I, like many others, as it seems, cannot believe it's already June! How are we feeling about that? Do you have any summer plans you're looking forward to? Despite being born in June, I don't typically consider myself a big summer season fan, largely because I don't do well in heat, haha, but I know many love it.
In personal news... My husband and I took a trip to Norway in May! It was absolutely beautiful and we had an amazing time. I'll try to include a couple of (many) amazing photos we took, though videos really did some of it more justice. It was nice to take some much-needed time away from everything and just explore a new place together. In addition to that, I also took my first flying trapeze class at the end of May which was absolutely incredible and so much fun.
In reading news, this was not my strongest month, haha. But that is largely due to the aforementioned trip to Norway. Then once home it took me a while to get back into my regular routine and catch up on everything (how can I possibly get so many emails in just one week!?) Because of this, I fell quite behind on my reading, my posting and reviews, and reading everyone else's posts and reviews, so I'm doing my best to get caught back up.
# books read: 8
Thoughts: This was generally an interesting read, but overall I was fairly disappointed with it. I feel like it felt a bit too YA for me and I feel like it lacked something to really make it stand apart in the ways that Mira Grant's work usually does. This is a solid sci-fi, but definitely not a favorite for me.
Thoughts: This was my first Guy Gavriel Kay and I had a good time with it. I wouldn't say it really stood out to me as anything overly special, but I have a feeling that some of his past work is probably his stronger stuff and will be sure to check that out.
Thoughts: This is the latest release from Travis Riddle, and this time it's a collaborative effort where he wrote the entire story set in a world created by Tobias Begley. I had a fantastic time with this one (as seems to be the typical case with books from Riddle) and I'm really looking forward to more!
Thoughts: This was really not quite what I was expecting, but I think I liked it quite a bit. I really appreciated this incredibly unique take on incorporating some historical aspects into this fantasy story and world, and I liked seeing how all the women's relationships developed and how they interacted.
Thoughts: I think I might have read this many, many years ago, but I didn't really remember any of it so this basically felt like the first time I've read it. I had fun with it and I'll probably check out volume two since it's clearly a classic and I want to see if I'll like it more as I get more into the series.
Thoughts: I've had my eye on this middle grade series for years and I finally decided to give it a shot. I'll be honest that I felt rather underwhelmed by this, but still thought the general concept and story was pretty fun. It read a bit younger than I expected so I think that was the main problem for me, and it lacked some of the whimsy I was looking for, but overall I think this will be a huge hit for its intended audience and many others.
Thoughts: Despite feeling 'meh' about the first book, I decided to see if I'd like it more with this second book.. and not really! I felt similarly average about this one and was a bit bored at times, but I still appreciated the ideas. I also switched to the audiobook versions because they were just fun to have going while I worked on other things.
Thoughts: ...And just to be sure, I went ahead and read the third one as well, and... I felt the same as the first two. I think I'm going to learn at this point and set this series down for now, haha, but if I ever need something fun, quick, and light, maybe I'll try out more of them.
Overgrowth by Mira Grant
Written on the Dark by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Knight and the Moth (The Stonewater Kingdom, #1) by Rachel Gillig
5/7: School of Shards by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko & Flashlight by Susan Choi
5/14: Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i by Sara Kehaulani Goo & The Palace of Illusions by Rowenna Miller
5/21: A Far Better Thing by H.G. Parry & Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel
Norway (it's hard to just pick a couple, and none of them really do it justice)!
