April: Month in Review & Box Giveaway

Some Changes on A Reader of Fictions:
Okay, so there are some big changes in the works right now, and I wanted to outline them without a whole post, so here goes.

Less Posting
I will be posting less, not because I'm cutting back on blogging, but because general consensus seems to be that more than one post a day can be overwhelming. I'm going to try to cut back to one post a day for a while and see how that goes. I might have to up to double-posting a couple times a week to get reviews up, but we'll see how it goes! This may change again. This is an experiment, and it's already begun. If you have thoughts on the change, let me know!

This doesn't mean I'm reading less. Just that I will not be posting the reviews I have as frequently.

Giveaways
In an effort to have more giveaways open to international readers, I'm changing up how I do giveaways. For now, I will be offering, so long as I can afford to, a giveaway copy (to be shipped from TBD) of the books I rate a 4.5 or a 5. If I have a month with a bunch of those, obviously, I will have to pick and choose at my discretion. I will be trying to give away a copy of books I loved that were sent to me free for review to support that author/publisher in their awesomeness, but, since I am funding these myself (I don't have ads or earn any money from this blog), I can only do so much.

All the ARCs and finished copies I read but do not keep for myself will go into a box. US readers only can enter to win said box. These will generally be books that I did not love, unless I receive duplicates. The winner, once chosen, may elect to receive all of the books or pick and choose.

Ratings
Also, I've updated my ratings scheme in my head. You might notice a slight change in ratings, particularly on the low end of the scale in the future, because I've solidified what they mean to me. To reiterate, anything 3 and above I liked to varying degrees (so do not tell me 3 is a negative rating, even if I do rant a bit in the review, because I still liked it) with books from 4-5 entering loved territory. Books receiving a 4.5 to a 5, I had an emotional connection with, so some books that get a 4 are essentially flawless but I just didn't bond with the MCs. Now, for the changes to the lower ratings:

2.5: This is pretty much the same. These are books that I can't say that I liked or disliked precisely. Generally, they were a bit uneven with some good elements and some bad.
2: Not for me. Books that receive 2 stars are ones that I think have merit, but that did not personally work for me, due to writing style, characters, subject matter, whatever.
1.5: Not very good. I don't have much positive to say about this book, aside from the fact that it didn't make me mad.
1: Might have had promise if it didn't make me want to punch the wall. From this month on, books receiving a rating of 1 made me angry, but do have something solid to recommend them, like good writing or plotting.
0.5: This book not only made me angry, but it was bad besides.

I'm an emotional reader, so it makes perfect sense for the bottom two ratings to be reserved for emotional reactions the way my top two ratings are. This does mean that my ratings when averaged will be lower, but I think they're a better reflection of my feelings and I'll know better how to rate the books I didn't like.

Reviews Posted in April:

4.5 Stars:
Siege and Storm (The Grisha #2) - Leigh Bardugo

4 Stars:
White Lines - Jennifer Banash
Tuesday's Gone (Frieda Klein #2) - Nicci French
Ten Tiny Breaths (Ten Tiny Breaths #1) - K.A. Tucker

3.5 Stars:
The Calling (Darkness Rising #2) - Kelley Armstrong
The Rising (Darkness Rising #3) - Kelley Armstrong
One Plus One Equals Blue - M.J. Auch
Adorkable - Sarra Manning
The Sea of Tranquility - Katja Millay
Anatomy of a Boyfriend (Anatomy #1) - Daria Snadowsky
Anatomy of a Single Girl (Anatomy #2) - Daria Snadowsky
The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1) - Rick Yancey

3 Stars:
Dear Cassie (Pretty Amy #2) - Lisa Burstein
House of Secrets (House of Secrets #1) - Chris Columbus & Ned Vizzini
InterWorld (InterWorld #1) - Neil Gaiman & Michael Reaves
Arclight - Josin L. McQuein
The Silver Dream (InterWorld #2) - Michael Reaves & Mallory Reaves
The Bronze Horseman (Tatiana and Alexander #1) - Paullina Simons
How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True - Sarah Strohmeyer

