January Wrap Up

I almost wasn’t going to do a wrap up for this month, simply because I haven’t been very active all month. I’ve either been away or busy this whole month, so I wasn’t able to write many posts >.< Hopefully I’ll be able to post a little more in February!
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What I read this month…

Follow MeFollow Me by Angela Clarke

This was a book that I got through NetGalley, and it was only the second thriller I’ve ever read, but I loved it! It has great pacing and a really interesting story. I’d definitely recommend it. You can check out my review for it here.


Olivia, On the BrinkOlivia, On the Brink by Tessa Palmeri

I got a copy of this book from the author for review purposes. It was an okay book overall, but there was just very little personality in it. There was next to no actual plot, so it was a bit hard to get into. You can find my Goodreads review here.


acotarA Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

I’m so glad I read this book. I was a little unsure if I would like it because I’m generally not a fan of Fae and faeries and all that. However, the world created in this book is very exciting and I can’t wait to read more about it in the second book! You can find my review here.


Five Seven FiveFive Seven Five by C.E. Wilson

This was another read-to-review book and, I must say, I quite enjoyed it. It’s an interesting fantasy/sci-fi(ish) story. There were a few things that didn’t make much sense, but overall it was an entertaining book. I’ll hopefully be posting a full review soon!


Go Set a WatchmanGo Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

Hmmm, I’m not sure how to really describe this book. I was pretty disappointed by it, to be honest. There wasn’t much of a plot, and it was only really in the last 40-odd pages that we saw any significant character development. Basically, the whole book is fairly unnecessary.


The 5th WaveThe 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

I loved this book! It was such a solid sci-fi/dystopia book, and I’m really looking forward to reading the next books! Also, I saw the movie on the day I read the last few pages and it is really good. Not only does it stay ridiculously true to the book, but it is a great movie in its own right. I’ll try to post a full book review soon!

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What I posted this month…

Almost nothing… I had a grand total of 5 posts this month. Needless to say, I’m rather disappointed in myself for this. Oh well, I’m sure next month will be much better!

Weekly Memes:
Top Ten Tuesday: 2015 Releases I Didn’t Get To

Reviews:
Follow Me by Angela Clarke
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Other:
Happy New Year! (and all that)
Books I Will Definitely Read This Year

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What happened with my blog this month…

Again, not a whole lot. I wasn’t very active, so there wasn’t much going on with my blog. A big thank you to everyone that did engage with any of my posts this month, though!

Views: 160

Visitors: 81

Likes: 89

Comments: 31

Follower Count: 139

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What I did with my life this month…

Well, for the first couple of weeks of the new year I was visiting family in Adelaide, Australia. I didn’t have much time to get on the internet during that time, so that’s why I was fairly inactive in the first half of the month.

Last week, I was out all the time! I went to three movies in three days and saw The Revenant (go Leo!), Lazer Team (Rooster Teeth, anyone?), and The 5th Wave. I also went in to the place where I studied last year to begin organising an audio workshop for women, so that was a lot of fun.

So, yeah, this has been a really busy month, but hopefully things will settle down soon, though I do need to being job hunting, which will be fun >.<

I hope you all had a great new year and you’re getting back into the swing of things!

December Wrap Up

I’m going to join the masses in saying I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S ALMOST 2016!?! I’ve had a great year, not just with books and blogging, but in my studies and with friends and family.
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What I read this month…

Queen of ShadowsQueen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

I’m still loving this series. There were a few characterisation things that I didn’t agree with, but overall, this was a great book. I’m really looking forward to the fifth book next year! You can find my full review here.


The Adoration of Jenna FoxThe Fox InheritanceFox ForeverThe Jenna Fox Chronicles by Mary E. Pearson

This was a pretty decent series. It posed a lot of interesting ethical questions regarding science, medicine, and humanity. I haven’t written reviews for the second and third books, but I posted a brief review for the first one on Goodreads if you want to check that out here.


The Rest of Us Just Live HereThe Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

This was the first Ness book I’ve read, and it was pretty good. I’ve heard his others are better, though, so I’m really looking forward to reading those! You can find my full review here.


24 Hours24 Hours by Claire Seeber

I got this book through Netgalley. It was the first thriller that I’ve read, so it was quite an interesting experience. It was a pretty good book, though I didn’t really connect with the characters at all. You can find my review here.


Ready Player OneReady Player One by Ernest Cline

I loved this book! I saw a lot of hype around it earlier in the year, but I wasn’t too sure if it would be my kind of story. Man, I’m so glad I gave it a shot. If you haven’t picked it up yet, I’d definitely recommend it. You can find my full review here.


