July Wrap-Up
July, for me, was a bit of a nothing month. I honestly feel like I did nothing at all for those entire 31 days. I mean, it was a half holiday and half starting back at school month, but that's hardly an excuse.
The most exiting thing that happened was probably the fact that I got myself into the Twitter world. Yeah, that's right - after simply ages and ages of procrastinating, I have finally done it. And I am so glad I did. It's a fantastic way to stay in touch with the bookish community - bloggers, authors and publishers alike - and talk to some bloggy friends. I don't know why I put it off for so long! Anyway, please feel free to tweet me, @rach_lightwood - I love hearing from you all, and seeing what your up to. I plan on using it more so I can keep you up to date with what's happening hear on the blog.
Anyway, I did manage to get a bit of reading done - which is actually just me trying to be a little modest, seeing as I read TWENTY-TWO books this month. A number that I am very, very happy with, and honestly a little blown away. That's quite a lot of books for me!
The Recent Reads (most of them anyway):
Links are to my reviews, in case you want to know my thoughts about them.
Links are to my reviews, in case you want to know my thoughts about them.
Six Impossible Things | Wicked | Fairest: Levana's Story | Fearless
**************************************************************************
**************************************************************************
Monthly Reading Stats:
Best series: the Mind Games series by Kiersten White. It completely took me by surprise! I had no idea what it was about going into it, but as soon as I started it drew me in and I had a major bookish hangover after my little marathon of it. The characters were simply incredible and the writing was to die for. It deserves more attention!
Best sequel: Although both P.S. I Still Love You and Fairest took me by surprise (I wasn't a fan of the other books in their series), I'd have to say The Battle of Skandia, book four of the Ranger's Apprentice series. It was just so good: the characters, the setting, the story.... the whole series is just bloody brilliant. I managed to read the first six books of it this month and boy is it addictive! Again, it deserve so much more attention than it gets.
Best standalone/series starter: I'd have to The Potion Diaries, which I buddy read with Rachel (@bookishwonderland). It took me by surprise! I really loved the scavenger-hunt aspect of it and it really made me laugh. A fantastic debut. I cannot wait for the sequel!
Worst book of the month: Easily The Astrologer's Daughter. Thanks to Text Publishing for the review copy, but this was just really, really not for me. The writing didn't work for me, and you just cannot have an
**************************************************************************
What happened on the blog this month?
- Aneesa tagged me in the Would You Rather tag
- ARC August commences today and I decided to participate, though my TBR has completely changed already
- I'm highly anticipated Eric Lindstrom's Not If I See You First and Amy Zhang's This is Where the World Ends
- We celebrated diversity in YA books and I recommended ten of my favourites
- I admit to some hyped books I still haven't picked up
I managed to read one of them this month... go me!
- I made a bucket list of things I have to do this year
- I drooled over July's new releases... and I didn't end up reading any of them
**************************************************************************
Next Month:
Like I mentioned before, this month is ARC August... and I am participating! What is ARC August? Well, it is kind of a month long readathon to motivate you to catch up on your ARCs before the crazy half of the years begins. You can see my TBR here, but I am not being too strict about it. I want this to be a fun way of catching up on my reviews so I am not weighing myself down with schedules or anything.
If I was perfect, I'd say that I was only going to read ARCs all month, but I know that isn't going to happen. What I will say that is for every non-ARC I read, I'll try and match it with an ARC. Does that makes sense? I hope so. Oh, and if that works I think I might even try and keep that up for the rest of the year. I am really, really behind on review copies at the moment so it seems like a good idea.
Are you guys participating? Do you have a strategy too?
*************************************************************************
Well, that was my July. What did you end up reading? Anything good, worth recommending? My recommend of the month is probably Minds Games by Kiersten White.
Let me know in the comments below!
Yayyy you're participating in ARC August, I hope you enjoy it Rachel! Loved the wrap up, I'm so glad you got Twitter! It's been great chatting to you on there. You read heaps of books this month, a shame about Astrologer's Daughter because I still have to read that one. I'm looking forward to the Potion Diaries now!
ReplyDeleteI"m sooo excited about ARC August. It exactly what I needed to motivate myself into getting through my enormous ARC pile! Thanks Jeann, I'm loving Twitter sooo much. It so great to be able to talk to you all - well, more easily talk to you all - and I love interacting with authors!! Thanks for the encouragement. <3
DeleteI got to read so much last month, I am so happy! It was because of holidays but I am just glad that I was able to make a dent - not matter how tiny! - in my TBR pile. Hopefully you'll enjoy the Astrogloger's Daughter more than I did - the writing really just did my head in but it is Australian so...?? Oh and The Potion Diaries was really sweet IMO. I hope you enjoy it too! :)
OMG How did you read so many books :O :O Red Queen has to be one of my favorite fantasy books. I know some people disagree with me because it had a cheap writing style and was like any other dystopian book but something about the concept of different bloods really got me into the story. And plus, I loved plot twists :D Awesome wrap up!
ReplyDeleteAlex @ The Book's Buzz & Diamond's Reads
I don't even know! I guess the mixture of a lot free time from school holidays and my large TBR pile just worked...?
DeleteI do understand why you loved Red Queen! I actually enjoyed it myself, but I can also see why so many people hated it. The plot twists were pretty great, I agree, and the blood types thing was awesome too. I always love a great X-Men-like fantasy, and the different powers thing mixed with royalty was a nice twist, I though. :)