Hi everybody, and welcome to my August wrap up!
August was pretty good for me readingwise. I had 3 weeks of holiday (currently in my last week, boohoo) and spent a lot of my free time reading. In fact, of the 6 books I read this month, 5 were read during my holiday and all of those were read in a span of 24 to max 48 hours. I also have prepared reviews for every single one of them! And I’ve prepped blog posts until October! Who am I even? Also, I reached my Goodreads Challenge of 50 books so I’m quite pleased about that 🙂 So without further ado, let’s get into what I’ve been up to in August!
Husband Material (London Calling #2) by Alexis Hall
Husband Material was funny and touching and delivered all the aspects I loved from Boyfriend Material, but I felt uncomfortable with the main conflict and how the main characters (mainly Luc) dealt with it. But I still highly enjoyed just seeing these characters again, and following them around for a bit. And I will DEFINITELY be anticipating the third book just as much as I did this one.
Rating: 3,5 stars | Read full review
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
I absolutely ADORED Every Summer After. It is the perfect summer read that hits all the emotional spots and will have you feeling all the nostalgia for those warm, carefree summer days of our youth. I think this will definitely become a story I’ll revisit every summer from now on.
Rating: 4,5 stars | Read full review
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
The Bodyguard is a perfect feel-good summer read. It’s my first book by Katherine Center, and I heard it’s one of her lighter reads, which was no problem for me as it was exactly what I needed. I highly enjoyed this story and recommend it to anyone looking for a nice, feel-good, summery read about a badass bodyguard and the wholesome and handsome movie star she’s protecting.
Rating: 4 stars | Full review coming soon
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
The Dead Romantics perfectly embodied the fall vibe. It was a fun, atmospheric read with some quirk and just a tad of paranormal activity thrown in there. Overall, I highly recommend this story to anyone looking for a heart-warming, unexpectedly funny, swoony and quirky read about a ghostwriter and the ghost she falls for.
Rating: 4 stars | Full review coming soon
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood
As someone who LOVED The Love Hypothesis and who devoured the STEMinist novellas, I think it’s safe to say that Love on the Brain was one of my most highly anticipated releases of 2022 and… boy, did it deliver! Read if you’re looking for a quirky heroine, a lot of pining and longing, steam and science!
Rating: 5 stars | Full review coming soon
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches was a lovely witchy romance that is filled with magic, hope and love. It’s an entertaining and sweet story that is beautifully written and will undoubtedly make you feel all warm and fuzzy when you read it.
Rating: 4 stars | Full review coming soon
Top Ten Tuesday
Books Set In Korea
Some Things That Made Me Smile Recently (Books, TV & Memes)
10 Books I Love That Were Written Over 10 Years Ago
All About Book Series: The Ones I Want More Of, The Ones That Are Perfect As They Are & The Ones That Could Have Been Shorter…
10 Fantasy Books Featuring Magical Schools
Can’t Wait Wednesday
Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales {Can’t Wait Wednesday}
The Do-Over by Lynn Painter {Can’t Wait Wednesday}
Quote It Wednesday
I have a few songs I loved so much they were on repeat for most of the month:
Dove Cameron – Breakfast
Blackbear ft The Used – Toxic Energy
I love this song so much, it’s so catchy and how fun is it to have The Used on my playlist again after years?
Jackson Wang – Cruel
I was introduced to this song on the Annette Marie facebook page, where someone shared it saying it reminded them of Red Winter and that’s so accurate! I adore the choreography and the effects in this music video.
Only Murders in the Building season 1 (& about half of season 2)
I finished the first season of Only Murders in the Building this month and am making my way through the second and I’m loving it all! It’s a true crime comedy that also doesn’t take itself too seriously, but I’m highly enjoying.
The Sandman season 1
Wow, how amazing was this show? Every episode was a little cinematic masterpiece and the casting was just so well done. I already can’t wait for a second season.
Never Have I Ever season 3
I love this little show so much, it’s hilarious and fun and I love watching all the shenanigans of Devi and her friends. I do have a small preference in the love triangle, but overall I’m just here for the friendships and family bonds. I already can’t wait for the fourth and final season.
August was another month that flew by. I worked for the first two weeks, but then I had 3 weeks off, which I highly enjoyed. My husband and I made two to-do lists for our holiday: one with ‘productive’ tasks and chores around the house and one with ‘fun’ things to do and we got a lot done on both lists, which is great. I also read several books in just days, which was fun, and I got to catch up on some blogging things which I was getting really behind on. Overall, I haven’t had 3 consecutive weeks off since my school days, so it was a nice and relaxing reset.
