This month I read eight books, including one reread (do you ever have those times when everything is just moving so quickly, you need to take a few days with a favorite book?). Lonna @ FLYLēF and I are in the midst of the Comment Challenge we created for the summer and it’s going really well. If you haven’t joined and would like to, details are below. I got some amazing book mail this month, including a few ARCs I won from ArmchairBEA back in May, which is all kinds of awesome. I also did a bit of a book unhaul with my shelves. How is it I run out of room so quickly? I now have a big box I need to take to my library to donate. I did my second book haul of the year and it was a doozy. I’m actually contemplating a book buying ban until October. Scary stuff. Overall, June was a really good month, but my goodness, it’s been hot!
(Book covers below are linked to my reviews, unless otherwise specified.)
Favorite Book This Month:
Kiersten White’s And I Darken was quite the surprise. I did not expect to like it as much as I did, it’s so different and dark, and the protagonist might be an extremely problematic character, but I loved her anyways.
Least Favorite Book This Month:
I requested Gwenda Bond’s Girl in the Shadows on a whim on NetGalley not too long ago and even though it’s part of a series that I haven’t read, this was sort of like a standalone. Unfortunately, I did not fall in love with this one. The characters and overall development of the plot just never did it for me. My review for this one should be up tomorrow. Cover above is linked to Goodreads.
Other Reviews Posted This Month:
Mini Reviews:
I did another set of mini reviews this month for Daniel José Older’s Shadowshaper and Rick Riordan’s Sea of Monsters. You can read some quick thoughts I had on both here.
Books Read But Not Reviewed Yet:
There are several books I read this month that I didn’t get a chance to post reviews for, but expect all these to have reviews go up on the blog in July. Covers below are linked to Goodreads.
Kernels of Nonsense:
Once again, I only got around to putting together one discussion post. This month, in reaction to the Twitter drama I’ve been coming across for the last couple of months, I wrote Kernels of Nonsense: The Perils of the Twitter Grapevine, where I discuss how I feel about the social media platform.
Favorite Blog Meme Posts This Month:
It’s no secret that I’m absolutely in love with Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle, so I took the opportunity in Top Ten Tuesday: How Do I Love the Raven Cycle? Let Me Count the Ways to share some of the reasons why this is one of my favorite series.
Reading Challenges Recap:
So I decided not to do a Reading Challenges Recap post for this month because I only picked up a single book toward my goals. Instead, I thought I’d include it here. Maren @ The Worn Bookmark is hosting the Read My Books Challenge as a way for bloggers to read more of the books they own. This month I picked up The Steep & Thorny Way by Cat Winters, making my total number toward this goal 14 (my yearly goal is 30).
Other Notable Posts This Month:
Transatlantic Book Project: US Round One Recap – Take a look at the book project that’s been in the works since last November. Two books are traveling around the US and UK to ten bloggers and each is taking the opportunity to read and annotate them.
2016 Second Quarter Book Haul – I stopped doing monthly book hauls in order to minimize my book buying and it really helped the first three months of the year, but the last three…well, I ended up with a lot of books.
Things I’m Looking Forward to in July:
The Comment Challenge – The final month to participate in the Comment Challenge, co-hosted by Lonna @ FLYLēF and myself approaches. In order to spread comment love and also challenge ourselves to be more active with comments, we are pairing bloggers together and for the whole month, partners will comment and engage on each other’s blogs. If you’d like to sign up for August, head on over here. Sign-ups will be closing on the 21st of this month for August. For July, I have the privilege of having two comment partners. I will commenting on Nicka @ Readbynicka and Liam @ Panorama of the Mountains’s blogs throughout the month and I’m all kinds of excited!
Aentee @ Read at Midnight is hosting Potterhead July, a blog festival dedicated to our favorite boy wizard and company. If you know anything about me, you know that I’m a huge Harry Potter fan. There’s a huge number of posts going up during the month around the blogosphere. If you are interesting in taking a look, follow the Twitter #PotterheadJuly. My post will go up Monday, July 18th.
