Annual Hiatus Announcement

This is the third time I am going on hiatus around the same time, so I might as well call it an annual hiatus. I don’t know about you, but my life gets extra busy in November. As much as I would love for the holiday break to translate to more time reading and more time blogging, it usually means I don’t have much time for either. Having a mostly Type A personality, I stress big time during this period and blogging is just another thing on my plate that I have to keep up with.

One thing that I’ve learned being a blogger for several years now is how important giving yourself a break is. This year I will be away from the blog starting tomorrow (November 14th) through December 1st. I will be back that Sunday with a monthly wrap-up post for November. While I am away, I have one blog post that will go up. While working on Top Ten Tuesday posts ahead of schedule (yes, I am that blogger), I could not resist November 27th’s topic (Platonic Relationships in Books). I have this one scheduled and ready to go, but aside from linking to said post in the weekly Top Ten Tuesday link-up, I will be away from the blog completely. I will still be on Twitter if you need to reach me or by email. Hope the rest of your November is wonderful and I will see you when I get back!

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Surprise! It’s Hiatus Time.

So this was completely unplanned. I took a hiatus at the end of March, beginning of April, hoping I wouldn’t need another one until November-ish, but it turns out I’m in dire need of a little break. For the last month and a half I’ve been telling myself to just get through this week, just get through this week and then I’ll have a breather. Said breather hasn’t come to fruition. While blogging itself isn’t the source of the stress I’m feeling, it is something else I need to worry about on top of everything else.

So I’m going to take a week off from blogging starting tomorrow. I have my Top Ten Tuesday post all ready to go for this week, but aside from that, I won’t be posting. I won’t be working on my blog all week and I won’t be responding to comments. I’ll be back next Sunday (August 12th), hopefully a little more well rested and with a review for one of my favorite novels I’ve read this year (Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali). You can still get in contact with me through email or twitter if need be. See you all soon!

FLYLēF’s 3rd Anniversary Celebration + Giveaway!

Lonna @ FLYLēF is celebrating her 3rd blogiversary and I am so happy to be a part of her celebration tour. Lonna and I have been co-hosting the Comment Challenge since 2016 and I cannot express how grateful I am to have her as a partner. I feel like we’re a match made in heaven and that we play off one another really well. I cannot think of a better co-host to have. So, thank you, Lonna, for being an amazing blogger, co-host, and friend.

I’ve answered a fun Q&A for this tour, which you can check out below. Lonna is also graciously hosting a giveaway in celebration of her blogiversary. You can find all the info about said giveaway at the end of this post. But first, a little note from Lonna:

Greetings Lovely Visitors,

Welcome to my 3rd anniversary celebration! I’m thrilled, and quite honestly a bit shocked, that I have been able to follow my passion for this long. To celebrate, an amazing group of bloggers and I have planned fun discussion posts for you to enjoy, all centered around the theme…

BOOKS

Please make sure to visit them to read their unique perspectives on this theme.

XOXO,
~Lonna

PS. There is an treat for you at the end of this post. Enjoy!

  DISCUSSION  

Lonna has put together a fun Q&A surrounding the topic of books. I had so much fun answering these questions.

❖ What was the first book you remember reading/being read? 

This is where I wish I had a better memory, but the books I remember most clearly are the Goosebumps books and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Yes, I was that kid.

❖ What is your favorite book of all time? 

Why must this question be so hard? Like most bookworms, I would say that I don’t have one favorite book. I have a shelf on Goodreads entitled “Beloved Books” and it currently houses 100 titles. If pressed, I would probably name Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, Anna-Marie McLemore’s When the Moon Was Ours, Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Beautiful Ones, Leslye Walton’s The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows, Roshani Chokshi’s A Crown of Wishes and on and on.

❖ Which book has left the most lasting impression on you? 

There have been so many books that have made a lasting impression on me. In the last year however, I’d have to mention Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give, Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X, and Adam Silvera’s More Happy Than Not.

❖ Which book have you read most frequently? 

I’ve read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice about half a dozen times, which is the most that I have for any other book.

❖ What books are on your bedside table at the moment? 

I like to keep my TBR books on separate shelves, so I don’t have a stack of books next to my bed. That’s probably best, it would probably fall on top of me if I had them stacked next to me.

❖ Name one book/author that you really can’t stand? 

Haha, I feel like this is a trap question. There are a few…

❖ What type of books do you like reading most? 

As much as I love world-building, I love character-driven novels even more. I love getting into the mind-set of characters because I don’t want to just read a book, I want to experience it.

❖ If you were given the money to buy a book today, what book would you buy? 

I’ve been wanting to get my hands on Yesika Salgado’s Corazón. I almost bought it the other day when I was at Barnes & Noble.

❖ Where’s your favorite place to read? 

Anywhere that’s quiet and I’m alone.

❖ Which character in a book do you think is most like you? 

