I’ve been posting reading wrap-ups every month for over a year now, and I somehow managed to forget about it last month! I suppose it’s not completely awful, given that I only managed to read two books in both February and March, bringing me to a total of four books, which is much more content to write about in one blog post!
The first month of 2017 is finished, and with it, has come the start of a new semester, plenty of uni reading, and not a whole lot of free time! I still managed to read a few books, although most on this list have been read for my uni course.
2016 was the first year in which I set myself a goodreads challenge. I was feeling quite optimistic about it, despite having only finished 33 books in 2015. So I set myself a challenge of 50 books for the year, which has been a manageable number for me in previous years. I’ll say from the outset: I did not achieve this goal. I failed to counter in just what a busy and hectic year 2016 would be. So I’m not as upset with myself as I was this time last year, because I know that I have had an amazing year, and that reading just couldn’t take priority to some of these things.
But, just as I did in 2015, I am doing another Reading Year in Review, where I analyse the books that I have read in the year, in a little more depth! I’ve also added another couple of categories to talk about in this year’s edition!
I have been really bad at updating my reading wrap-ups over the last couple of months. This is mostly due to the lack of reading there has been to actually wrap up! Before the year is over though, I thought that it would be good to catch you up on what I have read, before my final end-of-year-wrap-up post!
Continue reading “October, November & December Wrap-Up | 2016”
Well, I can safely say that I read more than last month…that is, more than zero books!
I know, what an achievement, right!?
I mean, not a whole lot of books were read, and I’m now quite far behind on my reading challenge, but I still have hope that I will catch up in the last three months of the year (only three months left of 2016!!!???).
So in the month of September, I read…
What a successful reading month I had in August. Can you guess how many books I read?
Don’t worry, I shall tell you…
Drum roll please…
That’s right, I read zero books in August.
I really have no excuses, other than work, being on holiday in Paris, and moving into my new house. I guess life just got too busy!
There’s nothing else much to say on the reading front, and just because I don’t want to finish the post on an embarrassing, negative note, I’ll tell you about what I watched instead…
Yes, the Netflix show that everyone seems to be talking about! And what an amazing show it is! I am not a fan of the creepy, scary things, but I LOVED Stranger Things. I watched the first three episodes, and thought I wasn’t going to carry on with it, because it was creeping me out a little, and I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about it enough yet to outweigh that. But the hype around this show kept playing on me! So I pushed through, and man am I glad that I did!
For those of you who don’t already know (what rock are you living under?) Stranger Things is the story of a boy who disappears, and the people on the search for him, and all of the super weird, creepy, supernatural revelations and reasons surrounding it. It’s slow to start, but about half way in it gets so intense that you just can’t stop watching it!
And it’s only 8 episodes, which means you don’t have to dedicate as much time (which I guess could also be a downside!).
If I were to rate it as I rate books, I would probably give it a 4.5/5 – only because it took me a few episodes to fully get into it.
I have also been watching a bit of the Big Bang Theory. I only started watching BBT a couple of months ago (I know, I am soooooo behind!) and I’ve really been enjoying watching an odd episode whilst doing other things. (I sound like I’m some sort of professional multi-tasker here, but I’m seriously not!!!)
So that’s my fail of a reading wrap up for August! Here’s hoping for a much better month of reading during September (even though so far the total is still zero!).
Hopefully you guys did much better than me! How much did you read? What was your favourite? And has anyone else watched and loved Stranger Things?
I wanted to read four books this month, and I read four *cue polite round of applause…from myself*. It may not have been the four I had planned, but I’m still counting it as a success!!
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 3/5
Review
I really enjoyed this book, and it made me very happy and smiley. Stephanie Perkins is just an amazing ‘happy book’ writer. I had a few issues with the storyline and some of the themes, but overall I enjoyed it, and really enjoyed Isla and Josh as individual characters (even if I didn’t buy them together!).