My True Love Gave To MeMy True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

As a whole, this collection was good. There were a few stories that I absolutely loved, but there were more that were fairly average. Still, it was a nice holiday read. You can find my rating of each short story here.

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What I posted this month…

I posted fairly regularly this month (excluding the last few days (oops)). I put out a total of 23 posts this month (woo!).

Weekly memes:
Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Debuts2015 New-To-Me AuthorsFavourite 2015 ReadsBookish Wishlist
WWW Wednesday: #10#11#12#13
Friday Finds: #12#13#14

Reviews:
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
24 Hours by Claire Seeber
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

Other:
Queen of Shadows ramblings
Real Neat Blogger Award
Tis the Season Book Tag
100 followers?!
Dashing Through the Snow Book Tag
Update | I finally bought some books!

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What happened with my blog this month…

I big thank you to everyone who has visited my blog, and liked or commented on any of my posts! I’d also like to thank every who has nominated me for awards this month 🙂

Views: 557

Visitors: 210

Likes: 392

Comments: 117

Follower Count: 120

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What I did with my life this month…

I graduated! …kind of. Well, I finished my course – I have to wait a whole year for graduation >.< I was stoked to complete my Diploma in Audio Engineering with a High Distinction/92% 🙂 Now I must venture out into the real world…

Of course, there was Christmas! I had a great Christmas with my extended family this year (on my dad’s side). It was a very relaxed and happy get-together, as it always is.

Other than that, I haven’t done a whole lot this month, to be honest. Oh well, I had a crazy busy year, so I’m glad to have gotten a relaxing December.

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Once again, thank you all so much for joining me on my blogging adventure this year! I hope you all have a safe and happy new year!

November Wrap Up

As per usual, I am amazed by how fast this month is gone. I can’t believe it’s nearly Christmas! I hope everyone has had a good month as is settling into the holiday spirit 🙂 Anyway, onward to the wrap up!

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What I read this month…

Tales from the Shadowhunter AcademyTales from the Shadowhunter Academy #6-10 by Cassandra Clare et al.

I really enjoyed these last few stories 🙂 I’ve read the 10 novellas over the last three months, so it’s nice to have finished them. You can find my review of each story here.


More Happy Than NotMore Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

I really liked this book, and thought it was very unique and stood out in the busy YA Contemporary genre. If you haven’t already read this book, I would definitely recommend it! You can find my review here.


The Assassin's BladeCrown of MidnightHeir of FireThe Assassin’s Blade, Crown of Midnight, and Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

I have fallen head-over-heels in love with the Throne of Glass series. This is such an exciting world, with amazing characters and engaging plots. I’m currently reading Queen of Shadows and, let me tell you, it’s just incredible. I don’t think I can wait till next year for the fifth book! You can find my review of CoM here, and my HoF review here.


LinkLink by Summer Weir

I got this book through NetGalley, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I think it’s still available for request on NetGalley if you want to check it out here. I posted my review earlier today, and you can find it here.


Carry OnCarry On by Rainbow Rowell

I was pretty disappointed with this book. I had high-ish expectations because of all the hype. It was only really the second half of the book that I actually enjoyed. Anyway, you can hear more about that when I post a full review in a few days.

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What I posted this month…

I got into a bit of a routine this month with what I was posting. I didn’t have as many other posts as I would like, but hopefully I will come up with some interesting stuff next month. I posted a total of 21 posts this month.

Weekly memes:
Top Ten Tuesday (this one is semi-weekly AKA I do it when I feel like it): Book to Movie Adaptations, Quotes I Loved
WWW Wednesday: #6, #7, #8, #9
Friday Finds: #8, #9, #10, #11

Reviews:
Paint My Body Red by Heidi R. Kling
The Light That Gets Lost by Natasha Carthew
The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Boy 23 by Jim Carrington
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare (et al.)
Link by Summer Weir

Other:
Blogger Recognition Award
Dragon’s Loyalty Award

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What happened with my blog this month…

I big thank you to everyone who has visited my blog, and liked or commented on any of my posts! I’d also like to thank every who has nominated me for awards this month 🙂

Views: 388

Visitors: 119

Likes: 227

Comments: 100

Follower Count: 86

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What I did with my life this month

I finished all my uni assignments a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve had two exams so far (96% on one, 90% on the other), and I still have two more to go (one this Thursday, one next Thursday). So yeah, all that is wrapping up incredibly quickly and, before I know it, I’ll have graduated with a Diploma in Audio Engineering! Whooo!

