My Goings On in May:
- I went to the SCBWI Marvelous Midwest writing conference! I learned a lot and found some great inspiration. One of these days I’ll manage to post a recap.
- I attended an online class on verse novels taught by Cordelia Jensen.
- I started a new editing project, a book called Momoire by Alyssa DeRose.
- School finished up, so the kids are all now home for the summer. That means track season is done for Danielle, but she’s back to club swimming for the summer (she’s not so sure about it now that she’s taken so much time off–she’s definitely got a lot of catching up to do).
- My mom and I started volunteering at Bernie’s Book Bank, which has been a great experience!
- Things I watched:
- My family got Lego Movie 2 from the library. It was really cute and we all enjoyed it! (Though I think we all still prefer the first one.)
- I continued watching Game of Thrones, I’m still on season 4, and it’s been pretty much impossible to avoid spoilers from the final season. But I’m still looking forward to seeing how it all comes about!
- I’ve been watching the new season of The 100!
Features & Discussions:
May 2019 Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway
“Other Stuff” I Like Reading About on Your Book Blog. Let’s Discuss.
Have Books Ruined Me for Movies? Let’s Discuss.
The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos: Excerpt & Giveaway
All the Little Checkboxes Confuse Me!! Let’s Discuss.
May 2019 Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up & Giveaway
My 2019 Reading Progress:
I’ve read 82 books so far this year (19 of them in May), which puts me 20 books ahead of schedule.
May 2019 Reviews
- Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum | Review | Rating: Absolutely Addicted!
- Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos | Review | Rating: Devoured It
- Shipwreckers by Scott D. Peterson & Josh Pruett | Review | Rating: Devoured It
- The Truth About Leaving by Natalie Blitt | Review | Rating: Fed My Addiction
- City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab | Review | Rating: Fed My Addiction
- The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa | Review | Rating: Fed My Addiction
- Educated by Tara Westover | Review | Rating: Devoured It
- Shred Girls by Molly Hurford | Review | Rating: Fed My Addiction
- No Place Like Here by Christina June | Review | Rating: Fed My Addiction
May Best of the Bunch:
(Best of the Bunch is hosted over at Cocoon of Books. We link up our favorite reads of the month!)
For my MG favorite, I decided on Planet Earth Is Blue, just because it’s such a unique and important POV. For YA, I chose Hope and Other Punchlines. Once again, the subject matter is what took this book from wonderful to utterly fantastic!
2019 Reading Challenges/Goals Progress:
Progress: 11/21-30 Discussions (Chatty Kathy)
Three discussions posted this month!
All the Little Checkboxes Confuse Me!!
Have Books Ruined Me for Movies?
“Other Stuff” I Like Reading About on Your Book Blog.
I Want to Post It NOW! (AKA One Reason I Almost Never Blog Ahead.)
I’m Addicted to Exclamation Points!!
The Challenge of Running a Successful Meme (or Challenge!)
How Much Is Too Much? Sometimes Life Is Stranger Than Fiction.
Why Audiobooks Are Important.
Bookworm Confession: Swag Isn’t My Thing.
Why I Love the Book Blog Discussion Challenge (Even When I Fail)
Things I Learned About Fairy Tales By Reading the Grimm’s Versions
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts at Midnight
Progress: 2/12 Classics Read
Well, at least I finished Catcher in the Rye this month.
