All Books Considered

If I Could Make My Favorite Bloggers Read Books is a new feature on my blog in which I discuss or, really, tell my favorite bloggers which books I really, really, really want them to read!!  This is the first post in a multi-part series because I had so much fun!

This discussion is inspired by conversations I've had recently with a few of my favorite bloggers.  It seems like there are certain authors that aren't criticized honestly or given anything less than stellar reviews.  Without singling out any particular book or author, what I want to know is: Are Certain Authors Sacrosanct? What I mean by this question is: do you find that bloggers are hesitant to give certain authors honest (and possibly bad) reviews?  Also, are there certain authors for whom you couldn't stand to give a negative review?  That is, not that you would write up a dishonest review but that maybe you would skip reviewing a work of theirs formally if it wasn't going to be a good review . . . ? I have found the former to be true with a certain author -- not that maybe everyone doesn't love this author's works and/or is giving dishonest reviews but moreso that it seems like a lot of bloggers are giving this author more favorable ...

Dear 2016 Debuts, You've really surprised me.  I used to not really read debuts until or unless I saw a lot of trusted bloggers raving about them.  This year, I've taken a chance and tried so many of you and I've been elated! You've all been over 3.5 Stars for me and many of you have been among my favorite books of this year.  You've enchanted me with your stories, your prose, your fresh take on topics both new and not so new.  Some of you have thrilled me, scared me, and made me lose myself in reading your words.  You've made me re-think taking a chance on debuts and I'm so thankful for that.  We've got lots to look forward to in our journey as readers and writers if this is where we've started and nothing could be better! Thank you 2016 Debuts -- so happy you were written and can't wait to read future works from all of your authors!   Eva   Have you read any of these?  What ...

This discussion is partially inspired by Shannon's recent discussion regarding the " Pickiness of Endings " (a must read).  I was thinking about Shannon's discussion and I feel the same -- endings, especially series endings, disappoint me so often.  And then I thought about the fact that some of my very favorite books don't have a "happy" ending.  Sometimes this works because it feels more authentic for the story, for the characters and particularly, as Shannon pointed out, in a dystopian.  This led me to think about what a "happy" ending even means and so today I ask: How do you define a HEA? I often think of endings in simplest of Shakespeare's terms -- if it ends with a wedding, it's a comedy; if it ends with a funeral, it's a tragedy.  But maybe that is too simple. As you know, I hate spoilers and so I am going to try to talk about endings without referencing any particular books.  As I intimated above, some of...

First of all, thank you SO much for reading my very first "discussion" post .  The response was so amazing and I am so grateful to each and every one of you that took the time to read it.  I would like to preface my next discussion post in the same way -- nothing is new and I'm sure that this topic has been discussed by someone, somewhere but this is what is on my mind: SHOULD THERE BE ARCs? Truly, not everything I think about and write about is regarding Maggie Stiefvater's epic series, The Raven Cycle , but it just so happens that this discussion post will mention this series, too.   Those of us that are obsessed with this series (like me) know that there will not be any ARCs for the highly (HIGHLY) anticipated last book of this series, The Raven King . There will be no ARCs (advanced reader copies). Y'all are just going to have to trust me. https://t.co/xYDv0q1tXN — Maggie Stiefvater (@mstiefvater) December 5, 2015 Oddly, I think this ...

Since I'm such a pro at discussion posts (see my first one ever HERE ), I've decided to sign up for  the 2016 Book Blog Discussion Challenge  hosted by   Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction   and  Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight ! I'm super excited! From the challenge: This challenge is to help get us discussing books and book blogging, so talk about whatever you want as long as it’s relevant to book blogging. Discussions can be book related or book blogging related (or generally blogging related – no discussions about things that are completely off-topic like travel or fashion, etc). Discussions can also be about you personally if it’s a get-to-know-you type post. You, too can sign up HERE !

If you can believe it, this is my first "discussion" post. I've always wanted to do a discussion post but I never knew where to start and I could never think of a topic that other bloggers didn't already address brilliantly.  That being said, nothing is new and I'm sure that this topic has been discussed by someone, somewhere but recently I read the latest book by my favorite author and the entire time all I could think was: ARE AUTHORS RUSHING TO PUBLISH TOO QUICKLY? Let me break it down for you.  First of all, I love self-publishing.  I think there are some amazing authors out there that wouldn't otherwise be able to get their books out without self-publishing.  Some of my favorite books in the past five years have been self-published.  I discovered Colleen Hoover, Chelsea Cameron, Emily Snow, Jessica Park, Tarryn Fisher, Autumn Doughton, Jillian Dodd, Rosalind James, Tammara Webber, Tracey Garvis Graves, and Mary Whitney, all through ...