Weekly Wrap-Up: 4/3 – 4/9/17

Happy Sunday bookworms!

As some of you may remember, I have been considering redesigning my blog for a while now.  I am happy to report that I made a lot of progress with this over the weekend.  My biggest hurdle was creating a blog header.  After many long hours, I finally designed a new header that I absolutely love.  And guess what?  I am revealing it to you all today in my wrap-up…

Go on, you know you are dying to see what I’ve come up with…

*Weekly Wrap-Up is a weekly post where I feature what posts were published on the blog for the past week, any bookish/blog happenings, what I recently finished reading, what I am currently reading, what I will be reading next, noteworthy posts around the bookish blogosphere, and any interesting bookish articles I came across.

This week on the blog:

Monday 4/3

April 2017 TBR

Wednesday 4/5

Top 5 Wednesday: Science Fiction Books On My TBR

Friday 4/7

Book Review: The One-in-a-Million Boy by Monica Wood

Bookish/Blog happenings:

» I won a portion of  The Bone Witch Blog Tour Giveaway hosted by Pink Polka Dot Books.  I found out about this giveaway after reading a review on The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange, which you can read here →The Bone Witch, by Rin Chupeco (The Bone Witch #1).  Now I didn’t win the grand prize which was an autographed copy of The Bone Witch 😦 BUT I did win a bottle cap necklace and a crochet Tea doll…. so this is totally a good excuse to go buy the book now right? ((right!))

» Yesterday I attended the Ohioana Book Festival in Columbus, Ohio.  I attended 4 wonderful panels and bought 6 books.  ((I tried contain myself at this book festival because I have the SOKY Book Festival coming up in 2 weeks))  More details to come later this week 🙂

» I am currently working on redesigning my blog, and made a ton of progress this weekend.  I finally created a new blog header that I absolutely love!  Seriously guys, it is freaking awesome if I do say so myself.  Without further adieu, I give you Cover2CoverMom’s new blog header:

What do you think?!?!?  ((Please don’t crush my dreams because I worked for a LONG time on this and I love it lol))

I also decided on a new theme, a new section divider image, and new section title graphics.  Huge thanks to Megan @bookslayer Reads for pointing me in the right direction with this.  She was the one who suggested freepik.com to me, which is where I got most of my new graphics and the images I used to create my new blog header.

*I tried to switch my blog over to the new design last night, but every time I go into the customizer, WordPress crashes… Has anyone else had this problem?  This has been an ongoing issue.  I had created a “test blog” to figure out my new design (big thanks to Fadwa @WordWonders for that idea), and the customizer works fine for the test blog, but it will not work for my Cover2CoverMom blog…

What have I been reading?

*Book titles link to Goodreads

Recently finished reading:

» Every Single Second by Tricia Springstubb

*Part of my Ohioana Book Fest TBR

I’m really conflicted over this one.  On one hand, there were many great aspects about this middle grade book, but on the other I think the author may have been a little too ambitious with all the “heavy topics” that she included in one book.  This book includes topics like *highlight to see text ⇒ PTSD, drunk driving, a white man shooting a black man, racism, autism, the media frenzy, etc. etc ⇐ ((What I’ve hidden isn’t necessarily a spoiler, but I did want to hide it from those who like to go into a book not knowing much about the plot))  With all these “heavy topics” plus the alternating timeline, this book felt very busy to me.  The author’s writing style was a little hard to get used to at first, but it did get easier over the course of the book.  Most of all, I struggled with how the author handled the race relations within the book.  It isn’t necessarily problematic, but I don’t necessarily think it was handled correctly either.  In my opinion, it was very risky attempting a book that has this particular scenario *highlight to see spoiler ⇒ a white security guard shooting and killing an unarmed black man.  The author gives both sides of the story, to show that it isn’t always so cut and dry.  While I understand what the author was trying to do here, it rubbed me the wrong way.  I can’t exactly explain it.  Even though this was a race relations issue, racism was never fully addressed or acknowledged in the book? ⇐  I think if the author had left out the race relations, and focused on the other topics, then I would have enjoyed this book a lot more.  Don’t get me wrong, this book had some good things going for it: themes like friendship, family, and community.  I also really liked the portrayal of growing up in a catholic school, as it brought me lots of nostalgia.

