Welcome to our August Wrap Up! It seems like we say this every month, but it feels like the month has flown by! We were on hiatus for about half the month because we were both on vacation, but now it’s back to the grind. Otherwise known as school. We both started the fall semester last week, which means that we obviously already have HW and assignments. But instead of focusing on that, we’re going to focus on all the great times we had and great books we read this month!
Books Read:
Malka:
This wasn’t my greatest reading month in terms of quantity, I will admit. But I honestly don’t even mind. Part of the reason that read so little this month was that I was on vacation for a solid chunk of the month! I was too busy having a good time to read much, but I think it was worth the trade!
Plus, all the books I read in the second half of this month were fantastic, and I’m currently reading some other amazing books that I can’t wait to discuss next month! (Just as a sneak peek, I’m halfway through The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett and having a great time!) Plus, I managed to buddy read If I’m Being Honest with Kelly @ Another Book in the Wall, which gave me the motivation I needed to finish it, since I had been putting it off for absolutely no reason, from the day I bought it!
5 Stars:
4 Stars:
3 Stars:
2 Stars:
Chana:
So I thought I would read loadsss this month because I was on vacation, and I honestly tried that whole reading on the beach thing. Lemme tell you, not fun. I was reading with the constant fear of getting sand and water on the book, and it was so bright! I couldn’t even see the pages. A little bit of a disclaimer, I am a super fair-skinned redhead who is technically allergic to the sun? (I sneeze a lot whenever I encounter sunlight.) So I did have sunglasses on and was under an umbrella, which didn’t really help me out with reading.
Photographic evidence that I attempted to read on the beach
I did end up reading 11 books this month, which I’m super happy with! I managed to read some ARCs that I was pushing off for a while, and even read and reviewed something for NetGalley! (Did I finish reading it like two days before I scheduled the review? Yes. But it’s still a win.)
5 Stars
4 Stars
3 Stars
Books Acquired:
Malka:
This was quite an interesting month in terms of books I acquired. I bought Passenger early in the month because it’s one of my backlist NetGalley titles, and I thought having a physical copy might help me finally read it. I didn’t think I’d have anything else to haul besides for Pumpkinheads, which I promised myself I’d get in stores to celebrate being done with the first day of my semester.
But when I went to Barnes & Noble to buy myself a copy of Pumpkinheads, I saw The Arrival of Someday. If you’ve read of Epic Reads Day post, you know that we got to see how they came up with the cover for this book. The premise sounded like soemthing I’d enjoy since it’s about a girl who plays roller derby and discovers she needs a liver transplant. I started reading in the store and then I managed to convince my brother to buy it for me when I went back to Barnes & Noble the next day. Happy Birthday to me!
Then I found out that I’m on the blog tour for Tweet Cute and received an e-arc of the book through NetGalley. And if that wasn’t exciting enough, I got approved for one of my most anticipated romance novels through Edelweiss in the very same week!
I’m so happy with all the books I ended up with this month!
Purchased:
Gifted:
Blog Tour:
Edelweiss:
Chana:
So this month, the only weird thing about my books acquired was my NetGalley books. Sword and Pen in particular. I loved The Great Library series when I read it back in January. I binged the first four books in the series in like a week, so when I saw it on NetGalley I requested it immediately! And then after a longggg time of not hearing back, I just assumed that I was not getting it. Lo and behold, on Tuesday, I got a notification that I was approved a week before it comes out! So now I am furiously trying to finish reading it so that I can review it on its release date. And by furiously trying to finish reading I mean I am deliberately starting other books to avoid responsibility.
Gifted:
NetGalley:
Things We Did:
Malka:
I had so much fun on my vacation! I don’t have very many pictures (and the ones I do are mostly of food) but I was so happy to be doing something every day and to get the chance to travel a lot! It was really relaxing for me and I was so happy to be in a different time zone to separate me from all my responsibilities!
Below you’ll see a summary of my vacation. Great food all day with some interesting activities thrown in every now and then!
Crepes for breakfast, cool museum artwork, and artsy coffee!
What more does a gal need from vacation?
Chana:
I went to Florida with a few of my friends and it was so nice and relaxing! I mostly spent time on the beach, but I did do a few fun stuff like kayaking and snorkeling!
Blog Accomplishments:
🌸 We cleared our blog inbox for a day! We know this sounds like a weird accomplishment, but we try so hard to keep up with all the posts the blogs we follow put out. It’s not always easy, but we finally did manage to catch up on them all! (Then we went on hiatus and all of the hard work disappeared within an hour or two.)
