*stealthily peeks from around the corner*
Hi, remember me?
Well, I’m back! Sort of. Maybe. I can definitely give you an definite answer if someone can predict the future for me. As of this moment, I’m thinking of coming back and posting once a week or so, or whatever I can manage, no pressure. What I can do is give you guys a definite answer about why I’ve been MIA for more than a year. I seriously can’t believe that it’s been more than a year.
For everyone new who accidentally stumbled upon this post, hi, I’m Kelly! I’ve been blogging on Effortlessly Reading for three long years until I suddenly just disappeared without a trace – DUN DUN DUN – and reemerged just now. I wasn’t kidnapped by aliens, I promise. I was just kidnapped by a very busy life.
What I was doing for the past year or so was:
I’m currently in graduate school!
When you last heard from me, I was a senior in college, stressing out about the six accounting classes I was currently taking. After finishing college and cramming for the GMAT, I was accepted into the Master’s program I wanted to get into (still can’t believe I got accepted into the program honestly). Now, I’m on my second semester of graduate school and it is even more tiring than college was. You thought college was hard? Wait until you hear this about graduate school: you learn TWO semesters worth of college education in ONE semester of graduate school. Yeah, I know. Now imagine how crazy the textbooks and exams are. Hint: One chapter in a textbook is more than SIXTY PAGES. Therefore, one exam based on six chapters means more than three hundred and sixty pages of reading material. Yeah.
I’ve been interning!
I’ve mentioned that I was interning at an accounting firm more than a year ago and I’m still interning there! It can get extremely busy there, especially during tax season.
I’ve been doing other stuff (really vague, I know)!
If you want me to get a bit more specific, I’ve joined a graduate club and it’s been really fun but also busy so far, took SIX accounting classes in one semester like I’ve mentioned above (yeah, I know, what was I thinking?!), spent a lot of time studying for the GMAT (for those of you who don’t know what the GMAT is, imagine a harder SAT exam to get into business school), survived my first semester of graduate school (when people learned how “young” I was, they actually started petting me), and gone through some personal issues that I cannot mention sadly because they are personal.
But enough about me and my life, how are all of you? I’ve missed out on SO much! What books should I be fangirling over? What books should I look forward to reading? What books should I avoid at all costs? What books do I NEED in my hands?
And if you’re new, don’t be afraid to introduce yourself in the comment section below!
To give you guys an initiative – I really want to add some 2017 books onto my to be read list and want to meet all the new bloggers out there – I’ll be hosting an international giveaway!
One winner will win a 2017 book of their choice! The giveaway is international as long as The Book Depository delivers to you.
Terms & Conditions:
- This contest is open INTERNATIONALLY as long as The Book Depository delivers to you.
- The giveaways will run until April 30, 2017.
- You must be 18 years or older, or have parents’ permission to enter.
- All your entries will be disqualified if you pickup entries for something you haven’t done. (I had to do this for so many of my last giveaways, please don’t make me do this again.)
- If you only use ONE account to do all these tasks and enter under different names, they will still only constitute as ONE entry.
- If the winner does not respond to my e-mail within 48 hours, I will have to choose another winner.
- I am not responsible for any items lost in the mail.
Do I have to narrow it down to 1 book and 1 year? lol.
Glad to see you are blogging again. Honestly because it makes me feel better about my own disappearance from my blog. lol. Unfortunately I wasn’t doing anything of any real importance to keep me away. I just kinda shut down from everything. But it’s relieving to know there are others out there who disappear from time to time. Weirdly you’re not the first person to “reappear” that I’ve come across since clearing out the 40,000+ messages in my email. I think we should all band together and say it was some sort of blog challenge that we were participating in. lol.
But as for books. I am reentering blogging with the A to Z challenge and my theme is reviewing a different book for each day. So if you want to check it out maybe you can find some new books there that you might like.
https://reviewsfrommyfirstreadsshelf.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the giveaway and glad to see you’re back.
Welcome back and carry on girl.
Hard to choose really when there are so many fantastic books out there.
Well, I can’t suggest any books at the the moment, since I’ve not had a chance to read anything with a two thousand-seventeen release date on it, yet.
But it is so great to see you back, Miss Kelly! Welcome back. Congratulations on all you’re accomplishing. I bid you godspeed in your endeavours.
And as always, thanks for the giveaway.
