Welcome to another edition of Sweet Summertime Reads! All summer long I am featuring a different blogger to share their current summer reads + what's on their agenda for this summer. Today I am super stoked to have Alyssa from Books Take You Places on the blog. She is one of the masterminds behind #OTSPSecretSister (not familiar with this project? check out @GalsOnTheSamePg for more info), as well as a super librarian! I've always enjoyed her reading recs since they are outside my comfort zone and not something I'd normally hear about. Please welcome Alyssa to the blog...
Hi friends! I'm so happy to be here on Ginger's blog to celebrate Sweet Summertime Reads with you all! It's the perfect way to catch up with everyone since we are all so busy over the summer! Let me catch you up on what I've been doing! I actually left my full time corporate job a few months back and am BACK IN LIBRARY LAND! WOO! One of the best decisions I've made for myself! You'd think that by working part time I would have TONS of extra time, right? Thanks to summer I was WRONG! May was busy due to a visit from Amy & Brittany and our trip to NYC for BEA! We focused on seeing all of you blogging friends and had a great time.
Besides that, my best friend of over 20 years got married in June so I had lots of Maid of Honor duties which took up most of my time! Here's a pic of the couple with the Best Man and myself (we've been planning this picture since before she had even met her now husband):
After that planning was done I was working hard on a side business, doing marketing and social media for a huge food festival here in New England. The best part about this is that Amy came out to spend the weekend and we got to spend some really nice time together!
All great things but I've been busy, busy! Now, the important stuff...what have I been reading?! I don't know about you guys but over the summer (or holidays - busy times!) I sometimes find it hard to focus on let's call them "deep" reads. Anything you have to think about, you know? I found myself in a rut in the beginning of summer so...well, I took to those trashy vampire novels, friends.
The Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton is my go to series when I need to get out of a reading slump. I've read this series so many times, I started with book 1 in May and read one book every few days and I'm halfway through the series again. I don't care what people say, I love these books when I want to turn off my brain and be entertained!
Another thing I tend to binge in the summer is graphic novels! Let's see, this summer I binge read Y: The Last Man, finished up The Unwritten, tried out Pretty Deadly and binge read Locke and Key, which I loved. I have been trying to get into Lucifer since the show starts this fall but I'm really struggling!
Lucky for me, two of my top three reads of this year were read this summer! The Uninvited by Cat Winters was amazing, and I can't wait to review it for you guys. The second is Uprooted by Naomi Novik which I'm sure you've all heard amazing things about! The gals and I read it for our "On the Same Page" post and we all loved it and are finding it hard to put our love into words!
I thought I'd focus on getting that ARC rating up so I tried to read a few books from Netgalley this summer. I read A Madness So Discreet and I loved it! It has fantastic and layered characters, and a twisty interesting plot. If you are a mood reader it's probably better suited for a chilly and dreary sort of day! I just finished Until We Meet Again a few days ago and it's a definite summer read as 95% of it takes place on a beach! I enjoyed it while reading, and definitely recommend it. However, I don't want to give anything away but let me just say that the ending didn't sit right with me. It was one of those "satisfying" sort of endings, if you catch my...drift.
I've also been pretty into podcasts lately. I like to listen while I do my puzzle, color, or scrapbook (honestly am I 7 or 97?) my new favorite is LORE which is basically true accounts of seemingly supernatural events that have happened over time. A few weeks ago there was one on The Jersey Devil, which is pretty neat! It's not too creepy for those of you who scare easily, and is definitely entertaining!
Finally, right before I started to write this post I finished Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones! I can't believe that it has taken me so long to read this fantastic novel. It reminded me of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles or Dragon Slippers and I loved it a lot. This is another choice for our Gals on the Same Page feature for this month, and I'm going to watch the movie and do a little comparison for my post!
Now, as I sit here in my library and stare at my shelves I don't know what to read next. I often send my dad a picture of a few books (he actually chose A Madness So Discreet and Until We Meet Again using this method) and he just chose Ash & Bramble. However, I may continue on with my Sevenwaters re-read and pick up Heir of Sevenwaters as I tend to re-read this series yearly as well. I also have yet to finish Ruin and Rising (I KNOW, I'm horrible!) and just picked up Horrorstör from the library. Oh, decisions!
Regardless summer is almost over and I still have shows to binge before their new seasons start and football is finally back! My favorite season is almost upon us! Thanks to Ginger for hosting me, and thanks to you all for reading!
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Alyssa, I completely understand your need to binge read mindless entertainment. I am currently doing this with a sexy romance series. I never plan on reviewing the books, and that is quite okay! Sometimes you just want to read for pure joy, you know? Your summer has been busy a lot like mine. My best friend got married this summer too :) Thank you so much for sharing your sweet summertime reads with us... and dare I say I'm ready for football and fall weather too?! hehe
Be sure to check out the giveaway (open international -- Book Depository must be able to ship to you!) happening all summer long...
a Rafflecopter giveaway
+ Open internationally (Book Depository must be able to ship to you!)
+ One winner will be chosen to receive one book from the image above (provided that it is available)
+ Contest ends August 31, 2015
+ Contest ends August 31, 2015
Oh heyyy, there's a picture of me up there! :D Love the variety of books and graphic novels you've got goin on Alyssa :) AND YES FOOTBALL SOON.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your summer Alyssa! It sounded jam packed and super fun. I bet it's a relief to have the Maid of Honor duties over with even though the wedding looks like it was amazing. Weddings are stressful! Haha. I love food festivals, I bet it was all delicious. You read such an interesting mix of books too! I've been trying to be better at ARCs as well, I just started Ash & Bramble myself. YAY FOOTBALL! I got your boy Big Ben as my QB in fantasy this year :)
ReplyDeleteGreat update on the summer events/reading! I mean, I might be slightly biased because we finally met, Alyssa <3 LORE IS FANTASTIC AND I WILL HELP IN YOUR CRUSADE TO PUSH IT ON EVERYONE!! Uprooted and A Madness So Discreet are titles I'm very excited for and looking forward to reading :)
ReplyDeleteYou have had a busy summer! I've loved reading your library tweets. Lol. I love that picture with the four of you. It looks so nice. I think it's great to have light reading in summer. Just books that you don't really have to think about or focus on.
ReplyDeleteI've heard so many amazing things about Uprooted, I need to get my hands on it. "One of those satisfying sort of endings", I totally get your drift. I'm now…just a little unsure about reading it… I need to get into graphic novels, I've only ever read Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Haha.
I'm glad you've had a good summer. :)
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