🌸 We reached our 100th post on this blog! It was really exciting for us to realize how much time we’ve spent creating content for the blog, and we had fun making our hiatus post our 100th post since to mark our first planned vacation since we started blogging!
🌸 We also reached 300 followers this month! It always blows us away whenever people follow us, and we’re so grateful for each and every one of you!
Posts We Loved:
Krysta @ Pages Unbound talks about why your library doesn’t own the ebook you want
Caitlin @ Caitlin Althea talks about whether you want to be friends or you just want a comment back
Laura @ Boats Against the Current talk about her favorite bookish atmospheres
Kat @ Novels and Waffles talks about her insider secrets to avoiding blogger burnout
How was your August? Did you get a lot of reading done? Are you able to read on the beach?
August was slow for me as I took a little break 🙂 You’ve had a lovely month!
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We took a little break as well, but it really did end up being a lovely month! I’m very happy with how it turned out!
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Looks like you guys were super productive!
I hope that September goes well, too!
– Emma 🙂
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Thank you!!! I hope you have a great September too! 💕💕
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Reading less but mostly great books sounds absolutely amazing to me! I’ve wanted to read If I’m being honest for a long while, so I’m glad to see it was a four stars! And I’ve recently been intrigued by American Royals, I’m curious to read it when it releases ♥ I hope you both have a wonderful month of September and that your classes go well!
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I definitely agree! Quality over quantity all the way! I’m really glad I finally read If I’m Being Honest because I’ve been meaning to read it since the day it came out! Thank you so much! 💕 I hope you have a wonderful September as well!
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Congratulations on 300 followers!! Y’all deserve it so much, your blog is phenomenal and is one of my favorites.😭💗
I’m so happy you both had wonderful vacations and read so many books!! I also read Opposite of Always this month, though I really loved it. I’m sorry to see that Malka didn’t enjoy Five Feet Apart too much because I loved the movie and have been eagerly anticipating reading it- but maybe I’ll like it more??
I hope you both have a wonderful month!
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Thank you so much Olivia! 💕🥰 It means so much to us to hear that! ❤
Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better vacation. It wasn’t very structured and I was able to relax fully!
The reason I didn’t love the book actually had a lot to do with the fact that it was made to be a movie! I feel like characters made really stupid decisions, that I could see playing out on screen. But for a book, I wanted more depth and believability for some of the actions these characters make. Basically, it was just too dramatic for my tastes especially and I wasn’t always thrilled with how they portrayed (and dramatized) CF. You may like it. I know several people have. But it really was not my thing.
I hope you have a wonderful month as well!
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Wonderful wrap up!!! I’ve had so much fun reading If I’m Being Honest with you, Malka! I’m so glad it was a 4 star read for you! I’m still making my way through it, but I definitely think it’ll be a 4 (and maybe even 5? 👀) star read for me, as well! I actually purchased Passenger this month as well! I saw it for sale at a used bookstore and couldn’t say no! A huge congrats on 300 followers for you both, and I’m happy that you both had lovely vacations! ❤
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Thank you! I had such a fun time as well! I’m so glad you’re enjoying and can’t wait to discuss it in spoiler filled detail with you once you finish! And I found Passenger as a used book store as well! I don’t know if I would have bought it otherwise, although I had been purchasing it for a while now.
Thank you so much! 💕
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I’m so glad you had amazing vacations! All the photos look great ❤ And aahh it makes me so happy to see you love the Great Library series as well, Chana! I feel like it's so underappreciated, and it makes me sad because I ADORE it. and I'm glad you 5-starred Love From A to Z, Malka, because I've heard such amazing things about it and I can't wait to read it. Congrats on 300 followers, both of you, and I hope you have an amazing September!! ❤
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May!! I’m so happy that you like the Great Library series too! It’s definitely underappreciated. I’m so happy that I found out about it, but I wish more people would read it because it’s so great! Also, I just finished Sword and Pen last night, and I need someone to discuss it with! So once you read it lmk if you want a rant buddy 🙈
Thank you!! Hope you have a great September too! ❤❤
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Ah I definitely will let you know when I read Sword and Pen! I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to get a copy but the way you worded that makes me so scared 😭
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Nooo!! Don’t be scared! It’s really good I promise! I just don’t deal well when series end 😂 So many EMOTIONSSS
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What a great wrap up! August was rather slow for me. I enjoyed my holiday, read only 3 books and visited a lot of friends.
