Always Me

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing my sixth update and mini reviews for the  Read Around the World Challenge .  Of the 46 books for the 46 European countries on my original  tbr , I managed to complete 2 in June for a total of 28 completed so far.  You can check out my profile here on the challenge website  here .  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read this month: ❋   ❋  ❋  All-Night Pharmacy  by Ruth Madievsky  wasn't quite what I was expecting it to be.  It's certainly a solid read.  That said, it's a bit weirder than I thought going in.  I especially enjoyed the writing style though.  The description didn't do it justice. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋ Clara's War: A Young Girl's True Story of Miraculous Survival Under the Nazis  by Clara Kramer  is a WWII and Holocaust memoir that wasn't on my radar before I deci...

    Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url.  Welcome back again!  Today, I'm featuring two more favorites from  Geoff Castellucci .  I just heard both of these for the first time recently.  It's not often you hear covers of these songs these days especially this first one, but he has a great voice for the both of them.  Give a listen to Big Bad John  ( original rel...

  Happy Sunday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my sixth update for my June progress on the year long  Beat The Backlist 2025  reading challenge, hosted by  Austine Decker .  You can see my original tbr  here .  In June, I completed 1 book for a total of 22 read so far out of 24 total books on my tbr.  I can't believe I've only got 2 left for my challenge! Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the book I read in June: ❋   ❋  ❋   ❋ I really liked how much this reminds me of The Busy World of Richard Scarry, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Fantastic Mr. Fox (at least the look of the animated film). The art in sequel,  Under Wildwood  ( Wildwood Chronicles  #2) by Colin Melody , is fantastic and the addition of the full color plates really sets it off. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . Are you participating in this challenge?  Have you read this book?  As alwa...

      On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, currently hosted by  Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books , and Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader .  For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.  Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Pride Month 2025  books,  Celestial Monsters  ( The Sunbearer Duology  #2) by Aiden Thomas .  I loved book one of this duology and I can't wait to find out what happens in this sequel/ finale...

  Happy Thursday everyone! Welcome back to  Books from the Backlog , the weekly linkup I'm taking part of which is hosted by  Carole's Random Life in Books .  This is a great way to put a spotlight on books that I've had sitting on my shelf for awhile.  I don't know when I'll get to my weekly featured book, but I hope to some time hopefully soon. This Week's Neglected Book: The Privilege of the Sword ( The World of Riverside #2) by Ellen Kushner Published: July 25, 2006 Genre: YA Fantasy of Manners My Copy: Format: Trade Paperback Pages: 378 Where I Acquired It: Local new and used indie bookstore Summary (From Goodreads): Welcome to Riverside, where the aristocratic and the ambitious battle for power and prestige in the city’s labyrinth of streets and ballrooms, theatres and brothels, boudoirs and salons. Into this alluring and alarming world walks a bright young woman ready to take it on and make her fortune. A well-bred country girl, Katherine knows ...

      Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Most Anticipated Books Releasing In The Second Half Of 2025.  There are a lot of great sounding books coming out, but these are the ones I looking forward to the most of all.  Here we go in order by release date: The Woman in Suite 11 ( Lo Blacklock #2) by Ruth Ware - Release date: July 8th, 2025 - I love this author's style and I can't wait to read her first sequel. The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel ( The Raven Cycle: The Graphic Novels #1) by Stephanie Williams, Maggie Stiefvater, and Sas Milledge  - Release date: July 29th, 2025 - I love the original series and I'm dying to try this adaptation. Hemlock & Silver  by T. Kingfisher  - Release date: August 19th, 2025 - T. Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors and this is her dark retelling of  Snow White , so I can't wait! Katabasis  by R.F. K...

    Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url.  Welcome back again!  Today, I'm featuring two more unexpected radio favorites.  Surprisingly, I've gotten a little hooked on these two.  Give a listen to Doechii's Anxiety and Rose and Bruno Mars' APT. : You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

Happy Sunday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing my Mid-Year Movie Freak Out 2025!  You can check out my  202 1,  2022 ,  2023 , and 2024  list, if you feel so inclined.  If anyone would like to link up with me and share their Mid-Year Movie Freak Out, I'd love to see your answers to the questions.  By the way, the titles are linked to my  Letterboxd  review or their Letterboxd page (and all of these are first time watches).  Without further ado, here we go: 1. Best movie you've watched so far in 2025. Sinners ( 2025 ) - I'd say this is both the best 2025 release I've seen and the best movie I've watched so far this year as well. Plus, it has a fantastic soundtrack and it's quickly become a favorite vampire movie. 2. Best sequel you've watched so far in 2025. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) - I just love Wallace and Gromit, so anytime I have the chance to see them is a good in my opinion.  Plus, bringing back Feath...

          Happy Saturday everyone! Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the book I read in June for  Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Adelia, The Boardgame , an additional challenge to  G. @ Book Roast 's  Magical Readathon .  You can see my full tbr  here .  Without further ado, check out my mini review below: ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ The Wolf's Hour  ( Michael Gallatin  #1) by Robert McCammon  is one wild and action-packed ride. Before this I had never read anything from the author to know what to expect (definitely more graphic that I might have thought), but he kept me hanging on to every word. Think James Bond as a werewolf meets Mission: Impossible and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and you'll have a good idea what this historical urban fantasy horror has in store for you. One thing that I liked more as it went on was the dual storyline of Michael (Mikhail) as a kid after his family has been killed and he...

      On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, currently hosted by  Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books , and Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader .  For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.    Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Pride Month 2025  and  Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge  books,  In Deeper Waters  by F.T. Lukens .  I haven't read anything by this author before, but this sounds like the perfe...

Happy Sunday everyone!  I hope everyone's been doing well this month.  I've now completed 13 total tasks for  Book Riot's 2025 Read Harder Challenge .  I completed two tasks in June which required me to read a   queer mystery and  a queernorm book .    I selected  Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything  by Justine Pucella Winans  and  In Deeper Waters  by F.T. Lukens  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month: ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋ Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything  by Justine Pucella Winans  turned out to be a pleasant surprise of a YA mystery.  I didn't quite know what expect from it, but I really ended up enjoying it. I'll have to read more from this author soon because I really liked their style.  My favorite aspect of this book are the characters and Bianca's own nerdiness and internal narration.  The darker sense of humor also really ...