Are Publishing Companies Still Editing Books?

 

My youngest child is back at school and today was the first day of school for our pre-K students. It was fun to finally start working with our kids for the year. How am I doing? I'm exhausted. This is mostly due to recovering from dental surgery. I miss solid food. I have also realized at school I need to drink more water. One of the nice things about working with the really little kids is getting to go outside for recess twice a day. Give me that fresh air. 

As you can see I treated myself to a new mat for the kitchen. I'm looking forward to putting it out in a few weeks. Bowie has given the dog-themed mat his seal of approval. 

I've been reading a book that recently came out and I'm really torn about it. I know all the work an author puts into their book and I'm dismayed that this book was released. I'm struggling to stay engaged in the story because I swear it should have been edited one more time. There are tense changes, repetitive words, and filler words slowing the story down to a crawl.  I decided to put it down and switched to another book and within a few pages I was lost in this new book. The second book is self-published.  I'm very grateful for self-publishing and freelance editors, the cost to the consumer is low and the quality is as good--and can be better than big publishing company books! 

How is your week going?  

Buckle Up The first Full Week of School is Here! The Sunday Post for August18th!

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. you can write about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Tomorrow after school, me and the hubs are going to take youngest child to her apartment so she can start her junior year of college. I don't think anything is packed as of now. Best of luck to her!  I had oral surgery on Tuesday and I'm spending this weekend recuperating. I made a grocery and Amazon order to supply her, that's an excellent contribution to the cause.

Last week at this time we were hiking up Brasstown Bald, a National Park where you can do a vertical climb to the highest point in Georgia. It was hard, but the view was amazing! 

Wish me luck this week, I'll be meeting the Pre-K kids I'll be working with this year! Fun times, and a very active job,which I am looking forward too. I swear sitting is less comfortable than being up and down all day.  

How was your week? Any back to school activity at your house?

Here is what I'm reading: 

Just In Time To Go Back To School

 

Just in time to go back to school, I have to have dental surgery. Because of a medication I take due to post-cancer treatment effects, I can only have the dental procedure timed a certain way. So it's now or wait six months and hope that the teeth at issue don't cause more problems. 

All this to say I'm going to need to use all my energy to make it through the work day and the other people in this house are going to have to pick up the slack.This means I need to stop myself from making sure the dishes are in the dishwasher properly. 

A tall order!

I hope I have an easy recovery. I do have plenty of books to read and lots of book work to do, so I should try to concentrate on that and not think about someone putting the wrong stuff on the top rack or mixing towels with pants in the washer.

How about you?  Are you laid back around household chores?

*****
I forgot that I had pre-ordered Sanctuary by Ilona Andrews until the other day. I then proceeded to read this novella. If you haven't read Ilona Andrews before, please drop everything and read them! This book features Roman who is like an intermediary between a Slavic god and humans. There is a lot of folklore in this story and I found it really interesting. It doesn't end with a cliffhanger, but it ends with the immediate danger being dealt with and more action and adventure to come. You can read this as a stand-alone, but it's more pleasing if you've read the Kate Daniels series. 

If you are a mood reader, this book takes place Dec 23-25.

Five stars of pure awesome!

Rich People Stuff-- What Do You Think? The Paradise Problem

 A couple of weeks ago, I went with my husband to the ER (he is fine.) I brought The Paradise Problem with to read. I should have brought another book along, but silly me didn't think we'd be in the ER for eight hours, I thought we'd be out in two hours. Lesson learned always take two physical books to medical facilities. 

I enjoyed Christina Lauren's writing. The dialogue is snappy and they really turn a nice phrase. This book is about obscenely wealthy people on a private island, so if you like an escapist setting this should be a hit for you. The cast of side characters is large and I didn't feel a strong connection to them, which is fine as this book is very focused on our main characters. This is a fake relationship story and it's interesting to see how the situation is resolved.  

If you like rom-com dialogue and lush settings, give this romance a read!

Four Stars for The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren!

Next week our school district goes back to school! Boy did this summer fly by! My garden continues to do very well. And I have a ton of tomatoes slowly ripening. I have these tiny little cherry tomatoes that are as big as a blueberry and I cannot wait to pick a bunch of those. I am hoping that they ripen before Anna heads back to college, she loves tomatoes on her avocado toast! 

The Sunday Post -- It's almost time for Youngest Child to Leave Us!

  

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

This week will be a bittersweet moment for me and the Hubs, our youngest is heading off to college on Wednesday. She's the first of our family to go away to college, so this is a new experience for us as well as her.  I'm very excited for her and I hope she has an easy transition to her new environment. How about you, any transitions happening at your home this month? 

This is her first school picture back when she was 3. 

Books I'll be talking about this week:

Proven Guilty Another Installment in the Harry Dresden Series and Sales Tax Holiday

If you are in the state of Illinois we are enjoying a state sales tax holiday, we've not had one before so this is very nice and handy for anyone who needs school supplies--esp. since the holiday includes clothing and shoes. When it comes to saving my motto is every little bit helps.  So sure it's only like 6.5% but it's better than paying 6.5%  The tax holiday runs through 8/14 in Illinois. 

Are there any tax holidays in your state?

Book 8 in the Harry Dresden series, I am slowly making my way through the series this summer, I like spending time with Harry and the crew, and I'm noticing many of the books take place in the hot muggy summers of Chicago--which I am obviously feeling! 

In Proven Guilty we have a Horror Movie Con including people cosplaying as monsters, and actual monsters showing up, and Harry spends time debating how dangerous it is for him to connect with the fallen angel who wants to help him.  Conflicted, angsty Harry is prominent in this book, but it isn't overwhelming. The best part is that we finally get Michael's wife Charity's backstory.  Now we finally understand why Charity has such a loathing for Harry--(it's not really about him!) Also, Molly has left home and is in loads of trouble, so we know Harry will be saving her. Or will he?  

Overall, this book hits all the marks for a book arriving so far into a series.  I have to give it 5 stars, James Butcher does an excellent job of keeping me interested.