Book Haul|| July.

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Hey!

I don’t have a whole lot to say right now (saving it for my wrap up post), so I am just going to jump right into my July book haul. You can check out a full list of the books that I own over here. There’s links to different pages on my blog that show my e-books and my physical books.

Print Books I Bought:

unraveltheduskbeachreadloveless

Unravel the Dusk by Elizabeth Lim
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Loveless by Alice Oseman

I had originally planned to take my own pictures for the books that I bought, but I’m still waiting on Loveless to be delivered (ordered on Book Depository earlier this month), so instead I’m using book covers from Goodreads. I am really excited to read all three of these books, especially Unravel the Dusk because Spin the Dawn was so so good! There’s so much hype surrounding Beach Read and I hope I love it as much as everyone else seems to be. I’m always scared to read super hyped books, because I don’t always love them like I feel like I’m supposed to lol.


E-Books:

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Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Strung Out by Erin Khar
Camp by L.C. Rosen
Tiny by Kim Hooper

I actually managed not to go really crazy with e-book buying! I tried to really limit myself and only buy books that I planned to read right away. I can’t wait to read these books as soon as possible! I am actually currently reading Strung Out and almost finished with it (I should be finished with it today). I really like it, but it’s so heartbreaking and sad too.

What new books did you get in July? Have you read any of the ones that I got? Feel free to link me to your haul post, so I can check it out!

I should have my July wrap up posted over the weekend or on Monday. I’ve been waiting to post it, because I really want to finish Strung Out, so I can include it in my wrap up. I might also try to read a graphic novel today too. We’ll see what happens! I also plan to catch up with your posts from this week over the weekend as well. 🙂

In case you missed it;
Review|| Boyfriend Material.
Book Tag|| Stuck at Home.
Release Day|| July Releases.

I hope you have a great day and weekend!

ashleyblack

Review|| Boyfriend Material.

boyfriendmaterial

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Description: Wanted: One (fake) boyfriend. Practically perfect in every way. Luc O’Donnell is tangentially–and reluctantly–famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he’s never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything. To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship…and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He’s a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he’s never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened. But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that’s when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don’t ever want to let them go.


I received an ARC of Boyfriend Material from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It was just published earlier this month.

I am so happy that I was able to read Boyfriend Material, because I fell in love with it and the characters instantly. There’s not a big plot as far as this story goes, but that honestly didn’t matter to me when it came to this book. I enjoyed the main characters and all their friends so much and that was what really made me fall in love with the book even if it didn’t have much of a plot.

There were so many laugh out loud moments throughout the entire story and I was living for every single one of them. Luc and Oliver seemed like complete opposites, but I was rooting for them so hard. They “relationship” together was a treat even when Luc kept messing things up over and over again. He’s so angsty and I loved that. Oliver is so posh and proper and it was funny seeing them together. They both had their fair share of baggage, but I loved them together anyway. The banter between them and also with their friends was gold. I also want to point out how much I love Luc’s mom and the fact that she was binge watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, because I’ve been binge watching RuPaul’s Drag Race for three months now and I loved seeing all the references and that I got them LOL.

Overall, Boyfriend Material was cute, hilarious, and had all the feels. There’s so much depth to every single character and it was so much fun to read. I love British humor and this book was a winner to me. I loved this book so much. I highly recommend checking it out!


Unrelated, but kind of related…. I really need to start writing more reviews again, because it was a little difficult to get this one written Not because I didn’t like the book, because clearly I loved everything about it and gave it five stars. It’s just been so long and I’m like “HOW DO YOU DO THIS AGAIN??”. 😛 I think a 2021 goal will be to review more books. I don’t know if I can commit this year. I’m trying though. I have quite a few ARCs I plan to read soon, so I will have reviews coming…fingers crossed, because I’m still stuck in this awful reading slump.

I hope you are doing well and I will be catching up/commenting on your blog posts this weekend if I haven’t already. ❤

In case you missed it;
Book Tag|| Stuck at Home.
Release Day|| July Releases.