I went and saw Mockingjay Part II with my sister the other week, and we loved it! If you haven’t seen it yet, you definitely should! If you have seen it, what did you think?
I saw it again today with my best friend and it was just as good, if not better, the second time around. Also, afterwards, we were hanging out at the library (as you do) (they have free wi-fi), and we decided to start writing a story. It was just gonna be a silly one, but we ended up planning a decent amount of a story. It’s a sci-fi/high fantasy kinda thing, and we waaaayyy time coming up with names for things. So yeah, my friend wanted to let me be the main writer, but we have a really good basis for a story, which is fun. Hopefully I actually finish it this time – I’m notorious for planning stories but never writing them >.<

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Another big thank you to all my lovely followers! I’ve had another great month with the book blogging community, so thank you all so much. I hope everyone enjoys the silly season!

October Wrap Up

Well, that’s another month gone. How has it all gone so fast?! This is my second month book blogging, and once again, I’ve really enjoyed it. I love talking to all of you about great books, and I’m really starting to feel at home in the book blogging community. Anyway, onward to the wrap up!

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What I read this month…

The Whitechapel FiendNothing but ShadowsThe Evil We LoveTales from the Shadowhunter Academy #3, #4, and #5 by Cassandra Clare

I’m slowly getting through this series of short stories. I generally read them in between books, or when I can’t be bothered taking the book I’m reading to wherever I’m going. I’m enjoying them more and more as the series goes on (for the most part, anyway).


Post MortemPost Mortem by Kate London

This was the first crime novel I’ve ever read, and I really enjoyed it. I haven’t gotten around to reading any other books of the genre, but I do intend to. You can find my review here.


A Killing Among FriendsA Killing Among Friends by Toni Morrow Wyatt

I got this book through NetGalley, and it was a little strange. Not necessarily bad, just not something I would normally read. For the most part, I enjoyed it, so that’s a something. You can find my full review here.


The Casquette GirlsThe Casquette Girls by Alys Arden

I absolutely loved this book! This was another NetGalley one, and it definitely exceeded my expectations. It’s a really exciting and thrilling urban fantasy/paranormal story, with a lot of great characters. As it is yet to be released, I’ll be posting my review closer to the publication date, so keep an eye out for it in the next couple of weeks!


NirvanaNirvana by J.R. Stewart

I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed some parts of it, but felt let down by a lot of others. Overall, I think it had heaps of potential, but just fell a little short. You can find my review here.


Aristotle and DanteAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

This book was amazing! I have so much love for it, and I just want everyone to read it. I know it’s not a book that everyone will enjoy as much as I did, but I still feel like I have to at least strongly recommend it. You can read my full, emotional, blubbery review here.


Throne of GlassThrone of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

This was another book that I loved! I’m sure pretty much everyone reading this post would have heard of this series by now (and know its reputation), so you don’t need me to tell you about it. You can read my review here.


Paint My Body RedPaint My Body Red by Heidi R. Kling

This was another NetGalley book. I finished it a couple of days ago, and I really enjoyed it. It dealt with a lot of difficult topics, but they were handled with a lot of raw grace, which made it a really moving book. I’ll be posting a full review in a couple of days.

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What I posted this month…

I tried to post fairly regularly this month, and I kind of achieved that… I had a total of 22 posts this month, so I’d say that’s a pretty good effort.

Weekly memes
Friday Finds: #3, #4, #5, #6, #7
WWW Wednesday: #2, #3, #4, #5

Reviews
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
Post Mortem by Kate London
A Killing Among Friends by Toni Morrow Wyatt
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Nirvana by J.R. Stewart

Other
Shelfie!
My One Month Blogiversary!!
The Emoji Book Tag
Series Spotlight | Vampire Academy
Discussion | Why we want visual adaptations of books we love…
Milestones!

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What happened with my blog this month…

I had a lot of people interacting with my blog this month, so thank you all so much for that. It really makes this whole thing feel less like shouting into the void.

Views: 333

Visitors: 115

Likes: 183

Comments: 105

Follower Count: 59

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What I did with my life this month…

Pretty much the same as last month, tbh. I’m still busy with uni, though we’ve finished classes now. I still have a few assignments to finish off, and some exams in a few weeks, but it’s all wrapping up really quickly, which is pretty scary. I have no idea how I’m gonna survive next year in the real world >.<

Last weekend, I went to Auckland Armageddon Expo which is a nerdy convention, sort of in the vein of Comic Con. I had such a great weekend with my sister, and we always do with Armageddon. I didn’t really take any photos this year, which is a shame.

