July 2018
Where did July go?! This month flew by in every way! Whether it was reading, life or work, I feel like the days just melted away in the summer heat.
I had a great July when it came to reading. For the first time in a long time, I actually felt in control of my reading. I wasn’t pressuring myself to read books by a certain deadline; I wasn’t overwhelmed with books out from the library and I could read whatever I wanted when I wanted. That’s the type of summer reading I like and want on my lazy days off and it’s something I’ve been striving for since I created my blog 5 years ago.
Some of my highlights from the month:
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- I decided not to put any books on hold at the library for July and August
- I did a mini Goodreads purge of books I don’t have copies nor do I want to buy
- I managed to remove 15 books from my TBR!
- I have officially received and reviewed 100 books on Netgalley!
- I started to schedule posts into 2019!
Managed to do this a little earlier than last year. I officially scheduled my first 2019 post earlier this week! https://t.co/CBRFNk5fyD
— Lauren (@SERIESousBooks) July 26, 2018
August is going to be a packed month for reading as well as life. I have some vacation time off but I’ve packed those days with events and the like. As for reading, I’m joining in on the annual Make Me Read It Readathon (a personal fave event) and participating in my second ARC August. So it’s going to be a busy one!
Total for July 2018: 21 Books Read + 1 Novellas Read
DNF’d: 2 Books
Last July : 20 Books Read + 4 Novellas Read + 3 DNFs
Standout Read (★★★★★)
I’m just so in love with this series!
Biggest Let Down (★★)
My gut told me to DNF this one in the first quarter but I stuck it out. It was just OK as I really struggled with it and ended up disappointed.
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Previously posted series reviews that got updates:
You can always get the full details on all my challenges on my dedicated page but here is a quick update:
5 Year 5 Book Challenge: Added 2, DNF’d 1 | 9 of 25 Titles Read – On Track!
Goodreads Challenge: 23 books added | 150/190 Books – Ahead!
52 Sequel Challenge: 5 Books Added | 29/52 Sequels – On Track!
Tackling the TBR Challenge: 7 books added | 19/36 Books – Slightly Behind!
View my Challenge Progress Here!
Make Me Read It: August 2018
It’s back! Hosted once again by hosted by Val @ The Innocent Smiley and Ely @ Tea and Titles. There’s still time to vote for what books I should read for the upcoming readathon! My goal is to read 3 of the 10 books you vote for during the readathon (and then the rest by the end of the year).
Vote here!
ARC August
I had a lot of fun participating in this for the first time last year and thought it was a great way to get through some of those ARCs I have still sitting on the back burner. This classic summer event hosted by Read. Sleep. Repeat!
Most of these are titles I’ve received through Street Teams with the idea that “you get to them when you get to them” but I’ve really been slacking (as you could see in my last State of the ARC post last month). So the plan for this August is to get to most of these titles by the end of the month! I want to read the 3 that are due for August and at least 3 more from my ASAP pile. Here’s some of the reads I have on the go:
The idea is to go through 5-10 books on your Goodreads TBR list chronologically and decide if they should stay or go. I do this on a monthly basis by going through 7 “new to me” books and 3 “sequel” novels and deciding what is a keeper and what is a pass.
This month:
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Pass: 4 | Keep: 6
Did I give up on any too soon? Let me know in the comments below!
You can still join in on these discussions:
- SERIESous Discussions: DNFing ARCs
- SERIESous’ Trope Thursdays: Cheating
- SERIESous Discussion: My Reading Habits by Month
Here are some of my favourite posts that I’ve come across the past month:
- Kelly @ Another Book in the Wall looks at family values in YA
- Bree @ In Love & Words talks about things she thought she hated in romance novels
- Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books asks “are we too into new releases?”
- Marta @ The Cursed Books wonders if she is too obsessed with reading
- Aimee @ Aimee Always helps you create a blogging schedule that works for you
- Molly’s Book Nook has a master list of Book Blog Memes
Each month I have a list of 11 books I’ve selected to read for that particular month. These books include review copies and reading challenge picks. Here are some of the books I have ready to go for August:
What were your biggest reading or personal accomplishments of the past month?
Leave a comment below!
I am so happy to hear you had a lovely reading month – reading with no pressure and just having fun is the best kind and what we all should manage to do 🙂 and congrats on being on track/ahead on most of your challenges, that’s so great!
I hope you’ll have a wonderful August! <3
Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books recently posted…Monthly wrap-up – July 2018
It’s so easy to get caught up in new releases, ARCs, library holds etc so it was definitely nice to just sit back and be like, “I feel like reading this today”. A very nice change for me for sure.
Have a great August as well!
Lauren, I’m so impressed you have posts scheduled for the next year! Looks like I need to get on top of things, haha! I hope you love The Diabolic! That series is a personal favorite of mine. 🙂 Good luck with both ARC August and Make Me Read It!
Genni @ Ready, Set, Read! recently posted…TAG | Cake Flavored Book Tag!
lol, it helps a lot that I only publish certain posts on specific days. It helps space everything out!
I just got my notification that my hold for The Diabolic is in so I can’t wait to start that in the next few days!
I totally agree about Furyborn! I wanted to give up on it so bad, but I pushed through–although I remember pretty much nothing about it any more, so I guess I should have DNFed it when I wanted to. :/
So glad you’re reading at your own discretion! It’s just the best to read what you want, when you want. ♥
Thanks so much for including my post!!
Aimee (Aimee, Always) recently posted…Mini DNF Reviews: Sweet Black Waves by Kristina Pérez + The Raging Ones by KB Ritchie
I know what you mean about Furyborn. I’ve decided to not pick up the sequels.
Anytime! Thanks for writing such a helpful post 🙂
What a fantastic reading month! I was super proud of myself for actually reading 19 books (it’s likely a record for me, usually I read around 10-12), but 21 is so great! And it looks like you have some really good books on the horizon.
I’m so jealous that you’ve already got some posts for 2019! Way to kick ass!
Thanks for the shoutout, too, BTW! I’m glad you enjoyed the post 🙂
19 is a great number! Congrats! It’s always a wonderful thing to read more than you anticipated. That’s why I like totalling up my month because some days it feels like I hardly did any reading but seeing the actual number reminds me that I do find the time.
I hope you have a great August!