19th Century Classic
20th Century Classic – Catcher in the Rye
Classic by a Woman Author
Classic in Translation – Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Classic Comic Novel
Classic Tragic Novel
Very Long Classic
Classic Novella
Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean)
Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia)
Classic From a Place You’ve Lived
Classic Play
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Books and Chocolate
Progress: 34/48 Library Books Read
Only two books from the library this month:
Educated by Tara Westover
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
Earlier books for this challenge:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Twilight by Joss Whedon, Brad Meltzer, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Retreat by Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Last Gleaming by Joss Whedon, Scott Allie & Georges Jeanty
Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for You by Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate by Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Time of Your Life by Joss Whedon, Jeph Loeb, & Georges Jeanty (reread)
Winter by Marissa Meyer (audio)
Stars Above by Marissa Meyer (audio)
Far From You by Lisa Schroeder
Rebound by Kwame Alexander
The Color of Lies by CJ Lyons (audio)
A Friendly Town That’s Almost Always by the Ocean! by Kir Fox
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (audio, reread)
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (audio, reread)
Cress by Marissa Meyer (audio, reread)
Fairest by Marissa Meyer (audio)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon & Georges Jeanty (reread)
The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondō & Yuko Uramoto
We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan & Brian Conaghan
The Lonely Ones by Kelsey Sutton
The Language Inside by Holly Thompson
Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels by J. Warner Wallace
Slayer by Kiersten White
Oblivion by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release by Patrick Ness
The Whispers by Greg Howard
Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd
Solo by Kwame Alexander & Mary Rand Hess
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Angel’s Guilty Pleasures
Progress: 4 (~1 Connect 5 per month)
My May Theme: Murder
Release – The subplot of this book involves a girl who was murdered by her drug-addicted boyfriend and then … well, then it gets sort of weird and complicated because her spirit is hijacked by some sort of spirit queen and … yeah, it gets complicated.
Smoke and Key – Most of this book revolves around Key trying to figure out the circumstances of her life and death (while in the afterlife). Needless to say, she didn’t die of natural causes.
The Color of Lies – When Ella finds out that her parents’ deaths may not have been an accident, her life is turned upside down.
The Library at Mount Char – This book starts with the disappearance/murder of Carolyn’s father (who’s basically God?). And then lots more murderiness follows.
The Wise and the Wicked – I can’t really say much about the murder in this book because … spoilers. But trust me when I say murder is involved.
(NOTE: I haven’t reviewed The Library at Mount Char or The Wise and the Wicked on the blog, but they are 2019 reads!)
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Book Date
Progress: 3/12 Books Read
I’m behind, but I finished Girl Against the Universe at the last second (yesterday). And I’m doing a readalong of Truthwitch with Danielle Hammelef right now, so that one will be read in June!
- Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (2016)
- The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner (2016)
- Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab (2017)
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (2015)
- Winter by Marissa Meyer (2015)
- Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (2015)
- UnBound by Neal Shusterman (2015)
- Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes (2016)
- Geekerella by Ashley Poston (2017)
- History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (2017)
- Every Last Breath by Jennifer Armentrout (2015)
- Alienated by Melissa Landers (2014)
Alternates:
- The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis (2016)
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973)
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Roof Beam Reader
My bookish resolutions for 2019:
- Write the first draft of new MG. I’m working on it! (Slowly.)
- Read 1 review book for every 1 that I receive. Ugh! I’m moving in the wrong direction here. I got twelve books for review this month!! Double yikes! (In my defense, three of them were surprises I got at the end of the month.) Which means, so far in 2019 I’ve received 38 books for review. I’ve read/reviewed 35, so now I’m three behind!!
- Read at least 6 books on the craft of writing. I’m way behind on this. I’ve only read 1!! (But I have been going to conferences and taking classes and reading other materials besides books, so I guess it’s not so bad.)
- Read at least 12 books written in verse. (Since I’m writing my next book in verse.) None this month, but 7 so far!
Query 50 agents. Or get an agent. ? (I was a wimp and I only queried 12 agents in 2018. At that rate, I might get an agent in like 2050.)Crossed this one off in February when I signed with East/West Literary!! Will I leave it here, crossed-off, for the rest of the year? I just might.
Non-bookish resolution for 2019:
(This one doesn’t count for the challenge, but I’m putting it here so it’s with my other stuff and I’ll hopefully pay attention to it.)
- Work out 3 times per week. I’ve kept this up in May, for the most part. Not sure if I got three every single week, but I was working out pretty consistently (thanks to episodes of Game of Thrones).
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Because Challenges Make Reading More Fun
Wrap-Up Round-Up!