Things that made me happy this month:
- Three weeks of holiday!
- We went to a fantasy festival that was set around a real castle, which was so much fun. It was nice to visit the booths with merch, watch the cosplay contest, see the mermaid swim around the castle and watching the activities like archery, axe throwing and sword fighting.
- Went to my grandparents’ 65th wedding anniversary celebrations.
- Had dinner with friends.
- Had a lovely relaxing spa day with my husband.
- Dyed my hair back to a reddish brown. I’ve been dying my hair red for most of my life, but during COVID I went back to my natural brown hair color. After about a year and a half of that, I missed the red too much, even if the maintenance is a hassle. So back to red it was!
THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:
- I’m looking forward to watching Do Revenge, a dark comedy starring Maya Hawke.
- Bookish releases: The Unbreakable Bladesong Druid and The American Roommate Experiment
- Kpop comebacks: Oneus, Blackpink & NCT 127
- Umm, fall weather and spooky season! (Yes, that can totally start in September!)
How was your August? What did you read? What did you listen to and what did you watch? What are you looking forward to in September?
I discovered Jackson Wang very recently and love his music! Also, I’m so glad you love Every Summer After. It’s such a great book. I’m going to read Love on the Brain this coming month. It’s my pick from Book of the Month. I’m very excited about it.
Yay, so glad you also love Jackson Wang! Every Summer After was so amazing, definitely one of my all-time faves now. Hope you’ll love Love on the Brain as much as I did.
Yay, glad you enjoyed your break! I definitely need to add The Dead Romantics to my fall TBR. And we just finished Only Murders season 2! It was really fun.
Thanks! Hope you’ll enjoy The Dead Romantics. I’m halfway through Only Murders season 2 and loving it 🙂
I’m currently reading Love on the Brain and loving it also!!
Ah, it was so much fun!
I bought The Dead Romantics but haven’t read it yet. I need to get on it. Seeing 4 stars I know it will be good. I pretty much only watch stuff with my husband, so we watched Stranger Things season 4, Animal Kingdom season 6, and then I got a break from the dark with The Lost City. I loved that movie! I feel like I’ve been listening to mostly older music the past couple of weeks to put me in a good mood. I need to listen to that Dove Cameron song again. I have been enjoying what she’s putting out, which feels so weird after watching Liv and Maddie with my daughter when it was on.
I hope you’ll love The Dead Romantics if you try it! I loved it a lot.
Oh, I do want to watch The Lost City too, it looks like a lot of fun!
Dove Cameron definitely made a switch in her music style, which is indeed a bit weird, but I do LOVE this new style of hers a lot.
I read Every Summer After, Love on the Brain and Husband Material too! And I used Breakfast in one of my reels LOL
I loved that reel! Manon FTW always 🙂
Sounds like you had a great August. Every Summer after looks great. That fantasy festival sounds awesome too.
I kinda want to try Sandman.
Thanks! The fantasy festival was a lot of fun, I’d definitely want to go again next year.
I hope you’ll love Sandman if you decide to try it!
Wow, you had a super productive break! Glad to hear you had such a great month. 🙂
Thanks, hope you’ll have a great September!
Once upon a time I was so obsessed with The Used that I even have a couple of tattoos inspired by them. I still love their old albums so much but haven’t listened to any new stuff. Might have to change that! Sounds like you had a fantastic August full of great reads, vacation shenanigans and basically being a boss and staying on top of all the blogging stuff. Well done! 😍 Enjoy your last week of the holiday and I hope you have a fantastic September!
I loved all the old The Used music too! That’s so cool that you got some tattoos inspired by them.
Thanks so much, hope you’ll have a fantastic September too!
Now I can’t wait to read Love on the Brain!
We really like Murders in the Building, too.
I hope you’ll love Love on the Brain as much as I did!
I still need to watch season two of ‘Never Have I Ever.’ I wasn’t as big a fan of S1 as everyone else, but did think it was cute and enjoyed lots of elements about the show. Someday I’ll have to catch up! Go you having blog things ready and prepped (that’s always a HUGE goal and sometimes I do better than others). Glad you had such a nice break too. 🙂
Thanks so much! I hope you’ll enjoy the second and third season of Never Have I Ever if you choose to watch it some day 🙂 And yes, having blog things ready and prepped feels so nice (though it usually doesn’t last long for me, haha)
I love spooky season and it has totally already started for me! I still need to watch Sandman and Only Murders in the Building. And I love Dove Cameron.
Lauren @ http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
Haha, yay for spooky season! Hope you’ll love Sandman and Only Murders. Dove Cameron is amazing, I love her music.