June 2017 Recap

Whoa! This year is flying by wayyyyy too fast, especially considering my advanced age. I turned the dreaded f-word a few weeks ago: forty. Maturity-wise, I'm much, much, much younger than that. XD

I had a really nice birthday; I took the day off from work and went to Disney Springs (which will always be Downtown Disney to me, LOL) with Melissa, Ally, and their brother, Denis. When I went back to work the next day, my lovely co-workers had decorated my desk and thoughtfully put a walker in front of it, LOL.

I didn't do much reading or blogging in June, which has pretty much been the norm for 2017 so far. I see the start of July as a clean slate, though, and I'm really going to try to set aside dedicated reading and blogging time. I hope everyone has an awesome July and a fantastic second half of 2017!

Reviews Posted:

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

Featured Posts:

• 2017 Mid-Year Rewind

Harry Potter Moment of the Week (171)

Harry Potter Moment of the Week is a meme created by Uncorked Thoughts and hosted by Lunar Rainbows Reviews. The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/films/J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! A list of upcoming topics can be found here.

This week's topic is:
If You Could Save Only ONE Character from Death, Who Would It Be?

Only ONE? Dammit! I definitely need to save multiple characters: Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Dobby, DUMBLEDORE. If I absolutely must save only one, it would have to be:

SIRIUS BLACK.

Sirius is one of my favorite characters, and his death was devastating. I had to reread a certain scene in Order of the Phoenix about five times before what had happened finally sank in. And then I still didn't believe it. :-(

2017 Mid-Year Rewind

Hello, friends! Can you believe 2017 is just about half over? I. Can't. Even.

I'm writing this post on a dreary, rainy night, and not to sound melodramatic, LOL, but it's a perfect metaphor for how I feel about the first part of this year. I have a love/hate relationship with goal setting; I love having goals to work towards but hate how I feel when I don't accomplish them. I've always struggled with perfectionism, and this year, I'm feeling particularly unaccomplished.

The balance between real life and reading/blogging has shifted overwhelmingly toward real life, and it's been a battle to tip the scale even slightly in the other direction. At times picking up a book or writing a post has been so daunting, it's just been easier not do it. And once you fall into a rut, getting out is a challenge. I also ended up reading a string of books that were meh, which dug the rut even deeper.

I'm at least four books behind on my Goodreads reading challenge. Dammit—I really wanted to stay on target this year! XD There is a positive to report, though: I've been participating in Book Riot's month-long bookstagram challenge, and it's been a lot of fun. I only missed two days, which is surely a consistency record for me.

I'm still searching for my first five star read of 2017, but these two came very close:

Here's hoping that everyone enjoys an awesome second half of the year with lots of amazing reads and lots of happy blogging! I'm determined to escape my reading/blogging funk and crush my GR goal (and by "crush" I mean "madly scramble to squeeze in another 23 books by December 31, hahaha!).

Fandom Mashups (91)

Fandom Mashups is a feature hosted by Lunar Rainbows Reviews. There's a different scenario each week, and you choose a "dream team" of five characters from five different fandoms whom you think are best suited for the situation.

This week's topic is:
"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." Pick 5 characters from other fandoms who you know would be a perfect fit in Ravenclaw.

Proud Ravenclaw here! XD And I'd be thrilled to call these characters fellow Ravenclaws:

1. Tony Stark: While I think a few houses suit him (no pun intended, haha!), I'm claiming him for Ravenclaw because of his brilliant mind.
2. Blue Sargent (The Raven Cycle): A character named Blue gets an automatic pass into Ravenclaw, don't you think? Plus, she's an extremely smart young woman.
3. Yoda: So wise, he is!
4. Lisa Simpson: I've always loved Lisa for her genius, and she'd be right at home in Ravenclaw.
5. Tyrion Lannister (A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones): You don't survive in Westeros for as long as Tyrion has without being incredibly intelligent.

Harry Potter Moment of the Week (170)

Harry Potter Moment of the Week is a meme created by Uncorked Thoughts and hosted by Lunar Rainbows Reviews. The aim of this meme is to share with fellow bloggers a character, spell, chapter, object or quote from the books/films/J. K. Rowling herself or anything Potter related! A list of upcoming topics can be found here.

This week's topic is:
Favorite Quote from Order of the Phoenix

The Weasley twins' departure from Hogwarts, beginning with their ingenious Portable Swamp, is one of my favorite scenes from the entire series. EVER. So I had to go with a quote (or two, LOL) from that scene:

Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves."
And Peeves, whom Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.