On my absence, and a Happy New Year to all!

Hey guys,


I'm really sorry for my continued absence! 2014 was not a good blogging year for me. First I was very busy with my MA thesis, then I spent a few weeks abroad, then I blogged some, then NaNoWriMo came around... I thought I could do better in December but I just moved house last weekend (of course, moving day was when the weather decided that Switzerland finally needed All The Snow) and was busy packing before that (boxing up all those books!) and also flew to Belgium... to go on a roadtrip to the north of England to see the last ever show of a favorite band.

So yes. Busy. Also, I am without internet in the new apartment until at least mid-January (I am sneaking this post in at work, hence the lack of gifs). I just wanted to give you a quick update as to what is going on. I hope I can post a lot more reviews and discussions in 2015! I don't like what the blog looked like these past few months and want to get into a routine again.

On that note, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a happy new year and, as we say here, guete Rutsch!

I'm back! Sorta...

Hey guys :)

Just a quick note to let you know I got back from my holiday in London last night! I had a great week and some much-needed time away from my day-to-day life. Thank you for your wonderful comments on my post about going away! I missed not being around for a week but at the same time, I kind of needed to be mostly off the internet as well.

Real life has me again though... after catching up on work and my work-email today, I could then go home and catch up on personal email and only just got done >.<
So no blog post on Thursday. I'm going to look at an apartment (another one...) and maybe maybe this time, after several months of going through Zurich's apartment hell, I'll actually get it. Not sure I believe in it anymore though. Amazing what I'm willing to do to get back into my country's most expensive city o.O It's also my favorite city though and I made it my home, so I want back.

Anyhow, I hope I can write a review tomorrow so I can post in on Friday and get back into the swing of things. Be prepared for my London book haul on Saturday, too ;) And Sunday I should be ready to show you some holiday pics, although to be honest only my sister brought a camera and we were so busy living, we actually didn't take all that many pictures.

Thanks for hanging around, guys! Now that I'm back and I've handed in all my essays and papers, I hope I can be more social again :)

How phishing made me miss my own blogoversary

Hey guys, you may or may not have been wondering why I dropped off the face of the earth for nearly a week. I already wrote a post on facebook about it but I know how those can slip by people, so I'll quickly explain it here.

On Thursday, in a moment of gullibility, I fell for an elaborate phishing/credit card fraud scam. I got suspicious after the fact and called the credit card company, and I just so managed to avoid losing 300 bucks to a bunch of hacker assholes. Unfortunately, my main computer is now full of spyware and I have to find a way to get rid of it without formatting my harddisc, because I have no system backups. Great isn't it? -__- Especially when you're writing a university paper just around that time and need to finish it on Friday before heading off to Italy. Instead you can spend your day doing damage control.

Anyhow. It sucks, the paper was written though not up to par with my usual work, and I hoped on a car to Italy. Where, on Saturday, I had my one year blogoversary... without a computer or any way/time to schedule posts or whatever. It was very relaxing though. Good for the soul. I could take a step back, enjoy a breathtaking view of the Lago di Lugano, read the second Mara Dyer book, and just... breathe.

Balcony breakfast

So that's why I didn't respond to comments or email and why there were no posts, not even a book haul. Again, I'm sorry and trying to fix things asap. I'm planning a giveaway to belatedly celebrate, as well as a couple posts on my first year of blogging. I don't think that I am in a position to give tips and act all pro-like and experienced, but I still feel like sharing what the past year was like for me and what I hope to do in the future. I hope you guys will stick with me despite my occasional social unresponsiveness because this blog and the people I met through it mean so much more to me than I ever anticipated!

Stacking the Shelves & blogging update

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase books we got during the past week, no matter how or what format they came in.


I bought:

Onyx, by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3), by Julie Kagawa

The little key necklace you can see in the upper part of the picture is a very pretty piece of jewelry I won in a giveaway by A.G. Howard, the author of Splintered. Can't wait to finally read her book in January!


Furthermore, I got a free downlaod access to Ali Cross' first two books in the Desolation series because I voted for the title of the third book and was among the majority who chose 'Destined'.

Here are the first two books, click the covers to get to goodreads:




I also got my first review request! Check it out below:

 
She’s a halfbreed in hiding.

Rainbird never belonged. To one race, she’s chattel. To the other, she’s an abomination that should never have existed.

She lives on the sunway.

High above the ground, Rainbird is safe, as long as she does her job, keeps her head down, and never ever draws attention to herself.

But one act of sabotage is about to change everything.
For Rainbird. And for her world.





I love the cover! Her dancer's pose, high up in the night sky. Also, someone approached me to review a book! Not the other way around! I know many bloggers get dozens of review requests every week or so but this is a first for me, and the email exchange was a very positive one. I recently heard about all the terrible ways some bloggers get requested to review books (e.g. on twitter, facebook, generalized emails without sufficient info etc) and I'm glad it wasn't this way! I'm excited to read the book once I'm done with one or two NetGalley titles. It sounds very promising and like it could be a 'me' book.


