This Week in Books 19.07.17 #TWIB

 

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Welcome to This Week in Books, where we share what we’ve been up to in bookland this week and look ahead to next. 

Another busy week this week – I went back to work after a week and half off, and I’m off to a festival at the weekend. I did, however manage to get lots of reading done last weekend which was great. So I feel like I’ve caught up again. Go me!

Here’s what my week looked like…

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Now: Kids in Orange: Voices from Juvenile Detention ~ Mindy Hardwick // The Hate U Give ~ Angie Thomas

Kids in Orange is a memoir from a teacher/writer who did poetry workshops in juvenile detention centres in the U.S; about her time with the troubled children she worked with, the work they produced, and reflection on her life on the whole. It’s really interesting and relevant to my job so I’m enjoying it, but it’s not the kind of book I could read all in one go!

So I also picked up The Hate U Give which I loved by proxy before I’d even started it, and love it even more already. Can’t put it down.

Then:  White Cat ~ Holly Black // Strawberries at Wimbledon ~ Nikki Moore

I loved White Cat and definitely want to read the next book now. I also enjoyed cute little read, Strawberries at Wimbledon. I’ll try and review both in the next week or so.

Next: ???

Probably (still) Retribution Rails which isn’t out until November but I’m really eager to read it.

New on the Shelves

Netgalley: The only new book I added was The Silent Companions which I got approved for. It was my WoW pick last week. Sounds amazing so I’m chuffed with that one.  It’s also out in October so I’ll probably save it for my annual Horror October!

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Inspired by the work of Shirley Jackson and Susan Hill and set in a crumbling country mansion, The Silent Companions is an unsettling gothic ghost story to send a shiver down the spine…

Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband’s crumbling country estate, The Bridge.

With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. But inside her new home lies a locked room, and beyond that door lies a two-hundred-year-old diary and a deeply unsettling painted wooden figure – a Silent Companion – that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself

 

I’m Waiting On…

…Artemis, because… I enjoyed The Martian (but didn’t LOVE it) and I’m intrigued by what Weir has come up with next.

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Jazz Bashara is a criminal. 

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.

Expected Publication: November 14th 2017 by Crown 

 So that’s been my week in books, now why don’t you tell me about yours!?

Top Ten Tuesday: Who ya gonna stalk? #TTT

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish (click the link to visit them) who pick a different topic each week.

This week the topic is…Top Ten Bookish People to Follow on Social Media

I probably don’t use social media as much as I should do considering I have a blog to promote. Twitter and Instagram are the only ones I really use for bookish/blog stuff and I go through phases of remembering to use them. I’m the same with following people too. But there are some really great bookish people that I do follow on Twitter (and should pay more attention to):

@Patrick_Ness: I mean let’s face it, Patrick Ness is my just my favourite, ever.

 

@BookSmugglers: Self confessed ‘Review Mavens & Super Dorks’, UK-based The Book Smugglers are award-winning bloggers who post great reviews, features and book news.

@MattHaig1:  I actually haven’t read any of Matt Haig’s books (yet) but his presence on Twitter is funny and inspiring.

@BookBloggersChat: These guys are based in the UK and arrange book blogging chats on twitter which is a great way to get involved in the community and support each other.

@Jabberworks: Sarah McIntyre is a children’s author, illustrator, comic book creator and cosplay enthusiast. She does a lot of work with libraries and schools, promoting creativity in kids. She’s a whole lot of fun.

@AitchLove: Hannah Love is Children’s Publicity Manager at Faber Children’s and reviewer for and . She tweets about everything bookish, both promoting and just generally fangirling. She’s very active in the book blogging community and sometimes even sends out books. A must-follow for YA bloggers.

@SarraManning: Sarra Manning is an author and Literary Editor. Her tweets make me LOL (as well as keeping me up-to-date in bookland).

@Cleo_Bannister: Cleo is one of my favourite book bloggers who reviews mainly crime fiction and dark thrillers. She’s very active on Twitter and retweets her favourite posts from the book blogging community.

@IsobelJournal: Isobel Harrop is the author of The Isobel Journal which was published after she became a Twitter sensation by tweeting her old high school diary. She tweets about books, life and vegan food.

