Bookish Blog Hops: 31 Days of Bookish Q&A's

Bookish Blog Hops: 31 Days of Bookish Q&A's

Jo Linsdell   07:00:00

31 Days of Bookish Q&A's

March was a life changing month for most of us (I know it was for me), but the Bookish Blog Hops gang carried on sharing their love of books. For 31 days we came together to discuss various topics related to reading, books, and book blogging. 

Miss some of the stops? Don't worry I've got you covered.

Bookish Blog Hops: A Recap Of All The Stops On The Spring Hop

1st March - 2020 releases https://www.jolinsdell.com/2020/03/a-2020-release-you-cant-wait-to-read.html

2nd March - Last book you read https://www.robinlovesreading.com/2020/03/spring-2020-bookish-blog-hop-last-book.html

3rd March - Currently reading https://ebookaddicts.net/bookishbloghop-currently-reading/

4th March - A Book With a One Word Title https://www.catsluvcoffee.com/2020/02/bookish-blog-hop-book-with-one-word.html

5th March - A Book With Less Than 200 Pages https://www.ericarobynreads.com/bookish-blog-hops-book-with-less-than-200-pages/

6th March - A Book With More Than 400 Pages

https://upstreamwriter.blogspot.com/2020/03/bookish-blog-hop-spring-2020-day-6-book.html

7th March - The Last Non Fiction Book You Read https://www.armedwithabook.com/the-last-non-fiction-book-spring-hop-2020

8th March - A Book With Magic https://talesofanaturalspoonie.com/bookish-blog-hop-a-book-with-magic/

9th March - A Book That Was Originally Written In A Different Language https://www.abookloversadventures.com/books-translated-to-english/

10th March - What Reading Challenges Are You Taking Part In This Year? https://lovelyaudiobooks.info/book-blogger-reading-challenges-2020/

11th March - A Book Based On A True Story http://theressomethingaboutkm.com/2020/03/11/bookish-blog-hops-a-book-based-on-a-true-story 

12th March - A Book That Scares You https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogspot.com/2020/02/bookish-blog-hops-book-that-scares-you.html

13th March - A Book Set In The Future https://www.writersideoflife.com/book-set-future

14th March - A Book With A Character With Your First Name http://bitchbookshelf.com/2020/03/14/a-book-with-a-character-with-your-first-name-spring-bookish-blog-hop

15th March - A Book You Started But Haven’t Finished https://ebookaddicts.net/bookishbloghop-a-book-you-started-but-havent-finished/

16th March - A Retelling https://bewitchedreader.com/index.php/2020/03/16/spring-2020-bookish-blog-hop---a-retelling/

17th March - A Book By An Author Who Uses Initials In Their Pen Name https://upstreamwriter.blogspot.com/2020/03/bookish-blog-hop-spring-2020-day-17.html

18th March - Highlight Of Your Book Blogging Career To Date?http://bitchbookshelf.com/2020/03/18/highlight-of-book-blogging-spring-bookish-blog-hop

19th March - How Many Books Is Too Many Books In A Book Series? https://www.catsluvcoffee.com/2020/02/bookish-blog-hop-how-many-books-is-too.html

20th March - Current Favourite Authors? https://thebookishalix.com/2020/03/20/bookish-blog-hop-current-favorite-authors

21st March - What Book Death Hit You The Hardest?https://entertaininglynerdy.com/what-book-death-hit-me-the-hardest

22nd March - Which Book World Would You Like To Live In?https://bewitchedreader.com/index.php/2020/03/22/what-fictional-world-would-you-like-to-live-in

23rd March - What Author (who is still living) Would You Love To Meet https://upstreamwriter.blogspot.com/2020/03/bookish-blog-hop-spring-2020-day-23.html

24th March - What book or series do you hope and pray will be turned into a movie or TV show one day? http://www.writersideoflife.com/book-hope-movie/

25th March - Where do you usually discover new books?http://bitchbookshelf.com/2020/03/25/where-we-discover-new-books-spring-bookish-blog-hop/

26th March - When did you last visit a library?https://ebookaddicts.net/bookishbloghop-when-did-you-last-visit-a-library/

27th March - What's your favourite snack, or beverage to have beside you while you're reading? https://talesofanaturalspoonie.com/bookish-blog-hop-whats-your-favourite-snack-or-beverage-to-have-beside-you-while-youre-reading/

28th March - What deceased author would you have liked to meet?https://talesofanaturalspoonie.com/what-deceased-author-would-you-have-liked-to-meet/

29th March - Do you prefer paperbacks or ebooks? Why?https://ebookaddicts.net/bookisbloghop-do-you-prefer-paperbacks-or-ebooks-why/

30th March - Last Audiobook You Listened To?https://www.armedwithabook.com/the-last-audiobook-you-listened-to

31st March - What book will you read next?https://www.abookloversadventures.com/what-book-will-you-read-next/

Are you a book blogger?

Want to join the Bookish Blog Hops gang?

Join now

2020 Challenges: March Update

2020 Challenges: March Update

Jo Linsdell   07:00:00

2020 Challenges: March Update

WOW! March was not what I (or pretty much anyone else) expected. COV-19 changed our world this past month. 

Our schools here in Italy have been shut since 4th March which has meant I've been working my way around the distance learning systems since then. As this whole situation came out of nowhere the schools weren't prepared for it and as such the first few weeks was mainly spent trying out different platforms for doing, and sending school work. My kids schools don't use the same systems and so it was all doubled.

Then there's been the organising of being in lockdown. Trying to work out routines, making sure my husband has the updated form to take with him when he needs to go out for supplies, and organising simple stuff like food shopping which is no longer simple. Trying to keep the kids from freaking out, and helping them deal with not being able to leave the house. 

