Month: July 2021

June in Review

/ Kristi / Leave a comment

I read 16 books last month, which beat my old record by 2 books. It does not beat my record for actual reading done in a month, since many of the books last month were fairly short. My daughter gifted me a month of Kindle Unlimited for my birthday, so I’ve been using it to get through the list I’d been collecting of books I can only read on KU (if I don’t want to buy them) as I can in a month. That list is mostly comprised of a couple of series I read back in the late 90s as a teenager and really wanted to revisit, and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the trip back in time. I was also sick in the last couple of weeks and spent a few days just laying in bed, which allowed for extra reading time. What’s really impressive is that I managed to keep up with the reviews as well as I did, since for a week or so, between those shorter books and audiobooks, I was finishing a book a day. I’m caught up now (with only one that will get posted later) and have already slowed down on reading, due to work picking back up, even though I still have KU for another couple of weeks. Now my goal is to make sure to at least finish the 2 series I started in KU before the month is up and I have to wait for the next time I decide to buy a month.

Here are the books I read in June:

elwes
rabbits
Cooper 8
P&P
PHM
widows-1
cassie-1
echo-1
cassie-2
monk-3
compass
cassie-3
asoue-1
echo-2
pd2
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cassie-4
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As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes & Joe Layden (5 / 5)
Rabbits by Terry Miles (2 / 5)
Mayday at Two Thousand Five Hundred by Frank E. Peretti (4 / 5)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (4 / 5)
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (5 / 5)
The Widows of Champagne by Renee Ryan (3 / 5)
No More Broken Promises by Angela Elwell Hunt (5 / 5)
Welcome to Vietnam by Ellen Emerson White (4 / 5)
A Forever Friend by Angela Elwell Hunt (5 / 5)
Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu by Lee Goldberg (2 / 5)
The Compass by Tyler Scott Hess (2.5 / 5)
A Basket of Roses by Angela Elwell Hunt (4 / 5)
The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (3.5 / 5)
Hill 568 by Ellen Emerson White (5 / 5)
Princess in the Spotlight by Meg Cabot (4 / 5)
A Dream to Cherish by Angela Elwell Hunt (review pending)

This list includes 3 ARCs and 6 re-reads. My favorite book from June was Project Hail Mary. I started 3 series, continued 3 series, and finished (or caught up on) 3 series*. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

*This includes 2 series that I did not reach the end of but decided not to continue reading, after being 2 books into the series.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: Princess in the Spotlight

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Princess in the Spotlight
The Princess Diaries #2
by Meg Cabot
read by Anne Hathaway

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: YA contemporary fiction

Mia Thermopolis really just wants to be a normal NYC high school student. But as the crown princess of a small European country, she has to deal with primetime interviews and princess lessons instead. Then her mother drops a bombshell on her, and Mia begins receiving letters from a secret admirer. Will it all be too much to handle?

Boy, Mia sure does like to complain. I mean, I get that she has a lot going on, but it seems like every diary entry starts with her exclaiming about how something terrible has happened. And yet, I still enjoyed the book. It did get a little much when she made such a huge deal out a really low temperature when she got sick, and I couldn’t tell if she was exaggerating or if she/the author really thinks that a 100-degree temperature is really a big deal.

I think what keeps all of this from making the story annoying is the writing style. Things move quickly, the writing is easy to read (or in my case, listen to), and Anne Hathaway does a great job with the narration (I mean, she basically is Mia anyway). I can’t say I love the way Mia seems to treat her best friend, considering that she almost never shares any big news with Lily, leaving her to find out some other way. Lily gives as good as she gets, though; it’s a wonder these two are friends. Lest this review sound like a negative one, though, the book is fun and feels like a real diary from a teenager around the beginning of the millennium.

Find out more about Princess in the Spotlight

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!

Book Review: Hill 568

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Hill 568
Echo Company #2
by Ellen Emerson White (as Zack Emerson)

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: YA historical fiction

Spoiler notice: The following review will contain some spoilers for the first book in the series, Welcome to Vietnam.

Now that Michael Jennings has been in Vietnam for a whole whopping not-quite two weeks, the sergeant asks him to walk point, the most dangerous job in the squad. To make things worse, the entire battalion is grouping up for a full-scale assault of a fortified hill. Fighting sleep deprivation, jungle rot, grief over their recent loss, and pure terror, Michael and the other guys from his squad will do what they have to, because what other choice to they have?

Even after reading the first book in the series recently, which I did like, I was still surprised at how much this series stuck with me since I read it as a teenager. But after reading this second book, I understand more of what I saw in it back then. The characters really begin to come into their own in this story—not just Michael, but also his friends and even at least one guy that pretty much hates Michael (the feeling is mutual). I really loved Michael and Snoopy reading Michael’s letter from his mom together—and then re-reading it. Michael, who almost prides himself on being antagonistic, especially to authority figures, just can’t seem to suppress his good principles, and it makes for some really touching scenes. Even the stilted narration is growing on me—it seems to add to the atmosphere of terror and uncertainty.

The book is still very dark; it’s written for teens, but certainly doesn’t pull many punches regarding the horrors of war—this war in particular. As with the previous book, there is definitely some language in it, but probably still not as much as adult books about the same subject would have. I’m highly anticipating continuing this series now.

Find out more about Hill 568

See what I’m reading next.

If you’ve read any of this series, or read any in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!