I know what you're thinking. We're two weeks into August, why am I only now posting my July book roundup?

Truthfully, I just haven't had the time. I also haven't had the time to post any of the blogs I wanted to over the past week, including the weekly memes. Oh, the joys of being an adult! 🙄

I started 11 books in July and finished 10, since I'm still reading Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton, which admittedly is taking me forever to read (hence the lack of reviews lately). Here's a closer look at the books I read in July (just click on the title to head over to the review):

The Definition of Us by Sarah Harris (NetGalley eARC) - I absolutely adored this book. It's one of the most beautiful books that I've ever read. The characters, the plot and the mental health representation were perfect. 

Vicious by V.E. Schwab - This was my first ever V.E. Schwab book and I really, really enjoyed it. The characters were not at all what I expected, neither was the plot but it worked exceptionally well and I couldn't stop reading. 

Grace & Fury by Tracy Banghart - Another fantastic read this month. This book had a great feminist message, with strong characters and a really intriguing plot. I'm excited for book 2.

The Knight and the Red Cloak by Dru Wellington - Sadly, I didn't really enjoy this m/m novella. It just didn't grab my attention, so there's no full review of this one. 

To Be Honest by Maggie Ann Martin (NetGalley/Xpresso Book Tours eARC) - This book was read as part of an upcoming blog tour with Xpresso Book Tours, so keep your eyes peeled for my review on 20th August 2018. 

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli - This was my first audio book of the year and whilst I loved the narration, as well as revisiting favourite characters, the main character wasn't my cup of tea. 

Smart Tass by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff - Sadly, this was the second book this month that I didn't particularly enjoy. I had high hopes for this enemies-to-lovers style story but the relationship was actually pretty toxic and was unfortunately, not for me. 

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg - My second audio book of the year turned out to be one of my favourite books of the year. I absolutely  loved this story. I loved the narrator, the characters, the wit and humour, and the angst. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series!

Heartship by Amy Jo Cousins - Honestly, I can barely even remember this book, which I suppose is a review in itself. 

Captive by Jex Lane - This book was something of a mixed bag for me. There were parts of it that I loved and parts I hated. It was an interesting concept and the main character was likeable but I'm still not sure whether I'll continue with the series. 

Since I didn't read many LGBT books in June, I'm glad that 6 out of the 10 books I read in July had some form of LGBT rep. 🌈

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Books I bought this month: 
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (Amazon) 
The Novice by Taran Matharu (Amazon)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (Waterstones)
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Waterstones)
The Lost Witch by Melvin Burgess (NYALitFest)
The Monsters We Deserve by Marcus Sedgwick (NYALitFest)

As usual, I have no idea which eBooks I bought this month. 

I also received the FairyLoot July - Power Within Book Box which included a stunning copy of Heart of Throns by Bree Barton, that I'm currently reading. 

Have you read any of these? Which would you recommend?

I was also lucky enough to attend my first ever book event this month, the NYALitFest which was fantastic! 

I hope you've enjoyed my July 2018 book roundup! I'm a little behind on my August reading but hoping to catch up soon, so stay tuned for more reviews and blog tours coming up!

Happy reading! 😃📚

Hi all!

I hope you're having a good week so far! I really enjoyed the two new memes I joined last week, so I'm going to stick with them again this week, I hope you enjoy!

First up, we have:

Tell Me Something Tuesday which is a weekly discussion post on Rainy Day Ramblings where a wide range of topics are discussed from books to blogging.

​This week's topic is 'For those who don’t have time to reread series, what would you reread when you found the time?'

I'm one of those people who loves to re-read books but in between running a business, being a mum, running my blog and trying to have some semblance of a normal life (yeah, right), I don't get to do this as often as I'd like.

I used to re-read The Night Circus (featured below) by Erin Morgenstern religiously each year. It was the first book I buddy read with my partner and we both fell in love with it. Each time I read it I feel like I uncover some new secret as I'm transported back to the mysterious circus, but I just haven't had time to do it the past two years and it's looking unlikely this year too. 