Just One Year (Just One Day #2) by Gayle Forman
Rating: 3/5
I still haven’t collected my thoughts enough on this book to write a decent review. On the one hand, I completely loved the writing, themes and travelling in this story, but on the other hand I STILL didn’t like Willem, I felt it was a bit too slow, and I did have to really push myself through the last half of the book. I will definitely be reading Just One Night though, because if there’s anything worse than a cliffhanger, it’s a double cliff-hanger (which these two books very kindly gave us!).
Gathering Darkness (Falling Kingdoms #3) by Morgan Rhodes
Rating: 5/5
Review
Spoiler Discussion
This is my favourite of the series so far! I absolutely loved the twists and turns of the plot, and fell in love with some of the characters even more (hint hint: Magnus). I feel like I’m getting slightly more engrossed in this series with each book! Thankfully I already have Frozen Tides in my possession, so I think I know the first book I will be reading in August!
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne
Rating: 5/5
Review
Firstly I do have to say: I can understand why people might have been dissappointed with this story. Now that I’ve had time to reflect on it, I do realise that nostalgia, and my blinding love for everything Harry Potter probably made me enjoy this book immensely more than I may have otherwise. But I don’t really care, because I did love it, and I did really enjoy it – whatever the reason! The story in itself is just so cool because it’s our favourite characters, and also really well-thought-out new ones. It has just made me way more desperate to see the actual play though!
I also still have two books on the go…
– The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (yep, that one I started back in April!)
– Summer Days and Summer Nights (I managed to read about four or five of the stories, so I nearly made it half way through, but I just wasn’t really enjoying it, so I’m not sure whether I will be carrying on, or just picking odd stories to read when I’m in the mood, like I did with ‘My True Love Gave to Me’).
How was your July reading? What were some of your favourites of the month? Anyone else already read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – what did you think?
I’ve reached the point where I’m going to stop apologising for the amount of books I have read in the month. Yes, it’s only three books again (well, technically only two because one was finished in May) and no, I don’t really have any excuses other than “life was busy” – but then isn’t it always!?
So remember in my May Wrap-up when I said that I knew I wouldn’t finish another book by the end of that month, so I posted it quite early? Well, guess who actually did finish another book!
Shadow (The Romany Outcasts #2) by Christi J. Whitney
Rating: 5/5
Review
This was the sequel to Grey, which I absolutely loved, and was EVEN BETTER! I’m so excited for the third book! This is such a cool series with gargoyles and gypsies and curses and friendship and love and it’s brilliant! If you like YA urban fantasy, do yourself a favour and try this series!
Anyway, here’s what I managed to read this month…
Finding the Phoenix (The Celestial Talisman #1) by Caitlin O’Connor
Rating: 4/5
Review
The first book in an adult urban fantasy series; Finding the Phoenix was very different and unique. The characters were my favourite part, all with interesting and compelling backstories and flaws. I really do love flawed characters! I feel like this series is heading to an epic ending and I’m looking forward to seeing where it will go.
Gifted (The Hayven Series #1) by J. A. George
Rating: 4/5
Review
Wait…another urban fantasy series!!?? I thought I didn’t even really like urban fantasy all that much until this month! And this series was especially interesting, because the main character is a British, 19 year old, university student (AKA me!). At times it made me think a little of the Archived, in some of its storyline and some of the characters (I mean this in a very good way!). The world was probably my favourite thing, and I’m intrigued to read more about it!
That’s my, slightly late, June wrap-up! I would add my usual ‘next month I’m gonna read so much more’ line, but actually I’m so busy at the moment that I probably won’t!
What did you read this month? Any favourites?
This month has been REVISION MONTH. The month of all the revision and all the assignment-completing and all the exam-stressing…
But in less than a week it will be over, and my first year of university will be completed! Which is exciting but also scary. I mean, how did that whole first year go so fast!?
But this meant that I haven’t been able to read much this month. I did manage to read three books, which isn’t awful considering how busy and also difficult this month has been for me, but it’s also not particularly great (I feel like that is my feeling most months this year so far though!).
