Midyear Updates

Hello! I haven't been a very active blogger lately but since July is almost over I figured it's time to look back to all my goals this year and check out my progress. I meant to do this at the start of the month but as I've said, blogging slump.

Anyway, I have four major goals this 2015 (not including the one that says, "I have to read more").

1. Catch up on reading - and reviewing - my review copies.
2. Start and/or finish a series.
3. Annihilate my physical TBR.
4. Don't buy more books.

I only joined two reading challenges this year:

 

July 2015 New Releases: Part 2

New Book Releases this July 2015

*cover image links to Goodreads*

Armada by Ernest Cline Published: July 14, 2015 The Book Depository Amazon __________ Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe. And then he sees the flying saucer. Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders. No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it. It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar? At once gleefully embracing and brilliantly subverting science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline could, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a classic coming of age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you’ve ever read before—one whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon.

Review: Puddle Jumping by Amber L. Johnson

Puddle Jumping
(Puddle Jumping #1)
by Amber L. Johnson
Published: July 29, 2014



When it comes to love there’s no such thing as conventional.

Everyone thinks Colton Neely is special.

Lilly Evans just thinks he’s fascinating.

Once friends when they were younger, their bond is cut short due to her accident prone nature and they go their separate ways. Years later, they meet again and Lilly learns that there is something special about the boy she once knew, but she has no idea what it all means. And she’s not sure if she’s ready to find out.

When he walks through the corridor of her school the first day of her senior year, she knows that it’s time to get to know the real Colton Neely. The more she learns, the deeper she falls.

Their friendship grows into love, even as Colton does not express it in words. But one decision threatens to break down the world that Lilly has tried so hard to integrate into and she must figure out if the relationship can survive if they are apart.

Review: In the Fast Lane by Audra North

In the Fast Lane
by Audra North
Published: July 14, 2015




LIFE IN THE FAST LANE
Racing cars is in Kerri Hart's blood--literally, since it's the family business. But Hart Racing is in dire financial straits, and as the only female rookie driver, Kerri's sponsorship offers always tend to be of the unzipped racing-suit variety. It's a message she'd rather not sell to her young fans. But how can she afford not to?

LOVE ON OVERDRIVE
Ranger Colt knows how to make a woman's heart race. But when his voice pops up on Kerri's headset--while she's in mid-tailspin--she's in no mood for his charms. Colt Hardware now has a significant stake in the Hart family business, and Kerri has no choice but to work with him. But when her ex-boyfriend makes a very public, tabloid-fodder scene that threatens to tarnish her image, it's Ranger who comes to the rescue. Pretending to be engaged to generate some good publicity seems like a good plan. In fact, it works--all too well. What begins as a ruse is revving up to feel a whole lot like the real thing. Will Kerri and Ranger's fake-lationship take a wild turn. . .and lead them toward the finish?

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

I normally don't do tags and awards. I love answering questions and doing tags and I really appreciate everyone who includes my blog but I am the worst at tagging. I just end up saying: "I tag all of you" or "I nominate everyone." Laziest person ever. Anyway, this time I was nominated by Olivia of Fluttering Pages for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award and I decided to do it because she is so nice and I'm actually looking forward to this so thank you so much, Olivia!

The Rules:

Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site.

Put the Award logo on your blog.

Answer the ten questions sent to you.

Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer.

Nominate ten blogs.

July 2015 New Releases: Part 1

New Book Releases this July 2015

*cover image links to Goodreads*

Chasing Impossible (Pushing the Limits #5) by Katie McGarry Published: July 1, 2015 _________ Tough and independent, 17-year-old Abby lets very few people into her inner circle. It’s common knowledge in her Kentucky town that she deals drugs, but not even her closest friends know why. But when a deal goes south and Abby’s suddenly in danger, she finds herself reluctantly forced to lean on daredevil Logan—a boy whose restless spirit matches her own. Logan has his own reasons for wanting to keep Abby at arms’ length. But he never expected to find in her the one person who might help him face the demons he’s tried so hard to run from. Together, Abby and Logan will have to make a decision: let their current circumstances weigh them down forever…or fight for the future they both thought was impossible.

SERIES REVIEW: The Dispossessed Trilogy by Page Morgan

The Dispossessed

by Page Morgan

Published: May 14, 2013

After a bizarre accident, Ingrid Waverly is forced to leave London with her mother and younger sister, Gabby, trading a world full of fancy dresses and society events for the unfamiliar city of Paris.

In Paris there are no grand balls or glittering parties, and, disturbingly, the house Ingrid’s twin brother, Grayson, found for them isn’t a house at all. It’s an abandoned abbey, its roof lined with stone gargoyles that could almost be mistaken for living, breathing creatures.

And Grayson has gone missing.

No one seems to know of his whereabouts but Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant at their new home.

Ingrid is sure her twin isn’t dead—she can feel it deep in her soul—but she knows he’s in grave danger. It will be up to her and Gabby to navigate the twisted path to Grayson, a path that will lead Ingrid on a discovery of dark secrets and otherworldly truths. And she’ll learn that once they are uncovered, they can never again be buried.

SERIES REVIEW: Mara Dyer Trilogy by Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer Trilogy

by Michelle Hodkin

Published: September 27, 2011

Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

June 2015 Reads + Monthly Recap

Whew! June was... I don't even know. I have a big project I'm working on (not book or blog related) and I'm definitely feeling the pressure but lately I've been feeling so unmotivated and slump-y. I actually have plenty of time on my hands right now - to read, to blog, to do other significant things. But all I wanna do is sleep, eat, listen to music, dance and watch random Youtube videos. I guess this is my brain's way of telling me to stop for a minute and let it rest?

There are so many books I started this June but didn't finish. Not intentionally. But once I put it down, I couldn't make myself pick it up again. And you should see all the drafts of blog posts I made but left unfinished. Ugh. My laziness and procrastinating habits are at its peak and it's stressing me out. I hope it goes away real soon.

Anyway, enough chit-chat. I haven't read that many books this past month or should I say: I didn't get to finish a lot. But I was able to read 8!