2015 Wrap Up

2015 was one of the busiest years for me! I finished my master's degree, planned my sister's wedding shower and bachelorette party, went to my sister's wedding abroad, started a new job, and my mother in law passed away. Unfortunately, all this stuff took away from reading and blogging. I greatly appreciate all the readers and bloggers who continue to read my blog.

Here is an update on the challenges I participated in 2015.

2015 Book Blog BINGO hosted by me 

(I was totally not prepared to host a challenge and not many people participated in this, but to those of you who did, thank you!)

My Goal: A Double Bingo

Status: Met

A book that takes place in a school: The School for Good and Evil

A book purchased in 2014: Shadow and Bone

The second book in a series: Siege and Storm

A book with magic or paranormal characters: Ruin and Rising

A book written by an author that you've never read before: The Donor

A book with romance: A Wizard Rises

A book published in 2015: Bright Fire

A book that made you cry: The Sin Eater's Daughter

A review persuaded you to read it: The Winner's Curse

A book outside your comfort zone: Moneyball

A book that has been on your TBR shelf for two years or longer: Ashes of Foreverland

A book with a dragon: The Girl at Midnight

A book more than 500 pages: Days of Blood & Starlight

A book with a beautiful cover: Daughter of Smoke & Bone

A book with a color in the title: Scarlet

A book you (should have) read in high school: The Book Thief

A book from the New York Times Best Sellers List: Queen of Shadows

A fairy tale retelling: The Wrath and the Dawn

A book that someone recommended to you: Six of Crows

2015 Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
hosted by Falling for YA

My Goal: 25 books and 80%

Status: half met (9 books, 91%)

1. The Donor by Nikki Rae

2. A Wizard Rises by AJ Nuest

3. Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton

4. A Time of Reckoning by AJ Nuest

5. The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey

6. Hidden Huntress by Danielle Jensen

7. Spelled by Betsy Schow

8. Lion Heart by AC Gaughen

9. Hidden Gates by DT Dyllin

2015 Discussion Challenge

hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction 

and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight

My Goal: 1 - 12 Discussion Dabbler

Status: Met (even though I was really hoping to complete one discussion per month)

1. Book Event Etiquette
2. Rereacds and Reviews
3. Book Previews
4. Promoting Archived Posts
5. Adults who read YA

2015 Goodreads Reading Challenge

My Goal: 70 books

Status: Not Met (45 books)

December Netgalley Reading Challenge Update

This challenge is hosted by Falling for YA. Basically the goal is to tackle your review books and get your feedback percentage up.

My goal is 25 books and to maintain a percentage of 80% or better. 

Here's a fun update: I finally posted my Netgalley badges on my blog!! 

My current percent is 91%.

Unfortunately, my progress is pretty slow... I have been struggling to find titles that I am honestly interested in reading an reviewing. I just can't bring myself to request books, just to request them.

Here is my progress so far:
1. The Donor by Nikki Rae
2. A Wizard Rises by AJ Nuest
3. Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton
4. A Time of Reckoning by AJ Nuest
5. The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey
6. Hidden Huntress by Danielle Jensen
7. Spelled by Betsy Schow
8. Lion Heart by AC Gaughen
9. Hidden Gates by DT Dyllin

December Book Blog BINGO

Welcome to the December Review and Progress Link-Up for the 2015 Book Blog BINGO Challenge. Before linking up, make sure you signed up for the challenge. Don't forget, you can update or change your goal at any time!

I met my goal!!

My Goal

A Double BINGO (2 traditional BINGOs in any direction)

My Progress

A book that takes place in a school: The School for Good and Evil

A book purchased in 2014: Shadow and Bone
The second book in a series: Siege and Storm
A book with magic or paranormal characters: Ruin and Rising
A book written by an author that you've never read before: The Donor
A book with romance: A Wizard Rises
A book published in 2015: Bright Fire
A book that made you cry: The Sin Eater's Daughter
A review persuaded you to read it: The Winner's Curse
A book outside your comfort zone: Moneyball
A book that has been on your TBR shelf for two years or longer: Ashes of Foreverland
A book with a dragon: The Girl at Midnight
A book more than 500 pages: Days of Blood & Starlight
A book with a beautiful cover: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
A book with a color in the title: Scarlet
A book you (should have) read in high school: The Book Thief
A book from the New York Times Best Sellers List: Queen of Shadows
A fairy tale retelling: The Wrath and the Dawn
A book that someone recommended to you: Six of Crows

November Book BINGO

Welcome to the November Review and Progress Link-Up for the 2015 Book Blog BINGO Challenge. Before linking up, make sure you signed up for the challenge. Don't forget, you can update or change your goal at any time!

