The Summer Reader Tag

A few days ago, I was tagged by the wonderful Lori of Books o’ the Wisp to do the Summer Reader Tag. This tag originated from jessethereader’s video which is called the Summer Reader Book Tag. When Lori tagged me, she asked that I used different books than I would usually pick, so that’s what I’ve tried to do.

Lemonade: pick a book that started off bitter but got better.

I don’t know what I’ve done this right, but I picked a book that’s a little heavy to start off with but gets sweeter. For that I chose, The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney. This book is about a girl who gets date raped, but her prestigious boarding school has a secret society that helps wronged students. This is pretty full on, but there are definitely some sweet moments in there too…from what I remember.

Golden Sun: pick a book that made you smile beyond compare.

I had to go with my Queen of Contemporary here—Maureen Johnson. All of her books make me smile like mad, but I thought I’d talk about Girl at Sea today because that one isn’t discussed as much. This set on a boat in the Mediterranean and it has a super super hot guy and some really crazy moments. 

Tropical Flowers: pick a book set in a foreign country.

This is where being Australian is like the best thing ever because pretty much every book is set in a foreign country. I went for Last Train from Kummersdorf by Leslie Wilson, which is set in Nazi Germany, one of my favourite things to read about. It’s the story of two children, Hanno who has recently deserted from the army and a streetgirl, Effi, who is on the way to find her father.

Tree Shade: pick a book in which a mysterious or shady character was first introduced.

I had to go for Dr Hortense Gray from The Purgatorium by Eva Pohler. Gray is super shady, and I haven’t gotten around to the rest of the series yet but I have a feeling she’s only going to get more messed up.

Beach Sand: pick a book that was grainy, and the plot barely developed.

The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Was there a plot to this other than a guy who can time travel and makes out with sixteen year old girls?

Green Grass: pick a character(s) that were full of life, making you smile.

I’m going to be a little different here and pick a graphic novel. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson has some of the best characters ever, in my opinion. Nimona herself was hilarious and she’s kind of my spirit animal. Blackheart was just the best and I love him. Goldenloin…what do I say about Goldenloin? Just read this.

Watermelon: pick a book that had some juicy secrets.

I think I’m being a little bit obvious here, but And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. If you haven’t read this, I don’t even know why you’re here. This is the story of ten people stuck on an luxury island, slowly their secrets come out as they are killed off one by one.

Sun Hat: pick a book that had a vast, big universe/setting.

Even though it’s only a novella, The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson. There is so much packed into this little book. The world is incredibly complex and interesting and the characters are amazingly written.

BBQ: pick a book in which a character was portrayed as a hunk.

A new favourite of mine—Roth from White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout. *fans self* In the blurb, Roth is described as ‘a tattooed, sinfully hot demon’. CAN WE JUST? There is actually another side to Roth in the book which is really what made me like him so much, so I definitely recommend you check it out.

Summer Fun: pass the tag on.

Now for the best part! I’m tagging Dani of Dani Reviews Things, Val of The Innocent Smiley and Krystianna of Downright Dystopian. Good luck girls!

June Wrap Up: Shortest Wrap-Up Ever?

This is probably the shortest wrap up you'll ever see from me. I decided to cut the TV/Film and Videos section because I have nothing to share with you. I've also permanently removed my 'writing' segment as I'll be doing fortnightly updates from now on, you can see the first of which here.

BOOKS

I only read 16 books this month which not as many as usual, but considering the month I've had, I'll let it go. Look at how different the books are though! I've got three different things of poetry on there, some adult fiction...look at my growth, guys! I'm also in the middle of like four books, so hopefully July will be better.

CHALLENGES

Guess who sucks at challenges?

ON THE BLOG

This was my most active month on the blog this year. This post will make it 26 posts within June, isn't that crazy? July is already shaping up to be crazy so don't be surprised if you see a post from me every day. I've been finding it really easy to write lately which means more post ideas!

Anyway, let's talk about the posts that were on the blog this month. I kicked off June with my YALC TBR, which in case you were wondering, is failing miserably. I continued my writing resources with: things you shouldn't say to a Diabetic and a brief explanation of insulin. I've got more of this on the way in July!

Last month I read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and this month I talked about the Brontë sisters and popularity, as well as books with layered perspectives.

I focused a lot on authors this month. I talked about who I wanted to read more from, my ten most read and authors I haven't read yet, but really want to. I also shared some other random, but exciting things! I talked about my four favourite bookish people, shared some pictures of my UK trip so far, introduced you all to my protagonists AND announced the Make Me Read It Read-a-Thon.

OTHER THINGS

So if you've been paying attention at all then you know that I'm currently in the UK. It's been great so far, a little stressful at times but mostly good. I'm not going to share a heap of what I've been doing because it's mostly been family stuff this month, but I've got heaps of exciting stuff in July, including getting to meet the amazing Dani. 

