Category Archives: Book Haul

Reading Check-In: September 17, 2021

What book have you finished reading recently?

One series on my list is complete. And, I stick with what I said about this series in my ASoIaF Read-Alike Book Recommendations: this series is the most “identical” to George R.R. Martin’s.

Another fun read by this author. And yes, it’s full of folklore and fantasy references!

What are you reading currently?

TorDotCom Publishing surprised me with a physical ARC of this hyped debut gothic novel and it moved to the top of my reading list!

I am listening to the audiobook of this space opera trilogy finale, and it’s AMAZING!

In addition, I’m reading the finalists for the SCKA 2021 Award Finalists. If you want to know which books/stories were voted by the other jury members and myself, then you can read the post (last week’s) here.

Not all of the nominees, but you get the idea.

What will you read next?

Just like several other readers, I’ve been waiting for this book to be released!

This book will be the next audiobook I plan on listening to/reading.

Future Posts: My 200th Blog Post is upcoming! What am I doing to mark that milestone? You have to wait and see!

Look for me at FIYAH Con 2021!

Book Haul: Indie Bookstore Day Edition

On Saturday, April 24th, it was Indie Bookstore Day (and my younger brother’s birthday)!

The purpose of Indie Bookstore Day is to support your local and/or your favorite indie bookstore by purchasing merchandise and/or books from them.

One of my favorite indie bookstores is Strand Bookstore in Manhattan, New York! Besides being a bookstore with 5 levels of books, several events take place there on a weekly basis. Before and during (and soon, after) the pandemic, I’ve attended several events where authors would discuss their books, have book signings and participate in live Q&As! Even now, with the pandemic, Strand has managed to keep everything up and running.

The Strand decided to have a 30% sale on their ENTIRE store! I couldn’t miss out on this deal, so I delve into book shopping. And surprisingly, I was in more control than I thought I would be.

These are some of the books I bought! If you’re familiar with these titles, then you’ll notice something interesting about the books I bought!

Here’s the answer behind my purchases!

Now, I can read this series without worrying about the gap between the books!

After winning the 3rd book in a giveaway with the author’s signature, I had to buy the 1st 2 books in this trilogy!

Finally, I have ALL 4 books in The Nine Realms! I’m hoping that Tor plans on publishing a 4-in-1 Collector’s Edition of this series in the near future!

And, I couldn’t help myself, I had to get a tote bag with one of The Strand’s most infamous quotes!

Did you participate in Indie Bookstore Day? If so, then what did you buy? What’s your favorite indie bookstore?

I’m looking forward to when I can visit the Strand Bookstore again!

Reading Check-In: April 24, 2021

Hello everyone! This week’s post is another update on what I’m reading.

What did you finish reading?

I finished this book some about 2 weeks ago, but I haven’t written my review of it yet. For those of you who’ve read Middlegame, you will recognize the title of the series (The Up-and-Under) and the author’s name, A. Deborah Baker (a.k.a. Seanan McGuire’s pseudonym). This story follows two young children from opposite sides of the same community who come across a wall, climb over it, meet each other in a new world, and make their way through it while meeting everyone who resides there. The next book, Along the Saltwise Sea, comes out later this fall. Even if I don’t get a galley of this book, then I plan on preordering it.

What are you currently reading?

I was hoping to finish this book sooner so I would have my review ready BEFORE next week’s release. Tor.com was kind enough to approve my request for this galley, and I thought I had to read Network Effect before reading this novella. After a few of my fellow bookbloggers clued me in that this story takes places before the novel, I started it immediately. I LOVE MURDERBOT, and I’m aiming to finish this story and to have the review written and posted very soon!

Currently, I’m still listening to the audiobook (while re-reading the chapters in my galley), and I’m 75% done with this book. I believe I know what could happen by the end of this book. However, the cover reveal for Book 3 has me wanting to finish this book A.S.A.P.!

What will you read next?

