Welcome to this month’s Curated Bookshelf! November means Thanksgiving here in the States and, while books featuring food sounds delicious, I’m choosing to highlight the books I’ve been thankful for since I started blogging about books.
Back when I restarted The Lily Cafe at the beginning of 2018, it was just with the vague idea that I needed something just for me, something to show that I was more than just a stay at home mom. I had a toddler and a baby, and could see no end in sight to my staying at home (a few years later I’m still at home, but thinking about that is for another time). In that time, I’ve “met” so many wonderful bloggers, read so many interesting things, and learned about a whole world out there.
It started with starting to follow book blogs instead of just primarily mom blogs. Even though I’d started off posting book reviews about once a week, it wasn’t until later in the year when I discovered book blogging. When I noticed all these people writing about books, I started to read about something called NetGalley. It started on a whim, because my baby wasn’t such a baby anymore and was dearly missing her brother who was off in preschool so much that she decided to take a nap on me one morning. With nothing else to do, I checked out that site and slowly edged my way into book blogging.
Since then, I’ve had so many opportunities and have read so many books I probably would never have heard of or even decided to pick up on my own. I’ve become so thankful to all the authors, publicists, and people working behind the scenes for publishers for letting me read some really amazing books. But it’s been more than that. It’s been quite an experience to see my reviews quoted on Amazon, author websites, a publisher’s website, and even in a print book. It boggles my mind, but I’m so thankful for everything book blogging has brought into my life, as well as the lives of my children (I’m so excited my son was granted his first eARC, and that he isn’t fighting me on reading it!).
This month, I’ll be highlighting 18 books I’m thankful for. Sometimes it’s just from the pure shock of having a publisher approve a request, sometimes it was the start to something more, and sometimes it taught me something or opened my children’s eyes to the world of books.
Throughout this month, I’ll be giving each book its own Highlight post. I’ll discuss why I chose that particular book as well as put a spotlight on it, other reviews, and multiple purchase links. As I mentioned when I first introduced The Curated Bookshelf, I won’t earn a cent if you choose to use one of the links to purchase a book (I am not affiliated with any purchase sites), but the author/publisher will. Choose wisely?
I’m excited to share the 15 books I’ve chosen, and they’ll remain on the shelf until November 30th. On December 1st, there will be a new set of books and a new theme.
Feel free to check out all the books I’ll be highlighting on The Curated Bookshelf from the menu or via this link.
Thank you, and I hope you enjoy November’s books!
The Lily Cafe 