Calendar Girls July: Bookish OTP

Good gracious, 2019 is halfway over?!?! Summer vacation is halfway over. *cries* This is getting a little too intense. Cue the Grease music please.

Ah, much better.

This month we’re talking about our bookish OTP. For those of you unfamiliar, OTP means “one-true-pairing”. This is your favorite romance in a book, the one you were holding your breath waiting for it to happen, the one that makes your heart stop just a little. For once I had absolutely no difficulty making a decision, because my one-true-pairing is the couple that I have been shipping (putting into a relationship) since I was eleven years old. I’m sure you won’t have any trouble guessing.

Calendar Girls July Theme

Do we have to talk about July? I don’t even want to think about July. I have so many assignments/projects due between now and July… *faints*

Possibly I should be working on those projects now instead of blogging… *shrugs* OH WELL! Here we go!

Even though I am not looking forward to July, I am quite looking forward to our July theme! The votes are in, and since apparently I don’t want to think about any of this at all, let’s skip the intros and get right to it.

Drumroll please…

Calendar Girls August Wrap-Up

I can’t believe the first month of the return of Calendar Girls is already over! We had a great August talking about what makes a book summery. Here’s a look at everything that happened this month.

Best Novel Set in Summer Picks

Absolutely Normal Chaos – Katie @ Never Not Reading
Lose Me – Adrienne @ Darque Dreamer Reads
Royals – Carolina @ fictionologyst
The Talented Mr. Ripley – Lucinda @ Lucinda is Reading
The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet – Tanaz @ The Keysmash Blog
The Island – Samantha @ Modern Witch’s Diary
The Wicked Deep – Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile
Summer of the Monkeys – Plot Monster
The Unexpected Everything – Dani @ mousaibooks
The Unexpected Everything – Krista and Dawlyn @ Little Blind Book Finds
The Unexpected Everything – Sophie @ Beware of the Reader
13 Little Blue Envelopes – Deanna @ Deanna Writes About

Our Favorite Pick is…

Calendar Girls August Theme

The polls are in, mostly because I’m stupid and don’t know how to make a twitter poll last longer than 24 hours… Oops.

The polls are in, and we have a theme for Calendar Girls August! Drum roll please…

My Summer Reading List

IT’S SUMMER VACATION!!!!!!

Being a teacher is rough, but I have to admit, summer vacation is an awesome perk. Don’t get me wrong, I’m probably going to be doing a lot of work this summer lesson planning and stuff, and I’m taking care of my sweet baby too, but it’s definitely going to be better than getting up early and going to work every day.

My plans for this summer include:

• Reading
• Getting back into excercising
• Reading
• Zoo trips on Mondays
• Reading
• Possible beach trip
• Did I say reading?

Last summer I probably read about twenty books. And while I think I’ve got a little more on my plate this summer and won’t quite be able to manage that, I’m really looking forward to what I have coming up.

Throwback Thursday: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Nothing quite says summer to me like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Except 100 degree temperatures, I guess.

I read this book for the first time the summer before high school, I think. A friend of mine and her mom were reading it together and they loved it, so I went to the bookstore and bought it. I suppose that in high school I probably re-read this series every summer. Each year the number of books to read got a little larger.

The funny thing about  this book is that even though I really like it, and even though it’s really good, I can never seem to remember what happens! So every re-read was like reading it for the first time. Maybe that’s why it makes me feel so nostalgic.

Even though this series is a little old and a little out of date (no cell phones!) I would highly recommend it for a 15- or 16-year-old’s summer reading list.

Review: Crown of Midnight

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass
Genres: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Maturity Level: 4
View on Goodreads
Rating: ⋆⋆⋆

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“A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.

It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend.”

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena’s world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie… and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

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I don’t have a lot to say about Crown of Midnight that I haven’t already said  about Throne of Glass. They were of similar quality and content. The cast, concept, world, and romance were all still good. The writing, POV shifts, and love triangle were still in need of improvement.

Review: Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass
Genres: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Maturity Level: 3.5
View on Goodreads
Rating: ⋆⋆⋆

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In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass–and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

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I’m of two minds about this book. On the one hand, it was pretty good. On the other hand, it was kind of terrible. I know that a lot of people are like, obsessed with Sarah J. Maas, but this just didn’t do it for me the way, say, The Hunger Games did.