monthly wrap up: june, ’19

Hello, friends!

Life is finally getting sorted out. One week from now, and I’ll finally be free to enjoy my winter break as I should: reading & watching Netflix ALL DAY. I simply refuse to get out of bed during winter break, much to my parent’s annoyance. But honestly, who can blame me?

I still have to go through a very busy week, with a major presentation + my best friend’s birthday party (which I’m organizing) IN THE EXACT SAME DAY. If I survive this week, I’ll make sure to let you all know.

HIGHLIGHTS

• It’s my favorite time of the year! I’ve already talked about this during my ‘Trip From My Home Country’ post of the month, but if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s FESTA JUNINA TIME in Brazil! During June and July, schools, churches and other institutions throw parties to celebrate Catholic saints, the countryside and street food. It’s currently winter here, so there are a lot of hot beverages and great food. I’ve eaten so much for the past two weeks. It’s been great.
• I watched the one movie may have gotten into my favorite-movies-ever list. I finally watched Rocketman this month and I’m still in awe. I was obsessed. I spent about 80% of my time talking about this movie and the other 20% of the time, I was praying for someone else to bring it up so I could talk about it more.  I didn’t know a ton about Elton John, but I’m very interested in biopics, and this is by far the best one I’ve ever watched. It’s not a movie with music; it’s really a musical, with dance moves and extravagant performances. It was heartbreaking but so beautiful and entertaining at the same time.

BOOKS I READ

My month was a disgrace. I only read three books, and I just had 5 on my TBR. There were two super hyped reads, and I didn’t like either. So, yeah, thanks, life, for beating me up and making me feel like I’ll drown in all the books I want to read, but don’t have time to. 🙃

★★☆☆☆

The first book I completed this month was already a controversial read. I picked up Red, White & Royal Blue expecting to love it as much as everyone else did. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of romance books (though I love rom-coms with my life, my brain apparently doesn’t work like that), I was looking forward to a fast-paced and entertaining read. Except for the fact that this was not quick at all, and it actually felt like I was reading for ages and not moving on at all. The paragraphs are so long and the descriptions are endless. I also did not care for most of the characters; except for Prince Henry, though he was as deep as kiddie pool. Who’s going to break the news that having a British accent is not a personality trait? Most of the representation of The Royal Family was so unrealistic and it actually felt like I was reading The Royals (the E! TV show) in a book format. I do admit, though, I’m not the target audience for this book, since I’m neither a romance fan nor American. Perhaps, Americans, who can actually relate to the political side of the story, will feel this more deeply. As for me, I do appreciate what it was *trying* to do, but man, that ain’t it.

★★★☆☆

The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miler is another super well loved book, which all of my Goodreads friends have given 5 stars to. Except for moi, of course. This book was pretty much Twilight in Greece, with all the tropes that make Twilight unlikeable, such as the perfect-literally-flawless love interest and the unbalanced relationship. I was so surprised that yet this is such a loved story. Patroclus was Bella all the way – clumsy and weak; the type of person no one would ever glance twice to. He wasn’t good at anything and besides being good at medicine, his only personality trait was liking Achilles. And Achilles was the man, the perfect equivalent to Edward – beautiful, strong, destined to all of the great things in the world. But his personality kinda sucked too, so I don’t get the hype. Overall, even though the Greece setting was interesting and the writing style definitely beautiful, the romance was a true disappointment.

Lastly, I picked up The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy. I was actually expecting to like this one the least out of the three and it was the one I enjoyed the most. Oh, how the tables have turned. Mackenzi Lee’s writing style is one of my favorite things in the world, and reading this book made me want to revisit The Gentleman’s Guide very badly. I mostly picked up this book because it had ace/aro rep and I was so happy to say I really related with Felicity in this sense. Even though she was one of my least favorite characters when reading the first book, she definitely grew on me in this one. The supporting cast of female characters was also fascinating and added a lot to the story, especially when discussing feminism and introducing layered female characters.

ON THE BLOG

I failed my schedule miserably and didn’t post a single review this month. I’ll just stop now because this post has literally just been me counting all my failures.

• DISCUSSION: How do you use Goodreads?
• TOP 5: My favorite & least-favorite romantic tropes
• The Harry Potter Book Tag
• A TRIP TO MY HOME COUNTRY: My Favorite Time of the Year!

MONTHLY PLAYLIST

Everything I listened to this month were soundtracks, mostly Aladdin and Rocketman. I’m still obsessed with Wallows and screaming to everybody that I know that they just *need* to listen to it.

I also have to thank El for recommending so many amazing artists for me, which I’ve included in my playlist – iamnotshane and Lewis Capaldi are my favorites.

My playlists are as random as ever, but this one is definitely one of my favorites of the year so far.

LOOKING FORWARD

July is Winter break for me, which means a whole month doing absolutely nothing. I’m so ready. There’s so much time, so many possibilities. I have an extensive TBR and my goal is to read at least 100 pages a day (watch me fail during the first week). I am also looking forward to blog hopping more and, hopefully, organizing myself better once life gets chaotic again, so I don’t miss out on so much like I have this past month.

Now, let me know in the comments: how was your June? Did you get to all the books you wanted to? Is there something – a song, a movie, a book – you’re obsessed with at the moment? Let me know in the comments!