July Releases I’m Looking Forward To:
How was your June? What was your favorite read of the month? Let me hear from you in the comments and feel free to leave me a link to your own wrap-up post and I’ll be sure to visit.
I didn’t read a lot of books, but they were mostly books I loved and couldn’t put down. Enjoy your July!
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That’s always the best case scenarios when you don’t pick up a lot of books. Quality over quantity, right?
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I’m so excited for harry potter and the cursed child and p.s. I like you! My wrap up is here: https://calliopethebookgoddess.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/june-2016-wrap-up/
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I have very high expectations for HP and yes, more Kasie West please!
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It’s a great list. We have a lot of overlap.
https://coffeeandcatsblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/june-2016-wrap-up/
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I’m glad to hear it!
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I already said it but will mention it again: can’t wait for P.S. I Like You to come out! 😀
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Haha! It never hurts to mention a book more than once 🙂
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My gosh you’ve been busy. I suppose I have me to blame for part of that. 😉 But you can’t deny it’s been fun. 😀 I couldn’t sleep last night. My last thought (@ approx 2am) was of throwing a book party, and that one of the drinks would be named And I Darken. There were some other random thoughts too. Ha ha. Looks like I need to get my hands on that book soon, or that drink. Which ever comes first.
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I actually wanted to take part in blogging events with more blogger interaction this summer, so really I should be thanking you (thank you!). Ha! And I Darken would be a really good name for a drink and a book party sounds fantastic. Oh man, I can’t wait for you to read it, there is this one quote from Lada that gets me every time. I will share it with you once you pick it up.
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Hi Alicia! I like the scenario for Dark Days Club. I’m going to read your Top Ten Tuesday on The Raven Cycle now. I still plan to read it – somewhere, somehow, someday. My favourite read for June was 11/22/63 by Stephen King. You can read my June InkStains on my blog!
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Hello! Oh man, the Raven Cycle is one of my favorite series, I hope you get a chance to pick it up. Can’t go wrong with Stephen King!
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Oh my, you had quite the busy month! I’ve been hearing so many people rave about And I Darken, and I can’t wait to read it. I’m glad to hear you liked it. After reading this post, I’m going to be adding some more books to my TBR list, ha ha:) The Bachelor Girl’s Guide to Murder, which is a seriously awesome title, is definitely going to jump to the top half of my TBR list.
I think it’s wonderful you’re participating in so many different challenges and partnerships with other readers and bloggers. I’m going to go check out the Comment Challenge right now.
Happy reading!
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Oh yes, And I Darken was so good. I was really excited to share my thoughts after finishing it. Love the title for Bachelor Girl’s Guide, it was what first caught my attention about it. I hope you join us for August for the Comment Challenge, it’s been an amazing experience so far. Thank you for visiting and commenting!
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is just around the corner now. So excited about it 😀 http://www.curious-daisy.com/wrap-up/june-reading-wrap-up/
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Counting down the days like everyone else.
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Hi Alicia! It seems that you had a very productive month, I’m also excited about the PotterheadJuly posts, my favorite read last month was Pretty Girl 13 by Liz Coley ☺️ We have the same anticipated releases for July, yay!
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Yes, I’ve already read a handful of the Potterhead July posts and they are wonderful. Just looked up Pretty Girl-13 and it sounds crazy, but in a very good way. I hope we both enjoy the new July releases!
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Great post! I cannot WAIT to read And I Darken (not to mention HPATCC) and I’m headed to check out some of the posts you mentioned now!
-Amy
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And I Darken pretty much blew me away, it was so good. I haven’t read Cursed Child yet myself, but hopefully soon!
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Yay! I’m so glad to hear that.
Same here; I have ten books that are due in a few days at the library (and I’m going on vacation) so… I will probably read it on vacation. 😉
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