Happy Sunday and last day of June, everyone! It was bit of a scorcher during the second half of June where I live. Thankfully we have every so slightly cooler weather right now, though not by much. Anyway, as you might’ve guessed, it’s time for my June 2024 Book Blog Wrap-Up. Below I do a quick recap of reviews I posted and my blog statistics. Plus I even include a little bit of non-bookish content at the end. Now, let’s get on with the June 2024 Book Blog Wrap-Up!
Book Reviews
I posted four book reviews in June. From earliest to latest they are:
- Belly Woman by Benjamin Black
- The Mirror of Simple Souls by Aline Kiner
- The Big Freeze by Natalie Lampert
- The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson
Blog Statistics
Every month I share some statistics from Google Analytics because I think it helps put expectations into perspective for other micro-bloggers like me who are out there. These statistics are from Google Analytics 4.
My top five posts for total page views, as of yesterday afternoon, are:
- Book Review: Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer Armentrout: 683 views
- Arthurian Retellings Reading List: 495 views
- Book Review: Assistant to the Villain by Heather Maehrer: 463 views
- ARC Review: Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig: 309 views
- Book Review: The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake: 268 views
I’m now up to 192 followers. Thanks to the newcomers for joining! This means I’m 8 followers away from my goal of 200 in 2024!
#BeattheBacklog
I finished two books for this challenge: ABHORSEN by Garth Nix and RESISTANCE WOMEN by Jennifer Chiaverini. I’ve had both books on my shelves prior to 2024. I also might’ve had EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid since 2023 as well, so let’s throw a third one in here, too.
Other Bookish Items
I finished eight books in June:
- ADELAIDE by Genevieve Wheeler
- BELLY WOMAN by Benjamin Oren Black (blog tour)
- LESLIE F*CKING JONES by Leslie Jones (audiobook)
- DIARY OF A VOID by Emi Yagi
- ABHORSEN by Garth Nix
- RESISTANCE WOMEN by Jennifer Chiaverini (audiobook)
- EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid (audiobook)
- YOU ARE HERE by David Nicholls
I decided to take some time off from reading fantasy. I felt a bit of a slump coming on and a genre change was just what I needed. As you can tell by the list above, I read all sorts of different things. I even read a few books from my own shelves, some of which I plan to offload.
I DNF an ARC this month. It was only the second one I’ve ever decided to DNF. I felt a little guilty about wanting to do so, but at the end of the day I don’t want reading to feel like a chore. I request ARCs with the best of intentions and, unfortunately, they won’t always work out for me.
If you missed it, I curated a list of Anticipated Third Quarter Book Releases in 2024.
I finally found a B&N edition of THE BALLAD OF NEVER AFTER by Stephanie Garber at a price point I could tolerate. Originally sold for $20, most resale copies start at $90 or, if you’re lucky, at $70. So I was thrilled when I opened the PangoBooks app at the right time and found a copy for $30. I thought that was fair since these apps take a commission from each sale. Now I have a complete matching trilogy to read! I don’t read much YA these days, but the popularity of this trilogy intrigues me.
Non-Bookish Items
The various peas are done for the season. The heat dome we experienced started to accelerate their decline. So I pulled them out and transplanted some cucumbers in their place. My vegetable plants fared surprisingly well during this heat wave. However, we had to water every day because it barely rained in the second half of June.
In case you missed it, I wrote about why I might seem a little MIA. I’m still going through the regiment of medications leading up to my procedure. At the moment I’m taking it day by day. I’ll take any positive vibes you’re willing to share. 🙂
And that’s that for my June 2024 Book Blog Wrap-Up! See you next time!
Sending all the positive vibes! Hope your procedure goes well.
Thank you so much! <3
Sending good thoughts your way, Celeste! And I’m glad your weather is a little cooler at least. We are headed into a stretch of very hot (90s) days and I’m not looking forward to it????
Thanks, Tammy! We get a nice temp dip tomorrow (high of 80), but later in the week we’re back I. The 90s for 4 days. It’s still a little unusual, but now that we’re heading into July the 90s won’t seem as odd. Stay cool!
Glad the genre change seems to have helped your slump!
Thank you! I’m ready to get back into some fantasy!
Hoping for awesome health for you, Celeste! Also–no idea why WordPress won’t let me follow your blog! I’ve been trying to click it every time I visit your blog, but it won’t let me subscribe. D:
Thank you, Aimee! I’m not sure why the WordPress follow button isn’t working for you. I haven’t changed anything on that front, but I’ll check it out after work. In the meantime, have you tried going to WordPress Reader and adding my site manually? I have to do that sometimes with blogs, especially if they’re not a WP one.
Subscribed manually! <33
Yay, glad it worked! I did see that something happened to the “subscribe by email” Jetpack block that’s under the WP subscribe button. Idk if that affected the WP button? ????♀️
“I DNF an ARC this month. It was only the second one I’ve ever decided to DNF. I felt a little guilty about wanting to do so, but at the end of the day I don’t want reading to feel like a chore.” Ah, DNFing an ARC isn’t a great feeling, I know, but you’ve done the smartest thing. Trying to force yourself to read it wouldn’t have resulted in a super helpful or thoughtful review, so no point!
I hope that your Big Life Thing is going smoothly and that the recovery from that upcoming procedure is as swift and low-pain as possible!
Yea, I definitely felt relieved after DNF that ARC, so I think I made the right decision. I still can’t help but feel a little guilty because I requested it in good faith. BUT not everything can work out! And thank you for the well wishes!