The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: May 2020 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in June

Posted June 1, 2020 by Lisa Mandina in End of the month post, giveaway / 20 Comments

I thought April was fast? But May was too! Again probably because every day was about the same. Spent at home. Trying to figure out what I could do as the librarian to help my teachers and students and show that my job is necessary. The majority of stay at home has been lifted, there are just still guidelines and restrictions for how restaurants and businesses can be open. My family did actually go on our annual Memorial Day weekend to Branson. And it was nice, relaxing in our cabin, taking a pontoon boat out on the lake and just riding up and down. Shopping was only so-so because as you’d expect, most stores still weren’t open. Restaurants there were all practicing safe social distancing, so I didn’t feel bad about eating out.

We’ve still had some nice weather and I’ve been able to sit outside with the dogs. But we’ve had some rainy times the past week or two that have been a pain. I feel like I’ve already been on summer break though, so I’m really ready to go back to work, but that won’t be happening till August, if we do get to go back to school.

I’m getting a dishwasher this first week of June, very excited for that! As much as I love my new house, I have missed a dishwasher! One problem with being home all the time is that my dogs don’t let me write. I can’t just sit and do anything for more than an hour, sometime not even an hour if I’m lucky. I need to get my little shade thing up on my patio so I can sit outside and let them play while I try to write. I did get the finished copies of my self-published romance under my pen name.

If you like really are interested and like steamy romances, it’s a short novella, about 25000 words, it’s free on Kindle Unlimited or 99 cents to buy. I’d love to get some people reading and reviewing it Good or bad. I need some constructive criticism! Here’s the LINK.

Okay, onto the book and blogging stuff, right? First off, I only read 15 books last month, four less than last month. But, a couple were a little longer than usual. Plus, guess who has been sucked into the whole Animal Crossing game? That’s me. I did get all my reviews posted from this month, including catching up on my DNF books. Only one DNF this month, so I’ll save that for a post with more if I have more come up. Now I have more reviews than I read books this month, but part of that is because I had a couple posts with multiple reviews, and then also a lot of reviews of books I read last month.

May Reviews:

So I have jumped up by one more post this month, up to 37 from 36 in April. And that’s even with a few that got cancelled this weekend! I’m also no longer as far ahead as I was with my books. I’m still on track, but I wouldn’t say ahead in any way. In fact the number of books I need to have read for reviews in the first two weeks of June is crazy! Right now the rest of my June calendar looks a little better, I just have to make it through the next two weeks and not add any more. The nice or sad thing, depending on how I think about it, is that the 2nd round of SmartyPants Romance books are done with my review this week of Stranger Ranger.

Challenges:

And nothing done for this one in May. It was all about the review books pretty much.

  1. Blogging: WordPress will be a constant learning experience, and I’m okay with that! I mean I only switched back in January, so I totally think it’s okay to still be learning. I’m keeping up with my blog posts as planned. Working to cut back on tours, other than as I mentioned above, every once in awhile I get a bit backed up. Still not doing a lot better about commenting. Need to make a spot in my planner I think to help with that. Here are some pictures of my June days and then where I keep track of what I read and what needs to be read by what date. Any ideas of where I might add in something about tracking comments?

Here are the weekly posts I am still doing.

Lisa’s Looking Forward To:

So, as you can tell, I did miss one LLFT this month. It was the last week of school, even virtually it was busy. I actually was able to go in and get packed up a bit more for one hour that week, then on another day that week I spent from 8 am – 5 pm in the back locker hall to make sure students who came to clean out their lockers kept socially distanced, etc. However, the way they had it so neatly scheduled, there was rarely more than one student in the hall at a time anyway. I didn’t bring my laptop, like I should have, so it was kind of a wasted day. Although I did finish one book and start another while I was sitting there.

Cleaning Up My TBR:

None done. I have given up doing the posts, even though I really feel like I need to at least keep doing the sorting in Goodreads. Maybe in June I’ll get back to it?

2. Reading: As of typing this post on Sunday I am now 3 books behind, 88 of my 220 goal. However, when I was doing my post yesterday about the novella as part of the System Divine series by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell, somehow I think it counted one less book when I took it out? I don’t know. But I’m not going to stress for now. Just going to keep going on my reading and try to put down the Animal Crossing game. I am up to date with all my review posts though, as I mentioned above, so that is good. I just need to spend more time reading.

3. Writing: Nothing. Just nothing. The most excitement was getting physical copies of my self-published novella as I mentioned above. And a friend, who the bars in the book belong to, and he is kind of who one of the characters is based on, well he bought a couple and then posted on his social media about my books, so he’s awesome! Again, if you’re interested in reading and reviewing, and have Kindle Unlimited, it is free. Here is a link again if you’re interested: Amazon.

What to Expect in June:

It’s starting to get hot, summer weather, meaning my sitting outside will be kind of slowing down until I get my shade thing put up. No trips planned obviously. Hopefully I’ll just get more reading and writing done. No weekly Zoom meetings, but will be working on pumping up the library’s social media accounts as much as I can. Being there for our students as much as I can as well.

