June Wrap Up: The Month of Pride

Hi all!

I don’t know why I’m bothering to write a wrap up as I was mostly on a break from my blog that I didn’t actually tell anyone about 😅. I’ve been super busy job hunting and working. Also! I started to get back into writing this much, which is beyond exciting. If you don’t know, I’m a writer but I haven’t written anything in perhaps two years. So getting back into it was emotional and a touch nostalgic as I reconnected with beloved original characters.

But by far one of the most exciting thing about June was that it was Pride Month! Pride is actually in February in Australia, but seeing so many fellow queer people celebrate their identities online felt as though I was right there with them. Please link me to any photos of your celebrations if you celebrated Pride! I want to see you all having fun!

Books read

28 reads: 18 books (8 audiobooks, 8 rereads), 6 graphic novels, 2 novellas, 1 short story collection, 1 poetry collection

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Books reviewed: 

I did not review any books in June. 😭 Please shame me so I write some this month.

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Book of the month: 

The best book I read this month was definitely Check Please! by Ngozi Ukazu! This soft graphic novel is about a classically trained skater named Bitty who wins a hockey scholarship for college and joins the hockey team. There, he begins a friendship with his team captain, Jack, and then starts to fall for him. It’s such a lovely graphic novel with a lot of heart and some amazing characters that will stay with me for a while. I definitely recommend checking this one out and, even better, you can! The author started this graphic novel as a webcomic and it’s still available online. Read it from the beginning here!

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Monthly disappointment:

Oh I’m so upset with this book! It’s the fourth book in a beloved series of mine about a teenage psychic solving crimes in his small town. The series is lots of fun, but the most recent book (which just came out in May) was massive disappointment. If you don’t want to be spoiled, look away from this section now:

SPOILERS/RANT INCOMING:

I’m super unhappy with what happened between Vie (the main character), Austin (his boyfriend) and Emmett (his friend/love interest). Basically Vie pushes Austin into breaking up with him for a confusing reason and then that same night he sleeps with Emmett. The whole break up scene was just an excuse to get Vie and Emmett together as there’s always been feelings between them. I’ve never minded the feelings and tension between them because I knew that, at the end of the day, Vie would still be with Austin (who is good for him) but then the break up happened and … yeah. I was pissed. I knew they wouldn’t stay together — and they don’t. This is just so the author can give those who shipped Vie and Emmett a little bit of happiness for a while. But Vie and Emmett are bad together, which Emmett understands. They’re toxic — in fact, Vie even hit Emmett and doesn’t seem to care when Emmett smokes crack right in front of him. That’s not healthy. In the end, Emmett understands that.

What did make me happy though was when Vie, at the end of the book, is forcing himself to choose between Austin and Emmett, he chooses Austin. But then Kaden (Austin’s best friend, who I hate) convinces Vie that Austin is too good for him, and Vie tries to leave town with Emmett, but Emmett forces him to stay and says that they’re toxic together. Vie tries to choose Emmett because he thinks he and Emmett are broken and they can be broken together. Its not a healthy sign when you’re staying with someone because you think you’re both unworthy of love.

Also this book was really slow. Nothing happened for like 85% of the novel, except for Austin and Vie breaking up and then Vie and Emmett getting together, then Vie not doing anything while all his friends are planning how to defeat the bad guys, and then Vie defeating Lady Buckhardt and Urho happens in the last 10%. And then what happens between Vie, Austin and Emmett is in the last 5%. I’m hoping this isn’t the last book in the series — I’d like to know more about where everyone ended up, because the ending was so rushed. And I just want to complain how little Vie actually did. Everyone else was making plans and working together and he was freaking out about putting people in danger while doing nothing. Ugh. And another thing: where the fuck was Becca (Vie’s best friend)? She was barely in this book! 😭

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Bookish content:

(Click on the images to see posts.)

In June, I signed up for a lot of queer readathons and created TBRs for them too. Spoiler alert: I did not do well because I ignored by TBRs. All the books I read this month bar one where queer, but the problem is I didn’t stick to my TBR 😭.

I shared a really fun post about the weirdly specific things I love in books. This list isn’t a bunch of fiction tropes I enjoy, more like themes/character qualities that I tend to enjoy most in a novel. Please check it out and tell me what weirdly specific things you love in a novel!

As it was Pride Month, I shared a list of my favourite lesser known queer reads. I specifically chose lesser known books because I feel like every time people share their favourite queer books, it’s the same five books over and over again (and Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda is always on the list — no shade to that book, but please read more diversely).

I also joined the #IronTomeAThon, an adult fantasy readathon hosted by Aimal which starts today! I’m so excited for it and below is my pretty ambitious TBR!

And lastly, I finally posted my addition to the mid year book freakout tag, where I share my favourite book of the year so far and my favourite characters!

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ARCs I received 

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Books purchased

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Audiobooks purchased

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Book news!

So if you haven’t heard, my favourite author C.S. Pacat revealed some very exciting news on Twitter a couple of days ago: she’s releasing a YA trilogy, starting 2021! CUE SCREAMING. LITERALLY, I HAVEN’T STOPPED FOR DAYS!!!

The series and first book is called Dark Rise and its set in an alternate London about “the heroes and villains of a long-forgotten war who are being reborn, ushering in a dangerous new age of magic.”

Find out more here! Add the book to your TBR here!

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Non-bookish stuff

Last month, I started watching Lucifer on Netflix and I’m enjoying it so much! It’s such a fun, comedy show but with crime elements and all focused on the literal devil.

Seriously, I recommend this show so much! I started it a couple of years ago and couldn’t get into it, but gave it another chance and now I’m obsessed!

I also watched Aladdin which was so surprisingly good? After watching the trailer, I thought the movie would be horrible but it was incredible! The actress who played Jasmine is not only stunning but a fantastic actress. Please don’t be put off from the trailer — you definitely need to watch this movie!

I also discovered a YouTuber! I mean, she’s been around for a while but I just recently discovered her: Safiya Nygaard. She does a lot of science-based videos, usually with makeup which is so much fun. Here’s a favourite video of hers for you to check out!

How was your June? What books did you read? Did you watch any TV shows or movies? Let me know!