#julywithcj

Here’s my July Wrap-up! When I took this picture, I’d only finished The Winner’s Crime and The Star-Touched Queen. I wasn’t sure if I’d get one more in to meet my 3 books per month goal, but I did! I was able to finish The Winner’s Crime last night. Yay. • I highly recommend The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi. I really enjoyed the Indian folktale inspired world building. The world building is infused with imagery and details inspired by Indian culture. The Night Bazaar was such a great example of the elements of fantastic details of creatures, food, and mythology inspired by Indian folktales. I also liked the main character Maya. As we follow Maya’s quest, we learn who she is and her place in the world. Sounds like a typical discovery story, but with the horoscope, magical details and imagery, its a sumptuous story you can get lost in—in a good way! • How do you describe the reading experience of The Winner’s Curse and The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski? I really enjoy the world building aspects of her story and the intrigue, but I have a love/hate relationship with the characters. I’m reserving my judgment until I finish The Winner’s Kiss though. I really want to enjoy this series, but I am finding some hang ups about the characters. • The other books here are books I’m still reading and will get moved to my August TBR. I have to admit, I’m enjoying the Miss Pergrine’s series a lot more than I thought I would! I’ve been listening to it on audio while I do chores and stuff, but then later at night, I go back to the sections in the book that I’ve listened to and look at the pictures. I’m so impressed with Ransom Rigg’s style to create a story around those pictures. I’m continuing my buddy read of Winter with my #booktwin Amy @ladyofthelibrary for August as well. I’m SO ready for Queen Levana to be taken down! (Did you see my duel post? Yeah. SO READY.) • I’ll post more about my August TBR soon. Clearly I’ve got some books to finish up, but I’ve also got a few buddy reads and some books I really need to read. (Gives side-eye look to Six of Crows.) • Challenges: July Wrap-up #sammyreadsjuly16 #ampersandsjuly16 #julywithcj #livelaughbooksjuly

No one does summer romance like Emery Lord & Morgan Matson! I love that their romances always have important family and friendship relationships as well.

Book Photo Challenge | July | Pastel Books

I know. Again, Jenn? Really? YES. It’s only been like five minutes since I’ve talked about Laini Taylor! • This is for Summer 2016 favorites for #julywithcj and Five Star reads for #livelaughbooksjuly. When I looked at my reading list for the last two months, these were the books that pretty much made my family wonder what happened to me. “Where’s mommy?” was a constant question my kids asked because of these books. Fortunately, I have a wonderful, understanding husband who is like “Mommy’s reading/listening to a book. What do you need?”<—Am I lucky? Or what?! • But seriously, I’m so glad I got into these amazing books this summer. I think if I had gotten into them any other time, I would’ve had problems. When I was reading Dreams of Gods and Monsters, I suffered major book hangover. I was like “I’m calling in sick tomorrow” and my husband was like, “Um. You’re a stay-at-home mom.” Me: “And?” Then for The Raven King, I was sobbing at THAT PART and fortunately my kids were already in bed, but my husband was like “You can’t call in sick. Again.” So, don’t feel guilty if you have to let your little ones watch a show or play a video game while you have a hot cup of tea to mourn and recuperate from massive book hangover. • I’m not doing a good job of getting you guys to read these, am I? I mean, yes, there will be the feels, but there’s also fantastic characters and wonderful stories to be had! I miss Cabeswater and Eretz. I also loved the details of Akaran and the London Institute. And the writing! Oh gosh! If these authors weren’t so nice and supportive, I would quit writing now and question my life choices. But instead, they make me want to be a better writer! • Let me know what other books I should read before school starts up again! That way if I suffer from book hangover, I won’t have to pretend that life goes on while I’ve been traumatized by a book.

These are 2 books I've read fairly recently that are both on my all time favorite list! 😄 I cannot recommend these books enough! Day 28: #JulyWithCJ book & music; #sammyreadsjuly16 recommend . #newadult #whitneybarbetti #tiagiacalone

Book Photo Challenge | July | Favorite Author(s) 

I feel like I've been a little more stingy with my 5 star reads this year, but here are a few so far that have made the cut! I highly recommend them all! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