I hope you have a great day and weekend!

ashleyblack

Book Tag|| Stuck at Home.

booktag

Hey!

I saw the Stuck at Home Book Tag over on Alexandra’s blog Whimsy Pages and thought it looked really fun to do. You should go check out her blog too! She always makes the best posts and has a great taste in book! 🙂

Rules:

  • Thank the person who nominated you
  • Answer all the questions down below
  • Pingback to the creator: Ellyn @ Allonsythornraxx
  • Nominate 5+ bloggers you’d like to know more about, to do this tag

Questions:

What are you currently reading?

boyfriendmaterial

I am currently reading Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. I am enjoying it so much. I am actually almost done with it and hoping to finally finish it today. Review to come. 🙂


What’s your favorite can’t-leave-the-house activity?

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I should say reading, right? Sadly, that hasn’t been my favorite can’t-leave-the-house activity lately. I really wish that it was, but I am just not reading that much while stuck at home. I can’t seem to focus for very long on books and find myself doing other things. Right now, my favorite activity would have to be playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I’ve also been watching RuPaul’s Drag Race, and within 2.5 months I watched 12 seasons! I can’t believe I watched that many seasons in such a short time. It’s such a great show though and I’m having a lot of fun watching it. I guess you can see part of why I haven’t been reading much.


A book you’ve been meaning to read forever?

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The Young Elites by Marie Lu
Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

 Can I say all the books on my bookshelves? 😛 There’s seriously so many books that I’ve been meaning to read forever and just never got around to it. I guess these would be my top three that I’ve been meaning to read.


An intimidating book on your TBR?

outlander

I think it will forever be Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I’ve been wanting to read this for a while, but the page count terrifies me LOL. I started watching the series and I really like it though, so maybe it’ll give me the push to actually start it?


Top 3 priority books on your TBR?

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More Than This by Patrick Ness
Solitaire by Alice Oseman
The Toll by Neal Shusterman

I should focus on my ARCs and I will, but non-ARC related priority books would have to be these three. I want to finally read these three books before the end of the year. I started More Than This, but couldn’t get into it so I put it down. I want to give it a second chance. Solitaire I’ve been really wanting to read for a while now since I love Heartstopper. And I really want to finish the Arc of Scythe trilogy because I love it so much.


Recommend a short book.

theoutsiders

I will forever recommend reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. It’s such an amazing story for being just under 200 pages! I reread it all the time.


Recommend a long book.

IMAGINARYFRIEND

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky. I loved this book so much. Here is part of my mini review that I wrote about it last year.

“I am not entirely sure how to start this review or how great this review will end up being, because I have no idea what I even read. I say that in the best way possible though, because Imaginary Friend was INSANE, but so good! It was crazy and it kept me on the edge of my seat on every 700+ page! It was weird and it was creepy. I had dreams about this book multiple times throughout reading it. I had no idea what was happening or what the outcome would be and it drove me crazy, haha. I was trying to figure out what was going to happen next and I just couldn’t. I was constantly surprised and hit with so many feels. I shed a lot of tears while reading this story as well as every other feeling you can imagine.”


Something you’d love to do while stuck at home.

Last year we bought a house and I would love to finally buy paint and repaint the inside of the house. We painted three of the bedrooms, but I would love to finally paint all the other rooms in the house, and maybe do some other house projects.


What do you plan on reading next?

felixeverafterstrungoutbeachread

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Strung Out by Erin Khar
Beach Read by Emily Henry

I’m not really sure what I will read next, because there is so many books that I want to read but I’m also in this major reading slump as well, so it’s kind of hard to get into anything. I think I may go with one of these three books as my next read. Have your read any of these? If so, which one should I read first?