I met my goal!!

My Goal

A Double BINGO (2 traditional BINGOs in any direction)

My Progress

A book that takes place in a school: The School for Good and Evil

A book purchased in 2014: Shadow and Bone
The second book in a series: Siege and Storm
A book with magic or paranormal characters: Ruin and Rising
A book written by an author that you've never read before: The Donor
A book with romance: A Wizard Rises
A book published in 2015: Bright Fire
A book that made you cry: The Sin Eater's Daughter
A review persuaded you to read it: The Winner's Curse
A book outside your comfort zone: Moneyball
A book that has been on your TBR shelf for two years or longer: Ashes of Foreverland
A book with a dragon: The Girl at Midnight
A book more than 500 pages: Days of Blood & Starlight
A book with a beautiful cover: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
A book with a color in the title: Scarlet
A book you (should have) read in high school: The Book Thief
A book from the New York Times Best Sellers List: Queen of Shadows
A fairy tale retelling: The Wrath and the Dawn
A book that someone recommended to you: Six of Crows

Congratulations to Ashley @ The Quiet Concert, she won 3 surprise YA books!

October 2015 Book Blog BINGO Link-Up &Giveaway

Welcome to the June Review and Progress Link-Up for the 2015 Book Blog BINGO Challenge. Before linking up, make sure you signed up for the challenge. Don't forget, you can update or change your goal at any time!

My Goal

A Double BINGO (2 traditional BINGOs in any direction)

My Progress

A book that takes place in a school: The School for Good and Evil

A book purchased in 2014: Shadow and Bone
The second book in a series: Siege and Storm
A book with magic or paranormal characters: Ruin and Rising
A book written by an author that you've never read before: The Donor
A book with romance: A Wizard Rises
A book published in 2015: Bright Fire
A book that made you cry: The Sin Eater's Daughter
A review persuaded you to read it: The Winner's Curse
A book outside your comfort zone: Moneyball
A book that has been on your TBR shelf for two years or longer: Ashes of Foreverland
A book with a dragon: The Girl at Midnight
A book more than 500 pages: Days of Blood & Starlight
A book with a beautiful cover: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
A book with a color in the title: Scarlet
A book you (should have) read in high school: The Book Thief
A book from the New York Times Best Sellers List: Queen of Shadows

Giveaway

Three Surprise YA Books

(trick or treat - it's a surprise!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Previews - Bookish Discussion

What are your thoughts on book previews?
That chunk of pages at the end of a book, where there is a sample of a few chapters of the author's next book, which depending on when you are reading the book the previewed book may or may not be published.

Personally, I NEVER  EVER read the preview, especially if it is the next book in the series and here's why:

1. I HATE spoilers and a sneak peak of a book just feels spoilery to me

2. I don't like to re-read things necessarily. So, if it's a series and I know I am going to read the next book in the series, I just skip the preview. Or, if it's some unrelated title that I'm not sure about, I'd rather read the synopsis than a chapter or two.

3. I am in impatient person. Waiting for the next book is hard enough as it is, I am convinced that reading a snippet of a book that I want will only make the waiting worse.

4. I am worried a preview would influence my review. I am the type of person who drafts my review immediately after reading a book, whether it's in a notebook, on my phone, or on blogger. I am always a little worried that if I start reading a preview, I might get confused.

What about those preview books?
The freebies that allow you to read the first few (or more) chapters of a book for free.

Yup, I NEVER download or read those either. One time I accidentally selected one of these samplers in the "Read Now" section of Netgalley, luckily I realized it was just a sample before I started reading it and I quickly removed it from my shelves. (I wonder if this hurts my percentage?)

Anyways, I'm curious - How do you feel about book previews? What are your philosophies when you spot them at the end of a book? Do you download the free samples?

Promoting Archived Posts - Discussion

Do you promote older posts on social media?

It seems like every time a log into twitter and scroll through tweets, I see several other book bloggers promoting their older posts using various hashtags to let you know this is an archived post. Sometimes I visit the links provided in the post, usually it depends on the content of the post. If it's a review post for a book that I am interested in or a discussion topic that sounds interesting, I will for sure click the link. So, it has got me thinking about archived posts and your thoughts.

