Monthly Reading Round Up - June 2011

Forgive me for posting these so late and all at once!

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly - Finished June 4th 

4 out of 5 stars

The Duff by Kody Keplinger - Finished June 9th

4 out of 5 stars

Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky - Finished June 12th

3 out of 5 stars

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - Finished June 13th

4 out of 5 stars

Summer and the City by Candice Bushnell - Finished June 14th

3 out of 5 stars

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson - Finished June 19th

3 out of 5 stars

Seers of Light by Jennifer DeLucy - Finished June 24th

4 out of 5 stars

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson - Finished June 28th
3 out of 5 stars

Books Finished: 8

2011 book total: 47

Favorite This Month:I think I'm going to have to say Seers of Light.  I was a little reluctant to read this book because I'm still pretty burned out on paranormal romances', but I really enjoyed this book.  I think I read it in a day or two.  The Duff would probably be my second choice.

Least Favorite This Month: Summer in the City was really a drag for me.  I know it's been a few months since I read this book, but the only thing I can remember about it was that Carrie wanted to date an older man.  I bought this book right away when it came out, but I don't think I will pick up the third book when it comes out.


Other:  I finally picked up the Millennium Trilogy books in June.  While I really loved Lisbeth (she's seriously bad ass), I thought these books were pretty out there.  I found myself rolling my eyes whenever Mikael had sex with every female character in the books.  Regardless, I loved trying to figure out the mysteries of the books and I think had Mr. Larsson not passed away, I would have read everything else from the series because I loved Lisbeth so much.

1 year!

I meant to make a post about my anniversary while I was on vacation, but the hotel we were staying in charged for internet access.  We were gone for 13 days, so I'm pretty behind on making this post but I wanted to say thank you so very, very much to everyone who e-mailed, called or texted me to tell me happy anniversary!  I can't believe it has already been a year!  It feels like it was just yesterday that I was destroying our living room with all of my paper crafts.  

I originally planned on making an epic picture post of Ronnie and I, but he doesn't really read my blog so it will probably be another year before he sees it.  Instead I want to make an epic picture post of all of my friends and family who made it out for our special day.  I love you guys.  You all helped make it one of the most wonderful days of our lives. 

A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.  ~Lois Wyse

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!

Happy Fathers Day!

Via thedisneyprincess

Happy Fathers Day to my Pops, my father-in-law, my Pa, my brother and my brother-in-law!  I love you guys!

Monthly Reading Round Up - May 2011

The Witches Daughter by Paula Brackston - Finished May 1st
3 out of 5 stars


Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz - Finished May 4th
4 out of 5 stars


Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan - Finished May 7th
4 out of 5 stars


The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti - Finished May 17th
4 out of 5 stars


The Passage by Justin Cronin - Finished May 18th
4 out of 5 stars


Bumped by Megan Mccafferty - Finished May 25th
3 out of 5 stars


The Help by Kathryn Stockett - Finished May 27th
5 out of 5 stars


The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes - Finished May 29th
5 out of 5 stars added book to favorites


Books Finished: 8

2011 book total: 39

Favorite This Month: I really, really loved The Brightest Star in the Sky.  I was really reluctant to read it because this book is listed everywhere as "chick-lit"so it sat in my to-be-read pile for months and months, but I'm glad I finally did because I loved this story.  All of the characters were really fleshed out and I found myself really rooting for all of them.  I read some reviews about this book after I finished it and a few people said that this is Marian Keyes' weakest book which kind of surprised me.  I'm definitely going to check out some of her other books after this one.


Least Favorite This Month: I'm sad to say that it was Bumped.  I was so excited for this book to come out because I loved the Jessica Darling series so much.  I even made a reminder on my calendar.  I think the characters were pretty well written and I liked the premise of the book, it was just the end that kind of threw me off.  I know that this book is part of a trilogy, so I get why she did it but I guess it just ended kind of abruptly and weirdly for me.  The Witches Daughter also moved really, really slow for me.  It was a struggle to get myself to finish it.


Other:  I kept reading reviews about how great The Help was, but when I read the back of the book it wasn't something that interested me.  Someone from work suggested it so I decided to finally pick it up and I'm glad I did.  There were a few problems with the book, but it was a quick read and I really enjoyed it.  The Nature of Jade was a really lovely book and it had some beautiful quotes.  Here is one I really liked:

"How does a person stay safe, always? Lock yourself away? You’re looking for a guarantee and there are no guarantees. If you love, you’ll feel loss. You can’t ‘careful’ yourself into avoiding loss. You’re trying to get day without night.” 


Now that I've made it through one of my math classes, my reading has really picked up, I start another one at the end of this month though so I'm sure that there will be a dramatic decrease of reading time in July.