Where's Emily?

Hi Everyone,

You may have noticed that things has slowed down significantly around here. Well - life happens and things just haven't slowed down for me. Work has been busy and family obligations have taken up lots of my time. I've also fond myself in a bit of a reading slump -  just don't have the interest in reading the way I used to. So, I am riding the waves right now. Reading when I can, blogging when the desire hits. I'm sorry, I've neglected my readers, but I appreciate your understanding. I have no idea how often I'll be blogging, but I am definitely not quitting.

See you around! 

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)

Guest of the Month #1

Have you ever wished you knew more bloggers? Do you want to have the chance to guest post on other people’s blogs? Would you love to have a break and have a post written for you? You are in the right place!

What is Guest of the Month club?Guest of the month club is a monthly opportunity to collaborate with different bloggers! Every month you will be paired with a different blogger. You will each plan a guest post for the other’s blog (topic suggestions will be provided every month!). Then all of the club members will post on the same day of the month to make blog hopping easier. This event is hosted and organized by Emily @ Emily Reads Everything.

This Month's Guest is Charlotte from Charlotte's Library 

Beyond the Blog: What do you do when you aren't blogging?

I have been blogging for almost eight years now, and have gotten to a point where blogging, qua blogging, doesn't take up too much time. Which is good, because there are little things like work (I'm an archaeologist for my state's preservation agency) and children (although they are older than they used to be, as is the case for so many of us) and home renovations, which never end, to keep me busy. There is also my hobby, which is "picking up books and trying to find places to put them down again."

At the sane end of the scale, such as one could talk about in public, there's checking books out of the library and getting books in the mail or buying them. But even here, my sanity is stretched fairly thin; I have a bad habit of placing library holds to soothe myself at work, and I seem to require lots of soothing, and they all seem to come in at once, and I end up with more books on hand than I can possibly read. I spend considerable time stacking books at home, or moving books from stacks that have gotten too big, or picking them up to actually read them, and then getting distracted, and gently shedding books wherever I go, only of course to scurry around afterwards looking for them all again!

Recently I read, with great interest, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (the Japanese book that tells you, to gather all your material things in huge heaps by category and keep only what gives you joy). Clearly, the book tidying method suggested in this book is neither prudent or feasible; if I were to put every book I own in one room, the floor would collapse (it is an old and tired house). But I was able to successfully dump the contents of my dresser drawers on to the guest room bed. This freed up considerable drawer space, and at last I have a nice place to keep the books I have on offer at Paperback Book Swap! (Although of course I currently have no nice place for houseguests to sleep....)

But the books I have at home don't seem to offer enough scope for moving them around, so I expanded my range. I run the booksales at my local library, and this involves considerable book moving, up from the donation area, where every day I find more bags of donations, into the sorting closet, and then I must squirrel the sorted boxes away as efficiently as possible...

I am trying to cut down on the number of books I move around. I try hard to find them permanent places to live, like the pantry shelves (the Japenese method of tidying up cleared up lots of good book space there too!). But it just doesn't seem to be happening.....

Thank you so much Charlotte for writing this guest post for my blog, it was super fun being your partner. 

September Update

Hello Wonderful Readers,

I apologize for coming back only to disappear again. Here's so information about where I've been and what I've been up to.

As most of you know, I finished my Master's Degree in May. At the same time I was also my sister's Maid of Honor. My sister got married abroad in August and had a reception at home this month. So basically I was the Maid of Honor for two weddings! Honestly, it was an AMAZING experience!!

And then, I also changed schools this year and have started teaching at a new school. I have been settling in and loving every minute of it.

While I've been busy, I have been reading. Unfortunately, my laptop and my husband's laptop broke and we were so busy that we JUST got around to getting a new one.

Hopefully I am back this time for good. Since, I am working at a new job, it's likely that I will be posting less often than I would like, but I'm still here!

Thank you again for your understanding and for continuing to be one of my wonderful readers!

Posh to Meet You

Earlier this month, I won the Posh to Meet You Giveaway hosted by Missie at A Flurry of Ponderings.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the package was that it smelled AMAZING! So of course I eagerly dumped out the contents and was super excited to try everything out.

• The Seas the Day Chunk bar, smells really sweet. It's bigger than the average bar of soap. I really enjoyed using it.
• I LOVE the Big Fat Yummy Hand Cream! It smells like flowers and sandalwood and is light yet really moisturizing.
• I also really liked the lip balm, it smells great and lasted for a pretty long time.

Missy also included a nice note and a loyalty card.

An added bonus is that these products are natural and cruelty free!

For more information, visit Missie's blog or the online catalog.

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!

I'm Back

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for bearing with me during the craziness between March and May.

