The Weekly Update: 7/9/17

 
 

I forgot to tell you all last week that the guys across the hall did in fact put out a 4th of July door mat as decoration for the holiday 😛

Anyway… I haven’t done much the past week other than stress out over moving-related stuff.

But oh, hey, I realized yesterday that today (July 9th) is my two year blogging anniversary, so yay! I think I may have mentioned at my one year anniversary that I have this tendency to lose interest in most things quickly, but book blogging is one of the few hobbies that have stuck. I’m really glad I found it 🙂 I do have a post written up about my past blogging misadventures, so maybe this week would be the perfect time to post that…


Blog/Bookish Updates:

So… I guess Amazon is never fixing the whole filter/sort issue? I feel like I’ve missed out on so many sales for books I want, and I’m still aggravated that I can’t see my whole list. But last time I contacted them, they said it was part of a site update or something, so I can’t imagine contacting them again would do much.

In other news, A few days ago I posted a discussion about the rating crisis I’ve been having. Instead making a whole ‘nother post about it, I figured I’d include a little update here. I created a rating system as best as I could (I’ve never had one because I kind of combine my personal feelings and how well the book was written to form my ratings) and went through all the books I’ve reviewed/plan to review. I found that roughly 30 had a rating I would change. Most of them were 4 stars that should probably be 3.5 stars, which I still round up to 4 on Goodreads and Amazon. But now the question, should I actually go in and change these ratings? Is that an acceptable thing to do?

 

Books I Received for Review:

Vanity in Dust by Cheryl Low
Graveyard Shift by Michael F. Haspil
 

Both were from NetGalley, and Graveyard Shift is the one I thought had been forgotten, so yay!

 

Books I Finished:

Whispers by Joshua Luna
The Vampires' Birthright by Aiden James
Vanity in Dust by Cheryl Low
 

Whispers was interesting and thought-provoking but not quite for me. The Vampires’ Birthright was one I hadn’t planned to read, but I did for some reason. It was ok, but the MC was unlikeable. Vanity in Dust was filled with treachery and conniving characters and was an interesting, unique fantasy book.

 

Song of the Week:

Nothing this week.

 

Laugh of the Week:

What does it say about me that this pin was “picked for me” by the Pinterest algorithm? And also that it’s right and I do in fact want this shirt now? Lol.

(Ok I tried to embed it, but the stupid thing wouldn’t embed. You’ll have to click here if you want to see it -_-)

 

In Case You Missed It:

– I reviewed Deadgirl: Goneward by B.C. Johnson, a dark, thought-provoking, unique YA paranormal.
– I vented about my rating crisis and wondered where all the good books have gone.
– I reviewed The Land of Night by Kirby Crow, a M/M high fantasy with likeable characters.

 

The Sunday Post Link-Up:

Once again, I’m linking up to The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer 🙂

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Have you found any good books or music lately?
Do you think it's ok to change ratings for reviews you've already posted?

 
 
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Your Thoughts

 

38 thoughts on “The Weekly Update: 7/9/17

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  1. Greg

    Those guys are on their game. Did you get days of firework activity? I think the 4th here was like a 3 day fireworks fest, it sounded like a war zone at times. I mean you could sit in the street and watch em and not even go to the official ones.

    Congrats on your blogoversary! 2 years is awesome.

    I’m not really an expert on ratings but I feel like if you want to change it, go for it. I mean they’re your reviews and I feel like a blogger/ reviewer has a right to do that?

    LOL that shirt is awesome.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Surprisingly, no. I only heard fireworks on the 4th, and then a couple random ones on the 7th or something. But yeah, there’s always houses nearby doing the big ones here too.

      Thanks!

      I suppose it is our right to change our ratings. They’re our opinions anyway, and I just want mine to be more consistent!

  2. Myrthe

    Oh ratings. How I hate them. Haha. If it wouldn’t take too much time, you could totally go back and change them. Feelings about books change over time. There are some books that I might now rate/judge differently a while after having read them. I’m just too lazy to do so and update all of the reviews.
    Have a great week!

