In all Word Nerd honesty, I admit my TBR's are...ambitious. I want to read everything immediately. But then life gets in the way, commitments, book hangovers, book purchases that you just cant wait to start and I find I don't stick to them religiously.

This month I read 8 books, 5 of them from my laid out TBR list. Much Pride, Many accomplish, WOW! But I also diverted off my beaten track of what I would read if I finished those. I ended up not reading Frozen by Erin Bowman or Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor. Why you ask? Because I just wasn't feeling it. I find I'm more likely to enjoy a book if I'm reading it because it's what I want to read, not because I agreed to read it so I have to. If I'm not feeling it, I'll come back to it. At some point.

Okay so in June I read the following:

The One by Kiera Cass 3/5 stars.
Tears of Heaven by R.A McCandless 1/5 stars. (Unfinishable)
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han 4/5 stars.
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon 5/5 stars.
More Than This by Patrick Ness 4/5 stars.
Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan 4/5 stars.
Popular by Wagenen, Maya Van 5/5 stars.
What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang 2/5 stars (Unfinishable)

And onto July. This is an equally ambitious month with 5 books I selected then 1 from my TBR Jar.


From Bottom to Top.

We start with Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. My sister gave this book to me a few months ago when I was going through a bad break up, which was a sweet thought but it was too soon. A lot changes in a few months and so finally I'm reading the book. Really excited for it, seems right up my street and might give me a new perspective on the experience.

 Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship

Next we have my TBR Jar pick for this month Wonder by R. J. Palacio. This was a complete impulse buy a long time ago and I don't think I ever even thought I'd read it but that's the point of the jar. So I'm excited to see what I've been missing out on.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

Naturally I'll be reading the next book in the Percy Jackson series. Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan. Having read it's three predecessors, I kind of know what I'm expecting in terms of writing style but I am excited to see how Percy and Annabeth develop, and what happens from the fallout of the last book. Nothing better than returning to Camp Half-Blood. 

Percy Jackson isn't expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to worse.




Next is the book I am actually currently reading. Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon. I have heard so many good things about this book and Saxon even did a Celaena Sardothien cosplay and had her book recommended by Sarah J Maas so there was no way I wasn't going to read it. I mean she might just be the coolest person ever and the book actually sounds UH-MAH-ZING!


Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all .




I also decided as I read More Than This last month I would take a crack at A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. It's an incredibly short book and so I'm sure I will fly through it and hopefully enjoy it as much as I enjoyed his other books.

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.
But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...
This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.
It wants the truth

Finally I will be incorporating a classic I have owned and skimmed a billion times but never took the time to read. From reading quotes I feel like me and Ernest Hemingway would be best friends, although we wouldn't call ourselves that,  we'd just be drinking buddies and talk about how hard it is to be intelligent and happy. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway will hopefully live up to it's stellar reputation. 

In 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the 'war to end all wars'. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded and twice decorated. Out of his experiences came A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's description of war is unforgettable. He recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteer and the men and women he meets in Italy with total conviction. But A Farewell to Arms is not only a novel of war. In it Hemingway has also created a love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion.

The book already contains what I think is the most romantic dialogue I have ever read in my life. 


Anyway that is what I plan to read this month but I'm sure if any of that changes, you'll be te first to know. So tell me, What are you reading? Have you enjoyed any of the books I'm about to start? Let me know your reccomendations! Come on lets starts conversing internet.

Have a good one.

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies.

Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive.

How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?

As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?

Image from Paper Fury

 I admittedly, did not expect much from this book. I had never read Patrick Ness and only bought the book due to the John Green review on the cover. That being said, with that being said I was both surprised and disappointed.

Much like the book this review will be in 4 parts!

Part 1! (about Part 1)

Part 1 was dull, Seth wakes up in a strange place and this is all exciting and mind blowing and I am dying to start knowing about what's going on in this world. But instead we get 200 pages of Seth walking around and getting out of breath. The highlight to this was every time Seth passed out we got a glimpse at his past life, particularly his friends and secret boyfriend Gudmund. I thought they were really cute and the dialogue between them was so lovely and the story arc of them so tragic. I found myself dying for Seth to go to sleep. I wanted more Gudmund but I never really got it. I started to assume Seth was in some purgatory type coma state but alas no. We also start to get information on his brother Owen and at this point I had no idea what happened, which is a strong theme of this book, just being on the cusp of knowing but not being told for ages. 