@YALC: YALC is the UK’s YA Lit Con at the London Film & Comic Con . This year the convention is on 28-31 July 2016 so if you’re thinking of going give them a follow.

 

Who are your bookish must-follows on Twitter? 

We Need to Talk About…how to choose a new blog layout! #discussion

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We Need to Talk About…is my new discussion post where I ask the blogosphere (that’s you guys) for opinions/advice/rants on anything from ‘how do some bloggers read so many books?’ to ‘how do you rate books?’. 

Lately I’ve been thinking about changing my blog layout…

But there are so many to choose from. How do I decide? I’ve only changed my layout once in three years and it feels like a big deal to change it so please excuse my neurosis!

I want a simple layout, but one with a wider body of text and less space on the sidebars and stuff. Any suggestions?

Also, if I change it (I don’t have WP premium btw) is it easy to change back if it doesn’t work? It’s been so long I’ve forgotten how it went down last time. 

I’m also interested to know how often you change your layout, and why?

Recent Finds

This is a monthly post where I share some of the books that I’ve found through fellow bloggers that I HAD to add to my wishlist immediately. I’m hoping I’ll look back on these posts and remember to buy/request the books (wishful thinking!).

It’s been a couple of months since I posted one of these because I’ve been trying to decrease not increase my TBR pile. However, I had to make a note of the following books because I WANNNNNNNNT so bad!

Click on the links to go to the original posts.

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Found on: Fourth Street Review
Why: All of it. The title, the cover, and the best opening line! (Expect strong language if you click on the link!)

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Found on: Books, Bones & Buffy
Why: I was sold on the cover and this description: “Terrifying, horrific, gruesome, unputdownable.”

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Found on: Shelf Love
Why: This sounds like a Welsh Alice Hoffman; real issues doused in magic.

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Found on: Book Rock Betty
Why: Medieval hotness of course!

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Found on: Stephanie’s Book Reviews
Why: Sherlock meets Doctor Who on the streets of London. Yes please.

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Found on: The Obsessive Bookseller
Why: I need something to fill The Selection void in my life! And oh so pretty.

Happy Birthday to Me!

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I can’t quite believe it’s been a whole year since I started this blog but so it has. I’ve had the best time reviewing books and spouting nonsense, and long may it continue!

I just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who has read and commented on my posts, to all the authors & publishers who have provided me with review copies, promo material and guest posts, and to the book blogging community in general for making me feel instantly welcome!

Looking Back…

When I realised that Lipsyy Lost & Found was approaching its first milestone I thought I’d have a look back at my earliest posts…and woah, what a difference a year makes. It’s slightly cringe-worthy.

I’m pretty pleased with progress of the blog – not that I have anything to compare it to (and I’m sure other blogs have done much better) – but over the year I…

  • Gained a readership of over 1,100
  • Exceeded 300 WordPress followers
  • Got invited to Emma Donoghue’s book launch
  • Hit 10,600 views and 1,880 comments

Not too shabby.

Looking back on the old posts, as cringey as it was, did make me realise some things though. Mainly that it was nice to have no structure. Over the year, as I’m sure many bloggers do, I’ve become much more structured with my posts, but in the beginning I posted what I wanted, when I wanted.

If I was reading a book and wanted to post about it before writing a review, I did. If I didn’t want to write a proper review I didn’t. That’s a bit trickier these days as probably 65% of the books I’m reading are either ARCS from Netgalley or direct author requests which require a proper review, but I really miss feeling like I can read and post whatever I want.

Going Forward…

In the future I really want to take the pressure off and concentrate on posting what I want, when I want rather than trying to stick to a schedule. I’m also going to introduce Currently Reading posts which I think I did in the very beginning just for something to post, but I really like introducing the book I’m reading before actually doing a review.

And for reviews themselves, I don’t really stick to a structure anyway, but reading the first couple that I did made me realise that the time constraints might have suppressed my personality in the writing a bit, like this first review I did of Soulless. I kinda really like the post-its…maybe that should be a thing!?

Anyway, I’m chuffed that people are reading, and continue to come back, so a HUGE thanks to you all. If you have any insights or opinions on what I’ve just said about going forward, or about Lipsyy Lost & Found in general, pleeeeeeeease leave a comment. You know it makes me happy!!

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Now, where’s that cake???
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