I finished my thesis (Quality Homework and its Effects) and have officially completed my Master's degree program!

I literally haven't read something for me since The Winner's Crime in March. It's such a weird feeling, but I can't wait to dive back into the book blogging world.

Again, thank you all so much for hanging in there!

New Year, New Look

I am so excited to reveal the new look of Follow the Yellow Book Road! I've been wanting something with a clean and simple look for quite some time now, but lack the skills to design and install something myself. Luckily, Jen @ Not Now... I'm Reading! was holding a giveaway for a premade design by Imagination Designs, and I won!! A huge THANK YOU to Jen and Lori for making this new look possible for me! I love it and couldn't be happier!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Squee! I finally had the opportunity to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

My sisters and I enjoyed a day at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. It was an AMAZING experience. Unfortunately, we went during a school break and the park was extremely packed, but that didn't take away from our enjoyment. Here are the highlights!

We arrived at the park bright and early and headed straight back to Diagon Alley. It was magical.

Our first stop was Ollivander's where we were able to watch a wand choose the wizard and purchase wands. We chose to purchase interactive wands so that we could cast spells in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. I chose Hermoine's wand and one of my sisters chose Luna's. If you choose to purchase an interactive wand, it comes with a map that shows where you can cast spells, but keep your eyes open for the medallions on the ground because there are some secret places to cast spells.

We roamed around Diagon Alley, casting spells and window shopping for a bit. There are some great shops including Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and a dark alley where you can find Borgin and Burkes.

Next we boarded the Hogwarts Express and headed over to Hogsmeade. We enjoyed some Butterbeer (deliciously sweet!) and wondered around exploring.

Then we enjoyed Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure for a bit. It was so packed that they were giving out admission tickets with time frames for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Later we went back and went through Hogwarts (amazing) and rode the ride, as well as The Escape from Gringotts (unreal).

All in all, it was an awesome day! I'm most definitely looking forward to returning during a less busy time of the year.

Bookish Discussion: Giveaways

Seriously, who doesn't love the sweet satisfaction of winning something? And generally speaking in the book blogging world, who doesn't love getting a free book (or multiple free books), swag, and sometimes free money to spend on books?!

Book bloggers find lots of reasons to host giveaways. If you participate in a book tour, usually the publisher provides some sort of giveaway either for individual blogs or tour wide. Bloggers who are celebrating accomplishments (like blogoversaries, reaching a certain number of followers, or meeting a goal) host giveaways. Bloggers who host events (like challenges and read-a-thons) usually include a giveaway too.

As a blogger who enters these giveaways pretty regularly and would love to host more, I've got lots of questions:

My thinking face...lol

Where do bloggers get the books (or funds) for giveaways? 

I know that when you participate in a tour the publisher/author usually provides a free book or swag for a giveaway. But lots of bloggers are giving away ARCs, boxes of books, and dollar amounts to various online book retailers. Are bloggers clearing out their shelves and giving away their personal book collections? Are bloggers paying for these giveaways out of their own pockets? If a publisher sends you an ARC in the mail, are you allowed to use that ARC for a giveaway? How many bloggers out there are using affiliate links to finance their giveaways? How do affiliate links really work anyways? 

How do you decide how long to keep a giveaway open for entries?

Again, I know if a publisher or tour host is running the giveaway, that they make this call. But for bloggers who are doing this on their own, how do you decide how long to keep a giveaway open?

Do you make any options for entry mandatory in order to unlock other options for entry and if so, why?

I assume bloggers like to host giveaways in order to increase traffic and followers, so does making certain options like "follow via bloglovin" mandatory actually accomplish that? or does it prevent non-followers from entering? 

On the flip side of that, do you allow entrants to repeat any entries daily? Does allowing entrants to tweet (or some other option) every day for multiple entries actually help increase traffic and followers?

How do you decide what to giveaway?

How do you decide how many entries to assign each possible thing a person can do to enter?

How do you pay for shipping? Again, I'm wondering if most bloggers are paying out of pocket or using profit from affiliate links for this or maybe some other unknown source?

Do you host multiple giveaways at one time? If so, how do you stay organized?

I think those are all of my questions, for now. I'm sure more will come up as the discussion ensues!

Please feel free to share your answers and any questions about giveaways that you have in the comments!

Bookish Gift Ideas

As the holidays approach and you are wondering what to get your bookish friends and family, here are some fun ideas!

www.litographs.com
Books on t-shirts, posters, and totes. The products are really artistic and are actually made out of the text of the books.

http://www.foliosociety.com
Beautiful, artistic editions of your favorite classic books.

