August 2018 Recap

After going on three amazing holidays over the course of June and July, celebrating my birthday and taking part in Camp NaNo (even though I didn’t get too far) August felt very much like a ‘nothing’ month for me.

Still I managed to get through eleven books, and I’m still ahead on my Goodreads Reading Challenge, so August wasn’t a complete write off. I just had a lot of personal things going on and while it wasn’t all bad it kind of put a bummer on August as a whole.

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Books I Read

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan – Four stars

The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan – Four stars

The Serpent’s Shadow by Rick Riordan – Five stars

Demigods and Magicians by Rick Riordan – Four stars

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken – Four stars

In Time by Alexandra Bracken – Four stars

Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken – Five stars

Sparks Rise by Alexandra Bracken – Four stars

In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken – Five stars

Beyond the Night by Alexandra Bracken – Five stars

The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken – Four stars

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As long as I stay ahead of my Goodreads Reading Challenge I’m happy. I’ve worked out that in order to meet my goal of 125 books this year I need to read 9.75 books each month, and for me that’s an easy goal. Looking back there’s only been more than one month where I’ve read less than ten books.

The best book I picked up in August was The Serpent’s Shadow. Again Rick Riordan has written an incredible series; I loved getting to know Carter and Sadie and loved learning more about Egyptian mythology. Granted I wasn’t a massive fan of the love triangle in the second book but I’m hoping we’ll see more of Carter and Sadie in one of Riordan’s other series one day.

The worst book I picked up this month was The Darkest Minds. It wasn’t terrible, I ended up rating it four stars which just shows how good all the other books I picked up this month were if this was the worst, but it didn’t have the same emotional impact the other books in the series had, and even with the love triangle I can never not wholly love Rick Riordan’s writing.

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My WIP

There’s not much I can really report on when it comes to my WIP, I’m sticking to the plan I outlined last month and at the moment (to my everlasting surprise) it’s actually going OK.

There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done before the start of NaNoWriMo but at the moment I have a much better idea of where I want my WIP to go, and as of yet there haven’t been a hundred new plot ideas screaming for attention in my mind. Also I’ve found that using what I’ve come up with before, previous drafts, plot outlines, and character templates, as a starting point makes planning a lot easier.

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Life in General

My friend and I went to so many flat viewings. It started off being very exciting, but quickly got tiring. Don’t get me wrong I want to be able to move out, and it’s fun viewing possible places we could one day live, but it’s a lot of effort and energy. So far we’ve seen eight places, and while a couple have come close none of them have been quite perfect yet.

I finally got down to the cinema to see Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. There are some serious timeline inconsistencies, which I caught even not having seen the first film since it was released, but it’s such a fun, feel-good film you can’t help but leave the cinema smiling.

During the August bank holiday I went with my dad to Kew Gardens. It’s a fair trek from where I live so it’s not something I get the opportunity to do every time I’m in London but it’s been ages since I last went and they recently re-opened the Temperate House so why not? Surprisingly my favourite part was actually the Princess of Wales Conservatory, not the Temperate House.

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I didn’t buy many books this month, but let’s just say I’m going to quality over quantity. Or let’s say I’m saving up for next month when so many pre-orders will be arriving on my doorstep.

Books

• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
• Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas

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September is going to be all about new releases, and I can’t wait because some of my most anticipated reads of this year are finally coming out. There’s City of Ghosts and Vengeful, which I know are going to be incredible because they’re written by V.E. Schwab, and Wildcard, which I know I’ll love because after the ending to Warcross you can tell it’s going to be an epic story.

I also have a couple of ARCs I need to get around to, both of which sound amazing so both of which I can’t wait to dive right into.

I am going to be changing my posting schedule in September. Previously I’ve been posting on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and every other Friday, but going forwards I’ll be posting on Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday and every other Friday and/or Saturday. So one week I’ll post on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and then the following week I’ll post on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

(It should be easier to understand than I’m making it seem when I actually start posting).

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I hope everyone else had a good August, and I hope you all have an even better September as well.

Did anyone else have a book-buying slump this month, or do you end up with too many books every month? Has anyone else seen and loved Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again? Who else is really excited for releases like Vengeful and Wildcard, or is there another September release you can’t wait for? Let me know.

Happy reading!