Monthly Wrap-Up: September ’19

As most of you know, I didn’t have a very good month for personal reasons. I won’t be talking about them here, but if you are curious, you can take a look at this post. I’ve come back to blogging to get my mind off of things for a while, so I’ll just be talking books. I somehow was able to finish six books this month and while I haven’t really worked on a lot of new posts, including reviews, my series, Talk Chisme to Me, for Latinx Heritage Month has still been a pleasure to put up. Just a heads up that even though October is here and it’s usually my favorite time of the year where I put together my “October Fright” posts, this year I just do not have the energy to do so. It’s also worth noting here that I am currently running a Twitter giveaway, you can check out the tweet here.

(Book covers below are linked to my reviews, unless otherwise specified.) 

Favorite Book This Month:

My favorite read in September was With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. I listened to the audio book of this one and honestly, if this author narrated all the books, I might forgo reading physical books permanently. Hoping I can find the brain power to write a review of this one. Cover linked to Goodreads.

Least Favorite Book This Month:

No books received less than three stars from me this month.

Books I Read, Review (Maybe) Coming Soon:

(Covers linked to Goodreads)

Talk Chisme To Me: Latinx Heritage Month Series

Talk Chisme to Me, Part I: The TBR – What did I plan to read during Latinx Heritage Month? Take a look at my list!

Talk Chisme to Me, Part II: Favorite Books By Latinx Authors I Read This Past Year – In need of some recommendations, so you can support Latinx authors all year long? Check out this post!

Talk Chisme to Me, Part III: New & Upcoming Releases – This year I have 70+ books on my list, so you have no excuse not to read some books by Latinx authors this upcoming year.

Reading Challenges:

Aside from the Goodreads challenge, I’m only taking part in one reading challenge. I might just stop updating this challenge because I’ve lost all motivation when it comes to it.

1. The Beat the Backlist Challenge 2019 is hosted by NovelKnight. Nada.

• Challenge Goal: 10 books; Current Count: 4 books

October Releases I’m Excited For:

  Which October release are you most excited about? How are you celebrating Latinx Heritage 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.

Advertisements

Monthly Wrap-Up: August ’19

I had the single most productive month I’ve had in years. I read almost twice as many books as I usually pick up and almost finished all of my posts for my upcoming Latinx Heritage Month series. I am also on a book buying ban which I am hoping lasts until November. Not sure I am going to make it that far, but here’s hoping. In August I picked up nine books. I wanted to make sure I had time to work on some blog-related content, so I aimed for more lighthearted reads and let myself off the hook when it came to reviews. It was so NICE. I have a really ambitious upcoming TBR for Latinx Heritage Month (I have so much planned, I am so excited, I can barely contain it!!!), so it was nice to give myself a little break beforehand. I have really high hopes for September and can’t wait to read all the books. I hope I didn’t just jinx myself though.

(Book covers below are linked to my reviews, unless otherwise specified.) 

Favorite Book This Month:

My favorite read in August was Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I buddy read it with Jocelyn @ yogi with a book. We have something special to share on the Latinx Book Club’s blog which I’m really excited about. If you’re a fan of music, nostalgia, and magic, this is an incredible debut by one of my favorite authors. Cover linked to Goodreads.

Least Favorite Book This Month:

No books received less than three stars from me this month.

Reviews Posted This Month:

Books I Read, But Didn’t Review:

(Covers linked to Goodreads)

Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine – Rating: 4/5

America, Vol. 1: The Life and Times of America Chavez by Gabby Rivera, Illustrated by Joe Quiñones – Rating: 4/5

Prime Meridian by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Rating: 4/5

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang – Rating: 4/5

I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest – Rating: 3/5

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole – Rating: 4/5 

Reviews to Come:

(Covers linked to Goodreads)

 

Reading Challenges:

Aside from the Goodreads challenge, I’m only taking part in one reading challenge. Uuuuuhhhh….I’m not even sure I have the motivation to keep trying to accomplish this goal. Whoops.

1. The Beat the Backlist Challenge 2019 is hosted by NovelKnight. None 😦

• Challenge Goal: 10 books; Current Count: 4 books

September Releases I’m Excited For:

 

How was your August? Do you have anything special planned for September? 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.

Monthly Wrap-Up: July ’19 + I’m Back from My Hiatus!

So, it’s been quite a while, huh? I really enjoyed my break from the blog, so much so that I could actually see myself stepping away from it in the future. I’m in my fifth year of blogging and I never really considered when I would stop blogging, but I always thought I couldn’t picture it and now I can. This doesn’t mean I’m quite ready to do so, but I’m in a place where if I needed to, I think I could. I spent a large part of July still dealing with that pesky reading slump. I tried so many different things and they didn’t always fit. But I am happy to report the slump has ended and I really want to pick up all the books.

