June 2019 Monthly Wrap Up // Summer Books, Asian Books, and Most Importantly, Cake

Hey loves! Somehow it’s already JULY???????????? HOW DID this happen

Reading

1. The Bird and the Blade: 4 stars // This book was pretty good, although a bit slow at times.
2. Again but Better: 3.5 stars // Unfortunately I found a lot wrong with this highly anticipated book, but it was still cute!
3. This Cruel Design: 4 stars // This got a lot harder to follow than the first book and I didn’t love it as much but I was very wowed by the science. 
4. The Music of What Happens: 4 stars // This wasn’t exceptional, but it was a cute summer read and great for pride month!

5. The Fever King: 4 stars // At first I wasn’t that into it but then the ending happened and absolutely blew my mind so. 
6. King of Scars: 3.5 stars // This was about on par with the Grisha books in terms of how much I liked it; it was good and I loved the characters but I didn’t love the book yaknow. 
7. First & Then: 3 stars // This was cute but that’s about it.
8. A River of Royal Blood: 4 stars // The concept and world building was so cool wow!

9. This Adventure Ends: 3 stars // meh. This was pretty standard, not great but not terrible, mostly fun to read but forgettable.
10. Ella Enchanted (reread): 5 stars // I’ve read this book so many times and I never stop loving it.
11. A House of Rage and Sorrow: 4.5 stars // This book was so dark and deep with such an incredible world and characters I love it.
12. This Is What It Feels Like: 4 stars // This was such a great book about three healing girls and their band.

13. Renegades (reread): 5 stars // So I saw Marissa Meyer posted the first seven chapters of Supernova and I devoured them and I sat around lost in my feelings since the full book isn’t out yet so then I reread this one to wait lmao.

As you can see, I read 13 books this month, which is quite a lot, and I had a ton of really good 4 or 5 star books in there so overall it was a big YAY! My average rating was 3.9, which is high!!A good reading month for sure.

YARC Update

Like all the cool kids, I’m participating in the Year of the Asian Reading Challenge, or YARC, this year! I’ve decided to check in on my progress by quarters, so my last check in was my March Wrap Up. In the first three months of the year, I read 7 Asian books, so I’m starting here from 8!

8. (April) To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (Korean) // Is this the third time I’ve read this book in 15 months? Yes. Do I have any shame? Nope.
9. (April) Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman (Japanese) // This book is incredible. It’s so amazing and special to me, and great that I read it for YARC, because I’ve never felt as represented in a book as I did with the biracial mc here.
10. (April) China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan (Chinese) // The next Crazy Rich Asians book is no less fun or crazy! I definitely recommend these books.
11. (May) Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman (Japaneses) // After loving Starfish, of course I had to read this book! It was cool because I’ve never seen the word “hapa” in a book before this one.
12. (May) I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn (Japanese) // I love this book so mochi! I love the setting in Japan, and seeing the mc experience it for the first time was so akin to me visiting Taiwan for the first time!
13. (May) The Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (Indian) // Unfortunately, I was bored to death by this book. I believe there is Indian mythology in it though so that’s cool!
14. (May) Ignite the Stars by Maura Millan (Filipino) // I loved seeing Asian characters as badass space pilots! Of course, the biracial character has my heart too.
15. (May) Permanent Record by Mary H. K. Choi (Korean) // I loved this book! I got it signed by the author at Yallwest so I’ll love it forever. And the mc is biracial!!
16. (June) A House of Rage and Sorrow by Sangu Mandanna (Indian) // The space fantasy got taken to the next level… there was so much Indian mythology here in space it was amazing!

Since I’ve read 16 books, I’ve achieved my goal of Indian Cobra, 11-20 books!! So excited that I can wear this shiny badge with pride now.

Blogging

This month I’ve really started figuring out a schedule! I’ve had a lot more time for blogging too since I’m on summer break!

Reviews:

• Ignite The Stars Review // Complex Characters In An Incredible Space Setting
• Sorcery Of Thorns Blog Tour Review //A Gripping, Magical, Fantastic Whirlwind
• Fate, Fame, and the First Kiss Review // A Fluffy Fun Contemporary
• Love a la Mode Review // A Delicious Foodie Contemporary

Other posts:

• Top Ten Tuesday // Best Fantasy Novels
• The Summer Bucket List Book Tag // Beachy Reads, Sweet Treats, And All My Summer Opinions
• Top Ten Tuesday // Most Anticipated Releases From The Second Half Of 2019
• Summer 2019 Goals // Reading & Writing & Swimming + More!
• My Favorite Books From The First Half Of 2019 // Ft. Fantastic Fantasies, Heart Wrenching Contemporaries, And Me Fangirling Incoherently
• 2019 Mid Year Freak Out Tag // Eye Candy Covers, Incredible Stories, and Books I Can’t Wait To Read!

Although I didn’t read that many other posts this month, I still found a few that I really loved!

• May is hosting the Third Annual Book Blogger Awards!
• Vicky discusses when your favorite books are problematic.
• Margaret discusses how nostalgia affects how she reads books.
• Tiffany shows how to make pretty and aesthetic rainbow mood boards. 
• Marie talks about her book blogging bucket list. 
• Malka explains why she cares about stats. 

Life

June was definitely a bit calmer than May, but still full of excitement!

• I graduated high school! I already talked about this a bit in my May Wrap Up since it was happening right when I was posting it, but I figure I’ll mention it here since it happened in June: June 6th, 2019. It truly felt surreal walking across the stage to get my diploma. Along with that, we had the senior paper toss, where I threw all my papers from the past four years, and our grad night, which was from 10 PM – 5 AM after graduation where we had carnival games and rides, laser tag, a hypnotist and magician, a dance floor, tons of food… it was definitely a night to remember!
  • (Also my senior year GPA was a 4.8 (out of 4) and my cumulative freshman-senior GPA was 4.4 so yeah I was pretty darn proud at seeing my transcript)
• I saw the live action Aladdin! It definitely wasn’t that great, and there were some things from the original I hoped it would fix, but the music and Naomi Scott’s voice is amazing!
• I’ve been writing again! It’s been a while since I’ve really written, but I’m 30,000 words into a new WIP! (It’s a shit draft, but it’s something!)
• I…started watching Star Wars lmao. Don’t come for me because I’ve gone 17 years of my life never having seen any of them; I just never cared. So far I’ve seen 4-6, which I love, and 1, which I hate, so let’s see how this goes.
• I made a really pretty cake. At least, I like to think it’s really pretty. It was a two layer lemon cake with a basket weave on the side, rope twist on the border, and a bunch of succulents that I made independently covering the top and spilling down one side. It’s the most complex cake I’ve ever made, and it took me 6 hours, so yeah I’m bragging to everyone I know about it.

Let’s Chat

How was your June? Did you read any of these great books? Have any fun summer plans? I’d love to chat in the comments below.