  3. Kei @ The Lovely Pages Reviews

    Happy blogiversary! Ahh, ratings… I’ve changed a few over the years, feelings about books change, its normal. But I don’t do half stars, it reminds me of school and I hate it. If you want to change a rating then go ahead, its yours to change.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! Oh I couldn’t survive without my half stars lol. There are so many books that are better than one rating, but not quite good enough for another!

  4. Karen Blue

    That pin is hilarious. I need to find that shirt for my Miguel. I can hardly believe you went through all your books and found the ones you would rate differently. I cant even fathom that daunting task for my books. I have to give you props for that. Happy 2 Year Blogoversary!

  5. chucklesthescot

    Graveyard Shift is already on my wishlist and I’ll try a sample as soon as it gets released and see what I think. I’ve changed star ratings before based on rereads etc so I don’t see an issue with it.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Hmmm, not that I want to turn you off from graveyard shift if you’re interested, but didn’t you say you’re not really into the police procedural thing? Because it’s definitely got a lot of that. I’m enjoying it though.

  6. Lola

    That’s fun your neighbor had 4th of July decorations! Moving is a pain, so I can understand why you’re stressing over that. I hope the moving goes smoothly.

    Happy second blogoversary! I usually forget about mine too, I do know it’s in December, but by the time we’re there I usually forget.

    I also don’t have the option on Amazon to sort on price anymore now :(.

    I think you can change your ratings if you want to. That is good you found a sort of system now. My ratings are usually just based on how much I enjoyed the book, which is a very vague system, but hey it usually it works.

    I am glad to hear you still got accepted for the book you thought they had forgotten you :). I hope you have a great week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks, I kind of just want the move to be done with already.

      Thanks! I knew it was in July or August, so I checked, and I just so happened to check at the perfect time lol.

      It sucks that Amazon has taken away those options :-/ and I don’t even understand why because it seems like it would just cause them to lose business.

      I don’t know, I still feel like my ratings are complicated because they’re based on so many things, and sometimes I’ll bump a rating up or down for various different reasons, but I’m thinking it might be helpful to at least have some sort of guideline to go by.

      You have a great week too!

  7. Barb (boxermommyreads)

    Happy Anniversary! Hopefully your move goes smoothly. I hate that Goodreads doesn’t allow for 1/2 star ratings. It drives me nuts and I don’t know why they haven’t fixed it. I was approved for Graveyard Shift recently as well so they must be an an approving binge. I had pretty much given up on getting it.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! Honestly I don’t mind that Goodreads doesn’t have half Stars because I just put down my star rating at the top of my review, and then I round up for the actual rating.

      I noticed in the email that they said they didn’t want any reviews posted more than two weeks before the release date, and apparently they approved all of us almost exactly two weeks before the release date. I guess they were being really strict about preventing early reviews. But then that puts more pressure on us reviewers to fit it into our schedule quickly.

  8. Angela @ Simply Angela

    Congrats on 2 years! I feel the same way. Blogging has seemed to stick with me. It’s just a fun outlet.

    I feel your moving related stress. I’ve had everything boxed up for a little over a month because I had windows put in, now the windows are leaking and the installers have no idea what’s going on with them. So, until they figure out what’s going on, whenever it rains, I have several indoor waterfalls.

    When I first started blogging, I didn’t have a rating system and I ended up going back and changing my ratings. Also, if I re-read the book and my opinion of it changes, I’ll go in and change the rating.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks!

      Yikes, I’m sorry about your windows. That sounds like a nightmare!

      Ah, so you did the same exact thing that I’m thinking about doing with my ratings lol. When I reread, I’ll sometimes bump my rating up if I enjoyed the book even more, but I never bump it down because I feel like that was how I felt about the book at one point, and I know that some books kind of lose something in a reread, like if there was a lot of tension or humor or something unpredictable.

  9. Vlora

    Happy blogoversary! Two years is great, and I’m happy you found something you’re passionate about. 🙂 I think it’s perfectly fine to change your rating, it’s your opinion after all!

