Monthly Wrap-Ups

December 2019 Reading Wrap-Up

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The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz
Rating:  ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  December 2 – 3
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  The two chapters of her father’s memoirs.
Least Favorite Thing:  Took it’s sweet time getting to the good stuff.

I’ll admit, up to halfway through this book I was considering DNF’ing it. It was well written, but the pacing was just not a good fit for me, personally. However, once I hit a little past the halfway mark it picked up and I found myself enjoying it more with every page. Overall I’m glad I read this one.

My Posts About The Gone Dead

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
(Dorothy Must Die, book 1)
Rating:  ★★☆☆☆ – it was ok
Review:  Yes
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 9 – 10
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  I liked the Pete thing at the end.
Least Favorite Thing:  Did she have to stop during all the action scenes to have an internal monologue for several minutes?

I probably won’t be reading the next one.

My Posts About Dorothy Must Die

The Secret to Hummingbird Cake by Celeste Fletcher McHale
Rating:  ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review:  Yes
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 10
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Ella Rae
Least Favorite Thing:  Why did the author keep saying boobies like a ten-year-old?

I read this on a whim because it just happened to be available on Overdrive from my library. I actually found this audiobook really hard to put down. I was even listening to it sneakily at work. The narrator, Nan Kelly, was excellent!

My Posts About The Secret to Hummingbird Cake

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
(Outlander, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  September 22 – December 12
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!
Least Favorite Thing:  Why does historical fiction always have so much rape in it?

Well it took me three damn months, but I finally managed to finish this proper tome! I already bought the second one and I’m looking forward to starting it next year. There were several aspects that I didn’t really like, but the overall story was enjoyable.

My Posts About Outlander

Caraval by Stephanie Garber
(Caraval, book 1)
Rating:  ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review:  Yes
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 11 – 12
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  I guess I enjoyed that one kidnapping scene.
Least Favorite Thing:  The descriptive language chosen by the author.

I regret this book because I will never get the creepy sexual blood licking scene out of my head and actually I already had quite a stock of those thanks to House of Night…

And I’m still not a fan of this particular narrator.

My Posts About Caraval

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
Rating:  ★★★★★ – it was amazing
Review:  Yes
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 12 – 13
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  The mature adults with their mature interactions and choices.
Least Favorite Thing:  Kept me up all night and made me cry 3 times 😦

God I loved this book guys! I can’t believe I put off reading it for as long as I did, I’m so stupid! Now I must go out and buy this book ASAP so I can reread it whenever I want.

My Posts About The Actor and the Housewife

Holly Banks Full of Angst by Julie Valerie
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  Yes
Format:  Ebook
Reading Dates:  December 4 – 16
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Mary-Margaret St. James.
Least Favorite Thing:  That “Jack” thing Jack did.

Reading this book must be what it feels like to go insane! (I say that in the nicest way. It really was good, just crazy.) If you are a fan of funny women’s lit, give this a try.

My Posts About Holly Banks Full of Angst

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
(A Song of Ice and Fire, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 13 – 17
Read Count:  2 (1 DNF)
Favorite Thing:  Arya obviously, is that even a contest?
Least Favorite Thing:  I should say one of the bad guys, but honestly it’s Sansa being whiny and shallow… I know I’ll come to like her more later, but in this book she’s pretty awful.

Well I tried to read this once before and failed, but it was on my “bucket list” poster so I decided I’d give it a try in a different format and see if I could do it. And I actually liked it a lot more when it was read to me.

My Posts About A Game of Thrones

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
(The Chronicles of Narnia, book 1)*
Rating:  ★★☆☆☆ – it was ok
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 17 – 19
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  The way he kept being like “by the way never shut yourself in a wardrobe that’s bad” like some publisher went “hmm this could be a liability” and he had to cover his ass.
Least Favorite Thing:  The religious undertones were really heavy-handed…

This book seemed really mediocre. I can’t tell if I’m just too old for it or if it really is mediocre…

*Publication order

My Posts About The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Rating:  ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 19
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  Kept specifically mentioning signs that a person may be suicidal almost as if teaching the reader.
Least Favorite Thing:  Boring…

I can’t believe myself. Back in 2016 I rated this 3 whole stars. What was my past self thinking? This book sucks. It’s like My First Torture Porn or something. Like they challenged themselves to see how many bad things they could have a group of teens do to each other in just one novel. I couldn’t be invested in any of the things that are supposed to make my sympathize with the character because all I could do was think that if this book was slightly more graphic it would just be considered straight-up torture porn.

