Sunday Update - June 29, 2014

Every other Sunday I 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. Online Release Parties

2. Currently...

3. Last Week

4. The Week Ahead

1. Online Release Parties

Last week I attended my first online release party! It was the New Adult Romances New Releases Facebook Event. Hosted on Facebook, it stretched over two days - I only attended on Tuesday because I didn't find out about it until Tuesday morning.

I don't know if there's a standard for these events but the event celebrated new releases from a number of New Adult authors who were each available for a pre-scheduled hour during the day. They talked about their books, answered questions and offered questions for discussions, as well as hosting giveaways and contests usually featuring free copies of their books as prizes! 

I picked up a few books, including the second and third books from Jen Minkman's Island series, and Wander and Roam by Anna Kyss. I'll be posting reviews for these as I read them over the next week, I believe. 

What I loved about the release party - other than the opportunity to pad my TBR list with some interesting titles - was the chance for all the participants to engage with the authors. If you're a fan, it was a great opportunity to ask any questions, learn about upcoming releases and try to win a freebie. Several authors made the first book in their series temporarily available for free (which is where most of my Stacking the Shelf post pick-ups this week came from!) so if you wanted to read something by a new author - also a good opportunity.

So my question now is: how do most people hear about these events? I found out about this one on twitter from one of the authors who participated. I'm going to make a point this week of looking for more - and then passing them along either in a post on my blog, or via twitter (follow me link in the sidebar!). In my next update post, I'll reflect on how successful (or not) I was at finding more release parties to attend!

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: How to Date Dead Guys by Ann M. Noser, which I'll have a review for later in the month. Skin by Michele Renae, which is the conclusion of her Paris Secrets trilogy and I am so very excited to be reading. And then Fated by Alyson Noel, which I picked up from Chapters a few weeks ago.
Watching: Nothing in particular right now - still So You Think You Can Dance (so sad to see some of my early favorites off the show already, but there's definitely a few I'm rooting for in the Top 20!)
Playing: Steam's summer sales have been going on for the past week and a half, so I've picked up about a half dozen games. State of Decay - a zombie survival/resource management-type game is one of the standouts, and I spent most of Saturday playing Banished which is a slimmed down Simcity-type game.
Feeling: Stressed, and I'll explain why below in The Week Ahead.
Loving: Spending time outside with my family - we were at the zoo this morning enjoying the splash park and had a blast.
Hating: Always that there aren't thirty hours in the day.
Planning: To find a way to sneak some 'me' time in the next week or two.
Wanting: A nap!
Thinking: That it's only the beginning of July, and already this summer is flying by!

3. Last Week

Last week was a really mixed bag. I read some really great books and some not so great books.

The Millionaire Affair by Jessica Lemmon - 4 stars
The Shadow Master by Craig Cormick - 3.5 stars
Carnelian by B. Kristin McMichael - 2 stars
The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith - 4 stars
Child of a Hidden Sea by A.M. Dellamonica - 5 stars - a standout for me this year!

4. The Week Ahead

I'd love to tell you what I have planned post-wise, but it looks like I may be putting in an offer on a new house this week. If that does happen and goes well, I'll have to race to get my house up on the market and you can see how that might throw off my schedule a bit! We've been looking for a while now and this is the first time I've gotten at all excited about a place. Even if our offer isn't accepted, it's given us the kick we needed to start getting our own place ready to sell, which is good because while there's nothing major, there's definitely a lot of little things that take some time to complete! 

Anyways, fingers crossed that this week goes well!