monthly wrap up: july, ’19

First and foremost, I want to thank you all for the overwhelming love and support I’ve gotten over the past days. I don’t even know how to explain it, but I’ve been receiving so many kind comments and good news and I’m just so thankful! I also reached 100 followers, which is a really amazing milestone for me and I truly can not express my gratitude enough. (Special thanks to Aditi and vaishnavi, who made my day recently with their sweet comments).

July was my winter break, and honestly, not much happened. Apart from being at home the entire time, which is my favorite thing and I’m not complaining, I mostly read, binge-watched a few shows and got some work done. I wish I could’ve been more productive, but, oh well.

HIGHLIGHTS

1. I watched Stranger Things!

   

   here’s a gif of jonathan because i love him

   I know, I feel like I can finally call myself an “official” Netflix user now that I have actually watched Stranger Things. I’ve put it off for so long because the premise is exactly the same as one of my favorite movies ever, Super 8, so I just felt like I’d be setting myself up for disappointment because it would never live up to it. And, indeed, it didn’t, but it wasn’t an overall unpleasant experience. Season 1 is still my favorite – they all look adorable and tiny, and it’s definitely the scariest as well. I do have a few problems with it overall and it’s not one of my favorite shows ever, but it did give me an A+ soundtrack and Jonathan Byers, who is my most recent fictional boyfriend, so I guess that’s okay.

2. I cleaned my room and I feel like a new person. Honestly, my room was never really that bad, because I feel like if my place is disorganized, I can’t function, so it’s always been generally tidy. However, there had been months since I’d last cleaned each book in my shelves and they were super dusty, so I finally took the time to clean every inch and it feels *so good*. Also, this video by Marla Catherine really inspired me, so go watch it if you need some motivation to clean and de-clutter too.
3. I was nominated for The Third Annual Book Blogger Awards! I have to admit, I’ve been pretty bad at keeping up with things lately and I didn’t get a chance to post my own nomination post, but I am totally taking part in Round 2: voting! I am extremely thankful for everyone that nominated me for Best Small Book Blogger. I don’t feel comfortable promoting it, so consider this my share of promoting my own nomination, but there are other countless amazing bloggers, so if you missed the nomination round as well, you can show some love by voting in all your faves!

BOOKS I READ

★★★★☆

The first book I finished this month was There’s Something About Sweetie, by Sandhya Menon. I was super excited for this one, not only because I loved When Dimple Met Rishi by the same author, but also because this featured a fat main character, which I’m always here for. In short, There’s Something About Sweetie was, indeed, sweet. I do wish the relationship between the characters had a more slowburn take, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. What surprised me the most were the friendships, and I loved Ashish’s friend group a lot. Now, I’m dying for the second book, following Pinky and – my favorite character in this whole book -, Samir. The family relationship was also complex and beautiful, as expected from Sandhya Menon. I’ll admit, though, When Dimple Met Rishi is still my favorite. 🙈

★★★☆☆

I also picked up a romance to get me more motivated to tackle my TBR. I chose The Unhoneymooners, because it was a recent release that got a lot of people hyped. As expected from a romance novel, I got tired so quickly. I read 75% of it in one sitting and was really enjoying, but once the characters actually get together, I lost all my energy and interest. It’s a problem. I do appreciate the fact that this is in one perspective only, though, because it made me much more comfortable, since I don’t like romance from male perspectives. However, the main character being described as *curvy* kinda bothered me a lot, especially because it was a trait that was only brought up when it was convenient, which I’m not really here for.

★★★★★

My re-read for the month of July was The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. Last month, I read the companion book, The Lady’s Guide to Peticoats and Piracy, and it made me realize how much I missed these characters. I didn’t remember how good this book was, truly. The first time around, I remember enjoying it, loving the writing style – albeit I struggled with the descriptions sometimes -, but still thinking the relationship between Monty and Percy felt a bit unbalanced at times, since Percy was almost too perfect. This time around, I listened to the audiobook (10/10 for the narrator, who didn’t make different voices for each characters and I could still distinct them perfectly) and I’m legit in love. I think I still stand by my thoughts, but the enjoyment of this time can not be compared. Monty is legit one of the best characters I’ve ever read about – and he’s not even that nice most of the time. Still, it just makes me love him even more.

★★★★☆

I also finally finished The Weight of Our Sky, which I had put on hold for the past two months. The best way I can put it is that this book is intense. It deals with OCD and anxiety and it’s one of the most prevalent traits in the story, which can definitely be hard to read sometimes. As I mentioned before, enjoyment when reading a book is a big factor for my reviews. I read because I like the idea of feeling comforted by the characters, and that’s why I hardly ever pick books out of my comfort zone. Therefore, this book was a bit *too* intense for me at times, probably one of the main reasons why I put it down back in May.  The ending also felt a bit rushed and I would’ve liked more on that. I still really loved the setting, as I had never read any book set in Malaysia before, moreover in the 1960s, which is a time period I’m truly obsessed with. This was a really short novel, but extremely powerful as well.

★★★☆☆

Opposite of Always, by Justin A. Reynolds was probably the most confusing read of the month. And not because the book it’s confusing, but because my feelings definitely were. This is a really adorable YA contemporary, that involves time-travel, romance and friendship. Best of all worlds, right? And, for sure, I loved most of it. I loved the friend group, I loved Jack’s parents, I loved the hilarious dialogues and I really was captivated by the time travel element. But then the last 20% came around, and I was so frustrated by the characters making really dumb decisions. The ultimate ending was also a mess and it made me mad, for real. It’s a shame, truly, because the book had everything going for it. Ultimately, I’d still recommend the story, since perhaps others may like the ending more than I did.

★★★☆☆

I also finally finished this duology, by reading The Rose and the Dagger, by Renee Ahdieh. I’ve read the first book probably back in 2015, when it was first released, and I just now finished the duology. So, yeah I’m a little bit late, but, you know, it’s fine. This book wasn’t bad at all; it had really good pacing and it was a true page-turner. However, I felt like some of the characters relationships just felt really forced and it was clear the author was trying to make us care more about certain characters, just so we can also mourn their inevitable deaths. Nonetheless, it was great being back in a fantasy world (the last fantasy book I’d read was in March!) and the romance here was really well done, but it’s definitely not the most memorable read of the year for me.

I am also currently reading Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass and really enjoying it, but I haven’t finished it yet when drafting this post, so I’ll probably only talk about it in my next monthly wrap up.

ON THE BLOG

• The Liebster Award
• BOOK REVIEW: Opposite of Always, by Justin A. Reynolds
• TOP 5: Messy Characters
• BOOK TAG: Mid-Year Freak Out
• Life Update & July TBR

MONTHLY PLAYLIST

I am legit in love with this playlist. The title: “head west on 20” was inspired off of a Baby Driver quote (“I want to head west on 20, in a car I can’t afford, with a plan I don’t have, just my music and the road”). And even though I wasn’t really taking any roadtrips this month, it put me in one of my favorite moods.

I also have to thank Zoie @ Whisked Away By Words for recommending a lot of Norwegian artists and songs, which I’ve loved to listen to this month!

LOOKING FORWARD

So, college is re-starting in a few days and I already want to die. I don’t know what it is about me and studying, but I hate it. A lot. At first, I thought it was because I was studying things I was not interested in back in high school, such as Chemistry and Maths, but even studying things that are supposed to be interesting is a struggle.

However, I do have great reading plans that will hopefully keep me motivated. Plus, Taylor Swift’s releasing a whole new album this month, which is the biggest motivator I can think of.

What are your plans for August? And do you have any new songs recommendation for me? Please share them down below!