JULY-AUGUST WRAPUP (aka the months of being completely off blogging)

Hi,

Two months flew by and somehow I still don't know how to do this blogging again. lmao.

I'm doing another update generally because I didn't want a three-month wrapup. Also, I got a bit motivated to be productive (?) after stumbling upon a productivity video on Youtube. I'm trying to make a more effective to-do list stuff to manage myself well and keeping in mind a few things I picked up else where like stopping myself from endless social media scrolling (because sometimes it's a waste of time) and I also downloaded a focus app on my phone so I can stop myself from randomly picking it up and browse social media. I hope this works!!

On blogging and reading stuff, I do plan to get back on blogging. Hopefully. I found a few reviews I wrote a couple of years back (probably 3-4 years ago, tbh. but I'll roll with it. lmao). I'll schedule those alongside reviews I'm writing right now. I'm trying to get through a few ARCs I got and hopefully get back on track of things. I'm pushing myself to read more with my buddy read book, my usual TBR challenge picks and my ebook read.  My TBR for September will be up soon, similar to last year, it's a stack of my MIBF book haul. I picked my oldest MIBF haul (which also somewhat crossed over my oldest unread books tbr).

On other things, I FINALLY finished Kingdom from Netflix. I'm eyeing another zombie series, Black Summer, I think (?). Saw someone mentioned it, I think. But my best friend also told me to watch The Serpent first. SO we'll see I guess. I'm a lazy watcher anyway. I ended up rewatching Big Bang Theory again but I'll probably pick up a serious show soon.

NOW ON TO THE BOOKS! 👇👇👇

books read in July

quick thoughts right here with their respective Popsugar prompts 👇

The Chestnut Man - I don't really know what to expect from this since I don't really see this a lot but I'm always just up for mystery thrillers. I tried this and it really felt 'meh' for me. I thought it was a bit intriguing in the beginning but the more I read, the more I don't care about the mystery and how I don't really care how it ends. However, I probably pushed through this because how short the chapters are and my need to see through mystery endings.
The Wedding Date (A book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover) - ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS!! This may be because of my recent found love for romance books but I really love Alexa and Drew and their relationship, how it all blossomed, how they both worked so hard to really understand each other and get this relationship going. I feel Alexa's overthinking so much and that probably got into my love for the book as well!! And Drew's no-relationship issue kind of feels somewhat related (?) to my best friend. SO this just sit perfectly well for me on both enjoyment and on a personal level (not that we'll ever be as amazing as Alexa and Drew. lmao).

Cruel Beauty (The book that's been on your TBR list for the longest amount of time) - FINALLY!! I'm like 100 pages or more into this and dropped it THEN picked it up again for the sake of TBR challenge (lmao) and finished it. It turned out okay but it isn't really my type of read. It was interesting and somehow at some point, I think of The Star-Touched Queen while I was reading this (but tbh, I barely remember it now).

books read in August

quick thoughts right here with their respective Popsugar prompts 👇

The Kind Worth Killing - the hype is real. I liked the mystery, the unlimited twists, the character perspectives, the suspense. Everything just worked out so well that my expectations was well met :)

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl - this book is not for me. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it and finish up my review because of how much I complained reading this book (and whoa, the notes I have on Kindle! lmao).
Girl in Pieces - it took me forever to finally read this book because I've been scared and I finally din and I liked it. It was certainly a heavy read. And I marked a few things I think maybe could trigger people who do cut (?). I cannot say anything on that matter tbh since I don't but I do feel how descriptive they are. 

Illuminae (A DNF book from your TBR list) - when I bought this because of the hype and my absolute love for the cover, the only thing I know about this was that the story is narrated through various documents. It was only last year that I found out that it involves a plague and so I finally tried it. Didn't like the chats between the main character and her love interest so I dropped it. THEN I tried it again and I pushed through it and I kind of liked it. I like the idea of the plague and where the story is going kind of intrigues me. So now I'm considering picking up the rest of the series.

so I just realized that I barely read books for Popsugar Reading Challenge. I'm dead. lmao. I'm gonna make a tbr list for this soon!!

reading goals

read 52 books: 35 of 52

popsugar reading challenge: 28 of 50
read big books (500+ pages): 4
read books I own in 2020/earlier: 28
reread books: 3

read more ebooks: 7

book haul

Three Wishes by Liane Moriaty | Reprieve by James Han Mattson | Simmer Down by Sarah Smith | Symbiont (Parasitology #2) by Mira Grant | Chimera (Parasitology #3) by Mira Grant | Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day | Take a Hint Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters #2) by Talia Hibbert | Gunpowder Moon by David Pedreira

As usual, Kindle Deals books!! All of the Kindle Deals grabs here, 6 out of 8 of these, I immediately bought. I got excited for the two Parasitology books since I've been hoping to read that series but it's a bit harder to find the books now since it's quite an old series. Gunpower Moon has always been on my wishlist as well since it came out. There wasn't any hype about it. I believe Simmer Down is the foodtruck book involving Filipino food. So I'm excited for that since I am Filipino. Reprieve and Death at Greenway are just Scene of the Crime via Netgalley grabs. Hopefully I can get to them soon!!

HOW ABOUT YOU GUYS,
How was the last month for you guys? Anything you want to share? New hobby, projects, travel, books? How was your reading month? Anything new to your faves?

let's connect!