June Wrap-Up

June was a bit of a blur. I did a whole lot of nothing, nothing, some beading, and some more nothing. Yay me.

I also sort of disappeared there for a bit, but in my defence, I had to bead so that I could sell my stuff at a market. Which I should have started preparing for a month ago, and didn’t, so then I had to rush to catch up. Oops. So yeah, that’s why I disappeared for a bit there…

I read fifteen books this month… Which is okay, I suppose, but… I could have read more, so I’m sort of disappointed in myself. And they were mostly pretty good books.

(the star ratings link to reviews. Well… the two of them I actually reviewed do…)

This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills – This was such a fun, light fluffy read, and I highly enjoyed it. the characters were great, and it was hilarious. It just felt a little… all over the place. – 4 stars.

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie – THIS WAS SO GOOD!!! Definitely one of my favourites of the month. Sea monsters, sapphic pirates, morally grey characters, and an adorable romance. 😍😍 – 5 stars!

Now I Rise by Kiersten White – I have REALLY mixed feelings about this one! One the one hand, Radu’s chapters were pure gold, and I love him, and AJSAGDJSAHFFHKJAFAKFH!!! On the other hand, Lada’s chapters were… really boring. Like, DNF worthy boring. Soooo… Five stars for Radu’s chapters, two for Lada’s. – Which equals 3.5 stars? I guess?

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev – This was light and fun and whimsical. It was funny and unique. It was just plain really enjoyable. – 4 stars.*

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan – So, I, um… don’t quite get all the hype around Percy Jackson… (please don’t kill me?) But this was an enjoyable read, and a satisfying enough conclusion. I just… didn’t really care. Tbh I like the chapter title more than I actually like the books. They just… didn’t quite click for me is all. – 3 stars.

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black – This was so dark and atmospheric and gorgeous! I loved the characters, and the setting was amazing. I picked this one up from the library on a whim after reading The Cruel Prince, and I actually think this was maybe even better! SO GLAD I decided to give it a go! – 4 stars.

*Barely, but I can’t quite bring myself to give it 3.5…

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black – This was disappointingly mediocre. I actually loved the world, and I couldn’t put it down, but I didn’t care really about the plot or the characters, I didn’t like the ending, and the romance sucked. – 3 stars.

Every Exquisite Thing by Cassandra Clare – I loved this. I loved Anna. A lot. I was a little bit dubious when I realized that Anna was the first non-straight character featured in the series, and of course she was the one who gets a, to quote the blurb, “doomed love story”, but I actually still really liked the story. It was sad, yes, and it annoyed me a bit that it was the one character who wasn’t straight that got the “doomed love story”, but it also had some happy things at the end, and it was a really good story.
Anna had better get a nice, happy romance in The Last Hours, or else I will be truly furious. But I liked this story a lot still. – 5 stars.

A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews – WOW!! I was really excited for this book. It was one of my most anticipated releases this year. I had pretty high expectations. But this book absolutely blew me away! Like, wow, seriously. This is definitely going to be one of my favourites this year. And if you haven’t read it yet, WHY?! Go read it. It’s amazing. – 5 stars!!!

Vicious by V.E. Schwab – This was really good! The characters were awesome. The world building was fantastic! It was full of morally grey characters, and lots of emotions. I do think it was my least favourite Schwab book, but still. – 4.5 stars.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – This was a (totally justified) reread, because my book club was reading it, and I wanted a refresh. By which I mean, it gave me an excuse to reread, even though I actually remembered what happened pretty well. – 5 stars!!!

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer – This was really emotional and heartbreaking, and I loved it! The characters were absolutely amazing! – 5 stars!

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic – I. Am. So. Obsessed. WHY did I wait so long to read these?!?! Okay, so I was nervous because 1). It’s a sports book, and I hate sports, and 2). I’d heard it was sort of problematic.
And yes, those are both true. But I miraculously didn’t mind the sporty aspects? And… well yes, it was sort of a little bit problematic at times. For sure. (which is the only reason they don’t get five stars) But I just loved the characters so much! So SO MUCH! – 4.5 stars.

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely – This book was really disappointing. I also have very mixed feelings. It has a really good message. A really, really important message. And it was handled really well. I just… couldn’t look past the fact that Rashad was actually really sexist. – 3 stars?? 3.5???

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic – THESE BOOKS!! 😍😍 I am just so in love with these books and these characters, and AHHHHHHHHH!!! – 4.5 stars.

(I’ve decided I want to highlight my favourites and least favourites of the month… so here you go!)

Well my favourite of the month was obviously Six of Crows, but it was a reread, so it doesn’t count.

My favourite non-reread would have to be A Thousand Perfect Notes. It was so good, and so heartbreaking, and I can’t stop flailing about it!

Honourable mentions to The Abyss Surrounds Us and the All For the Game books (The Foxhole Court and The Raven King).

Disappointment of the month was definitely eitherThe Coldest Girl in Coldtown, or All American Boys. Both had so much potential, and both squandered it by having unlikeable characters.

A Thousand Perfect Notes is the only book in my physical book haul, (and it’s GORGEOUS!), but I also got a bunch of ebooks.

