Weekly Highlights; The First of 2015

Weekly Highlights is a new feature here at A Daydreamer’s Thoughts and will be a post highlighting things that happened on and off the blog. It is inspired by The Story Sirens In My Mailbox, Books, Biscuit and Tea’s Showcase Sunday, Kimba Caffeinated’s Sunday Post, and the British Letterbox Love.

In the feature I won’t mention everything I received, nor every post I wrote during the week but will simply feature a selection of things I wish to spotlight a second time around.

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Post Highlights

I sometimes feel like I should change the name of this and do a fortnightly highlights post instead as I always seem to skip a week somehow BUT I won’t. Hopefully I’ll just get better at doing Highlights this year…

Anyway…

Summing up the first two weeks of January;

I’ve posted TWO reviews;
Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer (FIVE HEARTS)
Big Hero 6 (2015) (FIVE HEARTS)

In the first week of January I participated in Bout of Books and hosted a mini-challenge. I really enjoyed the read-a-thon again. I participated in one twitter chat and finished two books which completed my goal and made a few new blogging friends which is awesome. I can’t wait to do it all again in May!

I posted Ten Reasons Why You Should Read The Jessica Cole Series, which can be found here.

I admitted that there were a lot of books that came out last year that I didn’t get around to reading that I’m very ashamed of. You can see what books I missed by clicking here.

And lastly, I announced that I will not be challenging myself this year. To find out what I mean by that, head over to this post.

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UKYA Book Blogger Awards

On January 4th I announced that I needed some help in hosting the UKYA Book Blogger Awards.

Then on January 12th the nominations for the award were OPENED. You can vote for your favourite UK bloggers here.

Voting closes on January 25th.

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UKYA Blogger Awards

With great minds thinking alike, Andy Robb has also announced that he is organising the UKYA Blogger Awards. You can read his announcement post here.

Then on Friday 16th January, the Longlist for these awards were announced.

Find out who made the longlist by here.
I just want to take this moment to congratulate EVERYONE who was longlisted because everyone on the list is awesome and amazing. BUT I also want to congratulate EVERY SINGLE UKYA Blogger because, let’s face it, we’re all fantastic and brilliant!

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Around the Blogosphere

This week Celine has written a very lovely post about keeping the community positive. I think I missed the drama that happened last week but I just love this post. Head over here to see why.

Along the same lines, Jamie posted on Tumblr this week some of her feelings on the community. It’s an incredibly thoughtful post and one that I found very enlightening. Read the post here.

In a nicer note, Jamie also posted about her book buying habits this week. I found it a very interesting post and have to admit I have very much started buying books this way! Find out what I’m talking about in this post. What are your habits like?

Jess also posted a similar post this week but she actually wrote a post about the types of book buyers you find in shops. I thought it was such and interesting and accurate post. I have to admit though, I’m sort of a mix of them all! Find out the types by clicking here.

Books are great. They’re wonderful and they help us escape. But what happens when we get into moods where we can’t read? This week Nicole talks about reading slumps. Find out what she has to say here.

Amanda has written a fab post this week about blogs evolving as time goes along. Read what her thoughts are on this opinion and join the discussion by clicking here.

Diversity in books is such a big issue at the moment and this week Rebecca has written a brilliant and thoughtful post abot the topic, here. I definitely think that this is one post that is worth a read and shouldn’t be missed!

Shayna this week has written a very intriguing post about how to be a happier blogger. While I think that everyone blogs in their own ways and will have to find their own curve to be happy, there are some very good and valid advice points in this post that I think you should check out.

Reading is a large part of my life. But I do know that it can be hard to find the time to read. This week Caroline has blogged about when she reads and asks you to share with her. You can do so by checking out this post.

2015 is a new year and with a new year comes the chance for a new start. And this week Sophie has written a post about her resolutions for the year that I thought was really great. Head on over here to see what I mean.

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Letterbox Love

So I’m currently writing this post from my parents’ house and don’t have access to my room and my pile of “recently acquired” books and so some books may get missed but I hope I at least show you the ones that I am super happy about and cannot wait to read. I have acquired a lot of books in the past few weeks so bear with me…

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson; I’ve heard SO MANY good things about this book that I finally decided that I wanted to give it a go. Thank you SO MUCH to DFB for sending me this review copy. Intrigued to see what I think of the book.

Three Amazing Things About You by Julie Mansell; This one really caught my eye and I’ve never read a Julie Mansell book but heard lots of good things. So I’m definitely looking forward to reading this. Many thanks to Headline for the review copy.

Arsenic for Tea by Robin Stevens; This is the second book in the Wells and Wong series and I’m really excited to dive into it! I loved the first book and I am just really excited to see what adventures this pair of girls gets up to next. Thanks to Penguin Random House for the review copy!

Looking for Alaska by John Green; This book was a complete surprise for me! It is the 10th Anniversary edition. It is hardback with black edged pages and it is completely and utterly beautiful. Thank you so very much to HarperCollins for sending it out. I loved this book and it is great to have it in my collection again.

Hate by Alan Gibbons; This is a book that I’ve wanted to read for ages. I’m so glad I finally have my own copy now and cannot wait to dive into it and see what it is all about. Many thanks to The Bookseller for this copy.

City of Halves by Lucy Inglis; I didn’t know anything about this book until it fell into my lap but I am very intrigued by it. Looking forward to seeing if it’s any good. Thank you again to The Bookseller for this book.

Ensnared by A. G Howard; AHHHHHH. It’s FINALLY OUT. I am SO EXCITED about this book. I am also SUPER ANXIOUS about this book because it is the last one in the series and I’m just not sure that I am ready to say goodbye yet. Nonetheless, it was purchased in hardback and I hope to get to it VERY soon.

Full Metal Alchemist (Vol 1-7) by Hiromu Arakawa; On a spur of the moment I decided to read some Manga this year and after asking for some recommendations, ended up buying Full Metal Alchemist Vol 4-7. Then my friend gave me Vols 1-3. I have read the first and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to carrying on the series.

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Currently Reading

I read a few books at a time so I have decided that I want to showcase them a little on the blog and so from now on I thought I would tell you all what I’m currently reading (on Saturday/Sunday!)

This week I am currently reading;

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And there you have it, my Weekly Highlights!

What Did You Get This Week? What Cool Blog Posts Did You Stumble Upon? What Are You Reading This Week?