Random Rambling Of A Reader // May Edition

Hello my lovelies and welcome to another edition of Random Ramblings of A Reader which is, as we should all know by now, the part of the show in which Sari enjoys coming out and rambling about her month. 😉

So what has Sari done this month?

Well as you asked … shhh … I know you didn’t. Just let me talk about myself. I am your smol kitten/dragon/unicorn hybrid* and I need my time to ramble. I must tell you and deliver!

Let us begin with last month’s goals for this month!

*literally just made that up. Yup. I probably change what I say I am too much, actually. I should probably just stick with one thing. Though I think we all know that I’m actually a pineapple with wings. My profile picture proves it.

(I made this divider somewhat recently but I think I need a new one … *nods thoughtfully* Any ideas or thoughts on what I could do instead? Flowers are extremely popular but I feel like breaking outside the stereotypical box …)

 

• Do the couple things I signed up to do along with … 3 other posts this month. idek random numbers are great guys  Check! Yep I actually did this!
• Read 10 books! Five have to be off your tbr again. Check! 
• Write 2 reviews again! Check! I wrote six (? I think?) reviews (though I meant to review way more than that … 😛 )
• Actually practice flute please, i’m begging you  Sort of? I mean I probably practiced a couple times before the concert.
• Successfully get through assorted band and choir concerts! Yiss! I survived! It was a miracle! After sitting through probably literally an hour of tribal flute music two days in a row (it was actually pretty nice, though the songs all seemed to be really similar after about fifteen minutes …) and not dying as I played the flute (though I should of because I kept not practicing …) I survived! I think they actually all turned out pretty nice. ^.^
• Please actually read the blogs and catch up on the hoards of email notifications because you mean to read them … Hahahaha … no. I mean I read a bunch but I’m still greatly behind. See, whenever I’m actually reading email I’m on my Kindle where I don’t like reading blog posts because it’s really hard to comment and like and actually read them and everything soooo … IT’S NO EXCUSE BUT IT’S THE ONLY ONE I HAVE.
• Same with Bible reading. Catch up, child. Let’s check … nope. I have 169 unread emails in my inbox. All of these are Bible readings. I read some but I definitely didn’t catch up.
• CHANGE YOUR FACE to stop being those books already. Where is your face. Heeey! I magically turned into a pineapple with wings! ^.^ I mean I don’t have a face but I decided not to and instead have this picture which is thankfully not a generic stock photo of books which everyone else uses for other things. I’m different! Yippee!
• Survive. *checks for punctured limbs and broken bones* I … think I survived? 😛  I barely escaped with a plethora of mosquito bites and a couple bruises. *snods wisely*

 

I read 16 books in May! I think this was one of my best month’s for reading, in all honesty. 😉 I read … (all clickable ones lead to reviews)

Gemina by Amie Kufman and Jay Kristoff ★★★★★ It was amazing!!! I cannot tell you how much I’m loving the Illuminae Files series. *extreme flailing around*

The Martian by Andy Weir ★★★☆☆ I read an edited version of this for a book club and I wasn’t crazy about it or anything.

The End Of The World by Derek Landy ★★★★☆ This was a short story that was part of the Skulduggery Pleasant series (which is fantastic, btw). It was really enjoyable and only took an hour or two of time because it’s super mini (only 128 pages, where the normal books are like … the latest one I read was 600+ so pretty big)

Unblemished by Sara Ella ★★☆☆☆ This one was a pretty anticipated one I’ve had on my TBR for a long while. It turned out pretty disappointing with a special snowflake vegetarian who literally ate pepperoni at one point before spending the rest of the book complaining. (I’m going to remember that forever … 😛 )

The Secret Slipper by Amanda Tero ★★★★☆ I just participated in this blog tour on Monday!

Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin ★★★★☆ Christian historical romance fiction! I spent about 20% of it annoyed at the characters but the rest was really good. 😛

Befriending The Beast by Amanda Tero ★★★★☆ This is the book before The Secret Slipper. It deserved a reread after I finished the other one. 😉

Steampunk Fairy Tales by a bunch of authors ★★★★☆

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Shwab ★★★★★ Ahhh … I’m in love with Schwab books now, what can I say. I need to read the rest of this series. 😉

Spellsmith and Carver: Magician’s Rivalry by H.L. Burke ★★★★☆ A new lovely Burke book! I wasn’t in love with this one but I’m going to need to read the rest of the series when it comes out. 😛

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi ★★☆☆☆ A no for me. Too much fluff, and romance, not enough plot for the first 95% of the book. I’m hoping the rest of the series will be better?

Write. Publish. Repeat.: The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing Success by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant ★★☆☆☆ 80% them talking about themselves and telling everyone to publish serial novels (which I’ve learned I dislike with a passion and will probably never read) and 20% actual advice. Nuff said.

Implant by J. Grace Pennington ★★★★☆ So I didn’t actually mean to buy this?? It was an accident but it’s been on my TBR for much too long and it turned out pretty good so I’d say it was a pretty good accident. 😛

The Maleficent Seven by Derek Landy ★★★★★ Ahhh this was pretty good. Another Derek Landy book, this one in the world of Skulduggery Pleasant but with side characters … these are always hilarious. XD

Destiny, Rewritten by Kathryn Fitzmaurice ★★★★☆ A re-read of one of my favorites as a smol child.

A Frozen Heart  by Elizabeth Rudnick ★★☆☆☆ I still really like the movie Frozen? I thought this would add to it and it sounded kind of good but it mostly just disappointed. Nuuh.

(Why are there so many books??? Ahhh. XD )

Over the month of May I posted five times. I had the wonderful opportunity to be part of a cover reveal with Kellyn (The covers are lovely, btw. You need to see them if you haven’t already) and had a ton of fun being able to be part of the blog tour for The Secret Slipper! (The blog tour is still going on actually, so be sure to check that out and get in on the giveaway 😉 ) I also started (and am still kind of working on …) remaking a ton of stuff on here from the general layout to wigits and pages and graphics and it’s just going to be better, basically. 😛

I’ve never pretended to be a fabulous writer who gets lots done and the month of May can pretty much support that statement. 😛 I did share Eigengrau with one of my buddies who wanted to read it (for whatever reason 😉 ) though (haaaai) and she read through that, I got a bit of feedback, and wrote like … fifty words. *coughs* Also! While I was sitting in a choir concert, listening to the native flute music, I plotted out what’s going to happen in the next bit to like … the inciting incident and stuff? So … that’s good?

I’m also planning on participating in July camp NaNo so I hope to get a great deal of planning done this Junnne (Oh my word it’s already June … *cries* The months are going by too fast!)

Em … what life? I have no life. I’m literally a zombie.

Nah … let’s see … in May I did the concerts, as previously mentioned, watched Lilo And Stitch (what? This is literally my life here. 😉 ) dissected assorted animals for biology (yech), went wading in a stream at frien’s house which was funnn, and … that’s pretty much it? 😛 I’m sure there’s more but …

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So! That was my May! For June I’d like to …

• Plan Eigengrau for camp in July
• Attend honor choir and drive across the US! (Like … almost literally. We’re driving for 2 days straight, or 3 days at a more leisurely pace, not sure which currently …)
• Go see a concert while across the US! One of my sis’s favorite bands is having a free concert pretty near where we’re going to be! It’ll be cool!
• Finish (if that’s possibly. We gotta keep striving for better 😉 ) all construction type stuff here on Penumbra.
• Finish all school, yo.
• Read 12 books (6 of which off the TBR), and review 5.

Andddd … I can’t actually think of any more goals currently?

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Anyway … that was about all of my month! So until I see you again … stay awesome and I hope you have a lovely day, loves! 😀

How was your May? What are you planning to do this summer/June? Are you already out of school? How many books do you average in a month? Have you read any of the ones that I read in May? If so what did you think? I’d love to hear your opinions!