Ahoy there. I’ll be keeping my eyes open to see what you discover as new and good. :D
I can always recomend a certain pirate book written by a certain person about two unlucky pirates, a werewolf castaway, an island full of cannibals, and a mutinous crew, but that would be a book from 2014. So I don’t think it counts. Asides, I’m too partial to it fer honesty. ;)
Glad yer back. :)
Keep yer eyes on the horizon,
And yer hope in Providence,
Isaiah T. Silkwood
Welcome back! And congrats on graduate school! Sounds stressful.. haha
There’s so many 2017 releases I want to read. The Hate U Give is probably #1!
Hey welcome back! :D Congrats on all the things! LOL. Life really gets busy sometimes, yeah? :)
I don’t really have a single book in mind cos I have soooo many backlogs haha. I’m looking forward to many follow-ups to several series but I have to start the series first! I mean, I have them but I haven’t started! I know, I’m terrible.
Hi Kelly it’s so nice to have you back. I loved seeing your email this morning. It sounds like you have been very busy and it’s understandable that you let the blog slip. At the end of the day you did the reviewing and blogging as a hobby and sometimes our focus changes. Good luck with your masters.
I have had a bit of a reviewing slump as well but I only guest post. I’m looking for ward to a few books this year but nothing specific yet. I have pre ordered a few but don’t tell the hubby.
Look forward to your posts.
Welcome back! Life can be so busy, I know. One book (of many) that I’m currently waiting for is “Dark Breaks the Dawn”
by Sara B. Larson. Thank you for the giveaway :)
I am sooooo looking forward to Immortal Reign by Morgan Rhodes!! LOVE the Falling Kingdoms series and am ecstatic for the next book, though also sad because it’s the last book!
Welcome back! My fiance is an accountant at Deloitte…I know how crazy the hours are so I definitely sympathise. I just finished reading Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices, #1) by Cassandra Clare and I loved it!! I am really excited for the next book to come out next month.
Leigh bardugo Wonder Woman and Adam Silvera they both die at the end will destroy me Im pretty sure about that LOL
Eeee! I HAVE MISSED YOU KELLY :D YAY for being back. <3 I was starting to wonder if you would be gone forever, lol. Glad you are back; at least for now. <3 Hugs. And ack! You have been so busy :) That's amazing. Thank you for sharing about it all sweetie :) And aw, thank you for such a lovely giveaway too. <3 I'm the most excited about Godsgrave this year :D I think. Cannot wait for it :)
Ohhh, I’m looking forward to When Dimple Met Rishi, Eliza and Her Monsters, Lucky in Love and a whole bunch of other books. Welcome back!
KELLY. I’ve missed you!
Welcome back to blogging!
One book I’m looking forward to is The Reason You’re Alive by Matthew Quick.
Hey there! I’m actually getting back into book blogging myself, so I can’t give any recent release recommendations, especially not 2017 releases! But I’m really looking forward to reading Caraval, The Bone Witch, Strange the Dreamer, The Upside of Unrequited, Flame in the Mist and The Crown’s Fate :)
But I’m completely impressed by how hard you’ve been working during your absence. I did think you were really young, so to hear about graduate school, I’m very :O
Good luck with everything and keep working hard, girlie <3
YAAAAY WELCOME BACK, KELLY! I’m so glad the past year or so has been fruitful! Best of luck with the rest of the semester. =)
I totally scrolled past the giveaway, but then I started reading some of the comments and I was like whaaat, why are they telling you what they’re looking forward to reading! LOL! I’m looking forward to reading – wait, take ONE guess. I’m sure you know…
…
…
FINE IT’S JANE, UNLIMITED. SURPRISE, SURPRISE. :D
Have a wonderful week!
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
Alyssa Susanna (The Eater of Books!) recently posted…Swoon Thursday (#219): Avenged by Amy Tintera
Hi,
Welcome back (sort of?). I hope you have more free time up ahead. Congrats on doing so many great things in your personal life. I’m looking forward to so many books this year. Secondborn by Amy A. Bartol, A Girl Like Me by Ginger Scott, Avenged by Amy Tintera, Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh. That’s just a few. Thank you very much and I hope to hear from you more.
Welcome back!
You made me really scared for grad school now. I’ll still probably do my masters but idk…
Wishing you the best of luck with the rest of your masters.
If you have time check out I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo (I’m reading an ARC and its absolutely fantastic!)
Hi girl :D I am working too and that is so stressfull and demanding.
The book I need soon is The language of thorns of Leigh Bardugo.
