i've read so many books simply for their beautiful covers and been sorely disappointed in the actual quality of the book 😭 has anyone else had this experience? and with what books?

Guess what time it is!! That’s right, it’s the end of the month (and the middle of the year?!?!?) so I am here to yearn for your monthly stats as usual!! How did everyone’s month go? Did you start the summer readalong yet? Did you enjoy the Pride Special Event?

My month started out slow, but i managed to still read a good amount, so I didn’t end up with a bad reading month at all! I’m already 3/4 books into the summer readalong, which is quick even for me! I ended up reading Harriet Tubman Live in Concert for the Pride Event since I already read Ace of Spades, and really enjoyed that!

As always, I have a little template prepared for you guys! I know that we have all our stats on our profiles now, but I find this to be a bonding moment haha! If you want and have the time you can also tell me some mid-year stats 👀

books in total: favorite(s): least favorite: most surprising: longest read: shortest read: excited for in June:

I'll leave my own stats in the comments!!

I use Giphy, cuz it's the only one working for me. If I paste a link from Tenor or other sites, the gif doesn't appear. It'd be a blank space.

I am so annoyed, LOL. We pay so much for books + shipping (especially as an INTL reader), and 8 times out of 9 the books come damaged in some way because whoever is doing the packaging just doesn't care. I'm not talking about some kind of unforeseeable shipping mishap - I'm talking about completely inappropriate packaging with no protection. Big, empty boxes where the books just fly around during shipment, packaging that snags on dust jackets, zero protection for the books... It's really sad. I ordered the special signed edition of The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones from Waterstones--a book retailer!--and the dust jacket arrived completely bunched up and nearly torn. I'm hoping keeping it snug between stacks of books will help fix it somewhat. But, like, why 😭 Also, feel free to vent your horror stories!

Mark your calenders to get free books from indie authors!

During Stuff Your E-Reader events, indie authors make the download of their book free or reduce the price to 0.99. To make sure you won't miss anything, set a reminder in your calender for the ones you're interested in (srsly, you will forget otherwise, speaking from experience)

🗓️ July Events:

• 8th-11th: Indie Author‘s Collective: Something Strange, A Sci-Fi & Dystopian Book Blast 🪐
• 8th-9th: The Indie Author Hive‘s All-Genre Buzzfest 🐝
• 16th-18th: Indie Visible's Anything Goes Event 📚
• 17th-18th: Stuff With Fantasy's Summer Solstice ☀️
• 23rd: Cozy Mystery Book Blasts's Sumer Promotion 🌴
• 24th-26th: Indie Romantasy Reads 🐉
• 28th: Romance Book Lovers 💛
• 29th: Wren Reading Summer Heart Book Blast 🏖️

Please always consider leaving a review for the books since most of these indie authors are giving you their work for free and doing the events with the purpose of getting some publicity!

Happy reading!

(Disclaimer, some of the books are only available on amazon, but a lot of authors also offer the same in other online stores like Kobo, so you don’t have to necessarily use Amazon!)

This is giving me PS, I love you vibes and I know I’m going to ugly cry

I quite enjoy learning new words. I like words that can be fun to say, and I like words with deep meanings as well.

Sonder - the profound realization that every random stranger is living a life as vivid, complex, and central to them as your own is to you.

Grotesque - describes something that is unnaturally odd, bizarre, or hideously distorted in shape or appearance.

Petrichor - pleasant, earthy, and fresh scent that fills the air when rain falls on dry soil.

Fracas - A noisy quarrel. A brawl.

Fiddle-faddle - Trivial matters.

I have a bunch of other words that I enjoy, but these were the ones I could think of right now. Are there any words that you like? Words that may be difficult to understand or words you just like saying? Words that you wish would be used more?

Right, it cannot just be me who goes into slumps during the summer. 😅

Summer in general is the worst time of the year for me. I hate the vibes and I most definitely hate the heat. And this season makes reading unenjoyable for me 🤣

For me, the perfect reading session has to be when it is dark outside despite it only being 6pm and you have to wrap yourself in heavy blankets for warmth. I love reading when I’m laying in bed with my blankets and pillows, with a pumpkin spice candle beside my bed. 🎃 And for this, autumn and winter are for sure my favourite reading seasons. I also prefer the vibes a whole lot more. And for me, I need to be content with my environment to be able to enjoy reading. If I’m sweaty and overheating, I will most definitely not enjoy my book as I will be too focused on the feeling of my skin heating up 😫

I’m curious to see if anyone else goes into reading slumps during certain seasons!