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Once again, I want to thank everyone that has followed me, liked and commented on my posts this month. I really love talking to you guys and getting to know the book blogging community.
Thanks for the great month! 😀

September Wrap Up

Well, here I am at the end of my first month of book blogging! I’d like to say a huge thank you to all my followers for joining me as I figure out how to do this blogging thing 🙂 I’m slowly working out what I want my blog to be like, so hopefully that will solidify a bit over the next couple of months. As it heads towards summer (southern hemisphere, remember), I want some good contemporary YA books to read, so if anyone has some suggestions, please let me know in the comments! Anyways, onward to the wrap up!


What I read this month:

After a bit of a reading slump on August, I got through quite a few books this month.

Number the StarsNumber the Stars by Lois Lowry

This was a really nice read. It’s only 100-something pages, so it only took me a couple days of sporadic reading to finish it. You can see my review of it here

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie BroshHyperbole and a Half

This was such a fun book to read. It consisted of many drawings, too, so it was really entertaining. If you haven’t read the book, you may at least be familiar with this image:

Clean ALL The Things

SpeakSpeak by Laurie Halse Anderson

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I struggled a bit with all the vagueness in the first two-thirds of the book, but I loved the ending, when we finally found out what had happened to the narrator.

Poison by Lan ChanPoison

I absolutely adored this book (also, how gorgeous is that cover?!). I received a copy through NetGalley, and I am now a huge fan Lan Chan. I can’t wait till the next installment of the series!  You can check out my review of it here.

It's Kind of a Funny StoryIt’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

This is such a great, and important, book. I loved that it wasn’t a sad story about depression, but rather one of hope and the very real possibility of recovery.

Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy (Tales from Shadowhunter Academy #1)The Lost HerondaleTales from the Shadowhunter Academy #1 and #2 by Cassandra Clare

I only recently learned that this series of short stories was a thing. I haven’t gotten around to reading the other ones that are out, but I will at some point; I’m still a sucker for this universe.

The Journal of Curious Letters by James DashnerThe Journal of Curious Letters

This book didn’t really leave a mark on me. I liked it well enough, but the writing style was a little juvenile for me. You can find my review of it here.

The Light That Gets LostThe Light That Gets Lost by Natasha Carthew

It took me a little while to get into this book, but I did enjoy it in the end. I received a copy of it through NetGalley, and I’ll be posting a review of it on my blog closer to the release date.

Boy 23 by Jim CarringtonBoy 23

This was quite a unique dystopian/sci-fi novel. The use of language was quite interesting, but it was a really good story nonetheless. Like TLTGL, I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and will post a review closer to the publication date.

ChainedChained by Susanne Valenti

This was quite a good dystopian novel, with an original plot. There were some characters that I wasn’t too keen on, but for the most part, it’s a really good story. I received an eARC from the author. My review of it can be found here.

Out of all the books I read this month, Poison was definitely the highlight. I honestly cannot spread my love for it enough. If you are even the slightest fan of YA dystopia, I recommend you check it out. The cover in this post links to Goodreads, and it can be found on Amazon, too (it’s only a few dollars for the Kindle edition!).

What I did with my life this month:

At uni, I’ve been busy with the my last recording assignment. My friend and I did our third overnighter in the uni studios a couple of weeks ago and it was brutal (as usual). We ate a lot of junk food and had some good ol’ caffeine. Thankfully, we actually managed to get a bit of sleep on the (fairly uncomfortable) couches. And, of course, we did a whole lot of mixing. After a whole lot of craziness during my mixing session yesterday (white noise glitches, plug-ins being weird, and the like), I managed to hand in the recording today. PHEWW! I still have the logbook to go, and I should be working on it right now, but hey, I have two more days to get that in.
I also made my directorial debut for my post-production assignment. In groups, we had to shoot a short film, which was interesting because we’re a bunch of audio students, not film. But, nonetheless, it was a lot of fun, and we got a decent product out of it.
Also, I only have 10 weeks of my diploma left WHHAAAAAAATT?!?!

Life outside of uni has been pretty nonexistent, to say the least… We had a family get together for Father’s Day, and my cousin brought her dachshund puppy (her name is Darryl), and she kept stealing my dog’s bones and my dog didn’t no how to deal with this small sausage of a creature, and it was great fun for all involved. (And that was a ridiculous run-on sentence. I’m so sorry.) If you haven’t figured it out yet, I really love dogs 🙂


So there ya have it: my first month wrap up. If anyone wants to hear my recording assignment, let me know and I’ll chuck it up on SoundCloud and post a link.

A BIIIIGG thank you to everyone who has joined me so far on my blogging journey! I’ve felt very welcome in this book blog community, so thank you so much for that.
Also, I’d love to see all your wrap ups, so I want to see lots of links in the comments 🙂