I am SO READY FOR FALL my friends that I am not even concerned with how quickly last month flew by. If I am being completely honest with you, I am just happy I managed to wait until September 1st to bust out my Halloween decorations from the closet. I am still trying to recover from the gnarly cold I came down with on Wednesday, but rest assured that my apartment will be full of spooky vibes soon! 🎃👻🧛
August was a really good (and balanced) reading month! Let’s see how it went over in my neck of the bookish woods.
Reading
LOOK AT THAT FRIENDS, I had a month that wasn’t purely ARCs! This is mainly because I was pulled into a fantasy slump and kept switching genres to try and combat wanting to rip my hair out, which was pretty good for my TBR Tower!
As always, you can click on the title links to be taken to the Goodreads page, and if my review has been published here on the blog I will also provide a link to it.
- * These Rebel Waves by Sarah Raasch [🌟🌟🌟 ARC Review]
- A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab 🤝 buddy read with Sam [🌟🌟🌟🌟]
- The Log House by Baylea Hart 🌟🌟🌟
- Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson [🌟🌟🌟🌟 Review]
- * Rule by Ellen Goodlett [🌟🌟 ARC Review]
- A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab [🌟🌟🌟]
- The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager [🌟🌟🌟🌟 Review]
- * The Siren and The Specter by Jonathan Janz [🌟🌟🌟🌟 ARC Review]
- * A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna [🌟🌟🌟🌟 ARC Review]
- * The Lantern’s Ember by Colleen Houck [🌟🌟 ARC Review]
- The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade, #1) by Seth Dickinson 🤝 buddy read for Melanie’s birthday [I haven’t rated this yet]
ARCs/copies from author or publisher are noted above by an asterisk *
Total Books Read in August: 11
Total Books Read in 2018: 97
Goodreads Reading Goal: 50 100
Book Haul Ban
I started a book ban in July and have decided to continue it for the foreseeable future as a way to stop buying books I will likely never read. I have a stack of physical books that I have bought that I want to read before I begin buying again – exceptions will be made thoughtfully for certain pre-orders – but I am going to try to stay on the ban for the rest of 2018. So how am I doing? NOT WELL.
I am currently trying to refrain from partaking in the Barnes & Noble 50% sale since I just bought most of my immediate TBR reads from Bookoutlet, but it is so hard. I have problems and need help. If you haven’t checked out Bookoutlet before – you should! Cheap prices, and if you use my referral code you’ll get $10 off your first order.
eBooks Purchased (all $2.99 or less): Vicious by V.E. Schwab, The Log House by Baylea Hart, How to Be a Mermaid by Erin Hayes (free), Fairy Tale Ending: A Creepy Little Bedtime Story (Creepy Little Bedtime Stories Book 5) by William F. Aicher (free), Blood Rose (Blood Books Book 1) by Danielle Rose (free), and Children of the Dark by Jonathan Janz [currently reading]
ARC Approvals
I have been working hard to get my ARC queue to a manageable level for so long, and I am so excited to say that I have made it! I have a lot of ARCs to get through but I am being much more selective with my requests and aiming for approximately four releases per month (that I can read and review the month prior to release). September is the first month I will be able to do this — now how long will it last?!
ARCs: THE EMISSARY by Tamara Veitch and Rene DeFazio
eARC approvals: The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox, Dracul by Dacre Stoker and JD Barker, If You’re Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser
Camping
I went camping this past month in Lake Tahoe and it was such a wonderful, relaxing weekend of me! I am really fortunate that I live equidistant to Tahoe and San Francisco, yet I rarely go east… which is silly!
My friends all hiked Mt. Tallac, but I wasn’t about that life so I stayed at camp and read books in a hammock all day. It was glorious and a very needed break from reality.
Halloween is Coming
- I am so excited to be a host for the upcoming book blogger Blogoween! If you are a lover of Halloween, you should check out what is in store next month!
