Summer Reading — Hey Porkchop!

I've really been looking forward to doing some summer reading! It's like long, hot summers are a prime excuse to be a homebody and sit in a cool room, drink iced tea and read a good book.

I made a big list in May about what I'd hoped to read this summer, some books I switched in favor of others but here is my tentative summer reading list:

P.S. I Still Love You. The previous book I absolutely devoured and adored last summer, I'm saving the sequel for when I'm ready to have ALL THE FEELINGS because I've heard it's a real tear jerker!
Dead Ever After. Wowza. Upon linking to this I noticed that it has a lot of bad reviews but I'm definitely going to finish this series. I held off on reading the last two books and then found them used locally and it just hit me that I was missing Sookie and I *needed* to know how her story ends!
The Book of Life. I feel so nervous to read this! I absolutely loved the first two and started the audiobook of the third as soon as it came out last summer but I ended up not really feeling it. I'm hoping this summer to read the actual book and find the magic in it because the first one is just so, so, so enjoyable!
Invasion of the Tearling. I know I'm not alone in being excited to read this- I'm currently number 9 on the hold list at the library! I do think I might need a re-read of the first book because I'm slightly fuzzy on the ending.
The Heart of Betrayal. Oooo I can't WAIT for this. When I read the previous book, I went in completely blind, I picked it up on a whim and ended up being obsessed with it. I spent days googling trying to figure out WHO WAS WHO! And WHAT WAS I MISSING? Well, it turned out that was the point! lol! I'm really curious about what is going to happen next and if it ends up being just as engrossing!
New Cainsville! Newwww Cainsville!!!! OMG! This series has absolutely bowled me over. I first saw it on Bonnie's instagram and was like... oooo that sounds good! But I hadn't really *loved* any other Kelley Armstrong books previously so I was hesitant...well, I've read both books dozens of times now. DOZENS. And I've listened to them as an audiobook with Chop twice. BUT!!! Don't do the audio versions!!!!!! They have two narrators- one is amazing and the other one is just awful. If I wasn't already emotionally invested in this series & hadn't read the books, I'd never make it through the audio. I always end up with a book hangover after re-reading these because they are so unique. The first one reminds me of the X-Files kind of?! and has very little romance, it's more about world building/character background. The second one does have romance and it's well done. In short, if you want to read a good adult PNR series this summer, this is it!
How excited am I for Lair of Dreams? Well, Amazon just informed me while grabbing this link that I purchased this book...on October 12th 2013. That is a reallllly long time ago. ;) The Diviner's is a great YA book set in the 1920s. I remember thinking that the dialogue lays on the slang pretty heavily but you get used to it. I'll definitely need a re-read before I dive into this one!
Chop & I are heavy into audiobooks. We spent the winter and spring listening to The Kingkiller Chronicles. If you like epic fantasy and humorous, dry, witty humor, this is the book for you. At the time that I'm linking this, the kindle edition is $4.99 which is pretty great considering the book weighs in at over 600 pages. We did the audio version (but I read the first story as book as well) and really, really enjoyed it. Our current favorite series that we are in the midst of listening to is The Iron Druid Chronicles! So, so so humorous, well written, great characters, amazingly catchy and fast to listen to. I think each audiobook is 8-9 hours which is a breeze after the Kingkillers at 40+ hours each, lol. My goal this summer is to listen to the entire Iron Druid series and the novellas.

I ended up making a book journal!

I took my Kikki.K small pocket sized planner and inserted a Toffeenut planner in it. I had previously used it as a planner (it's undated) so I pulled out the pages that had been used. Then I cut the spine and about 1/8th of an inch of the pages off. I measured in 1/4 inch and hole punched the pages to fit! I have about 3/4 of the planner in it, I could fit more but I want to create a thicker divider page for sticky notes eventually.

On the calendar pages I'm writing the days I finish books and library book due dates. On the weekly pages, I'm just writing down quotes from books I'm currently reading. Right now I'm reading Wicked as They Come and have been copying quotes from that.

I'm enjoying this because while I think GoodReads is fine, I've really been cutting down my social media/computer time and having a little dedicated notebook next to whatever I'm reading is helping me focus more on the words and story and less about logging in and tracking.

I did join Scribd this spring and I freaking love it. I always check the library first for a book, then Scribd, then Amazon. This is an eBook service with a difference...AUDIOBOOKS!!!! It seems like if I can't find a newer release on Scribd...they will have it often as an audio which I enjoy. Sometimes I want to binge read an entire series and this has been amazing for that. Tons of romance, tons of fantasy, tons of young adult. It's easy to sync between devices too, I typically read on my iPad but last week I got stuck at an appointment way longer than planned, downloaded the app and read my book while waiting. I'm enjoying it for "testing" books, sometimes you need more than a small sample before you commit to it, with Scribd I find myself picking up stories I wouldn't normally, just to try them. I read The Carnival at Bray last week and omg! SO GOOD! It's a great YA Book- especially if you were a teenager during the 90s. I flew through that book in two days.

I've also been playing along with Books on the Nightstand bingo and that's been a blast. One of my squares was "a book with a red cover" so I went to the library, went to the YA section and found The Wrath & The Dawn came home and loved it! It was a slightly slow in some spots but I'm excited to see that it's part of a series. It's just fun to try new books. :):) I wish I had my book journal when reading this book, I know next to nothing about the Middle East or it's culture and I googled a ton of stuff while reading the book!

I have big plans to read and relax this weekend. We are launching a new huge club next week and it'll be my last few days until work gets hectic. :):):) However, I've become slightly obsessed with the idea of staining/painting some furniture so our home looks more like a home and less like a college kids first apartment, lol!

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