Without getting into too much detail, I received an eARC of this book early. I’ve been meaning to read the books this author has written for a long time. In fact, I’ve read the 1st half of The Tiger and the Wolf, and I haven’t finished it yet (READ IT). I started this book, and so far it’s a space opera experience I won’t forget anytime soon. I’m looking forward to reading this book through. And yes, my review for this book will be SPOILER FREE.

This week’s Book Haul!

Do I have to explain how excited I am for this book?! The Broken God is supposed to take place right after the events at the end of The Shadow Saint. All I know about this book is that Cari returns as one of the main P.O.V. characters. And, the author announced recently that the series has been expanded to 5 books! Yes, I’m excited about that, and I’m curious as to what will happen between the end of this book and the end of the series.

This Week’s Book Haul (April 4-10, 2021): NetGalley Edition

We are familiar with posts about Weekly or Monthly Book Hauls, or new arrivals of books. These books can be ARCs, purchases and/or gifts. Sometimes, there are stories surrounding these book hauls, but most of them don’t need to be told. I’m taking the opportunity and I’m using this week’s book haul to discuss some lingering and continuing issues I’ve been having with NetGalley.

Request Rejected

Most of us remember when we had our requests rejected. This is a scenario I’m still familiar with: request a book, have that request rejected, search other opportunities to receive an ARC (Goodreads giveaways, Bookish First, etc.) and fail in that, purchase the book the week it’s released.

‘Read Now’ Quota Reached

Those of us who check NetGalley daily and/or receive the newsletters know what I am talking about. You receive an email and/or you’re browsing a galley site and you realize that you can download the book immediately. However, you’re NOT in front of your computer and you are unable to download the galley from your mobile device, which means you’ve missed out on receiving the galley. On top of that, your request is rejected; so, you wait until you can purchase the book.

Request Pending (even with the ‘Read Now’ selection available)

This happens more often than NetGalley wants to admit. You request a galley and it’s pending. Then, a few weeks later, the publisher gives the book a “Read Now” status. So, you access your NetGalley account hoping to download the book, only to notice that your request is still pending. You can’t cancel the request and there is no way around downloading the book due to its “status,” which leaves you feeling more annoyed because you were so close to obtaining the galley that you wanted.

In this case, after entering numerous giveaways, the author of Firebreak, Nicole Kornher-Stace, mailed an ARC to me (Thank you SO MUCH for doing that for me)! Firebreak is one of my most anticipated books of 2021, and I’m honored that the author decided to mail me an Advanced Copy in exchange for an honest review, which I will be doing sooner rather than later (after I read the book of course)!

I should mention that this is NOT an issue with Edelweiss+. In fact, there have been times when I’ve had a request rejected only for the publisher to allow for the “Download” option for anyone who is interested. This change overrides the any previous status. If Edelweiss has this override, then shouldn’t NetGalley?!

Galley I Forgot to Download BEFORE the Archive Date

This one was my fault. I heard about this book from other bookbloggers, and I my request was granted almost immediately. Unfortunately, I did NOT download the galley by the archive date. Honestly, I might have misread April (Apr. on NetGalley’s website) for August (Aug. on NetGalley).

I still wanted to read this book, so I bought it! This book is a translation of a trilogy about Norse mythology. Since Norse myths are the stories to read at the moment (I still have to read both Northern Wrath and The Witch’s Heart), I decided to add this one to the list. I want to do a Norse-themed read through before Norsevember 2021!

So, why did I write this post? I wanted to let readers, bloggers and reviewers know that they are not the only ones with these issues on NetGalley. I believe that all of these issues are common knowledge, but for some unknown reason, NetGalley has yet to address the issues surrounding their available galleys. I understand some of it goes back to the publishers’, but they are NOT the ones running the site.

Have any of you had similar and/or different experiences with these galley sites? What did you do? What are your other options for gaining ARCs and galleys? And yes, I’m looking forward to reading ALL of these books!