I feel like I blinked, the first of June, and now it is already the 30th. This past month has been challenging, but also fun too. Between working in the cafe and working in the garden, I have been so exhausted. Despite that, I had time to read, watch tv and have fun! Below is more on that.
Favorite book I read:
Give Me More by Sara Cate
This book is S P I C Y, and I LOVED IT. Personally, I would never want to be in a poly relationship, but I did love reading about it. This is the third book of this series, and Sara Cate has written another good one. She makes you love the characters. I am ready for the next one.
Other books I read:
Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You: Poems by Misha Collins
Falling By T.J. Newman
Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, from Someone Who’s Been There by Tara Schuster
The Tenant by Freida McFadden
Rock Chick by Kristen Ashley
All of these were so good!
Some other favorites I had this month:
Favorite new place I ate: A1 Pizza
Favorite TV show: Love Island (USA)
Favorite purchase: Sandels
Favorite past time: Reading & gaming
Favorite song: Vienna by Billy Joel
Favorite YouTube Channel: Carly Incontro
Favorite photos I took this month:
End of the month goal check in:
Plan a hangout with friends ✅
Post 2 Youtube videos ✅
Post 2 blogs ❌
Read 5 books ✅
Get to 75 followers on Tik Tok ❌
Work on book ✅
Paint ❌
Eat somewhere new ✅
Start using wheel of books ✅
Go on a hike ❌
I am excited to see what I can get into this next month. There are several things I hope to do this summer… We shall see.
In June, I had finished reading 8 books! That is the most that I have read in a month in a very long time. Four of those were books I had started in a pervious month but still. I wanted to start trying to do monthly book logs/reviews so here we go.
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas is the last book of a very good series. There are 7 books in the series – not counting some extra side books (I don’t remember what they’re called lol). I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. This series starts out about a woman who is an assassin, and she is totally badass. I don’t want to talk too much about the series because I don’t want to give anything away. My favorite thing about this series is that the little things in the books matter because in the end it will create a big picture.
Recipe for Love by Anna Malcom
I gave Recipe for Love 4 stars even though parts of it was a little bit cringe. However, it wasn’t so cringe I couldn’t finish it. It was a lovely fast read for me. I love the sunshine / grumpy trope so much.
Ignite by Melanie Harlow
I gave Ignite 4 stars. This was a really quick read for me. I am pretty sure I read this in one day. It was a good single dad romance. To be honest, the reason I had wanted to read it was just for the fact that he was a firefighter. There was some cringe parts in this, but it is mainly because I could not really relate to the girl main character all that much. Winnie falls in love very easily which is why a bet was made between her and her best friend that she couldn’t not fall in love for the rest of the year.
This is definitely not relatable to me because I have the opposite problem. It is hard for me to fall in love. Because of this, it blows my mind that there are actually people out there that do fall in love very easily.
Could not be me.
Savage Hearts by J. T. Geissinger
I gave Savage Hearts 3 stars. This book is part of a series, but one of those that is about different people each time just in the same setting (?). I read this in a day so it was a very fast read for me. The thing that put me off about it, and apparently the previous two books are also focused on, is that the girl(s) have MAJOR stockholm syndrome. Like – immediately. I’ve read some books where they got it, but those settings were normally where these girls were taken from a bad family and they warm up to the person that kidnapped them. This book was nothing like that. It was very fast paced. I thought they really needed to chill out. LOL
Spare by Prince Harry
Spare got 5 stars from me. I love memoirs. Even of people I don’t keep up with. Going into reading Spare, I did not know much about the royal family AT ALL. Since I had started reading it, one of my friends had talked to me about the whole Princess Diana being murdered thing, and I watched a movie about them. Other than that, I was pretty much reading without knowing anything the whole way through.
I’ve read reviews that people said the reason they did not like this book is because he was just “whiny”. I think those people just said that because for whatever reason they just don’t like him. A memoir is about telling a lot parts about yourself. Good and bad. I think reading from his point of view really made me understand things about him and the royal thing as a whole.
One of the main things I learned was you cannot trust what any news or tabloids say because they can and will post straight of lies. It made me so mad as I was reading how the paps were treating Harry and the people he cares about. They probably treat them like that still. They have no boundaries or a conscious.
Another thing that made me mad was the palace. There was so much that could have been straightened out if only they had said something.
I’m glad Prince Harry and Meghan got out of it.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Outlander got a 3.5 stars out of me. Hear me out. My sister and I started this book at the end of last year, and the reason why it took me so long to read was because I was trying to read at the pace of my sister.
I did really enjoy reading this book most of the time, but it is one of those books I can’t have any distractions otherwise I would have to reread parts over and over.
I really liked some characters like Claire and Jamie, but then this book also made me really dislike some characters – which I think is a really good thing.
I think the main reason it was so hard to read is because I am an American woman so there were a lot of times I had to look up what something meant. Also I knew going into it that there was some scenes of sexual assault, and reading about that was really hard for me.
With that being said, I will probably read the rest of the series at some point. (I just have to wait in my sister to finish this one).
How to Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LePera
3 stars. I am on the journey of self-healing so this year I want to try to read more self- help books just to at least get some ideas on how to heal on my own. I believe this book helped me understand myself and my parents more. I will definitely take some of the “exercises” the book talked about and apply it to my life.
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
This got 4 stars. I loved Red, White & Royal Blue so much. Forbidden romance between a prince and the first son of the United States? SIGN. ME. UP.
THOUGHTS
I was very happy with my reads for this month. My favorite book I read was Kingdom of Ash. My least favorite was Savage Hearts.
What books did you read in June? What books are you wanting to read in July?
