You are here: Home / Archives for monthly round-up posts

Month in Review: January 2023

January 31, 2023 Leave a Comment

In this meme, I talk about what I’ve been upto in the past month.

A new year, a new month, a new leaf. After being virtually absent from my blog for months, close to a year, I decided to pick up where I left off. I’ve always loved blogging but with being pregnant last year – now proud Mom of a beautiful baby girl – I didn’t have much time for blogging. But this year, I’m determined to keep up with the momentum, and I’ve even read a bunch of books that have been on my backlist for months.

Here’s a list of books I read in January 2023. A lot of horror this month.

  1. American Coven by Amy Cross
  2. The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal Trilogy Book 1) by Amy Cross
  3. One Star: A Horror Story by Amy Cross
  4. The Haunting of Hurst House (Mercy Willow Book 1) by Amy Cross
  5. The Blood House (The Blood and Gore Collection) by Amy Cross
  6. Last Wrong Turn (The Blood and Gore Collection) by Amy Cross
  7. Escape from Hotel Necro (The Blood and Gore Collection) by Amy Cross
  8. Poison Ivy (Stonehurst Prep Elite Book 1) by Steffanie Holmes

Some of the books I read counted toward the reading challenges I’m participating in. You can find the current status here. I didn’t read any books for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, but I did read some books for the following challenges:

Read about my progress here.

6 / 30 books. 20% done!

 

Read about my progress here.

1 / 10 books. 10% done!

 

Read about my progress here.

7 / 20 books. 35% done!

 

I also participated in a bunch of features this month, which was a lot of fun! How was your past month?

Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: , ,

Month in Review: April 2017

May 1, 2017 1 Comment

In this meme, I talk about what I’ve been upto in the past month.

I was nowhere near as productive in April as I was in March, at least not when it comes to blogging. But I did a lot of non-blogging related stuff. I spoke with two publishers, got a contract with one, and am still negotiating with the other. My boyfriend and I bought land to start building our house (how exciting!), I searched for a new job since my current one is ending in June, and during the Easter holiday,  I spent a lot of time catching up with friends. I didn’t really have a holiday, but most of my evenings were spent with friends. So while not productive in terms of blogging, I did have an extremely productive month otherwise.

I did manage to review 7 books in April.

I also hosted several starter day parties this month.

And I also participated in release blitzes and cover reveals.

Last but not least, here’s this month’s spotlights, excerpts, interviews and guest posts.

 

Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: , , ,

Month in Review: June 2014

June 30, 2014 1 Comment

monthinreview
Considering I had uni exams all month, June turned out be a surprisingly busy month!
I reviewed over 20 books and wrote 7 mini-reviews (each mini-review contained small reviews for 3 titles, so that’s a total of 41 books!).

  1. The Truth about Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
  2. Dark Father by James Cooper
  3. Disconnected by Lisa M. Cronkhite
  4. Adventures with Ragweed by Linda Lou Crosby
  5. The Janus Legacy by Lisa von Biela
  6. Earth Cell (The Ux-Blood Trilogy #1) by Charles Brass
  7. Hold Still by Lisa Regan
  8. Savage by Gary Fry
  9. Dollhouse by Anya Allyn
  10. Francesca of Lost Nation by Lucinda Sue Crosby
  11. Liminal Lights by J.M. Bogart
  12. Orange Blossom by Sarah Daltry
  13. Deceiver by Kelli Owen
  14. Spelled (Amethyst #1) by Kate St. Claire
  15. Triumph! A Battle Plan for Joy by Gladys Simmons Carson
  16. Relic of Death by David Bernstein
  17. Sister Surrendered by Darla M. Grese
  18. Sex and Sensibility by Derek Ansell
  19. Shadow’s Moon by Jami Gray
  20. The Affair by Olivia Grace

Mini-Reviews for this month:

  1. Mini-Review: The Iron Traitor, Of Triton, Some Quiet Place
  2. Mini-Review: Hanging by a Thread, Renegade, Wicked Kiss
  3. Mini-Review: Winter Chill, Lynnwood, Now You See Me
  4. Mini-Review: Auraria, Devil’s Bargain and Grounds to Kill
  5. Mini-Review: Dead Letter Office, As She Left It, Shakespeare vs. Lovecraft
  6. Mini-Review: Innocent Darkness, Enchanted Ever After, Sister Assassin
  7. Mini-Review: The Lynching of Louie Sam, Scent of Magic, Cold Remains

I’ll be doing mini-reviews every month from this month onward, until I catch up with my backlog. Netgalley backlog first, then my print copy backlog.
I also hosted a bunch of starter day parties this month.

