Wrap Up: May 2017

After I had apparently gotten myself into a bit of a reading slump in April, I am happy to report that May was a much better reading month for me and I read some really great books, bought way too many books (my bank account is so angry with me!) and wrote a couple of really great blog posts! So let’s wrap May up, shall we?

What I Read

A Court Of Thorns And Roses Trilogy by Sarah J. Maas

I had planned to re-read both A Court Of Thorns And Roses and A Court Of Mist And Fury in time for the release of the final book A Court Of Wings And Ruin (are you tired of reading those titles yet?) and unfortunately I didn’t get to it in April and instead ended up reading the rest of ACOTAR and all of ACOMAF the first week of May while I waited for my pre-order to arrive from the UK! I have to say, ACOWAR, unfortunately, did disappoint me quite a bit and it definitely doesn’t compare to ACOMAF in my opinion. 

I feel like even though the story should have such high stakes for most of the characters there weren’t any real consequences and that really bothered me. I want to be impacted by the things that happen. I want to throw my book across the room because I can’t believe an author would do something to me. I had none of that with ACOWAR. Maybe I’ll change my opinion if/when I re-read this book at some point down the line – who knows.

But, even though I was disappointed by ACOWAR I still think the trilogy as a whole is still really good and ACOMAF is just a gift in my opinion! I shared 5 Reasons Why You Should Read The ACOTAR Trilogy on the blog instead of doing individual reviews as I haven’t felt like writing reviews lately. So, if you’re in need of some convincing, check ou that post!

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

I feel like my theme for the month of May was ‘Re-read All The Books!’ and I’m not complaining at all. I loved every second of it but that also means that I didn’t read too many new-to-me stories which I would’ve also loved to do simultaneously (I am amazed that I was able to spell that word correctly on my first try – HOLY SHIT.). But anyways, let’s get to Lady Midnight, book one in The Dark Artifices trilogy!

I loved this book the first time around and I am so happy to say that I still very much enjoyed it! This re-read also made me realize how easily I miss foreshadowing in books – even when it’s spelled out for me. I actually laughed out loud when I came across the most obvious bit of foreshadowing I’ve seen so far – and I had missed it entirely.

I haven’t done a review for this book either, but I plan on doing another post like I did for the ACOTAR series as it was so much fun to write and I feel like it’s a good alternative to my usual reviews! But I need to find the time to read Lord Of Shadows first. There are just review deadlines staring at me right now so I haven’t gotten to it yet! But hopefully soon!

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

I picked That Summer up on a really, really hot and sunny day because it felt like the perfect kind of weather to be reading this book! It’s also my first Sarah Dessen book and I have to say, I wasn’t too impressed with this one. I ended up giving it 2,5 stars! But I have two more of her books already on my shelf and I’m definitely going to give them a chance too! The writing was really easy to follow and quick to read which I always appreciate and I feel like Sarah Dessen books are the perfect beach (or in my case: lake) reads and I can’t wait to get to more of them this summer!

What I Bought

I honestly have no idea what happened this month, but I ended up getting so many books? I am a bit worried because I didn’t even realize how many books I had gotten until I wrote down my list for this wrap-up! But. Most of the books I got were used copies or library copies, so they didn’t cost too much money – thank god! My bank account would’ve really suffered otherwise! But let’s get into the books I bought this month, shall we?

A Court Of Wings And Ruin by Sarah J Maas

This is the book that has been on so many book hauls I have seen this month and I am not even the least bit surprised! The hype and talk leading up to its release was great and being able to see everyone’s reactions to the book has been really fun too and definitely helped me narrow down what I didn’t enjoy about the books. Because I couldn’t point to what bothered me for quite a few days and then once I started watching book talks and reviews things started to make a lot more sense!

Lord Of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

Up next on my list is Lord Of Shadows, book two in The Dark Artifices trilogy! After ACOWAR this was probably my second most anticipated release of the year (so far) and I was so angry when Amazon took ages to deliver my preorder! Had I gotten it on time I would’ve had enough time to read it before I had to get to my other reading! But no. I got my copy on Saturday and by then it was definitely too late to start it. 😦

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

Towards the beginning of this month, I finally started to go out more often and just walk around where I live and on one of those mornings I ended up at the German equivalent of a Dollar Tree store and was looking through the books they had (because who doesn’t enjoy getting cheap books, right?) and I found one that sparked my interest: Once Was Lost. I hadn’t heard of the book before, but the synopsis sounded really interesting, so I picked it up! I can’t wait to get to it at some point this year!

