Winter 2020 Review Policy Activation

 

Please note this is virtually exactly the same as my 2018 & 2029 Winter Review Policy post - it is saving me time! 

September is here which means Autumn and cold weather are on the way. While it provides more reasons to have hot chocolate, unfortunately it means the amount of books I review has to change.

For those of you who like me forget things and/or are new readers, my winter review policy means that I don't accept books for review from the date of this post until 1st March 2020. There are exceptions which I will explain later on.

I have permanent health issues including fatigue and chronic pain. Unfortunately my body adversely reacts to colder weather (anything below 10C), rain, snow, ice and hail. Oh and thunderstorms. I wish I was joking, but I like to hibernate as much as I can in winter to let my body be relaxed as it battles against the elements. Reviewing is fun but it does use energy, so I'm simply conserving what I have.

Wish I was impervious to temperature like Miku is (this is her 2019 winter outfit - possibly the best yet!)

There will be posts throughout the next few months, they will just be more gaming reviews and reviews of my own books rather than ones I get sent for review. It's easier to do a near-blanket ban on book reviews for a few months than having to apologise for being ill, which has happened over the last few weeks with unexpected illness over the summer

I can be found on Twitter most days, usually tweeting game related info on whatever I'm playing with at the time. Come find me @Nayuleska !

I use this fanart of Miku as my main profile header!

This doesn't affect reviews I've already 

committed myself to between October 2020 and March 2021. 

 I am upholding those, this is more for anyone requesting a review from today will probably get a negative response from me. I will answer emails explaining that as I know not everyone checks back on my review policy (or on the type of genres I do review...). I will try and repost a reminder of this post once a month in the absence of being unable to sticky a post here.

No idea who this cutie is, but she looks like I feel in winter.

I hope I can start accepting books for review sooner than March, but it does depend entirely on the weather. If we have a good winter, I'll accept books sooner. However, if we have a bad winter that I may have to extend the Winter Policy into April which I did earlier this year. I simply won't know until I get to February, which isn't for a few months yet! I appreciate your understanding in this policy change.

The exceptions are if you are one of my favourite authors! 

 I will always accept your books, they may still get a delay in review.

Once again thank you for your understanding, I hope you stay well this winter and enjoy the posts I do get up!  I hope this is all clear - please let me know if you have any questions. I promise this blog isn't going dark until March 2019! If you are able to wait until March for a review then please do still ask me to do them. I really appreciate your continued support and understanding for changes related to my blogging schedule. 

Sadly not drawn by me

Winter Review Policy Activation

Time for a news bulletin!

For those of you who didn't see last year's post about my Winter Review Policy because you were busy and/or are new readers, my winter review policy means that I don't accept books for review from the date of this post until 1st March 2019. There are exceptions which I will explain later on.

I have permanent health issues including fatigue and chronic pain. Unfortunately my body adversely reacts to colder weather (anything below 10C), rain, snow, ice and hail. Oh and thunderstorms. I wish I was joking, but I like to hibernate as much as I can in winter to let my body be relaxed as it battles against the elements. Review is fun but it does use energy, so I'm simply conserving what I have. 

Even if I'm super cozy inside my body still knows the temperature outside.

There will be posts throughout the next few months, they will just be more gaming reviews and reviews of my own books rather than ones I get sent for review. It's easier to do a near-blanket ban on book reviews for a few months than having to apologise for being ill, which has happened over the last few weeks with unexpected illness. 

I can be found on Twitter most days, usually tweeting game related info on whatever I'm playing with at the time. Come find me @Nayuleska ! 

Fanart (not by me) of favourite vocaloid Mikku in a winter outfit (let's not get into how she isn't wearing tights)

This doesn't affect reviews I've already committed myself to between October and March 2019. 

 I am upholding those, this is more for anyone requesting a review from today will probably get a negative response from me. I will answer emails explaining that as I know not everyone checks back on my review policy (or on the type of genres I do review...). I will try and repost this post once a month in the absence of being unable to sticky a post here. 

 

An accurate depiction from an unknown artist of how I feel in winter

I hope I can start accepting books for review sooner than March, but it does depend entirely on the weather. If we have a good winter, I'll accept books sooner. However, if we have a bad winter that I may have to extend the Winter Policy into April which I did earlier this year. I simply won't know until I get to February, which isn't for a few months yet! I appreciate your understanding in this policy change. 

 

The exceptions are if you are one of my favourite authors! 

 I will always accept your books, they may still get a delay in review.

 

Me reading in winter when my body wants to be like a bear and sleep all the time (I don't).

Due to the last few weeks being full of pheasants (see linked post for details) I've already got a bit of a backlog of reviews, making this policy activation vital. 

 

Once again thank you for your understanding, I hope you stay well this winter and enjoy the posts I do get up!  I hope this is all clear - please let me know if you have any questions. I promise this blog isn't going dark until March 2019! If you are able to wait until March for a review then please do still ask me to do them. I really appreciate your continued support and understanding for changes related to my blogging schedule. 

Sadly not drawn by me

 

Over on Nayu's Crochet Dreams #42 Ramdan is here!

Head on over to Nayu's Crochet Dreams to learn about Ramadan, what I'm doing in this Islamic Holy month, and what it's all about!

Note: as usual apart from books I've already committed to I'm not reading romance stories during Ramadan. Due to life stuff including technology requiring several hours of update making it impossible to post up reviews before Ramadan I'm a little behind on my reviewing, so over the next few days there will be a lot of books with romance appearing, but that's something that needs to be done. Most of the reviews were written before Ramadan, it's simply a case of putting the posts together. Since God created the technology errors and a poor health body I'm fairly sure He will understand ^u^

Winter Review Policy Extension

 

As of today I'm extending my Winter review policy of not really reviewing any books unless you're an author I love until April. I'm sorry to do this, but it's going to be a bit longer before I'm back to normal due to being ill & the lousy weather. While I'm resting I find gaming easier than reading as it's easier for me to do and more of a distraction from how I feel. You can see the main Winter Review Policy post here. It has helped me so much, and I promise I'll be open to more reviews in a few weeks. Happy reading!

Major Winter Review Policy Change from October 2017 to March 2018

This picture is usually kept for blog information posts.

Those of you who email before this post goes live may already have the news from my blog email auto-reply.  

After much thought I am having a reviewing hiatus from 1st October 2017 to 1st March 2018.

I'm choosing to not accept books for review until March 2018 UNLESS it's for a favourite author. There are a few exceptions - I've contacted a few publicists to keep sending me requests as they are predominantly picture books which I can both read and review quickly. Yeah. I appreciate that may be a bit of a surprise, but it doesn't mean this blog is going quiet for several months! 

I'll still be here!

Let's call what I'm doing winter hibernation. Winter is my worst time of year health wise, I don't do so well when the temperature hits below 10C (& definitely not below 5C). Stress negatively impacts my health (it does for everyone but my condition responds to stress badly), and while reviews aren't a life/death thing, I figure that by doing a suspension on reviews until March 2018 means I can focus more on relaxing. I will still read, it'll just be mostly my own books. And probably a lot of gaming reviews which those who follow me on Twitter @Nayuleska know I tweet a lot about LLSIF (Love Live School Idol Festival) and Deresute. 

Time for a slight change as Winter approaches

Life's been a bit chaotic and stressful lately, and the temperature is starting to decrease already (ignoring this week which seems to be having at least 1 day of a heatwave) hence the change in review policy. If you aren't sure if you're a favourite author (or you look after a favourite author) please do get in touch either by the form on this website (on the right hand menu) and I'll let you know, or send me an email. 

This doesn't affect reviews I've already committed myself to between October and March 2018. I am upholding those, this is more for anyone requesting a review from today will probably get a negative response from me. I will answer emails explaining that as I know not everyone checks back on my review policy (or on the type of genres I do review...). I will try and repost this post once a month in the absence of being unable to sticky a post here. 

I hope I can start accepting books for review sooner than March, but it does depend entirely on the weather. If we have a good winter, I'll accept books sooner. However, if we have a bad winter that I may have to extend the Winter Policy into March. I simply won't know until I get to February, which isn't for a few months yet! I appreciate your understanding in this policy change.

It totally feels like my body has two modes: Winter and Non-Winter!

I hope this is all clear - please let me know if you have any questions. I promise this blog isn't going dark until March 2018! If you are able to wait until March for a review then please do still ask me to do them. I really appreciate your continued support and understanding for changes related to my blogging schedule.

This blog will always be full of fun things!

