May’s Moments of the Month: June // Disappointing Pride Books, Writing Progress, & Blogging a Lot!

Pride month’s over so it’s time to hate the gays again.

I’m kidding!!! Mostly.

I’m very sad June’s over, because it means I’m getting closer and closer to going back to school, but it was a really great month for me! There was pretty much only one “bad” thing that happened, and it was only my reading.

But I was able to do a lot of things, like write and blog and just feel a lot HAPPIER without school bearing down on me. And it was the month of the gays so that automatically made it better!!!

I read 10 books this month, and half of them were webcomics. I started to slump and returned to my I-only-want-to-reread-books phase from earlier this year, so that definitely affected how much I enjoyed my books, which made me rate them lower.

Overall, it was a sad reading month because I 1) was disappointed by a few books I selected for Pride specifically because I thought I would love them, 2) didn’t read as much as I expected to, and 3) ended up straying from my Pride TBR!!

Also, I gave a lot of books half-star ratings this month and I am NOT ASHAMED. (I rounded up on all of them, though.)

       

• Red, White & Royal Blue Casey McQuiston // #1 FAVORITE OF THE YEAR!! amazing, beautiful, meaningful, and just pretty much a work of art ★★★★★
• Eerie Crests Caleb // I was terribly confused at the beginning and still am, but the art is really nice and the story’s intriguing ★★★☆☆
• We Set the Dark on Fire Tehlor Kay Mejia // expected it to be a 5-star and was disappointed! really beautiful writing and themes, it just lacked something to me ★★★★☆ [3.5]
• The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy Mackenzi Lee // very bored (took me a week to finish) and the pacing of the plot was so off to me, and also Mackenzi Lee is a mess ★★★☆☆ [2.5]
• These Witches Don’t Burn Isabel Sterling // fun and enjoyable to read!! gay and witchy and atmospheric, but not particularly special ★★★★☆ [3.5] [review]

       

• We Contain Multitudes Sarah Henstra // lowest-rated book of the year! the romance was just yikes and yucky to me and it was boring ★★☆☆☆ [1.5]
• Desert Rose Hannah Smith // the art is so beautiful! I love the characters, the story is intriguing and also cute, and I can’t wait for more updates ★★★★☆
• Cosmoknights Hannah Templer // wow, the art is literally GORGEOUS (I love the colors), and like, gay space wives!!! space gays!!!! ★★★★☆
• The Fever King Sara Deek, Victoria Lee // one of my favorite books got adapted to a webcomic and obviously I loved it!! there are only 3 eps so no rating but I still count it
• Sunny Side Skies soaporsalad // cute gay webcomic!! very fluffy so it’s not my favorite but still enjoyable ★★★★☆ [3.5]

book haul?

The four books I got this month all feature sapphic main characters and for that I say, HAPPY PRIDE MONTH.

(Yes I’m still dying over the fact that I GOT GOSAS.)

favorite & disappointing book?

I mean, the answer to both of these is very obvious!! Red, White & Blue is my favorite book of the month AND the year, and We Contain Multitudes is also conveniently my most disappointing book of the month and year as well.

bookish news?

• The cover for Harley in the Sky was revealed and I am absolutely in love with it!
• The cover for The Kingdom of Back was also revealed and MARIE LU IS FINALLY GETTING THE COVERS SHE DESERVED. (Also I’m extremely excited for this book because Mozart is my favorite composer.)
• This was announced way earlier, but I only saw in June that Red, White & Royal Blue is being adapted to a movie and I would like to just SCREAM (!!!!) about it with you all.

updates?

• HEY!!! Did you know I published 8 posts this month? Did you know I actually replied to comments and left my own comments and blog-hopped and commented back? Did you know I’m hosting a blogging-related project?
• I’m taking one moment to be the tiniest bit proud of myself for all those things because it almost makes me want to cry how much I accomplished last month. I just feel really happy with myself!!
• In other news, I’m getting back into my blogging rhythm again and it makes me feel… all the positive feelings. (Ignore the fact that I probably will lose it once I go back to school next month.) I’m hosting the 2019 Book Blogger Awards and you should all check my post out to learn more if you haven’t!!

top posts?

(I know it’s a little thing but I CAN ACTUALLY DO MULTIPLE TOP POSTS NOW BECAUSE I POSTED MORE THAN 4 TIMES.)

   

favorite post?

I really loved writing my Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag post, because it’s honestly one of my favorite things to do each year and I always have a lot of fun with it!! Nerding out over books is sadly my brand.

other bloggers’ posts?

(Again, it’s a little thing, but I CAN ACTUALLY DO THESE NOW BECAUSE I’M BEING ACTIVE AAAHHH.)

• Lily @ Sprinkles of Dreams returns from her blogging hiatus and I am so excited that she’s back!!
• CW @ The Quiet Pond makes a literal GOD-TIER list of prompts you can use to help write your book reviews when you’re feeling stuck.
• Vicky @ Vicky Who Reads discusses problematic books and it’s an EXCELLENT post.
• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books shares her book blogging bucket list and it makes me want to write my own list!
• Olivia @ Purely Olivia discusses blogging niches and the pros and cons of having one for your blog.
• Taasia @ Librae Saint Pages features 15 teen book bloggers you should be following right now!
• Emma @ Emma Reads Too Much recaps her last few months on hiatus and I missed her so much!!!