- Mark your calendars because I have also been working on my own project for Halloween, SCARETober. It will launch on October 19th!
Thank you, everyone, so much for visiting, liking, commenting, and sharing your bookish thoughts with me last month! I hope you all have a WONDERFUL September and Happy Reading!
Let’s go on another adventure together!
Reading in a hammock by the lake vs. hiking…not even a close choice! I’m with you on this one☺️
Hahaha! There is a time and a place for both, but I wasn’t in the mood to summit that day! Hammock and reading was precisely what I needed. I hope you have a great September, and thanks for stopping by!
I love this post! You made me smile throughout. I don’t do well with bans, and I love how you admitted it all. Book Outlet gets me all the time! I’m so jealous of how close you are to Tahoe and SF! And reading in a hammock while camping in Tahoe! What a wonderful month in review! ♥️
Awww, thank you – I love making people smile! Bans are great in theory and I do very well at first but then I get like… this itch and I go overboard. I think I need to rethink everything ahaha. I really need to leave my bubble more often, I am so lucky to live where I do!
THIS IS BLOGOWEEN!!!!!
Ah I can’t do book bans. I just wait for book sales or get them when it’s buy 1 get 1 half price, though my TBR pile isn’t too bad but I am out of space for books at the moment. Boo to that haha
BLOGOWEEN BLOGOWEEN!
I think I should probably take a page from your playbook and give up trying to be on a ban because it isn’t working! Thanks for stopping by, Clo!
I suck at book bans like nobody’s business. They really never ever last lol. BUT THOSE VIEWS WHERE YOU WENT CAMPING!!!! 😍😍 BE STILL MY BEATING HEART!
Also BLOGOWEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNN
BLOGOWEEN! BLOGOWEEN! 😍
It makes me feel much better now that half of my comments are about how everyone sucks at bans, haha. It is a good idea in theory, I just wish I had better control! And yea it was so pretty out in Tahoe and the weather was perfect!
You had such a great month! Lake Tahoe looks amazing. I would love to go there sometime. I have a friend that was there recently, too.
Thank you so much, and I definitely recommend checking out Lake Tahoe – it is BEAUTIFUL!
I have written a book being sold on Lulu.com. “The Fly and The Flea.’. The download is cheap. Maybe, if you review it, it will help sales. It is the only one I”ve written. I am having financial issues so ask this as a favor. But, I understand if you can’t.
You had a great reading month Kaleena!
I wish you nothing but happy reading for September!
Thank you so much, Kayla, and I hope you have a great September as well! xox
Thank you Kaleena 🙂
Looks like it was a great month!
you’re so close to finish the second goal too 😀
I KNOW! I finished my 98th book last night and am now trying to decide what my 100th book of the year will be, because that should be special!
thanks for commenting and I hope you have a wonderful September!
I am also approaching my 100th book and I may finish it with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!
That is such a good choice!!! I think I might have my re-read of Cat’s Cradle be #100!
Aww I love Lake Tahoe! I haven’t been in a while though. Your photos make me want to go back😁
Thanks Tammy, and you definitely should make your way up the coast for a visit – it’s so peaceful and gorgeous!
Very cool… I understand about the book ban! I started looking at my daily ebook sale emails again a couple weeks ago… Ugh, I got sucked in!!
Oh no, me too! It is a never ending cycle but I just can’t turn down a good sale!
haha my book bans never work either 🙂 love the pie charts!
Thank you so much, pie charts are life!
It makes me feel so much more… normal? because everyone is sharing their book ban struggles. I am not alone! Thanks for stopping by, Jenn!
I love how organized you are, with the pie charts and everything! #goals I need to get my reading life together haha
Aww thank you, Kat! In case you haven’t seen it, I have a post with my book blogger templates and spreadsheets that is free to use (and includes those pie charts)! LET ME HELP YOU GET ORGANIZED! http://readervoracious.com/2018/07/11/free-bookish-blogger-templates/
OOOOOOOoOoooOooOOOoHHHHHHHHhhhHh. THIS. I NEEDED THIS IN MY LIFE. Thanks for sharing this with me!
