Wednesday, August 6, 2014

July Wrap Up

Pardon me for taking so long to wrap July up and send it to the past, but reviews, Lily Calloway's birthday and all sorts of other stuff took residence in the must-do-asap pile so wrap up had to be left untouched for a while. Better late than never, right? July totally flew by! I spent my time mostly at work, but during the few moments I wasn't in our downtown office, I was either reading at home, eating strawberries and cherries, enjoying sunshine, seeing Bastille live, having fun at my friend's BBQ or relentlessly looking forward to the publication of Thrive. I also interviewed four bloggers this month: Sam, Amber, Melanie and Jeann. Now it's August. It's mah birthday soon! You're all welcome to stop by at the end of August and I'll offer you chocolate cake, cupcakes and all sorts of other delicious things :) Anyhow, seeing as you're here to hear (read) about the books I read and reviewed in July, let's get down to business!




(click on the covers for the links)


  
   
    


Books read in total? 14. I was secretly aiming for 15, but since Rashika and I started Shooting Scars so late into the week and I didn't have time to fly through it, it was left to 14. Which is not bad at all, if you ask me. No DNF books either, so I'd say it was a pretty fantastic month reading wise.

Lowest and highest ratings... only one book was worthy of 5 stars (with an overall rating of 4.5) for me. There were a couple of 2 star ratings, 3 to be exact, and the lowest of them had an overall score of exactly 2.0 out of 5.0.

Book boyfriend of the month... without a doubt Connor Cobalt (Addicted and Calloway Sisters series). If any of you thought it was going to be someone else? *unfriends you everywhere*


Ok, ok. Just kidding, but still. It should have been obvious without me even having to say it. No matter that he wasn't even the one with his own POV in Thrive. Nope. He just has this power over me. I can't help it *shrugs* He's my one and only, basically. There are multiple honorable mentionings this month though. In the order of reading: Kaidan (Sweet Evil trilogy), Owen (Elemental Assassin series), Kit (Come Back to Me), Ethan (Boomerang series), Peter (To All the Boys I've Loved Before duology). So you see? Success in the category of book boyfriends. Even Stiles is happy!


Love triangles? Um. The past couple of months have been triangle free, but not so lucky in July. Although I didn't mind all of them, that's to be said. Would I have preferred the books to be without them? Yea, sure! But it suited all of these stories. Even the one I didn't love so much *eyes the first one* There were 3 in total and I've ranked them as follows:
  1. Into the Deep by Samantha Young (high)
  2. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han (complicated)
  3. Grave Witch by Alex Craft (mild)
Suck and sweet? There are two sweets this month, actually. First is that Thrive finally came out. It was pretty much perfection. It had Connor Cobalt. It had my OTP of OTPs (team Coballoway!). I cried. I laughed. I swooned. I felt allllllll the feels. I loved it! The second sweet is that I almost managed to read 5k pages. In total, I read 4643 pages in July. That's pretty good, right? As for the suck.. it's so hard to come up with one O_______O Um. Um. Um. The love triangles? The not reaching 5000 pages? IDK. This is tough, you guys! July was good to me.

What I'm planning on reading this month... Not great in following my plans even though making all sorts of lists and plans is totally my thing. I didn't get to read Racing Savannah last month, but planning to read it in August. In addition to that, I'm buddy reading (a re-read for me) Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood with Nick and Rashika, and I'll also try and read Fire with Fire by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian which Amber has raved about endlessly. She said that our ship from book one two years ago is finally legit in the sequel, sooooo.. I couldn't be happier :) I've been putting it off for so long since I knew that there's a huge cliff at the end of it, but since Ashes to Ashes is here soon, I can finally get around reading it :)

  


(stealing this idea from Jas and Rach from The Readers Den :))


Summer is all about reading outside and there were quite a few nights where I got to relax on our terrace and just read. One night though, I was craving for ice cream while reading To All the Boys I've Loved Before and this picture happened. Vanilla ice cream and self-made raspberry jam? Divine!


What were your favorite books last month? Any new book boyfriends I should know about? (Or any old crushes returning to the pages you were reading?) ;) How many books did you read? What are you planning on reading this month?

11 comments:

  1. It's WEDNESDAY. On the SIXTH DAY of the month. You can't do a wrap-up on the Sixth Day! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER OR SOMETHING? ;)

    I'm shocked by Connor Cobalt. Who is this? I've never heard you speak of him. And what is this 'Addicted' thing? You've, like, totally never mentioned that before.

    FYI, I'm mad you read more books than me. I find this unacceptable and unfair and I'm going to go eat some ice cream with jam now. GOOD DAY TO YOU, SIR.

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  2. Sounds like you had an awesome week with lots of Connor and Addicted series to love as usual Siiri! And I really enjoyed being interviewed as well as the rest of your blogger interviews :)

    That vanilla ice cream and raspberry jam + a book looks like absolute perfection! I can't wait until the weather warms up for us.