» The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall

*Part of my Ohioana Book Fest TBR

I really adored this book.  At the core, The Seventh Most Important Thing is about not judging others, but it is also a story of loss, grief, guilt, and friendship.  I had no idea this book is based off of true events, though I won’t share which parts because it is better going in not knowing until the end like I did.  *Highlight to see spoiler ⇒ This novel gives a fictionalized back story to the famous piece of art,  The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations’ Millennium General Assembly by James Hampton.  I had never heard about this piece of art before, but I really enjoyed how the author spun this tale around it. ⇐ I think this would be a wonderful book to use in a classroom setting.  My only issue with this book would be the fact that it was set in the 1960’s, but I didn’t feel like I was in the 60’s while reading it.  There were a few references of the past: a record player, pay phones, going to the library to use the encyclopedia, but when I read “historical fiction” I want to feel like I’m in that time.  I wish the author would have spend a little more time “setting the scene.”  Other than that, this was a very unique and delightful read.

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Currently reading:

» The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett

*SOKY Book Fest TBR

I am about 65% through this audiobook and am enjoying it thus far.  This is actually one of Ann Patchett’s lower rated books too.  I think many people read the title and probably made assumptions about what the book is going to be, but then it doesn’t end up that way.  The Magician’s Assistant is more about loss, grieving, and family secrets, and less about getting on stage and assisting a magician…

» Fates and Traitors: A Novel of John Wilkes Booth by Jennifer Chiaverini

*Part of my Ohioana Book Fest TBR

I am about 50% through Fates and Traitors and am really enjoying how the author chose to tell Booth’s story through the women in his life.  This is definitely a different angle then I’ve ever read about John Wilkes Booth.

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On deck:

For the next two weeks, I will continue on with my SOKY Book Fest TBR.

»The Illusionist’s Apprentice by Kristy Cambron

» Pillage by Obert Sky

Around the bookish blogosphere:

» Cait @Paper Fury talks about #FangirlProblems →10 #FangirlProblems That Will Give You The Crisis You Always Knew You Needed

» Fadwa @Word Wonders asks where is the positive female friendships in YA? →Where are the Positive Female Friendships in YA?

» Gretchen @ChicNerdReads announces that her book love, and you is now available! →love, and you out now!

» Naz @Read Diverse Books posts the 2nd quarter link up for #ReadDiverse2017 → Read Diverse 2017 – 2nd Quarter

» Marie @Drizzle & Hurricane Books talks about blogging expectations vs. reality →On book blogging expectations vs. reality

» Amy @NovelGossip shares part 2 of her blogger guilt discussion →Blogger Guilt Part 2

» Millie @Milliebot Reads talks about managing your personal library→ Managing Your Hoard – Er – Library

» Jen @Reader in a Reverie shows what a star rating system would look like in FRIENDS gifs →Rating Books with F.R.I.E.N.D.S Gifs

» Megan @bookslayer Reads asks if it is ok to review a book you DNF? → DNF Reviews // Is it ok to review a book you didn’t finish?

» Danielle @Books, Vertigo & Tea shares another Pairing Teas & Reads feature →Pairing Teas & Reads

» Drew @The Tattooed Book Geek asks what makes a good book? → What Makes A Good Book???

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Interesting bookish articles:

» Colorful Poetry: 22 Diverse Poetry Picture Books for Kids

» How to Make Reading Fun: 25 Ideas Kids Will Love

*Love these ideas!

» The Best Children’s and YA Books of April 2017

» Books Like Percy Jackson: 11 Super Series to Read Next

What are you currently reading?

What will you read next?

Have a wonderful week, and happy reading