Starting in Sep, I will begin posting 3 reviews a week (instead of 2) / I used a graphic for a post series / I did meet all my (now obsolete) goals for June.

The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @Caffeinated Book Reviewer, is a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Caution: Her site has sidebar ads that sometimes contain cover images which may be offensive to some.

Over the past two weeks, my posting calendar has begun to fill up rapidly. In order to fit in the review copies I have accepted, it has been necessary to push back the reviews of books I already own. But, as I just said in my recent post on Rereading, the opportunity to reread owned favorites in preparation for reviews has been one of my favorite parts of blogging. And I am also using this to push me to read books I have owned for a long time and not gotten to, such as my recent reading of The Raven Boys (which I really liked).

But, I also don't want to miss out on some of the great review copies I am getting.  So I have made the difficult, for me, decision to increase the number of reviews I post each week to three. The reason this has been a difficult decision is that reviews take so much time. I have to (re)read the book, do research, get an interview if possible, and then write the review (which doesn't come easy to me).

Then you have to add in the fact that reviews don't get that many page views, and don't usually get any comments at all. From a stats point of view, another discussion post or meme would be a better bet. However, I just decided that I want to break the hold that stats have had on me and focus on other things. The fact that I love reading is why I am blogging, so this is the direction I am going to go.

I am waiting until Sep to start in a effort to get a bit ahead, so I can ease into the transition.

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A window seat reading space is a dream of mine. Thanks to Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard for bring this wonderful photo collection to my attention.

Last Week on GMB

• SUN: I Gave Away an Audiobook | Sunday Summary #8 - this is the post where I talked about the changing direction of my blogging goals.
• TUE:Shadow, Solitary, Shadows | New Audiobook Releases
• WED: A Bit Warm & Dark for this Church Lady: Burning Bright | Review - ★★★½ Urban Fantasy
• THU: Hasn't Killed Me Yet: Living With Chronic TBR Overflow (Pt 1) | My Musings - the first of a 3 part series.
• SAT: The Ups and Downs of Friendship: The City of Thirst | Review - ★★★★ MG Contemporary Fantasy

Next Week on GMB

• TUE: New Audiobook Releases
• TUE: Top Ten Tuesday | You Might be Missing Out (Guest Post on lilybloombooks)
  
• WED: The Assassins of Altis | Review - ★★★★★ Genre-blending YA
• THU: Panning for Gold: Living With Chronic TBR Overflow (Pt 2) | My Musings
  
• SAT: Cinder & Ella | Review + Bonus material - ★★★★ YA Contemporary (Retelling)
• SUN: Sunday Summary #10

Exploring Cyberspace

• "There’s No Good Reason Not to Represent Characters of Faith" by Krysta @ Pages Unbound (thanks to Lila @ The Bookkeeper's Secret for recommending the post)

"As readers, we meet all types of characters from goblins, wolves, and hockey players to murderers, prostitutes, and gang leaders.  We may or may not agree with their philosophies, beliefs, or lifestyle choices.  In the end it doesn’t usually matter.  A good story is a good story.  So why not broaden our representation of characters of faith and, maybe, in the process, learn to stop making assumptions about what it means to have a religion?"

• "Finding Time to Read" by Cynthia @ Bingeing on Books
  

"Let's face it: there are certain things we can all give up for the sake of more reading time:

1. Cleaning
Do those dishes really need to be washed? Does your toilet really need to be cleaned? And come on, that laundry doesn't need to be done. You still have a pair of pants somewhere that aren't dirty."

• "The Green-Eyed Book Blogger" by Reg @ She Latitude
  

"So this is what I try to do: I go out. I take a walk. I bake a really delicious cake. And then, when I’m feeling better, I look at these people I envy, these people I actually admire, and take them as inspiration. I look to them for motivation, and I try to do meaningful, productive things that help me get closer to my goals. Mind you, success doesn’t come immediately, but trying is certainly half the battle… and that to me is more than good enough."

• "What’s the Point of Book Reviews?" by Jenny @ Jenny in Neverland
  

"One tiny little book review can lead to another blogger buying the book and leaving a review. Who then recommends the book to their mum. Who then reads it and recommends it to a work colleague. You see where I’m going with this?"

Reading Update

I re-listened to the following in preparation for upcoming reviews:

In Progress:

Up Next

New Review Copies

Thank you to Blackstone Audio & Audiobook Jukebox, Audible Studios, narrator Kristen Yuen, and author Christopher Mannino:

From the Library

Other Acquisitions

All the Kindle books I acquired that have Audible versions available.

Some of the other Kindle books I acquired.

Talk to Me (pretty please)

• Reviews are the hardest posts for me to write, what about you?
• Do you think book reviews actually influence sales?
• Do you ever read a sequel when you haven't read the previous book(s)?

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• If you are a first time visitor, how did you discover my blog?
• I recently debuted my redesigned blog. What do you think?

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