I did like nothing in June. It was really unimpressive.

• I um… did stuff? I think?
• Wow, what did I do? (I was literally just so unproductive)
• I spent a lot of time online doing nothing.
• One day I went over to my friends house, and we watched the play I was in in May on TV.
• It was just a small production, but I don’t think our local news channels much else to show (I mean our newspaper headline one time was literally something along the lines of “It’s spring!” with a big picture of the flowers someone had spotted blooming. I’m not even kidding.), so they filmed us and put it on TV.
• Which was sort of cool.
• I actually didn’t suck.
• But they filmed the one show where my hair had this ridiculous ribbon in it, and I’m bitter because I looked silly, when ALL the other shows my hair actually looked nice.
• Yay.
• I *sort of* organized my room? A little?(It’s still a bit messy, but… it’s better!)
• I went over to my friend’s house again to meet their new puppy.
• Who is adorable by the way, and if you want to see cute pictures you should definitely go follow her blog!
• I wasted some more time doing nothing online. (oops)
• I finished up with the drama class I was taking in the city.
• We had our end of term showcase, which was… interesting.
• There’s nothing quite like watching a group of teenagers butcher the easiest improv game I know.
• And I don’t mean they had a hard time with the improv part of it. Nobody had a problem with that. No, they just played the game completely wrong.
• Which due to the fact that the teacher literally explained how the game worked to the audience before we stared, I’m pretty sure the audience probably picked up on the fact that half the class butchered the game.
• It was really embarrassing to be up there while everybody messed up. Although I might add that I did it correctly. Because it is literally the easiest improv game I know.
• Also I just felt ridiculous to be up on stage in front of a bunch of people (mostly parents and friends, but still), doing a bunch of insanely easy/lame exercises.
• Like yeah, I totally want to do this silly, easy, not really drama related game that I very distinctly remember playing at ‘Music Makers’ when I was, I don’t know, FOUR?! Yeah, I definitely want to do this in front of an audience.
• Same with the improv game that I’ve been playing for years, and have played with no problem with 8 year olds, that apparently my teenage classmates can’t play correctly.
• It was really frustrating, and I just felt so ridiculous.
• Although it did do something for me at least. I came away from that performance with my self-esteem boosted, after seeing that mess of a performance from my classmates.
• So that was nice at least.
• Also I sort of didn’t learn anything new from this class, because it was a beginners course, and it turns out it was almost entirely stuff I’d already done (and moved on from) with my drama teacher at home.
• So while I did love the people, I don’t think I’ll be doing that class again.
• I spent the last week of June frantically beading for the flea market I was going to sell my stuff at.
• And then I went to the flea market, which was boring and slow, and not particularly enjoyable, but wasn’t actually as much as a failure as I though it had been profit-wise.
• So now I can afford to buy myself some books!

Yeah… that was like all I did. Impressive, I know.

THIS MONTH’S GOALS

• POST TWICE A WEEK! ❌❌ I failed at this. Again.
• Stay on top of RTC’s… ❌❌ Wow, no. I failed miserably at this.
• Get in a decent sleeping schedule. ❌❌ I am incapable of this it seems. *sigh*
• Get out of the house more. ✅❌ Sort of…? Not really, but almost?
• Read more of the books I borrowed from my cousin! ❌❌ I read exactly none of them. Oops.
• Keep my bookshelf organized. ✅✅ I so only made this one because I knew I could complete it, and I don’t even care.
• FINISH ORGANIZING MY ROOM!! ✅✅ I’m going to give this one to myself? Because I actually did, even if I promptly piled more stuff on the floor.
• Bead for the flea market I’m going to sell my stuff at! ✅❌ I had enough? Just barely though… And I left it all to the last minute by accident.

NEXT MONTH’S GOALS

• POST TWICE A WEEK!!! Maybe? Just maybe? I could actually do it just this once?
• CATCH UP ON RTC’S!! Please, Iris? Please?
• Get to bed earlier. This’ll never happen, but I can hope.
• Wake up earlier. This is marginally more likely to happen… (and I sleep way longer than I need to anyways)
• Get out of the house more! I keep like, semi-completing this one, which is something at least.
• Read AT LEAST a couple of the books I borrowed from my cousin! Or even give up on some of them. But don’t just leave them there unread.
• Keep my bookshelf organized. Look, I know I’ll complete this one, but I just want to feel like I accomplished something okay?
• Tidy my room up, and keep it (semi) tidy. It’s actually not too much of a mess right now, so I have hope…
• Do something! Get together with friends! Go out and be social! I have a bad habit of just sitting around at home all the time if I don’t have thing scheduled, and it drives me bonkers, so I’d really like to change that.
• Write some posts in advance, because I’ll be busy for most of August. I’d really like to keep blogging semi-constantly at least throughout August, but I’m not going to have time to write a ton of posts, so having thing scheduled in advance would be super helpful!

So… Hopefully I’ll achieve some of those? Fingers crossed.

How was your June? What are your goals for July? What was the best book you read this month? Have you read any of the ones I read?