June Wrap-up

Another month has flown by, and we are now officially halfway through 2018! June was extremely busy with getting the pool open and the kids wrapping up with school and exams. Work is always crazy busy for me, so that's not anything new! It has also been hotter than usual here, and we've had a few booming thunderstorms which I always love. Not so much when we lose power for six hours! Thankfully, that happened only once. I have been taking advantage of the warm weather by reading outside in my backyard, which is always nice. I love hearing the birds and feeling the breeze. I accidentally splashed water on my book while reading on the pool, so I may not do that again!

I went from a very average 9 books in May to 13 in June, which is up from 9 books in June 2017. Now, to be fair, two of the ones I read this month were novellas but I'm still claiming the victory 😃

Last month, I didn't read anything from the library. So I rewarded myself with going crazy with requests on Overdrive, LOL! My problem now is that multiple requests are coming in at the same time, so all of my planned reads for June went out the window!

The Sci-Fi Summer Read-a-Thon happened during the first two weeks of June. Unfortunately, I did not read the sci-fi books that I had planned because of said Overdrive holds coming in from the Waiting List all at the same time! I did, however, read my planned books for COYER's Fairy Tales With a Twist Read-a-Thon which ran from June 17th to 23rd.

There are lots of seasonal reading challenges happening over the next month to keep you busy, including:

• Fun in the Sun Reading Challenge
• Big Book Summer Challenge
• Reading Challenge Summer 2018
• COYER Big Summer Birthday Bash
• COYER's Christmas in July Read-a-Thon: July 15th to 21st
• COYER's Dusting Off The Shelves Read-a-Thon: July 29th to August 4th
• Book Challenge by Erin 9.0
• High Summer Read-a-Thon July 2018
• Christmas in July Read-a-Thon: July 28th to 31st
• Bookish Bingo Summer 2018
• Goodreads 2018 Summer Scavenger Challenge: Music Styles
• Chapter Break Bingo July 2018 (new bingo card will be up on July 3rd)

FROM MY BOOKSHELF:

5 stars

Run from Fear
by Jami Alden
(Dead Wrong, Book #3)

3 stars
The Journey
by Kathryn Lasky
(Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book #2)

5 stars
Unearthly
by Cynthia Hand
(Unearthly, Book #1)

Lost Scene from Hallowed
by Cynthia Hand
(Unearthly, Book #2.1)
[review to follow]

Ensnared
by A.G. Howard
(Splintered, Book #3)
[review to follow]

Radiant
by Cynthia Hand
(Unearthly, Book #2.5)
[review to follow]

FROM THE LIBRARY:

3 stars
Pushing Up Daisies
by M.C. Beaton
(Agatha Raisin, Book #27)

4 stars
Dark Side of the Laird
by Eliza Knight
(Highland Bound, Book #3)

3 stars
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
by Tom Standage

4 stars
Crocodile on the Sandbank
by Elizabeth Peters
(Amelia Peabody, Book #1)

2 stars
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
by Alan Bradley
(Flavia de Luce, Book #1)

Hallowed
by Cynthia Hand
(Unearthly, Book #2)
[review to follow]

Mirrored
by Alex Flinn
(Kendra Chronicles, Book #3)
[review to follow]

FOR REVIEW:

None! My apologies to the publishers but, as I said, I binged on Overdrive!

There were a few stand-out favourites this month: 

Unearthly and Hallowed by Cynthia Hand: This series is my hands-down favourite of the month, so much so that I had to ditch my planned reads and requested the second book in the series, Hallowed, from the library after finishing Unearthly. Loving this series, and I recommend it if you enjoy YA fantasy with angels.

Run from Fear by Jami Alden: I have forgotten how much I love this series! This is my third book by this author, and she writes romantic suspense like no one else!! If you like your romances very steamy, I recommend her.

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters: This historical cozy was a very pleasant surprise! I loved the characters and will definitely read more from this series.

The award for the most disappointing book of the month goes to The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. This debut won lots of awards, and the series is very popular. I know that I'm in the minority, but this one just didn't live up to my expectations. I wanted to love it, but it was very "meh" for me. Still, because of its popularity and because it's by a Canadian author, I am willing to give the series another shot and will read the next one in the series and hope that it's better!

I discovered four new authors (including one Canadian, Bradley), I started three new series (Hands' Unearthly, Peters' Amelia Peabody, and Bradley's Flavia de Luce), and continued on in seven series (Alden's Dead Wrong, Beaton's Agatha Raisin, Knight's Highland Bound, Lasky's Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Hand's Unearthly, Howard's Splintered, and Flinn's Kendra Chronicles). Yes, I am a series junkie!!

All the books that I read were backlist books, including one from a Canadian author. I listened to six audiobooks plus five traditional books (which is really unheard of for me to finish that many in a month because I never have enough sit-down time to read!) and two e-books (the novellas). My year-to-date books read total is currently 68, and my Goodreads goal of breaking 100 this year tells me that I'm currently 19 books ahead of schedule and should exceed my goal! 

January Wrap-up: 7 books

[3 shelf-love, 1 library, 3 review]

February Wrap-up: 13 books

[10 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

March Wrap-up: 12 books

[5 shelf-love, 3 library, 4 review]

April Wrap-up: 14 books

[11 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

May Wrap-up: 9 books
[5 shelf-love, 0 library, 4 review]

June Wrap-up: 13 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 0 review]

Year To Date Total: 68 books

[40 shelf-love, 15 library, 13 review]

So, how was your June? What was your favourite book? Least favourite? Please let me know in the comments! I'd love to add your favourites to my TBR :)