also got The Light We Lost on pre-order as I've read a couple of fantastic reviews on other blogs.

    Glad you seem to make a dent in your paperbacks, especially as you mentioned you're moving house. I've also got a lot of unread paperbacks as I prefer reading on my Kindle now, but reading my paperbacks wouldn't reduce the number I have in total as I generally keep the books I've read to re-read them...
    Currently reading my first Aven Ellis book as I've seen you raving about them in your reviews. It only took me so long as I don't tend to enjoy books by American authors (with a few exceptions like Rebecca Raisin and Jenny Hale). But so far I really like Aven's writing style!

    Nathalie

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    Replies
    1. Without saying much, I absolutely loved every second of the Paige Toon, my only fault was I ran out of pages too fast!

      Really glad you loved The Vets at Hope Green, it looks just like my sort of book, and I do have an idea of when I may be able to read it at least.

      If you get to The Light We Lost before me, please let me know what its like. It's on my radar for an upcoming feature but it also could slip through the cracks. My copy arrived with a pack of tissues!

      I also prefer reading on my kindle, I just seem to get a lot of paperbacks too, and if nothing else this year may at least prove to me that even if I make more of an effort with them, they still appear at a rate of knotts!

      Really glad you are giving Aven Ellis a go. I don't know which one you are reading, but I've read the new one out on 17th April - Save The Date, and its also brilliant.

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    2. Wow, that sounds like you have a really tight reading schedule and can't just pick up what takes your fancy. I always thought you must be incredibly organised (and a fast reader!) to read as many books as you do.

      I thought The Light We Lost was going to be published on the 18th, but it appeared on my kindle the day before yesterday - well, I'm not complaining -, so I dived straight in and finished it yesterday. I knew from only glancing at the prologue that I held a special book in my hands and that impression only grew stronger while reading the rest of the book. I was completely captivated. It's an incredibly romantic, yet heart-wrenching read. I didn't need any tissues, but I'm guessing a lot of people would. You should definitely read it! I can heartily recommend it. If I were to write a review, I would give it more than 5 stars if I could.

      I also finished the Aven Ellis book. I read Sugar and Ice and I'm now waiting impatiently for Aven to write the second book in this series. I loved how passionate Josephine is about her baking/cooking and Cade seems like the perfect fit for her. I loved that he wasn't just an athlete, but so much more. So glad Aven has a large backcatalogue I can now catch up on!

      Nathalie

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