I did a quick google search and found lots of articles about ways to improve blog traffic, including suggestions for tweeting archived posts, but nothing about the reasons behind this and the method to it. So, do you tweet or share archived posts via social media? If so, I have lots of questions for you!

How do you decide which archived posts to share?
I've seen all types of archived posts shared: reviews, discussions, and blog tours. Some bloggers seem to favor one type over the other, so I am just wondering how do you decide which archived posts are worth a second round?

How often do you share archived posts?
Again, I see some bloggers who do it daily, others do it on days where they don't have a new post to share, and others seem to do it randomly. What is your method and why?

Is it effective? How do you know?
I am assuming that most people do this in order to improve traffic, does it actually work? How closely do you monitor your stats in order to tell if it's working?

How do you share the archived posts?
I've mostly seen this done through tweets on twitter. Do you pre-schedule your tweets? Do you do it randomly? Do you use another platform to share?

As a reader and follower, how do you feel about people who share their archived posts?
Like I said, sometimes I click them and sometimes I don't. It really depends on how much time I have to read blogs and whether the topic sounds interesting.

Let me know your answers to my questions and the questions that you have in the comments!

Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge Update

This challenge is hosted by Falling for YA. Basically the goal is to tackle your review books and get your feedback percentage up.

My goal is 25 books and to maintain a percentage of 80% or better. 

Here's a fun update: I finally posted my Netgalley badges on my blog!! 

My current percent is 93%.

Unfortunately, my progress is pretty slow... I have been struggling to find titles that I am honestly interested in reading an reviewing. I just can't bring myself to request books, just to request them.

Here is my progress so far:
1. The Donor by Nikki Rae
2. A Wizard Rises by AJ Nuest
3. Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton
4. A Time of Reckoning by AJ Nuest
5. The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey
6. Hidden Huntress by Danielle Jensen
7. Spelled by Betsy Schow
8. Lion Heart by AC Gaughen

August 2015 Book Blog BINGO Link-Up

Welcome to the June Review and Progress Link-Up for the 2015 Book Blog BINGO Challenge. Before linking up, make sure you signed up for the challenge. Don't forget, you can update or change your goal at any time!

My Goal

A Double BINGO (2 traditional BINGOs in any direction)

My Progress

A book that takes place in a school: The School for Good and Evil

A book purchased in 2014: Shadow and Bone
The second book in a series: Siege and Storm
A book with magic or paranormal characters: Ruin and Rising
A book written by an author that you've never read before: The Donor
A book with romance: A Wizard Rises
A book published in 2015: Bright Fire
A book that made you cry: The Sin Eater's Daughter
A review persuaded you to read it: The Winner's Curse
A book outside your comfort zone: Moneyball
A book that has been on your TBR shelf for two years or longer: Ashes of Foreverland
A book with a dragon: The Girl at Midnight
A book more than 500 pages: Days of Blood & Starlight
A book with a beautiful cover: Daughter of Smoke & Bone
A book with a color in the title: Scarlet

How is your challenge going? Share and link up in the comments

July 2015 Book Blog BINGO Link-Up

Welcome to the June Review and Progress Link-Up for the 2015 Book Blog BINGO Challenge. Before linking up, make sure you signed up for the challenge. Don't forget, you can update or change your goal at any time!

My Goal

A Double BINGO (2 traditional BINGOs in any direction)

My Progress

A book that takes place in a school: The School for Good and Evil
A book purchased in 2014: Shadow and Bone
The second book in a series: Siege and Storm
A book with magic or paranormal characters: Ruin and Rising
A book written by an author that you've never read before: The Donor
A book with romance: A Wizard Rises
A book published in 2015: Bright Fire
A book that made you cry: The Sin Eater's Daughter
A review persuaded you to read it: The Winner's Curse
A book outside your comfort zone: Moneyball
A book that has been on your TBR shelf for two years or longer: Ashes of Foreverland
A book with a dragon: The Girl at Midnight

How is your challenge going? Share and link up in the comments

Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge Update

This challenge is hosted by Falling for YA. Basically the goal is to tackle your review books and get your feedback percentage up.

My goal is 25 books and to maintain a percentage of 80% or better. I am also going to sign up at Edelweiss this year.

My current percent is 87%.

Here is my progress so far:
1. The Donor by Nikki Rae
2. A Wizard Rises by AJ Nuest
3. Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton
4. A Time of Reckoning by AJ Nuest
5. The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey
6. Hidden Huntress by Danielle Jensen

June 2015 Book Blog BINGO Link-Up & Giveaway

Welcome to the June Review and Progress Link-Up for the 2015 Book Blog BINGO Challenge. Before linking up, make sure you signed up for the challenge. Don't forget, you can update or change your goal at any time!