My Posts About Thirteen Reasons Why

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Rating:  ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 20 – 21
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  The reader, Cathleen McCarron
Least Favorite Thing:  Nothing, I liked it all.

This book was so good, both funny and poignant. I’m so glad I gave in to the hype and read it. And I think the audiobook version was particularly good because the narrator, Cathleen McCarron, read the book perfectly and has a great voice. Having it read to me really added something to the experience of this one.

My Posts About Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
(Dreamer Trilogy, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  November 15 – December 21
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Learning more about Declan
Least Favorite Thing:  No Gangsey

I guess I didn’t realize going in how different this was going to be to The Raven Cycle books. I’m disappointed, but not because the book was bad. In fact I would probably have liked it more if I had thought of it as completely separate, but it’s too late now.

My Posts About Call Down the Hawk

If I Run by Terri Blackstock
(If I Run, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 21
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Double investigations
Least Favorite Thing:  Preachy author…

Seriously this story was interesting, but the author preaching at the reader basically ruined it. I can tolerate the religion IN the story, but that Author’s Note? What the fuck? I don’t know if I even want to finish the series now.

My Posts About If I Run

Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
Rating:  ★★☆☆☆ – it was ok
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 21
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Fantastical
Least Favorite Thing:  Didn’t hold my attention

This book was decent, but it didn’t really hold my attention well. Obviously I am not the target audience so please take this rating with a grain of salt.

My Posts About Mary Poppins

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 22
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Everyone is a freaking stalker.
Least Favorite Thing:  A few too many twists…

I can’t be sure how I feel about this book. It’s probably a 2.5 star book. I went ahead and put 3 stars just to be fair because it wasn’t actually bad. It just wasn’t great. To be honest it felt like the author couldn’t decide where to end the book and just kept adding twists instead. I went back and forth between being bored and being unable to put it down.

My Posts About An Anonymous Girl

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
(Sookie Stackhouse, book 10)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  December 20 – 24
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  “This is your telepath on drugs.”
Least Favorite Thing:  So he’s been cursed for years and then y’all just kiss him on the cheek and he’s just….cured?

This wasn’t my favorite of the books so far, I did have a couple moments of boredom, but not many and I still enjoyed it.

My Posts About Dead in the Family

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
(A Song of Ice and Fire, book 2)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 22 – 25
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Running for your life by staying in the keep lol I can’t believe that worked.
Least Favorite Thing:  Literally anything happening in the Red Keep?

I actually think the first book was better, but I’m glad the plot is moving along. I’m starting to see things being a bit different from the tv show where as the first book was almost identical, so that’s awesome.

My Posts About A Clash of Kings

Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale
Rating:  ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Print
Reading Dates:  December 10 – 26
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  SO ROMANCE
Least Favorite Thing:  I was really confused about Joan for a while, but I just decided not to care because I was enjoying the book so much.

This was a Travelling Book Project book. I never would have picked it up on my own because it isn’t my usual type, but it was soooo cute and good. I’m so grateful that this book was sent to me!

My Posts About Wicked Gentlemen

Daddy Won’t Let Mom Drive the Car by Jo Elizabeth Pinto
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  Yes
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  December 27
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Cute stories
Least Favorite Thing:  Not what I expected

I expected this book to be more: “check your abled-privilage this is what it’s really like” and what I got was “funny, cute stories  about my kid” but I enjoyed this little book anyway.

My Posts About Daddy Won’t Let Mom Drive the Car

November 2019

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Non-Reading Stuff

So guess who started driving! No don’t even guess, I’ll tell you, it’s ME! I driiiiive now. I’m a groooowwwn-up now. Suck it. Guess what other great news I have? That’s right bitches, I’m officially 100% divorced! *happy dance* This has been a good month for me y’all.

Reading Stuff

I finished 7 books this month! Read my favorite/least favorite things and don’t miss my November Wrap-Up video!
I didn’t do as well with the reading as I would have liked, but at least I had a good solid month.

Blogging Stuff

Well, the number one thing is that I started making booktube videos! Check out my channel! I’ve also been keeping up with my liveblog of House of Night and several other bookish posts that I hope you all enjoyed.

October 2019 Wrap-Up

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Non-Reading Stuff

Oh man October just flew by! I swear it feels like nothing at all happened this month… Things were a bit rough emotionally, just because of a tough anniversary, but I got past it as always and things are improving.