    Oh my gosh, you read lots of Colleen Hoover books as well, I just can't wait until I get my hands on Ugly Love!

    Have an awesome August my lovie!

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  3. LOL, now it's going to be YOUR birthday soon!??? There was Rose, Lily (is that her name?) and then you. LOL, I'm kidding, love. ^^ Haaa, I actually didn't do a July wrap-up...should I? Hmm. Wow, 14 books read is great, Siiri! :D I didn't know Into the Deep had a love-triangle...hmm. Hhahha, I love making plans too, but do I follow them? Nope. I regret nothing. Love the bookish photo!!

    Oh, I can't answer those kinds of question...I just read so many books (and I don't mean to show off or something.) I think I read 20 books. And this month I REALLY want to read 22 books And Gates of Thread and Stones for sure. ^^

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  4. I READ ELEVEN BOOKS IN JULY AND I WAS SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR THAT NUMBER BUT YOU JUST MADE ME FEEL LIKE CRAP SIIRI SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
    I haven't read the Addicted series but everyone who reads it loved it and Connor so i'll be checking that out soon * stares at TBE pile* * shakes head in dismisal* WELL sometime.... LOL

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  5. Awwww! Suck and sweet!!! I love CoHo and I'm about to start Ugly Love soon. You know, I'm almost sure that Connor will be your book boyfriend of the month even if there wasn't a book with him in it for the month. And your fangirling for Stiles? It just makes me like him all the more, even if I'm only 3 episodes into TW. Ugh, I'm staying away from your questions and pretending I didn't read them. I'm slacking off on my reading that there's just no way I'm going to meet my goal this year. I'm changing my goal to 40 books to make myself feel better.

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  6. Now I really, really want ice cream. And you made your own raspberry jam? WILL YOU MOVE IN WITH ME SIIRI? That's a serious question, I'm not even exaggerating:)

    Yay for all your book boyfriends! Isn't Owen fabulous? So much better for Gin than Donovan:) I adored Ethan from Boomerang as well, that book just made me smile and I can't wait to see what Veronica and Lorin come up with next.

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  7. 14 books is a pretty awesome number, especially considering all the things you had to do the past month!
    Haha! Who would have thought that Connor was your book boyfriend of the month? I for one did not guess it at all! :D

    I need to meet Peter! I might read the book soon since you liked it so much. :)

    I'm excited to read Born Wicked! The cover is so pretty. I liked the old cover too, but I think I love this one more because of the colors. It's going to be a fun book! :D

    You make your own jam? You have got to be kidding me! Is there anything you don't know how to do? Write poetry, being a food chemist, baking, and now making your own freaking jams? JEALOUS! I don't even know why I'm friends with you. You give me a complex! :P

    Hope you have a lovely August as well! :D

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  8. When is your birthday, Siiri!? Mine's in August, too! Maybe we can even do a double celebration post or something. ;D And 14 books!? I think I only managed to read half of that. :(

    Pffft, you can't unfriend me. Because my guy of July is also Connor, bahaha! (Or maybe you can, because we'll be fighting for him. I have my pitchforks ready, girl.)

    Oooh, I hope you enjoy Born Wicked and Fire with Fire! I have had Born Wicked here on my shelf for FOREVER and still haven't picked it up. I've tried to start Burn for Burn but wasn't feeling it at the time...

    Have an awesome birthday month ahead, girl! <33

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  9. OMG..I love the Cahill Witch trilogy and hope you do too. 14 books is impressive for July!

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  10. Nope did NOT see that coming for the book boyfriend category. *ducks being thrown tomatoes at* HA. I WAS JUST KIDDING. XD I can't even remember what I read now...like, it's been a week of August, my brain is blank of July. Gosh it sucks to have a bad memory. OH, can I say the book I loved most was The Book Thief, though?! DEATH. That sounds creepy. But he really has a fantastic sense of humour. Who'd have thought?!

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  11. July definitely did fly by, it was like a jet LOL. Really though, are you sure it's not still June?? O.o haha. It's crazy how time just goes by so fast and ahhh. I also feel you on working, if I had to sum up this summer with one word it would be- WORK. How depressing lol :p "seeing Bastille live" OH I LOVE HOW CASUAL THAT WAS THROWN IN OMG. So jealous c: Bet they were amazing.

    That gif of Stiles is perfect okay haha. Yay for all of the book boyfriends <33 Gotta love them. Awww love triangles. I read To All the Boys I've Loved Before too, Peter's the obvious choice right? Lol girl you better not disagree with me [; I've read Born Wicked and Burn For Burn wow. I really enjoyed both more than I thought, but they still weren't five star reads. I'd give Born Wicked 3.5, and Burn For Burn four. The second Burn For Burn book gets 4.5 though wowowow.

    That picture of To All the Boys I've Loved Before and your icecream is so pretty c: Love it!

    Hope August is good for you <33

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