And several book spotlights.

A release day party:

And a few guest posts and excerpts.

Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: , , ,

Month in Review: April 2014

May 2, 2014 Leave a Comment

monthinreview

April was another busy month for me. Lots of reviews, lots of other posts. Here’s a list of my reviews.

April 2014

  1. Severed by Gary Fry
  2. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
  3. And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard
  4. The Dybbuk and Other Writings by S. Ansky
  5. Alex (Verhoeven, #2) by Pierre LeMaitre
  6. Hell’s Door by Sandy deLuca
  7. Ghostly Tales by Billy Roberts
  8. I am the New God by Nicole Cushing
  9. Eye Spy by Tahir Shah
  10. The Unquiet House by Allison Littlewood
  11. Eclipse (The Third Book of Ascension) by Dirk Strasser
  12. Wolf Legend by Florence Witkop
  13. Witchstruck (The Tudor Witch Trilogy #1) by Victoria Lamb
  14. Between the Devil and the Deep, Blue Sea by Genevieve Tucholke
  15. When We Fall by Peter Giglio
  16. Catcher’s Keeper by J.D. Spero
  17. The Starlight Club by Joe Corso
  18. Surviving by J.L. Sprague
  19. Reflection of the Gods by Lisa Llamrei
  20. The Six Days by Anna Carolyn McCormally
  21. Haunted Ontario 3 by Terry Boyle
  22. Ancient Enemy by Michael McBride
  23. The Author Training Manual by Nina Amir
  24. King of Cups by Alex Flyn
  25. She Walks in Darkness by Evangeline Walton
  26. The Uncovering by Jes Young
  27. Lake Thirteen by Greg Herren
  28. Blood Moon (The Ravenscliffs Series #3) by Geoffrey Huntington
  29. Accused (A Retaliation Novel #2) by Yasmin Shiraz
  30. Summer’s Shadow by Craig MacLachlan

I made progress on my challenges. In total, for the Netgalley challenge, I read 36 out of 22 books, which means I reviewed 16 Netgalley books in the last month. I finished90 books total for the 100 books in a year challenge, I read 9 young adult books for the Everything YA challenge, making my total 21 books in that challenge. On top of that, I read another 8 horror novels for the Horror Reading Challenge, giving me a total of 26 books. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish any books for the Dystopia challenge.

I hosted starter day parties for several tours.

And release day parties for several kick-ass awesome books.

I also hosted spotlights for several books.

And several promo posts, guest posts and author interviews.

Then I also hosted a cover reveal party for some books with amazing covers.

Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: , , ,

Month in Review: March 2014

March 31, 2014 1 Comment

monthinreview

I managed to do tons of stuff in March. After the slower month of February, it was necessary to catch up on reviews and stuff, but I went above and beyond my intial goals for March, so that’s great.

I read and reviewed 30 books in March 2014, which is as many as in January and February combined.

