Half of the year has past already! 2017 is flying by and I cannot believe it! The first half of 2017 was pretty rough for me as you might have noticed by the lack of posts here. Moving forward into the end half of 2017, I’m hoping to refocus my efforts here and continue to share with you all my current reads, book news and all my bookish shenanigans 🙂 I want to thank you for continuing to stay with me and have patience as I’m still fixing some quirks to the site since I switched over to self-hosting earlier this year. I have a lot of work to do in regards to fixing broken links and updating all the photos that didn’t come over from my previous blog.
If you’re relatively new to following me or just happened by the site, thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog! I hope you find something here useful to you 🙂
Alrighty, onto the monthly update 🙂
Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier | 5 stars | This book was such a lovely fantasy standalone with elements of Beauty & the Beast!
QB 1 by Mike Lupica | 4 stars | A great look into parental and social pressure as a high school athlete.
Windwitch (The Witchlands #2) by Susan Dennard | 4 stars | Really loved this follow up to Truthwitch and I’m excited to see where this series goes next!
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness | 5 stars | A unique story that tackles heavy issues such as loss and grief in an accessible way. I cried from this story and loved it so much!
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury | 4 stars | A Sci-Fi book set on Mars that explores colonization and human nature.
Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail by Jonathan Chait | 5 Stars | This was my second political novel of the year and I really enjoyed learning more about former President Obama’s presidency.
Started:
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman | This novel my bookclub’s June book, but alas I got caught up in other books and life things and didn’t get it done in time. Still hoping to finish it early on in July, however!
Burning Proof (Cold Case Justice, #2) by Janice Cantore | I finished book one in this trilogy back in April. I struggled through some parts of the novel, but over all enjoyed it. I was captured by the overarching storyline and now am desperate to find out what happens and if my OTP in this trilogy will get together or not! 🙂
The House of Scorpion (Matteo Alacran, #1) by Nancy Farmer | This book was on my county’s summer reading list. I’m working my way slowly through that list and this is my current read off of it. Very interesting premise with sci-fi elements intertwined!
June
That Time I Bought Some Books in Boston! | A mini book haul from my visit to Boston earlier in the year for graduation! 
That Time A MG Read Reminded Me of Chaucer: A Book Review | A review of The Inquisitor’s Tale by . This novel was such a delight! I gave it 5 stars!
Thriller Thursday: That Time I Entered The World of Nori Crime Fiction: A Book Review | My review of Jo Nesbø’s The Bat, the first book in the Harry Hole series and my first dip into Nordic Noir Crime Fiction 🙂
Friday Reads Launches! | I’m back on YouTube with this weekly feature of what I’m currently reading & some first impressions!
May
That Time a TV Show Made Me Read A Book: A Review | My review of the first book in the Chief Inspector Barnaby series, The Killings At Badger’s Drift, by Caroline Grahma which inspired the British TV Show, Midsomer Murders.
That Time I Pushed Through A Book for the Great Ending: A Book Review | My review of Looking Back on Forever by Kat Alexander. This New Adult second chance romance was a long read, but well worth it for the second half of the novel. I was provided an eBook by the author in exchange for an honest review.
April
That Time My Fangirl Heart Was So Happy: A YA Book Review | My fangirl review of Ashley Poston’s latest novel, Geekerella. I gushed so much over this 5 star read! 🙂
Check out my Instagram for some recent book buys! I usually do a story video when I get new books 🙂 I purchased a lot since the last time I did a Month in Review–way too many to include here *hides behind hands in embarrassment*. So instead, I’ll leave some photos from my Instagram that showcases some of them 😉
June has been a bit crazy for me. Most of my time these days are split between my job as a Youth Services Assistant at my local public library and 
being at my grandmother’s house. My grandmother suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease. Over the past few months her disease has gotten worse. While before she struggled with memories and had begun switching her nights and days (sundowner’s syndrome), recently she’s been struggling with eating and such. Earlier in June we ended up taking her to the hospital and discovering she needed to have her gallbladder out (which is family trait for real now haha). Once she was able to come home, she was entered into hospice. My mom takes care of her 24/7 and has been for almost 2 years now (and even long before that just not as 24/7). So I’ve been doing my best to help my mom. This month has been a lot harder than most. Family always comes first to me, so I’ve been putting the blog on the back burner for a bit. Now I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things as a stress reliever since this blog has always been a great place for me to refocus my energies on something positive and something I love. So thank you again for all your support, especially as I’ve taken my unannounced hiatuses.
Apart from taking care of my grandmother, the summer reading program at my library began in June. So things have been crazy at work now too. I absolutely love my job, but sometimes it gets stressful lol. Summer Reading is our busiest time for the Youth Services Dept. at the library. Right now we have 4 programs, 2 storytimes and 2-3 performers a week happening at just our branch! On top of that we’re also keeping track of the summer reading minutes being read by children, teens and adults within the county. We’re also supervising over 100 teen volunteers. So, yes, craziness is happening until August lol.
So since I’ve been so busy, I haven’t been to many author events. I did get a chance to see Sarah J Maas at a signing for ACWAR which was awesome! (I’ll leave some photos below). This was either late May or earlier in June. I’m not quite sure lol.
Oh and I graduated in May with my Masters in Library & Information Science! So, yeah, that happened too ;).
Otherwise, things have been pretty much just work, taking care of my Grandmom, reading, and eating haha. I’ve just started blogging and Instagraming again as well as starting up my YouTube channel again. So I’m excited about what content I can create and share with you in the upcoming half of 2017!
Sending you love and positive vibes my friends! Thank you for reading this really long update 😉
How was your June? I hope you had a good month! Let me know about it below! If you have any wrap-up posts, please leave them below! I love seeing what everyone else has done each month!
Happy Reading!
*Disclaimer: None of my links on this post or on this blog are affiliate links. If I ever begin to participate in affiliate links, I will let you know. 🙂
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