Don’t forget to link your May wrap-up posts up to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up. And enter the giveaway!
You are going stellar on your reading! 19 This month is great.
I think it’s the most I’ve read in quite a while!
You are so organised. Love the murder Connect 5, I try to avoid murder in books so not likely to do that one! I am not sure when I will pick up Hope and Other Punch Lines but I now have it sitting on my shelf ready to read. I was so taken by Three Little Things – a new to me author I am adopting!
Ha! I find it funny when someone calls me organized because I am SO not. But I’ll just sit back and pretend. 🙂
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed Hope and Other Punchlines. I need to get to this one! Congrats on signing with East/West Literary. That’s exciting news!!
Thanks, Crystal!! I’m (obviously) very excited to be part of the East/West Lit family!
Hope and Other Punch Lines was one of my best for the month as well. Buxbaum can do no wrong by me. I adore her books.
Totally agree with you. She’s a favorite for me now as well.
Yeah, I don’t know how anybody avoids GoT spoilers. Some of the final season’s episodes were spoiled on Twitter before the public even saw them. I hope the kids have a good break. Happy June!
I’ve pretty much realized it was an impossible task. When the season was ending, it was EVERYWHERE on the internet.
wow doing great on your challenges. i havent even made the initial post on at least one of mine. ‘hanging my head’
That’s why I include them in my wrap-up every month. Keeps them in my mind.
I am so interested in that novels in verse class you took! What sort of things did you learn and were you satisfied with the class overall? I have to admit that as a poet who likes narrative poetry, I am curious about that for of storytelling. I haven’t seen lego movie 2 and am not sure I want to? I randomly enjoyed the first one so much but the trailer doesn’t make it look as good DD: I am glad you all liked it though!
I thought it was really good. It was only a half-day class, but we went over white space, word choice, central theme, and plot. (Maybe a few other things too? I’ll have to look back at my notes.) If you’re interested, she has a 6-week class starting up on the 12th where she’ll go over everything more in depth. The class is through The Writing Barn.
There are so many books I need to add to my TBR now!
These posts are dangerous! 🙂
I’m glad you had a nice time at the conference. Ooh where did you take that online class? I think a writing class would be awesome to take sometime!
-Lauren
I took that class through The Writing Barn. They have lots of online classes. They range from half-day classes to six-month courses. I’d definitely check it out!
May has been full of nice events ! Holy wow, 20books ahead is a LOT! Quite impressive!
38 books received.. holy hell ? three behind ain’t all so bad! Look at all you’ve read already!
Happy summer break with your kids! And may your June be good to you ?
Oh, and I realized I was behind on reporting NetGalley and Edelweiss books, so the number is actually higher than 38. It’s kicked me in the pants to Keep Reading!!
Sounds like May was a full month for you. I love that you and your mom are volunteering together. And I remember a couple weeks ago even more of the family joined in! 🙂 I’m really excited to read Buxbaum’s latest. I was going to check my library for it but Sam (We Live and Breathe Books) offered to send me her physical copy! Book friends are the best. 🙂
Oh, that’s awesome! I really should put a post on my blog with some physical copies I have to give away for the cost of postage. I considered doing Books for Trade, but I never actually manage it—it just seems too complicated most of the time.
Oooh, the online class about novels in verse, sounds really interesting. But I’m not much of a poet. So not sure if that’s something I’d ever be able to do. I’m ahead on my reading, but not anything else, like writing or projects. Hope to read the one I won from you and maybe do a partner review if we can, but maybe in July! Have a great June!
I’d love to do that! I’ll have to have you write the first round of feedback since it’s been so long since I’ve read it now, and (of course) I didn’t write any notes for myself. 🙂
Yay for summer time! We have one more week of school here. I really want to read your best of the bunch books as I know if you loved them, I will too. Truthwitch is addictive! Thanks for the readalong chance.
I’m glad we’re doing the readalong, but sorry I’m a horrible readalong coordinator!
[…] Five Murder Books […]