March 2014

  1. By My Choice by Christina Blackthorn
  2. Forever Doomed by MaryAnn Kempher
  3. Nightcrawlers by Tim Curran
  4. Diaries of the Damned by Alex Laybourne
  5. Devil in the Corner by Patricia Elliott
  6. How to Clear Your Home of Ghosts and Spirits by Debi Chestnut
  7. Haunted Rock & Roll by Matthew L. Swayne
  8. Fighting Malevolent Spirits by Samantha E. Harris
  9. Finding Fire by K.R. Robidoux
  10. Marrow’s Pit by Keith Deininger
  11. Bird of Prey (Sémya Slotin #1) by Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba
  12. The Plot Thickens (Sémya Slotin #2) by Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba
  13. The Unholy by Paul DeBlassie III
  14. Blood Relations (Family by Choice #1) by Caroline Frechette
  15. The Soured Earth by Sophie Weeks
  16. Community Service by Dakota Madison
  17. Learning to Swim by Annie Cosby
  18. Red Cells by Jeffrey Thomas
  19. Mara (Unusuals #1) by Veronica Bane
  20. Brothers in Arms (Family by Choice #2) by Caroline Frechette
  21. Miyuki (Unusuals #2) by Veronica Bane
  22. Dark Energy by John O’Riley
  23. Passion, Power and Privilege by Cara Addison
  24. Waking the Dead by Heather Graham
  25. A Special Love by Krissy Bells
  26. DarkFuse #1 by Shane Staley (Editor)
  27. The Revenant of Thraxton Hall by Vaughn Entwistle
  28. Zenith (The First Book of Ascension) by Dirk Strasser
  29. The Serpent’s Fate (Vigilati #3) by J.K. Hogan
  30. Equinox (The Second Book of Ascension) by Dirk Strasser

I made progress on my challenges. In total, for the Netgalley challenge, I read 20 out of 22 books, which means I reviewed 10 Netgalley books in the last month. I finished 60 books total for the 100 books in a year challenge, I read 6 young adult books for the Everything YA challenge, making my total 12 books in that challenge. On top of that, I read another 8 horror novels for the Horror Reading Challenge, giving me a total of 18 books. I’d originally picked 16 (highest number) for this challenge, which means I completed this challenge. Yay!

On the downside though, I didn’t finish any books for the Dystopia challenge. Oh well, you can’t have it all, I suppose.

I hosted starter day parties for several tours.

On top of that, I hosted spotlight stops for several interesting titles.

And several release day parties and cover reveal parties.

I also hosted excerpts from several books, and guest posts.

And this month, I also participated in Bloggiesta. What have you been upto this month?

Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: , , ,

Month in Review: February 2014

February 28, 2014 Leave a Comment

monthinreview

I went on holiday for the first week of February, out of the blue, and had to play catch up for the rest of the month. Not a good plan.

I managed to read and review 11 books in February.

  1. Forgotten Burial by Jodi Foster
  2. The Fading Place by Mary SanGiovanni
  3. Firebolt by Adrienne Woods
  4. Dead Five’s Pass by Collin F. Barnes
  5. The Author by T.J. Blake
  6. Even Hippies Get The Blues by Michel Lee King
  7. The Woman in Black: Angel of Death by Martyn Waites
  8. Blood Kin by Steve Rasnic Tem
  9. Sins of the Fallen by Karina Espinosa
  10. The Nine Lives of Chloe King by Liz Braswell
  11. Talking Walls and Cigarettes (And Other Dark Tales) by Erin Beck and Kelli Beck

I made progress on my challenges. In total, for the Netgalley challenge, I read 10 out of 22 books. I finished 30 books total for the 100 books in a year challenge, I read 6 young adult books for the Everything YA challenge, read 10 horror novels for the Horror Reading Challenge, and one dystopian novel for the Dystopia challenge. These are total numbers, so not just for February, but for January and February combined.

I hosted starter day parties for several tours.

And release day parties for a bunch of kick-ass books.

I hosted cover reveal parties for some amazing covers.

I also featured a book excerpt on my blog.

And several book spotlight posts for awesome titles.

What have you been upto in February?

Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: , , ,

Month in Review: January 2014

January 31, 2014 Leave a Comment

monthinreview

January 2014 was an insanely busy month. I had seven uni exams, two book deadlines, and in the middle of all that, I also had to keep track of this blog (of course!). All in all, it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected.

I read and reviewed 19 books in January. All links point to the reviews.