Nina recently posted…Wrap up: marzo 2017
Welcome back! I’m new here, I’m Megan and I blog at http://wanderingsofabookbird.blogspot.co.uk/.
My most anticipated book of the year is When Dimple Met Rishi. I’m so excited for it! Thank you so much for the giveaway!
Sounds like you’ve been crazy busy, but, hopefully, mostly, in a good way! I do not envy you all of those accounting classes, but you can kick their butts! I’m looking forward to a lot of books – ACOWAR (like everyone else!) and Now I Rise. If only I could just get more time to read :D
If it makes you feel any better, I stopped blogging 2…3? years ago? I’ve got a more reliable schedule at work now, so I’m giving it another go.
Laini Taylor has a new book out this year – Strange the Dreamer. I JUST finished it – you have to read it! I also loved Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, which both came out within the last year or so.
Kelly recently posted…Book Review: Winter
Illuminae files 3 I love Aidan
*inserts 500 page long TBR list here*
Strange The Dreamer!
I’m really looking forward to Acowar and Dragons of Loom by Elise Kova..
thanks so much for the chance
Hey! Welcome back to the world of book reviews. So books that I am excited for… honestly, I just started Uni so life has been busy as… But Cora Cormack is realising a new book and that looks like its gonna be cool. My name is Erry by the way!
Welcome back!!
Hi, Kelly! My name is Antonela, and I’m a bookworm from Argentina ♥ I started reading bookish blogs in English last year *my native language is Spanish* and since then, I’ve found so many interesting people to talk about books to! So nice and comforting! It’s something I enjoy doing on a daily basis ^^ Nice to meet you! =D
PS: thank you so much for the giveaway! As for the 2017 book I’m looking forward to reading… I have two most anticipated releases that I’d love to read this year. One of them is Caraval, a book that is already out there and that I already have. The other one is ACOWAR – thank God May is just around the corner!
Welcome back, Kelly! It’s been so long since I’ve seen a blog post and I’m glad everything’s been okay! My most anticipated read is probably Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab. This Savage Song came out last year and I LOVED it! I hope you get around to it!
Welcome back to blogging! Sounds like you have a fantastic excuse for disappearing. :-) My favorite read of 2017 so far is Defy the Stars. (At least that’s the first one that comes to mind.)
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray: 5 Soaring Stars
Thanks for the giveaway; I am looking forward to reading A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sara Maas. :)
Welcome back!!!
I’m looking forward to read Wires and nerve by Marissa Meyer. I love Lunar Chronicles so much.
:)
Anto Tilio recently posted…Feet up series: Últimas obsesiones Parte 1
That is hard to say. Maybe The Impossible Vastness of Us by Samantha Young is my most looked forward to.
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted…Sunday Post #86 and Stacking the Shelves April 23rd, 2017
Welcome back! It sounds like you’ve been really busy – but congrats with graduate school. :)
There are SO many 2017 books I want to read; ones that are out and ones that are coming out. Strange the Dreamer, The Upside of Unrequited, etc.
-Lauren
ShootingStarsMag recently posted…Top 5 Friday Favorites: Favorite Things Giveaway
Refuge for Masterminds by Baldwin is one I am really looking forward to reading.
Ahhh, It’s good to have you back! Congrats and Good Luck with Graduate school – it sounds really stressful, but I have faith you’ll be ok. My favourite 2017 book so far as been The Upside of Unrequited because GAH it was so beautiful and dreamy and everything you could wish for in a beautiful and dreamy book.
Natalie @ Flowers in my Books recently posted…They’ll Take On The World – My Favourite Female Friendships in YA
I’m looking forward to reading Defy the STars and Stranger THan Dream.
Hi! Welcome back! I’m looking forward for ACOWAR. I love the series and this will be the first time Sarah will end a series. :)
Welcome back! I’m super duper excited for the next books that Tahereh Mafi is writing!
Welcome back, Kelly! I can’t wait to sit down and read Anne Bishop’s Etched in Bone and Ilona Andrew’s Magic Binds as soon as this semester ends. I feel your pain; law school and grad school were made to destroy free time (and sanity). Best of luck!
Kel recently posted…Finals Week: May the Course Be With You
So good to see you back to blogging!! I’m really looking forward to reading Wonder Woman by Leigh Bardugo!
I have so many. I don’t think I can choose!
Welcome back! I am looking forward to ACOWAR, Lord of Shadows, A Crown’s Fate, Obsidian and Stars… too many to count. ☺