Pivot Book Totes
Handcrafted, book-inspired totes. I ordered a custom tote for my TBTBSanta swap and loved it! Becca was easy to work with and she was quick!

Appraising Pages
Book inspired T-shirts

Postertext
Art prints for booklovers

Owl's Nest Cottage
Jewelry made from recyled books, maps, and music
*Please note that I am not associated with any of these businesses/products, I did not receive any compensation for featuring them on my blog.

Don't forget, you can't go wrong with books or book related gift cards! Happy Holidays!

Blogger Organization

I follow a lot of blogs and every so often I noticed that bloggers post an update about how hectic life has been and sometimes they even write a post about taking a break from blogging. Life happens, we all get that and understand that. In fact, I love that when I read these posts, I also read an uncountable number of comments from their followers who support and encourage these stressed out and overwhelmed bloggers.

It seems that lately, I have been one of those stressed out bloggers, who hasn't been blogging or reading as much as I would like. I am not looking for sympathy here, instead I want to share what I am doing in order to make some changes. First, I joined the Blog Ahead Challenge and second, I purchased the 2015 Book Blogger Organizer and Blogger Resources from Parajunkie.com. Both of these ideas came from Monique at Mo's Books (thanks buddy!!).

I figured that it was time that we had a conversation about this, what do you do in order to stay on track with reading and blogging?

The To Be Read Tag

Oh HEY! I've been tagged by Val @ The Innocent Smiley to do the TBR tag! Basically there's a list of questions about my TBR list, and all I have to do is answer them! Oh! And also tag others!

How do you keep track of your TBR pile?
umm... I am terrible at this. I use Goodreads sometimes, but let's be real, that list is spiraling out of control. At one point I tried a Google Spreadsheet and I just found that annoying. So, what it has come down to is I don't keep track. If an author/publisher ask me to read their book and I agree it moves up the list and I put a reminder in my phone to start that book next.

Is your TBR mostly print or ebook?
ebook, I have an Amazon freebie problem

How do you determine which book from your TBR to read next?
If I have an obligation to someone, that takes priority. The rest of the time it's all about how I feel: am I digging vampires? do I need to shake things up? do I like that cover?

A book that's been in your TBR the longest.
The first book I ever added on my Goodreads TBR was Poison Study on Feb. 25, 2012.



A book you recently added to your TBR.
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken and Indelible by Dawn Metcalf both were added at the Heir of Fire book tour I went to on Saturday.


A book in your TBR strictly because of its beautiful cover.
The Body Finder


A book in your TBR that you never plan on reading.
A Tale of Two Cities.... I added it when I was going through a "I should read the classics" kick


An unpublished book in your TBR that you're excited for.
Well, it was Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas, I was dying for that book to come out and now that I have it in my hands (with her signature!!) I can't think of anything else at this time... which reminds me: WHY am I blogging when I should be reading that book?!


A book in your TBR that everyone recommends to you.
You know, I haven't gotten any recommendations lately which makes me think my readers are slacking (yes, I am intentionally calling you out and hopeing for recommendations).
I guess the last big book that people were recommending was The Fault in Our Stars, which I dutifully read.


Number of books in my TBR.
On Goodreads: 341, but again I know it's WAY more than that


Tags:
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings

Monique @ Mo Books

Aneta @ Angelic Book Reviews

Jazmen @ This Girl Reads a lot!
PrettyLittleWarrior @ Sassy And Dangerous

If I didn't tag you and you want to play go right ahead and be sure to let me know in the comments!

I'm Back

Hey Everyone!

I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been absent for a few weeks. I'm sorry for neglecting my blog, but I have a really good excuse: I was on vacation... in AFRICA! It was Amazing!

Anyways, I read a few books and have some reviews coming soon. Thanks for hanging around during my absence and still following. I'm looking forward to catching up soon.

Here are some photos!

Books 'n' Bloggers Swap Show Off

Books 'n' Bloggers Swap is hosted by Chaotic Goddess Swaps

This was my first swap and I loved it. First of all it was really cool to get to know a blogger that I might never have connected with otherwise. Second, it was really fun to purchase books for someone else. And of course, the anticipation for the books I would receive felt sort of like Christmas.

For this swap, I was paired with Kady from Ioniun and the Three Biscuits.

Kady gifted me with three ebooks.

1. A book that Kady loves

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel

2. A book that Kady hasn't read yet

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

3. A book from my wishlist

Defy by Sara B Larson

Check out what other people got in their swaps here

Summer!

So as some of you may know, I am a high school math teacher. Today was the last day of school!!
Since, I was proctoring final exams, grading finals, and closing my classroom for the summer, reading was put on the back burner for a bit.