  1. Not Forgotten by Donna M. Zadunajsky
  2. Buried Secrets by Gary Cecil
  3. The Howling Heart by April Bostic
  4. Menace by Gary Fry
  5. Jack Canon’s Women of the House by Greg Sandora
  6. How to Write for Kindle: A Non-Fiction Book in 72 Hours or Less by Nancy Hendrickson
  7. The Continuing Journeys of a Different Necromancer by James J. Crofoot
  8. Inside the Tall, Thick Book of Tales by A.C. Birdsong
  9. Broken Sigil by William Meikle
  10. Father’s House by C. Edward Baldwin
  11. A Life Less Ordinary by Victoria Bernadine
  12. Harm by Kayti Nika Raet
  13. Fear Nothing by Lisa Gardner
  14. Dream of the Serpent by Alan Ryker
  15. House of Bathory by Linda Lafferty
  16. The House at Sea’s End (Ruth Galloway #3) by Elly Griffiths
  17. Company of Liars by Karen Maitland
  18. The Emperor’s New Clothes by Aldous Mercer
  19. Witch Finder (Witch Finder #1) by Ruth Warburton

I made progress on my challenges. For the Netgalley challenge, I read 6 out of 22 books. I finished 19 books for the 100 books in a year challenge, I read 3 young adult books for the Everything YA challenge, read 4 horror novels for the Horror Reading Challenge, and one dystopian novel for the Dystopia challenge. So, not bad.

I hosted starter day parties for several tours.

And a bunch of release day parties for several awesome books.

I hosted guest posts for three book tours.

And several book spotlights for awesome titles.

And last but not least, I wrote about my goals for 2014.

What have you been up to in January?

Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: , , ,

Month in Review: January 2012

February 2, 2012 1 Comment

monthinreview
Month in Review features the monthly wrap-up of news on I Heart Reading. This includes book reviews, author interviews, guest blog posts, giveaways and giveaway winners, book tour stops, reading challenges progress and anything else that happened that month. Since I keep a more detailed record of my reading challenge progress on I Heart Reading Challenges, this feature will only offer a brief overview of challenge progress. I feature this meme on the last day of every month.

Click HERE to view all my ‘Month in Review‘ posts.

January was quite the busy month. Not only did I take on the role of book publicist for InkSpell Publishing, I also received the wonderful news that my debut novel, Mirror, Mirror will be published in October 2012. To celebrate this and to keep track of my writing journey, I opened a writing blog called Erratic, where I blog about writing, publishing, book promotion and more. Additionally, I also completely revamped Enchanted Book Promotions and actively began organizing book tours again. On top of that, I also purchased a domain name for my book review blog, which is now proudly hosted on I Heart Reading.

I received 51 books for review in January. You can see a complete list of these books on I Heart Yearly Reads, my reading log where I keep track of books I received, read and reviewed on a monthly basis. You can also visit I Heart Reading’s Facebook Page to see all the covers of these books and their synopsis. Alternatively, you can also see the covers on my Google+ Page.

I reviewed 23 books in January. The links below link to the respective reviews.

  1. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
  2. Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
  3. Ghost Island by Bonnie Hearn Hill
  4. Blood Rights (House of Comarré #1) by Kristen Painter
  5. In My Dreams by Cameo Renae
  6. The Secret of Lucianne Dove by Roberta L. Smith
  7. Chapel Playhouse by Roberta L. Smith
  8. On A Dark Wing by Jordan Dane
  9. The Hunting of The Bubblenuff by Joshua Goldfond
  10. Evermore (The Immortals #1) by Alyson Noel
  11. Blue Moon (The Immortals #2) by Alyson Noel
  12. Shadowland (The Immortals #3) by Alyson Noel
  13. Dark Flame (The Immortals #4) by Alyson Noel
  14. Night Star (The Immortals #5) by Alyson Noel
  15. Everlasting (The Immortals #6) by Alyson Noel
  16. Entanglements by P.R. Mason
  17. The Princes of The Golden Cage (The Prince Amir Series #1) by Nathalie Mallet
  18. The King’s Daughters (The Prince Amir Series #2) by Nathalie Mallet
  19. Death In The Traveling City (The Prince Amir Series #3) by Nathalie Mallet
  20. Everneath by Brodi Ashton
  21. The Wedding Gift by Kathleen McKenna
  22. Pride’s Run by Cat Kalen
  23. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

You can also see this list on I Heart Yearly Reads, my reading log where I keep track of the books I received, read and reviewed on a monthly basis.

