Tuesday, September 1, 2015

August 2015 Wrap-Up

Hello there. I can't believe August is already over, but there is no denying it. So of course, this means it's time for my monthly wrap-up.

What I Read


This is where it already gets difficult. I read six books this month and seven novellas. Which I'm going to count as one books, even though goodreads counts them as one each. But anyway, here are the books:
  • The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh, ★★★★★
    • I absolutely loved this book. It completely blew me away and I really didn't expect it. Ever since I finished it, I haven't stopped pushing people to read it. I can't really explain my feelings, it was just so good. I will admit, though, that I didn't like all of the storylines the same and I have a somewhat bad feeling about what the next book is going to bring. But that's just one more reason why I need The Rose and the Dagger in my hands right now. 

  • The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu, ★★★★★
    • I've had this one for a while and now finally read it for the Booktube-A-Thon. My expectations were pretty high and I was not let down. Jennifer Mathieu addresses bullying in a very honest and real way and I loved how this book was structured. Alice's story is told through different people and we only get to hear her herself at the very end of the book. It totally worked for me and even though all the other people made me really angry for what they did to Alice, I somehow liked them as characters. If you're up for a non-happy read, this one is very powerful, honest, and beautiful. 

  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, ★★★★
    • This was a reread for me but it didn't feel like it. This might have to do with the fact that I read the book for the first time in school, at the very beginning of our English classes, when I hardly knew the language at all. I remember not liking the story very much the first time around. Now, I really appreciated the book and, most of all, the characters. Christopher was such an interesting person and I loved learning about him. 

  • The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, ★★★★★
    • This one took me completely by surprise. First of all, I didn't expect to like it very much because I didn't enjoy Shiver by Stiefvater very much. I went into the story without knowing what it was about and I didn't expect it to feel so creepy. I don't now what I thought the book was about, but it definitely wasn't what I anticipated. But not in a bad sense at all. It's such a refreshingly different story that I can't wait to continue with the second book. And the characters are all wonderful and lovable and so different from what we're used to in YA. 

  • When You're Back by Abbi Glines, ★★
    • So this was the one big disappointment of this month. I've talked about how much I like the Rosemary Beach series countless times, always emphasizing that it's more of a guilty pleasure than anything else. And when I started When You're Back, I felt really in the mood for one of these light, fun books. But for some reason, I just couldn't stand the continuation of Reese and Mase's story. I had made a few attempts to read it before but always ended up putting it down. And this month I was convinced that if I would just give it a proper chance, I would end up liking it just like the other books. But that just did not happen. I was so incredibly annoyed by the characters and by their relationship, I wanted to shake them and scream at them. Reese and Mase's relationship was really just incredibly unhealthy and I could not stand it. 

  • Tales from Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Robin Wasserman and Maureen Johnson
    • So these are the seven e-novellas that I read. It mostly had to do with all the clips from the Shadowhunters TV series that I keep seeing. I just felt like reading some Shadowhunters stories and instead of rereading TMI or TID, I decided to read these new novellas that focus on Simon. It took me a while to warm up to them but now I'm actually looking forward to the three novellas that aren't out yet. I also enjoyed most of the flash-backs to earlier stories from the Shadowhunter Academy. Here are my ratings for each of the novellas:
    -  The Lost Herondale, ★★★
    -  The Whitechapel Fiend, ★★★
    -  Nothing But Shadows, ★★★★
    -  The Evil We Love, ★★★
    -  Pale Kings and Princes, ★★★★
    -  Bitter of Tongue, ★★★★★ 

  • The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, ★★★★
    • I'm a little confused as to why I enjoyed this book. I don't feel like I really got the story at all and I didn't really like the main character either. I was also kind of annoyed that Holden went through absolutely no development, but I still liked the book overall. I don't know.

What I Bought


I bought eight books this month, which is more than I read and that is not good. I'm going to try to cut back on my book buying for the rest of the year because my birthday and Christmas are both coming up and I will no doubt receive one or two books anyway. And my TBR is at an all time high at the moment with over thirty books. I know that compared to other people that's not that much but I don't want it to get out of hand. Anyway, here are the books I bought this month:


September TBR

I have a few books I want to read in September, starting with a reread of the Throne of Glass series before (finally) reading Queen of Shadows. I also want to continue with the Raven Cycle series and other than that, I don't have anything planned. As I've said, there are quite a few books on my TBR and I will just pick what I feel like reading.

On the Blog

I've uploaded an incredible eight posts to my blog this month, which is quite a lot compared to the lasts few months, so I'm happy with that. I want to get back into reviewing books, though, because I did none of that in August. But here's what you might have missed and I would love for you to have a look at:
As I mentioned in my July Wrap-Up  I've just been working all month, which has both been fun (because I work with so many great people) and exhausting (thanks to my boss). I also got really exciting news last week from university: I passed all of my exams (!!!) and actually made it through the first year of my law studies. I could not be happier with my grades and everything and I had a massive freak-out at work when I found out the grades were out. The failure rate is between 20%-50% depending on the subject and I just haven't been quite able to grasp the fact that I didn't fail one exam. Sorry for rambling, but I'm getting happy and proud all over again. Anyway, other than that, I also went to two weddings in August which were both incredibly beautiful and I'm so happy for my friends. 

Exciting Things Happening in September

Well, university is about to start again, which is slightly unnerving. But before that, I have two weeks of free time and I have a lot of fun things planned. First, this Thursday, my boyfriend and I are going to Weltklasse Zürich, which is a Diamond League track and field meeting here in Switzerland. This might not sound very exciting if you aren't interested in track and field, but I can't wait to go. And then on Saturday we are leaving for Italy to spend some time at the beach until Thursday the week after. And I'm already leaving for Berlin the next day for the weekend, returning Sunday night. Then university starts again on Monday and it sounds pretty stressful to me but at the same time relaxing, because holidays. I'm definitely very excited for it all.

What are your plans for September?
Any favorite books you read in August that I should check out?



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