Part 2! BANG BANG BOOM!

Part 2 definitely stepped up the pace. The first 200 pages got tedious and suddenly with the introduction of new characters and danger (The Driver) everything got super exciting. In this part Tommy and Regine tell us about the whole Sci-Fi world they are living in , everyone was packed up and there consciousness uploaded to the internet without them even knowing. It blew my mind, I didn't see that coming and a part of me didn't believe that's really what was happening because Seth kept talking me out of it. 


Part 3! YOU SHOT HIM IN THE CHEST AND HE GOT UP! WTFFFFF!

There's awesome battles with the driver, evidence that the sci-fi internet mystery is true and suddenly Seth starts to remember everything, his entire virtual life and beyond that, Gudmund, and the murder of his brother that he has been unknowingly punishing himself for. So many kind of shocks in this part and I just blaazed through it. But then it all went down hill. 


Part 4...and ending is an ending is an ending?

I got bored at the end, we'd had so many "battles" with The Driver until finally he dies, really randomly as well. We have a few epiphany revelations that don't mean anything because we've already had all the shocks and its the lessons everyone was telling Seth from the off. Theres also no closure, it's a very open ending and almost too open ended. I feel annoyed. There needed to be More Than This (excuse the pun) to satisfy me as a reader. 

All in all, it was not a bad book. The 2nd and 3rd part were incredible and it was insightful and smart and blew my mind. It makes you look at the world, what you have, differently. I'd recommend this if you read The Shock of The Fall by Nathan Filer and enjoyed it. It was a lot like that in themes and tone and style. What did you think?

My TBR list for June contains following on from series I started in May as well as continuing series I started a while ago and have had new releases. I also have a book recommendation and a TBR Jar pick. So lets get started.


Bottom to top, I picked The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. 
  
It is the year 2059. Several major world cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others’ minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this world, the voyants commit treason simply by breathing.

I picked this up knowing nothing about it after the author did a live stream event with Sarah J Maas, and yes, I am an advertisers dream. The concept seems really interested and I am super excited to try a book I probably wouldn't have picked up if I'd just seen it in a store. Strong heroine, crazy new world, I don't see what I could dislike about this book.

Next we have The One by Kiera Cass. Admittedly I started this end of May and it is the final book in a trilogy I have followed throughout. Loved the first one and hated the second one. I am honestly finishing the  series out of a terrible loyalty.

The Selection changed America Singer's life in ways she never could have imagined. Since she entered the competition to become the next princess of Illéa, America has struggled with her feelings for her first love, Aspen--and her growing attraction to Prince Maxon. Now she's made her choice . . . and she's prepared to fight for the future she wants.

Third is the third (ha) book in the Percy Jackson series. Percy Jackson and the Titans Curse by Rick Riordan. I know nothing about what happens here on in and I am super excited to find out. Percy is delightful and I don't see what could go wrong currently.

IT'S NOT EVERYDAY YOU FIND YOURSELF IN COMBAT WITH A HALF-LION, HALF-HUMAN.

But when you're the son of a Greek god, it happens. And now my friend Annabeth is missing, a goddess is in chains and only five half-blood heroes can join the quest to defeat the doomsday monster.

Oh, and guess what? The Oracle has predicted that not all of us will survive...
  
Enter More Than This by Patrick Ness I bought this simply due to the John Green quote on the cover. I've read atleast one chapter from all my TBR books and I feel like I will enjoy this. I'm not like crazy excited for it because it looks bloody huge but hopefully I'll love it and it'll be worth it. 

A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies.

Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive.

How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?

As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?

And now a recommendation and lend from my twin. The summer I turned pretty by Jenny Han is apparently a lovely, summery read so I will bite the bullet and give it a go. It's not the type of book I would normally go for, I've even seen it in shops and avoided it. But I trust her judgement.

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer--they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

I also have a couple books on my Kindle for this month including:

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor (I refuse to have the first two in paperback and the last one in hardback so I will wait) Super excited though, I love this series and will be sad to see it end.

Frozen by Erin Bowman, and the novella Stolen. I loved the first book and can't wait to carry on. I adore Bree. Just love her so much.

So hopefully that will be enough to keep me busy this month. 
Let's crack on.