July Wrap Up & August TBR

And with that, July ended.

Wow, this month has flown by. I thought that time would be slowing as most of us are stuck inside. I have been working from home, studying from home and doing my hobbies from home with occasional walks outside to grab a coffee down the road and buying my groceries once a week.

It’s been weird. Work was super busy and I was feeling a bit stressed that I ended up taking a couple of days off, but I somehow managed to read way more than I have in any other month so far this year and that’s kind of amazing. When I haven’t been reading, I’ve been playing League of Legends (which I’m slowly getting better at) and sparingly watching tv shows when I’m doing laundry.

I also got back into Bookstagram! I felt so inspired that I did a big shoot, created a new theme, I ran a giveaway to celebrate this new theme and the featured photo of this post was even featured by Penguin Teen Australia on their account (so grateful) so I’ve been super into Instagram and you can find my random life updates there!

Although it doesn’t really feel like it, looking back, I read a lot of 5-star books and really enjoyed myself for the most part. It’s made me so inspired to keep reading and get through my backlist tbr as I attempt to stop myself from buying more books now that I actually can. I ended up buying a few books thanks to a birthday Amazon gift card then 2 more later in the month, one of which I haven’t received yet. Let me know if you’d like to read book haul blog posts, I don’t see them often but I wouldn’t mind sharing them either.

What I Read In July

July was kind of a crazy reading month! Again, the best reading month so far this year. I am so close to completing my goodreads challenge already that it’s been extra motivating to keep reading and grab another book from the pile in my backlist. I also DNFed two books this month, and it made me feel so good to willingly stop because I wasn’t enjoying myself. I still counted them as ‘read’ on Goodreads though because y’know what, I put effort into trying to get through it, so DNFs should definitely count.

Total Books: 11 (inc. DNFs)

Total Pages: 3,055 (excl. DNFs)

– The Lost Soul Atlas by Zana Fraillon

☆☆☆☆☆ no rating – DNF, couldn’t get into it.

– A Lonely Girl Is A Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu

★★★☆☆ (3/5) | REVIEW

– The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-Eun

★★★★★ (5/5) | REVIEW

– Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland

★★★★★ (5/5) | REVIEW

– Cursed by Thomas Wheeler

★★★★☆(4/5) | REVIEW

– The Weight of The Stars by K. Ancrum

★★★★★(5/5) – loved this!

– The Dysasters (Graphic Novel) by P.C & Kristin Cast

★☆☆☆☆(1/5) DNF – hated this

– Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

★★★★★(5/5) – absolutely amazing graphic novel/comic

– Heartstopper Vol. 3 by Alice Oseman

★★★★★(5/5) – another cute graphic novel I ate up!

– The City of Brass by S.A Chakraborty

★★★★★(5/5) – Loved this way more than I expected after so many recommendations from friends.

– The Opposite of Here by Tara Altebrando

★★☆☆☆ (2/5) – a suspenseful disappointment.

Blogging Highlights!

Here are some posts I wrote this month that you may have missed and might just enjoy 🙂 I didn’t end up writing any discussion posts, mostly reviews but I did do a tag for my birthday and the review below has gotten so much traction on The Nerd Daily and I was even quoted on Twitter by the publisher which is so exciting as a blogger.

Truth be told, it’s very surprising that this July was the best month this blog has ever had in terms of statistics and it blows me away. Thank you for everyone who reads this little blog and supports it with a like, share or comment here and there, it’s very appreciated!

Happy Birthday to Me! Winter Wonderland Book Tag

The Disaster Tourist Book Review

What I Watched in July

I spent a lot more time reading than watching tv shows but I did manage to finish the latest season of a tv show and start watching the tv show adaptation of Cursed which is going okay so far.

I haven’t made much progress on the other tv shows I have started like Hotel Del Luna, The Dragon Prince, Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung, because I’ve been reading or playing games haha, but when inspiration strikes I’ll watch those. I’m more so anticipating the next season of Lucifer which comes out in August (eek!)

THE ORDER Season 2 ★★★★☆

This season was just so unexpected. I enjoyed most of it and it was very much action-packed but I’m a bit disappointed with some of the character development and the fate of certain characters in the storyline. It’s all very uncertain but I’m still looking forward to the next season.

My August TBR

This TBR was really hard to come up with because I’m hoping to participate in 2 readathons in August that go for roughly 2 weeks for the month. First, the Tome Topple readathon hosted by @thoughtsontomes and many other content creators and Diversify that Shelf readathon hosted by @theperksofbeingnoura.

This isn’t going to be my first time participating in the Tome Topple and it’s frankly the readathon I’m most excited about but it was a challenge creating my TBR because both these readathons run during nearly the exact same dates, with Tome Topple being 2 extra days before and after the Diversify that Shelf readathon is being held (Tome Topple Aug 8-21, Diversify that Shelf 10-19). So when creating my TBR, it was also about trying to meet challenges for both readathons so I could complete as much as possible within those 2 weeks. For Tome Topple, one book can only go towards a maximum of 2 challenges but there is no restriction for Diversify that Shelf.

I thought I would try colour coding the challenges on my TBR to explain what I’m hoping to read and for which readathon the challenges are.

Blue: Tome Topple readathon challenge

Green: Diversify that Shelf challenge

1. Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare

I have been continuing my shadowhunter chronicles read slowly and I’m currently reading The Bane Chronicles so I hope that I can finish it before the readathon begins.

☞ Standalone Tome

2. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

I have been recommended this book by Joel from fictional fates for probably years and I’ve owned it for years but never got to it so this is one crucial book in these readathons because it meets so many challenges!

☞ Tome by a black author

☞Tome on your TBR the longest

☞ POC on Cover

☞ A Friend’s Favourite Diverse Read

☞ By a black author (any genre)

3. Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

I recently got this book on my birthday book haul. I’m super excited to read this and I’m hoping to read it with a buddy although it hasn’t been confirmed yet. This is a book I’ve been recommended by so many people and it’ll also be my first Brandon Sanderson read so that’s also pretty exciting.

☞ Most recent Tome

4. Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake

I feel a bit ashamed that I totally forgot about this series. I pre-ordered this last installment and totally neglected it. This series got a lot of hype at the beginning which kind of tapered off. It’s never been an absolute favourite of mine but I always enjoy myself, plus Kendare’s writing and world-building are so great, I love the world and its magic system. Since it’s the last book in the series, I figured I might as well finish it so it can happily live on my physical and virtual shelf as ‘read’.

☞ Read 1 Tome (over 500 pages)

☞ Book by AOC You’ve Wanted to Read for a while

☞ Non-Western Setting

So that makes a total of 4 books to read within 2 weeks, which feels pretty achievable to me! Obviously 2 weeks isn’t all of August so I do have a few other books I’d love to get to.

Before the readathons:

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

(I’ve already started this and hope to finish it asap)

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(In anticipation for reading so many fantasies, why not try to squeeze in a good dose of contemporary before the readathons)

After the readathons:

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

(this is another tome so I suspect to take my time and try to at least finish this one by the end of August.

The Entire Compiled TBR in Order

• The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare
• Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
• Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
• Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake
• Tales of the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare
• Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

So much to read and so little time! Considering that I’ve been setting about 5 books each month on my TBR and how well I read in July, it’s only a tiny bit ambitious.

Are you guys participating in any readathons in August? Let me know what you’re planning to read!

Until next time,