Month in Review: January 2023

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?

Month in Review: May 2017

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

May was a very productive month for me, especially in terms of writing, reading and blogging. Unfortunately, it’s also a sad month. My father’s birthday on May 21 – he would’ve been seventy this year, but he passed away nineteen years ago. And today, May 31, would’ve been my Grandma’s ninetieth birthday. Sadly, she passed away seven months ago. So while May is a tough month for me, a month of remembering and trying to move past the pain, I also managed to be productive – probably drowning myself in books, maybe even a little oto much.

Anyway, back to business. I managed to review an amazing 31 books in May, so 1 a day (although I read 2-3 books some days, and 0 books on other days, and some were books I read in April but hadn’t reviewed yet).

  1. Grandpa Bernie’s Bedtime Stories by Bernard Ditchik
  2. A Daughter’s Curse by C.J. Davidson
  3. Jaeth’s Eye (The Agartes Epilogues #1) by K.S. Villoso
  4. The Brain Show by Zeev Nitsan
  5. From the Nile to Jordan by Ada Aharoni
  6. A Blue-Eyed Asset by Dana Arama
  7. Blood on the Ground by Paul Usiskin
  8. Operation Child Soldier by Jaci Wheeler
  9. Thin Air by Yotam Jacobson
  10. No Medals Today by Shlomi Tal
  11. Blood Moon by Nancy Gray
  12. Aina’s Breath (The Agartes Epilogues #2) by K.S. Villoso
  13. Black Dawn by Mallory McCartney
  14. Drakon Book 1: The Sieve by C.A. Caskabel
  15. Sweet Tales: The Adventures of Brittany and Lace by Laurie Hyman
  16. Domme Experience by Simone Freier
  17. The Kingdom by Amir Or
  18. Married to the Mossad by Shalva Hessel
  19. Riversnow by Tess Thompson
  20. I Love you My Child, I’m Abandoning You by Ariela Palacz
  21. Double Interest by Odeda Yaari
  22. The Hand: The Mirror of the Soul by Talma Brill
  23. Ahe’ey by Jamie Le Fay
  24. Rook (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #1) by J.C. Andrijeski
  25. No Rest for the Wicked by Krystal Jane Ruin
  26. Sapphire’s Flight (The Agartes Epilogues #3) by K.S. Villoso
  27. List of 10: The True Story of Serial Killer Joseph Naso by C.L. Swinney
  28. Dreamwalkers by Tiaan Lubbe
  29. City of Ghosts by J.H. Moncrieff
  30. Feeble Connections by Meghana Sarathy
  31. Drakon Book 2: Uncarved by C.A. Caskabel

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.

Month in Review: April 2017

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.

 

Month in Review: March 2017


In this meme, I talk about what I’ve been upto in the past month.
March was a busy month for me, but I like keeping busy. I did take some time off work, and had the flu for a few days (which I spent mostly playing the Sims 4). I did manage to review 17 books in March.

  1. Tribulations by Faith Hunter
  2. Lalin Bonheur by Margaret O. Howard
  3. Are You There, Krishna? by Rachel Khona
  4. No Quarter: Wenches (Volume 1) by MJL Evans and GM O’Connor
  5. The Fairytale Chicago of Francesca Finnegan by Steve Wiley
  6. Legacy by Hannah Fielding
  7. Pork Pies by Judy Nichols
  8. Venus and Lysander by Yoshiyuki Ly
  9. Solomon’s Bell by Michelle Lowery Combs
  10. International Business Language by Tami Lancut Leibovitz
  11. Thirty Shades of Happiness by Haim Ben Hai
  12. Raking Light from Ashes by Relli Robinson
  13. The Big Jump by Shmuel Cohavy
  14. In The Prison of Our Grief by S.E. Amadis
  15. Blood Rain by Nancy Gray
  16. Someone to Stay by B.M. Sandy
  17. Vision: Seeing is Achieving by Allan Sealy

I also hosted a bunch of starter day parties this month.

We hosted several release blitzes and a cover reveal.

A few spotlights, excerpts, interviews and guest posts.

 
 
 

Month In Review: January 2017

I’m bringing the old month in review meme back from the death. The last time I hosted this meme was back in June 2014…what a long time ago. I was still in uni back then. Anyway, now the meme is back, and as the title suggests, in this meme I talk about what I’ve been upto this month.

January was an extremely busy month for me. My book, Sally Sleuth and The Missing Mice, released on January 30, 2017. I’ve been busy prepping the book and setting up some promotions for it. Also, with the holidays and inviting people over and all that, I’ve been more than a little busy!

I did manage to review six books last month.

  1. Lost Girls by Merrie Destefano
  2. Sweet by Lisa Hahn
  3. To See a Jaguar by E. Etinger
  4. Cubicle to Cuba by Heidi Siefkas
  5. Murder at Midnight by John Ukah
  6. Eidolons by Harrison Fountain

I also hosted a bunch of starter day parties this month.

We hosted several release blitzes.

A few book spotlights, excerpts and interviews.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Month in Review: June 2014

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.

Month in Review: April 2014

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.

Month in Review: March 2014

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?

Month in Review: February 2014

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?

Month in Review: January 2014

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?