Sunday, July 14, 2019

June 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to July

Yet another month of no writing, makes me sad, BUT, I did get moved!  However, moving was a huge stress within itself!  Let's just say I have a ton of books, and I knew that, but never thought about how much of a pain that would be to move.  Plus, I forgot to really go into the walk in closet in my 2nd bedroom at my old house to get it ready to move for the movers I was paying, so I ended up spending several days after the movers still moving tons of stuff it seemed.  But I'm now in my new house, and for the most part, loving it.  I haven't quite got the backyard ready for my dogs so that I can let them go outside and play while I sit and watch them and read or work on writing/blogging. But that is hopefully something I'll get done soon.  Along with unpacking, and figuring out how I'll fit all my stuff from my old house into my smaller house, and what all I'll be getting rid of.  So that is why this is a bit late for my EOM post.


On with the reading stats for June.

According to Goodreads, I've read 122 of the 220 books I bumped my goal up to for the year, because I was 11 books ahead of schedule. May made up 21 of those.  I am only 5 books ahead of schedule, so I'll be at this goal for awhile. Moving, packing, lots of hours back at my bookstore job, all of it has got me to be behind on reading.  Hoping I'll get caught back up this month. 

Here is a list of books I read in May, and I'll link to my review if I've finished it:

  1.  If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann
  2. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
  3. The Red Zone by Amie Knight
  4. Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
  5. Dying to Meet You by Rich Amooi
  6. Never Contented Things by Sarah Porter
  7. The Chosen by Taran Matharu
  8. The Friend Zone by Sariah Wilson
  9. That Second Chance by Meghan Quinn
  10. Parental Guidance by Avery Flynn
  11. The Locker Room by Meghan Quinn
  12. Follow Me Back by A.L. Jackson
  13. The Accidental Girlfriend by Emma Hart
  14. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
  15. Courting Kate by Tori Kron
  16. The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren
  17. Payback by Amy Daws
  18.  
Any that aren't reviewed are either part of upcoming blog tours, or I just haven't had time yet to review.

Books that I read in May but didn't get reviewed until June are:
  1. Midnight Blue by L.J. Shen
  2.  The Haunted by Danielle Vega
  3. Truth or Beard by Penny Reid
  4. The Game Changer by Jacqueline Snowe
  5. Fluffy by Julia Kent
  6. Five Midnights by Ann Davila Cardinal 

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  So far this year I've put 6 books on my DNF list, one was in June, but I didn't add it until July because I had a tour for it, and wanted to wait till after that.  I think I have another that I'll DNF later this month after the tour is over.  

June was much better about cutting back on posts, but I'll once again blame that on moving.     Thirteen of those were reviews, and a couple of those posts had multiple reviews within them.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too, except for this monthly wrap-up post being late I guess.   My rating was a little lower for June books, down to 4.5 stars.

Okay, on with my challenges.


1.  Once again I kept up with my Looking Forward To posts, on Wednesdays as much as possible to tie in with the Can't Wait Wednesday posts.
June 5th
June 12th
June 19th
June 26th - July 2nd books

In June I was better about visiting other blogs and commenting as much as I was posting on my own blog, but I was bad about keeping track of it in my calendar where I was trying to do that.  I'm kind of back on track today I think.

Been doing well on cleaning up my Goodreads TBR with my weekly post and giveaway (except that I keep adding new to Goodreads), as well as even my physical TBR a little.  I still only have one person joining in, but feel free to join in as well.  Here are the posts for that:
June 1st
June 8th
June 15th
June 22nd
June 29th

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge, even if I'm not as far ahead as I was, I'm still ahead!

3. Once again my writing goals were nonexistent this  month.  Summer school and moving last month totally cut into any writing time I had.  So far in July I'm not doing great either.  But I'm really itching to write again, so hopefully I'll have some time soon!


So, I still didn't do any from my proposal list, or any others that could count for this.  Oops!