Since my daughter is now four, I've been re-reading some of my childhood favourites to her. We've been working our way through a range of Brother's Grimm fairy tales alongside a book called The Dragon's Eye. I can't wait until she's ready for me to read Harry Potter with her as I've been waiting to re-read the series for years!!

Other than those few books, the only other books I re-read are shorter contemporary romances, books I know I love and can read quickly, usually in just a few hours to put me in a good mood. These books are limited to three of my favourite romance authors; Tara Sivec, Sophie Jordan and R.L. Mathewson. Their books always make me smile. 

What about you? What would you reread when you had the time?

What do you think? Would you/have you read this? 

Feel free to leave your comments and links below.

Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Standalone/Series: Love Letters #1
How I got this book: Bought

Admiring Ash is the first book in Anyta Sunday's brand new Love Letters series. I absolutely love Anyta Sunday, she is one of my favourite romance authors and I was so excited to dig into this new series. 

As with pretty much all of Anyta's books, Admiring Ash features a super-sweet, slow-burn romance. 

Ash is a nice guy, with a wariness of men because of his mum's past experiences. He's raising his younger sister and working several jobs to take care of her. He hates his jobs and is struggling to make ends meet until he receives some surprising news that could change his life forever. 

River and Ash are both genuinely sweet, good guys and watching their friendship blossom into an extremely sweet relationship was lovely. 

This book is really sweet and was a nice, quick-paced read. In this book I was introduced to the other two characters in the series, and I'm looking forward to their stories. 

Happy Friday!

I had so many blog posts planned for this week but sadly work and just life in general has been crazy hectic, so I'm a little behind, but fingers crossed I'll have more for you soon! 🤞

On that note, I just wanted to thank everyone who's subscribed so far!! It means so much, thank you! 😊

The Friday 56 is a weekly blog meme hosted by Freda’s Voice. There are only 4 rules:

• Grab a book, any book.
• Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader. 
• Find any sentence, (or a few, just don't spoil it). 
• Post it.

Today's spotlighted book is one of my 3 current reads. It's a brand new release that only came out this week from one of my favourite romance authors Anyta Sunday. 

​Here's a little about the book, Admiring Ash, courtesy of Goodreads: 

Here's my chosen quote from 56%:

I'm 70% of the way through this short m/m romance and so far it's super sweet and slow burn, the usual Anyta Sunday trademark, and that's definitely a good thing! Looking forward to seeing this through to the end and meeting the other characters in this series. 

What do you think? Have you read any of Anyta's books? Would you read this one?

Feel free to leave your links and thoughts in the comments below ​😄

Genre: Paranormal, Romance/Suspense
Standalone/Series: Beautiful Monsters #1
How I got this book: Bought 

I have sooo many mixed feelings about this book. 

First of all, I had no idea how to categorise this book. It's definitely paranormal, full of suspense and yeah, there's a lot of sex, both M/M and F/M, but I don't feel like 'romance' is the right category for this book, even if Goodreads disagrees, which is the only reason I've included it above lol. 
​
Let me start by getting the bad stuff out of the way first, because there's a serious amount of traumatic sh** in this book including mental, physical and emotional abuse, and slavery - none of which are things I enjoy reading about. 

However, moving past that, there was a lot about this book that I did like. The world-building was fantastic, especially the description, history and development of the four different species featured in this book; look out for vampires, incubi, gargoyles and more. 

I really like the main character Mathew, he's very likeable, and I just wanted to save him through every single moment of this book, especially at the end where I honestly felt like bursting into tears.

I also liked how the author changed my opinion of different characters, those I started off liking/hating sometimes switched, and then again switched back. It was different, and I ended the book still completely unsure who's 'good' (although that's an extremely loose term) and who isn't. 

The absolute best thing about this book was the action. The fight scenes were the kind that have you on the edge of your seat, heart pounding, hoping that everything will work out in the end. 

I think ultimately, this book features far too much sex, which detracts a lot from the plot. Honestly, if you cut the majority of the sex scenes from this book between various characters, the pace would flow so much quicker. 

There are four books in this series, and I'm just not sure yet if I want to continue with this series. I'd hope for more action, less sex, and in truth, the synopsis of book two sounds really promising. 

​What do you think? Have you read this book? Should I keep reading?