It’s time for our monthly wrap up! That fun time of the month where we recap all that we’ve read and done. July was a packed month for both of us, and as we’re probably going to mention 3000 times, WE FINISHED OUR SUMMER COURSES!! This means that we are free, and for the first time in six months, we’re on vacation. Cue what will hopefully be a month of lots of reading and relaxation.
Since we’ll both be taking actual vacations to faraway lands (or states) we will most probably be taking a hiatus later on in the month. We’re not totally sure what it will entail, but we’ll definitely let you know what it means before we disappear! August also contains both of our birthdays, so we also have that to look forward to! But you’re here to hear all about the books we read, so here they are!
Books Read:
Malka:
This month was a very weird reading month for me. I either really loved the book I read, or I didn’t like it very much at all. It’s also weird in terms of rating because even though I rated The Friend Zone 5 stars, I do have conflicting feelings about it, which you can read about here. And both of my 2 star reads aren’t bad books, just ones I didn’t enjoy, and couldn’t see myself recommending. I also had my first ever rant review for my 1 star read. Like I said, a weird month.
I do want to highlight my two other 5 star reads though, which were fantastic! While Sorcery of Thorns has lots of hype, Serpent & Dove comes out in September and needs all the love because it is absolutely amazing! It’s about a witch and a witch hunter that are forced into a marriage. It’s magical and wonderful and NEEDS TO GET ON YOUR TBR NOW! Since all the covers in this post link to Goodreads, that should be pretty simple to accomplish. Add it please!
5 Stars:
4 Stars:
3 Stars:
2 Stars:
1 Star:
Chana:
My goal for this month was to read 21 books so that I would reach 150 books read in total this year, and I met that goal!! I’m honestly so surprised because the past few months have been super slumpy for me. But I also read so many fantastic books this month! This Book is Not Yet Rated, was a definite favorite of mine.
5 Stars:
4 Stars:
3 Stars:
2 Stars:
Books Acquired:
Malka:
Purchased:
I bought myself this book in hopes of having Elizabeth Acevedo sign it at Epic Reads Day, and even though she didn’t attend in the end, I’m still very glad I own it now!
And of course, I got these 6 books from Epic Reads Day which you can read about here!
The only books Chana acquired this month were the ones from Epic Reads, which is why she doesn’t have her own section.
If you read our Book Buying Habits discussion from a few day ago, then you’ll understand how this section ended up so empty!
Things We Did:
We both finished our summer courses and are now free for the rest of the summer!
And of course, as we’ve mentioned a few times already in this post alone, we attended Epic Reads Day and wrote a whole recap about it!
Blog Accomplishments:
We had our 1 Year Blogoversary! Which was absolutely insane, we can’t believe we’ve lasted a whole year, and we can’t wait to have many more years in this amazing community!
We were nominated for Best Small Blog in the 2019 Blogger Awards! Voting closed yesterday, but we are just so so thankful for everyone who nominated us. We did not expect it at all and are just totally blown away by all the love!
Posts We Loved:
We were a little behind and all over the place with blog hopping this month, but here are a few that we really enjoyed!
Olivia @ Purely Olivia had a great discussion about The Controversy of Hyped Books
Caitlin @ Caitlin Althea wrote this wonderful post about Why You Should Never Compare Your Blogging Statistics With Others
Swetlana @ The Caffeinated Bookworm Life discusses Blogging Struggles: Not Reading Enough
How was your July? Did you read any good books? Did you have a big haul this month? Do you have any vacations planned for the summer?
July was a pretty crazy month for me… I felt very scattered unfortunately. I’m looking forward to squeezing all I can out of August and the rest of the year, though! 🙂
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Here’s to a fantastic August then! I hope you get everything you want to get done, done, reading an otherwise 💕
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Omg you read so many good books!! Serpent and Dove and Sorcery are some books that I’m super excited for so I’m pumped to see you enjoyed them!! And much ado about mean girls was such a fun read. Hope you ladies have a wonderful August!!
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I actually read Much Ado About Mean Girls after seeing it on your blog, and it was such a stellar recommendation! It had me cracking up throughout. Thank you!! Hope you have a fantastic August as well! 💕
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Ahhhhhh I’m so glad I didn’t steer you wrong with it, lol!! It was just so super fun and light hearted. Who knew the two would work so well together?
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Malka, so glad you loved Sorcery of Thorns and Maybe This Time! I’ll be getting SoT in the mail soon! It sucks 100 Days was so bad. I read your review
I need to read the Shatter Me series!
Chana, I so want to read Always Never Yours and House of Salt and Sorrows! I’m eagerly anticipating HoSaS! Congrats on reading 21 books!