Reading Stuff

I finished 10 books this month! See my favorite and least favorite things here.
I didn’t do quite as well as I would have liked, reading-wise, but that’s just because I fell behind on my goal at the beginning of the year. Looking at this month on it’s own, I did pretty great.

Blogging Stuff

I’ve been blogging pretty consistently this month, hurray! I’ve been doing my usual smattering of ratings and book photography posts, along with First Lines Fridays and Words from Books. And in addition to all that, I made some progress on my liveblog of the House of Night series. Hopefully I can keep it up throughout November, especially since I’m planning to participate in a book photo challenge…

September Wrap-Up

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Non-Reading Stuff

Well let’s see, in the month of September most things were just normal. I’ve been feeling alright, but stressed about a couple things. And then… And then! My terrible boss quit his job! *dance party for one* Oh man so much stress has been lifted! I’m still pretty tired lately, but I’m much less stressed and I’m sleeping through the night better (because of less stress). It’s been a pretty good month.

Reading Stuff

I finished 9 books this month! Check out my favorite and least favorite things about them.
I haven’t been reading quite as much as I had hoped to this month because I actually need like 11 or 12 books a month to meet my Goodreads reading goal for the year *hysterical laughter* so that’s likely to happen. But regardless, I think I read a good amount, I’m mostly happy with it.

Blogging Stuff

I’ve been getting back into my book blogging this month and I’m very pleased with myself over it. In fact I recently started liveblogging the House of Night series because so many people came and talked to me about their memories of it. I’ll post some of that here, but most of it will only be on tumblr, so get the full liveblog experience here.

August Wrap-Up

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Non-Reading Stuff

God you guys so much has been going on in my life. So many changes! Divorce, dating, working, taking care of my mother, moving house, moving whole towns, etc etc… I have been hard pressed to get everything done for sure. But surprisingly I’m feeling pretty happy lately so it’s all good!

Reading Stuff

I finished 7 books this month! Check out my favorite and least favorite thing about them.
I’m much happier with August reading-wise than I have been the past few months. I’ve been struggling to read while juggling all the other crap I have to get done every day, but this month I got really in to reading and made more time for it. (Possibly I was reading when I should have been doing other things…Shh.)

Blogging Stuff

I haven’t been blogging much at all because of life stuff, but I’m getting back into it finally. I really hope I can keep it up.

September 2018

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Non-Reading Stuff

I’ve been doing alright and the weather is finally starting to cool off on some days so I’m spending a lot of time outside (reading) which is great. On the downside, the beloved washer/dryer are out of commission because the dryer belt broke so that’s depressing because now we have to drive 40 minutes to do laundry… Bummer.

Reading Stuff

I finished 10 books this month!
Check out my list of books and my fave/least fave things about them.

This was a good month for reading! I didn’t even realize I had read so many, I was just having fun! AND I managed to cross a few books off my TBR Shame List!

Blogging Stuff

I actually followed through on my idea to post the new words I learn from my books! Words from Books will go out on Friday evenings. I also posted a satisfying (for me) amount of reviews and photo posts, so I’d say all told it was a good month for me blogging-wise, too.

August 2018

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Ah, the end of another month of reading. I hope everyone had a good August!

Non-Reading Stuff

Had a bit of an odd month for my mental health with my meds being messed with, but it seems to have been sorted and I’m starting to do better again. And my therapy has been going well so that’s the main thing.

We also got the washer/dryer hooked up finally so I can do laundry without driving 40 minutes! Hurray!! I kind of love doing laundry, it’s so relaxing.

Reading Stuff

I finished 5 books in August!
Check out my list of books and my fave/least fave things about them.

There’s a part of me that feels I didn’t read as much as I’d like this month, but I’m ignoring that part because I’m still on track for my Goodreads goal and I did more than I expected to with the reaction to those meds being what it was.

Blogging Stuff

This is an area I’m not so pleased with. I post plenty of quotes, which are my favorite things to take from books, but I haven’t done much else and I’m not happy with that. At least I’ve been doing something with my Dedication Spotlight tag!

I’m thinking of starting a new sort of post. One thing I do when I read is write down any new, great words I find in the book. I collect them in notebooks with the definition and the sentence from the book where I found it for context. I’ve recently considered putting that on the blog too. After all, words are what make books so lovely, and who doesn’t love learning new ones.

Is there anything y’all would like to see more of on the blog? Let me know!