I've also not been well. I've had an annoying cough and high temperature. Still not sure for certain what caused it. It did result in our worry levels going up a notch or two though. I am doing better now though, and haven't left the house in weeks so no risk of me having spread it in any case. 

As the situation here in Italy continues to get worse I'm not sure when normal life will restart.  In the meantime we try to stay positive, follow the rules, and do our best with what we've got. 

Needless to say, my progress with my various challenges for March hasn't been great. The small amount of free time I've had I've either been too ill, or just not in the right mental state to do much.

You might also like: 2020 Challenges: January Update

The Blog Audit Challenge 2020

This is a challenge I created aimed at improving our blogs. You can find full details here in case you missed the introduction post. The goals for March were all related to trimmings. 

Website banner

I didn't get round to working on updating my website banner unfortunately. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up once everything settles down a bit here. 

The Sidebar

I already did a huge declutter of my sidebar when I did my last big website redesign so there wasn't really much to change. The one thing I did want to do was to add a link to my resources page to make it easier to find (especially given the work I did on it as part of the February challenges). 

The Footer

Again, I already did a make over of my footer and so I didn't have anything to change there. 

The Audiobook Challenge

This challenge is was created by Eline from Lovely Audiobooks. I'm doing it as a year long challenge. 

Audiobooks listened to this month:

• Unfortunately I didn't manage to add any new audiobooks to my list this month.  Hopefully April will be a better month. 

The A to Z Reading Challenge

Next up is the A to Z Reading Challenge. Slow progress here too this month. Just one title added to my list this month. 

Books read this month:

N- Nobody's Perfect by Douglas Clark

Armed with a Bingo

I didn't make much progress with the Armed with a Bingo challenge this month either. 

Books read this month:

• A book with a number in it's title: 1996 by Kristy McManus

You might also like: Exploring Audiobooks: Where To Find Free Audiobooks

Blog Audit Challenge 2020: April Challenges

Blog Audit Challenge 2020: April Challenges

Jo Linsdell   07:30:00

Blog Audit Challenge 2020

Welcome back for another month of challenges for the Blog Audit Challenge 2020!

I hope you did well with the March challenges, and linked up your progress reports in the March Link Up. 

Each month we'll concentrate on a different area of our blogs.

The Challenges:

January- Plan of action

February- Information pages

March- The trimmings

April- Design

May- SEO

June- Links

July- Quality content

August- Content gaps

September- Developing readership

October- Get social

November- Press and collaborations

December- Know your stats

Monthly link ups

In order to keep us all on track, and give us a way to see each others progress, I'll be hosting link ups on the first Saturday of every month where participants can share their links and discuss their progress. 

#BlogAuditChallenge2020

April Challenges

Our focus for April is on design. 

The April challenges will reinforce branding, improve SEO, and mean we have plenty of images to be shared via social media when promoting our content. 

The April challenges:

1. Images

The right graphics can make a huge difference to a blog. Worried about not having any design skills? Think it'll take up too much of your time to create visual elements to go with your blog posts? Don't panic. There are plenty of tools available online, for free, that make it super easy and will only take you a minute to make. 

Canva is my go to tool for my blog graphics. I created templates for my blog graphics (blog post header, Pinterest, etc...) so that whenever I do a new post I just open the template, update the text, and insert a different background image. It only takes a minute and each image is perfectly sized, ready for posting. 

Make sure every blog post has at least one image.

2. Optimize your images

Make sure every image you post has alt tags. Use keywords to supercharge the SEO on your post. 

3. Readability

Design isn't just about graphics and other images. It's about the whole look and feel of your web page. A big block of text will have readers clicking away at light speed. It just seems like too much hard work. 

Make sure your post is formatted for easy readability. Break text up into smaller paragraphs, use lists (numbered or bullet points), and take into account the white space on the page. Also make sure your text is easy on the eyes. Generally speaking darker text on a lighter background is best. 

Free downloads: You can grab copies of all the extra materials for the Blog Audit Challenge 2020 for free here. 

Save the Date!

The May challenges will be posted on 1st May. The monthly link up post for sharing your April progress will be on 2nd May. 

You might also like: Exploring CTA's: Different Types of Calls To Action To Use in Your Blog Posts

Book Review: Us, In Pieces by Tasha Cotter and Christopher Green

Book Review: Us, In Pieces by Tasha Cotter and Christopher Green

Jo Linsdell   07:30:00

My thoughts about Us, In Pieces by Tasha Cotter and Christopher Green

Disclosure: I got sent a free ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Galley

Us, in Pieces is a fresh and witty love story that follows two old friends into the unforgiving and wild terrain of the heart.

In college, Lilly Jameson and Adin Driscoll were as close as friends could get, until Lilly leaves unexpectedly and without explanation at the end of their sophomore year. Nearly ten years pass without contact until a sudden invitation from her parents brings them back into each other s lives. Old, unspoken feelings resurface, and they take a gamble on their limited time together: they will be a couple for forty-eight-hours, and then go back to their own separate lives no strings attached.

But when Adin returns to his life in Columbus, Ohio, and Lilly to Denver, Colorado, they find themselves unable to move on. They soon discover that who the other person was and who they've each become is as unclear as the sort of life they could build together.

Are they really the ones they have been waiting for all their lives? Will they each risk the wildly different lives they have begun creating for themselves? Can they bridge a lost decade to rekindle a life-long love and share a future they've only dreamed of?

Told in sparkling prose in the alternating voices of Adin and Lilly, this beautifully crafted, tightly woven, debut novel is an exhilarating roller-coaster ride. Us, in Pieces is an enduring love story across generations. 

 Amazon

Goodreads

You might also like: Book Review: A Different Time by Michael K Hill