If you visit this blog regularly, you will have noticed that I have been MIA. Extremely MIA. I'm starting this post with a little bit of an apology, mostly for myself, but also for you. I have been ignoring Books and Balks. I had a whole month's worth of posts planned out for May and I didn't post even half of them. Why not? I really have no excuse. I could blame work or TV or anything but, really, I have no excuse.

With that being said, I'm going to try to do better. Try being the operative word there. I'm going to start trying right now with what this post is actually supposed to be about: a layout of my reading plans for the summer. Currently, I am super into thrillers, mysteries, everything of that sort. Erotic thrillers? Into it. Psychological thrillers? Into it. Straight-up murder mysteries? INTO IT. It's getting out of control.

So, for the summer, I'm not going to really be making any structured TBR lists or On My Radar posts. Consider this a blanket On My Radar for the next several months. I'm going to be reading a lot of thrillers. There will be other things, too, but, as far as the eye can see, thrillers are on the menu. Not just YA, not just adult, not just anything. If something catches my eye, I'm going to pick it up and read it. That's how this whole thing should work, right?

For a more specific look: I'm currently reading Cam Girl by Leah Raeder (now Elliot Finley Wake) and cannot put it down. On my up-next shelf are Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica, What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan, Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter, and The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight. Sounds good to me.

Anyways, I just wanted to get some kind of post up for you guys (and for myself, really) in order to feel like I haven't completely failed at this blogging thing. Look for a new group of reviews to go up soon (I mean it, promise).

I don't really discriminate against reading certain types of books in certain types of weather, but there are definitely some titles (and authors) that scream summer fun.

I didn't do too well with my April list, so let's hope that May turns out a little bit better. I'm really excited about this month's options. And, yes, this graphic is simple as hell.

Let's talk about how Camp NaNoWriMo went.

Perhaps more accurately, let's talk about how it didn't go.

After receiving last month's Owlcrate box, I decided to try out something new: Uppercase. Like Owlcrate, Uppercase includes a newly released YA book, along with some other goodies. There is no strict theme from month-to-month, something that I actually may prefer - there is a wider range of items available each month without being tied to a certain idea. I knew that the April box (err... bag) was going to include something Harry Potter-related so I thought that I might as well give it a shot. I'm so glad I did.

The past few weeks of reading (seriously, how is April already half over) had their ups and their downs, but, really, they were pretty average.

For the final post in my Opening Week Takeover, I am joining forces with one of my best friends: Kaytlen from Bases Loaded Banter. Follow her and check out her blog and you won't regret it, I promise. Anyways, for this last post, we are doing some fun scenarios where we talk about the expectation of them versus the reality of them. I'm bringing you four negative realities, while Kaytlen will be focusing more on positive realities.

You can find her half of this collab here (some of my favorite scenarios are in that one)!

Before first pitch on this afternoon's home opener, I wanted to share with everyone some of my favorite baseball feelings. This list isn't comprehensive, of course, and I wanted to try to avoid some of the more general feelings - the feeling when the Tigers win, the feeling when our bullpen blows it. Below the cut, you'll find 5 feelings that are, hopefully, understandable and provocative of being at a baseball game (or just watching one on TV) - in no particular order.

The season has begun. Emphatically. The first two games of the Tigers' 2016 campaign took place in Miami, Florida. Sure, there were no fears of being rained out or snowed out but, as all of us fans found out, we had a lot more things to be worried about. Each of these two games featured great starting pitching (on the Detroit side) followed by not-so-great bullpen work (again, mostly on the Detroit side). Read on for more specific details and reactions.

If someone told me that they have never imagined what Hogwarts house random people would be in, I would say they were lying. If I told you that I have never imagined what Hogwarts house random baseball players would be in, I would be lying. Under the cut, I do just that for 8 of MLB's big names.

Do you ever wonder what your favorite players would be reading if they had all the time in the world? Yeah, me too. Under the cut, you will find me picking out what I think 6 of the Detroit Tigers would claim as their favorite book.

This is going to be short and sweet. Lately, I have kind of been neglecting the "balks" side of this blog. The past month has been nothing but spring training and, let's be honest, that can be kind of boring to write about. Now that the regular season is getting ready to start again, I knew that I had to reignite my baseball posts. I had a few ideas bouncing around in my head and, instead of scattering them through the month, I decided to dedicate an entire week here on Books and Balks to baseball. It's the Opening Week Takeover!

