July Wrap-Up and Stuff to Come! ヽ( ･∀･)ﾉ

July has come and gone quicker than I expected – and with another month that has passed, we’re just that much closer to the releases of some of my most anticipated books of the year (The Beauty of Darkness! Crooked Kingdom! The Fate of the Tearling!). But before I welcome August, let me wrap up July first!

Reviews

• The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas – This is the second book in the Elemental Trilogy, and I thought this was a good middle book – it solidified the leads’ relationships, not only with each other but with their potential allies, and cleared up a potential plot hole. For this one skip the summary altogether since it gives away some of the fun stuff, haha.
• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – You know, I feel like I read a Sarah J. Maas book every month or so, and I’m surprised I like them all. I liked ACOTAR, just that some of it felt safe – like Tamlin’s hero perfection, and Feyre ending up with him in the end – but I feel like this is all build-up to ACOMAF. I’m actually quite daunted by my next S.J. Maas books because the page numbers are so high, but eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen – A very nice surprise! I like this beginning. Trollus is a unique world, and already Danielle Jensen has me invested in the fate of Tristan and Cecile! Maaaaybe Trollus as well.

And last but not least,

• Girl in the Shadows by Gwenda Bond – Girl in the Shadows is a stand-alone book but is included in a series set in a circus and where magic is an open secret. There was lots of potential in this, but I felt like it got drowned in Moira and Dez’ uninspired romance. I’d probably only re-read the parts where Moira performs her illusions-slash-magic tricks, because those were my favorite.

 

DRCs

 

I’m quite happy I got approved for Every Falling Star! I was surprised to see this was about a North Korean escapee, since the cover seemed so bright and cheery (I looked closer and I saw the black lines were barbed wire…). This’ll be interesting since most North Korean accounts of escape are from an adult’s perspective.

I’m also working on Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg, which I’m really liking so far! I also really like the cover. So whimsical and cute.

 

Tags and Nominations

I got around to posting The Versatile Blogger award! Thank you again to Brigitte, Stacey, and Nadwa for the nominations 😀 I also participated in the 3 Days, 3 Quotes tag (from Shameeka) – I looked for quotes on Goodreads, and I really like the ones I found and posted! I still have a bunch of tags I need to do, and a couple more nominations, but I will get around to doing them. Thank you guys again!

 

Memes and Challenges

Have you guys seen my First Lines Fridays memes? Give them a look; maybe you’ll find some of the books familiar! Also, I’ll be participating in the Summer Comment Challenge hosted by Lonna and Alicia. I only found out about the challenge this month, but maybe they’ll have a winter edition for the challenge?

 

ETC.

• I made up for missing June’s Uncharted Genre by posting two books this month (Tina Fey and Twelfth Night) but I missed my Classic post… So I’ll have to read 2 classics this August then!
• I finally have a job you guys!! I am now gainfully employed. Now I have to find time to read without it interfering with my work, haha. (I think I might have found a way to do it though, by doing lunchtime reading sprints.)
• If you’d like to join me, I usually do them around 12:00pm, since that’s the time I usually take lunch, haha. I’m in the GMT+8 timezone! Find me on Twitter (@bypageorbyplane) and holler at me if you’d like to join me 😀 This is inspired by the @readingsprints_‘s reading sprints!
• I GOT BEAUTY OF DARKNESS YOU GUYS!!! Legit freaked out at the bookstore when I saw it on display, haha.

Another month of reading down! How has July been for you all? 😀