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Thank you!! What was your favorite August read? That’s so great! Visiting friends is so fun!
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My favorite book was Till Death by Jennifer L. Armentrout. It was so good!
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Congrats on hitting 300 followers and your 100th post! That’s so exciting.
I was also super let down by Five Feet Apart. I found it really boring
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Thanks so much!
And that’s really funny because part of the reason I disliked Five Feet Apart was I thought it was too dramatic!
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You guys read and bought so many books that I desperately want to read! I also love the food pics you took, and I congratulate both of your for a Summer well spent!!
Also, 300 followers is so well deserved ❤️❤️❤️ (Plus, thank you so much for mentioning one of my posts here 🙂 )
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Ooooh! Which ones are top of your list? And I’m so happy to hear you liked my food pictures! I honestly centered so much of my trip around food, it only made sense to share some highlights! And it really ended up being a great summer!
Thank you so much! 💕 That means so much! (And of course we mentioned the post! Chana and I both loved it!)
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love from A to Z, Hungry Hearts, Opposite of Always, If I’m Being Honest and SO MUCH MORE. ahhhhh, so many books so little time
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You guys have read so many books that are on my TBR and now I can’t wait for them!! Congrats on 300 follows! (you’ve got another one here as well!) Just found your blog and can’t wait to explore a bit more!
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Yayy! I hope they live up to your expectations. Thank you!! ❤❤
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I’m glad you guys both enjoyed your vacations, even if they did interfere with your reading a bit (it was worth it, I’m sure)! I’ve had that happen before where I have a book approved RIGHT before release (recently, one was approved the day before!), but I’ll confess that I’m not always perfect about reviewing in time for release and in that case, I really just didn’t stress about it. I suggest you take your time and enjoy the book!
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I don’t know what I would do if I was approved a day before the release date! Probably just freak out a lot 😂 I ended up finishing it in time, mostly because it was good enough that I just couldn’t put it down, so that worked out nicely.
Vacation was so nice! It was totally worth it to give up some reading time for relaxation time!
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i’m SO excited for lady rouge and im so glad to see that malka enjoyed ‘love from a to z’ & ‘hungry hearts.’ i just got my copy of hungry hearts and ive heard nothing but praise for it, so really excited for that.
im so glad chana loved ‘poet x’ it was such a complex and heartbreaking story. i hope you’re able to read priory of the orange tree soon bc i’d love to hear your thoughts. i’m trying to prioritize it for august but the size and the mixed reviews scare meeee.
congrats on 300 followers!! you totally deserve it. im so glad to see you guys had such a great august, i hope september is just as amazing for you 💖
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I’m hoping to finish The Lady Rogue over the weekend because it’s been too long since I picked it back up, especially given how much I’m loving everything I already read! And both of those books were so very good! I even liked almost every story in Hungry Hearts, which is super rare for me with anthologies!
Thank you so much! 💕 I hope you have a fantastic September as well!
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Lovely wrap-up! I’m so glad you had a good time and took time for yourselves on your vacation, yay! ❤
SO happy you enjoyed If I'm Being Honest, Malka, I love this book SO much. and yay for getting Tweet Cute, I am SO excited to read this book, it sounds way too good!! ❤
Congratulations to you both on the followers, I'm so happy and proud of you, you're doing amazing ❤ Wishing you all the best for september ❤
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Vacation was so wonderful, I desperately want to go back to it 😂😂 Thank you so much, Marie!! ❤❤ Hope you have a lovely September too!!
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I’m so glad you had such great vacations! It sounds like you really enjoyed yourselves ❤ Plus Congrats on 300 followers!! What an amazing milestone. And thank you for those posts you shared!! I see a couple that sound just up my alley. 😉
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Thank you! Vacation was wonderful, and I’m happy I got such a nice break before getting thrown into the madness that is college life! And it’s such an exciting milestone for us, which is why we just had to share it! I hope you find some great posts from the ones we shared! Have a great September!
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Your August sounds and was amazing! I also burn very easily so reading outside must be in shade. My daughter sneezes in sunlight and it’s a documented condition (photic sneeze reflex) which I had to research after repeated sneezing events. Pumpkinheads surprised me and I loved every moment of it. My favorite reads of August included Frankly in Love and Fireborne. Good luck in school this year!
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Ooh, I’m really looking forward to Frankly in Love! It sounds SO cute!
That’s so cool! It definitely explains things 😂 Literally anytime I’m out and the sun is bright I immediately start sneezing.
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