I read five physical novels, one graphic novel, a book of poetry, and listened to one audiobook. Two of these were rereads and were probably the best part of my July in terms of reading. The next couple of days I will be trying to catch on any comments I might have missed as well as visiting your blogs because I missed you all. I have a lot of plans for Latinx Heritage Month coming in September and am going to say right now that I might not post very much in August because I have so many things I need to work on for LHM. I am really happy to be back and am just panicking a little about all the stuff I need get done. *nervous laughter*

(Book covers below are linked to my reviews, unless otherwise specified.) 

Favorite Book This Month:

My favorite read in July was my reread of The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. I listened to the audiobook for Latinx Book Club and this book somehow got better. It was already a five-star read for me, but the narration by Elizabeth Acevedo blew me away. If you haven’t gotten a chance to check out the audiobook, it is a MUST. Cover linked to Goodreads.

Least Favorite Book This Month:

No books received less than three stars from me this month.

Other Books I Read This Month:

The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg: 4/5

Fake It Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen: 3/5

Conflict Resolutions for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo: 4/5

Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza: 4/5 (reread)

Blood of a Thousand Stars by Rhoda Belleza: 4/5 *review to come*

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig: 3/5 *review to come*

An Affair of Poisons by Addie Thorley: 3/5 *review to come*

Reading Challenges:

Aside from the Goodreads challenge, I’m only taking part in one reading challenge.

1. The Beat the Backlist Challenge 2019 is hosted by NovelKnight. I am failing at this challenge and I am failing bad. Haven’t picked up a book for this in a while.

• Challenge Goal: 10 books; Current Count: 4 books

August Releases I’m Excited For:

 

How was your July? Did you miss me like I missed you? Share a link of your favorite post in July! 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.

Monthly Wrap-Up: June ’19

June was not my month. Everything started out so great and I was on schedule to read more books than I usually average and then BAM! The dreaded reading slump hit me. And nothing and I mean nothing appealed to me. On top of that, I found it really hard to focus on other things as well. I’ve been trying to get everything done in time for my hiatus, but the motivation just kind of disappeared. But then I recovered and read another book (a non-fiction one!!!), making books read in June at that time a total of four. Not too bad considering that huge slump and I could totally get another book done, right? Wrong! I ended up having the worse migraine I’ve had in months. Finally recovered from that and then BAM again! I got sick and got another migraine that took me out for a few days. I finally feel better and I’m just really anxious for both my body and mind to be in a good place. I still haven’t been able to start another book since finishing my last a few days ago and probably won’t until I feel completely better.

Great time for a hiatus though, right? Tomorrow I will be officially announcing my hiatus, but for those who will only see this post, I will be gone from the blog for the entire month of July!

(Book covers below are linked to my reviews, unless otherwise specified.) 

Favorite Book This Month:

I was tempted to go with the nonfiction book, but had to go with Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s upcoming release Gods of Jade and Shadow. I am enchanted with this one and cannot wait to hold the physical copy in my hands. Click on the cover to read my review!

Least Favorite Book This Month:

No books received less than three stars from me this month.

Other Reviews Posted This Month:

Read, Review Coming in August:

(Cover linked to Goodreads)

Books I Didn’t Review:

I wasn’t very good with the reading or the reviewing this month. Cover is linked to Goodreads.

I picked up Sandhya Menon’s There’s Something About Sweetie early in June and was so delighted with it. I’m so glad we are starting to see more fat protagonists who are also PoC. I think people forget that being a part of a marginalized race or ethnic group makes your experience being fat, disabled, queer, etc inherently different than your white counterparts. Rating: 4/5

Strangely the only book I could read during my slump/migraine/cold days (weeks?) was a non-fiction book. Te-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and it was freaking fantastic. I could not stop reading (when I wasn’t dying) and will definitely be reaching for more from him. Rating: 5/5

Notable Blog Posts This Month:

Latinx Book Club: July’s Book Club Pick – These announcements will be appearing on the Latinx Book Club blog from now on. I’m really excited to be hosting next month, so despite my hiatus, I will not be disappearing completely from the online world.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud – I am going to be preordering this upcoming release because during my slump, I noticed I did not have very many lighthearted books with PoC leads. Publishing, I want more fluffy books written by and featuring PoC!!!!

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Fantasy Novels – Yes, a chance to talk about all of my favorite fantasies. A dream come true.

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of 2019 – Might as well say goodbye to all my money now.

Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag – I can’t believe that we are already at the half-way point in 2019. How did we get here? In this post I share some of my standout reads.

Reading Challenges:

Aside from the Goodreads challenge, I’m only taking part in one reading challenge.

1. The Beat the Backlist Challenge 2019 is hosted by NovelKnight. This month I failed again. Whoops.

• Challenge Goal: 10 books; Current Count: 4 books

July Releases I’m Excited For:

 

Did you have a better June than I did? What was your favorite read of the month? Any summer plans you’re excited for? Let me know in the comments and feel free to leave me a link to your own wrap-up post and I’ll be sure to visit.