• I’m a little proud of myself writing-wise this month?? Because I actually managed to FIGURE OUT A PLOT (or at least the beginning, because I haven’t quite planned out the climax or resolution), and that’s always the hardest part for me.
• So far I’ve written 6.7k of my WIP! I did pretty well for the first 5 days, but then I didn’t write for an entire week because I lost my motivation. I thought everything I wrote was all genuinely, really bad, but I went back and read over it, and while it definitely wasn’t amazing writing, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was!!

(context: they’re love interests, but in the enemies stage of their enemies to lovers romance, and they are ACTUAL enemies instead of just “I think I hate them but actually have feelings for them”) 

• But, because my brain is just so wonderfully nice, I accidentally came up with another WIP idea!! I have had no writing inspiration or motivation for months, and when I finally recover it for one WIP, I get inspired about another WIP!!!
• Anyways, I actually really like the idea, and I’m feeling very enthusiastic about it!! I haven’t even figured out like a decent amount of what it’s going to be about (and that’s good because it’s a DISTRACTION), but for now I’ll say that it’s definitely fantasy and features a large dysfunctional found family and I’m so excited to write it.

• Lots of little things happened this month because of how much free time I got from being out of school!
• First of all, I finished The Umbrella Academy and started The Good Place. I’ve technically watched a lot of TGP eps with my sister, but they’re from all over the seasons, and not actually from the beginning. But I really love the show! I’ve finished watching everything I could (I don’t have access to the first 8 eps of season 3 but oh well).
• I also watched 2 movies: Booksmart and Into the Spider-verse! Booksmart was actually really good and funny (strong second-hand embarrassment though), and it was my second time watching Spider-verse because I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

 

• The second biggest thing of the month was dance!! I decided to do a dance solo this year, which is HUGE because the idea of dancing alone onstage terrifies me, but I’m proud of myself and looking forward to learning solo choreo. And it’s been confirmed that my sister and I are going to NYC next year in January (for fun dance things like master classes and Broadway shows) and I am extremely excited!!
• I also started working out at a gym recently!! Planet Fitness is doing a summer teen challenge thing, where teens can go exercise for free, so my friend and I decided to be GROSS and HEALTHY and do it.
• My mental health this month was also really great, because I was out of school and didn’t feel crushed by overwhelming anxiety and depression!!!!! I had a few bad days, but for the most part I felt really relaxed and not stressed and sad.

• read 13 books ㄨ (failed this by a lot)
• read ONLY queer books ✓ (this was a fake goal but I’m not sorry)
• publish at least 6 blog posts ✓ (I OUTDID MYSELF AND WROTE 8)
• stay up to date with latest blog posts ✓ (I am so proud of myself!!)
• PLOT MY DUMB WIP ✓ (I DID!! and I’m very happy)
• start writing said dumb WIP ✓ (it’s not very good but I wrote!!)
• do not fall into depression slump ✓ (only a few bad days but overall very good!)

(Oh wow, would you look at that, it’s almost as if not being crushed by school all the time means I can actually do things that I want to do and make me happy.)

• read 13 books (I need to get back on track so bad)
• buddy read!! (I’m planning some BRs with my friends Ju, Lily, Mel, and Tiffany and I’m so excited!)
• publish at least 9 blog posts (it’s technically only 8 real posts which is doable!!)
• find some new blogs to follow! (a lot of blogs I follow are inactive so this is really important to me!)
• finish writing 9-14k and edit it (AAAHHH I HAVE TO SUBMIT IT THIS MONTH)
• start plotting out new WIP idea (me abandoning my current WIP for a shiny new WIP idea is exactly what I expected from myself)
• don’t get too anxious about school (I already started to feel overwhelmed last month when I thought about going back to school and it’s going to get worse in July)
• don’t procrastinate/stress about MUN stuff (I have some writing/research to do for a school-run MUN conference that I’m part of this year and it’s a little stressful!!)

Lots of blogging! I feel so refreshed coming back to blogging and actually being able to do the things I wanted to do, and it’s definitely making me very motivated. The first round of the Book Blogger Awards will be finishing up this month (and I’ll be doing a lot of work to count up all the nominations aaahh), and I’m just super excited for all the posts I’m planning to write this month!

Dance and exercise. I have a dance intensive coming up later this month, and it lasts 9 to 4 for three days. I also have 4 more hours of dance rehearsals after the intensive on two of those days, so in total, it’s 29 hours of dance in a 72-hour period!!! I’m so excited!!!! On top of that, I’m also going to continue working out at the gym with a friend this month. So basically, I’m going to die!!

Basically my last month of freedom. I’m definitely going to have breakdowns when I get nearer and nearer to the day I have to return to school (and also when I actually go back to school), but I’m going to try to make my last month count!! Seeing how happy and healthy I am without school is honestly horrifying, because I have school for pretty much 75% of the year but… I’ll survive.

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how was your June?? did you read a lot of good books for Pride? are you participating in the Book Blogger Awards? are you participating in Camp NaNoWriMo??

p.s. this is a GIGANTIC post (2K words long) but I’m not sorry!!!