July 2018

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Non-Reading Stuff

Hahahahaha things have not even remotely settled down. I am the busiest bee. Which isn’t helped by the fact that I have low energy, but whatever. Other than being really busy and tired I think I’m doing quite well. The new place is wonderful and I’m doing better than I have in years.

Reading Stuff

I finished 6 books in July!
Check out my list of books and my fave/least fave things about them.

I feel like I didn’t do all that well this month, but I think it’s just because I’m reading so many books at one time and it makes me feel like I’m falling behind. And I think I’ll do better next month because I’ve been motivated to read recently.

Blogging Stuff

I’ve been working on blogging more, and specifically on remembering to do bookstagrams. I think I’m still getting the hang of it. I love my little daily quote posts though, they make me happy. SO that’s something.

Is there anything y’all would like to see more of on the blog? Let me know!

June 2018

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Non-Reading Stuff

Oh man there is so much going on right now! I got back into therapy so I’m working on that both with meds and talk therapy. It’s….hard, but it feels worth it. I Do Things sometimes now. There’s still a long way to go, but I’m actually feeling hopeful based on the things I’ve been able to do and the differences other people have even been seeing in me.

In addition to my recovery, we have been preparing to move house. My mom will be living with us in the new place so the logistics of combining households is added to the stress of moving, and moving to a new town for the first time in my life, in fact.

So things won’t really settle down until the middle of July…

Reading Stuff

I finished 4 books in June!
Check out the list of books and my fave/least fave things about them.

I didn’t do as well as I had hoped to do this month, but I did technically meet my goal. I was determined to be halfway through my 75 books by the time the year’s halfway point came around and I managed that, if only barely. So I’m forgiving myself for not reading so much as I would have liked.

Blogging Stuff

Aw sad low activity blog… I have some ideas to help me get back in the swing of things. I made a post about foregoing some of the weekly book memes I was doing in favor of trying to make more original content.

And of course I intend to keep making this new effort with my bookstagrams. I enjoyed doing it and once this move is done I’ll have way more options for where and how to take photos so it will only get easier.

I’ve also been thinking about adjusting the way I do reviews. I enjoy doing full reviews, but that isn’t something I can do for every book, so I thought I might come up with a faster format for books that I don’t have enough to say about for a proper write-up.

How did your June go? Is there something you’d like to see more of on the blog? Let me know 🙂

April 2018

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Look at me actually getting the wrap-up posts out at the right time! I may be having a crappy-ish day, but at least my posts are punctual!

Non-Reading Stuff

The month started well. I wasn’t going out or anything, but I had the desire to sometimes. I was taking care of myself pretty well and since I’ve finally given in to my natural sleep cycle (7-9am through 3-5pm) and just gone full nocturnal, I’ve actually been doing pretty well at eating regularly, not sleeping all day, and even getting some things done around the house.

Of course the end of the month was less wonderful.

Let’s see… I spent a whole week completely outside of my home and spoke to strangers on a daily basis for that whole week. I’ve been making all kinds of phone calls, also to strangers. Scheduling and planning and care-taking. I’d say all things considered that’s pretty good. The reason was awful, a mom being in the hospital is always awful, but I was impressed by my ability to Do Things anyway.

And then post-hospital, the hubby and I have been doing a lot of extra stuff for my mom because she physically can’t right now. It’s all very stressful, but so far I’ve been managing to hold on to my little progress even if I’m not currently making any new progress.

Reading Stuff

I finished 9 books in April!
Check out the list of books and my fave/least fave things about them.

And most importantly, I managed to read all 3 of my April Challenge books from Book Club! Hurray! I just barely made it with Heartless, but whatever “barely made it” is still “made it” so there!

I got pretty distracted at the beginning of the month. I kept seeing things and reading them even though I was supposed to be reading other things, but no one ever accused me of having self-control before anyway.

Blogging Stuff

I didn’t manage to keep up with all my weekly book memes, but I did enough other blogging that I feel good about it this month. Even if half of my posts were painfully Twilight related…

Towards the end of the month I’ve been making a little more effort on my bookstagram posts. Instead of just randomly snapping a poorly lit picture of whatever I’m reading right there where I’m sitting, I’ve started trying for poorly lit photos with props and backdrops and things!

I haven’t been writing many full reviews, but I’ve done a couple minis so I’m satisfied there too.

Now if I can just keep this up for next month, I’ll be grand.