Rewind and Fast Forward: July 2015

What even is happening right now? I was literally just writing up my June recap. This is not okay. I am not okay with this. I am angry and not happy. Make it stop. 

Reviews: 

Paperweight by Meg Haston: 4 Stars

A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery: 3 Stars

Sabriel by Garth Nix: 5 Stars

Lirael by Garth Nix: 5 Stars

Abhorsen by Garth Nix: 5 Stars

Clariel by Garth Nix: 5 Stars

A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz: 3 Stars

How to Say I Love You Out Loud by Karole Cozzo: 4 Stars

Awake by Natasha Preston: 2 Stars

Book of the month was most definitely my reread of Garth Nix's Abhorsen series. This was one of my favorite series back in middle school and it was like revisiting childhood to read them again and get lost in the world of the Old Kingdom - with necromancers, dead creatures and Charter magic. And I got to read his new prequel, Clariel, and loved it just as much as the original series. I can't wait for more from this world. Love, love, love! 

Other Posts:

I was a little slow on the blog last month due to my mom coming out to visit, but I had a couple other things go up last month like my Book Addict Withdrawal Symptoms (which stemmed directly from not being able to read because my mom was visiting...). I was tagged by Wendy to do the Burn, Rewrite or Reread Tag and the first round was brutal!!!  I managed to write two discussion posts, one on rereading childhood favorites - if you do it, are you afraid you won't love it as much, etc. and another on when you write reviews - right after you read, do you let them stack up? And I participated in one Top Ten Tuesday all about characters who are fellow book nerds which was much harder than I thought it would be. And I totally forgot about Will and Tessa from the Infernal Devices which made me mad at myself. 

In My Real Life:

As I mentioned before, my mom came out to visit last month which was super awesome! She was here over 4th of July and we went into the city to see fireworks. So we packed a couple coolers, grabbed a bunch of chairs and dragged it all onto the metro. We got there early and staked out a spot on the National Mall, just behind the Washington Monument to watch the fireworks.  

We hung out for a while, ate some food and were having a good time. Clouds started to roll in, but we continued to remain optimistic. Yeah... it poured. And when I say poured I mean torrential down-poured, monsooned. It was horrible. There wasn't really anywhere to go, plus we had all our stuff. Luckily, my mom's girlfriend, Betsy, had thought to bring an all-weather blanket so we were able to cover our stuff. Phil and I ran to the nearest museum to try to buy some ponchos, but of course, everyone was sold out. We bought two umbrellas for $15 a piece. Ridiculous... and then raced back to my mom and Betsy. My mom and I then went to find a street vendor to buy her a sweatshirt because she was freezing and happened to find the last 3 ponchos in the city. We bought them all, put them on and of course, the sky cleared up and it stopped raining.... 

It was all worth it though for this view. The fireworks were spectacular. I mean seriously gorgeous. Probably one of the best fireworks shows I've ever seen. Though I did think it would be longer. In spite of the rain, we still had a good time and it wasn't even as crazy as I thought it would be. We walked right to the metro after they were over, jumped on a train and went home. Long day, but fun. Definitely something that should be on your bucket list. It was just so cool to be in our nation's capital on the 4th of July. 

My mom and I also had a whole day of shopping just the two of us which was a blast. I miss shopping with her so much, though my bank account doesn't. We are horrible influences on each other when we shop. We're like, oh just spend all the money! I got some great new things though. We were at the mall for 9 hours. I'm not even kidding. It was great. 

The second weekend they were here, we drove up to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for the day. The day started off rainy and we were all terrified it was going to be a repeat of the 4th of July. But thank god, it cleared up and turned out to be a beautiful day. We lounged on the beach, swam in the ocean, shopped all the little shops, got a bucket of fries and ate lots of ice cream. It was a perfect day and I'm so happy we went even though when our alarms went off at 5am (it's a 3 hour drive...) we were all pretty cranky. 

But then of course, the visit came to an end and they had to go back home. It's always so hard to say goodbye. I'm really close to my family and living so far away is really hard. I'm so thankful that she was able to come out though. And my sisters are actually coming out to visit this weekend! So I've got lots to look forward to. 

One more exciting thing that happened in July was my 3 year anniversary! I can't believe that Phil and I have been married for three years already. We kept it pretty chill and went to the Melting Pot for dinner. Yum! Our big celebration this year will be our Europe trip in September. But we had a great time at dinner.

I love you more and more every day, Phil. <3

Phew..that was a busy month. 

Fast-Forward:

Court of Fives by Kate Elliott: August 18, 2015: A new fantasy world full of class systems and a multi-level athletic competition called The Fives. If that doesn't sound cool enough, the mc has to save her mom and sisters - I'm all about strong family connections, especially sister relationships. 

Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman: August 25, 2015: This is a re-imagining of Alexander the Great and is kind of giving off a Game of Thrones vibe to me. It sounds like it's going to be full of politics and betrayals. So excited. 

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell: August 25, 2015: A Cinderella retelling with an mc who is a mechanic. Yeah, I know, major Cinder vibe here, but I'm not complaining. Hopefully it'll be awesome. 

Firewalker by Josephine Angelini: August 27, 2015: I LOVED the first book in this series and I'm sure I'm going to love this one. I can't wait to step back into this world of witches and parallel universes. 

How was your July? Did you do anything fun? What was the best book you read? Which August release are you most excited about?