Well… June has been one tough month. My blog was broken for most of it, we had serious health tax problems that are not even our fault (and we’re still having them), my grandma got mysteriously sick (and it’s still unresolved), and I also had a very exhausting trip to another country. So it’s safe to say that it was not an easy month and that I still haven’t recovered. What’s weird is that I’m not even sure of the passage of time anymore – due to the trip, I took to taking many naps and my daily schedule kind of got messed up, so now I’m never sure which day it is or what’s going on!

Blogwise, thankfully, the WordPress reader issues got fixed! And the blog follows grew, so thank you all! And thank you all, again, for sharing my posts when the blog was still broken. As for reading, I didn’t quite read all that much somehow – even despite reading a lot during my trip abroad, but I did read a couple of amazing books. Also, do you remember how I hauled less and less in the past two months? Well… I’m back to normal. I hauled a lot this month -.- but some of them were amazing opportunities I couldn’t pass up! #sorrynotsorry

What have I accomplished in June?

• hauled 17 books again 🤦🏻‍♀️
• read only 10, so here we are, back to the inexhaustible TBR 😂
• interviewed Cait @ PaperFury!
• got two of my really REALLY anticipated sequel ARCs! They were quite hard to obtain as well because internationals get muted on NetGalley so we have to contact the publishers directly now… which in turn send a NetGalley widget anyway. Argh don’t get me started on this…
• traveled to Estonia with my choir
• tackled way too many personal life problems
• SURVIVED
• so yay..?

But let’s get to the stats! Like I said, I read some amazing books this month, and here they are.

~ 5-Star Miracle Books Read ~

 

Both of these books were amazing and they both empower women, but in different ways. The Calculating Stars was an amazing scifi about an alternate timeline where women are fighting for their right to become astronauts. I liked it in EVERY way and I fangirl about this book here. And Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows seems to be loved around the blogs, and for good reason! It’s not actually made up of erotic stories (although it includes some), but it tackles some very real and very important problems about the woman’s place and especially a woman’s pleasure and how it’s a taboo in certain conservative societies. Recommended to everyone, unless you’re really against reading any sort of content that openly talks about pleasure. Otherwise, I recommend it wholeheartedly and it might even be one of my better reads of the year.

~ 4-Star Steady Good Books Read ~

 

Real Quanta was a great popular science book, explaining how quantum mechanics is not really as impossible as we imagine it to be and how it’s actually part of our everyday lives without us even noticing – increasingly so because of all of our technology! I will shortly be posting the review. And Sarah & Katy and the Book of Blank was a lovely middle grade story that I’ll be posting a review of next week as well.

~ Okay Books Read ~

   

Body Swap was a fun YA about being young VS being old and how all of that is not that different, really. The Anomaly was a thriller about a conspiracy theory and, well, archaeology, I guess? It was a little disappointing and I’ll be going through the reasons why in the middle of the month when I post the review. The Innocent was an enjoyable literary family saga, and Cirsova #5 was a solid dose of weird prehistoric adventures.

~ Totally Meh Books Read ~

Wife in Name Only would have been an interesting read, if not for being a product of its time and being basically drenched in sexism and collonialism – you can read me elaborating on this here. And I’d rather not even talk about Steam Man of the Prairies, cause it was a racist piece of… (#sorrynotsorry for saying it) from roughly the same century, but none of that can be excused by obsolescence. Some books should never be reprinted.

~ The Stats! ~

You might remember from last month that I already went over both my challenges! Now I’m just going to be looking by how much xD the brown bar is how much I had pledged… The rest is all on the top. I’m glad I’ve been doing so well, but I also almost don’t believe it. Yay!

~ On The Blog In June ~

I was most excited about the first four books I reviewed on this list, and also for The Calculating Stars. Of course, do check out the Q&A with Cait and if you want a new way to get more motivated about your ARCs, do visit this month’s State of the ARC, cause we’ve now got an ARCs bingo! And whichever way you feel about him, please check out my discussion about Ron Weasley. All images contain links to the posts:

   

   

   

   

   

~ Books Hauled ~

Like I said… I finally hauled. But I’m not even sorry! The books are really good. I was really blessed to be able to haul the ARCs for Creatures of Want and Ruin and The Fated Sky, both sequels to books I really loved – Creatures of Will and Temper and The Calculating Stars. Then I also hauled three books by Peter Watts, the author of The Freeze-Frame Revolution, which I greatly enjoyed. Apart from that, there were a few great sales, and okay, FINE, I roamed the NetGalley Read Nows a little bit 😅

~ Next Week ~

Next week I will have another #NewBloggers guest post by Nicole @ FYFA! This time about how to harness Tweetdeck for all your tweet needs. And then a review of a middle grade book called Sarah & Katy and the Book of Blank.

   

As usual, I’m linking up with Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday post, also with Stacking the Shelves at Tynga’s Reviews and Feed Your Fiction Addiction.

And that’s it for my June! What about you? Share your links with me in the comments!