Genesis @ Whispering Chapters
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Thank you!! HoSaS was such an enjoyable read, I hope you enjoy it! I also enjoyed Always Never Yours a lot more than I thought I would, now I’m just waiting for my hold on If I’m Being Honest to come through 😂 Hope you have a fantastic August!
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Congratulations on finishing your summer course!! I hope you have a great time relaxing now!! 😊
I can’t wait to read Sorcery of Thorns and Serpent & Dove sounds good as well!!
And wow 21 books is impressive!! I want to read the Heartstopper graphic novels and I read the lies of locke lamora earlier this year and I need to carry on with the series so I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the third one!! 😊
Congratulations on your nomination in the 2019 book blogger awards– you totally deserve it!! 💛
I hope you have a great August and enjoy your birthday celebrations!! 💛
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Yess, the whole Locke Lamora series is amazing! The only issue is that there’s a 4th book with no publishing date, so as much as I loved the third one I’m just suffering in limbo right now 😅 The Heartstopper graphic novels are SO CUTE! You definitely have to read them.
Thank you so much!! 💕💕 Hope you have a fantastic August!
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Haha yes they do seem to be taking ages to publish them so I will try to take my time reading the next ones then hopefully I won’t have to wait for the 4th one 😂😂
I can’t wait to get my hands on them!! 😍
Thank you!! 💛
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Looks like a pretty awesome reading month for both of you! Sorcery was also one of my top reads in July–it’s just too amazing! I loved everything about it 😂Hope August is an even more amazing reading month!
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July definitely had some really good reads for me! Sorcery was just so much fun! I love Margaret Rogerson’s writing style! Thank you so much! I hope you have a wonderful August as well!
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Congrats again on your one year blogoversary and on your Book Blogger Awards nominations!! Ahh, they’re so well deserved. 💖
Thank you so much for mentioning my post, I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
I really liked Counting By 7s and Always Never Yours, too! Those are such summer-y books I feel like too haha. I hope y’all both enjoy your August of traveling and relaxing!! 🙂
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Thank you so much, Olivia! 💕
It was such a great post! I love when I read relatable discussion posts! My first reaction to discussion posts I love is always how much I want to share the awesomeness with everyone, so I mentioned it in our wrap up!
Always Never Yours was super cute (even though I didn’t read it this month, I agree.) I really need to pick up If I’m Being Honest though! It came out months ago and I haven’t read it yet even though I’m so excited for another book from this duo! Thank you! I’m hoping August ends up being the vacation I so desperately needed all year!
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ahhhh what an exciting month for you! Congrats on the blogoversary and finishing your courses! TAKE THAT BREAK. It’s well deserved. There are a lot of books you two read that I’ve never heard of so definitely need to check those out 🙂
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Thank you! 😄 I’m very excited for my vacation! I’m also really glad that we introduced you to some books that were unfamiliar to you! I hope you find a few that interest you!
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hope y’all have a good time travelling and reading in the coming month!
omg Malka, i am SO EXCITED for Serpent & Dove. i can already tell it’s going to be a favorite of mine b/c of the hate to love romance and i can’t wait till sept to read it 😭 I’m glad I got your stamp of approval too on it 👏👏
high five, chana, I ADORE WOLFSONG. it’s literally one of my favorite books ever and it’s the best one with the found family trope because w o w.
i was really enjoying We Contain Multitudes but the ending just didn’t sit well with me for *reasons* but it’s a heartbreaking and beautiful book 💔
heartstopper is so! good! I need all that soft goodness in my life.
congratulations on being nominated for the blogger awards! can’t wait to vote for you in the next round too 💛💛
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Wolfsong was SO GOOD!! The found family was just *amazing* and I read it in literally one sitting because it was so good.
I had the same thing for We Contain Multitudes!! I really liked it, and then *things* happened, and it kind of messed up the book for me? I still gave it a good rating since I enjoyed the beginning so much, but I had SUCH mixed feelings about it.
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You guys certainly read a lot and a lot of your books are ones I want to get to soon.. like Sorcery of Thorns and House of Salt and Sorrow
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Yup! This month was pretty great! Sorcery of Thorns was SO good! I hope you enjoy it as well!
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I. Am. So. Very. Excited. For. Serpent & Dove!! witch (!!) + witch hunter (!!!) + marriage (!!) i mean, what is not to already love?? this sounds like its my ideal concept. super duper stoked to start Scott Lynchs book series The Lies of Locke Lamora sooniSH and i am only not so patiently waiting on my copy of Sorcery of Thornes. No biggy. Happy reading for the month of August! c:
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Yaaaaas! I’ve been hyping this book up ever since I read it because it was so amazing and has so many well done tropes that I think people will love, but I haven’t seen many people talking about it! IT’S SO GOOD! I was so excited for the concept and it didn’t disappoint!
