WRAP UP: September 2015

September is birthday month for me, but it's also the busiest in terms of university. ALL THE ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE IN SEPTEMBER! Which means very little time for reading, but I did manage to squeeze in two books whilst studying procrastinating ;)

Beautiful Disaster

by Jamie McGuire

I received this book as a birthday gift from my best friend, and so I wanted to love it, but it turned out to be a huge trainwreck of a book. There was nothing positive about this book, and it truly baffles me that so many readers love this book. It read like fanfiction, with abusive high school students who somehow ended up in university.

My Rating: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ // Full Review

Only Ever Yours

by Louise O'Neill
This was a very confronting and difficult read, but one that I'm glad I finished. Louise O'Neill quickly made herself one of my favourite authors with this book, because she offers such a sharp, clever and insightful feminist critique on beauty culture, eating disorders and mental illness. This is a book destined to become a modern classic.

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ // Full Review


I'm also currently reading Chasing Paper Cranes by Courtney Peppernell, a book that I had hoped to finish this month, but I think I fell into a reading slump, so I've been reading this one very slowly. I'm enjoying it so far, but there are also elements of this book that I'm not a fan of... which I'll talk about more in my wrap up next month!

I hope you had a more productive reading month than me, and I'll see you tomorrow with my TBR for October :)

WRAP-UP: August 2015

This month has been a really busy one for me, so I haven't been able to find much time to read. Most of the books that I read this month were read in the first week or so of August, and then my classes really picked up, so I had to put my reading on hold. That said, I'm still ahead on my Goodreads Reading Challenge, so I'm not too concerned about having to slow down my reading for the next few months. That said, here are the books I read in the month of August.

Ms. Marvel, Volume 2: Generation Why

by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona and Jacob Wyatt

This was my first read for the month, and the first for my failed attempt at completing the BooktubeAThon. It was a quick and fast read, but it didn't really excite me. It seems that this series is going in a direction opposite of my expectations, and so this volume was somewhat of a disappointment.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ // Full Review

Night of Cake and Puppets

by Laini Taylor
This little novella was quite a delight. It was wonderful to be able to revisit my two favourite characters from the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, Zuzana and Mik, and see how their first night together played out. Throughout this novella, I was grinning and smiling and cheering them both on. Mik is too good for words, and Zuzana is an icon

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ // Full Review

Risk

by Fleur Ferris
I read this book for the Aussie Bloggers Book Club, and I really enjoyed it. Though I did have a few issues with the pacing and characters, I still think it is a really important novel for teens to read. It deals with issues of online safety and the risks of online predators, and it does it in a really uplifting, insightful way. Definitely check it out.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ // Full Review

Obsidian

by Jennifer L. Armentrout
I was in the mood for an indulgent re-read, so I picked up this one. The Lux series is one of my favourites, and I really enjoyed being able to immerse myself in the world again. Though I read it more critically this time, it still remains one of my favourites. I plan to continue re-reading the rest of the series ahead of the release of Oblivion in December.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ // Full Review

The Rabbits

by John Marsden and Shaun Tan
I read this book this month because I have tickets to see its opera adaptation in October. I've been excited about the opera ever since I heard of it, so to keep me sane in the weeks leading up to it, I thought I would treat myself to a gorgeous copy of its source material. Safe to say, I absolutely loved this story, the artwork and its overall message. A must-read for children.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I'm also, very slowly, making my way through My Story by Julia Gillard. I'm only taking this slowly, reading a chapter here-and-there, because it's quite a long, dense read. I have no reading goal for this one, other than wanting it to be finished by the end of the year.

I'll be back tomorrow to post my September TBR.

WRAP-UP: July 2015

This month was a fairly productive reading month for me. Though I wasn't able to get through all the books I listed on my TBR, I did get through most of them. Importantly, I got through four massive tomes that have been sitting on my shelf for about a year, just waiting to be read. This was the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. Based on this series alone, I read 1,819 pages! That number truly astounds me, and I can't believe I was able to get through all of those pages and more in one month. So it was a very successful reading month for me, and I enjoyed most of the books I read.

The Assassin's Blade

by Sarah J. Maas

I read most of this one in June, but finished it off in July. The prequel novellas in this volume added to the world-building and character developments that are expanded upon in Throne of Glass. It was mostly entertaining, but a little slow at times. The best thing about this collection was seeing Celaena's life as Adarlan's kick-ass Assassin.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ // Full Review

Throne of Glass

by Sarah J. Maas

Then I dove into re-reading Throne of Glass, and I enjoyed it so much more than when I first read it in August last year. Though my enjoyment was mostly because I had read The Assassin's Blade beforehand, I think this book is still deserving of its four stars. It was thrilling and entertaining, and Celaena is a wonderful leading character.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ // Full Review

Saga, Volume 3

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
To avoid entering into a reading slump from reading the massive tomes of the Throne of Glass series, I picked up the third volume of Saga. It was the perfectly light, easy read that I needed before diving into Crown of Midnight. I really enjoyed this volume, and what it lacked in action it made up for in fascinating character developments.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ // Full Review

Crown of Midnight

by Sarah J. Maas
I really, really, really loved this sequel. I definitely enjoyed it more than Throne of Glass, because it was mysterious, unpredictable, romanctic, witty, clever, and a thrill-ride from the very first page. My only issue was that perhaps there was too much going on, and I often became confused by the multiple plot lines. But all-in-all, it was an absolutely fantastic read.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ // Full Review

Saga, Volume 4

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Then I picked up the final published volume of Saga, and I was a little underwhelmed by it. It seemed to lack the gusto of previous volumes, which I found a little disappointing. It was filled with some crazy awesome characters in a dynamic world that compelled me to continue reading, but in the end this one felt a lot like a "filler" volume.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ // Full Review

Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: No Normal

by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona
After reading Saga, Volume 4, I was in the mood for another quick read, so I picked up the first volume of the rebooted Ms. Marvel series. And it was a delight; I loved the diversity, Kamala herself, and the genuine, good-natured humour throughout. Though it had a few clichés and stereotypes, it was still a wonderful introduction to the world of superheroes.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ // Full Review

Coda

by C.D. Reiss
I was pretty disappointed by this novella. I had hoped it would make me fall in love with Reiss's world and characters all over again, but it just didn't work for me. It felt like there was no structure to this novella, and random things happened just for the sake of having something to write a book about. Though I did appreciate the raw emotion, it was mostly a disappointment.

Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ // Series Review

Heir of Fire

by Sarah J. Maas
This book was a total chore to read. The first 400 pages or so were so boring that they drove me crazy. The last 200 were moderately interesting. This book was just filled with a whole lot unnecessary characters and uninteresting plot lines. Even Celaena lost some of her charm in this one.

Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ // Full Review



And so, my reading achievements for the month of July are...

• I read a total of eight books. And some of them were mahoosive!
• I am now completely up-to-date on two series! I have read all the published volumes of Saga, and all the published novels of the Throne of Glass series.
• I finished a series! Coda was an additional novella to the Songs of Submission series, and although it wasn't necessary reading, I feel like I have a bit more closure on the series and the beautiful characters.

Though I wish I could continue to read this amount of books next month, I know that won't be possible. My uni semester has just started up again, and already I'm overwhelmed by the weekly readings and assignments. I do hope to keep reading something, at least, so look forward to my August TBR tomorrow!

WRAP-UP: June 2015

I have had a very successful reading month. I didn't exactly follow my TBR list, but I read some great books (and a few not-so-great), and I'm feeling good about maintaining my good reading habits for the months ahead. So let me tell you about the amazing books I read in the month of June :)

The Dark Space

by Mary Ann Rivers and Ruthie Knox

I really didn't love this book. I had high expectations, the buzz around it was awesome, the synopsis promising, but in the end, this book was an epic fail. It saddens me that I hated this book, as it was co-authored by one of my favourite authors.

Rating: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ // Full Review

Saga, Volume 1 (Saga, #1-6)

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

AND THEN I READ THE MOST AMAZING STORY EVER. This was my first ever graphic novel read, and I absolutely loved it. It was a beautiful story told through incredible writing and beautiful artwork. So much love for this one!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ // Full Review

All the Bright Places

by Jennifer Niven

There was a lot of hype around this book when it was released in January, and I got caught up in the rave reviews and purchased a copy of the book. It wasn't until this month that I finally got around to giving it a read. However, I was grossly disappointed. I had to put this one down at page 158, because I just wasn't enjoying it at all, and wanted to move onto something else.

A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh, #1)

by Sophie Jackson

This book was amazing. Reading this book filled me with happiness, joy and nostalgia. It was exciting, thrilling, suspenseful and offered so much throughout as it was a pretty long book that had a lot of different things happening. It was a whole lot of fun, and I can't wait to read its sequels.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ // Full Review

Songs of Submission Series

by C.D. Reiss
Then I went on a crazy erotica reading binge with the Songs of Submission series. The plot was juicy, the characters strong and well-developed, and the writing was, surprising, of a high quality that I don't often see in erotic fiction. Monica was definitely the highlight of the series, as a strong, independent woman. With Jonathan, she becomes an undeniable force of power.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ // Full Review

Saga, Volume 2 (Saga, #7-12)

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Praise the gods behind Australia Post for delivering me this volume before I went insane from my withdrawals. It arrived towards the end of my addiction to the Songs of Submission series, so as soon as I finished those, I dove straight into this graphic novel. It was all kinds of epic, and I loved it just as much, if not more, than the first. So, so, so much love for this series.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ // Full Review


I'm also currently reading The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas. I was hoping to have finished this by the end of June, but I'll now include it in my July TBR, which is also likely to include the rest of the Throne of Glass series. I'm enjoying it so far, but I'll share more of my thoughts in my upcoming review and July wrap-up.

So, in the month of June, I achieved the following:

• I completed my Goodreads Reading Challenge! Given, I had only set it to thirty books, because I wasn't expecting to be able to read too much this year, but I'm so excited that I was able to complete my challenge in only half of a year. I'll probably up my challenge to sixy and try to read another thirty books in the second half of the year.
• I read a total of twelve books. This includes the first eight novellas in the Songs of Submission series, and excludes All the Bright Places.
• I read three out of five books from my June TBR (this includes All the Bright Places, because I at least attempted it). I considered picking up The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, but I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to pick it up this month, so I'll try to pick it up later on in the year. I also wasn't feeling in the mood for any Shakespeare, but I hope to pick up one of his plays sooner rather than later.

All in all, it was a fairly good reading month for me, especially considering that I didn't read anything in the month of May. I'm hoping I can keep up this reading momentum in July before I will inevitably have to slow down when my semester starts up again at the end of the month.

Let me know what you read this month, or your thoughts on the books I read this month. I'd love to hear from you.

If you'd like to keep up with my reading progress throughout the month, feel free to follow me on Goodreads.