Wow. We're already into June. This year is almost half over and it feels like it just started! Aside from all of that weirdness, May was a fantastic reading month for me. I managed to finish reading 10 books in the month of May! TEN! Despite finals and amazing movie releases and binging TV shows and so much more, I managed to read ten books. I am super thrilled with this number, especially considering it's the biggest wrap-up that I've had all year! I'm only hoping that this pace continues throughout the rest of the summer because I am way behind on my reading challenge! Let's go ahead and jump right into my May wrap-up!
BOOKS READ
1.
Title: A Court of Wings and Ruin
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Rating: 5/5 stars
Rereading this book was so much fun. I honestly love every second that I spend immersed in SJM books and this time was no exception. I remembered quite a bit from this book, but it was the little details that I had forgotten that made me love it even more than when I first read it. And despite knowing the ending of this book and what happened, I did end up crying a lot during this book. I think that was destined to happen. If I don't cry at least once during a SJM book then I have failed.
2.
Title: The Big Book of Science Fiction
Editors: Ann and Jeff Vandermeer
Rating: 3/5 stars
I read stories from this book over the course of the entire semester for one of my writing classes. I find it hard to give anthologies ratings because they're made up of other stories, so I'm going to leave this one with a neutral rating. I have no strong opinions on this book other than I liked some stories and didn't care for others.
3.
Title:
When Evil Comes to Play
Author: B.L. Brunnemer
Rating: 5/5 stars
Review
4.
Title:
The Practice of Creative Writing, 3rd edition
Author: Heather Sellers
Rating: 3/5 stars
I read this book for my creative writing class over the course of the semester and I figured that since I did spend so much time reading it, I deserved to be able to put it in a wrap-up. I thought this book was a great resource for me as an aspiring writer and I highly recommend it.
5.
Title:
A Court of Frost and Starlight
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Rating: 5/5 stars
Review
6.
Title: Furyborn
Author: Claire Legrand
Rating: 5/5 stars
7.
Title: Lies You Never Told Me
Author: Jennifer Donaldson
Rating: 2/5 stars
8.
Title: Gemina
Authors: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Rating: 5/5 stars
-REREAD-
This is another reread that I absolutely loved. It had been almost two years since I last read this book (in ARC format where a lot of finished artwork was missing) and I loved it so much more than the first time around. I fell head-over-heels in love with these characters yet again and I found myself almost falling for plot twists a second time around! That's a true testament to the amazingness of these authors if I can fall for a plot twist twice.
9.
Title: Cinderella Boy
Author: Kristina Meister
Rating: 3.75/5 stars
10.
Title:
Trickery
Authors: Jaymin Eve & Jane Washington
Rating: 5/5 stars
Review
-REREAD-
Oh this was such a fun reread. I love this series and these books so much and this reread was no exception. I was dumb, of course, and started rereading it at 9pm and ended up staying up well into the night to finish it despite having to wake up at 7 am the next day. The things I do for the books I love... But I did love rereading this one and I'm already on to a reread of the second one!
BLOG POSTS
Top 5 Wednesday: Hidden Gems
April 2018 Book Haul!
Let's Talk: "When Evil Comes to Play" by B.L. Brunnemer Book Review!
33 Freshman Year Experiences
Let's Talk: "A Court of Frost and Starlight" by Sarah J. Maas Book Review!
Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Villains
Let's Talk: "Furyborn" by Claire Legrand Book Review!
Fierce Reads 2018 Tour Experience!
15 Thoughts While Reading "Furyborn" by Claire Legrand!
Top 5 Wednesday: Book Series I Won't Finish
Let's Talk: "Lies You Never Told Me" by Jennifer Donaldson Book Review!
Let's Talk: "Cinderella Boy" by Kristina Meister Book Review!
Top 5 Wednesday: Books I Want to Re-read
MOVIES/TV SHOWS
I logged a lot of screen time this month...I think it's even more impressive when you consider just how much I watched on top of how much I read. I finished three TV seasons and watched five new movies!
The first tv show that I finished this month was season 1 of
New Girl. I started rewatching it in April and fell back in love. It came as no surprise to me when I was binging one day and noticed that I was already in season 2. What can I say? This show is amazing.
I also finally watched
Thor: Ragnarok! It came out so many months ago and I finally got around to watching it now that my family owns all the Marvel movies. I loved it. It was hilarious and just awesome. Was it my favorite Marvel movie? No. But was it badass and amazing? Yes!
I then watched
Black Panther finally since I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters. I absolutely loved it! It was so much better than all the hype let me to believe (which is saying something considering how much people rave about this movie) and I've already rewatched it. The characters were hilarious and engaging and I do believe that this is one of my favorite Marvel movies ever (definitely in the top 3).
And then, of course, I saw
Avengers: Infinity War. Was it my favorite Avengers movie? No. Did I love it and sob in an empty theater? Why yes, yes I did. I don't want to spoil anything because I know some people might not have seen it yet, but I cried so hard. I was crying on the drive home. If you've seen the movie...you know why.
Then I finished season 3 of
White Collar. When nobody is home and you're eating lunch alone, you naturally put on Netflix. I love this show so much and it's been a staple of my family for quite a long time, but I hadn't seen every episode past the end of season 3. I knew I wanted to rewatch it and then continue on so I can finally watch the rest of this amazing show!
I then watched
The Kissing Booth, which I absolutely adored. Was it the deepest, best movie I've ever seen? No. But I thought it was cute and it was a teen-movie that I didn't hate? It was such a fun ride and I really enjoyed the movie.
Then I finally was able to watch
Love, Simon and boy did I cry. It was SO GOOD! I read the book and it's one of my favorite books of this year, but I swear I loved the movie even more! It was so cute and amazing and so, so important.
And then I finished season 5 of
Brooklyn Nine Nine and THAT ENDING WAS SO MEAN! How could they leave us on such a big cliffhanger? NOT NICE! But overall, I loved it. It was one of my favorite episodes for sure and now I'm left wanting to go back and rewatch the entire series from episode 1. I'm thrilled that this show was picked up by a different network after Fox cancelled it because this series is
so important and amazing.
EVENTS
Not only did I read and watch a lot this month, but there were a bunch of exciting events that happened.
Most notably, I had finals and finished my freshman year of college this month! I can't believe how fast it went by! I swear I was just yesterday moving in to my dorm and going off to my first orientation event. This year was amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better freshman year or for better friends! You can read my Freshman Year Wrap-Up
here.
When I got home, my friend and I kicked summer off right with going to one of the Fierce Reads Tour stops. We got to meet a bunch of amazing authors and I got so many books signed. I did write an entire post about the tour experience which you can find
here, but overall I'm thrilled that that was my first real book signing event outside of BookCon!
Lastly, I moved back home. I've been spending a lot of time with my niece and friends. My summer job also started up last week, which I'm super thrilled for. If you don't know, I'm heading into my fourth year of lifeguarding and I couldn't be happier. I have awesome coworkers and an amazing place that I work at. All I can say is bring on the tan and chlorine!
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for my May Book Haul coming soon as well as new reviews and book tags!
xoxo
Lauren
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2.
This was a fun reread for me. I read this book the first time over a year ago and knew that I definitely needed a refresher before finishing the trilogy. It was so nice to be back with familiar characters in a familiar world. I did struggle a bit at times because I'm so unmotivated because of quarantine and there aren't a lot of high-action scenes, but overall it was an enjoyable reread that I finished in just a few sittings. I loved getting to see these characters again and reorient myself in this world as there were a lot of things I had forgotten.
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