Nayu's News #232 Annual Ramadan Review Policy Changes

It's that time of year!

As is normal every time we reach Ramadan (tomorrow = yay!) I'm changing my review policy for the holy month. Due to being under the weather a lot lately I haven't been able to post up romance themed reads in time, so I am pre-scheduling them today & they will technically be posted during appropriate hours over the next week or so. I will not be reading any romance reads until the end of June, except for any I've already commited to do a blog tour for already. 

I can read romance books outside of fasting hours, but they are times I'm usually tired and it's just easier to not read them until the month is over. That's all for this temporary review policy change!

Nayu's News #228 Review update time!

I'm as excited as Fluttershy was the gala in My Little Pony possibly season 1

It's time for me to catch up with the reviews which, thanks to the wonderful Hootsuite, are going live on my Twitter and Facebook accounts without me doing a thing! It means I've been able to focus on resting, and dealing with the cold weather, not stress over letting you know that my latest post is out. I can't believe I've been doing this for a month, it's definitely a good step which I'm continuing to make. I do miss making the tweets more personal, and I will try to do so in the future, but I can't backdate those personal tweets for reviews before today. There's a lot, and I'm hurrying to finish what I need to do so tomorrow (Friday, which will be today when you read this post) I can have a full rest day as I've a lot of driving to do Saturday. Plus I'd be spamming you all with so many tweets at once, which isn't beneficial to anyone.

No idea what anime this is from so if you know please do let me know! Get enough spam that I wouldn't want to add more to your inboxes

The update is that I'm now (finally) emailing the links to the relevant publicists and putting the reviews on Goodreads. As a reminder check out this post as to why I'm no longer reviewing on Amazon UK or US. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to do this, I genuinely haven't had the energy to do it. Winter hit me harder than expected, and I'm adjusting to the lower temperatures in so far as I'm reducing must-do's on days I feel rough (which is every day now til Spring...) 

I love snow! If we ever get it again where I live. Like snow there are 2 sides of winter to me, 1 = body gets stroppier every single day, 2nd is I'm excited about the prospect of snow, even if it never happens (which it hasn't for a few years)

Anyway, I am heading off to Devon from Saturday to Tuesday, so today (Thurs) I'm pre-scheduling a few posts to keep you ticking over. There will be 2 reviews (maybe 3, as I don't think I finished one from the other day) and quite possibly an anime and/or gaming post too!) There will be more of those once I'm back, because I really am almost caught up with review reading/listening (got to love those audiobook reviews), so yay! It's nice to almost be on top of things at last. I hope you get on top of something this weekend!

Nayu's News #227 Review related announcements

 

Hi everyone! Today I've got some important mostly review related notices for you. Firstly apologies for the sporadic posting. I have a whole load of reviews that need scheduling, but The non notices are that the start of the week I was reacting to the flu jab, and the end of the week I had a 24 hour thing from a family member which my body of course took a few days to get over, because it likes to take it's time with germs.Then on the 1 day I wasn't too peaky my laptop didn't like the internet, so at least I was able to write the post just not post it. That's my life!

Amazon

I guess you may think I'm boycotting Amazon, but I'm not. I boycott Nestle and Tesco – you don't want me to get on that soapbox, trust me), but being a homebody and finding shopping difficult the internet is wonderful, and Amazon spectularly so. Unless you are writing reviews. 

There have been some changes to Amazon review policy. With limited time each week I don't have the time to research the current change in detail, so I looked at a few articles to understand the gist of it. I was thoroughly confused because I'd managed to pick conflicting opinions on what the changes to reviews mean, whether it affects book reviewing or not. So for now, unless any of you can point me in the right direction of what the new policy really means I am no longer placing my reviews on Amazon.

I'm really sorry, but given that I have little energy and little time, if my review is going to be removed from Amazon there is no point in me putting it there. I know how important the reviews are to authors, but I have to save my own energy as much as possible, and it's easiest just for me not to put the review on Amazon..

Sainsbury's Entertainment

Some of you may have noticed that several of my book reviews are courtesy of Sainsbury's bookshop (so very awesome!). Unfortunately Sainsbury's has decided to focus on it's shops offline (& grocery shop online), so the book/music/movie/possibly 1 other product online store which came under the umbrella of Sainsbury's Entertainment is no more. 

