August 2019 Monthly Wrap Up // Ft. My Love Of Harry Potter, Taylor Swift, and Wishing It Was Still Summer

Hey so apparently August is here and I don’t really know how that happened but I’m seriously starting to freak out can someone please slow down time I don’t want change thank you very much.

Reading

1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (reread) ★★★★★ // Still phenomenal! Loved seeing the golden trio grow closer and Harry’s first taste of Tom Riddle!
2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (reread) ★★★★★ // My second favorite! I love the Marauders, am so happy Harry gets to know Lupin and Sirius, and Harry producing a full Patronus is amazing!
3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (reread) ★★★★★ // My favorite HP! The perfect bridge between the lighter first ones and darker later ones, with the perfect blend of fun whimsy with intense conflict. Love seeing Harry develop into an amazing wizard here learning all those spells! Accio book!
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (reread) ★★★★☆ // As absolutely infuriating as Umbridge is and as much angst is in the book, I loved seeing Dumbledore’s Army! The ending though, Sirius…. ripped out my heart

5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (reread) ★★★★★ // Another amazing one! I loved seeing more of Tom Riddle/Voldemort’s backstory and seeing Harry become an amazing wizard post OWLs!
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (reread) ★★★★★ // What an absolutely incredible ending. 
7. We Set The Dark On Fire ★★★★☆ // I really enjoyed this diverse fantasy if the main character could be a bit annoying at times. 
8. Last Of Her Name ★★★★☆ // I was meh about it until the mind twisting ending, a cool Anastasia retelling!

9. Before She Ignites ★★☆☆☆  // This was a kind of cool fantasy but also very boring.
10. Gunslinger Girl ★★★☆☆ // I wanted to love this, but it definitely wasn’t as western as it promised, instead a generic dystopia that bored me at times.
11. The Upside Of Unrequited ★★★☆☆ // Pretty meh, I enjoyed it at times and disliked it at times, cute and fun but nothing amazing like Simon.
12. Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters ★★★★☆  // This was such a cool premise and very disturbing and fun at the same time, although I wish a few things had been addressed better.

13. Spectacle ★☆☆☆☆  // I was just so, so, so bored.
14. The Great Unknowable End ★★★☆☆ // Kind of cool, definitely different with the weird cult Amish type people, overall a solid good but not great.
15. On The Come Up ★★★★★ // We’ve all established by now that Angie Thomas is amazing, right?

I read 15 books this month, including the Harry Potter books which are gigantic monsters, so that’s really good for me! My average was 3.9, which is definitely skewed high because the Harry Potter books were so amazing and I knew they would be, but hey, I’m definitely not complaining!

Blogging

I did pretty good with blogging three times a week in August! Here are my posts:

Reviews:

• This Cruel Design Review // Crazy Characters In A Complex, Scientific World
• King of Scars Review // A Good Mishmash of Two Different Fantasies
• Song of the Abyss ARC Review // Mapmaking In A Cool Fantasy World
• Permanent Record ARC Review // New Adult Angst, Family, And Romance
• A House of Rage and Sorrow ARC Review // Dark, Mortally Grey, Incredible Space Fantasy

Other Posts:

• Top Ten Book Redesigns // Beautiful New Artwork, Disgustingly Ugly Ruination, And My Beloved Harry Potters
• Reading Is My Hobby But Not My Profession // Feeling Fake, Being Torn Between Two Communities, And Other Insecurities
• Top Ten Book Characters I’d Love To Be Friends With // My Aspirations To Bake, Geek Out, And Share Secrets Together
• All 14 Young Adult Books I Own // A Mini Bookshelf Tour (???) Of My Mini Book Collection!!!
• Top Ten Favorite Tropes // Enemies And Friends And Lovers And Other Things I’m Trash For
• I Should Read That Book Tag // Watching The Movie First, Ignoring Pretty Pictures, And Being Way Behind The Curve As Usual
• Top Ten Books For My College Collection // Comfort Books And ARCs I’ll Read In College!

Your Posts

Here are some of the lovely other posts I enjoyed reading this month!

• Kelly shares six useful Goodreads features you might not know about
• J. R. shares advice you’d give to new bloggers
• Olivia is way more positive than I could ever be by talking about what she loves about school
• Tiffany is a literal goddess lifesaver sharing 10 things she wishes she knew before college
• Xandra shares 4 this about blogging that seem scary but aren’t that bad
• Marie shares how to give blog posts that extra spark
• Margaret talks about the future of YA and why so many adults read it

Life

• I reread the whole Harry Potter series. Well, I mean, I read the first one on July 31st for Harry’s birthday, but basically the whole series. I read them all in a week, as I’ve done for the past three summers.
• I knitted myself a Ravenclaw scarf! I’ve knit on and off for like half my life now; I’m not serious, but I’ve done some easy projects like scarves, hats, and bags. After rereading the whole series I was like I should buy a scarf… and then I remembered that I knit lmao so I took three days to make myself one!
• I visited with family, including my grandmother and cousins. It was a fun few days and I was basically off the internet for them, just hanging out at the beach and being chill.
• I visited a National Park, went hiking and stargazing and overall just really enjoyed being out in nature!
• I’m obsessed with Taylor Swift’s new album!! My current favorite songs are Cruel Summer, Cornelia Street, and Daylight, but the more I listen, the more I obsessed I get with the other songs and I honestly love them allll!!
• I’m having an absolute crisis that summer is over!!! People seem to love fall but… I’m super sad because it means back to school 😦 Also there’s no fall in socal where I live the weather doesn’t cool down until November so now it’s just hot but no summer hanging out fun times rip.

Let’s Chat

How was your August?  What’s your favorite Harry Potter book? Favorite song off Lover? I’d love to chat in the comments below ❤