I am aware that the month of May is not yet entirely over, and that there are still a few days left, but I am pretty sure that I won’t complete another book in the span of those days (because of it being my final week of revision for exams!). Â So I am going to leave it at these three, and hope for a much longer wrap-up next month!
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Rating: 5/5
Review
Book Discussion (Spoilers!)
I don’t even know where to begin with this book. A Court of Thorns and Roses was my most anticipated read of 2015, and was also my favourite read of 2015. ACOMAF was my most anticipated book of 2016, and is set to be my favourite book of 2016 too. No pressure for book 3 then!
Basically this book was so amazing I can’t even really put into words. (Although I did try in my review!) It was so much better than ACOTAR, and I loved ACOTAR, so that’s high praise from me!
The Reflections of Queen Snow White by David Meredith
Review
Rating: 3/5
I thought this was a very beautifully written story, in terms of great writing and interesting themes. I thought it was a very interesting twist on the fairytale retelling by using it as a sequel rather than a retelling along the same storyline. However, I had a few issues with the style of story-telling, and the fact that most of the story was told in back-story. Overall though, an enjoyable and quick read!
Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
Rating: 5/5
Review
This book was just wonderful. I loved being back in the Lunar Chronicles world, and back with these wonderful characters! I’m not usually a fan of companion novellas, (which, let’s be honest, the vast majority of YA series do have now!) but I was able to put this aside because this was one case where I just wanted to be in the world again. Not because the series left lots of loose ends, but because I was in a Lunar Chronicles hangover and the only cure was more Lunar Chronicles stories! If you loved the series and are usually hesitant in picking up these novellas, I would really recommend them for satisfying any withdrawal symptoms from this series’ end!
So, that’s my May reading wrap-up! As always, let me know how much you read this month, and what your favourites were! My favourite was definitely A Court of Mist and Fury! I wish I could unread that book so I could have the pleasure of reading it for the first time all over again!
April has been another month of reading only 4 books. I’m still on track with my goodreads challenge though, and given how busy I have been, I’m not really upset with that. I really cannot wait until exam/assignments are over and I can read read read! But for now, here are my brief thoughts on the books I read in April!
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Rating: 2/5
Review
This was the Bookaholic Alliance April BOTM. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with this book. I really didn’t like the quirky formatting, I found it very difficult to read, and I could not engage with the story at all. There was very little I actually enjoyed with this book, apart from the character Aidan who was, although very difficult to read, a little interesting. I am glad I finally read it though, because it had been on my TBR for ages!
Dark Continent by Mark Mazower
Rating: 4/5
Okay, so this doesn’t really fit in with my normal reading, but I am actually a history student, and do read history books sometimes! The thing is, I only usually read just one chapter, or just a section, to get the information that I need on a topic, and then leave the rest of the book. But this one I read cover to cover, because it was actually very interesting (and gave me lots of useful information to revise for my exam!).
The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkowski
Rating: 4/5
In terms of writing style, character development, technicality of plotting etc this book was by far the best of the trilogy. In terms of the actual story, and my interest in what was going on, it was by far my least favourite. That said, the first two books were just so amazing, and I read them at a time when I really needed something to pick me up, and loved them for doing that. I think that sometimes, that can be the case: certain books are for certain times in your life, and reading them in another time doesn’t resonate so much with you. But I still gave it 4 stars, because the writing absolutely blew me away!
Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes
Rating: 5/5
Review
Discussion
I ended April with my favourite book of the month: Rebel Spring – Book 2 in the Falling Kingdoms series. Although I had really enjoyed Falling Kingdoms, I wasn’t completely blown away by it, and I felt that something was missing. In this sequel, whatever was missing in Book 1 must have entered into the book, because I absolutely LOVED it! I am so invested in these characters and I am only two books through. I am so excited to see where the story goes in future books – and I have the rest of the series so far with me at Uni so I can just binge through them when I get some time!
That’s my reading wrap-up for the month of April! What have you read this month? And what was your favourite book that you read in April? Be sure to let me know in the comments!
READER IN A REVERIE 