2.5 Stars:
The Shadow Girl - Jennifer Archer
The Essence (The Pledge #2) - Kimberly Derting
The Symptoms of My Insanity - Mindy Raf

2 Stars:
A Corner of White (The Colors of Madeleine #1) - Jaclyn Moriarty

1 Star:
The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones - Jack Wolf

0.5 Stars:
Sever (Chemical Garden Trilogy #3) - Lauren DeStefano

Other Pop Culture from April
This goes back to before April, but in deference to less posts, I'm adding my What I've Been Watching posts into the monthly round up. From now on, it shouldn't be so extensive.

The Vampire Diaries, seasons 1-3

Because of the cult following, I decided to return to this show which I DNFed back when it first came out while I was in grad school. Let's just say that I can tell why I quit watching it initially. I really hate pretty much all of the characters, especially Stefan and Elena, ESPECIALLY Stefan and Elena when they're together. However, season three actually got interesting, with the introduction of morally ambiguous vampires who are not in love with Elena. Yay! Of course, I also got into the show right at the end of the last season currently available on Netflix. Sigh. My favorite characters: Caroline and Klaus.

What's Up?

This is one of the weirder kdramas I've watched. What's Up? follows a bunch of freshmen studying musical theater in college. It's sort of like Glee kdrama style, which means random musical numbers, only with the added bonus of such kdrama staples as teacher/student romance, cancer, a friendly ghost, and dark pasts. The show is made even more absurd by its sampling of themes from RENT and Les Choristes. While I did get some joy from watching it, I can't say I'd really recommend it.

Shut Up, Flower Boy Band

Yay! Another kdrama that I just want to hug and love forever. This one came highly recommended by Laura Moss, and, at first, I was like why the eff did she love this?, but I gave it a couple of episodes and all became clear. Basically, someone had to be hit by a bus and then the show stopped just being about boys punching each other and showing off their manliness, all while wearing guyliner and leopard print of course, because, duh, Korea. Anyway, once that person dies, the show is awesome all the way through the solid finale, a rare find in the kdrama world. Also, there are a couple of SUPER adorable couples who I ship so hard.

Felicity, seasons 1-2

Honestly, I think this show is sort of horrible, but it is a bit addictive. I spend a lot of time laughing about how it's basically New Adult by today's standards, though it worked just fine as a teen show back in the day. I would like this way more if the whole thing weren't a love triangle between Felicity, Ben, and Noel. Both guys have done such annoying stuff just by the end of season two that I want her to go find someone else, and I doubt that's happening. There's also a lamentable lack of hot boy on this show, though that can also be a plus as the actors look like real people. On the whole, there's just been too much jumping the shark sort of stuff, all of which makes the show campy, as opposed to a remotely realistic depiction of the issues in a student's life. Entertaining, but not what it should be. I will be finishing out the show, but I doubt I'll ever watch it again.

Panda and Hedgehog 

Guys, I didn't expect much from this but it turned out to be so adorable. Also, it made me the hungriest ever, because it's about pâtissiers, aka people who make cake for a living. This show is so funny and sweet, almost entirely light-hearted, until the last few episodes when the looming drama reared it's ugly head. Also, this love triangle is actually handled well, with the girl making her decision pretty quickly, actually telling everyone, and settling happily with her chosen guy. Woo!

Monthly Box Giveaway:
Now for the first of the monthly box giveaways! This is open to US readers only, but there will be more international giveaways on A Reader of Fictions in the future. You can win any or all of the following books:

Since I read in a wide range of genres and didn't like all of these books, the winner has the option to ask for all of these or as few as one. Anything not claimed by the winner will go into Cuddlebuggery's Little Blogger Big Ambitions, donated to the library, sold (if it was a finished copy I purchased), traded, or gifted, so don't feel bad if you don't want them all.

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