You’re welcome, I hope it helps!!! I am already plotting improvements for the 2019 sheet so let me know if there are charts, etc you would want!
Glad to see more and more of us agreeing on Rule.
The camping looks wonderful… glad you enjoyed!
Rule was not a good time, hahaha. I would have DNF’d it I hadn’t loved the banter with Destiny as we were buddy reading it!
And thank you so much!
Great reading month Kaleena! LOL I’m suck at sticking to book buying ban too!! And I can’t wait to see what you come up with SCAREtober!!!
Thank you, Carolina, and SCAREtober is going to be so much fun! I commissioned a little mascot for the event and am so excited… now it is time to get plotting!
Gaaaah can’t wait!! Good luck with plotting the event! I’m sure it’s gonna be fun, you always do fun stuff!!
I couldn’t go camping this year because of all the forest fires, so I’ll just live vicariously through your pictures 😀 I’m going to try hard to mix up my ARC reads with non-ARC reads this month because my ARCs for August have been a hit and miss and I don’t want to trigger a slump.
And Blogoween sounds fun!! Halloween isn’t my favourite holiday but I LOVE seeing other people get super into it. Can’t wait to see your posts! 😀
Awwww yea the fires have been so bad, I haven’t been able to be outdoors that much either. The air quality in Tahoe was still not great (but was at least not dangerous). Good luck mixing your reads this month! I need to be better because slumps are bad lol
Book bans are my own worst enemy, hah. I can never stick to them for some reason?
I haven’t even created my August haul yet, but I do know I did better than.. well.. any month before that? Which is a huge win already.
I haven’t gotten out my Halloween decorations yet but I am SO READY for the weather to go all “you stay inside and READ”. 😀
I can’t stick to them either, and so do most commenters on this post – you are in good company! Congrats on your progress though, I think that is amazing.
SO READY FOR FALL. It was 94 today so uh, I am miserable over here. haha. Thanks for stopping by!
It sounds like a great month and a really nice trip to Tahoe! I’m jealous, I love California. I’ll check out Blogoween, Halloween is always a fun time for reading.
Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy the Blogoween festivities! Happy reading!
Oh it seems like you had a fantastic reading month, yay! I’m glad you read and enjoyed ADSOM and AGOS, I can’t wait for you to read the last book 🙂
Happy reading and have a lovely September! 🙂
Thank you so much, and happy reading to you as well! It may be awhile before I read ACOL… I am daunted by the number of pages and I struggled a bit with the pacing in AGOS. I love the story overall though!
I understand, it’s such a massive book hahaha. I didn’t notice, since I read them on an e-reader, but still. I hope you’ll like it when you get around to it, I thought it was a solid conclusion! 😀
624 pages. It’s a lot, man. Haha. But I am glad to hear it is a solid conclusion to the series!!!
You’ve read a lot of amazing books this month! A Darker Shade of Magic is still on my TBR.
Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy ADSOM when you get to it!
you read some good’uns this month!! woo 🙂
i shpoould be reading thismortail coil too soon ihope 😀
Yea I was pretty lucky last month overall!
I am really excited to read that (and all the books in my haul, tbh)~! October is going to be a good reading month for me. muahahah
You read some pretty good books!! Glad you had fun camping, it looks beautiful 💕
It was so pretty and I want to go back now!!!! Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!
Sounds like you had a great reading month, love! I’m so happy you liked ADSOF too! I read it this month too and loved it!
I hope your September is amazing! ❤️😊
Thank you so much, Kelly, and I hope you have a wonderful September as well!
Sounds like you had a great August. I feel you on the ban. I tried one and failed haha.
Bahahaha all of my comments are people commiserating about their book ban failures and I kind of love it? WHAT IS WRONG WITH US!? (nothing!) Thanks for commenting, Annemieke!