July 2014 Recap

Hi guys! I can't believe July is already over. My last semester of school is quickly coming up, which means I have to read as many books as I can before I have to focus on studying ... right? Right.

Because of the BookTubeAThon, I read a lot more books than I normally do in a month. Here are all the ones I finished in July!

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell was such a raw and beautiful read. I loved the different roles that all the adults play and the "up-in-the-air" ending.

After hearing Whitney from whittynovels go on and on about Warner in Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (specifically Chapter 62), I wanted to continue reading the Shatter Me trilogy. I'm glad to say that it didn't disappoint, and I liked it a lot more than Shatter Me. I now understand why so many people are swooning over Warner and ignoring Adam, haha.

The last four books (The Distance Between Us, Unite Me, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Such a Rush) were all read during BookTubeAThon, so you can hear more about them in my recap video :)

Branded by Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki was my first read of July (as well as my first ever ebook read and first NetGalley request/approval!)

Where She Went by Gayle Forman turned out to be a much better book that I thought. Although the ending is quite predictable (or is it?), I loved it and am now excited for the movie adaptation of If I Stay.

Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman were both great stories, but the author's relationship with his father (you read about it throughout the two books) caused it to fall flat for me.

I wasn't planning to read The One by Kiera Cass anytime soon but as I was typing out my "top five trilogies to finish" post, I realized that I REALLY wanted to know how it ends. I borrowed it as an ebook from my library, and it didn't disappoint me. The ending was resolved a little too nicely, but I didn't go into it with high expectations so it was fine with me.

I know I mentioned this a lot already, but I highly recommend this trilogy for anyone. If you're looking for a light and fun read, or even if you hate reading, I think this is a great starting point. (The Selection is the first book and if you want to know more about it, I gave a bit of a summary in the beginning of this video!) I've also filmed a book talk on The One, so it should be up very soon ;)

• The only book review I did this month was for Branded by Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki. I've been trying to create different content, so I hope you don't mind the lack of reviews!
• For Top Ten Tuesday, I talked about some classics I'd like to read (but probably will never end up reading :x)
• BookTubeAThon, a readathon created by Ariel from Ariel Bissett, was held during the third week of July. Although my tbr video went up a bit late, I managed to read the amount I wanted to! I also made one progress video and just put up my recap yesterday night :)
• I also talked about a book I wanted to read (and ended up reading, yay!), filmed a book talk on We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, and listed the top five trilogies I'd like to finish.

Books read in July: 11

Books read this year: 50/60

Reading goals completed: 0/6

After looking over my reading goals, I realized that I only have six instead of the seven I've been typing out in my monthly updates. I guess this makes it a little more accomplishable! Like I mentioned in my previous post, I'm going to attempt to read the last two books in the Delirium trilogy in August to (finally) fulfill one of my goals. If I complete one goal per month, I should be able to complete all of them by the end of the year!

How was your July? Did you do anything fun and/or special? :)