July Wrap-Up

So July was a … weird month for me. On the one hand I got a lot of reading done and on the other hand I barely read anything close to the end of the month. I usually don’t tend to write about things like that but my kid and I were at the hospital because she had some sort of seizure. We had to wait for the test results and of course I was worried sick. >_< By now we finally got them though and they were pretty unsuspicious. This is great news, but we still don’t know what caused her to spasm in the first place.  I really hope that it was a one time thing and that it will never happen again… because hell, I was so freaking scared and I don’t EVER want to see my kid like that again. (Sorry for being so blunt and frank here.) So basically the last few days have been some of the worst of my entire life which is the reason I was barely active on here. *takes a deep breath*

Okay, enough of the serious things. Let’s focus on the good things like the fact that my kid told me she loves me and that I reached 300 followers. (which is another huge milestone of my blog) This time around I’ll go for a give-away because I can finally go to the post office again and my drawing of Hermione took way too long. I mean I got 50 more subscribers before I was even able to post it. XD Still, I’m glad so many of you seemed to like it! ❤

And before I forget to mention it: I managed to connect my flickr account to my wordpress page! (Took me long enough to figure out how to do it and I think this might actually qualify for another round of my blog tutorial post „Explain & Gain“. ) So now you can see my flickr gallery at the sidebar of my blog and are able to take a closer look at my photography too. Since I don’t have Instagram, Twitter or any other social media page I figured to link flickr would be a good idea. 😉

This said, let’s go for my monthly Wrap-Up and take a closer look at the books I discovered:

Books read: 8 (7 books & 1 webcomic)

Pages read:  2.420 (As it seems I’m still on a roll and reading a lot of books. Maybe it’s my library that always wants them back and forces me to read them faster. *lol*)

Average rating: 4,13 (Lots of 4 paw ratings this month but only 1 five paws read and this one was EVERYTHING!!! ❤ )

Books that were on my reading list:  2 (1 from 2019 and 1 from 2020. Hey, at least I manage to read one book from 2020. 😛 )

July Reads:

       

       

To Kill a Kingdom:

This was exactly the kind of bloodthirsty and dark retelling of „Ariel – The Little Mermaid“ I craved for. I had to listen to the Disney version way too often and needed something different to appreciate it again. Thankfully this was exactly what I hoped for and now I can sing „Under the Sea“ with a lot of enthusiasm again. (My kid just loves Ariel and I needed a new spin… badly! *lol*) Also Lira and Elian were quite the pair. 😉

Birthday:

I finally wanted to read a book with a good transgender rep and I think „Birthday“ did a really great job. I felt with Morgan and it hurt to see her troubles and how she tried to fit in. Eric was more than just sweet and I loved their friendship so much! ❤ What really got to me was the homophobia in this book though. It was so hurtful to see it through Morgan’s eyes and there were times I just wanted Eric’s father to shut up. >_< Still, this was a great rep and I think that it was own voices made it even more tangible.

Radiance:

Now that was an interesting romance and something entirely different. I loved how Brishen and Ildiko had insta-friendship instead of insta-love and their honesty made me laugh so much. Those two were brutally honest about their repulsive appearances and considering that both of their species had a different beauty ideal this was super refreshing. Their humour and their love was amazing and I’m already looking forward to book two. =)

An Exaltation of Larks:

One of THE BEST BOOKS EVER!!! ❤ Seriously, if I could marry this book I’d do it without hesitation. I loved this so much!!! I mean we have 3 characters, a few decades, historical background stories like the disappeared of Chile and 9/11, an LGBTQ+ rep, easy banter, Spanish and lots of love! GAH! „An Exaltation of Larks“ was just so good!!! I’ll never stop raving about this book and if you want to know more, you can read my review here! (I’ll most likely try to persuade people to read this until I die! *lol*)

Fangs:

This was more some sort of sequential art than a webcomic and I really enjoyed it. The love story between Elsie and Jimmy was really cute and I enjoyed the idea of a vampire dating a werewolf. It makes for a lot of funny situations and they were explored really nicely. Just in case you want to know a little bit more: I wrote a short review on goodreads. 😀

The Lost Hero:

I love Uncle Ricks books and this was no exception to the rule. XD There were so many new characters and the plot sounds really interesting so I’m definitely looking forward to continue with this series. My favourite, of course, was Leo Valdez though. *lol* And Will Solace. Damn, I really wish we’d get more of him and speaking of characters I want more of: Percy and Nico di Angelo!!! I want to see more of my precious boys! ❤

Every Day:

Oh wow! This book posed so many questions. It’s hard to describe the plot, but it basically comes down to the fact that A. lives a different life every day because A. travels from one body to the next and only spends 24 hours in every body she/he inhabits. One day A. falls in love with a girl though and that’s where the story begins. I’m still not over the knot that became my brain while I read this and I think this book will give me a lot to think about for quite a while. It’s one of those reads that don’t leave you once you finished them. XD If you want to read my review you can do it on goodreads! Also I just realized there’s a movie to go with the book and I’ll try my best to borrow it from the library. 😀

Syrian Brides:

This was a nice collection of short stories about Syrian women that are either getting married or have already been married for a while. Some of the stories were very serious and others were amusing, they all had one thing in common though: They gave me a good glimpse at Syrian culture. So I definitely learned that Syrian women are very subtle and deal with their problems in clever and creative ways. *lol*

How was your July? Did you read a lot of books and how is your blog going? Do you feel pressured into reading by books that need to go back to the library soon? Did you notice that I added my flickr gallery to wordpress? Are you going to participate in my give-away and how is the current COVID situation at your country? And most importantly: Can I get a hug? (I really need one. ❤ )

Talk to me and let me know!

 

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox