July was an AMAZING reading month for me. I managed to get a few books ahead of my Goodread's 2014 book count, participated in the
BookTubeAThon and pretty much enjoyed every single book that I picked up. Completing eleven books—and five novellas—is a pretty big deal for me, especially considering how poorly I have been doing recently.
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1. The Nightmare Dilemma (Arkwell Academy #2) by Mindee Arnett: The books in this series have SO MUCH potential, but—to me—they seem to fall a little... flat. I am not saying I didn't enjoy this book, because I did, but it is so disappointing when you read an okay book that could be amazing, should the author just delve a little deeper. The thing I found most disappointing was the lack of setting; when I read the synopsis of The Nightmare Affair, I immediately thought these books would be a combination of Harry Potter and the Arthurian legend. However, we did not really see much of Dusty's boarding school and I felt like this was a HUGE missed opportunity. There was also a lot of unnecessary back-and-forth between the main character and her love interest, and quite a few of their interactions were cheesy and hard to read. The plot was unpredictable, however, and I did enjoy a few of the hotter moments between Dusty and Eli. Overall, I am liking this series. I just wish the author would do her idea/the concept justice!
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2. Love & The Zombie Apocalypse by Chelsea Bellingeri: This book was not so good. The writing, plot and characters were a bit juvenile, things happened too fast, there was zero development, editing and grammar mistakes, too many POVs and cheesy interactions. The only thing I really enjoyed about this book was Rachel.
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3. Cinder by Marissa Meyer: WHY DID I NOT PICK THIS UP SOONER?! I found the science-y/DNA parts a little confusing, but every single one of the characters were complex and fantastic, the story was exciting and hilarious, and I loved all of the little twists and turns. Meyer took a classic fairytale and twisted it into something deeper and darker; incorporating both small and super important elements of Cinderella into a story that is high-tech and fantastic. I loved it!
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4. The Queen's Army (Lunar Chronicles #1.5) by Marissa Meyer.
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5. Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer.
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6. Cress (Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer: Rarely do I ever marathon a series that is not yet complete, but I just couldn't help it!! Cress was not my favorite of the three—it was a bit slower than the others and had a few useless/unneeded chapters—but I could not give it anything less than four stars. Every single one of my favorite characters made an appearance and the writing remained beautiful and hilarious; suspenseful and cute. The ending was worth every heartache and I cannot believe we have such a long wait until
Winter! D:
Actual Rating: 4.5
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7. Carswell's Guide to Being Lucky (Lunar Chronicles #3.1) by Marissa Meyer.
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8. Glitches (Lunar Chronicles #0.5) by Marissa Meyer: It was nice to get a glimpse—however briefly—into Cinder's first years in the Eastern Commonwealth. I sympathized with Adri for about 1.5 seconds before hating her again.
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9. The Little Android (Lunar Chronicles #0.6) by Marissa Meyer.
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10. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh.
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11. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo: Fact: Everyone seems to love this book. Surely, I would love it too? Yeah, not so much... It was good, but I found it lacking; with it's wishy-washy characters, unnecessary drama and predictability. Also, I found it a tad too slow, a trait that does not work with Fantasy. The action scenes we did get were great—very suspenseful—and the Darkling has a lot of potential but, overall, I was pretty disappointed with this read.
Actual Rating: 3.5-3.75
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12. Don't Close Your Eyes (Wake trilogy bind-up) by Lisa McMann: As the BookTubeAThon neared its end, I found myself struggling to complete the three books in this trilogy;
Wake,
Fade and
Gone. The concept was interesting—being sucked into people's dreams—and I really enjoyed the psychological aspects that McMann incorporated into the story, but there was too much unnecessary drama and back-and-forth between the main character and her love interest. In all honesty, if this trilogy had been condensed into one book (two, max), I probably would have liked it better.
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13. The Lovely and the Lost (The Dispossessed #2) by Page Morgan: Looking back, I am not entirely sure why I gave the first book in the series,
The Beautiful and the Cursed, three stars. This book was SO. GOOD. I loved all of the characters and there was always something happening; I never knew where the story was going! The writing and language were beautiful and, other than Luc and Ingrid's back-and-forth, I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. Historical Fiction is quickly becoming a favorite genre of mine.
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14. Marco's Story (The Dispossessed #1.5) by Page Morgan.
Started but did not finish:
. . . .
July Stats:
▫ Read 11 books (and 5 novellas)
▫ Read 3,779 pages
GR's 2014 Reading Challenge:
▫ Read 42 of 70 books
▫ Currently 1 book ahead of schedule
Upcoming Releases:
▫ The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco -- August 5, 2014
▫ Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson -- August 5, 2014
▫ Between the Spark and the Burn by April Genevieve Tucholke -- August 14, 2014
▫ Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins -- August 14, 2014
▫ Sanctum by Madeleine Roux -- August 26, 2014
▫ Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo -- August 26, 2014
▫ A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall -- August 26, 2014
Lost of new releases this month! Which are you most looking forward to?