As for tagging, I tag everyone that hasn’t done this tag yet and feel free to link me to your post, so that I can check out your answers! 😀


I know I haven’t been the best blogger this year and I really hope that changes soon. I just haven’t really felt in the mood to read or blog as much. I do get on to read your posts at least once a week though. Last month you guys may have seen that I only read one book and so far this month it is looking about the same. So far, I’ve only read one book (hopefully finishing it today) and I listened to one audiobook. I don’t know why, but my head just isn’t there lately. I don’t even sleep at night anymore, which sucks. There will be some days where I don’t even go to sleep until 5am and most days it’s 3-4am. Most days I get like three or four hours of sleep a night/morning. I’m just all over the place in my head, I guess. Sigh.

Anyway, that’s all for this post! I hope you had fun reading my answers. I will get back on to blog hop later tonight. I have mountains of laundry to do and laundry is NOT fun.  I will leave you with a picture of the sunset in my backyard from the other day.

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In case you missed it;
Release Day|| July Releases.
Wrap Up|| June.
Book Haul|| June.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Release Day|| July Releases.

releaseday

Hey!

I wanted to do this post to share with you five ARCs that I was sent from publishers or received on Netgalley that are being published in July. I haven’t had the chance to read them (yet), but hopefully I will get to them this month. I want to highlight them on my blog now as well as later when I get my reviews up. These books below will be linked to Goodreads in case you want to add them to your TBR and I will share their book descriptions and their release date below as well.

boyfriendmaterial

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
Release Date: TODAY – July 7th, 2020

Goodreads Description: Wanted: One (fake) boyfriend. Practically perfect in every way. Luc O’Donnell is tangentially–and reluctantly–famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he’s never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything. To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship…and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He’s a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he’s never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened. But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that’s when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don’t ever want to let them go.


notanotherlovesong

Not Another Love Song by Olivia Wildenstein
Release Date: TODAY – July 7th, 2020

Goodreads Description: Angie has studied music her entire life, nurturing her talent as a singer. Now a high school senior, she has an opportunity to break into Nashville’s music scene via a songwriting competition launched by her idol, Mona Stone. Discouraged by her mother, who wishes Angie would set more realistic life goals, she nonetheless pours her heart and soul into creating a song worthy of Mona. But Angie’s mother is the least of her concerns after she meets Reedwood High’s newest transfer student, Ten. With his endless collection of graphic tees, his infuriating attitude, smoldering good looks, and endearing little sister, Ten toys with the rhythm of Angie’s heart. She’s never desired anything but success until Ten entered her life. Now she wants to be with him and to be a songwriter for Mona Stone, but she can’t have both. And picking one means losing the other.


faithtakingflight

Faith Taking Flight by Julie Murphy
Release Date: TODAY – July 7th, 2020

Goodreads Description: Faith Herbert is a pretty regular teen. When she’s not hanging out with her two best friends, Matt and Ches, she’s volunteering at the local animal shelter or obsessing over the long-running teen drama The Grove. So far, her senior year has been spent trying to sort out her feelings for her maybe-crush Johnny and making plans to stay close to Grandma Lou after graduation. Of course, there’s also that small matter of recently discovering she can fly….When the fictional world of The Grove crashes into Faith’s reality as the show relocates to her town, she can’t believe it when TV heroine Dakota Ash takes a romantic interest in her. But her fandom-fueled daydreams aren’t enough to distract Faith from the fact that first animals, then people, have begun to vanish from the town. Only Faith seems able to connect the dots to a new


apeculiarperil

A Peculiar Peril by Jeff VanderMeer
Release Date: TODAY – July 7th, 2020

Goodreads Description: Jonathan Lambshead stands to inherit his deceased grandfather’s overstuffed mansion—a veritable cabinet of curiosities—once he and two schoolmates catalog its contents. But the three soon discover that the house is filled with far more than just oddities: It holds clues linking to an alt-Earth called Aurora, where the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley has stormed back to life on a magic-fueled rampage across a surreal, through-the-looking-glass version of Europe replete with talking animals (and vegetables). Swept into encounters with allies more unpredictable than enemies, Jonathan pieces together his destiny as a member of a secret society devoted to keeping our world separate from Aurora. But as the ground shifts and allegiances change with every step, he and his friends sink ever deeper into a deadly pursuit of the profound evil that is also chasing after them.