One another thing I wanted to share before I go is this absolutely lovely part of a post that my friend (and one of my favourite bloggers) Lori wrote about me. I actually cried while reading it. I don't always feel super confident about what I post here, so it really meant a lot to me that Lori would write something like that. Thank you so much, Lori <3 And, if you don't already follow Lori then obviously you're missing out.

Day and Night Book Tag

The other day, the very lovely Dani of Dani Reviews Things tagged me to do the Day and Night Book Tag so that's what we're doing today. The tag was originally created by Readigans and it's just a bunch of questions about books!

D: Do you read more in the morning or at night?

I usually read the most at night, around 6pm until 10/11pm. I try to always read something before I go to bed at night.

A: Are there any books that changed the way you thought about things?

Yes, lots. The one that stands out the most, which I know I talk about a lot, is The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. This book honestly changed my life and just completely ripped out my soul. I respect Anne Frank so much, and she’s definitely someone I look up to—both as a writer and as a human being.

Y: YA or not?

YA, definitely. I love reading other genres and books too, especially classics, but YA is definitely my number one love at the moment.

A: Are there any characters you honestly believe to be real?

Sirius Black is my boyfriend. True story.

N: Nobody borrows my books or I don’t mind lending them out?

I’m very fussy with who I lend my books out to. At the moment, the only person I trust is Michelle because I know she’ll look after them.

D: Do you ever smell your books?

More often that I probably should.

N: Not everyone likes books, is this a positive or a negative?

I think it’s a negative thing. Books are such a central point of my life that I actually find it difficult to talk to people who don’t like to read. What bothers me the most are the people who don’t even try to read. My dad is not a big reader, but he will try and make it through at least one sports biography a year. It’s not the best, but he tries!

I: I keep my books in the best condition or maybe not? Which are you?

Best condition. Oh my god, best condition, you have no idea. I actually cover all of my books with contact because I can’t read anything that isn’t. Okay, I can read other people’s uncovered books but I like my own to be covered and in perfect condition (unless it’s second-hand).

G: Gosh I have too many books! True or False?

Is there such thing as too many books.

H: Have you ever spilled or stained your books before with something, and if so how?

No. Nope. Nopity. They need to be perfect.

T: Toned or untoned while reading? . . or in other words. . .Do you read and workout at the same time?

Haha NO. I don’t workout. I read, I eat and sometimes, I walk. Exercise and I aren’t friends.

There you go, those are my answers! Thank you so much to Dani for tagging me, and I'm going to tag... Rachel of The Very Hungry Bookworm, Lori of Books o' the Wisp, Michelle of LovelyGirlReads and Olivia of Olivia's Catastrophe. Sorry if any of you have already done this, but otherwise I'm looking forward to your answers!

Four of My Favourite Bookish People

I've been really slow on the reading lately so I don't have any reviews or discussions to share with you all. I'm working on that so hopefully I'll have a few bookish thoughts soon. Today I thought I'd share a little bit of blogger love. We don't have a blogroll with everyone's pretty buttons because I have no idea how to do that (any help would be much appreciated), but I wanted to share my top four bookish people.

I have three bloggers and one booktuber, and I kind of cheated because I know all of these people personally but I just adore their blogs/videos and I always read every single one of their posts/watch every video. You've probably seen them all mentioned here before, but I just wanted to share them again in case you aren't already following them.

Number one is Michelle of Lovely Girl Reads on YouTube. If you haven't heard of Michelle before then you must be new to this blog because she is one of my best friends ever and she gets mentioned in a lot of my posts and every single one of my Booktube videos. Not only do we have the exact same taste in books, but we also agree on comics, food and people. She's honestly one of the greatest people I've ever met and you should subscribe to her so you can envy her amazing lipstick colours, her bows and her contemporary YA recommendations. (Also, Michelle, I spy you liking videos about cat socks and I know you totally fangirled. I know.)

Secondly, we've got the lovely Rachel of The Very Hungry Bookworm. Rach is a new blogger, but we've been friends for maybe four or five years. Funny story, Rach used to edit a fan fiction of mine and that's how we became friends. She's an absolute sweetheart, and when we get talking about books together, we'll go on for hours and hours.

Thirdly, we've got Lori of Books o' the Wisp. Lori is relatively new to blogging as well, but her blog is actually one of my most visited sites on Safari. She participated in the Bookentine Read-a-thon that Michelle and I hosted in February and I've been following her blog ever since. She generally reads different books than what I do which is why I love her blog so much—she convinces me to look into books that I never would have looked at otherwise. Also, she just started writing posts about her writing and they are the best thing ever.

Last but not least is the lovely Dani of Dani Reviews Things. She's new too, and I found her through Twitter because we are both attending YALC next month. I really like Dani's blog because it's not all book reviews, and it's nice to see something different on my Bloglovin feed. Also, can we appreciate the fact that I am going to get to meet Dani very soon? Meeting bookish people is my favourite thing.

I thought of so many other people I want to talk about, so I'm going to do another post. Maybe even make this a monthly thing. (And if you're reading this, yes Val, you are on that list).