No new discussions this month.  Although I came up with an idea again, but in the midst of moving I didn't write it down and now I don't remember what I wanted to talk about!


 

And.... I still need some kind of button for the First in the Series Challenge, although once again, didn't do any from my list!

June became a month I couldn't get into my library to do much because of other schools in the district using it for their offices as their schools were having construction. Then one of the teachers asked if I wanted to do summer school, and I said yes to that pay!  It was a three week assignment of making sure the students read what their teachers assigned them to read over the summer.  One of the books was Brave New World, which I've never read, and I started it, but haven't had time to finish it yet.  I would have finished it by reading with the students during their silent reading time in summer school, but then I had some books I needed to get done for review, and at home I was busy packing so couldn't read as much there.  I also face planted in the driveway of my old house halfway through June, so spent a lot of time with a huge scab right under one of my eyes.  I hurt one of my feet, and although they didn't see a break with x-rays, I still think they didn't x-ray it the way they should have because it still hurts.  My new back yard seems to have had mole activity in the past, maybe still does, and so there are a lot of big holes, and I'm worried about mowing and hurting myself.  I plan to till the ground up and even it out this fall when I can plant new grass as well, but for now, I'm afraid to mow.  I've had my stepdad do it once, but then he was in a car accident, so I hired a friend's son to do it.  And now it is time again, so I think maybe I'll find a service for now.  Oh the joys of homeownership now that I no longer live in my townhomes with maintenance provided. 



Looking forward to in July:
Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month, some are already read since we are half-way through the month, so I'll link right to those reviews if they're done:

  1. Accidentally in Love by Katy Ames - the final book in the 425 Madison series, reviewed on July 1st.
  2. He's a Brute by Chloe Liese - I signed up for this tour, didn't realize that the tour was for the second book in the series, but I read the first, will get to the second when I have a chance.
  3. The Wilder Girls  by Rory Power - I was very disappointed in this one.
  4. The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson - Really liked this one!
  5. The Shortest Distance Between Love and Hate by Sandy Hall - enjoyed, not as much as A Prom to Remember, but still good!
  6. Rebel Heir by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward- audiobook, freebie I got, didn't realize it wasn't a standalone, but now must have the sequel!
  7. All Boy by Mia Kerick - Reading now and really making me think.  Review on the 17th.
  8. Making Up by Helena Hunting - Reading now and loving of course!  Review on the 18th.
  9. Victor by Brenda Rothert - Review on the 21st
  10. Sightseeing in Manhattan by C. Lesbirel - the last in the 425 Madison series I've been enjoying this summer.  Review on the 22nd
  11. When Polly Met Olly by Zoe May - review on the 23rd
  12. Lies by Kylie Scott - review on the 24th
  13. The King by Jennifer L. Armentrout - I signed up for a tour, so hopefully I'll be reading and reviewing on the 26th or 27th
  14. Perky by Julia Kent - review on the 28th
  15. Willow by Grace Parks - review on the 30th
  16. Resist by K. Bromberg - review on the 31st
  17. The Hooker and the Hermit by L.H. Cosway and Penny Reid - signed up for Audible's new Escape program where it is only $2.95 a month for the first three months to listen to any of the specific romance books they categorize on this for free.  Loving this one!
  18. #Murderfunding by Gretchen McNeil - I've got the ARC, loved the first one, and since this is published at the beginning of August, I'll need to get it read! 
  19. A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause - another ARC I've got that comes out at the beginning of August, so I need to get that one read!

It's possible it could be another audiobook or other book fit in there, but we'll see how much time I have.  Fingers crossed since most are for tours!  

The end of the month means back to school, teachers report back on August 1st!  Crazy!  Students are back on the 7th of August, which unfortunately is also when I have a book convention I'm going to, so have to figure out how to go to that without getting docked pay for missing the first two days of school.  

With another crazy month, I'm skipping the Best of the Bunch thing again and just going ahead and wrapping up this post.