I can’t believe the year is coming to an end… Wow! 2015 has gone by so quickly. And we have reviewed so many books… and read a whole lot more as well. It’s so exciting to have such great books in out lives. As this year ends, let’s share the books we liked the most in this great year. Some of the books have not been reviewed on the blog (for reasons) but still mean a lot to us.

Best YA
Sarah: Dumplin’, Julie Murphy
Kenzie: The Walls Around Us, Nova Ren Suma

Best Fantasy
Sarah: A Darker Shade of Magic, V.E. Schwab
Kenzie: A Darker Shade of Magic, V.E. Schwab

Best Science Fiction
Sarah: The Martian, Andy Weir
Kenzie: Illuminae,  Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Best Romance
Sarah: Every Day, David Levithan
Kenzie: Hold Me Like a Breath, Tiffany Schmidt (It’s not just a romance, there’s so much more, but it’s the best romantic outcome outta the books I read this year)

Best Non Fiction
Sarah: Come As You Are, Emily Nagoski
Kenzie: Welcome to Night Vale, Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Kramer (I refuse to believe that Night Vale isn’t real).

Best Mystery
Sarah: Grave Beginnings, R.R. Virdi

Best Graphic Novel
Sarah: Django/Zorro, Quentin Tarantino
Kenzie: Bodies, Si Spencer

Top 2015
Sarah: A Darker Shade of Magic, V.E. Schwab
I simply loved this book way too much. I ran the books I loved over in my head, and I kept falling back on this one. And I’m way too excited for the sequel!
Kenzie: I love every book I’ve listed above, but I think Illuminae takes the cake for me. It’s everything I adore in one book.

 

Thank you to everyone who participated in our giveaway over this past month! We’ve loved getting your book recommendations and just chatting with you all.

The winners have been chosen and emailed, but we’ve gotten their permission to post their names.

Bundle Winners:

Bundle 1: Alice
Bundle 2: Shelley
Bundle 3: Sydney

Reviewed Books Winners:

Hardcover: Kay

Paperback: Lara and Jamie

All winners have already been notified. I’m super excited to say that two of the book winners chose Illuminae and the other chose A Darker Shade of Magic, both being my favorites this year!

Thanks for following us, guys! We love doing giveaways and we love books, so I hope you all don’t jump ship now that this is over.

 

Today is Thanksgiving; Tomorrow, our first anniversary.

We’ve written a hundred reviews. We’re hosting our first every giveaway. I spent more on books this year than I have in years. Thanks to this blog, I managed to meet great people, even talk to my favorite childhood author, and discover a community of amazing people who love books as much as I do.

I am thankful for you all.

Have a very happy day!

Sarah

I don’t know about you, but NaNoWriMo is one of my favorite events of the year, right after Halloween, of course (both literally and figuratively!). It’s an amazing opportunity, not only to put pen to paper and pour your novel from your mind, but also to meet great people, accomplish great feats, and learn some things you probably never wanted to know (it’s novel research, I’m not actually trying to hide a body…)

But for some, the energy fizzles out. You lose steam, and the finish line seems further and further away. Whether you have five thousand words to go, or thirty thousand, there’s still a way to reach that coveted 50K! Here’s some advise I wish I had my first year of NaNo.

1. Make time. When you feel like there’s too much in your life to write right now, it’s time to carve out a little writing nook anyways. It’ll help you release some stress, and help you focus on something other than the rush of the world. Personally, I find it therapeutic, and making time for Nano is well worth it.
2. Are you losing steam because you’ve stopped believing in your novel? Trust me, you’re probably thinking that because you’re too close! Too predictable of a plot? Of course you can predict it, you’re writing it! Are the characters feeling too cliché? It’s possible it’s because you know them too well. Don’t stop because you don’t think your novel is worth it: get it out there, and worry about that stuff later.
3. Are you worrying about writer’s butt? Here’s a fun solution: ODS (obligatory dance songs!). Pick ten songs that make you want to dance, and put them in your writing mix. The second one comes on, you have to drop everything and dance your heart out. Not only will you have a good workout, and time away from the screen, but the blood flowing will help you have fresher ideas.
4.  Are you stuck trying to get a character from one story point to another? Then, skip it, and worry about that in December. Right now, you want to get your story out. Don’t get held back by the small things.
5. Do you have serious writer’s block? Then take a walk. Drink some tea. Talk to some friends. Play with the family pet. Do something to get you out of that ‘writer’ hat… BUT you have to promise to yourself that you’re coming back. Assign a time. When you get back, write what comes to you first. Try the prompts on the NaNoWriMo twitter.

You can do it! So long as you make sure to try, then you can reach that 50K. Even if half of it isn’t perfect, who cares? It’s the first draft. Editing comes next, and that will give you so much more to do anyways!

You can do it!

You can reach that 50K!

Write!

 

Hiya readers,

In case you didn’t know, We’re hosting a giveaway to celebrate our one year anniversary. But it closes on November 27th, so you’ve only got two weeks left to enter!

Here is our original post detailing the giveaway. Basically, to gain more entries, we’re asking you to recommend books to us: either here, or on our tumblr, here.