I also really need to start The Lies of Locke Lamora series, especially since Chana loved it so much!
I hope you get your copy of Sorcery super soon! I think it’s worth the wait!
Thank you! I hope you have a wonderful August as well!
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YAY for summer course being done, birthdays and vacations coming soon!!
I’ve heard a ton about This Book Is Not Yet Rated and am totally curious about it. I have Sorcery of Thorns on hold at the library so I hope to read that really soon. I’m so glad you enjoyed it Malka! I also thought House of Salt and Sorrow was a 4 star Chana. I liked it even with its problems. ❤️
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Yess, This Book Is Not Yet Rated is so cute!! Same about HoSaS, the ending was a little weird and I had a few issues with it, but I liked the way it was retold so much that I just had to give it 4 stars.
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That’s amazing news about finishing your summer course!! I hope you both get some time ot relax now and unwind – school can be stressful!
21 books?!?! Please teach me your ways! I have been super duper slumpy lately so I need some tips!
Enjoy your birthdays!
-Emma 🙂
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I seem to be going back and forth between being in a huge slump and reading everything 😂 I usually pick up a light easy to read contemporary and that seems to do the trick with getting me out of a slump. Anytime I’m in a slump and I try to read fantasy it’s an automatic no go. Thank you!! 💕
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It sounds like you have both had an amazing reading month! So many good books that I need to add to my wish list for futures reads!
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It was so good! I’m happy that I was able to get so much reading done last month so now I can chill a bit reading-wise this month.
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Congrats on finishing your summer classes! I’m in the process of wrapping up my online class. I have an ARC of Serpent and Dove. I might also need to check out This Book is Not Yet Rated…my poor ever-growing TBR list!! Teen Titans: Raven, Wicked Fox, and Fullmetal Alchemist were some of my favorite July reads.
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Good luck with the rest of your online class!! Ooh, I need to read Wicked Fox! I’ve been seeing so many reviews, and it’s on my mental TBR. Because I’m too scared to add books to my actual one because then it’ll get super overwhelming 😅
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Yay for finishing your summer classes! Good luck with the rest of your classes. Just in case, I don’t stop by in time, Happy Birthday! You both read so many books that I want to read. I’m currently reading With the fire on high and I’m enjoying it. I also read The Poet X and absolutely loved it. I hope you’ll like it.
Tina @ As Told By Tina
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Thank you! I’ve actually read both of Elizabeth Acevedo’s books, I just didn’t own either of them! I’m so glad to hear you loved The Poet X! That one was my favorite, but With the Fire on High has a special place in my heart as well!
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You guys read so many books and so many that I still want to read. I think I am just going to buy myself a copy of Poet X because it seems like a book everyone enjoys.
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The Poet X is amazing! Plus it’s told in verse, which is always a treat!
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Ahh yay, so happy you’re on a break finally and I hope you’ll have a fantastic time on your travels ❤
Malka: I saw The Friend Zone earlier this month but didn't buy it… maybe I should have haha, I'll be adding it to my TBR for sure, so happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Chana: SO MANY BOOKS! So happy you enjoyed Heartstopper, Always Never Yours and Going Off Script, these are some of my favorite books ever ❤
I hope youre having a lovely August ❤
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They were all so good!! I can’t wait to read If I’m Being Honest, because Always Never Yours was just *so cute*! Hope your August is going well too! 💕
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So many amazing books!! I absolutely adored Sorcery of Thorns, Wolfsong and Heartstopper too 🙂
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I can’t speak for Wolfsong, but Sorcery and Heartstopper were both so good!
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Congratulations on the nomination, you definitely deserve it and well done on your anniversary too (: I hope you had a relaxing summer as you hoped to. And I cannot wait for Serpent & Dove. I know I’ve said that already on your other post but it bears repeating because… Well it sounds amazing.
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Thank you so much! 💕 This summer actually turned out to be pretty relaxing! My vacation definitely helped with that! And I’m so glad to see that you’re excited! I loved it so very much and I’m trying to get as many people that I can to read it! It just handles so many things so well! I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!
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That’s fantastic, I’m glad you had a nice, relaxing time. That’s great to know. I’ve been waiting for it literally for months; it’s even one of the books on my most anticipated books of the year that pushed me into blogging in the first place. I hope you get a lot of people to read it as you wish and I can’t wait to find out exactly what it’s like for myself. I’ll definitely let you know what I think once I do (:
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