I also hosted 7 giveaways on the blog. Winners will be announced in the next post.

Additionally, I hosted a theme week for The Immortals Series by Alyson Noel, complete with book reviews, giveaway, themed memes and more.

I interviewed 2 authors.

I also wrote an article about free and paid web hosting, the benefits and downsides of both.

If you want to see my progress on my reading challenges, you can read the Challenge Summary for January 2012.

Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: , , ,

Monthly Round-Up Post: May and June

June 30, 2011 Leave a Comment

monthinreview
In May, I reviewed twelve books.

  1. Angelology by Danielle Trussoni – 3.5/5 stars
  2. The Poisoned House by Michael Ford – 3.5/5 stars
  3. My Sparkling Misfortune by Laura Lond – 4.5/5 stars
  4. These Hellish Happenings by Jennifer Rainey – 4.5/5 stars
  5. Rook (Allie’s War Book One) by J.C. Andrijeski – 4/5 stars
  6. Seven Sorcerers by Caro King – 4.5/5 stars
  7. The Alchemist’s Daughter by Katharine McMahon – 3.5/5 stars
  8. Die For Me by Amy Plum – 4.5/5 stars
  9. Endlessly by C.V. Hunt – 3.5/5 stars
  10. Random Magic by Sascha Soren – 4/5 stars
  11. Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism by David Nickle – 4/5 stars
  12. Wither by Lauren DeStefano – 4.5/5 stars

In June, I read and reviewed twelve books.

  1. Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson – 5/5 stars
  2. Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury – 4/5 stars
  3. The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird – 4/5 stars
  4. Quest of the Demon by M.L. Sawyer – 4/5 stars
  5. Camelot Lost by Jessica Bonito – 5/5 stars
  6. The Truth about Dating, Love and Just Being Friends by Chad Eastham – 4/5 stars
  7. Possession by Elana Johnson – 4.5/5 stars
  8. The Keening by A. LaFaye – 4/5 stars
  9. Sabriel (The Abhorsen Trilogy #1) by Garth Nix – 4/5 stars
  10. Lirael (The Abhorsen Trilogy #2) by Garth Nix – 4.5/5 stars
  11. Abhorsen (The Abhorsen Trilogy #3) by Garth Nix – 5/5 stars
  12. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma – 5/5 stars
Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: ,

Monthly Round-Up Post April

April 30, 2011 2 Comments

monthinreview

I read and reviewed 14 books this month. That’s a new record for me!

  1. In The Storm by Karen Metcalf – 4/5 stars
  2. Catching an Evil Tail by Mary Abshire – 4/5 stars
  3. This Bird Flew Away by Lynda M. Martin – 5/5 stars
  4. Rabbits in the Garden by Jessica McHugh – 5/5 stars
  5. Glimmer by Vivi Anna – 2/5 stars
  6. Bella Maura by Dawn Dyson – 4.5/5 stars
  7. The Banishing by Fiona Dodwell – 4/5 stars
  8. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa – 5/5 stars
  9. Winter’s Passage by Julie Kagawa – 3/5 stars
  10. The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa – 4/5 stars
  11. The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa – 5/5 stars
  12. My Frankenstein by Michael Lee –  4/5 stars
  13. Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis – 4/5 stars
  14. Spirit by Graham Masterton – 4.5/5 stars

I also hosted 4 author interviews during the month of April.

  1. Author Interview with Karen Metcalf
  2. Author Interview with Mary Abshire
  3. Author Interview with Fiona Dodwell
  4. Author Interview with Michael Lee

Two guest bloggers were featured on my blog.

  1. Guest Post from Raven Corrin Carluk
  2. Guest Post from Lynda M. Martin

I hosted three contests this month. The Iron Fey contest is already closed – and winners will be announced tomorrow, along with winners from the other contests – but for the other contests, you can sign up till tonight, midnight.

  1. Giveaway: Iron Fey Week
  2. Giveaway: All Hallow’s Blood and Saint Valentine’s Clash
  3. Giveaway: In The Storm
Filed Under: Features, Monthly Round-Up Posts Tagged With: , , ,

To the Top