May Monthly Wrap Up

Monthly Highlights

Essentially I’ve had a fairly quiet May, in comparison with other months. I only went to two bookish events, haven’t been out much after work with friends and only went to the cinema once. Yet, despite all of that, I still feel like I’ve had a really busy month. I think this is probably because I’ve started cooking from scratch again and have become addicted to Netflix… as you do.

So the first bookish event I went to this month was book club. This month’s book was We All Looked Up and it was definitely a book that caused a lot of talking – even though we hadn’t all finished the book, me included! (though I only had about 20pgs to go). It was a fun evening that I really enjoyed.

Secondly I went to see Sarah J Maas. I want to say that this evening was AMAZING but unfortunately, for me, it just wasn’t. We ended up being really late so we missed the talk and then got stuck in a massive queue for signing for Sarah to literally say hello and goodbye. It was quite disappointing really. BUT I did get my HoF and ACOTAR signed so that was really great!

And the one cinema trip I took this month was to see Pitch Perfect 2 which was a film I LOVED. It was really great and I really loved it.

Blog wise, this month I changed from a book blog to a lifestyle blog and have already had a fair few new and exciting posts on the blog which I’ve really enjoyed writing. The change has really given me motivation and enthusiasm for blogging again, which is awesome!

I also hosted the LGBT Readathon and the #UKLGBTChat, both of which were a huge success and I couldn’t be happier or prouder! Really looking forward to hosting both of these again!

My top three posts this month were;
Going Through Some Changes
Recipe: Aubergine Parmigiana
Top Ten Tuesday; LGBT Reads

I’m really pleased with my reading this week, I managed to read ten and a half books! This is definitely a lot better than the last few months and I think the difference is probably that I wasn’t going out as much… but I did still watch a lot of TV so who knows? Either way, I’m rather pleased and hope I keep it up next month.

Blogger Spotlight

It was lovely to have Sofia as my Blogger Spotlight this month and I really hope that you enjoyed getting to know her a bit better. If you didn’t get the chance, here’s all the posts;

Blogger Spotlight; The Reading Fangirl
Blogger Spotlight Interview
Blogger Spotlight Guest Post

Favourite Book

I was fairly certain that I was going to love This Is Not A Love Story right from the offset because I loved Salvage and just knew that Keren David writes amazing stories. So when I fell straight into the story, I was incredibly glad about it. This book is full of rich, vibrant and well-developed characters that all go on incredible and life-changing journey’s. There is not a dull moment to be seen with the book continually keeping you tense, intrigued and attached to all the characters. On top of that it’s set in Amsterdam which, admittedly, I have never had any desire to visit and now I really, really want to. This Is Not A Love Story is the kind of book that, when not reading, you end up thinking about it and remembering it and wanting, whole-heartedly, to return to. I loved it from beginning to end.

Books Read

Two Stars

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach; I really wanted to love this book but I just really, really couldn’t. It was a struggle to get through with characters that fell flat to me and just a storyline that was more tell than show and just seemed to go far too quickly. Definitely not the right book for me.

Three Stars

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley; I enjoyed this book. It kept me hooked and addicted throughout and I really loved the narrative style of the book as well. I didn’t, however, like the ambiguous ending. I felt that it was the kind of book that should have had closure and it didn’t. That, or I’m just an idiot and didn’t understand the ending at all. Either way, not a great way to end this beautiful book.

The IT Girl by Katy Birchall; This book had me giggling throughout. It’s fun, doesn’t take itself too seriously but also has a lovely message about loving who you are and always being yourself. It was a very enjoyable story that I think many, many people will love.

Four Stars

The Things I’d Miss by Andrew Clover; This book was such an interesting read. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but I am really glad that I ended up loving this book. It was emotional, charming and funny and I was incredibly pleased with the ending. I did, however, wish that I could have continued reading – I wanted to know what was going to happen next! (I just didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters!)

Don’t Turn Around by Caroline Mitchell; This book is mysterious, really piques your curiosity and was just very compelling. I needed to know what was going on and then it ended in such a brilliant way. I will definitely be reading more of this series.

The Happy Ever Afterlife of Rosie Potter by Kate Winter; I thought this book was so great. It was funny, full of flair and full of voice too. It was emotional and heart-warming. I got attached to the main characters really easily and is a book I would easily return to.

Death Note Vol 3 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata; This installment is when things start to get really interesting in this series. It was fascinating and very clever and a lot of fun too. I’m definitely intrigued what will happen in the next volume!

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polansky; I really adored this book. I thought the voice was really strong and it made me feel very emotional at parts too. All the characters were well-developed and lovely to read about. I think this book tells a very important story and I just thought it was dealt with so delicately!

Squishy McFluff: The Invisible Cat by Pip Jones; This book is super cute. It’s got lovely rhymes within it, brilliant for kids who always wanted a pet but can’t but also for those who do have them. It’s just a brilliant story that I very much enjoyed.

Five Stars

This Is Not A Love Story by Keren David; You can see why I truly loved this book above but basically, this book was amazing and brilliant and I loved it to pieces.