sophie

The Invention of Sophie Carter by Samantha Hastings
Release Date: July 14th, 2020

Goodreads Description: 1851. Bounced from one begrudging relative to another their whole lives, orphaned identical twins Sophie and Mariah Carter have always relied on each other for love and support, even though the sisters couldn’t be more different. Brash Sophie wants to be an inventor, and demure Mariah wants to be an artist. Both long to visit London for the summer—Sophie to see the Queen’s Great Exhibition and Mariah to study the world’s finest collection of paintings. But when their cantankerous aunt answers their letter pleading for a place to stay, she insists she only has time and room to spare for one of them. So, Mariah and Sophie hatch a clever scheme: They will travel to London together and take turns playing the part of “Sophie”. At first the plan runs like clockwork. But as the girls avoid getting caught by increasingly narrow margins and two handsome gentlemen—both of whom think they’re falling in love with the real Sophie Carter—enter the equation, the sisters find they don’t have the situation quite as under control as they thought.

Any July releases that I should add to my TBR?

In case you missed it;
Wrap Up|| June.
Book Haul|| June.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack

Wrap Up|| June.

wrapup

Hey!

Sooo…..June was not my best reading month as I was only able to finish one book. I’m two books behind on my reading challenge. It bummed me out so much that I’ve only finished one book, but I just haven’t been in the mood to read and I’m still in Illinois with my mom, so I’ve just been kind of distracted with my thoughts and also helping out around here. A two-week trip has turned into a month! I’ve had a good time while here though, but I am missing the hubby and my furbabies so much, so my mind has been elsewhere. I’m ready to get home, but that’s still a little over a week away. I’ve taken so many great pictures though, so be on the look out for a post about that!

Anyway, onto books. Here is what I read this month and what I’m currently reading. You can find a full list of these books and the other books I read this year over here. All will be linked to Goodreads below and I will also link to individual blog posts for them if I did a review.

Physically Read Books:
These are the books that I read myself (not audiobooks) throughout the month of June.

themusicofwhathappens

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg

I’ve been wanting to read The Music of What Happens for a while now and I am so happy that I did. I really enjoyed it and it was hard to put down. I really liked Max and Jordan and their friendships with their different groups of friends. It was such a good book.


Currently Reading Books:
These are the books that I started to read in the month of June, but didn’t get a chance to finish them yet.

ballad

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

I started reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes at the start of June, read a few chapters myself, and then decided to get the audiobook so that my mom and I could listen to it on our way to Illinois (16 hour car ride!). We were never able to finish the audiobook yet, but I honestly don’t really know how I feel about the book. I still want to finish it (hopefully this month), but it’s really not that great. I’ve read about 80% of the book and I don’t see myself giving it more than three stars. I like it, but it’s kind of a bummer that I don’t love it since I love the Hunger Games series so much and it’s what got me into reading.

What books did you read in June? Have you read any of the books that I read? Feel free to link me to your wrap up post, so I can check it out!

So, earlier in this post that I mentioned that I will be posting a big picture post of my trip in Illinois. Here is one of the photos that I’ve taken and have plenty more to come! If you want to see more now, you can always look me up/or follow me on Instagram to check them out. 🙂 You can find me over here at heyyitsashley.

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Speaking of Instagram, I changed my bookstagram username from “foreverbookish_” to “sociallyawkwardbookworm“. I wanted it to match my blog name. I don’t use it often right now, but if I ever get back into it regularly then it’ll be nice having it match my blog name. I think that’s all that I got for this post. I will catch up on all of your posts and comments soon, promise. ❤

In case you missed it;
Book Haul|| June.

I hope you have a great day!

ashleyblack