I don’t think I’ve ever come across a character that felt entirely like me, but there are a few characters that I see my younger self and current self in. These include Lara Jean from Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Nora from Meg Medina’s Burn Baby Burn, and Xiomara from Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X.

❖ Which character in a book would you most like to be? 

I’m not sure I’d like to be any characters, but I think it would be pretty interesting to at least spend a day in a character’s shoes. Perhaps I’d like to know what it would be like to be an assassin working out of a nunnery like Ismae from Robin LaFever’s Grave Mercy.

❖ What book do you plan to read next?

I will probably pick up Tiffany D. Jackson’s Monday’s Not Coming or Sandhya Menon’s From Twinkle, with Love.

❖ Which literary character would you most like to have a ‘significant relationship’ with?

I would love to be bffs with Dimple from Sandhya Menon’s When Dimple Met Rishi. I think she’s amazing and I would tease her incessantly about Rishi.

  TOUR SCHEDULE  

❖ May 16th – The Obscure World
❖ May 16th – Rainy Days and Pajamas
❖ May 22nd – Lisa Loves Literature
❖ May 25th – Utopia State of Mind
❖ May 26th – On Honey Suckle Hill
❖ May 27th – Books of a Shy Girl
❖ May 30th – A Kernel of Nonsense

  BLOGGER BIO  

Hello! Thank you for taking a moment to get to know me. I’m quite a closed book actually — shy and all things timid — except when it comes to…well, books of course!

I’m the creative mind behind FLYLēF (pronounced like flyleaf) who enjoys reading late into the night to satisfy my insatiable addiction to mostly young adult and adult novels: romance (contemporary and historical), fantasy, and paranormal (especially vampires). I believe in the magic of spellbinding words coming together to build breathtaking worlds in our minds’ eyes. Happiness is just a book away, find it with me.

I’m also the owner of Ink Furie (that’s a whole nother story, but if you like calligraphy…), host of FLYTIP and Book of Choice Giveaway Hop, and co-host of The Comment Challenge.

Socialize with me: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Google+ | Newsletter

  GIVEAWAY  

A $25 Amazon gift card. Open internationally. Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter.

~A Rafflecopter Giveaway~

Spring Hiatus Announcement!

I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of starting to think that I’m getting really good at hiatuses. I’m not necessarily feeling the need for a hiatus, but I know that I probably won’t get a chance to take a break in the next few months because of some previous obligations. Therefore, I am making myself take a two week break. I will be away from the blog starting tomorrow (March 24th) through April 6th. I should be back some time on Saturday, April 7th with a wrap-up post for March. I don’t have any particularly big plans for this break. I might still hang around Twitter and maybe comment on blogs, but I won’t be working on or responding to comment on the blog. See you all soon!

A Kernel of Nonsense’s Bookmark Giveaway

Some of you might recall that I shared a little bit about my DIY bookmarks in this post from last year. I asked readers if they would be interested in a giveaway of said bookmarks and there was enough interest that I decided a giveaway was in order. It took me a little longer than I anticipated, but I’ve finally put together a bookmark giveaway. All the details are below, including a picture of the bookmarks I will be giving away. If there ends up being a lot of interest in this giveaway, I will be putting together another bookmark giveaway during the summer.

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

Giveaway Rules:

1. Giveaway will run from March 2nd (12:00am PST) through March 18th (11:59pm PST), 2018.
2. Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only due to shipping costs.
3. Three winners will be chosen and mailed one of the bookmarks below (will be random).
4. Winners will be contacted via email on March 19th and will have 48 hours from said email to respond, or another winner will be chosen in their place.
5. Bookmarks will be mailed within one week of winners providing their shipping information.
6. Click the Rafflecopter Giveaway link above these rules to enter.
7. Prizes are photographed below (click image to enlarge).

What is your preferred method of saving your place in a book? Have you ever made your own bookmark? Best of luck to everyone who enters!

Back From Hiatus!

My hiatus is officially over! This two and a half week break is the longest I’ve ever taken from the blog and oddly enough, I think I could have gone a little longer. I know that sounds terrible, but with all the holiday stuff going on, it sometimes felt like I really wasn’t getting a break. I really wanted to read more while away, but that was thrown out the window Thanksgiving week when I hardly read at all. I also wanted to visit everyone’s blogs while I was on hiatus and I failed at that too. I came close, I really did, but then that little voice in the back of my head said, “No, Alicia. You know what would be great to do on this break? Maybe just…relax.” And thus I did. I will be putting together a November recap post later on today when I get a chance to sit down (how did I not start this before going on hiatus?), will maybe catch up on comments (haven’t peeked, but am scared there are a lot), and yes, I still want to check out what everyone has been up to while I’ve been away. And yes, I do feel really refreshed after the break, but I did really miss blogging and having an outlet for my thoughts. And there is snow on the blog. I’m so excited to get back into the flow of things.