I really wanted to read 3 books this month, but I only got around to reading 2 books.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2) by J.K. Rowling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This whole series will be a reread for me. I decided that this year I wanted to reread all 7 books, as I haven’t read all of them in a really long time. To be honest, this is probably my least favorite one of the whole series, but I still love it all the same. The main thing I got from reading is that I forgot how much of a a–hole Draco Malfoy was in the books. Some of that is definitely different than it is in the movie.
Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass, #6) by Sarah J. Maas ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I have enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I didn’t think I would enjoy it because it was completely about side characters — not about Aelin Galathynius. I still enjoyed Chaol, Yrene and Nesryn’s story. It was cool to see what was happening to them during the same time as book 5.
What books have you read this month? What are you going to read next book?
I have read more books this year and last year than I have read all throughout college. I am so glad to get back into reading. My goal for this month is 3 books. My normal these past few months have been 2 books, but I want to try to push myself. Plus this past month I have been making a plan on how to finish the book I am reading by a certain time. I have a goal this year to read 22 books. I have read 12 books so far so I may extend my reading goal.
I am really wanting to blog more than just my monthly goals and recaps and the books I read each month. I have been really thinking about what more content I want to do – which I will explain in my next blog post. I plan to blog at least once a week.
I may not blog as much as I want to, but for the past year and a half, I have been posting on my YouTube channel a lot more. My goal for this year is to post 24 vlogs before December (as December is for vlogmas). I have posted 10 videos so far this year. I want to try to post once a week, but if not, then at least once every 2 weeks.
I also really find joy in writing, but I do not make enough time for it. I want to write consistently for the book I am writing and some things on Tumblr as well. I have gotten into the habit of at least writing one idea down a day for either one, but I want to be actually writing for both. My main problem is that I don’t want to write bad writing, but I know I need to just write now and edit them later. I keep wanting them to be perfect the first go around.
A random goal that I have for this month is to get tanner. I feel better about the way I look when my skin is a little tanner. I get so white during the winter time. I lose what little tan I get during the summer. I want to try to get more than this summer than ever before. I am going to try to get outside every day in the sun for at least 30 minutes. I have not been consistent with this, especially since I have not been feeling well, but I am going to make more of an effort for the rest of the month.
This month I really want to try to get out of my comfort zone. What I mean by this is if I would rather stay home than go do something – I want to make myself go do the thing. Most of the time when I do this, I end up having a really great time, but sometimes I get so stuck in the comfort of being at home, I don’t want to go out and have fun.
Last but not least, this whole year I have been trying to work on my mental health. Due to my health issues these last few months, it has been rough. This month, however, I plan to journal more, meditate, exercise, be more mindful of my mind and surroundings, and do more things that make me happy. You would think this would all be easy, but sometimes it is hard to do anything.
Do you have any goals for this month? What are they? Tell me in the comments.
May seemed to have gone by in the blink of an eye, but I am proud of all that I have accomplished with my goals. Here’s the new goals for the month of June.
Lists help me feel more put together than I actually am. I made a summer bucket list, which just consists of things that I want to do before summer is up this year.
Summer 2020 (June 20 – September 22)
Have character backgrounds of characters in my book
Volunteer more
Go hiking
Go paddle boating and/or kayaking
Save $1500
Go on vacation
Send people letters
Be active on WordPress, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok
Stream on Twitch
Finish watching ‘The Originals’
Read 3 books
Get really tan
Be consistent with working out
Look in the mirror once a day and say 3-5 things I like about myself
It seems like the months are going by fast and slow at the same time. This past month I ended up mostly just working a lot, and I did not do much of anything I wanted to get done. Here’s an update of what I did do:
Graduate
Go hiking
Work in my Grandpa’s garden
Read (at least) 1 book
Publish (at least) 4 blog posts
Film and post (at least) 1 YouTube video
Write & publish (at least) 2 short stories on Tumblr
Sadly, I did not do everything I wanted to last month, but hopefully this month will be better. I’m going to work hard to volunteer and post on YouTube this month.
Go to the gym at least three times a week
I am confident that I’ll have this goal down because we (me and Tawnie) have been doing pretty good so far. We typically get up at 5 am, and we get to the gym by 6-6:30. We both like going to the gym earlier instead of later. It makes it feel like you have more time in the day to do other things.
Volunteerat the animal shelter at least twice
I did not volunteer at all last month, but I’ve discussed it with Tawnie, and we might go by and volunteer after we leave the gym. I’m really excited to do this because volunteering at the animal shelter makes me really happy.
Post on WordPress at least twice a week
I’ve been pretty good about posting. I’m going to try to get a tad bit better about it though. I haven’t post much here lately because I’ve been using my wifi to download some games on my new PS4.
Post at least two YouTube videos
I tend to neglect my youtube channel. What kind of stuff do you like to watch on youtube – vlog wise. Maybe reviews, mukbangs, advice, etc. If you want any advice just let me know!
work work work work work
I’ve been working so much it’s better to ask when I don’t work. But honestly even then I probably couldn’t tell you because I get called in last minute… No one else seems to want to work.
Plan a vacation
I was going to plan a trip to Panama City Beach, Florida, but it’s gong to cost way too much, and I do not have a lot of friends that could go. I’m thinking about going to The Smokey Mountains instead. It’s been a while since I’ve been, and I would love to go there with some friends.
Go on a hike with friends
I love hiking with friends! I think I’m actually going this weekend. There are a lot of parks around where I live with hiking trails.
Here are seven goals I hope to complete this June. Do you have any goals for June? What are they?
Story of My Life 