Hi everybody, and welcome to my July wrap up!

Is it just me, or did July seem to go on forever? It definitely felt longer than most months to me. That said, I did read quite some good books and watched some great TV so let’s just get into it!

Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata

When Ruby Santos signs up to write a soldier overseas, she thinks she knows what she’s getting herself into. But when she’s assigned to Aaron, the two strike up a friendship though their letters neither of them have had before. A friendship that blossoms into something more over the months they write each other. This story was the sweetest – it’s a big slow-burn that’s told only through letters and texts for the first 60% or so of the book, but trust me when I say that the slow-burn is worth the wait. I fell in love with both Ruby and Aaron so much throughout the story.

Rating: 4,5 stars | Read Full Review

From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata

After finishing Dear Aaron, I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to Ruby and Aaron. Luckily for me, it turned out that Mariana Zapata had also written a book about Ruby’s younger sister, Jasmine. And as if the idea of finding out more of what had happened to Ruby and Aaron didn’t appeal to me enough, then the prospect of a good old enemies-to-lovers romance certainly did! But luckily the books stood on its’ own just fine and I quickly forgot about Ruby and Aaron (nah, not really forgot because I love them, but put to the back of my mind sounds more like it) and focused on Jasmine and Ivan, because they definitely had quite the story of their own to tell. Check it out if you love enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn romance, family and loads of ice skating!

Rating: 4 stars | Read Full Review

Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi

Emergency Contact has been on my TBR for ages because A) it’s a contemporary set in college and B) it features a pen pal romance (of sorts) as well and HAVE I TOLD YOU I’M A SUCKER FOR PEN PAL ROMANCES?? With that said, I highly enjoyed this book but had some trouble getting into it and that’s mostly because I didn’t really like the character of Penny. She’s very judgmental and I didn’t really like how she treats people who want to be her friend or her mother. (This could also have to do with the audiobook narrator for Penny, who just sounded very blasé and judgmental to me, so maybe the physical book Penny is more likeable…) Sam, on the other hand, was the softest boy ever who baked, dressed in all black and was full of tattoos . Be still my beating heart. The texts the two share, the chemistry and friendship however, were all plusses that made me recommend this book to pen pal romance fans!

Rating: 3,5 stars

Heartstopper vol 1 and vol 2 by Alice Oseman

How did I not read this sooner? This was the absolute cutest and softest and most adorable and ugh I just love Nick and Charlie so much. I don’t want to spoil too much, because I feel like you should just experience this story for yourself, but know that this graphic novel is about two boys that meet when they have to sit next to each other in class and become fast friends. Charlie is gay, and Nick is straight. But maybe not?

Rating: 5 stars

Wicked fox (gumiho) by Kat CHo

Wicked Fox was one of my most anticipated releases of 2019 – I’ve been awaiting this story about a Gumiho, the nine-tailed fox from Korean mythology for ages! I quite enjoyed this story, it was filled with lots of Korean mythology goodies, reminded me of kdramas (which are fabulous) and had a good mix of action and romance. That said, something kept me from giving it a higher rating and I think it has to do with the writing style and the pacing in particular. The writing just felt extremely fast-paced. So much happened, but I missed some slower moments with more introspection and emotion added in, and this lack made it difficult for me to connect with the characters. It doesn’t help that I read the Mariana Zapata books at the same time, which were like extreeemely slow in comparison so that probably made my feelings worse. That said, I did still enjoy this book and will for sure pick up the sequel.

Rating: 3,5 stars

TOP TEN TUESDAY

• 2 September 2019: Childhood Favorites
• 9 September 2019: The Secondary Characters That Own My Heart
• 16 September 2019: The Auto-Buy Authors That Own My Wallet
• 23 September 2019: K-Drama Settings and Plots I Want To See More Of In Books
• 30 September 2019: Books To Read If You Love Pen Pal Romances

CALENDAR GIRLS

Calendar Girls July 2019: Summer Lovin’: Bookish OTP

Mini Reviews

• 3 Romance Books For Your Summer Reading List
• In The Mood For Pen Pal Romance or Enemies-To-Lovers?

Discussion

6 Reasons Why I Love Audiobooks

July felt kind of weird music-wise, because it felt severely lacking in k-pop. Why is that? Did I miss some new releases, or was it just a quiet month? I don’t know, but I’m ready for some comebacks! That said, I did listen to quite a bit of non k-pop too, so here’s my favorite songs of this month.

Bring Me The Horizon – Throne

At the end of last month I went to the Werchter festival for a day, and for me, one of the highlights was definitely Bring Me The Horizon. I’ve been a fan of their music for a few years, but I’ve never been such a huge fan that I wanted to see them live or listened to every single song. But when I saw them live, I fell in love. Their performance was just so powerful and made me feel rejuvenated and full of new energy to tackle the world. So this month I wanted to prolong that feeling and listened to all their songs on repeat, including their most popular song Throne, which was the first song I listened to by BMTH and also still my favorite to this day.

Janelle Monae – Make Me Feel

Another Werchter revelation, but this time someone whose music I hadn’t even listened to before. Janelle Monáe was such a good surprise. People describe her as the female Prince and I can only agree, though she’s pretty awesome in her own right as well. My favorite song by her is Make Me Feel, which I loved hearing in the Charlie’s Angels trailer too!

Ed Sheeran & Travis Scott – Antisocial

It’s no secret I adore Ed Sheeran and I’ve been anticipating his collaborations album for a while now. It’s filled with so many great songs, but my favorites have to be Beautiful People with Khalid, Blow with Bruno Mars and Chris Stapleton and the below Antisocial with Travis Scott.

BTS – Heartbeat

Well, there was some k-pop this month because I’ve been absolutely obsessed with Heartbeat by BTS. I feel like this song (and video) have major kdrama vibes and it’s been on repeat daily. Though I have not played BTS World myself yet and not sure if it’s for me, the music definitely is great!

Stranger Things season 3

I’ve been sooo excited for Stranger Things to return, though I must admit I also was a bit worried that the magic wouldn’t last and that season 3 would be disappointing. I shouldn’t have worried – THIS WAS SO GOOD YET AGAIN! I already miss all these characters again. I loved all the girl power in this season and I adored the addition of Robin and Erica. Also, I have to join the rest of the world and admit that Steve may very well have become my favorite character. The only way this season would have been nicer is if I hadn’t been spoiled about some things. Seriously, not everybody can binge an entire season in a weekend, try to keep the spoilers away or at least more hidden, internet!!

My First First Love season 1

In my never-ending search for k-dramas, I finally started My First First Love on Netflix since I heard there would be a second season coming out end of June. I just finished season one and was so happy season 2 was out so I could dive right in! (I’m 2 episodes into season 2 right now, so expect that review in next month’s wrap up) This is about 4 college students who for different reasons all end up moving in with each other and deal with life and love stuff together. It features some super lovable characters, a really fun setting and some swoony romance and I definitely recommend it as a nice coming-of-age college drama!

I’m not sure why, but July seemed to drag on forever! Maybe it was the heat, which made everything seem slower…

Things that made me happy this month:

• Friends. After a few weeks/months where I’ve been feeling a little lonely, July was finally filled with lots of fun friend dates. I’m definitely one of those people who needs to see her friends often to not feel lonely, even though I know and understand life gets busy for everybody. This month however, I can’t complain 🙂

THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

• WE’RE GETTING A PUPPY! It’ll be a Dalmatian. Yes, you read that right! After about a year of contacting people who breed Dalmatians, visiting them and being on waiting lists, we finally have good news and will be able to take a puppy home on August 11th. You can expect my social media to be less books and more puppy for a good while, though I’m sure you’ll understand 😉

HOW WAS YOUR July? WHAT DID YOU READ? WHAT DID YOU LISTEN TO AND WHAT DID YOU WATCH? WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR August?