You can find the full details here, which includes what happens if you already have a book/album/film with Sainsbury's. If the deadlines haven't passed then for either the music and/or the films you can get a refund, books won't be refunded but I think there's something about transferring them to a Kobo account. 

I'm accepting my books are disappearing as I don't have the energy to look into a Kobo account when all I use is a Kindle account for my ebooks. I'll simply buy the books if I want to read them – all the books were for review, so were technically free hence why I'm not planning on spending energy sorting out Kobo.Yes even loading an app uses my energy, so I have to be selective about what I do.

My social media accounts

Not that kind of tweeting...

I've saved the good news until last! I hate to end on a negative note in reviews and the same is true for blog posts. I'm playing around with Hootsuite, which is why the latest posts have had 'new post alert' preceeding the title on Twitter ad Facebook. Hootsuite automatically puts links up for my posts which saves me heaps of time. Unfortunately it means that my usual style of Tweet and FB update style which tries to tag the author and publisher currently isn't happening for the autoposting. 

I'm thinking of a way to fix that, which will involve drafting the Tweet/update prior to the review, then adding the link on the review day. This may defeat the issue of me using Hootsuite, but it may just work. Or I'll simply put 2 notices up, the generic Hootsuite notice as soon as the post goes live (or within the 6 hours period I told Hootsuite to check for blog updates) and the more specific Tweet/update when I've enough energy to email the details to the publicist/author. 

Please bear with me as I figure this out in my usual slow fashion.

That's it for today's notices, I hope you are enjoying the week, having a more stable internet connection, and start the week with a smile! 

Seeing Sora from Aikatsu means I definitely will watch it today!

Nayu's News #223 Review Schedule & Policy update!

Time for an update!

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted a review this weekend, been a bit more flakey than I anticipated (I'm blaming Thursday's migraine, although my body just likes throwing a tantrum). It's probably no bad thing it's happened this way, as it's cemented something I've been thinking a lot about lately. That thing is called reviews. 

I love reviewing. I love discovering new authors, getting reacquainted with familiar ones through the books I'm given to review from publishers. I love getting to know publicists - I'm becoming fairly good friends with a few of them who support me through everything. Most importantly of all I get to share my thoughts and feelings with all of you, something which I will never stop doing. 

Books are awesome!

Can you tell there's a 'but' coming? I am shortly changing my review policy. I wasn't going to make it public, but recently I've set a permanent out of office reply on my emails, the account I use mostly for reviews. Some of you may have seen it already, the gist of it is while I try to reply within 48 hours, it may be a longer wait since my health is so unpredictable. It seems to be super unpredictable this year. I frequently can't read when I'm super flakey - for those of you who watch/know of PriPara I'm definitely Sophie in fancy mode with her pushuuus! 

Sophie crashing hard after a performance.

Not reading means that my review books back up a little, which adds pressure on me to be well enough to read and review them, especially if I'm doing tour dates. So after a lot of thinking and chatting with other bloggers and writers, I've made a decision. 

From October 1st 2016 I will be reviewing 1 book a week, more or less. That's one shiny new book which I get from a publisher. Just one. 

I'm going to be a 1 book a week blogger!

It may be that I review 2 in a week, if I really love the look of a book, but primarily just one. I've been book blogging since 2009, a total of 7 years. I'm in a position I dreamed of when I started blogging, being able to request books I love and getting them from a lot of publishers often if I ask for them, and I'm frequently alerted by the publicists who know what I like to read of a fun book they're promoting soon, all because of the effort I put into this blog. I'm not being big headed by saying that either. I'm predominantly a regular book reviewer so am reliable for publishers and authors alike. I may not get many comments, or have a huge following, but I do my best to offer quality reviews. 

When I'm flakey I mostly watch anime and play video games when I've got the brain power. Lately I really want to review some of those games and anime because I love them so much, and reviewing less newly published books will mean I can do that. 

Often I want to read but don't have the energy.

Also, I have a lot of books in my personal collection that I want to read. I love reading reviewing books, but equally lately I want to reread those in my own library. I currently can't easily do that because when I am up for reading I've got review books to read. Reducing my review books to just 1 a week will take the imaginary pressure off me, leave more time to share what I'm doing (gaming & anime watching) with you, as they are just as interesting and fun as books are, especially since there seem to be so few people blogging about playing with Japanese games, at least the ones I play. 