The greatest news is that we have TWO giveaways running, so we can have people in the US and across the world winning bookish prizes. Yay!

So many links! Check out this post to get the word spreading about our little giveaway. We’re still a relatively small blog so we’d love to get our readers involved.

Our ask box is always open. Feel free to stop by and chat!

Love, Sarah

I’ve always wanted to do my own take on the “30 days, 30 covers” awesomeness from the Office of Letters and Light. Though during NaNoWriMo, I barely have enough time for writing, let alone designing!

Just having had my wisdom teeth pulled out, I can’t really go anywhere or do anything. I just wanted to get started on my NaNo novel soooooo baaaad. I needed a distraction! So today I offered to make 10 covers for those who asked politely. They were all made in the thumbnail size that Nano’s website requires, so they are not large enough to print. Only big enough to enjoy.

I had so much fun, I ended up doing 15.

I had so much fun doing them all! I want to do more! If I get the chance, I would love to do the full res of each of these.

Overall, I’m happy with the challenge. Now that it’s over, I have many more ideas for how I could improve almost every cover. But it was just a fun way to spend the day stuck in bed.

Good luck for NaNoWrimo, everyone!

Sarah

Update – I kept going. Here’s day two!

Thanks to everyone who gave me a chance to do this. I’m super happy.

Wow, guys! It has been nearly a year since we launched Readcommendations and we really want to celebrate! As a thank you to all of our lovely followers, we’re going to be giving away some marvelous prizes!

World Wide Giveaway!

This one is available to anyone living anywhere in the world:
Three people will be winning their choice of any book we’ve reviewed in the past year! (Or, if you plead your case, any book, ever, within reason.)

The first winner will be getting a hardcover and the other two will be receiving paperbacks.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

National Giveaway
This giveaway is only for those in the continental United States, simply because we don’t have the funds to ship anywhere at this time. Sorry about that, folks. I’ll be posting pictures of the bundles tomorrow, but we have descriptions for now.

Bundle #1
John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines paperback
Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park hardcover
A wooden book box painted with a book cover
A reading themed mug
A bookmark signed by Lindsey Leavitt
A bookmark signed by Victoria Schwab

Bundle #2
Maureen Johnson’s Name of the Star hardcover
Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Prince hardcover
A reading themed mug
A bookmark signed by Lindsey Leavitt
A bookmark signed by Victoria Schwab

Bundle #3
Miranda Sing’s Self-Help hardcover
Lili Wilkinson’s The Zigzag Effect paperback
A reading themed mug
A bookmark signed by Lindsey Leavitt
A bookmark signed by Victoria Schwab

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Both giveaways end on November 27th – the one year anniversary of our first ever post! We shall contact the winners and let them know which prize pack they have received.

We have the same posts on Tumblr, and will count recommendations there are extra entries! US giveaway – International giveaway

Good luck everyone! And I have to say, you really are fantastic readers. Thank you for making these 11 months so awesome.

Fans, friends, readers.

The time has come. At long last, we are tweetable!

Feel free to tweet at us from time to time. Send us the books YOU recommend. We’d love to read them! We’ll keep you up to date on all things novels, self pubs, and sweepstakes. We’re so excited!

Find us here at https://twitter.com/Readcommends. Tweet @Readcommends for more fun reading material!

Love,
Sarah and Kenzie

Heya readers,

Sorry, no reviews this week! Both Kenzieaudatious and I are swamped at the moment with the real world. I’m heading back to uni, so reading had to be put on a quick hold!

In the mean time, check out our Tumblr. We’re still posting fun things there, and would love to see you all! Fill our ask box!

Love,

Sarah

This is a bit of a break in the mold for Readcommendations, but certainly something we didn’t want our readers to miss. We know a lot of our readers aren’t only out there devouring books like us; they’re writing too. They’re plotting, researching, and having word-wars over Twitter and Tumblr.

While social media is amazing, I’ve always wanted to be able to go on a writing retreat. Just a few days in tranquility with no adorable pictures of cats to stop me from writing and other writers there to encourage. This year, I’ve heard of some great writing retreats happening, but one of my favorites has to be the Anatomy of Publishing retreat.

Anatomy of Publishing is being run by Courtney Stevens (Faking Normal, Blue-Haired Boy, Lies About Truth) and she’s written a better post than I could on her blog about this. Other awesome authors are going to be helping out, too, including Natalie Parker, Tessa Gratton, and Victoria Schwab.

The retreat focuses on making you a more confident writer with better tools, as well as discussions on how to market your book after the publication process is done. 

Court is running a contest this week for people checking out the retreat. The prizes are phenomenal!

3- $300 coupons to this Madcap Retreat:

1- 50 page manuscript critique by me (Courtney C. Stevens)

3- signed copies of Faking Normal

1- ARC of The Lies About Truth

5 – electronic copies of The Blue Haired Boy

Despite how much I want to, I can’t go to this retreat this Summer. I need you guys to go and then tell me all about it, so I can sit here and burn in a jealous rage — I mean, I’ll be happy for you, but still totally jealous.

Check it out, apply, and write awesome books that I can review on here.