My Goings On in July:
- We started out the month by celebrating my son’s birthday (and his cousins’). All of the kids did indoor skydiving, which was a blast!
- But the most exciting thing that happened in July is that we had Carmen, a Spanish exchange student with us for three weeks. We did SO MANY fun things while she was here. Take a look at the pictures below to give you an idea of what July was like with her around! (If you want to see the sign about what I term the “toxic waterfalls” click here.)
- I continued the first class toward my copyediting certificate at UC San Diego.
- Carmen was a big fan of manga and anime, so she introduced us to a couple new anime series. We watched the entire Special A series while she was here and started watching Maid Sama. It was fun to share this pastime with her! We also listened to lots of Nightcore music and she learned that crazy dance parties are a regular occurrence in our household. (I’m sorry, America, I think we made American families look more than a little crazy!)
Most Popular Posts:
June Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway
July Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway
Audiobook Acceleration. Let’s Discuss (and a poll)
Other Features & Discussions:
Top Ten Books that Took Me Abroad
My 2016 Reading Progress:
Still 30 books ahead on my Goodreads goal. It’s been a good reading year!
July 2016 Reviews
Since I was so incredibly busy in July, I didn’t get as much up on the blog, but here’s what I did manage to review:
- Defending Taylor by Miranda Kenneally | Review | Rating: 4/5
- The Siege by Mark Alpert | Review | Rating: 4/5
- Sunborn Rising: Beneath the Fall by Aaron Safronoff | Review | Rating: 4/5
- Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty| Review | Rating: 4/5
- Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
- Reliquary by Sarah Fine | Review | Rating: 3.5/5
- How to Keep Rolling After a Fall by Karole Cozzo | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
- Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things by Martina McAtee | Review | Rating: 4/5
- Dark Dreams and Dead Things by Martina McAtee | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
- Supergirl at Super Hero High by Lisa Yee | Review | Rating: 4/5
July Best of the Bunch:
The Best of the Bunch meme is hosted over at Cocoon of Books and encourages us to pick our favorite book of the month! I use books I reviewed this month for this meme, rather than books I read.
Again, I had a hard time deciding between these two books because they’re so completely different:
Reading Challenges:
Status: 24/49 Discussions posted
Well, this was NOT a good month for discussions. Since they’re the most time-consuming (and thought-consuming) posts to write, I couldn’t manage it during this busy month!
Audiobook Acceleration
I Dream in YA!
The Perils of Growing a Bigger Blog
Is Celibacy Shaming a Thing?
Fun with Spam!
#BEA16 Day One Wrap-Up & Giveaway!!
#BEA16 Day Two Wrap-Up & Jennifer Niven Holding Up the Universe Giveaway!!
#BEA16 Day Three Wrap-Up and Giveaway
Do Stats and Reports Help You?
Do Author Bios Ever Make You Want to Read a Book?
BEA is Coming Soon! What You Need to Know. (BEA Tips)
A Completely Useless (but kind of fun) Bookish Infographic
The Series Dilemma
Sometimes You Just Need to Disappear for a Little While
How Much Do You Read?
The Fine Line Between “Inspired By” and “Copycat”
Can Book Blogging Lead to a Job
Some Books Just Aren’t All That Memorable
Books that Intimidate Us
2015 End of Year Book Survey
Replying to Comments on Older Posts
What Blogging Has Done to My Bookshelves
What Type of YA MC Would You Be?
Culling the TBR
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts at Midnight
Status: 3/5 Books Read
None this month.
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Shooting Stars Mag
Status: 13/12 Books Read
I passed up my goal!
Rebel of the Sands is a fantasy set in something along the lines of Persia (mixed with the Wild West)
How to Keep Rolling After a Fall features a character who is paralyzed from the neck down
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Chasing Faerytales & Read Sleep Repeat
Status: 10/21-30 Books Read
Um, I’m failing at this challenge. Nothing new this month.
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Chapter Break, Second Run Reviews & Bookworm Brandee
Status: 5/12 Series Finished
None. Though, I think technically, according to the rules, I could count the Dead Things Series because I’ve read all of the books in the series so far.
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Love at First Page
Status: 6/9-10 New Series
Nothing. Sigh.
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Lisa Loves Literature
Wrap-Up Round-Up!
Don’t forget to link your July wrap-up posts up to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up! And check out the giveaway, which will be posted right here on FYFA on the 8th!
Ooh an exchange student, so fun. What a fun month you had 🙂 Sorry you’re failing our challenge LOL I’ve only read one book for it this month.
I’ve had good intentions, but BEA and other review books have just completely taken over. I do plan to do a readalong of the Shatter Me series later this month, so that will be ONE book (I only own the first one). Sigh.
Wow looks like a fun month with indoor skydiving(had no idea that was a thing) and all the things you did with your exchange student. I loved How to Keep Rolling After a Fall too. Hope you have a great August!
Yes, indoor skydiving is a relatively new thing. The kids said it was great fun! I haven’t tried it myself (though I did go actual skydiving when I was in my twenties!).
Oh, wow. You and your family had quite a month! So much fun and outdoor activities. And on the reading front, you did splendidly well summer family fun notwithstanding. I hope your August will be just as fun filled, and good luck with your studies!
Thanks – I think August is going to be back to the grindstone, but that’s okay!
It looks like you had a great July, and that’s awesome that Carmen was able to share some anime that she enjoyed! I’m hoping to make it to the Renaissance Fair near me this year. I went last year but early in the season and it was SO HOT. I think I need to find a good weekend in October to go this time around. haha
And OMG INDOOR SKYDIVING! This is one my bucket list. Could you let me know where you went?
I don’t think there’s a place near me…
-Lauren
There’s an indoor skydiving place in Rosemont, IL (near O’Hare airport). It’s called iFly, I believe. The kids loved it! You actually only go in for like a minute or two at a time because that’s all you can typically handle at first – there are different packages for how many times you go in. The best part was at the end when they went up to the very top and spun around and did some other cool stuff with the instructor holding them!
I’ve always wanted to try indoor skydiving! And wow, you really did do a lot of fun stuff while Carmen was around, but that’s awesome! I still remember your mention of the toxic waterfalls lol. But are you kidding? I think you made American families look FUN! I would’ve loved if my family had random, crazy dance parties, haha.
Our family is sometimes over the top crazy, but we definitely have fun! I think Carmen actually loved that. 🙂
I want to go to iFly here in Toronto… well, Mississauga actually. Looks epic! Glad you had a busy month, personally and bookish. Happy August!
My kids absolutely adored iFly! I didn’t do it – but I did real skydiving back when I was in my twenties – now that was a rush!
Sounds like you had a fun month! I’m really looking forward to reading Rebel of the Sands 🙂
Rebel was a really nice surprise for me – I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did.
That collage is fantastic, and you all look like have so much fun! I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Rebel of the Sands – I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it too.
We had a fantastic month with Carmen! We were very sad to see her go.