Blogging update:
This is a confession of shame. Yes, I haven't been very active. I think this marks the second week of almost meme-only posts and no reviews, and I don't like it at all. I want to have actual content on the blog. But I've just been feeling very very drained - I do just enough to keep up with universtiy coursework. I've had a lot going on, and I just had a kind of review writing block. I also haven't written on my NaNo novel since Sunday. It all just feels wrong and I'm very discontent with how things are going. I've been pretty much off twitter, too. I've had little energy and motivation to write anything, but I think I'm past the worst part. I hope I can finally write my review for The Shadow Society tomorrow. It's not that I was in a reading slump (I don't think that has ever happened to me) but I just couldn't get my thoughts straight and into review mode. I really hope I can turn this around in the coming week!
If any of you have tips on this problem that they can share, ways to get motivated again... bring them on! I'd really appreciate it!

Otherwise, let me know what you think of my haul & link up your own in the comments :)

BLOGOVESARY GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

Sorry for not picking the giveaway winners earlier, guys! This week was insanely busy and it always takes about an hour to check all those entries... that's also the reason why my reviews for Ironskin and Scorch aren't up yet even though I finished the books a week ago >.<

But the winners for the blogoversary giveaway have been drawn now.

Samantha S. won the paperback bundle and Stephanie W. the eBook bundle. Both winners were emailed and have already responded.

Also, I decided to give away some swag to Cassidy C. because she was the only one who went the extra mile and wrote a pinfic for me :) Cassidy, if you read this check your email! Maybe my message was sorted into your junk folder...

Thanks to everyone who entered! I never expected such a response or that I'd reach 300 followers over the course of the giveaway! You guys and your comments make me happy :) I can't make promises yet but I will probably have a Halloween-themed giveaway up later in the month.

Congrats to all the winners, and I hope you'll enjoy your books!

I MADE IT - challenge news and reading update

Yup, I've just finished Scorch - the last book I needed to complete the Sequels Challenge! I really didn't think I'd make it, what with having to finish Ironskin too before it expired and university classes starting again, but I did. My review will be up later in the week because I want to spread them out a bit and I've already posted one on Friday and one today. But yup, Scorch is all read and damn did my eyes grow ever larger on those last two dozen or so pages! Can't wait for the next book!!

So here's the record of my victory:



You can click the first three to read my reviews. As I said, Scorch will be up later this week, as will Ironskin. I'm kinda proud of myself for completing the challenge, as I really doubted that I'd make it. I don't think I would have if Scorch hadn't arrived on release day - I knew this one would be a fast read, while Melissa de la Cruz's Masquerade would probably have taken me longer to finish. So now I'm kinda blinking in surprise at all the sequels I've cleaned up over the summer. I think Masquerade is the last one on my shelf, and it'll have to stay there a while longer while I read all the recent releases I got lately but couldn't read because of this challenge and my NetGalley books.


So here's what I plan to read over the next two or so weeks:



 I've already started reading my NetGalley copy of Death and the Girl Next Door but I'm not far in enough yet to say anything about it. And it nearly killed me to own Carnival and Unspoken and not to be allowed to read them!!! Other awesomeness on my shelf that I might get around to: Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel, Touch by Jus Accardo, Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Foretold anthology edited by Carrie Ryan... I'll get around to them. The only good thing about my book buying ban is that I already own so much awesomeness :P

Have you taken part in any challenges recently? What were they for? Did you enjoy them?

Stacking the Shelves and Challenge Update

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to show off all the books we got that week, no matter what format or how we got them (bought, ARCs for review, gifted, won, borrowed...).

Since I'm still on my book buying ban (sucky but necessary), I only had one in my mailbox because I had preordered it. I was really happy to get it on release day! :D I'll start reading it over the weekend and I hope I can finish by Sunday night, because then I'll have completed the Sequels Challenge I'm participating in.

Scorch, by Gina Damico
Plus some origin swag including a signed sticker. I won that during the Origin Olympics that Jessica Khoury hosted shortly before the release.
Oh, and about the Scorch cover: it's actually shiny silver! That organge is a reflection. Strangely fitting though :P

September is for Sequels Challenge update:
I've reached the first half of my goals, which was to read & review Enshadowed and Black Heart. Click the titles to read my reviews.

I've got a good hundred pages left of Rachel Hawkins' Demon Glass, which I hope to read in the next 1.5 hours before I go to bed. That would leave me free to read & finish Scorch tomorrow (I'm writing this Friday night) and Sunday. I had originally planned to read Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz but I think Scorch will be a quicker read and the challenge ends on Sunday :P So I might complete it even though I started when half the time was gone, had to re-read a big book and started university again.
I also finished Ironskin by Tina Connolly, which will be published on Tuesday. I hope to get up my review on Monday.

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed: You've got until midnight on Sunday to squeeze in some last entries to my blogoversary giveaway ;) I'll probably pick the winner on Tuesday because I'll be busy on Monday. Good luck!

What books and goodies did you guys get this week? Link me up in the comments :)