Monthly Wrap-Up |

Tag: Monthly Wrap-Up

Monthly Wrap-Up – September

Life:

September flew by in a blur with our lives consumed with soccer and swimming! I’m so happy to say that both of them are loving soccer! And my oldest is now brave enough to go off the high dive at the swim center. So now we get to watch both of our kiddos do synchronized jumping off the high and low diving boards, it’s hilarious and entertaining to watch!

And the end of September marks my favorite food season! Summer is my favorite season, but fall has all the food filled with yummy pumpkin and pumpkin spice. And in case you didn’t know, I’m obsessed with it. Here’s a picture I posted on Twitter showing my latest shopping trip at Trader Joes, you can see it here. And that’s only the beginning since I pulled out all my recipes for what I’m going to bake/make. Now my husband is not a pumpkin fan. But each year I’m slowly converting him, even if he’s rolling his eyes the whole time. The best thing is I caught him two nights ago having a late night bowl of Pumpkin O’s (like Cheerios) muahahaha.

During our Monthly Wrap-Up we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what we read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going and books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR.

♥ Enjoy!

✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

What We Read:

5 Stars:
✮ Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel
✮Ninja Girl by Cookie O’Gorman
✮ The Great Pursuit (Eurona Duology #2) by Wendy Higgins

3.5 Stars:
✮ Thunderstruck by Brenda Drake
✮The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen #1) by Roshani Chokshi

3 Stars:
✮The Midnight Dance by Nikki Katz

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Favorite Books of the Month:

Here’s the thing, I can’t choose between a Paranormal book and a Contemporary book. They’re worlds apart and encompass so many different elements, so here are the two best books of the month –

Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel (Jen’s Choice)
The creatures and curses were not only unique, but an eerie combination that at times terrified me. There were so many moments of subtle humor that had me laughing out loud and kept a smile on my face. And when you add to that characters that won my heart, well Black Bird of the Gallows easily became one of my favorite books from this year!

Ninja Girl by Cookie O’Gorman (Jen’s Choice)
If you adore YA romance that makes you smile, laugh and leaves you feeling oh so happy, then I highly recommend Ninja Girl! And Adorkable too, if you haven’t read that one yet.

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Giveaways:

✮ COVER REVEAL + GIVEAWAY – Brave (A Wicked Saga #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Added To My TBR:

Here are some of the books I added to my TBR in September. I’ve realized that I always tend to add more books to my TBR than I’m able to read in a month lol. And just a heads up – I don’t include books that don’t have a cover yet.

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Did you read any of the same books we did? Or did we share the same favorite book? If not, what was your favorite? Or have you read any of the books I just added to my TBR?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful September and cheers to October being just as fabulous!

**Linked this post to the August Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction**

Save

Monthly Wrap-Up – August

August 31, 2017 / Jen / 17 Comments

Life:

School has started, and we’re already in the 3rd week (how did that even happen?!). My oldest is in 1st grade and my youngest started Pre-K. And confession time….. I cried on both of their first days back to school. Is it horrible that I’m still not ready for them to grow up? It doesn’t help that I had come to love our summer schedule……every week was filled with beach days, pool days, and lots of days with my Grandma. It was perfect. It’s taking a little while to get use to our new schedule of school, soccer, swim lessons, play dates and Grandma time. Though I always feel like I’m driving somewhere. Anyone else feel like that too?

Ohhhh in case you missed it on Twitter, I had a huge disaster in my kitchen. You can see it here. I was in a rush and had to be at my oldest son’s school in 45 minutes to volunteer, then we had was swim lessons, and then I was hosting a party at my house. Whoops. I guess there’s a first for everything lol. Here’s hoping you have never had a disaster like that!

♥ Enjoy!

✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

What We Read:

5 Stars:
✮ The Invasion (The Union #4) by T.H. Hernandez
✮ Warcross by Marie Lu (Warcross #1)
✮ The King of Attolia (The Queen’s Thief #3) by Megan Whalen Turner
✮ Ready to Run (I Do, I Don’t #1) by Lauren Layne

4.5 Stars:
✮ Infinity (The Infinity Division #1) by Jus Accardo
✮ The Queen of Attolia (The Queen’s Thief #2) by Megan Whalen Turner
✮ The Great Hunt (Eurona Duology #1) by Wendy Higgins

4 Stars:
✮ Good Girl (Love Unexpectedly #2) by Lauren Layne
✮ The Thief (The Queen’s Thief #1) by Megan Whalen Turner
✮ Omega (The Infinity Division #2) by Jus Accardo
✮ A Conspiracy of Kings (The Queen’s Thief #4) by Megan Whalen Turner

3 Stars:
✮ Inferno (Blood for Blood #2) by Catherine Doyle
✮ Things I Should Have Known by Claire LaZebnik

2.5 Stars:
✮ Mafiosa (Blood for Blood #3) by Catherine Doyle

2 Stars:
✮ Vendetta (Blood for Blood #1) by Catherine Doyle

1 Star:
✮ The Game of King (The Lymond Chronicles #1) by Dorothy Dunnett

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Favorite Books of the Month:

The Invasion (The Union #4) by T.H. Hernandez (Jen’s Choice)
The Union Series continues to be one of my top favorites! Especially since romance, action, torture, twists, friendship and political intrigue filled the pages! So it was impossible for me to put this book down.

Warcross by Marie Lu (Warcross #1) (Brittney’s Choice)
You guys, I enjoyed EVERY. SINGLE. PAGE. The whole book is so well written and holy crap, I think I jumped out of my bed a few times. Oh man. I wish I could say more, but there are some FUN plot twists.