Just because I'm looking to review 1 book a week doesn't mean there will only be 1 post a week here. There will be several! On not so good weeks it's probably just going to be links to my other blog, Nayu's Crochet Dreams, or cute pictures, but on good weeks it will be anime reviews and game reviews, with some 'human drama' shows thrown into the mix. 

I've said it!

I was feeling a bit nervous about this decision, which is why I wasn't going to say anything to you. The last few weeks I've honestly said yes to less review books (although September has turned out quite busy...), and knowing I've got less has made a huge difference. Tomorrow (I'm too flakey to do much blogging today), I'm going to put up a notice on the side menu saying I'm not accepting any reviews until late September (I will give a date) so I can catch up with the books I've got. Writing reviews isn't a quick scribble of my thoughts. That's the easy part. I have to look the book up, add the cover image, find it on the publisher's site, add it to Twitter and Facebook. It's more work than non-bloggers realise, but other bloggers will understand the effort that's needed, which lately I simply haven't had. 

I forgot I use Pinterest too, so that's 3 social media accounts to keep updated.

I am signing up to Hootsuite so I can get social media notices pre-scheduled/automatically sent out for me, which will also take some pressure off. Posts go up, but sometimes I'm not up for spending 10-20mins composing a tweet with the link to the review, and Hootsuite looks like it can help me with that. 

I flatly refuse to give up blogging, both book reviews and general blogging - I love it too much! The new 1 book a week policy will be on a first come first served basis: so if I get a request one day which I schedule for the 2nd week in November, and the next day an absolutely amazing book request gets sent through also for 2nd week in November (I really will be allocating slots to books), then I'll say it has to go in the 3rd week (unless it is super duper special (ie by a favourite author). 

I hope this all makes sense, and you understand why these changes have to take place. The email auto-reply saves me having to say sorry for replying late due to my health. Emails take energy too, and I have precious little of it as part of my health condition. Apologies if you email me frequently and keep getting the email, it's one of those things :)

I'm looking forward to sharing some of my favourite reads with you, and yabbering on about anime and games! I hope you'll all continue to read my blog. Please don't be put off sending your book requests to me, I will still say yes to a lot, it's more the timing of the reviews will be changed. 

Have a happy rest of the day! 

This is what I'm doing!

Review Policy Update 2016

One book is never enough!

Since a few things have changed since the last time I updated my review policy (over 2 years ago), here's the revised version which can be permanently found here. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to Nayu's Reading Corner where I, Nayu, as well as a few other book addicts review books! 

Now seeing as the last post for this was July, I thought I'd better update it. Although all essential info is in the side bar, here are the extra details which I don't have room for there.

General info

I'm trying to read more Children's books under 9 years +,  Cozy Mysteries, and Contemporary Fiction.

I check emails daily, but sometimes due to ill health I may not be able to do this - thank you for your patience if I'm delayed in replying.

I can't always tweet links to reviews on the same day - this is for health reasons. I do tweet links as soon as I am able. 

I now do post my reviews on Amazon UK, US, and GoodReads.


I accept books from publishers, self-published books, Paperbacks, Hardbacks, eBooks (I have an ereader). Everything is subject to whether I like the sound of the book. Occasionally I'll accept a book but for whatever reason if I don't get on with it I will stop reading it. Mostly I do finish books I receive and give honest reviews - sometimes this is a low review - it happens.

Genres I review 

I love reading Children's books from 0-11 years, mostly fiction but non-fiction welcome too.

I'm reading a few Romance, Young Adult, New Adult, and Contemporary fiction

I'm actively seeking Cozy Mysteries, Amish fiction, clean reads

For all genres I prefer having a female protagonist, although will read male protagonist books too. 

Here's a list of topics I'm interested in: 

School stories - they never get old
Magic/magical creatures - there's fun to be had with magic around
Fairies/princesses - never fail to make me smile
Animal stories - somehow that's an area that I've never lost a passion for
Mysteries and quests - because I love adventureBooks that will make me laugh - I'm on a mission to keep in good spirits, and books play a vital role in that.
Anything samurai/ninja/Japanese related - such an awesome topic


I do not review the following

Horror - occasionally I will read books with mild horror in them, but this is at my discretion
Books which are of an extremely adult nature - obviously some of the Paranormal Romance, Romance, New Adult and Contemporary fiction have romance in, but I don't read anything explicit. 

