June Reflection

Published on by Isabelle @ Nine Tale Vixen

Green was the silence, wet was the light,
the month of June trembled like a butterfly …

– Pablo Neruda, “Sonnet XL”

So I didn’t end up doing a 30-day challenge in June disappointed but not surprised tbh, but I did get to spend time with my family and practice creative hobbies while I was home! I’ve also done a lot of work on my blog — from the usual hopping and writing posts, to working on branding and site design (mostly brainstorming and drafting, nothing really visible to y’all … yet), to cleaning up my Goodreads shelves — and gotten ahead on ARCs, so it’s been a fairly productive month, all told.

And at this point I’ve been living “on my own” — I have housemates, but my room is a single and I bear sole responsibility for my own meals and share of rent — for less than a week, but it feels like a lot longer. Adulting is hard, y’all. (And expensive.)

June highlights:

  • In Pokemon Go, I battled in my first EX Raid and caught a Deoxys. Later in the month, I also picked up a shiny Kyogre and a shiny Raikou in Legendary raids.
  • I discovered and have been practicing a heartbreakingly gorgeous Infinity War-inspired piano arrangement of the Avengers theme. (Or, well, I was; there’s no piano where I’m currently living.)
  • I managed to clear out my bloghopping backlog! Though I make no promises about staying on top of it from here on out, because I know myself better than that.
  • I also managed to prewrite and schedule quite a few posts for July! Hopefully I’ll make some headway into August as well, so that I can switch focus to blog maintenance / improvement projects … and real-life commitments, I guess. Those exist too.
header: posted this month
My Best June Posts
Other Awesome June Posts
header: read this month

Clicking on the titles below will take you to the book’s Goodreads page; clicking on the flames (which indicate my rating out of 5) will take you to my review. Books marked as [ARC] were received as Advance Review Copies; [RC] indicates a post-release review copy.

20 total, 3.70 average rating

Top read of the month: Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

Currently reading:

header: coming out next month

ARCs I Have

Waiting for Release Day

header: looking to next month

In case you missed it, Bookending Summer is next month — and ya girl is going to be one of the hosts! There are lots of great prompts lined up, so make sure to check it out and sign up if you haven’t already; it’s gonna be a great time.

Also (continuing) next month, May @ Forever and Everly is hosting the 2019 Book Blogger Awards! Don’t forget to submit your nominations by July 20th and to vote for all your favorite bloggers 💕

Also also in July is Camp NaNoWriMo; I’m all settled into my virtual cabin with my chosen plot bunny and I’m ready to pants the crap out of this WIP. (Wait, that came out weird.) I talked more about my goals and mindset for this session in the post linked just a few lines ago, so if you’re curious you can go check that out.

Now that I’m back at school (or, well, living near school) my main focus is on getting work and/or research experience before my first semester as a professional pharmacy student. I’ll admit, I’ve felt like I’m behind since a lot of my friends — and my other classmates too, but I care less about what they’re doing or what they think of me — are overachievers who already have been working in a lab and/or retail pharmacy, but hey, it’s not a race. And I’ve still got two full months of summer break. 

In contrast to my relaxed June, my mental state going into July is a little more frantic since there’s so much to do. However, I’ve recently done some reorganizing of my life — both my physical space and my planning systems — which helps a lot; I’m working towards a “yeah, I’m gonna be busy, but I am determined to thrive” kind of mindset.

What’s the best book you read in June? Did you read any of this month’s releases, or ARCs of July/August releases? Do you have any special plans or goals for July?

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24 thoughts on “June Reflection”

  1. Ohh congrats for being productive blogging wise ! Hopefully you’ll manage to keep the bloghopping backlog as few as possible, ahah; aswell as keep the scheduling habit xx

    Wow, LOTS of books read too, you did a good job with getting on top of arcs 👏🏼 Hah- so you dnfed please send help too, eh .. man, I have in mind of coming back to it eventually but for the time being I just couldn’t get through it.

    July have a bunch of events !! We’ll see eachother for #BESummer 🙂 Goodluck for it and nanowrimo xx

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  2. I read seven books this month and the best books I’ve read was PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING. I’m planning to read more and write more blogposts in July!

    I hope your July goes fine too 😊

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  3. ahh, congrats on being part of the Jade War blog tour! I was supposed to join, but participants had to be 18+ so I just :(. I am so happy for everyone who got selected though, and I am so excited to read Jade City! also, i read Spin the Dawn in June, and let me tell you that it did not disappoint! as for my favorite read from June, it was The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf.

    I hope your July is amazing!

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    1. thanks Caitlin! that sucks that you weren’t eligible for the blog tour, but I hope you get to read and enjoy both Jade City & Jade War soon 💕 and I’ve been meaning to read The Weight of Our Sky, I’ve heard so many good things about it!

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  4. Please just kick me if I don’t get into gear by like Wednesday, I am looving Priory but keep panicking when I look at my other July reads. I need you motivation, and uhhhh please play this and record it, this sounds amazing just from the little youtube vid/tutorial. I cannot wait to read your review on Jade War, and thanks so much for including my post in your reflection! You and I were apparently on fire for reading this month, and I’m so glad you read Ignite the Stars, because it’s near the top of my backlist tbr! [Also, yaaaaas Book Ending Summer is upon us!!!]

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    1. haha no worries about Priory, it’s definitely a marathon not a sprint! if I can drag myself out to the far end of campus where they actually have pianos I may continue to practice the song and record it, but we’ll have to see 😅

      you’re very welcome for including your post (it was an awesome one, how could I not), Ignite the Stars was even better the second time I read it, and Jade War is pretty great so far 😉 I’m glad you had a great reading month too, and I hope it continues in July!

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  6. All the best for Camp Nano!
    And I love your BE Summer prompts – I’m probably gonna do at least one of them!

    The best book I read in June is probably the Priory – maybe because I was just so excited about it?
    Also, I can’t wait for you and Haley to finish it so we can all discuss it!

    Hope you have an amazing July!

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  7. Woooo for being a productive bean and also adulting looks hard, so tips hat to you you’ll do grand I’m sure Izzy. Best read of June lmao I’m gonna pick three because I can: American Panda, Frost Blood and Eliza and Her Monsters (special shout out to Trail of Lightning) and basically I read last month, so I have books to screech about again haha.

    BEsummer shall be a blast wheeeee so glad you decided to join up to be a host and I hope you have an awesome July ❤

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  8. Yaay for getting on top of your book blogging backlog and pre-writing posts!
    Oof I read Vol. 1 of The Umbrella Academy in June too after binge watching the show and wow was it a cringey disappointment. I gave it like 2 stars.
    SO PSYCHED FOR BE SUMMER, today is my last day hosting though 😢
    And thank you so much for including my post! 💞😘

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    1. you’re very welcome for including your post (I’m guessing this is Charvi but WP did a rude thing and made you anonymous), the Umbrella Academy comics are definitely super different from the show and I like the show more as well, and BE Summer is definitely gonna be tons of fun!

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  10. Oh, I’m so behind on my blog-hopping (as you can probably tell!), but I’m so glad you’re caught up. Having a clean inbox is one of my goals this tidyathon!!
    Also, YAAAY!! You’ve moved out!! I’m so excited for you!! No more annoying roommates (hopefully) 💕

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