Month In Review | May 2016

WOW! So May flew by, am I right? I slowed down significantly with my reading, largely due to the fact that I fell into a doozy of a reading slump. In my personal life, however, I was running around. I saw a ton of doctors, finished a major application, ordered new glasses, and officially changed my major to biology! So it was kinda crazy. All in all, I can say it was a pretty good month, though I hope June will be even better!

Tell The Wind And Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan | 2.5/5 Stars

This book was a little fun but it was hard to see past the fact that it was so clunky and so poorly written. I think if the writing had been better, it would have developed nicely. Plus is this the first installment in a series??? Because that conclusion was way too open ended!

Map of Fates by Maggie Hall | 3/5 Stars

Honestly I was expecting a bit more from this but it kinda fell flat. The plot felt very contrived and simplistic, as well as predictable and the characters were watery. I am interested in continuing the series, but I’m afraid this one fell victim to the second book slump.

The Siren by Kiera Cass | 3/5 Stars

This was a pretty cute piece of fluff. I really enjoyed the family aspect. While I didn’t like it as much as I liked The Selection Series (the original trilogy), I thought it was good.

The Crown by Kiera Cass | 3/5 Stars

I wasn’t really expecting a lot from this given that this is a fluff series and I also hated Eadlyn as a character. But it was okay. Not spectacular, but okay. I went into this book 100% hating Eadlyn and came out of it still disliking her but not as much. There was a bit of character growth for her. So all in all, it was a nice, in between fluff read and it got me out of a nightmare reading slump, so that’s something.

Goodreads Challenge 

I’ve read 4 more books, bringing my grand total to 42/86 books, putting me 7 books ahead of schedule! Woot, woot!

Debut Author Challenge

Unfortunately, I didn’t read any 2016 debuts this month, though I meant to

Rock My TBR Challenge

I also failed on this challenge, not reading any backlist books. *hangs head in shame*

Bookish Bingo

Second Chance

Set In Space–Starflight by Melissa Landers

Non Binary MC

Under 200 Pages–“Bridge of Snow” by Marie Rutkoski

Ugly Cover

Set Over 200 Years Ago–Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor

March, April, May Release–A Study in Charlotte by Britany Cavallaro

Criminals

Metallic Lettering–Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Based On A Real Event

Book Toward Another Challenge

Green Cover–Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

FREE

Retelling–Stars Above (The Little Android) by Marissa Meyer

Set In More Than One Country–The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Characters Aren’t Human–Saga Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Rec’d By More Than One Friend

Flowers On The Cover

MC Shares Your First Initial–Seven Black Diamond by Melissa Marr

Written Under A Pen Name

More Than One Author–Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

End Of The World

Number In The Title–Zero Day by Jan Gangsei

Nonfiction

Standalone–Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

Audiobook Challenge 

All four of the books I read this month were audiobooks!

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas (hardcover)

The Way Back to You by Michelle Andreani and Mindi Scott (hardcover)(finished copy)

The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye (digital audiobook)

Essential Maps for the Lost by Deb Caletti (hardcover)(finished copy)

Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed (hardcover)

The Cresswell Plot by Eliza Wass (hardcover)(finished copy)

On The Fence by Kasie West (physical audiobook)(finished copy)

A Court of Mist and Fury (digital audiobook)

• Lies I Live By by Lauren Sabel Blog Tour
• The Cresswell Plot by Eliza Wass Blog Tour
• The Marked Girl by Lindsey Klingele Blog Tour
• Claire and I will be sorting more book characters into Hogwarts Houses

Around The Blogosphere/Vlogosphere

• Kaitlin at Reading Is My Treasure talks about how to NOt read books!
• Erin at Hardcover Lover talks about cover design trends, using the example of headphones on covers (as a designer and artist in general, this topic really caught my eye with the discussion on creativity that it brings up)
• Emma at emmmabooks made a really great and informative video on booktube and sponsorships. While I’m not a booktuber, I think Emma gives great info and advice for both bootubers and book bloggers!
• Nereyda at Nick & Nereyda’s Infinite Book List discusses second guessing negative reviews and all I can say is, “PREACH IT, SISTA!”
• Shannon at It Starts At Midnight wonders if retellings have prerequisites.
• Emily at blueeyedbibblio beautifully explains why she is Neville Longbottom.
• Aine at Writing On A Vintage Typewriter talks about common things that are never represented in books.
• I’m totally stealing Beth’s at The Quiet People ideas from her list of 50 ideas for more interesting posts!
• Jess at Princessica Of Books gives us Things Only Book Bloggers Would Understand: Gif Edition!
• Paige at The Paige-Turner gives us an AH-mazing talk about rape and sexual assault on college campuses and NA books! (READ IT!)
• Jolien at The Fictional Reader makes some interesting points about classifying books as “young adult.”
• Cait at Paper Fury hilariously tells us about the different types of series endings.
• On a related note, Nick at Nick and Nereyda’s Infinite Book List talks about bad series endings and abandoning series.
• Sara Ella at Sara Ella has a great vlog on author ettiquette on Goodreads from the perspective of an actual author (and, as a blogger, I recommend watching it).
• Carrie at Paper Bindings let us know the HTML all bloggers should know.
• Aila at One Way Or An Author writes beautifully on why she reads YA
• Carolyn at A Hundred Thousand Stories writes a bookstagram parody and it’s totlly lol-worthy!
• Jellafy lists things that readers love to hear and the sarcasm is real in this video.
• Keionda at Keionda Hearts Books lists the different types of bloggers
• Jo at BookLoversBlog has a fascinating discussion on the gender divide in reading
• Author Colleen Hoover has become a book reviewer and it’s hilarious!
• Krysta from Pages Unbound Reviews writes about plagiarism, restrictiveness, and the blogger community and I think she is on point.
• Francina Simone talks about real readers, authenticity in writing, and demanding better books from publishers.
• Now Voyaging has a discussion about opinions and discussion and OMG EVERY REVIEWER SHOULD READ THIS!!!

My Favorite Things

• The 100 remains my top show and sadness abounded over the fact that I have to wait another year to see season 4!
• Jessica Jones has grabbed my interest
• I’m also loving Daredevil!
• Liran’s (at Empress of Books) Spotify playlists are totally rockin’!
• Skylar Grey’s song “Moving Mountains” moved me
• I’m really diggin’ Koda’s cover of “Radioactive”
• I’ve been snacking on veggie straws and developed quite an addiction
• I bought dark fuchsia Lilly Pulitzer Morada eyeglasses frames and I’m in love with them–they make me look like a pink witch (pink and witches–two of my favorite things)!