Thera by Zeruya Shalev & The Veil Of Illusion by Rebecca Ryman

I got both Thera and The Veil Of Illusion at a library sale I had found out about by chance during one of my outings and they were pretty much the only adult fiction novels that sounded interesting to me, so I had to pick them up! The Veil Of Illusion also happens to be part two of a series which I didn’t realize, so I don’t know if/when I will be able to get to this book. But the synopsis sounds like I might be able to read it anyways – so I’ll see!

3 Books by Sarah Dessen, The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell & Out Of The Easy by Ruta Sepetys

All of these books are actually used copies that I ordered off this website here in Germany that sells used books in various conditions and I’ll be sharing more about my experience ordering from that website next week so you guys can look forward to that! I got all five books for under 14€ and didn’t have to pay anything for shipping since my order was over 10€! That is a great deal if you ask me!

I got: That Summer, The Moon And More and Lock & Key by Sarah Dessen, The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell (I used to watch and really enjoy the CW show of the same name, so I had to get this one! It’s teenage!Carrie Bradshaw!) and Out Of The Easy by Ruta Sepetys (I’m really intrigued by the New Orleans setting, to be honest! Ever since watching The Originals I kind of have a soft spot for the city! It also seems to have quite a bit of history attached to it, so I can’t wait to learn some in this book!)

And I Darken by Kiersten White

The very last book I got this month is an audiobook of And I Darken! Audible emailed me towards the end of the month with a great promotional code for 3 months for 4,95€ each instead of the regular 9,99€ so I jumped at the opportunity – obviously! Who wouldn’t, right? I was trying to figure out what book to go for and then decided to go with And I Darken to help myself read this book faster so I can finally get to my ARC copy of Now I Rise. I didn’t know much about the story going into the audiobook but I have to say, I’m really enjoying it so far! I’ll talk more about it in either my June wrap up or a review – I haven’t decided yet.

What I Posted

I had so much fun including this bit in last month’s wrap-up that I decided to do it again for May! I feel like it’s a great way to look back at some of the posts you guys enjoyed reading and I loved writing and reminisce about the things that were on my mind during a particular month! Some of my favorite posts this month included:

• Getting Out Of My Apartment For The Day – This was probably the most personal post I’ve published on the blog in months and it was really great to get to share a bit more about my struggles and to get you guys’ encouraging words and joy about me taking steps towards getting better! I really appreciated it a lot!
• Struggling To Find My Blogging Voice – And since we’re already talking about more personal type of posts, I also shared my feelings about my struggle to find my blogging voice and asked you guys for some advice and you guys shared some great tips that I think are going to be really helpful for the future!
• To Write In Your Books Or Not To Write In Your Books – I feel like this is also a rather personal decision for a lot of bookworms to make and hearing how you guys feel about writing in your books was really interesting! I still feel a bit of an urge to deface my copy of Lady Midnight at some point down the line. I think it might be a lot of fun!
• 5 Reasons To Read The ACOTAR Trilogy – I didn’t really feel like writing reviews for each of the individual books in the trilogy and instead tried to convince you guys to read the trilogy by giving you five great reasons to do so! I hope I was able to convince some of you!
• Re-Reading Books: 7 Reasons Why You Should Be Doing It – Since I was already trying to convince you guys to do things with my ACOTAR post, I figured I’d give you some motivation to re-read your favorite books more often!
• Top 5 Most Owned Authors – It’s always so much fun to look at one’s shelves and just taking a look at all the authors that are featured on them. And sometimes you realize that some authors are featured a lot more often than others. I decided to share my top 5 with you guys this month!
• 100 Followers – A Thank You – Sandra and I reached a hundred followers this month and we wanted to take the opportunity to thank you guys with a post! We honestly can’t believe how much support we’ve gotten from you guys and are still getting and how quickly this little blog of our’s has grown in just five months!

If you guys have made it to the very end of this post, THANK YOU FOR READING ALL OF THAT. Good lord, I really got into a rambly mood today and couldn’t stop talking? I am sorry.