Blog Tours, Author Interviews etc

I do still take part in blog tours, so if you think I'd like to read your book then please do enquire about them. I prefer giving competitions and guest blog posts to author interviews, but will do them occasionally.

Reading Challenges

These are currently dormant and will remain so for the forseeable future. 

Memes

What Are You Reading Meme? happens every Monday, with help from Gina R of the book review blog Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Nayu's News posts

These are continuing as and when I'm able to write them - I aim for at least one a week. They are often but not exclusively about what I've recently been up to, what I'll be doing over the next week, updates on my current health, and anything else I want to chat about! 

I think that's everything - if not I'll simply add to this post! As always, thanks for reading NRC. I hope you enjoy the posts here, and keep an eye out for the fun competitions which are usually international!

Naturally cute anime pics continue to feature regularly on this blog!

Nayu's News #208 Happy New Year! Blog Changes for 2016

Super cute greeting!

I hope everyone has a fantastic 2016! I'd honestly meant to post this last week, but I had a migraine and have been recovering from it, as well as working hard on my current novel. I'm on the read through before handing to betas stage, so not long to go til I'll have a week off then get editing another wip! 

2016 Blog Changes 

There are only 24 hours in a day...

I hinted last week on Twitter that changes are afoot here. They are changes which some of you won't be surprised about, since you've wondered how I've managed not to enforce them before now. As for the rest of you, well, hopefully you'll understand my reasoning. 

I am not stopping reviewing! 

Thought I'd squish thoughts like that. I love reviewing, I love sharing my thoughts about books with you so I'm not going to stop. 

Book addict for life!

However, book reviewing isn't all I do. At the moment I have the opportunity to focus on writing my own novels full time. Writing takes time. It requires research which involves lots of dvd watching, some chocolate testing a bit of Google use. The harder I work, the most rest I need to let my body recover from all the energy it uses up in playing with my Muse, who is more than a tad demanding.

It takes a long time to rally her into action.

But once she gets going there's no stopping her!

The other week when I had a mini-break I realised that having the time to read a whole book series not for reviewing would be useful for my novel research, but continuing reviewing as much as I have in 2016 isn't too compatible with that. 

So I am going to review less books in 2016. 

Remember, less books doesn't mean no books!

This doesn't involve that much change. I'm hoping to catch up on review posting (& reading) in the week's break once I give my current novel to my beta readers (by 7th Jan, in theory), I'll still review a wide range of genres, just being a bit more selective. Instead of accepting some, I'll add them to my wish list ^o^ 

It initially was a hard decision to make, but once I'd discussed it with a few close friends I knew it was the right one. I have so many different stories to bring to you myself, and I need to focus on them since I'm trying to make it a career, along with my crochet (which is going to have more products soon - will let you know both here on and on my crochet blog Nayu's Crochet Dreams).   

I hope you understand why I'll be reducing how much I review - it's for a very good cause! One day in the not too distant future my own books will be on your shelves ^o^ (& I'll be making headway in , world domination through my own novels!!!)

Here's to a book filled future!

Review Policy as of 1st February 2016

One book is never enough!

Hi everyone! Welcome to Nayu's Reading Corner where I, Nayu, as well as a few other book addicts review books! 

Now seeing as the last post for this was July, I thought I'd better update it. Although all essential info is in the side bar, here are the extra details which I don't have room for there.

General info

I'm trying to read more Children's books under 9 years +,  Cozy Mysteries, and Contemporary Fiction.

I check emails daily, but sometimes due to ill health I may not be able to do this - thank you for your patience if I'm delayed in replying.

I can't always tweet links to reviews on the same day - this is for health reasons. I do tweet links as soon as I am able. 

I now do post my reviews on Amazon UK, US, and GoodReads.


I accept books from publishers, self-published books, Paperbacks, Hardbacks, eBooks (I have an ereader). Everything is subject to whether I like the sound of the book. Occasionally I'll accept a book but for whatever reason if I don't get on with it I will stop reading it. Mostly I do finish books I receive and give honest reviews - sometimes this is a low review - it happens.

Genres I review 

I love reading Children's books from 0-11 years, mostly fiction but non-fiction welcome too.

