First of all, the author has a great name if I do say so myself ;P I know there are a lot of Sherlock retellings/reimaginings out there but I have yet to find one where Holmes is played by a girl (even though I know they're out there). I'm really picky about mystery thrillers especially when they are Sherlock adaptations, which is strange considering I haven't read the original books. For shame, I know.
Bio: Brittany Cavallaro is a poet, fiction writer, and old school Sherlockian. She is the author of the poetry collection Girl-King (University of Akron) and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. She earned her BA in literature from Middlebury College and her MFA in poetry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently, she's a PhD candidate in English literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, cat, and collection of deerstalker caps.
Are you guys looking forward to this one? Are you one of you lucky ducks who've read this already? What do you think of it?
Dreamology by Lucy Keating ARC Review + Pre-Order Giveaway!
There is something really important that you guys need to know. I am a huge hockey fan. When hockey seasons starts (which is in a matter of days!! YAAASSSS) I become somewhat of a hermit and watch hockey almost nonstop. So when I saw that this book is about hockey and heartache, I didn't need to know anymore. Hockey is one of the most under-appreciated sports and to finally see it in a book, I'm so excited!
1) Feeling bad for rejecting review requests.
I know that it's normal to reject review requests and authors generally understand when you decline, but I always feel so bad. First off, I'm always concerned that I passed over an amazing book. Second, I know how difficult it is to get word out about your book, especially if you're an indie author.
2) Feeling bad for writing a negative review.
The most important thing as a reviewer is to be completely honest, but when it comes to writing reviews that are 3 stars and below, I just can't help but feel bad. Authors have a really tough job and the last thing I ever want to do is hurt their feelings, but if I were to sugarcoat the truth, I wouldn't be helping anyone. And yet every time I post a negative review, I worry about the author seeing it and making them upset.
3) Forcing myself to finish a book I'm not enjoying.
As a kid, I never left a book unfinished, even if I hated it. I would trudge though the book and whine the entire time until the pain was finally over and the book was finished. Since I became a book blogger, I've realized that life is too short to spend my time on books that I'm not enjoying, but I still find myself saying, "well what if it's about to get good and I'm going to miss out?" Fairly recently, I've made a new policy that if I've read 25% of the book and I'm still not liking it, then I need to put it down... though most of the time, I still end up forcing myself to go further and I end up finishing it.
4) Comparing everything to Leigh Bardugo's books.
Some of you may have an inkling about how I feel about Leigh Bardugo's books. For the very few of you who don't know, Leigh Bardugo is the QUEEN and if you haven't read her book--DO IT NOW. Start with Shadow & Bone and read all the way through the trilogy, and then read Six of Crows... But anyway, Bardugo's books are my absolute favorite and I compare a lot of the books I read to her books. Considering my love for her writing, those are impossible expectations to put other books up against.
5) Buying every book from book panels/events that I attend.
I'm very lucky to be living in New York City, where a lot of authors hold events and panels. Most panels include at least 2 authors, if not more. I usually plan on attending an event because of a specific author, but by the time the panel is over, I've walked out of the bookstore with all of the books from the attending authors. I'm proud to be a book-hoarder, but even I know that I allow myself to get carried away.
6) Kicking myself for missing book events.
As I already mentioned, there are a lot of book events held in New York City, and obviously I can't make it to all of them--even though I would like to! I even make obscure plans to try to fit the event in my schedule, even if I know it's stupid and/or impossible. It usually goes like this: "Well, if I come into work an hour early, I can leave at 4PM instead of 5PM, I'll have to skip all meals and find a way to explain to my uncle why I'm not there for my cousin's birthday, then take two trains and a bus, and only be a few minutes late . . . then I'll be home around midnight." Apparently, there are other things that are important in life like work, family, and you know . . . eating and sleeping once in a while haha. I really need to force myself to understand that if I don't keep up with the other important things, I won't be able to go to any book events in the future.
7) Being shy around authors.
You'd think that since I have been lucky enough to meet so many authors that I would be a pro at talking to them . . . NOPE. I can spend hours, days, weeks, even months daydreaming about when I'll finally get to meet an author and what I'll say, but when the time comes, I'm a mess. I get so flustered that I have to work myself to even speak normally to them when it's my turn to talk. It's something I really need to work on.
8) Not allowing myself to re-read books that I really love.
You guys know that my reading schedule is usually pretty insane and it prevents me from re-reading some of my favorite books. I find a lot of comfort and happiness in my favorites and I need to allow myself more freedom to go back to read them whenever I just want to jump back into those familiar worlds or hang out with my beloved characters.
9) Buying book-related merchandise without considering where I'm going to keep it.
Just like my book-hoarding problem, I buy a lot book merchandise. Totes, mugs, bookmarks, t-shirts, you name it, I have it . . . AND my house has become quite cluttered with all of it and somehow I have not stopped myself ever from buying book merch. At this rate, you guys might see me on Hoarders: Buried Alive someday.
10) Choosing books over sleep.
In general, I'm a bit of an insomniac but there have been plenty of times when even though I was sleepy, I choose to read instead before I knew it, the sun was out! I mean, you'd think that since I have a sleeping problem, that on the rare occasions that I'm actually sleepy at a normal time, I would take advantage of that but nooooo, I just keep reading and it makes it really hard to function in my every day life.