In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren
Hey guys, so about the title, I may not be able to participate in IMM for a while. My phone – which I use to take the pictures of the books I get – died on me this morning. Luckily I already took and sent the pictures of my books this week, but because of that this may be the last IMM for a while. If I have a smaller haul I might be able to share it with you guys but because I normally get so many books a week it would take far too long to hunt down individual pictures for each book and post them every weekend. So I guess we’ll see. Another thing I wanted to talk to you about this week is IMM and jealousy.
This was brought to my attention in a brilliant post that I was a teenage book geek posted last night and I have to admit I agree with a lot of what she says. It does sometimes feel like bloggers are bragging about what they got and the greatness of their blog is determined on how many books for review they’ve been sent. I’ve been thinking about it and I guess sometimes it isn’t fair that some people get books to review and some don’t because at the end of the day we all write reviews and we all work damn hard on our blogs and you can have one blogger get books to review who has very few followers and doesn’t write that great of reviews and then another who has more followers, writes brilliant reviews on everything they read and still not get noticed by publishers. Because of this, to me sometimes IMM feels very much like a contest on who can get the most and best books and who is there for the most superior blogger. I for one don’t want to cause anybody to feel like that so I’m not sure if I’ll be continuing with IMM anyway. I’d love to know your thoughts on this to help me make my decision. Do you get frustrated that you work hard on your blog yet don’t get books to review? Does IMM turn you green with envy or do you feel happy for the blogger receiving the books and want to come back to find out their thoughts on them? I have mixed feelings about it and because I do this blog for you guys I ultimately want to know what you think. If you enjoy reading my IMM I’d be happy to continue but if you don’t for whatever reason let me know that too! This is in no way an attack on Kristi she does a great job and I love her blog this is just my feelings towards it and me just wanting to know what my followers would like to see from my blog. To check out I was a teenage book geek’s post
click here.
Now on to In My Mailbox as usual, I was actually pretty good this week and technically only bought 2 books as the books you’re about to see were in a buy one get one free offer. I think I’ve done enough chatting so I’m just going to bring out the books!
Brought
The Perfect Lie by Emily Barr
You're the One That I Don't Want by Alexandra Potter
The Happy Home for Broken Hearts by Rowan Coleman
Second Hand Heart by Catherine Ryan Hyde
For Review/ Won
Out for Blood (Drake Chronicles) by Alyxandra Harvey
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1: Coyote Moon; Night of the Living Rerun; Portal Through Time by John Vornholt, Arthur Byron Cover, and Alice Henderson
I’d like to say a big thank you to Bloomsbury for Out for Blood and funnily enough Lauren @ I Was a Teenage Book Geek for the Buffy volume. So that’s what I got this week. Opinions on how you feel about IMM would be very much appreciated and if you just want to comment on the books I got this week that’s fine too! I hope you’re all having a lovely weekend, happy reading! :-)
The Perfect Lie by Emily Barr
You're the One That I Don't Want by Alexandra Potter
The Happy Home for Broken Hearts by Rowan Coleman
Second Hand Heart by Catherine Ryan Hyde
For Review/ Won
Out for Blood (Drake Chronicles) by Alyxandra Harvey
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1: Coyote Moon; Night of the Living Rerun; Portal Through Time by John Vornholt, Arthur Byron Cover, and Alice Henderson
I’d like to say a big thank you to Bloomsbury for Out for Blood and funnily enough Lauren @ I Was a Teenage Book Geek for the Buffy volume. So that’s what I got this week. Opinions on how you feel about IMM would be very much appreciated and if you just want to comment on the books I got this week that’s fine too! I hope you’re all having a lovely weekend, happy reading! :-)
I just finished Out For Blood and loved it, hope you do as well :D
ReplyDeleteOut for Blood <3 Enjoy!!
ReplyDeleteI love IMMB - The amount of books I would have never heard of without it is huge. Yes I do get a little jealous but not seriously - I think some people take things to much to heart and get a bit overboard - so what if someone has more books than you - there is only so much one person can read in a week anyway!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kirsty, thats very true IMM is a great way of finding new books to read.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm still new at this (starting my book blog in the very near future) but a lot of my inspiration comes from you Jess! I love to read about what books you've received or bought each week. They are awesome recommendations for me (especially since I feel you & I have similar taste in books). I would hate to see you quit IMM. As long as you LOVE doing it & sharing it with us, then that's all that matters. Screw those other jealous readers :P
ReplyDeleteVery jealous of Out For Blood, I can't wait for that one to come out!
ReplyDeleteI just have to say that I don't get jealous of people getting books for review. I am not sure that I actually want to get too many books that way. Getting a book for review means that I feel obligated to read it and review it in a timely manner. I would prefer to decide for myself when or even if I read and review a book. I don't like putting extra pressure on myself. Also, I can afford to buy books and support authors that way. I don't need to get review books to keep reading.
ReplyDeleteI like the IMM posts because it lets me see what the hot books are and sometimes it puts a book on my radar that I might otherwise miss.
BTW, Out for Blood is on my wishlist to be purchased ASAP. I will no doubt pre-order it soon.
My mailbox is here. Happy reading!
I got A Perfect Lie a while back, and it's still waiting to be read. I don't know why I've waited so long since I really like Emily Barr as an author. Hope you enjoy! Second Hand Heart I thought was an OK read - not one of my faves.
ReplyDeleteAs for the IMM situation - just do what makes you happy. Honestly, I have seen a lot of responses in IMM posts when I see the words 'envy' and 'jealous' and I always presume that it's said in a lighthearted way. I hope it is. I'm also with Kathy Martin on this - sure it's nice to receive some review books, but I don't actively seek them out. It's a lot of pressure/deadlines etc and sometimes I don't have the time to stick to those deadlines. However, if I'm offered a book for review and I really want to read it, I won't say no. I admire those bloggers who receive stacks of books every week and can keep up with the reading. I don't think it's bragging at all. I love to see those posts!
I personally like IMMB, I like to get new books on my radar.
ReplyDeleteIf I say jealous of envious in any of my comments, it just means I would like it, but I don't begrudge.
Getting ARC is double sided, yes its awesome, but there is a lot of pressure to positive review and read quickly.
You got some great books this week :) I'm a relatively new blogger and I'm always amazed by other bloggers who get asked to review loads of ARCS. It doesn't really bother me because I figure someone needs to review them and do I wish I was as lucky? Yeah sometimes but the way I see it, my TBR is so full right now I'm just happy to review what I have :) I always see IMMB as a weekly opportunity for people to get giddy about the books they getand I hope you keep being a part of it. Your voice is important and you bring alot to the blogging community. There will always be braggers but for the most part we're all just book lovers. I hope that ramble made sense :)
ReplyDeleteCome See What's In My Mailbox
Some cracking books this week m'dear! :)
ReplyDeleteI'll admit to being a tad jealous of some people (you included) but I don't see the point of me emailing publishers to request review copies since I won't really have a permanent address for a few years until I finish Uni so it'll be a faff to keep updating my mailing address. Anyways I have so many books on the TBR pile already - I have plenty to keep me going :P xx
Oh wow guys thank you so much for taking the time out to get back to me. I’m glad that you all don’t see IMM in that light. I’m torn because I love the idea of sharing with you all what I’ve got this week so you can see what’s coming up in the future as far as reviews and recommendations go. I’ve found many books in the past through IMM so I know myself the benefits of that. It’s just the books for review I’m having trouble with in one way it’s great to be promoting the book showing you all the covers a little bit before they come out and basically saying this is coming soon – look out for it! But at the same time I do that in my reviews so do I really need to mention them in IMM? I appreciate all of your comments so much I’m going to have a think about it over the next week. I haven’t had anyone say they’d rather see it gone yet though so if it helps you guys I guess I’m happy to continue with it as soon as I get a new camera! ;) Will keep you all posted.
ReplyDeleteThe only books I receive are from tour groups, the library, contests won, or bought by me. I am definitely envious of bloggers who get boxes of books from publishers, but honestly, I don't really care. I'm happy for people who get to preview books because it puts these titles on my radar. I'm equally happy to see people who go to the library or bookstore who bring older titles back to my attention. All in all, I just like seeing what people get each week so I can add to my ever-growing to-read list.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I'd never thought about being jealous of people getting books for review! I mean, who cares really? The books are just appearing on the radar and in a couple of months anyone can buy them anyway. That doesn't mean I'm not excited if I'm sent one, but not in an 'Oh my god, I'm so awesome' way. Just in an 'oooh, goody, a book!' way.
ReplyDeleteI like seeing the covers of new books so I know what to look for, and genuinely I don't see a reviewer book on IMM and think 'God, what a bitch, why didn't I get that?' I just think 'Ooooh, that looks interesting, I'll wishlist it and watch out for a review!' The whole point of IMM is to see what people have brought into their homes - new, old, classic, modern, whatever - that week, so why hide it?
Don't leave IMM over this, Jess - it's such an interesting meme and fun to pore over every week - and if you can't take photos, why not just include the odd Googled image of a particularly nice cover and give us the list anyway? It'll be just like the LT threads really, and we still get to have a mental rummage through the week's acquisitions! I'd say if anyone starts getting a petty jealousy thing going, it's their problem, and rather silly, all things considered. Free books are a bonus, not a contest, after all! :-)
I love IMM! I joke about being jealous of all the books people receive for review, but honestly it doesn't really bother me. I don't care about getting free books - I know that whenever they come out for real I'd buy them anyway, so I'd still be spending the money. I am envious of not being able to read them a few months ahead of time, but I'm so busy reading all the books that are already out that it doesn't really bother me.
ReplyDeletePlus I'm SUPER nosey and Sundays would be very boring without IMM posts to read. I love knowing what books other people got and it's a great way to find new blogs.
Anyway, looks like another person got Out for Blood! I still need to read the first in the series, gah!
Here's what I got in my mailbox this week :)
I commented yesterday, but I wanted to leave a link for what's in my mailbox!
ReplyDeleteHappy Reading! :-)
Don't stop doing IMM out of guilt. That wouldn't be because you wanted to quit but because of what you think what others feel which may just be a very small percent. There is no need for jealousy, hey i only started receiving review books recently and before that i was just curious and of course a little envious but that's fine! i wouldn't want people to quit doing IMM that would be horrendous!
ReplyDeleteIMM is almost a kind of tradition among the blogshpere to quit would be wrong if done for the wrong reason, do not do it out of guilt, think on it, people comment on your IMM because they enjoy your content and posts i would be terribly disappointed to see your IMM posts go. Thanks for sharing Jess :)