  10. Evelina

    They put out a mat 😀 hilarious. Congratulations on the blogiversary though! That is awesome.
    I hope the moving goes well! As for the review stars, I also always rate by emotion, like you said you did. It would be so hard to rate following a system, cause ultimately it’s the emotion that matters the most to me, and it’s why I remember it. Although in time I also sometimes feel like my rating could change. Like, maybe I read more similar books and find better ones, so it sort of slides down the list… I don’t even know. But I know I will keep rating emotionally 🙂
    You should really try ereaderiq.com instead of the wishlist, because it automatically notifies you, you don’t have to waste time scrolling and checking the lists for the sales.
    And I would definitely be interesting to read about blog troubles during those two years 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      They decorate for *every* holiday, it’s awesome lol. Thanks!

      The problem for me is, I don’t rate just by emotion. A lot of people’s scales are like, 5 = “I loved it,” 4=”I really liked it,” etc. But for me, it’s like, what about “I really liked it but it had some issues with the plot”? Or “it didn’t fit my tastes perfectly, but I still recognize that it was really well-written”? It’s all very confusing lol.

      I just signed up for ereaderiq yesterday, haha, because someone else mentioned it too. Except I have roughly 1000 books on my Amazon wishlist, and there’s no way I can add all of those :-/ But at least for new books I find I can use ereaderiq.

  11. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

    OMG that t-shirt! I was just tagged in a post with that exact t-shirt by someone on facebook it is accurate for me. I actually bought a different version of it just yesterday off of redbubble because it was pretty and true!

    Anyway, on to other things. Yay, happy belated blogaversary you definitely need to post about your blogging misadventures that’s always a fun post. And sucks about missing sales, it’s annoying trying to find new ways to track book sales. Like I said, I get spammed about it with all the books I’m tracking, it’s useful, though. As for rating, do what you want. Rerate if you want to, no one will stop you and it may make you feel better knowing that the ratings are more accurate for your new rating system.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Haha, apparently we all need that shirt. I love that you actually bought it!

      Thanks 🙂 and I did sign up for eReaderIQ, the problem is just that there’s no way I can transfer all 1,000 or so books from my list. But at least I can track any new ones I add!

  12. Dragonfly @ Our Familiarium

    ugh I can’t wait for you to be done with moving either!
    HAPPY BLOGOVERSARYYYYYYYYY!!!
    Yup I hear you, I lose interest in projects quickly so I’m surprised I have blogged this long [not even sure how to measure it since I stopped, started again a new one LOL]. I am so happy you are blogging and hope you do it for many years to come 🙂
    wow the cover of Whispers is awesome too bad it wasn’t your thing 🙂
    HAHA! I’m not a big fan of people too but I think bookworms and bloggers aren’t in general 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! I also hope to keep blogging for years to come 🙂 but yeah your situation is a little confusing, I’m not sure how to count that! I guess you can count it however you want since it’s your blog(s) lol. I agree, the cover for Whisperers is awesome!

  13. Rachel @ Chocolate and Chapters

    Yay for being approved for a book you thought you wouldn’t get! I recently started the whole requesting-ARCs-through-Netgally and I totally know your frustration. I requested a few books that I know are “big” titles so I’m kind of expecting NOT to be approved, but I just want to know! They’ve been pending for awhile. Hopefully the ARC gods will smile upon me and I’ll be approved eventually.

    Also, I think it’s fine if you go back and change your ratings. I really do. They’re your posts and opinions and I don’t think if anyone goes back and reads them a second time, they’ll think, “Wait a second! Why did she change the rating?!” It’s yours, do what you want. 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! I’m the same way, even if I’m going to be denied the book, I just want to know! Abd yeah, that’s what I was thinking, my ratings were always just my opinion anyway.

  14. kris @ lemon-notes

    Hahaha I love that shirt! I think Pinterest just knows you (and me) well. It’s fine 😛
    Also, I love when people do tiny little decorations for holidays like the 4th of July door mat. It’s just so cute?? I DON’T KNOW.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Apparently Pinterest knows what bookworms like 😛 Well what’s great about these guys across the hall is that I’ve been posting about their decorations since like last Thanksgiving because they have decorations for almost every holiday, even ones that people don’t normally decorate for lol.