Now that I am officially on "vacation" you might assume that I'll be reading all the time, but unfortunately that is not the case. I have lots of projects around the house to do and I am teaching two new courses next year that I have to prepare over the summer. So, I apologize, but my posting might be a bit sporadic.

Thank you for understanding. I hope you all have a wonderful summer!

Book Blogging and Piracy

I'm hopping into this conversation a little late, but I still think it needs to be addressed. So, as many of you have probably heard an author, Teresa Mummert, was notified by one of her readers about a giveaway in which she received a pirated copy of an ebook. Here's a link to Teresa's post, you may want to read it.


OK, so now you know what happened.

As book bloggers, we sometimes receive books in exchange for honest reviews. However, there is almost always a catch: the book you receive is for your eyes only! Writing is a job - authors deserve to be paid for their work. When someone distributes files that are not supposed to be shared they are pirating and stealing from the author. (FYI: according to merriam-webster, pirating is "the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright")

Now some people might argue that this file sharing is similar to buying a book at the book store and lending it to a friend, but it is NOT the same. First of all, you would have purchased the book, where review copies are given to you for free. Second, if friend A has your book, then you can't lend it to friend B at the same time. Also, if friend A chooses to share your book with friend C without telling you, you would most likely be pretty pissed at friend A. With electronic files, you can share them with as many people as you want at one time and in turn they can share them with as many people as they want and so on and so on. This is stealing! You are sharing something you had no right to share! Kindle readers: ever notice how some ebooks purchased through Amazon are "shareable" and some are not? ever notice how you can only share with one person at a time and for a limited number of days? This is allowed because you purchased the book and it is similar to sharing a physical copy.

Most of us blog about books for a few similar reasons:

1. we love to read
2. we enjoy connecting with authors
3. we like to promote authors and our favorite books

It is essential that you keep this in mind whenever you accept an electronic copy of a book. 

It is also your responsibility to ensure that all electronic copies of books that you receive are done so appropriately (i.e. purchased or gifted through an appropriate website; sent to you by an author, publisher, or promotional company). It is also our responsibility to report incidents in which we may have been given a pirated copy of someone's work.

OK Book Bloggers and followers - now that you know where I stand on this, I hope we are on the same page.

Evil Warlord Book Hoarding Bloggers

Did I catch your attention? I hope so!

Recently on Twitter (like today) #kloutthecrown has been trending with book bloggers along with this pretty sweet image created by Michele @ Reader Respite

So, of course I needed to look into it. Apparently Crown considers any blogger who does not review a book immediately an "evil warlord book hoarder". Yup, you read that correctly, for a break down of their program Blogging for Books and their fine print, head over to Reader's Respite Blog and read her extremely informative post.

My feelings on this are as follows:

• To say that a book blogger is a hoarder because it takes them time to read and write a review is pretty harsh. Personally, I have a full time job and I am a part time student, reading and book blogging is a hobby so sometimes it gets put on the back burner when I'm busy - that is just part of life. (*Please note that since starting this post, Michele has said that Crown has apologized and taken the phrase "Evil Warlord Book Hoarding Bloggers" down from their website and is making changes, but I still think the damage is done)
• Measuring a bloggers influence just seems weird to me and I agree with Michele from Reader's Respite that I feel bad for authors who are given to bloggers with low Klout scores. I also think that by doing this they could be potentially limiting themselves, but I guess that's more their problem then mine.
• To require book reviews to contain specific elements and be a certain length takes away creative freedom, which is part of what a blog is all about; I share my thoughts as they are formed in my head - I'm not preparing a book report and actually don't like book reviews that are too lengthy and sound like book reports.
• To require reviews to be posted to specific places also rubs me the wrong way. I post to my blog and goodreads because I enjoy both. I share on facebook and twitter when I feel I have something worth sharing with more than my regular followers. I post to Amazon when an author or publisher has asked me to, and asking is much different than requiring.

What does all this mean? I most definitely will not be joining Blogging for Books! 

Will I boycott Crown all together? No, but I won't go out of my way to purchase or review thier products either.

Let me know in the comments: What are your thoughts on being an "Evil Warlord Book Hoarding Blogger" or on the policies when someone enrolls in "Blogging for Books"?

The New Design is Here!!

Hi Everyone,

I am super excited to reveal the new design of my blog! A huge THANK YOU goes out to Avery from Avery’s Designs who spent the last couple weeks working with me and customizing my blog. We worked together to create something that would represent me and what my blog is all about. There are just a few details left that we are tweaking to make everything perfect, but I am thrilled that is has gone live! I love the symbolism that Avery was able to include from just a few conversations with me. She was truly an awesome person to work with, and I would HIGHLY recommend her.

Happy reading everyone!

Emily