OMG… Can anyone else hardly believe it’s August already? I’m seriously shocked that the Summer is more than half over! July was a BUSY month for me, which was entirely unexpected. I started working out very seriously, with a personal trainer, so I was consumed by that a lot of the time as well as EXHAUSTED every night when I got home because of it. I didn’t get as much work on my blog done as I would have liked and I was behind quite a bit(still am). I did get more read than in June though so I was happy about that but I really need to buckle down in August to attempt to clear my shelves!
*Click for review
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone(audiobook) by J.K Rowling – 5/5 Stars
Sisters in Sanity by Gayle Forman – 3/5 Stars
Heist Society by Ally Carter – 3/5 Stars
Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma – 2/5 Stars
Barbie World by Heidi Acosta – 4/5 Stars
The Secret Eater by Ros Jackson – 3/5 Stars
Saving Ben by Ashley Farley – 4/5 Stars
Hysteria by Megan Miranda – 3/5 Stars
The Ruining by Anna Collomore – 3/5 Stars
My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi – 4/5 Stars
Losing Francesca by J.A. Huss – 3/5 Stars
Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover – 4/5 Stars
Do you see a pattern here? NO 5 STAR REVIEWS! … Well besides Harry Potter but I don’t count that because it’s a reread so I knew I would love it going into it. While I got a lot more read than in June, nothing won me over entirely. It’s very strange for me… I usually love more books than I dislike! Maybe I’m getting pickier?
Goodreads Challenge: I have currently read 87 out of my goal 115 books! Whoop, whoop! Essentially that puts me at 20 books ahead at this exact moment.
Debut Author’s Challenge: 14/16 books read 🙂 I’m almost complete, which is great. I can take a step back from this one once I reach 16 and work on the TBR.
TBR Pile Challenge: It’s embarrassing how far behind I am on this. I haven’t read a TBR book all month 🙁
Summer of Stand Alones: I’ve read 12/15 so far so I’m making great progress… I will most likely surpass my goal in August.
I took part in quite a few tours for July! Freshman Forty by Christine Duval, Saving Ben by Ashley Farley, Losing Francesca by J.A. Huss, and Barbie World by Heidi Acosta!
I was a horrible Top Ten Tuesday participant this month! Top Ten Books I Find Intimidating was the only one I did 🙁 The topics were really hard on my brain this month, I could barely come up with any answers so I scraped everything!
There were a few cover reveals on the blog as well: Becoming by Samantha Summers & Torn Seraphine by KaSonndra Leigh!
I posted my introductory post for my new feature, Behind the Blog: Tips from an Organizer. Stay tuned this month for my first tutorial/guide!
July also marked the mid summer check in for the Summer of Stand Alones. I am pretty happy with my progress so far and am excited to read even more stand alones for the rest of the challenge! I also participated in the Summer Lovin’ readathon, which came out ok. I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked but I did read quite a bit. Mini Bloggiesta was also in July; I got quite a bit accomplished but again not what I would like. If anything my list for September was made quite a bit larger 😛
The Gayle Forman Read Along is going terribly for me. I finished Sister in Sanity very late and haven’t even started the second book yet. Oh the disaster. I am hoping to get caught up this weekend, it’s so embarrassing because I really want to read her books!
My reader overflowed way too much in July! There were awesome posts this month from EVERYONE!
- Beefin’ Up With the Betty’s at Book Rock Betty (seriously, watch this… you will be reduced to tears! Betty & her husband are hilarious!)
- Book Abandonment at Clear Eyes, Full Shelves
- You Known You’re a Book Blogger… at Readers in Wonderland
- How Do You Feel About Ebooks? at Boricuan Bookworms
- The Book Addict’s guide to Paranormal, Sci-fi & Fantasy at The Book Addict’s Guide
- How I Know Your Book was Not Edited at Parajunkee
- Ebooks vs Printed Books at Book Nerd Reviews
- Have You Checked to See if Your Blog is Marked Malicious at Angela’s Anxious Life (VERY helpful!!)
And that’s all I have this month guys! I wasn’t organized at all in July! I’ve already started early for August so here’s to hoping 🙂
How was everyone’s July? Link up your wrap ups! I hope everyone is off to a great start in August 🙂
My months are always no 5 star months lol. I’m very very very picky because 5 stars means it’s perfect, a must-read, and that I won’t get tired re-reading it so I think I only have probably around seven 5 star reviews and I’ve been blogging for a year & read more than 100 books. My July was good b/c I read lots of books and went on a vacation trip. 🙂 I know August is going to be a hell month since school is starting & homework is right around the corner. Haha!
Leigh, LBS ★
Holy smokes! Yah you are definitely more pickier than me, 5 star for me is one I NEED to own… even if I don’t re read 🙁 I’m glad you had a great July, vacation’s are awesome 🙂 I hope the start of the school year goes good for you !!