June Wrap-up~ sorta late?

Does this really count as late? Well. Seven days… not really, right?

Anyways.

Hello! How’s life? Because for me I’m just so damn tireddd and just exhausteddd (I apologize for the slight language, my friends who are frowning right now. I promise it won’t happen again *puppy eyes*) and honestly what even happened to the thirty days of June???

Whoa. Looks like a month just flew by and it feels like a week and summer vacation’s almost over OH NOOOO!

Ok, well, onto the actual stuff!

Books

So. I’m typing this at, uh, almost 7 P.M. and I have to post it right now. And I still haven’t eaten my food anddd I have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow. So forgive me for not making an effort to remember and type up all the books I read- but I’ll review the one(s) that really stood out.

I read Christmas Once Again, a debut novel by D.K. Deters, who reached out to me and asked for my review (it’s on goodreads. find my account here). I read a couple of books from NG, but I’m still reallyyy behind. (eye roll) (what was that like wth) I’m honestly so sorry what is wrong with me). And Again But Better by Christine Riccio. And This Side of Home and The Hate U Give and On the Come Up. Whoa, I remembered a lot! *has not remembered anything and has instead checked Goodreads* I also read a book for my collab with El, Into The Bright Unknown by Rae Carson.

Here come the mini-reviews:

Christmas Once Again by D.K. Deters

This one I read for a review request and enjoyed it more than I thought I would!

Christmas Once Again by D.K. Deters was a light, fluffy read free of the angst and sometimes tiring depth usually surrounding young adult novels. For a debut novella, it was quite sweet and the holiday atmosphere around it was also enjoyable. The characters weren’t very developed, but that worked with the size of the story, and the plot was clear and easy to follow. This novella followed some familiar tropes, although I wish that the female characters were more prominent and the whole story was more diverse.
The time travel was enjoyable, although I don’t read much sci-fi, I did like that. Neither was this too Christmas-y, which was a plus, but it needed more drafting and editing because some dialogue was too stiff and early interactions between Madison and Josh were already too romantic. For example, in one of their first interactions, Madison thinks: “His voice, smooth as a caress, left a trail of goosebumps on her arms.”

Despite this, I enjoyed it and think this story deserves a 3.5 stars and it was a worthwhile read.

The Hate U Give + On The Come Up

I’m combining both of these since they’re both by Angie Thomas, who I’m now obsessed with (I mean duh her books were bombbb). And I’ve gotta say, they were both five star books. I loved them so much and they dealt with real life issues in a realistic, respectable way. If you’re a book lover, you’ve probably heard of T.H.U.G. and maybe On The Come Up. I recently chatted with my friend Krysta, who brought up that, as a black girl, she doesn’t get representation outside of gangs and police violence, which are all realities, but not realities she can relate to.

These books portray that side of black people’s lives in America, and while I couldn’t particularly relate, they were very eye-opening and heartfelt.

Honestly, On the Come Up was amazing. It deserves even more praise than it’s getting! It’s about a girl who wants to become an underground rapper, and has to deal with all sorts of nasty stuff and norms and ugly nonsense which she gets past and ughh it’s SO GOODDD.

Enough said.

This Side of Home

Ahh, I loved this book! I read it for my collab with Grace (all these collabs, I know! and while we’re at it, I’ll take a moment to self-promote my otherrr collab with Vaish) and it totally met my expectations.

Twin relationships, coming of age, POC characters, adorable romances~ I’m all for it! And I gave it a four point five star rating (rounded down to four), only because it was missing that something that makes a book my favorite.

This book is TOTALLY underrated! I loved Maya’s character and I saw a lot of myself in her- trying to hold on to the past, an disguised dislike of change, a love of justice. She was a really believable and relatable character and just a smol bean. Also, ESSENCE MY HEART IS WITH YOU AND BTW YOUR NAME IS GORG. And Nikki- it’s alright to change! That was honestly the whole theme of this novel. Change. And it was really freaking good!

Into The Bright Unknown

Just check the collab, please. I’m so lazy rn like whaaaa.

Shadowshaper

So I’m technically not done yet (and I technically didn’t finish it in June)- I have like twenty pages left- but I’ll just review it right now and say WHOA this blew me away! I’ve gotta say, the cover set my expectations really high (just look at it. JUST LOOK AT ITTT) *takes a break to show the cover*~

I mean, WOWWW. But the blurb was confusing and it took me a while to actually pick up the book and read and get invested (typical me, I know), therefore it’s four stars. But, it was really great! I love Sierra and her frustration with stupid stereotypes and secrets and all that good stuff. Her fiery attitude and her love for art made her enjoyable although admittedly she fits the YA girl stereotype.

The whole premise is super cool, although I wish she delved into her magic earlier in the story instead of the last fifty pages. Also, um, LATINO CULTURE YASSS so much!!! It’s so wonderful to read a diverse fantasy book that’s really good as well. 😀 💙

And thanks Vaish for the wonderful bday gift! I couldn’t have asked for better. 💙 You’re amazing!

Blogging

Last month I used stats to talk about blogging, but nah. I’d rather have you amazing humans reading this right now than a bunch of numbers. So thanks, El, for making me realize why I don’t need stats!

Blogging was iffy this month. I missed my posting dates twice and all my posts were kinda frantically made and not edited at all. But I did it with out taking a hiatus, so yay! I know that I want to push through this kinda tough phase because this blog means too much to me to even leave for too long!

Anyway, here are my posts from June:

May Wrap-up

50 Followers Q&A

50 Followers Q&A

ARC Book Review: 100 Days of Sunlight

The Versatile Blogger Award!

ARC Review: The Women of Dauphine + Happy Father’s Day!

June Poems

Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover Challenge ft. El @ Elated Books

Secret Night-Sky Photos ft. a plumfull pond // a collab with Vaishnavi @ Written in Stars + Pride!

Ooh, ok! Nine posts! Not bad, not bad at all! *mentally pats myself on my back*

And whooo we’re at eighty-nine followers! I’m not gonna go into stats, but this is really awesome. I’m so grateful for everyone of you ❤ ❤ ❤

Life

So. Life. Um.

Hi, my name’s Aditi and I have no freaking clue about my life.

Yes. Ok. I’d love to talk. I just don’t know where to start? Maybe I’ll skip out on this… ok bye. Email me please if you wanna hear my rants! I honestly have no one to talk to about my i.r.l. life right now that isn’t involved so… yeah. I’d love it so much and love you for the rest of eternity so. Ok. I’m out.

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So… I hope you enjoyed this post! It’s way too long (what happened to eating dinner? idekkk) and it’s been an hour since I started and byeeee! I hope you have a wonderful July!