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Giveaways:

✮ Win a $25.00 Starbucks Gift Card for the release of Ready to Run by Lauren Layne

✮ Win Ebooks of lluminae (The Illuminae Files #1) by Amie Kaufman, Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo, The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West, Adorkable by Cookie O’Gormgan, Good Girl by Lauren Layne and Broken Skies by Theresa Kay to celebrate our 3rd Blogiversary

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Added To My TBR:

Here are some of the books I added to my TBR in August. I’ve realized that I always tend to add more books to my TBR than I’m able to read in a month lol. And just a heads up – I don’t include books that don’t have a cover yet.

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Did you read any of the same books we did? Or did we share the same favorite book? If not, what was your favorite? Or have you read any of the books I just added to my TBR?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful August and cheers to September being just as fabulous!

**Linked this post to the August Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction**

Save

Monthly Wrap-Up – July

July 31, 2017 / Jen / 9 Comments

Life:

This last month, my family and I did something we’ve never done before. A staycation. 🙂 We live near Tahoe, and while I take the boys to the beach a few times a week, we’ve never truly explored all the hiking trails here. And there are hundreds! So we pulled out our huge list of places that we’ve been wanting to visit/hike and we tackled a few of them. One of them was even a little over 5.5 miles on hard terrain and my 4 & 6 year old were able to do it, I was so shocked! The scenery was beyond gorgeous. In case you don’t follow me on Twitter, you can check out two of the pictures from one of our hikes here and here. We’re doing another staycation this week but it’ll be a mix of hiking, pool and landscaping our backyard…boo on the latter lol. Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful July too!

During our Monthly Wrap-Up we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what we read, any other posts we may have had, and books that we added to our ever-growing TBR.

♥ Enjoy!

✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

What We Read:

5 Stars:
✮Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
✮Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson

4.5 Stars:
✮Shag Lake by Susan McEachern
✮Anomaly (Schrodinger’s Consortium #1) by Tonya Kuper

4 Stars:
✮Enigma (Schrodinger’s Consortium #2) by Tonya Kuper
✮Shag Lake Prequel: The Kiss by Susan McEachern
✮Death, and the Girl He Loves (Darklight #3) by Darynda Jones

3 Stars:
✮Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

2 Stars:
✮The Hook Up (Game On #1) by Kristen Callihan

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Favorite Books of the Month:

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett (Chelsea’s Choice)
This book was one of those that you devour, inhale every word….and just, I don’t know, exhale slowly in a contented breath. It’s a book that not only makes you giddy and happy, but makes warmth radiate from the inside out. It fills your heart with something akin to true love-believable true love-and you can’t quite let it go.

Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson (Anna’s Choice)
Midnight at the Electric relates several stories entwined, stories about loss and courage and hope and choices. You jump straight into new characters’ lives and you just care instantly and isn’t it baffling? When I see that I can read an entire book without giving a damn whatsoever and that Jodi Lynn Anderson manages to create a connection between her characters and I in the span of 2 pages, I feel awed.

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Added To My TBR:

Here are some of the books I added to my TBR in July. I’ve realized that I always tend to add more books to my TBR than I’m able to read in a month lol. And just a heads up – I don’t include books that don’t have a cover yet.

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Did you read any of the same books we did? Or did we share the same favorite book? If not, what was your favorite? Or have you read any of the books I just added to my TBR?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful July and cheers to August being just as fabulous!

Save

Monthly Wrap-Up – June

June 30, 2017 / Jen / 20 Comments

Life:

I’m officially back! In case you don’t remember, or you’re new, I had surgery back in March. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I had complications, horrific side affects from medicine at the hospital and then at home, I got extremely sick etc. I went into surgery thinking that it was going to be a piece of cake, and it wasn’t. Because of that, I needed a break. I needed time with my family, time to find my happiness again and time to heal. And the healing has been a lot slower than planned. But it’s summer now, and that’s my favorite time of the year! Not only have I found lots of time to read at night. But the days are the best! My two little boys and I spend every minute we can at the beaches in Tahoe, at the pools or at the parks. I love being outdoor in the sunshine and water! It’s my happy place. I’m so thankful it’s summer, and a hot one at that too woohoo!

I decided to start a Monthly Wrap-Up instead of our Weekly Wrap-Ups. We’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what we read, any other posts we may have had, and books that we added to our ever-growing TBR.

♥ Enjoy!

✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

What We Read:

4.5 Stars:
✮I Knew You Were Trouble (Oxford #4) by Lauren Layne – Jen’s Review

4 Stars:
✮Roar (Stormheart #1) by Cora Carmack – Brittney’s Review

2.5 Stars:
✮All the Stars Left Behind by Ashley Graham – Jen’s Review
✮Beauty of the Beast (Fairy Tale Retellings #1) by Rachel L. Dementer – Brittney’s Review

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Favorite Book of the Month:

I Knew You Were Trouble (Oxford #4) by Lauren Layne – (Jen’s Choice)
I’m a huge fan of the enemies to lovers trope! And this one was so much fun! It was sexy, angsty and had a fabulous epilogue. Also, it can easily be read as a stand alone, you don’t have to read the previous books. Although I do recommend them.

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Added To My TBR:

Here are some of the books I added to my TBR in June. No wonder my TBR is ridiculously long. I always add more books than I have read that month lol! And just a heads up – I don’t include books that don’t have a cover yet.

✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮✩✮

Did you read any of the same books we did? Or did we share the same favorite book? If not, what was your favorite? Or have you read any of the books I just added to my TBR?

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful June and cheers to July being just as fabulous!

I linked this Monthly Post to June 2017 Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up over at Feed Your Fiction Addiction. 🙂

Save