#FridayReads – A Library Book Filled Weekend

Happy Friday, everyone! Another weekend is here. It’s cold. There’s snow. And its perfect for bundling up with some great books!

There’s going to be less cracking a book open for the first time this weekend and more finishing the half-dozen books I’ve started over the last week. A number of them are almost done, and I can’t wait to get to the end! So without further ado, here’s what’s on my reading agenda this weekend.

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4 (More!) Podcasts for Audiobook Lovers

Here’s the thing with fictionalized podcasts. They can be hard to find. For example, I use Google Play to listen to most of my favorite podcasts, but the platform doesn’t have any sort genre listing for fictional stories. This makes it difficult to find fictional stories at large, let alone stories in a specific genre.

Once again, I’m here with podcasts that tell fictional stories that are perfect for audiobook lovers. Everything I’ve recommended below is something I’ve listened to completion or am fully caught up with all released episodes. If you’re interested in more recommendations you can visit the first and second posts in this series!

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My 2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

For 2019 I set my largest reading challenge yet. 100 books. 365 days. Did I make it? Somehow, I did! Below you will find the list of what I read in 2019 and this will also give you an idea of what reviews you can expect from me. I may not review all of them in the near future but I will be jumping into getting these done ASAP.

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Review – The Castle Doctrine (Daniel Faust #6)

The Castle Doctrine (Daniel Faust #6)
By: Craig Schaefer
Website: http://craig-schaefer-v2.squarespace.com/
Release Date: September 26th, 2017
Publisher: Deminode Books
Series: Daniel Faust Series
Rating:


Oh Daniel Faust. It’s been over a year since I read this series and I can’t get it out of my head. I’ve even gone back and listened to some of the audio books just to prolong my love of this series. Also, with more books promised by Craig Schaefer I’m excited to get more reviews out before the new books are released. So, with that, let’s dive into why, at book number six, this series is still captivating.

Review Writing Struggles

Okay, so we all know Katie is awesome about writing awesome reviews and articulating her thoughts. Me, on the other hand? *WOMP WOMP*

So, rather than just whining about how awesome she is and my lack of awesomeness I wanted to look at why I struggle to write reviews. I came up with a list. No excuses, mind you, because for every book I’ve read since my last review went up I have a review started. I just have to edit it so it is possible to understand my ramblings and sounds a bit more articulate than simply saying “read this yesterday” or “never touch this.”

So, here we go. The list.

  1. Series – I am a series addict. Therefore, I run into the issue of wanting to read the series and then, wanting to tell everyone about the amazing moments in the series and realize, mid-sentence, mid-review, I am spoiling the entire book or in some cases major plot points in the series. Literally, for me, to encourage someone to read sometimes the only thing I can say, without spoiling is “massive plot twists ahead, prepare yourself.” And that, while true, isn’t a full, proper review. But for series that go on for more than 4 books you run into the issue of wanting someone to understand how amazing, how mind-blowing the series is as it grows but you don’t want to ruin it.
  2. Timing – if I don’t write down my thoughts quickly I lose what I wanted to say. This is rather inconvenient when I’m reading right before bed (or when I’m procrastinating on going out cause I’d rather stay in and read), listening to an audio book while at the gym or driving, etc. So, not ideal timing. And, in some cases (driving, lifting heavy things, etc) not safe to literally stop what I’m doing to write it down.
  3. Memory – see above. I lose what I want to say. Also, with series, when I binge through them I honestly forget what happens in each book. I just know the story arc and I’m obsessed. Also, I tend to run into the issue where I am convinced a certain plot point happened in book number three when it happened in book five. This ties into my binge reading series books.
  4. Editing – I’m a perfectionist. So right now, this article has been edited within an inch of it’s digital life. So imagine how long it takes me to edit a proper review. Yeah, there are problems here.

So my question is, for anyone else who writes reviews, what are your struggles? Am I just lazy? Or, just too much of a perfectionist?

Currently working on several reviews and actually posting them so (hopefully) I can get my act together. No time like the present.