If you follow my blog at all, you know I don't post much about myself. Hardly at all, in fact, except for posts about my books. In an attempt to be more active on my blog, I've started High Five Friday. I'm not sure what it will look like yet, or even if I'll be able to post every Friday; but the goal is to post some fun stuff about myself as I look back on the week in effort to allow readers to get to know me, and for me to get to know my readers.
Today I'm looking back at the first two full weeks of January and highlighting five awesome things that happened. Here we go!
First up was the release of Shots on Goal! I'm so excited to finally have this novel out in the world. I feel like I've been holding onto it forever, so it's nice to finally see it in readers' hands.
Shots on Goal is an opposites attract new adult romance set in the world of the NHL. It features a player recently traded to a newly formed team and a college senior trying to save his local library. It's a sweet book, low angst, full of character development with a dash of fun and interesting side characters.
Looking for bonus content from Shots on Goal? You can find character art, teasers, excerpts, and more about the book on the bonus content section of my website.
To celebrate the release of Shots on Goal, I put the second book in the series, The Nature of the Game, on $0.99 sale for a short time. This skyrocketed Game up the Amazon charts and was an Amazon #1 Bestseller on the .com and .ca stores in bisexual romance, gay romance, LGBT romance, and sports fiction.
It was my first orange banner! Thank you to everyone who purchased, read, reviewed, or helped spread the word about the sale.
I celebrated my birthday! That's me in the image, in the green on the left, with my one of my sisters (the middle one; I'm the eldest) and my sister's daughter.
It was a super low-key birthday, which is exactly what I wanted. I went to work, there was a train delay on my commute home (always happens on the days you're trying to get home), had a family dinner of stew and cheesy bread, and then cake and presents. My mom makes a carrot cake that's the best thing ever. I'm not ashamed to say that I had many pieces.
Oh, and my niece stole the show when she tried on the new winter jacket my parents got me and looked just like ET from the back!
In other book news, my November Shelflove Crate "Reading the Restricted Section"-themed box finally arrived! I don't have a subscription to Shelflove Crate, a monthly young adult fantasy subscription box, but I do get their single boxes every once in a while when they're featuring a book I want to read...
Like this one. Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao was originally pulled from publication because early reviewers found it had insensitive depictions of slavery. But the novel, which came with a signed bookplate, is based in a fantasy world and tells the story of saving the kingdom from an unjust and evil system of corruption.
Also included in the box:
- A Handmaid's Tale tote bag designed by @blanca.design.
- A fake book inspired by the restriction section of the library at Hogwarts, designed by @kikoillustration.
- A pocket mirror based on Twilight. That's Edward on the front. This was done by @inkandwonder.designs.
- A super adorable fabric bin that features book spines of other titles that have been banned and/or challenged at one time or another, including Moby Dick, The Da Vinci Code, The Color Purple, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Hunger Games, The Catcher in the Rye, and 1984. It was designed by @sweetsequels, whose products I absolutely adore, so I was so happy to receive an item designed by her in this box!
- An I read banned books bookmark that features a quote from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, designed by @heyatlascreative.
- November's featured chess pieces, Lazlo and Sarai from Laini Taylor's Strange the Dreamer. All of the 2019 monthly chess pieces were designed by @silketara.
More book boxes! This one I do have a monthly subscription to, and it's the Fairyloot box. The December "Defying the Odds"-themed box arrived slightly late due to shipping backlogs over the holidays, but contained all sorts of stuff.
Including TWO books! The book of the month is Eight Will Fall by Sarah Harian, and includes an exclusive cover, exclusive artwork on the reverse of the dust jacket, embossing on the naked cover, and is signed by the author.
Also included in the box:
- A second book, a paperback ARC of Wicked as you Wish by Run Chupeco, releasing this March. It came with a signed bookplate and has an exclusive cover.
- A beautiful microfibre cloth designed by @literarylifeco that says "My favourite game is called how many chapters can I read in one night."
- An enamel pin inspired by Aelin Galathynius from Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series, designed by @bookmarkd.tattoos.
- A pair of fun socks inspired by Renée Ahdieh's The Wrath and the Dawn series.
- A pencil case designed by @chattynora and inspired by the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.
- A set of four pencils inspired by Game of Thrones.
- A set of three cute magnetic bookmarks inspired by Brandon Sanderson's Skyward and designed by @pigeon.princess.
- Orange-flavoured tea inspired by Ead, the character from The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. The team comes from @thetealeafcompany and the label is designed by @noverantale.
- December's featured tarot cards, the Knight of Cups and Page of Cups, featuring artwork by @gabriella.bujdoso, and including characters from Sabaa Tahir's An Ember in the Ashes.
That's it from me this week! Do you have any subscriptions to monthly boxes, bookish or otherwise?