I'm reading a few Romance, Young Adult, New Adult, and Contemporary fiction

I'm actively seeking Cozy Mysteries, Amish fiction, clean reads

For all genres I prefer having a female protagonist, although will read male protagonist books too. 

Here's a list of topics I'm interested in: 

School stories - they never get old
Magic/magical creatures - there's fun to be had with magic around
Fairies/princesses - never fail to make me smile
Animal stories - somehow that's an area that I've never lost a passion for
Mysteries and quests - because I love adventureBooks that will make me laugh - I'm on a mission to keep in good spirits, and books play a vital role in that.
Anything samurai/ninja/Japanese related - such an awesome topic


I do not review the following

Horror - occasionally I will read books with mild horror in them, but this is at my discretion
Books which are of an extremely adult nature - obviously some of the Paranormal Romance, Romance, New Adult and Contemporary fiction have romance in, but I don't read anything explicit. 

Blog Tours, Author Interviews etc

I do still take part in blog tours, so if you think I'd like to read your book then please do enquire about them. I prefer giving competitions and guest blog posts to author interviews, but will do them occasionally.

Reading Challenges

These are currently dormant and will remain so for the forseeable future. 

Memes

What Are You Reading Meme? happens every Monday, with help from Gina R of the book review blog Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Nayu's News posts

These are continuing as and when I'm able to write them - I aim for at least one a week. They are often but not exclusively about what I've recently been up to, what I'll be doing over the next week, updates on my current health, and anything else I want to chat about! 

I think that's everything - if not I'll simply add to this post! As always, thanks for reading NRC. I hope you enjoy the posts here, and keep an eye out for the fun competitions which are usually international!

Naturally cute anime pics continue to feature regularly on this blog!

Blog changes

Ever since I set up this review blog over 2 years ago, I have never specialised the genres I read. I've reviewed most genres. I love so many books, I love the variety how different books suit different moods, I love sharing the diversity of books with everyone. I've steered away from generalising just because I found it hard to pick one or two genres.

I think it boils down to the fact that although I want to review every book published which comes my way, in reality I don't have enough time for that.

Last week I discovered the time frame I'm potentially looking at for finding treatment that works (I hasten to add what I have isn't terminal, it is just unusual and I'm not responding to obvious medication. I mostly blog about life 'stuff' over on my other blog, Nayu's Realm) could reach into 2012. The strategies I'd used up until now in organising my time will need to be adjusted to cope with that change.

Up until now, I've been eclectic in the books I review here. I've reviewed mostly YA books, which may make my next decision a little odd.

NRC is shortly going to become a review blog focused on children's books


For the most part gives me leeway. I love YA. I will keep reading YA. Right now I need to read books which (mostly) are a little lighter to read, which have a lot of humour in, are fun and cute. I find a lot of children's books tick all those boxes. Serious issues are explored a lot, but not necessarily to the extent of YA.

Here are the changes to my blog

• Honouring current commitments (not a change, just a notice)
• All books I've agreed to read will be read and I will participate in the relevant tours. 
• Children's books which I will be reviewing
• Picture books
• These are often the first books to be read when I receive them. I love the diversity of designs, how the pictures convey different emotion and different textures are used within the illustration. 
• 0-5 years
• Early years of childhood are precious, filled with incredible changes as each child learns more about the world and the people they love. I enjoy checking out the highly entertaining books for this age range. 
• 5-9 years
• I remember reading heaps of books during my first few years at school, and I still love reading stories for this age group, which are filled with heaps of imagination (like all books), often help the child understand a few issues by using language they'll understand. 
• 9 - 11 years/Older readers 
• Usually with less illustrations than previous books, the books in this range can address various world issues in great depth, with greater peril for the protagonists, and the enemies get very creepy. 
• There may be some overlaps with YA 
• Topics I'm particularly interested in within Children's fiction
• School stories - they never get old 
• Magic/magical creatures - there's fun to be had with magic around
• Fairies/princesses - never fail to make me smile 
• Animal stories - somehow that's an area that I've never lost a passion for
• Historicals - a genre I particularly love at the moment 
• Mysteries & quests - because I love adventure
• Books that will make me laugh - I'm on a mission to keep in good spirits, and books play a vital role in that. 
• Anything samurai/ninja/Japanese related - because it's awesome! 

