Summer Comment Challenge Participation & Life Updates!

Hello lovelies, it's been some time! I didn't intend for such a large gap in my blogging to happen (it's been a week and a half but it feels like much longer on my end) but it did because my time in London ran short and quickly. Right now I am actually writing this from my own bed, in my own room, surrounded by all my books, with my window open. It's so surreal to be back here and I am so happy about it. But traveling, plus packing, plus unpacking has led to little reading and even less blogging. I feel bad about it especially considering how many blog posts I have planned! In fact... here are some of the posts you should be able to expect as the month winds down:A general life update (talking about time in London and looking forward towards the future)

• The Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down review I promised here
• A spoiler-filled review of Avengers: Infinity War
• mini reviews for I Kill Giants & Coco
• Tess of the Road book review
• writing update

I'm also currently powering through Assassin's Apprentice (a very unexpected book I picked up in the airport) and can guarantee a review for this one sooner than later. After this I'll be reading Starlings (an ARC I have), finishing up Leviathan Wakes (it's really good I just got pulled away and distracted), West (an ARC I have; I read East last year and enjoyed it), Blood Rose Rebellion, Letter for the King (an ARC I have), and Bluets (it was my secret Santa gift last Christmas but sadly didn't arrive until I had already left for London). Barring Bluets I think it's safe to say you can look for reviews of all of these (though since West and Letter for the King come out much, much later in the year those reviews may be pushed back quite a bit).

Something else I'm participating in this season is the comment challenge hosted by Lonna @ FLYLēF and Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense! I participated for a bit last summer (or was it two summers ago?... I've lost track of things so badly) and loved it. I'm so happy to be able to participate again and will be partaking every month this summer. The Comment Challenge is one of my absolute favorite ways to connect to the book community and make new friends and I 100% recommend participating! Sign up here; you won't regret it!

I hope you all join in on the fun because it really is a blast. And I promise to be better about posting going forward into this month.

Introduction to Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

Welcome to a new feature on this blog! Normally I wouldn't do a whole post talking about the why's and what's of a feature, but because this isn't like anything I've done here before I thought it would be a good idea to preface it. Basically, thumbs up/thumbs down is going to be a unique rating system used when rating and reviewing a certain type of book. This isn't replacing my old way of reviewing, it's just supplementing it in a way.

So, what's this idea? Well, I'm glad you asked. The basic idea is I go hunting through used books for a book that meets these qualifications:

1. I've never heard of it
2. It's a sci-fi or fantasy published before 2000
3. It has a corny cover
4. It has a corny description
5. I can go into it a blank slate with no expectations

Basically, it's a campy old SF&F novel that's probably out of print and may not even be that good. And then I read and review it. How is this a feature or that different from a regular review? Because I'm going into this novel expecting nothing but hoping to have a good time. Even if it's awful I want to read it start to finish and then discuss. And discuss in pretty good detail as if it's a classic novel they might teach in school. Because of this, the reviews are going to look different than normal reviews, also. Structured like:

1. Anecdotal where I got the book/first impressions
2. Summary/spoiler filled explanation of what happens in the book
3. Basic review: did I like it, was I surprised, would I recommend
4. Detailed discussion, possibly with quotes and proof

So, yes, that's the plan. The first of these will be up tomorrow and I'm hoping to do about one a month maybe. I won't say much about the book yet, but I hope you all stick around to see what this feature turns out to be. And, if you have a book recommendation that you think will fit the qualifications please let me know and I may try to hunt down a copy.

The Girl of Ink and Stars

The Girl of Ink and Stars

Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Goodreads Link

When I picked this up I was really in the mood for a children's lit book and it was being featured on a table at the bookstore. While I still really enjoyed it I wasn't really in that mindset anymore when I got around to reading it. Still, it's a pretty good read and I'm glad to be adding it to my collection. One aesthetic complaint I have (that didn't really affect my review of this book I'm just being a little picky here) is that the map on the inside doesn't really make sense. It's very minimalist and while it's a nice touch it didn't quite line up with how things are described in the book. And I tried to follow it. Look, I love maps in fantasy stories so this was just a bit disappointing.

Avengers Infinity War

This is going to be a SPOILER FREE discussion/review of the movie. I'm a huge fan of this franchise and will, honestly, be doing quite a bit of gushing in the following paragraphs. Honestly I have pretty much nothing bad to say about this movie and I think it was ample reward for ten years of following this franchise pretty closely. That being said, there's definitely things to talk about in more spoilery detail and a follow up post with that kind of information will be coming in the next week or so.

Quick Life Update

Hey everyone sorry for the sporadic posting lately. I was working on my final essay for Junior Year and now it is turned in and I am one year closer to graduation and the real world. What a ride! Tomorrow I'll be back to posting regularly and there shouldn't be much to interrupt since I don't exactly have a practical job this summer. I think I'll be posting a longer life update at some point in the near future reflecting on my time abroad and my time as a junior. Everything I learned this year and what I intend to learn next year. Also, what my summer plans are since they're very interesting. Talk to you all soon!