Beneath the Jacket Reviews: monthly

Showing posts with label monthly. Show all posts

Monday, March 2, 2015

February Wrap Up

I have decided to do a monthly wrap up on the blog this year. Yay for new features! In my wrap ups I will discuss the books that I read during that month, their ratings, and share links to their reviews if I have already posted them on the blog. I will also share my most popular posts of the month, and anything excited that happened throughout that month. At the end of the post, I will also include posts from other blogs that I enjoyed from the month. Please let me know if you like this kind of wrap up, and if there is anything else you would like to see in the post!

Number of Books Read: 9
Number of Pages Read: 2,679

Thoughts: February was, again, not a great reading month for me which is quite disappointing. I suppose that it was a shorter month, and reading more books than I did in January is a good improvement, but I'm still not happy with it. Unfortunately, for the last two weeks I have been ill with a sinus infection, so I did not feel much like reading most of the time. I am hoping that my medicine will kick in very quickly and that I will feel more like reading instead of just laying around. March will be better!

The Books:

7. How to Unbreakup by Rebekah L. Purdy | 176 Pages | Published in 2015 | ***** | Review
8. The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau | 336 Pages | Published in 2013 | ***** | Review to Come
9. Loki's Wolves by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr | 358 Pages | Published in 2013 | *** | Review

Thoughts: Clearly I am still on a bit of a contemporary kick because six of the nine books fall into that genre. It will probably follow this same theme throughout most of the year since it is what I read most. I did read some fantasy that was okay, and I really enjoyed The Testing. I cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of the series so that I can read them very soon. I am fairly pleased with my reading this month, though I do think that I am going to try out more fantasy in the coming months. Any suggestions?

What Happened This Month?
This month was not incredibly exciting, like I said earlier I spent most of it ill since it was such a short month and I was sick for about 2+ weeks (sickness is the worst!). I did celebrate one year of blogging, though! I also did get my hair done after six months, and decided to go red. I LOVE it. My husband also took me to a Maroon 5 concert for my Valentine's Day gift, and that was amazing. My formal observation at work was this month as well, and I am anxious to talk to my principal about what he thought of the lesson. I pre-ordered some books, made some banana bread, endured some winter weather, and spent quite a few nights at my parents' house to avoid driving in the ice and traffic mess. Overall, I hope March brings better weather and better health!

Most Popular Post of the Month:
1. January Wrap Up
2. Blog Tour + Giveaway: The Last Order
3. One Year Blogoversary
4. Sleeping Tom Release Day
5. Top Ten Contemporary Books I Haven't Read

Awesome Posts From Other Blogs:
1. Book Bumblings talked about blogging schedules
2. Parajunkee created a book review checklist infographic
3. Nose Graze discussed how to make your blog future proof

That's it for February. Hoping March brings more reading, better weather, and good health! Happy Reading!

Sunday, February 1, 2015

January Wrap Up

I have decided to do a monthly wrap up on the blog this year. Yay for new features! In my wrap ups I will discuss the books that I read during that month, their ratings, and share links to their reviews if I have already posted them on the blog. I will also share my most popular posts of the month, and anything excited that happened throughout that month. At the end of the post, I will also include posts from other blogs that I enjoyed from the month. Please let me know if you like this kind of wrap up, and if there is anything else you would like to see in the post!

Number of Books Read: 7
Number of Pages Read: 2,224

Thoughts: I am not thrilled with the number of books or pages I read this month as I know I can do a lot better than that, especially with a long month like January. I guess I am still in a bit of a slump, and I am hoping that I can snap out of that completely in February. I have stayed on track with my Goodreads' goal so far, though.

The Books:

4. Top Ten Clues You're Clueless by Liz Czukas | 289 Pages | 2014 | 5 Stars

5. Around the Table by Martina McBride | 320 Pages | 2014 | 4 Stars

6. The Problem With Crazy by Lauren K. McKellar | 283 Pages | 2014 | 3 Stars | My Review

7. Defenseless by Elisa Dane | 219 Pages | 2015 | 5 Stars | My Review

Thoughts: Overall, I am fairly happy with the books that I read this month. I have been in a contemporary kick, as it has always been my favorite genre, so there is no surprise that I read 3 from the genre. I am a big fan of the cookbooks that also give stories and plenty of reading material, and I read 2 of those. I was also happy to have 1 science fiction and 1 fantasy, especially since I barely ever read fantasy. Overall the genre break up for this month seems pretty good.

What Happened This Month?

This month meant the end of winter break and going back to work, which means we are in second semester (that much closer to summer break!)
We celebrated New Year's Eve with family, and it was quite a bit of fun.
My Boxing Day Book Outlet order arrived.
I celebrated turning 25.
And I hosted my first Author Spotlight post featuring Sara Raasch!

Most Popular Post of the Month:
1. 25 Books/Series to Read While I'm 25
2. Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Want to Read in 2015
3. Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant to Read but Didn't Get To
4. Top Ten Most Anticipated Debuts of 2015

Awesome Posts From Other Blogs:

Book Bumblings hosted the January Be A Better Blogger
Parajunkee also did a 31 Days of Better Blogging
Stacie and Amanda began their new blog together
Nosegraze talked about the obligations of book bloggers
Jessica celebrated her 6th Blogoversary

Well, there is my January for you. Come back later today to see what I plan to read in February (HINT: hopefully a whole lot more than I read in January!)

Sunday, August 3, 2014

July Wrap-Up

Happy August folks! I honestly cannot believe that July has already come and gone; it seems like it flew by! I guess that's how summer tends to be, though. With August here, that means soon enough I will be back to work. This is actually my last week of freedom before my new teacher orientation and things begin, so I am going to try to enjoy it as much as possible!

Honestly, July was not the best reading month for me. There were several days when I simply did not feel like reading. Because of this, I mostly stuck to reading e-books that I had for review and things like that. I do hope that my reading will pick up again, but it will be interesting to see how things go once I'm back to work.

Alright, enough rambling, here are the books that I read in July, and the ratings that I gave them:

Number of Books Read: 13

Prom Impossible by Laura Pauling - * * *

Broken Worlds by Anitha Robinson - * * *

Four by Veronica Roth - * * * * *

Carrier by Anne Tibbets - * * * * *

Dangerous Dream by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl - * * *

Twilight: The Graphic Novel Vol. 1 by Stephenie Meyer - * * *

Twilight: The Graphic Novel Vol. 2 by Stephenie Meyer - * * * *

New Moon: The Graphic Novel Vol. 1 by Stephenie Meyer - * * *

The Maze Runner by James Dashner - * * * *

The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegel - * * *

Imitation by Heather Hildenbrand - * * * * *

Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican - * * *

Every Ugly Word by Aimee L. Salter - * * * *

I read a lot of great books this month, but I am still disappointed that I did not get to more of the ones I really hoped to read. I am looking forward to a good reading month in August, though!