Sunday Update - July 27, 2014

Every other Sunday I try to post a general news post. These might preview things I'm planning for the two weeks following, they might reflect on books I'm looking forward to, or that I've recently heard of and want to discuss.  

I'm hooking into: 

This is a meme hosted by the Caffeinated Book Reviewer wherein everyone gets to share their news for the week. It's a great opportunity to see what's happening out there in the blogosphere, so go check out some other Sunday Posters!

Today's post is going to have a few sections:

1. General Update

2. Currently...

3. Last Week

4. The Week Ahead

5. Stats

1. General Update

So I was gone for three days solid to visit my sister in the North and my new niece (who is adorable!). I had a fantastic time. The drive was, though long (nine hours), pretty pleasant overall. I rented a little car which was kind of fun to drive instead of my minivan. I still had to operate on someone else's schedule - as in the baby's and when she finally decided to enter the world - but it was pretty peaceful compared to my normal day-to-day. 

However, being away from the internet for three days really revealed how poor my scheduling has been for the blog because I had nothing prepared to post in my absence - and I should have. I'm working hard on creating a solid buffer now. I do tend to think - okay, I've already got next week's posts written, I can take on another book or two for this week - which I need to stop. We'll see how that goes. I have very little willpower when it comes to books.

Right now, I think I'm on schedule to have 3-5 reviews posted each week, along with one or two chattier posts.

2. Currently...

This is a meme I've borrowed from Coffee Bean Bookshop. "Currently" is a questionnaire style update about what's going on at the moment in my life;

Reading: Love and Let Spy by Shana Galen is what I have on my Kobo at the moment.
Watching: Face Off kicked off its new season so I'm watching that right now! Also, Dota2's biggest tournament of the year (and ever!) - The International 4 - ended last week, and so I'm kind of casting about for more Dota2 pro games to watch. 
Playing: This is going to sound ridiculous and possibly gross, but my husband and I picked up copies of a game called Viscera Clean-up Detail a couple of nights ago and have been laughing our way through it. The concept is that you're on a station that's just experienced an attack of some kind, and you're the janitor tasked with cleaning it all up. It's early release and a bit buggy but we find it pretty entertaining all the same.  
Feeling: Like I own too much *stuff* and will never have a clean home.
Loving: Summer weather. I'd really like to go on a road trip vacation with my family.
Hating: That my youngest sister lives nine hours away, because I want to visit her and her baby!
Planning: On writing this week. House hunting and being budget conscious makes me ever aware of what I'm not accomplishing on the work front. Time to get back to it.
Wanting: To clone myself so I have a me to do all the chores and errands and a me to do all the fun stuff! 
Thinking: That if the 50bookpledge.com website is correct, than I can expect to read approximately 98 more books this year. And I've got thirty more that I've agreed to review through the end of October, which leaves quite a number of slots open. That said, I bet I've got that many ebooks purchased since the start of the year that I haven't read yet....

3. Last Week

I feel like I've gotten into a rhythm of 4 star books. Last week featured a bunch of good books:

Queen of Wands by Katee Robert - 3.5 stars
The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan - 4.5 stars
How to Date Dead Guys by Ann Noser - 4 stars
The Last Kings of Sark by Rosa Rankin-Gee - 4.5 stars
Addicted by Tracey Wolff - 4 stars

I also participated in my first cover reveal: For Elsie Elmore's The Undead: Playing for Keeps .

4. The Week Ahead

This week I'll be reviewing Tempting Her Reluctant Viscount by Catherine Hemmerling, One Plus One by Jojo Moyes (spoiler alert: it is far better than its cover!) and Only With You by Lauren Layne. 

5. Stats

I think it's important to check these every now and again. Plus I'm a bit of a stats nerd. So here are some figures for you:

According to Blogger.com , the site had 1079 pageviews from July 1-July 26th (when I prepared this post), which means I'm on track to have more views in July than in June (which had 1175, and my current record for views in a month). 

According to Google Analytics, I'm at about 166 users and 231 sessions from June 25 - July 25.  

The growth of those stats over the previous period (May 24-June 24) is about 25%, so I'm pretty happy with that.

I've posted 18 reviews in July so far, averaging 3.9 stars overall. 

I should have another two reviews up before the end of the month, giving me a solid 20 for the month.