Blog Tour || Sadie by Courtney Summers || Excerpt + Q&A

Hi lovely readers! I'm so excited to be working with St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books as a part of the blog tour of Sadie by Courtney Summers. I feel extra special to be posting on release day! Happy Book Birthday! Keep reading for an excerpt and a short Q&A with author Courtney Summers. And keep an eye out for a full review coming soon.

August 2018 TBR

I'm trying not to be too ambitious with my August TBR, even though I read a ton of books in July. I'm limiting myself to a few library books, a few TBR shelf books, a couple of re-reads, and a couple of ARCs.

I don't have any plans to participate in any readathons this month, but if there are any you're participating in let me know! I'm always game to attempt a readathon, even though I usually fail, haha.

Since I'm usually a mood reader I don't really take my monthly TBRs too seriously. However, last month I was pretty good at sticking to it. There is only one book on my August TBR that's a carry over that I didn't even start in July. I'm hoping that my motivation from July will carry over this new month.

July 2018 Wrap-Up

This month was a personal best for reading -- eighteen books in one month! I finally got on target for my Goodreads Reading Challenge and as of today, I am actually 12 books ahead of schedule. I am still actually in shock that I was able to read that many books in one month.

It definitely helped that I participated in a couple of readathons this month: Tome Topple and the 24 in 48 readathon. It also helped that a large chunk of those books were rereads of one of my favorite childhood series, the Sammy Keyes series. Those books are pretty fast reads and I listened to a majority of them on audiobook during my walk to and from work. Either way, I'm feeling really good a bout my reading this month!

Unfortunately, blogging fell a little by the wayside this month. I had a particularly stressful month at work and reading became my escape from that, but blogging not so much. I have a couple of reviews queued up for early August and I'm hoping to get a series review in for Sammy Keyes once I finish the last four books in the series.

Without further ado, these are the books I read in July:

Book Review || The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

Publication Date: June 12th, 2018

Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group

Genre: Adult Contemporary

Source: Library

Summary

Esther Ann Hicks--Essie--is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She's grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family's fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. When Essie's mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show's producers: Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia's? Or do they try to arrange a marriage--and a ratings-blockbuster wedding? Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Roarke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own to protect. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their fabricated love story to the media--through exclusive interviews with an infamously conservative reporter named Liberty Bell--Essie finds she has questions of her own: What was the real reason for her older sister leaving home? Who can she trust with the truth about her family? And how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom?

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

My Review

I picked up The Book of Essie because of all the hype it's been receiving in the book review community. It seemed like an interesting read -- a story about a teenage girl, but written for a more adult audience. Even from the synopsis, I knew it was going to be a book dealing with some tough topics. Like everyone else, I immediately thought about that TV show about the religious family with all the kids (you know which one I'm talking about) and was expecting something vaguely superficial but got so much more.

24 in 48 Readathon TBR

Oops, it's been a minute, hasn't it? I've been doing a lot of reading, but not a lot of blogging. I think that's because a lot of my reading has been re-reading, so I don't have as many new books to review. I'm going to catch up on my reviews soon, but not this weekend. Which brings me to the point of this post -- the 24 in 48 Readathon!

This will be my first time participating and I'm super excited! My boyfriend is gone for a majority of the weekend, and as much as I love him, I never get as much reading done when he's around.

There are a few books I'd like to get to, although I think I'm probably being a little ambitious for one weekends worth of reading.

July 2018 TBR

New month, new TBR! Last month was such a good reading month, so I have high hopes for July. I'll be travelling a bit but aside from regular grad school lab work I'll be pretty free to read. That of course means another ambition TBR. I certainly have a habit of setting high expectations for myself. This month

I'll be participating in the Tome Topple read-a-thon, so I made a specific TBR for that. I'll mention those books here, but check out my TBR post for more details. I'm also planning on participating in the 24 in 48 read-a-thon. With both of these read-a-thons this month I really think I'll be able to get to all of these books, and possibly even more. I always like to keep my options open since I tend to be a mood reader.

June 2018 Wrap Up

I started and ended the month on strong notes and I'm now *so close* to catching up to my Goodreads reading challenge goal. I really have a couple of read-a-thons for kicking my butt into gear toward the end of the month. I read seven awesome books, all of them coming in at 4 or 5 stars. I even kind of stuck to my planned June TBR!

This was also the month I came back to book blogging and it's been great coming back to a community that's grown so much in the past few years. I've been hanging around the bookstagram community and I've met and interacted with so many awesome people! In addition to my book review, I've also written about my TBR shelf, my latest obsession with books by and about women in STEM, and wrote up a spotlight on one of my favorite authors! I've also participated in Top 5 Wednesday a couple weeks out of the month, so check out my posts about my favorite fathers/father figures and the books I really want to get to before the year is over.

Read on to see the books I read in June, my ratings, and my reviews, if applicable.