January Wrap Up

Posted by Nemo in Monthly Wrap Up on

month 01
put me in summer

happy snowman

Is everyone having a great summer? Or, for those of you who aren’t living in The Lucky Country/the Southern Hemisphere, a great winter?
I’m having a wonderful summer, because I have AIR CONDITIONING.
AND IT’S AWESOME.

News

We have a new blog design! Courtesy of Laura from Laura Plus Designs. I thoroughly recommend working with her – she checked with me every step of the way and we worked very closely getting the blog just how I wanted it.

Shadow Study (Soulfinders, #1)Harlequin Australia sent me Maria V Snyder’s new book, Shadow Study! Y’all should know I am a HUGE Maria V Snyder fan. The only problem is that this is the fourth book of a series of which I’ve only read the first book. There’s also a spin-off trilogy I’m pretty sure I need to read before I can read Shadow Study. So February is going to be Maria V Snyder Month for The Moonlight Library! I need to re-read Poison Study, then get stuck into the short Valek POV story Assassin Study, then dive into Magic Study and Fire Study, have a squiz at the short story Power Study, skip over to Storm Glass, Sea Glass and Spy Glass, then return to Shadow Study and it’s rewritten Ice Study beginning. It’s a Study-a-thon!

My best friend came to stay with us from interstate for a few days. She’d recently won a battle with cancer, so it was wonderful to be able to spend some time with her.

I cut back on my blogging to post only every second day instead of every day, and so far it’s been wonderful! I mean, I can still post outside of the schedule if I feel like it, but I’m not overworking myself by focusing on posting every day anymore. I feel so much more relaxed and less stressed  and have been able to enjoy watching many films with my husband – although that could be because I’m currently on leave from my second job! I’ll have to let you know how it goes when I’m back to working full time + part time + running a blog + having a family.

January Wrap Up

Book Reviews:

Spark Risingtomorrow when the war begansoulprintthe assassin's bladedisreputable history of frankie All the Bright Places

Other Blog Posts You May Have Missed:

Films I Watched

I saw The Hobbit 3: The Battle of the Five Armies at the cinema. Wow! I didn’t think I’d cry, but it was Tauriel and Kili that got to me – even though I think Fili was way hotter – what can I say, I like buff guys with long blonde hair. Although most of the film was spent with me wondering who the fifth army was supposed to be. And can I just say, Galadriel kicks ASS. All in all I enjoyed the film, but it still hasn’t made me want to read the book.

Prior to going to see The Hobbit 3 my husband and I had a Lord of the Rings Extended Edition marathon on one of our days off over the summer break. It was awesome.

  1. The Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug
  2. The Hobbit 3: The Battle of the Five Armies (in the cinema)
  3. I, Frankenstein
  4. Dracula Untold
  5. Edge of Tomorrow
  6. Reckless Kelly
  7. The Three Musketeers (2011)
  8. Look Who’s Talking
  9. Look Who’s Talking Too
  10. Look Who’s Talking Now
  11. Anonymous
  12. Judge Dress
  13. Tomorrow When the War Began

Monthly Highlights

  • I’m so excited about the new blog design!Unwanted
  • My first read of the year was a 5 star book. You can’t start a new year better than that. Thank you, Allen & Unwin, for sending me The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks!
  • Penguin Australia unexpectedly sent me an unsolicited book, The Unwanted! I’m always psyched to get surprise books in the mail!

Giveaway

2015-ausday

The winner of the Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop is

Nat Haraida

Congratulations! Please look out for an email from me. You have 48 hours to respond.

 

Nemo
Nemo

About Nemo

A lover of kittens and all things sparkly, Nemo has a degree in English Literature and specialises in reviewing contemporary, paranormal, mystery/thriller, historical, sci-fi and fantasy Young Adult fiction. She is especially drawn to novels about princesses, strong female friendships, magical powers, and assassins.

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14 thoughts on “January Wrap Up”

    1. Nemo

      It’s just for February! I don’t have any more one-author-a-month projects in development. I’m still doing Project Tomorrow, though.

      I cried in The Hobbit as well, and I don’t even have the excuse of being an emotional teenager (though I still feel like one).

      Really, the cutting back thing had to happen sooner or later. I’ve been running this blog for two and a half years now.

    1. Nemo

      Uh yeah, you noticed, huh? I want to read MORE, though. Not sure how I’m going to balance it when I go back to work!

  3. Clodagh

    Glad you’re having a wonderful summer. Mine has been awesome so far. I went on a spontaneous trip to Sydney for 12 days, and I got home just in time for school today. I’m missing the air-con back home in NZ! (Too much personal information? Whatever, it was my first overseas trip so I feel like telling everyone.)

    I loved (and cried during) the last Hobbit movie so much! Tauriel and Kili, bro. And Galadriel. And Legolas. And Thranduil. And Bard. (Man those movies make me feel proud to be a Kiwi.)

    The Tomorrow series is very good; I actually saw John Marsden speak at the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival last year. He was quite funny actually, I didn’t meet him but I’d recommend going to one of his talks.

    I haven’t seen The Three Musketeers but I finished the book this summer. It only took me 5 months hahaha. That’s probably the longest time it’s taken me to finish a book.

    I just added All the Bright Places to my to-read list today. It’s received mixed reviews I think but I loved The Fault in our Stars, so I’ll just have to read it to form my own opinion. It could possibly be too similar for me to enjoy it.

    1. Nemo

      Wow, that’s long for a spontaneous trip! You’re lucky you got to see Marsden speak – I may or may not have seen him at school as a child – I confess, it’s a bit blurry, and perhaps my desire is merging with my vivid imagination.

      I think if you liked The Fault in Our Stars you should like All the Bright Places!

  4. Bekka

    I’m happy you’re having such a great summer! It’s winter where I am, but only barely. Mostly it just feels like an extended autumn. I’m so happy to hear about your friend and I think it’s wonderful that you got to spend some time with her.

    I’ve also been cutting back on the amount of blogging I’m doing (but we’re still posting daily. Yay the power of co-bloggers!) Only being on the hook for one review each week has made things so much less stressful for me. It’s made reading fun again.

    I hope your February is just as great as January!

    Bekka recently posted: Book Review: Shutter

    1. Nemo

      Well, for about half of January it was nice and hot. It really cooled down in the past few weeks.

      Ah, co-bloggers. I probably could invest in one if I wasn’t so anal. One review a week is still tough for me, but I love your blog and co-bloggers!

  5. Sara L.

    OOOOOH, a Maria Snyder month! I love that idea, and will definitely be checking out your Study-related posts. Though I admit, I haven’t read all of the Glass series. I read Storm Glass and wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue with it. As for me… I may or may not have Maria stop by for an interview at my blog before Shadow Study’s out. 😉

    I’ve seen the final Hobbit movie twice. I was disappointed with it the first time around – and was shocked that I didn’t cry. But I enjoyed it more the second time around, although there are still some things I think should have been done differently.

    Very jealous that it’s summer where you live right now! I live in Massachusetts (USA), so it’s winter here, and we just got 2 feet of snow from a blizzard on Tuesday. Blah.

    Sara L. recently posted: Time Flies!: January 2015

    1. Nemo

      I’m really going to try to squeeze the Glass series in, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to! I’m totally stalking your blog for the Maria interview.

      Wow, I can’t even imagine 2 feet of snow. It doesn’t even snow where I live, except at the very top of the mountain that protects the city.

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