Here is my proposed TBR based on blog tours and ARCs I have:

  1. Stranger Ranger by Daisy Prescott – this is where I’m behind, should have had this done weeks ago! But my review should be posted on June 2nd.
  2. Cheesy on the Eyes by Teagan Hunter – Blog tour review on June 4th
  3. Rage and Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout – e-galley review posting on June 7th hopefully
  4. Take the Shot by Danica Flynn – blog tour review on June 9th
  5. Dare to Resist by Carly Phillips – I think I signed up to read this for a blog tour on June 11th, but can’t find anything in my email folders at the moment, so maybe, maybe not!
  6. The Change Up by Meghan Quinn – blog tour review on June 12th
  7. Wrong Bed, Right Brother by Rebecca Brooks – blog tour review on June 18th or 19th
  8. Terraformer by Colleen Houck – blog tour review on June 19th – very excited to read this one!
  9. Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti – the publisher sent me an ARC, hope to be posting a review on June 21st
  10. Rebel Spy by Veronica Rossi – blog tour review on June 25th
  11. Tell That To My Heart by Eliza J. Scott – blog tour review on June 26th
  12. Dear Sexy Ex-Boyfriend by Lauren Blakely – blog tour review on June 30th
  13. Hard to Handle by K. Bromberg – for a blog tour on July 1st
  14. The Yes Factor by Erin Spencer and Emma Sable – maybe an audio review for this by July 2nd?
  15. Banking the Billionaire by Max Monroe – I got this at Book Bonanza last August and have already started reading, thought I’d be done in May, but wasn’t. Hoping to finish in June and then it can be part of my Beat the Backlist Challenge.
  16. Irresistible by Melanie Harlow – the author sent me an audiobook code for this, so I just started listening to at the end of May, hope to have done sooner rather than later, don’t know when I’ll review.
  17. he Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska – an ARC I received from the publisher before all the craziness, it actually had its pub date changed until August. But I didn’t realize that when I started it with the intention of reviewing in May. I haven’t finished it, put it aside to finish books that did have to be finished in May. I don’t want to wait till August to finish though, because I’m over halfway through, and am afraid I’ll forget. So I’ll finish this month and post a review, or at least schedule one for when it comes out.

I think that’s enough, especially since I didn’t get this many read in May.

How was your May? What are you looking forward to in June? Are you still doing okay with this craziness? And now it’s not just the virus, there are a lot of things unsettled in the US right now. A lot of horrible things going on that we really need to end. It’s an emotional time, and I just hope that we can have some changes come about before things get any worse.

Giveaway:

Last month’s winner was Danielle Hammelef, one of my very loyal followers! She has won several giveaways here, so you can ask her how often I give stuff away and how easy it is to win! She selected my copy of How to Build a Heart from the picture below, so that will not be a choice if you enter this month.

Since I’ve quit doing my CUTBR giveaways weekly, I’m going to do a giveaway with my month-end post I think. And if I do start weekly wrap-up posts, I’ll remind everyone about it each week. I’m going to give the same choices as before. ARCs I’ve finished and also a finished copy of Autoboyography by Christina Lauren that is autographed. Somehow I ended up with two autographed copies! I will make it international in that you can pick a book for under $10 if The Book Depository ships to you. Just fill out the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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20 responses to “The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: May 2020 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in June

    • Lisa Mandina

      Good luck! I don’t know about where you live, but we are definitely getting summer weather already this week, up to 80, possibly 90 later in the week. Thanks for stopping by!

  1. Danielle Hammelef

    I’m glad you got to go to your cabin and that MO restaurants are practicing social distancing. Restaurants here get to open for 50% capacity Monday. I think I’m fine just ordering take out and eating at home still. June has finally brought summer here and I’m looking forward to open windows and working on my garden.

    • Lisa Mandina

      Our restaurants went to 50% capacity this week as well here in Kansas City. We are getting summer here as well, but that is too hot for me! I’m sitting inside with the A/C on now and not as much outside. Thanks for stopping by!

  2. Linda Herold

    No real change for me in May and June. I have been staying home watching movies and reading.

  3. I’m getting a new dishwasher this month too! Ours has basically stopped cleaning anything and started growing black mold. Can’t wait until it’s here!!

    We had a lot of rain here as well which slowed down our walks and now it’s like 90+ degrees every day so I never want to go out haha. I hate the heat very much.

    Cleaning Up My TBR Shelf is soooo much work so I completely understand not posting it for a while. I hope June goes well for you.

    • Lisa Mandina

      My new house did not have a dishwasher when I moved in last year. I thought I’d deal with it, but I’m not a fan. At all. So I took my stimulus money to get someone to install one. My stepdad bought it for me, so that was nice, because I had to get a smaller one that you have to special order. Yeah, we keep having rainy days and now it’s so hot I can’t see myself getting out to walk like I should. We’ll see. Thanks for stopping by!

  4. Weather is much better and we are doung more facetimes with the grandkids.So at least we are in touch.
    Sounds like you have kept busy. All the best in June.

    • Lisa Mandina

      Hopefully we all get some of the things we need back on track in June. Thanks for stopping by!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Mine just do not lay down that much for me to sit and work. Oh well. Maybe I’ll get a better routine going this summer. Thanks for visiting!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Thanks! I don’t know how much I’m going to actually publicize it, I know it’s not my best work, but it was good enough to self publish and maybe get some helpful criticism! Thanks for stopping by!

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