July Wrap-Up of All the Things!

Hey! I’m back from camp now and I was welcomed home by books and a new month! Camp was really fun, but it’s good to be home now. I’m still catching up on replying to everyone and making sure I see everything but we’re getting there. The scheduled posts I had planned went on (although one on the wrong day), so that’s good. I’m glad you guys seemed to like them, but that’s not what this is about. So, without further ado…

Hello!  Welcome to my very first monthly wrap-up of all the things!  I can’t believe it’s a new month already… who would’ve Au-guessed that the year would go this quickly?  (Sorry, I’ll save the bad puns for September.  As of right now, I’m planning to have four sections in all of my wrap-ups: things that happened on my blog, a summary of everything that I read, my TBR for the next month, all the books I got in the month, and my plans for the future. That’s a lot of things (this is, after all, a wrap-up of all the things) and we all know I like to blabber on and on so here we go!

BLOG ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Today is actually (practically) my one-month blogaversary.  Tuesday, June 30 literally minutes from when the WordPress timezone changes and it becomes a new day I decided to start a book blog.  I got it set up and then the day changed and suddenly it was July 1.  That is why in my “Blogwarts: A History” archives there is a June, 2015 with literally nothing there (besides maybe my About?).  I’ve tried starting book blog-y things (like a BookTube for which only one introduction video was created – literally the most cringe-y thing ever) but I’ve never lasted this long before.  I plan on lasting a lot longer.

This month included the first time I was approached directly by an author to review their book, the first time I got approved for an ARC on an ARC requesting website, and the first time I emailed a publisher for an ARC and had them reply and send one to me.

Also this month I hit 200 followers, which is absolutely ridiculous and amazing so thank you so much.  I also hit 600 followers on my bookstagram, which was so cool.  My Twitter is still pretty floppy but I’m working on it.  I’ve connected with so many awesome people already and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

(end cheesy cliché statements and dramatic background music)

the books that i read

This month I read a pretty good number of books.  I think I’ve been motivated to read more because I’ve discovered that I really like reviewing books but I can’t review them if I haven’t read them.  In total, I read and reviewed…

8.25 novels:
Miss Match by Erynn Mangum
Rematch by Erynn Mangum
Match Point by Erynn Mangum
The Heir by Kiera Cass
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
And I read 75 pages of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews before I DNF

1 novella:
Fairest by Marissa Meyer

1 speech:
Neil Gaiman’s “Make Good Art” speech by Neil Gaiman

In total this month my brain consumed 3290 pages of what was – for the most part – fantastic writing.  I also read about 20% of an ARC e-book copy of One of the Few by Jason B. Ladd, sent to me by the author, and 50-ish pages of The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider.

AUGUST TBR

This is actually the first time I’ve ever made a written out TBR, mainly because in past months literally nobody would care what I was reading (that might still be true now, feel free to crush my spirit in the comments).  There is a small chance I’ll read all of these books, there’s a large chance that I won’t read any of them.  My mood for what I want to read changes constantly, but here is, at least, what I’m hoping I’ll read in August:

1. One of the Few by Jason B. Ladd – I want to finish this book from July
2. The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider – I also want to finish this one
2. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas – I didn’t absolutely love Throne of Glass but a lot of people say the third book is their favorite so I want to at least get there and then see how I feel. (P.S., I’m kind of fuzzy on how Throne of Glass ended but I don’t really want to reread it so if anyone knows of a good website or can summarize it for me that would be amazing)
3. Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen – I’ve never had a Sarah Dessen book sit on my shelf unread for this long.  What is wrong with me?  I need to get on it.
4. Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy – I’ve had this book for a while and it seems light and fun so I think I’ll be in the mood for it at some point in August.
5.  A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray – I’ve owned this entire series for so long and I haven’t touched it so I think it’s time to jump in
6. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare – Because I’ve gotta know what happens next!
7. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson – I want to start reading the Mistborn series soon but I don’t think I’m ready to make such a large commitment so instead I think I’ll start getting a feel for his writing in this smaller, easier novel.
8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – I haven’t read this classic yet and I’ve been wanting to.  This one’s pretty iffy, classics take forever for me to read and I don’t know if I’ll be in the mood but we’ll see
9. The Marvels by Brian Selznick – I received this book as a physical ARC for review and I definitely want to read it very soon

So that’s my basic outline!  I might read less, I might read more.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

JULY BOOKHAUL

Before I get started, let me just warn you that my July bookhaul is embarrassingly large. I’m not always like this, I promise.  In fact, I’m now entering a book-buying ban.  However, I did a ton of babysitting this month and BookOutlet had lots of great deals. About half of these came right at the beginning of the month and actually were supposed to come last month.  I didn’t buy any books last month and… what’s the point?  I collect books.  Sorry.

If you want to hear my thoughts on some of this books in more detail, I talked about them in this Top Ten Tuesday post.

1. Landline by Rainbow Rowell
2. Save the Date by Jenny B. Jones
3. Just Between You and Me by Jenny B. Jones
4. There You’ll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones
5. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
6. Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
7. Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
8. The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider
9. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
10. The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
11. The Vow by Jessica Martinez
12. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
13. Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Coutts
14. The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas
15. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
16. The Host by Stephanie Meyer
17. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
18. Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
19. Neil Gaiman’s “Make Good Art” Speech by Neil Gaiman
20. The Chance by Karen Kingsbury
21. Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
22. Fire with Fire by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian
23. How to Love by Katie Cotugno
24. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
25. Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
26. The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett
27. The Nightmare Dilemma by Mindee Arnett
28. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
29. The Symptoms of My Insanity by Mindy Raf
30. One of the Few by Jason B. Ladd (e-book ARC sent by author)
31. The Marvels by Brian Selznick (ARC sent by publisher)
32. Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout (won in a giveaway)
33. Autumn Brides by a collection of authors (A finished but not yet released copy was sent to me by the publisher through Book Look Bloggers)

Yes, I know it’s really, really ridiculous to acquire 33 books in a month.  It was an accident, I swear.  Also, I didn’t pay full price for any of these books (#thanksBookOutlet)  I’m now entering a book-buying ban that only exempts pre-determined preorders the next book in a series that I am currently reading.  The struggle is real.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

I don’t have too many specific plans for the future other than to just keep reading and blogging.  However, looking super far ahead, I do think it would be really fun to host a read-along.  It wouldn’t be for a while but I wanted to mention it now to see if anyone had interest.  I was thinking of hosting a read-along/reread party of the Lunar Chronicles starting in the second week of October-ish, reading through all of the books again and then discussing and making prediction posts to get ready for the release of Winter on November 11.  I don’t know, maybe it’s stupid.  But if you’d be interested in participating or being a co-host or something, let me know in the comments!  I think it’d be a fun way to refresh our memories of everything that happened in the Lunar Chronicles and for people who haven’t read them before to jump on the bandwagon without feeling left out.  I don’t know, it’s just a thought.
And, while you’re here, I might as well take the time to shamelessly promote myself so that you can keep up with all of the things:
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads

---

So that was my first wrap-up!  Hopefully I’ll stick with blogging for a long time and you’ll be seeing many more of those in the future.

Thanks for reading! 🙂