Reader Rayna

HALF A YEAR GONE. WHY. HOW. Wow.

Anyway, this month was less than extraordinary for my reading life, but I still managed to read something so at least there’s that.

What I Read

• My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows – This was a very funny YA historical retelling novel that helped me out of my slump. 5/5 stars Check out my review!

Books I Started But Didn’t Finish

• A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan – This is a book about dragons, if you couldn’t tell, and it’s very interesting so far! I love the way the story is told through memoir style.
• Style by Chelsea M. Cameron – This is a LGBTQ+ book where the main characters are both female, so I was very much interested in reading it as I don’t think I’ve ever read an actual F/F book before. I could be wrong, though, but I am enjoying it so far.
• Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas – Since I’m hosting the Throne of Glass Readalong I’ve set out to read the series and I haven’t finished reading the first book. I KNOW. I’m a horrible hostess. I mean, it’s a reread, but still. I don’t remember a lot of what happened in this book because SO MUCH has happened since then.
• Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes – I started this one about two nights ago so I knew I wasn’t going to finish on time, but I’m enjoying it so far and seeing the sports aspect and the cute romance mixed with more serious mental issues.

Books I Got This Month

This may be my best spending month yet!

• A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
• Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler
• Style by Chelsea M. Cameron
• My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton (Uppercase Box)

Discussions I Held

• Reading Certain Types of Books During Certain Times of the Year – This one sparked a lot of conversation, which I’m really thankful for! I find that a lot of readers tend to read certain genres during certain times of the year. Is that true for you?
• Lending Out Books – We all hate doing it (well, most of us), and I talk about some of the reasons why here.
• Seasonal Reading Slumps – I find I have difficulty reading during the summermonths than during any other time of the year. I don’t know why, but I discuss this here.

Top Ten Tuesdays & Top 5 Wednesdays

• Book Theme Songs – These are some songs that I matched with five books because I think that they fit the main character or the tone of the book. This one was a really fun (but hard) topic.
• Ten Reasons I Love Disney – It’s like this topic was made for me!
• Favorite Character Names – Pretty self explanatory.
• Favorite Posts – I highlight some of my favorite posts that I’ve done on my blog and Instagram!
• Habits of a Bookworm – You know we all do these things! Well, at least 98% of us do.

Writing Related

• Beautiful People: Childhood Edition – Here’s where I talk about a new character and his kind of traumatic childhood.

Fun Things

• Hamilton Book Tag – How does a ragtag book blogger go about doing this thing? She fangirls about every song and finds a book for everything!
• Throne of Glass Readalong – Yes, I’m hosting a readalong with some people on Twitter up until the release of Empire of Storms! There’s still plenty of time to join in if you want!
• Uppercase Box June Unboxing – In which I got My Lady Jane and some fun goodies!
• Make Me Read It Readathon – I’m going to be participating in a fun readathon where YOU get to decide what I read!
• Mean Girls Book Tag – It’s so fetch! I love Mean Girls and I just had to do this tag.
• Sailor Moon Book Tag – I LOVE SAILOR MOON. It was my jam when I was a kid and so I just NEEDED to do this tag as soon as I saw it.

Does My Lady Jane count as a fantasy novel? I mean, there are fantasy elements within it, so, I guess? If that’s the case then I’ve read 25 of 30 fantasy books for the year thus far! Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

Life Updates

This month was kind of slow for me in a lot of aspects, but here’s some things I can mention:

• I went to my three year old niece’s dance recital and she was the cutest thing ever. She hasn’t seen me in a few months, so I was worried she’d be wary of me, but after I opened my arms to her and asked if I could hug and carry her, she went to me and I nearly died of happiness right there. She’s too adorable!
• I got to have a mini-vacation and I did nothing but read and work on my blog. It was glorious.
• My husband and I tried to start eating healthy and being better, and we were good for about four days before we fell right back into our old habits. We’re going to have to really work on that…

Let’s Chat! ≧◡≦

What books did you read in June? Have you had any fun summer plans happen yet? What was your favorite read for the month?