August 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to September

As for August, well, school started back to meetings on the 1st!  So no time for much this month.  As I continue to work on unpacking and moving in to the new house,  I still have boxes of books to take to Half Price Books.  Writing, still none.  But I've really been having the urge to get some writing done.  As I write this blog, I spent today getting the small fence for my dogs up in the backyard so I can sit and blog/write whatever.  Also bought a patio table at an end of the season sale at Lowe's today as well. Here is a picture of my dogs enjoying the yard earlier today:

I know it's crooked, but I've got moles in my yard and the ground is pretty lumpy, but I don't care how it looks.  All I care is that it's set up for them to be safe and me to be able to keep an eye on them.

August was a busy month.  Not only did school start again, but I also went to Book Bonanza for the 2nd year in a row and it was awesome!  You can check out how much fun I had HERE.  But I have to share my favorite picture, when I got to meet Penny Reid, one of my favorite authors!

August was also my 10th Blogoversary. Yep, you read that right, Lisa Loves Literature has been around for 10 years now!  I got a post done kind of late with how busy August was, but that's good for you, because the giveaway is still going for a bit longer if you want to help me celebrate HERE.

I also had some awesome sneak movie preview opportunities this past month.  I can't tell you what movies they were or anything about them. The first one I was really excited for, and it was neat to see a movie that the special effects weren't all done on.  The second one I wasn't as excited for, and you see, you don't know what it is until you get there.  But in the end I enjoyed it, it did make me cry.

On with the reading stats for August.

According to Goodreads, I've read 146 of the 220 books goal for the year.  August made up 13 of those.  I am now right on schedule, so I'll keep this goal for awhile, although I may start getting behind if I don't pick it back up.

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

1.  Resist by K. Bromberg - now I messed up and signed up for two different blog tours for this one, so HERE is the link to the other post.
2. #murderfunding by Gretchen McNeil
3. A Dress for the Wicked by Autumn Krause
4. Remember Me by Chelsea Bobulski
5. Getting Played by Emma Chase
6. Truly Mine by Kennedy Fox
7. The Nanny Rules by Melynda Price
8. The Silence Between Us by Alison Gervais
9. I Hate You by Ilsa Madden-Mills
10. Neanderthal Marries Human by Penny Reid
11. Best Player by Jaqueline Snowe
12. That Forever Girl by Meghan Quinn
13. Kiss Me Not by Emma Hart
 

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for two audiobooks that weren't part of any tour, and I didn't get the two audiobooks from last month reviewed yet either.  I've got them on my calendar to try to get done this month though.

Books that I read in July but didn't get reviewed until August are:

None as I mentioned above.

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  I'm up to 10 for the year, one from this past month.

I got down to only 36 posts in August, that's good, getting a lot closer to my goal of only one post. day.   I'm doing a lot better about quickly scanning tour group emails for any books that either I know I want to read, or else making sure I don't have anything already scheduled.    Of those 36 posts, 13 were reviews, although two of those are actually the same review.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too.   My rating was back up for August books, up to 4.6 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.
August 7th
August 14th
August 21st
August 28th

I'm still working on visiting other blogs and commenting as much as I am posting on my own blog, but I still haven't been keeping track of it in my calendar where I was trying to do that.  Don't know if that'll ever get going again.

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.   Although I did miss the weekend of Book Bonanza.  I think I now have two people occasionally joining in, and you should feel free to join in as well.  Here are the posts for that:

August 3rd
August 17th
August 24th
August 31st - and this giveaway is still going!

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge, even if I'm not ahead anymore, I'm still at least on track for now.

3. Now that I have my fence up, and bought a table for the back patio, I plan to get some writing done soon! 

Still nothing from my list.  :-(

No new discussions this month. Again. 

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!

Looking forward to in September:

Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month:

1. Handle With Care by Helena Hunting - posting review on the 3rd as part of a blog tour
2. Babe Driven by Lizzie Chantree - posting review on the 5th as part of a blog tour
3. Jock Road by Meghan Quinn - maybe posting a review on the 6th, not sure!
4. Whiskey Surprises by Jaqueline Snowe - not really enjoying, so don't know if I'll go ahead and post a DNF post or what.
5. Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan - posting review on the 8th as part of a blog tour
6. Styx and Stones by Carmen Jenner - posting review as part of a blog tour on the 9th
7. Truly Yours by Kennedy Fox - posting review on the 10th
8. Wishing in the Dark by Colbie Kay - posting review on the 13th
9. Exile from Eden by Andrew Smith - posting review either on the 14th, or on the 21st or 22nd as part of a tour
10. The Hive by Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden - reading now, had planned to do a review today, but obviously that didn't happen just yet.
11. The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring - should be posting a review possibly on the 14th or else the 22nd
12. No Judgments by Meg Cabot - hope to post a review on the 15th
13. Beard With Me by Penny Reid - posting review on the 16th
14. Slay by Brittney Morris - either posting a review on the 17th or 19th, I hope.
15. Fake Date by Monica Murphy - maybe a review on the 20th as part of a tour
16. Reveal by K. Bromberg - posting a review on the 24th or 30th
17. Enchanting Sebastian by Kristen Proby - posting review on the 24th
18. Closer by Kylie Scott - posting review on the 25th
19. The Speed of Falling Objects by Nancy Richardson Fischer - posting review as part of a blog tour on the 26th
20. Team Player 2 - posting reviews of some of the stories in this anthology on the 27th
21. I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal - hopefully posting an ARC review on the 28th
22. Michigan Vs. The Boys by Carrie S. Allen - hopefully posting an ARC review on the 29th

Hopefully I will get the audiobooks I haven't reviewed yet posted on my blog.  And fingers crossed I can get all these done for tours!  There are one or two I could see ending up as DNFs, but hoping not. September shouldn't be as busy as August.  The only thing coming up is a friend's wedding in two weeks, but that is here in town.  I will have a friend staying with me that weekend, so that could put a dent that weekend in reading, but we'll see.

With another crazy month, I'm skipping the Best of the Bunch thing again and just going ahead and wrapping up this post.   Hope everyone had a great August, and here's to an even better September!  I'm so ready for fall weather to get here!