This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

This month we saw two typhoons. So, needless to say, I was able to get quite a bit of reading in.

Every summer I take part in a summer reading challenge with my friend and her circle of people. There’s usually a theme to the overall challenge, and there are 18 book categories. Things like “a book published before you were born”, “a book published this year”, “a new to you author”, etc. Every year I fail to finish the challenge, but not this year. This year I finally finished the challenge with time to spare since it ends Labor Day weekend.

I’m honestly surprised I read all the categories since some are things like thriller or mystery, and those aren’t really my genre. Somehow I made it work, found a book that would interest me, and got through it.

Below is the list of book categories and the books I read for each slot.

Continue reading Mission Accomplished: Finishing My Summer Reading Challenge →

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

It seems like lately the font for book titles is more whimsical, but I didn’t just want to showcase new books that everyone is seeing on their social media accounts. I wanted to show off some of my favorite books from throughout the years. Some of these books may be over a decade old – books that a lot of people might not have heard of.

If you click on the covers it will take you to my review for each of the books. 

This post is linked to Sunday Post, Staking the Shelves, Sunday Salon, and #IMWAYR

As I predicted, it’s been a very active summer. We’ve already had 3 typhoons head our way since June 1st, with another heading our way this weekend. The incoming typhoon was listed as a Cat 5 level typhoon. So this week will be spent watching the weather, and preparing the house. Needless to say, due to the high temperature and humidity, the choppy waters, and the constant vigilance of what’s developing out in the ocean, we haven’t done much of anything this summer. We already had one trip cut short when we tried to travel right before typhoon season started, only to have a typhoon arrive on opening day. So, this summer may be less fun in the sun, and more indoors with a book. Not that I’m complaining. After taking a few years off due to school, I have enjoyed catching up on all the books I’ve been wanting to read.

This month I took a break from going through my TBR on Goodreads. I read The Cursed King and Kamisama Kiss, but that was about it. I was starting to get burnt out because the books were just not bangers for me. I can’t say it was because I wasn’t in the mood for them, because I was. I just had a hard time with the characters, the writing style, or sometimes the story as a whole, and in the end it left me wanting more. So, instead of completely burning out and needing a break from reading all together, I decided to shift my focus to my summer reading challenge, catching up on my book club reading, and took a walk through the library and snatched up a few books that caught my eye. Oh and I also signed up for a couple of ARC’s that I’m excited to read. So, thankfully, I was able to divert myself away from a reading slump.

Continue reading Typhoons & TBRs →