Meaningful games start tonight, which is why I am posting this introduction today. I have five other posts going up throughout the following week, some focused on the Detroit Tigers, some dealing with baseball at large. I don't want to reveal what exactly these posts will be, but I think they will be a lot of fun. Additionally, the last post of the takeover will be a collaboration with one of my best friends, Kaytlen, who has her own blog that you can find here. She will be putting up a second collab between the two of us, as well.

If you come for the books, don't fret! There will be two posts that combine my love for fiction with my love for the sport.

Watch out for the first post coming either tomorrow or Tuesday and, finally, let's play ball!

Ah, April. The time of the year when, in Michigan, the temperature can fluctuate between relatively-Spring-like temperatures and an annoyingly cold reminder of winter. April is also the month of NaNoWriMo's (National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as November) Spring Camp session and it snuck up on me like a cat stalking its prey. I was going to be prepared, I told myself. I had a schedule, a plan. I would have an outline finished, I would have locations and minor character details and I would be ready. That's not what happened.

I have a lot of blogging planned for April. I also have work, TV shows to watch (mainly Fixer Upper - I have downloaded all of the episodes because my life is a mess), and watercolors to paint with. April is also Camp NaNoWriMo (more to come on that tomorrow), which, let's be honest, I'm not entirely prepared for. Of course, reading will be happening somewhere in the middle of all of that.

It's been a while, and I've been extremely inconsistent with my reading lately, but I do have 6 books to talk about today.

In the last week and a half of February, I fell into a deep disinterested reading slump. Needless to say, my stats are not that impressive. I read 7 books for a total of 2626 pages. My average rating was 3.21 stars. Out of those 7 books, my favorite was Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys and my least favorite was A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly. I only read 3 of the 6 books that were on my February OMR and completed 3 Popsugar challenge prompts.

The baseball aspect of this blog is a whole lot of Tigers and, well, that's about it. You, my dear readers, may be surprised to discover that I do, in fact, have favorite players in MLB on teams that are not located in Detroit. Did I just blow all of your minds? The following five are players that I - in no particular order - admire for a variety of different reasons, even if their team may not be my cup of tea.

I haven't finished a book in a week. That might not sound so bad, so let's give it some context. In the first week of February, I finished four books and started another one. I read some of these at the same time, at least parts of them, but, still. Four books in seven days is, for me, a good reading week. Three books in a week is about my normal pace. But. I haven't finished any book that I have started in the past seven days. It isn't fun.

In all honesty, I don't get books recommended to me in the way that this topic probably refers to. In other words, I don't have a lot of bookish friends "in real life" that I discuss books with and get recommendations from (apart from my sister) and, in the same vein, I don't really get recommendations from friends online, either. Really, I'm a reading lone wolf (read: I'm too awkward to approach other bookish minds and strike up a conversation). Anyways, for this topic, I'm going to be discussing books that I found out about more indirectly; these titles weren't mentioned to me, specifically, but it is possible I wouldn't have found out about them or read them otherwise. On with the list.

I knew that I wanted to make a Valentine's Day-related post in which I talk about some of my most cherished OTPs (One True Pairing), but I didn't know that this idea would develop into a larger idea of a series that I am now calling In Honor Of(...). Basically, I will be inspired by a holiday, a time, an event in general, or even a specific feeling and come up with a (mostly) bookish list that relates to this inspiration. Simple enough. What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with a discussion of OTPs?

When it comes to reading young adult literature, a big complaint is that readers who are out of their teenage years may not connect to the character and the stories as much. While I read and love a lot of YA, this concern does, at times, affect what I like to read; as much as I want to create an equal balance between YA and adult fiction, I can go weeks reading only YA followed by weeks of just adult novels. This quest for a stability in my reading habits has me wondering: if I read more adult fiction to get away from the tropes and similarities of YA, why am I drawn to books that feature younger and younger main characters, despite their classification as "adult?"

For some people, the question of "who's your Tiger?" is easily answered. It's Miguel Cabrera. It's Justin Verlander. For me, it isn't that easy. When I'm asked that question, the wheels start spinning. Is it the one player I own a shirsey for? Is it the one who plays the most games? Is it the one who rides the bench most nights, flashing beautiful blue eyes? If I find myself at Comerica Park this summer, who will get the loudest cheer from me? Let's break down the candidates (listed in order from L-R in the above graphic).