My Goal

A Double BINGO (2 traditional BINGOs in any direction)

My Progress

A book that takes place in a school: The School for Good and Evil
A book purchased in 2014: Shadow and Bone
The second book in a series: Siege and Storm
A book with magic or paranormal characters: Ruin and Rising
A book written by an author that you've never read before: The Donor
A book with romance: A Wizard Rises
A book published in 2015: Bright Fire
A book that made you cry: The Sin Eater's Daughter
A review persuaded you to read it: The Winner's Curse
A book outside your comfort zone: Moneyball
A book that has been on your TBR shelf for two years or longer: Ashes of Foreverland

How is your challenge going? Share and link up in the comments

Giveaway 

Prize: Any book from the Book Depository (max $20)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Rules:
Open Internationally as long as the Book Depository ships to you
Winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to reply before an alternate winner is picked
All entries must be made via Rafflecopter and are subject to verification
Follow the Yellow Book Road is not responsible for prizes that are lost or damaged in the mail

Adults who read YA - Bookish Discussion

This challenge is hosted by
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and
Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight! Sign up here.

Adults who read  YA

So, technically speaking I am an adult. I mean I'm in my late 20's, I'm married, I have a Bachelor's degree, I almost have a Master's degree, I am a high school teacher, I have two cats and a dog. But just because I have all of the qualifications of an adult does not mean I have to read books written for adults.

I choose to read YA, particularly fiction and fantasy. It's what I know and love. Let's be honest, I have a skill. I can walk around a book store, look at covers, and read summaries; and will be able to find at least one book that I know I will enjoy. So what if the main character is ten (or sometimes more) years younger than me and the world is one that was conceived inside the author's head?

I've seen a few articles and blog posts questioning why adults read YA and whether it is a problem. As an adult who loves YA I felt compelled to talk about it. So here are the reasons why I read YA:

1. It provides an opportunity to escape. By reading fiction and fantasy, the worlds allow me to escape my world, which is full of responsibilities. I can tune out all of my real world stuff and relax while I read.
2. I feel a connected to the characters. I know that seems strange, but it wasn't too long ago that I was a teenager. Plus, as a high school teacher, I also think that these characters also help me understand my students. As an "adult" I can read about the events and growing pains that YA characters go through and sympathize and reminisce.
3. I rarely find adult books that draw me in. Usually, I find that adult books are way to romance driven or just boring. Like I said, my skill involves finding the right YA books, so maybe I just can't find the right adult books.
4. I enjoy it! This is probably the most important. I read because I enjoy reading, so I read what I know I like.

What is all boils down to is we all read because we enjoy reading, it's a hobby. Are the people who are passing judgment on adults because we read YA also passing judgement on young people who knit? I hope not. I say, read what you enjoy because there is certainly not enough time to read books that you don't like.

What genre do you read and why?

Resources: 

Graham, Ruth. "Against YA." Slate. 8 July 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2015.<http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/06/against_ya_adults_should_be_embarrassed_to_read_children_s_books.html>.

Howlett, Georgina. "Why Are so Many Adults Reading YA and Teen Fiction?" The Guardian. 24 Feb. 2015. Web. 1 Mar. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/feb/24/why-are-so-many-adults-reading-ya-teen-fiction>.
Pratt, Non. "Why Adults Shouldn't Be Embarrassed to Read Children's Books." The Guardian. 10 June 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/jun/10/adults-reading-ya-kids-teen-fiction-non-pratt>
Wolitzer, Meg. "Look Homeward, Reader: A Not-So-Young Audience for Young Adult Books."The New York Times. 17 Oct. 2014. Web. 1 Mar. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/fashion/a-not-so-young-audience-for-young-adult-books.html?_r=0>.

Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge Progress

This challenge is hosted by Falling for YA. Basically the goal is to tackle your review books and get your feedback percentage up.

I participated in this challenge last year. My goal was 25 books and I completed 20 and my percentage is 100%. This year I am going to set my goal at 25 books and to maintain a percentage of 80% or better. I am also going to sign up at Edelweiss this year.

My current percent is 88%.

Here is my progress so far:
1. The Donor by Nikki Rae
2. A Wizard Rises by AJ Nuest
3. Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton

February 2015 Book Blog BINGO Link-Up

Welcome to the February Review and Progress Link-Up for the 2015 Book Blog BINGO Challenge. Before linking up, make sure you signed up for the challenge. Don't forget, you can update or change your goal at any time!

My Goal

A Double BINGO (2 traditional BINGOs in any direction)

My Progress

A book that takes place in a school: The School for Good and Evil
A book purchased in 2014: Shadow and Bone
The second book in a series: Siege and Storm
A book with magic or paranormal characters: Ruin and Rising

How is your challenge going? Share in the comments and link up your reviews here

Don't forget to enter my Blogoversary Giveaway!

31 Days to Better Blogging Challenge

Yup! This is another challenge. I feel like I might be biting off more than I can chew with challenges, so I am going to participating in this challenge but at my own pace.

This challenge is hosted by Parajunkee. The goal is to make your blog better. Each day there is a different task with tips.


Honestly, I want my blog to be better. I want it to be reader friendly and I'd like to increase my regular readers, so hopefully this will help!

2015 Discussion Challenge

I am so excited to join this challenge because one of my goals for this blog is to include more discussions.

This challenge is hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight! Sign up here.

My goal for this challenge is 1 - 12 Discussion Dabbler. 

This is a full year challenge that will have link ups and giveaways! Squee!!

Do you have any topics that you would like to see discussed on my blog?

2015 Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge

This challenge is hosted by Falling for YA. Basically the goal is to tackle your review books and get your feedback percentage up.

I participated in this challenge last year. My goal was 25 books and I completed 20 and my percentage is 100%. This year I am going to set my goal at 25 books and to maintain a percentage of 80% or better. I am also going to sign up at Edelweiss this year.

What challenges are you participating in this year?

If you're interested in a fun and easy book challenge, I am hosting a Book BINGO challenge this year.

2015 Book Blog Bingo Challenge

Happy New Year! I'm sure many of you are setting your reading and blogging goals for 2015 and so I thought it would be fun to create a 2015 reading challenge.

It's a pretty straight forward challenge. Using the BINGO card below, your goal is to read books and mark off the corresponding squares on the card. You can get BINGO is any way you want: a traditional BINGO (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line), four corners, coverall, whatever you want!

The Details

• The challenge will run from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015.
• Create a sign up post and add your post to the link up below.
• Only books read in 2015 count
• At the beginning of every month, there will be a round up post for you to link and show your progress.
• There will be at least one mini-challenge sometime during the year for all participants, so check in every month and make sure you link up your progress!
• There will be a giveaway at the end of the challenge for all participants.
• To qualify for the challenge related giveaway(s), participants must be signed up via the link up on this post and must track their progress (either on your sign up post or in a separate post, its completely up to you).

My Goal

A Double BINGO (2 traditional BINGOs in any direction)

2014 Challenge Recaps

During 2014, I participated in 5 different challenges. Here is a recap on my progress and successes.

Goodreads Reading Challenge

This year I set my Goodreads reading goal to 65 books because 2013 was hectic and I didn't get to meet my reading goal. I am happy that this year I exceeded my goal and read 75 books!

Love for Books Read-A-Thon

This Read-A-Thon challenge was hosted by Jessi at Novel Heartbeat and Amanda at Confessions of a Bookie Monster. My goal for this read-a-thon was to complete two books and I met this goal!

2014 Netgalley Challenge

The 2014 Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge is hosted by Falling for YA and will (hopefully) give you the incentive to tackle your review books, stumble upon new ones, and get your Netgalley percentage to the desired 80%! My goal for this challenge was 25 books and to get my percentage to at least 80%. I read 20 books and my percentage is 100%, so I sort of met this goal.

Blog Ahead Challenge

The Blog Ahead Challenge, which is a bloggery version of NaNoWriMo. It's hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup. It runs from November 1-30th, 2014 and the basic goal is to get "ahead" in your blog posts. My goal for this challenge was 15 pre-scheduled posts, and I completed 21! 

Top Ten of 2014 Challenge

This week long event was hosted by Two Chicks on Books, Rachel from Fiktshun, Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads, Rachel from Reading YA Rocks and Nancy fromTales of a Ravenous Reader! The event wass simple. Follow the dates and list topics as provided. I completed 4 out of the 5 lists.

Overall, I'd say for my first year of blogging, I feel really good about the goals I set for myself and the progress I made toward meeting them.

What challenges did you participate in this year? Do you feel you were successful? Do you have any challenges you are looking forward to in 2015?