June Wrap Up and July TBR

Thursday, 2 July 2015

So I thought I would start a little segment on my blog that I know is very popular around the book blogging community and that is to discuss what I read in the previous month and what I intend, or hope to read in the following month. So here goes nothing, this is my June Wrap Up and my TBR for the month of July!

I don't know what it is you guys. Have I stepped into a time accelerator or something? Are we cutting out months now and nobody has told me? Once again this month has seemed to have flown by, and while I've not been as active on my blog due to work commitments and other personal issues, I feel like I've done reasonably well with my reading! I've managed to complete a re-read marathon, bash out a few review books and managed to stay reasonably close to my original TBR. I say reasonably for a reason. This month I managed to read 6 books. I know it's 1 less than last month but I'm not too fussed because one of the books I read was twice the size as some of the ones I normally read, so not too bad! This brings my Goodreads total up to 39/50 books for 2015. With only 11 left to read within 6 months, I know I'm going to smash that total of 50 books easily. I wonder if I could hit 75? This puts me at 78% completed and 15 books ahead of schedule. I determine that a personal success to be quite honest! So lets see what I read this month and my opinions on them!

1. Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (4/5 stars)
So overall this novel was really enjoyable. The plot was dramatic and suspenseful enough to have me gripped and eagerly anticipating the sequel and the characters were bold and loveable. There were a few issues with plot predictability but these are minor and I put them mainly down to the fact that this is a re-read. If you haven't picked up Throne of Glass yet then I seriously suggest you go and do so. A great introduction to the world of this popular young adult fantasy series!



2. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas (4/5 stars)
Overall I definitely enjoyed this book more than it's predecessor. It was more action packed, more intense, dramatic and allowed for a great deal of character development as well as development of the overall plot. There were lots of elements in this story that I can see Sarah is going to have to elaborate on in the upcoming books but I'm sure that being the genius that she is, that she will have no problem with that at all. A really interesting twist in the story line - one that I'm hoping sets out the motion for the rest of the series!


3. Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas (4/5 stars)
This is the final book in my Throne of Glass re-readathon and I have to say I really enjoyed it! I'm debating with myself whether it meets all of the hype it receives. In my mind it's definitely the best book so far because it really opens up Celaena's world and allows you to get a glimpse into just what the King of Ardalan is up to in his advancements of his plans for domination. A really interesting twist in the story line - one that I'm hoping sets out the motion for the rest of the series! I eagerly await Queen of Shadows with great anticipation because where we got left in Heir of Fire just wasn't enough to quench my thirst for this series. I 100% need more of this world!



4. The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle (2/5 stars)
Ahh this novel was so difficult for me to rate because I enjoyed most of it but was just thrown of in confusion by other elements. The novel's central focus is set during this time known to the main character's family as 'the accident season.' When reading the blurb for this book, this was definitely an element that I found to be extremely intriguing! A whole season where accidents of an unknown origin happen to a seemingly ordinary family but don't happen to anyone else? Was it all psychological and in their heads or are they actually cursed? I was so eager to find out and while I did enjoy parts of this story, unfortunately I found myself to be a little disappointed with the turn of events that took place and just felt like I was craving that little bit extra from the story that sadly we didn't get.

5. The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury (3/5 stars)
I found the beginning half of the book to be a bit slow. Nothing really happened in terms of the plot. Twylla spends her time praying, singing or falling for all the wrong reasons. Thankfully the plot advanced towards the end as it started to interweave more of the mythology aspect. It was really cleverly done! I definitely would have liked to see more of this Sleeping Prince introduced more in the first half of the novel. To give it more substance for the reveal later on. Also I really thought the 'Sin Eating' was going to be some dark and gruesome version of what it actually was. Instead of fruit and a selection of meats I was hoping for the digestion of internal organs. Although I might just be a tad weird. I was also looking for more 'killing with the touch of a hand.' Clearly not enough to match up with the blurb on the back!

6. A Malmont Summer by Joshua J. Johnson (3/5 stars)
I also found this book quite difficult to rate because I have very separate and contrasting opinions on different elements of the book. I really enjoyed the story and the premise that was set up in the novel and I really appreciated Joshua's focus on identifying the issues with what having money can do to people. He definitely got the individual elements down in that respect. The ending was dramatic and leaves the reader on a partial cliffhanger, where hopefully they will be eager to find out why the events at the end of the book occurred. What I felt lacked slightly in this book was the character development and the writing style. I didn't feel that I knew each of the characters as well as I should have for a 4 book series and while I appreciate that this is obviously a focus of interest for the next books in the series, I felt it lacked slightly and when comparing it with the ending, i definitely would have liked to have seen a bit more. In relation to the writing style, my only issue was that it felt very detached from the story. It was incredibly varied at times - switching from beautiful, lyrical paragraphs with lengthy description to slightly sloppy dialogue that at times I felt was slightly unrealistic to read from. Overall though it was a pleasure to read and an impressive debut for a teenage author.

So those were the six books that I picked up in the month of June, but what do I intend on reading in July? Well, at the moment I don't have any set in stone plans for July so hopefully this will allow for lots of reading to take place. I also have a feeling that I have quite a few review books to get to, and ones that I'm genuinely interested to read so I will definitely be getting to some of those this month. Here are some of the books that I hope to be getting to in the month of July:

  • An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (Currently Reading)
  • A School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
  • Armada by Ernest Cline
  • Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti (ARC)
  • A Thousand Nights by E.K.Johnston
  • Chopstix by A.T. Raydan

So those are the books that I'm aiming to read in the month of July. As usual I'll try to stay as close as I can to my TBR but obviously I can't make any promises. My reading mood changes constantly so we'll see. I'm so excited to get to some of these books, it's actually unreal. I'm reading An Ember in the Ashes at the minute and I am loving it. It's literally perfect. Hopefully it stays this way throughout! 

Let me know in the comments below what books you read this month and one book you're looking forward to reading next month! Are any of you going to be reading one of the books I'm reading this month?

1 comment:

  1. best book i read last month was We Were Liars, it literally had me in tears and that dont happen often. This month im looking forward to reading The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness.
    I'm sure you'll stick to your TBR better than me. I didnt read 1 of them. *hangs head*
    Gill

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