Hey all!

Sam here with my Top Ten bookish discoveries I made in 2019. Now, there are a couple things in here that aren’t physical books or authors, but events and techniques and such. We’ll see how this goes.

Jenn Lyons

She’s probably one of my new favorite authors. I love her A Chorus of Dragons series. It is written in such a unique way and I will forever read everything she publishes.

The Graceling Series

Holy shit why didn’t I read these until last year?! It was so good? I canNOT. I loved the audio so I’ll be continuing in that format. Damn.

Love-triangles are the LITERAL WORST

This isn’t a new development but I needed to say it again. I’ve only ever seen one that works. (Note: there’s one that may be winning me over in another series I’m reading, but that’s still up for evaluation). I know now that if I see in reviews that there’s a love triangle, I should just avoid it.

My fave tropes don’t always mean I’ll like it

There are some tropes that are auto read books for me. Share a bed. Enemies-to-lovers-to-enemies, morally-gray main characters, fake dating/marriage, etc. Unfortunately, this year those auto-reads have failed me. Most recently Serpent and Dove just super disappointed me. Share a bed AND fake marriage and it was so disappointing!!! I’m still mad about it.

Note taking

Taking notes while reading helps Drunk Sam out. Drunk Sam forgets character names REGULARLY. Drunk Sam feels differently about books than Sober Sam does. Reminding Drunk Sam of the key points and who the characters are was incredibly helpful.

Edelweiss+

We’ve been using NetGalley for a while, but I’m starting to love Edelweiss. I haven’t actually… ya know… been approved for anything yet. But I love the tagging system and the ability to post reviews even if you didn’t get the book through them.

BookishFirst

Damn, I love this site. It’s such a great way to support authors and get some hype for them early. You also can win free physical ARCs.

BookCon is in trouble

I really REALLY love bookcon. It’s a trip I will plan forever. But they have got to get a handle on crowd control. It’s going to become an unsafe environment for all involved.

BookNetFest!!

This was an AMAZING event and I cannot wait to go back. I loved meeting everyone and making some new friends! There were fewer bloggers there than I thought there would be… LETS GET ON THAT, TEAM BLOGGERS!

ALA

This was my favorite thing I found last year. It so happened to happen in DC on my 30th bday weekend so we thought, “what the hell. we’ll go” and it was the best decision ever. We got face time with some of the publicists and authors that didn’t feel rushed. Folks were picking up books… and get this get this… putting them back down if they didn’t want them. GASP! We’re planning on going to every one that we can afford until the end of time.

That’s all for now! Hope you all have a great 2020

Until next time, I remain forever drunkenly yours,

Sam

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Arsty Reader Girl. Check out their blog for topics and such.