I would like to note that I'm in the process of letting all my contacts know about this change in review focus. I've run out of time to send emails tonight, but I expect to have finished sending emails by the end of Wednesday 22nd June.  (updated 8.45pm 19th June)

I hope this all makes sense. Please do get in touch if you have a query, either in the comment box or via email. If you're a publisher or author whose books fit some of the options I've listed, please do get in touch with me, as I'm eager to dip further into the kaleidoscope of children's fiction. 

Changes happening on NRC: Review Policy & 2011 reading challenges

Afternoon everyone! It's a bit blustery today, but I hope you're all safe and warm, and got a book nearby.

Some of you have noticed I haven't been so active online recently. I've cut my use of Twitter down. This is mostly so that I could make the most of my day (I saved 1-2 hours just by going online (mostly) once a day).

Additionally it has been for health reasons too. For full details check out my personal blog, Nayu's Realm. In light of needing to take life a bit easier, and to prioritise where I spend most of my time (see the previous post on Nayu's Realm for more info on that too), there will be a change in the review structure here on NRC.

First of all, I will no longer aim to review a book every day. I will give a full review to 4 books a week. I will undoubtedly read many more than that. I don't want books to get missed out just because I don't have time to write full reviews for all of them. So once a week, on the What Are You Reading? meme, there will be one or two sentences with my opinion on the book, and a rating out of 10. That way I can still give my opinion on everything I read, but I'll also be saving time too.

The new schedule will look something like this. 

• Mondays: 
• What Are You Reading? meme including minimalist style review
• Tuesdays: 
• A review
• Wednesdays: 
• Every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month I'll be reviewing over on Cem's Book Hideout. All other Wednesdays will be a What Am I Watching? Meme (one I've just created). Here I'll discuss dvds I've recently watched. Expect lots of anime, US TV dramas, and occasional films. 
• Thursdays:
• Thrilling Craft Adventure Thursdays meme (yet another I've made up). On Thursday's I'll be discussing the craft projects I've been working on during the week. This will predominantly be about knitting, but will occasionally include others including cooking and writing, which is known as The Craft.   
• Fridays: 
• Foreign Language Friday! meme (another I've just made up). Each week I'll be discussing something that I find interesting about foreign languages. This will predominantly be about Japanese, but will be applicable to all other languages. It will be for everyone: hopefully it will help give you some knowledge on other cultures. Other languages to be addressed will be French and Spanish 
• Saturday: 
• A review
• Sunday: 
• A review 

I'm putting up reviews on days when I have more free time. I hope you all enjoy the other posts too. It's incorporating my hobbies alongside being a bookworm. 

That's the schedule for the blog. I have changed the review policy which is down the right hand side. In summary: 

• I will be taking on very few new authors/publishers for book reviews. 
• I have commitments with a lot of authors and publishers already. I wish to give them my full attention. I'm fortunate that I do get quite a lot of individual requests for review. I'd love to say yes to everyone, but I can no longer do that. 
• I'm still encouraging people to email me about books they wish me to review. It might just be one that really captures my interest. 
• I will almost definitely accept any books that are in the following genres: 
• Historical
• Graphic novel/manga
• Stories involving school life. 
• I'm particularly fond of these types of books at the moment. This could change over time, but I'll amend it as and when necessary. 
• I will be declining most blog tours
• All blog tours that I've agreed to participate in will go ahead as scheduled. 
• New blog tour requests from 5th February 2011 will be looked at, with the understanding that I'll only take on ones which I'm really interested in. I'm interested in them all, but they do take more time than an ordinary review (full review & minimalist review). 
• Note: if any of you spot me signing up for a blog tour, please stop me! 

That's pretty much it really. The impact on the changes will be minimal for those who I already deal with. It's more for new requests and blog tours. 

This new change will be in place from Monday 7th February 2011. I'm giving myself tomorrow as a day off :) 

As ever, I'd like to thank you all for supporting this blog, for the comments you give, and also for the books you donate. I am and always will be a book addict. I look forward to many more years of book filled fun here on Nayu's Reading Corner. 

2011 Reading Challenges

In accordance with streamlining the content on the blog, I may have to streamline the book challenges too. I'm going to try and read all the books (which will get minimalist reviews), but I'm aware that I may not necessarily get a lot read. 

Nayuleska, 4th February 2011.