To close out January and welcome February, I had a great couple of reading weeks (with the exception of one book). Before I get into those details though, I want to go over my total January reading statistics. Normally I would do this in my On My Radar post for the next month but, oops, I forgot.

In January, I read 12 books for a total of 4774 pages. My average rating was 3.42 stars. Out of those 12 books, my favorite was most definitely Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin and my least favorite was Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. I read all 8 of the books that were on my January TBR and completed 5 Popsugar challenge prompts.

I love books and I love board games. I like creating tags. I searched YouTube and the general internet and didn't find anything like this so, without further ado, I present the Board Game Book Tag! Below are 8 games and prompts or questions that somehow relate to that game. Simple enough. I tag anyone and everyone! All I ask is that you link back to my blog for credit and that you comment on this post (or let me know on Twitter, Tumblr, whatever) that you did the tag. I would love to read or watch what you guys come up with! Without further ado...

As you can probably tell, I decided to be ambitious and change up how Books and Balks looks. I'm really enjoying this simple yet elegant theme, and I particularly like the pop of the turquoise logo against the white background. There may still be some small tweaks coming and if you see any problems with the blog, please let me know!

And, yes, the new layout/page dimensions did mess up all of my previous graphics (only on the main page, once you are on that post's page they are back to normal), but I know the new dimensions I need now so the future graphics will not be all stretched out and blurry.

Hope you enjoy! There are some exciting posts coming up this month so stay tuned!

This is essentially a TBR but I wanted to give it a new name. With TBRs, I usually end up reading a couple of books on the list and then reading a bunch that weren't on the list or I spend so much time making it that I follow it religiously and feel horrible if I don't get to all of the titles. With this new On My Radar heading, I'm removing the weight that the words "to be read" carry. I don't want there to be any pressure with my reading; instead, this list will serve as suggestions for how my month will look. I will still be utilizing the New Releases, On My Shelf (randomly plucked from my unread titles basket [or if something on my shelf is standing out to me]), and Popsugar Challenge subheadings, but I will try not to be so strict in having to get to all of those titles each month.

I have still been enjoying reading but, as of late, it has been feeling very mechanical. I finish one book, rate it, review it, pick up another book. Repeat. I feel like this will only lead to a slump if I keep picking names off of a list with no regard to what I actually feel like reading at that moment. So, yeah, this is pretty much a TBR but with a different name and a different expectation. Who knows if it will actually change anything!

With the countdown to Spring Training shrinking by the minute (less than a month, guys!), my hopes and dreams for the Tigers' 2016 season are growing. We have added players, subtracted players. We have pushed 2015 aside and forgotten the pain that it caused us - wait, have we? Either way, it all comes down to this: there are new games to be played. Here is what I hope will happen.

As always, I'm throwing a twist on this topic. My list is composed of 4 books that have beautiful covers and not-so-beautiful insides and one series that is absolutely lovely but has covers that are, eh, disappointing (because I couldn't really come up with five legitimate answers).

In these two-ish weeks, I read 5 books. I gave a couple of them lower ratings and the other three higher ratings so, overall, I would say that I am happy with my reading over the last little bit of January.

I know myself. I know myself so well that I know if I try to post a full review here for every book I read, it won't happen. It will start out fine - nice formatted posts, lots of nice words, some cute little star ratings. Then, it will end, just as quickly as it began. "It's too much work to post a review on both my blog and Goodreads," I will say. I will be lying. It's not too much work. I just don't want to do it. Instead, I will do this: flash reviews. Every two weeks (or so), I will do a roundup of the reviews that I have written during that period of time. I will link to my full review and just do a short summary here. Sound good? Great.

Yeah, yeah, Top 5 Wednesday was created in the book community and probably mostly meant for bookish things but I just can't put up a list of my top 5 fandoms if I don't include non-book-related ones. Sorry 'bout it!

Following my new 2016 reading goals, this TBR will be broken up into several sections. As always, these books aren't set in stone; if I'm not feeling a particular book, I won't pick it up - simple as that. I did start this month's list a little bit early (I just couldn't wait!); I picked up The Girl of Fire and Thorns on December 30th and I am roughly 150 pages in.

My January TBR consists of 8 books: