Bookwyrm Breakdown: June and July 2022

I know I said May was eventful, but sometimes I feel like June and July were collectively more eventful than May. I kind of just forgot June happened, and by the time I realized, “Oh, yeah, maybe I should do a June Breakdown,” it was like halfway through July, and I just decided, “Nah, maybe I’ll just lump two months together.”

Time is but a construct and I kind of hate it because I have friends who are like hours away, so when I’m asleep, they’re awake and vice versa, but then it’s kind of nice to wake up to a random Clo rambling away on my Discord or a Jayati sliding around on my Whatsapp. (Except they’re one of my favorite people, so I don’t mind it at all and sometimes pay back with more rambles because that’s what friends do right..?)

It’s also extremely hot and the rainy days aren’t very nice either because floods are the worst, especially when driving. But it’s fine. I’m alive, and that’s all that matters. I’ve also been treating myself to ice cream when I’m working in the office because I deserve a treat. Treat yourself, isn’t that what they say?

June and July’s Blog Musings

Hey, I think I found a more fitting heading for the month’s posts! very original, Sophia

June

• [3 Jun] Bookwyrm Breakdown: May 2022
• [20 Jun] The Last Fallen Moon by Graci Kim ★★★★★
• [22 Jun] Feather and Flame by Livia Blackburne ★★★★

July

• [5 Jul] 2022 Mid-Year Freakout Tag: K-Pop Edition
• [15 Jul] Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao ★★★
• [19 Jul] All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody, C.L. Herman ★★★★★
• [29 Jul] Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare ★★★

Books Hoarded

No way, I think I only got one book. Either that, or I’m just forgetting others I might have gotten, but I think the actual truth is I only got one book because I may have been besties with my Netflix account for once.

• Feather & Flame by Livia Blackburne (from the publisher)

Books Devoured

Personally, June and July were wins in the reading department, mostly because I made a very small dent in my old ARCs only to find out I added a few other early August releases to said old pile because I forgot August is around the corner after July. Or maybe I forgot those releases were in early August rather than late August.

Some of June’s Reads

• A Psalm of Storms and Silence by Roseanne A. Brown – This one was a bit of a letdown compared to its amazing predecessor, but I actually liked it a lot in the grand scheme of things.
• Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao (reread in audiobook, an ARC from way back in the day…)
• Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend by Katie Zhao – Hello, yes, I’ve made a peep on The Arts STL and cleared out a review copy.
• Rebel Rose by Emma Theriault – Not gonna lie, but this was a disappointment, which was unfortunate because I really wanted to like this.
  • Feather & Flame by Livia Blackburne, though. That was much better.
• The Last Fallen Moon by Graci Kim
• Anna Dressed in Blood duology by Kendare Blake – It’s been like a decade since I read the first book, but it’s fine. I finally finished it!
• The STEMnist Novellas by Ali Hazelwood – Hate to break it to everyone, but Ali Hazelwood novels just… isn’t it for me.

Some of July’s Reads

• Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo – Of the few times I’ve actually peeped on Twitter, I’ve been seeing the show floating around, so I’m currently making my way through reading the mangas currently. I recently finished Volume 6 and am waiting for Volume 7 to break free from its hold at my library.
• Heartstopper by Alice Oseman – I’ve been debating starting the show before reading the comics, but eh. I think I have enough shows on my plate currently. Heartstopper was wholesome, and I loved it. I can’t wait to watch the show. 🥺
• All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman – This was bloody, gory, and amazing and I don’t know why I put off my review copy from last year as long as I did, but I’m glad I got around to it. (I also can’t wait for the sequel to come out, which is right around the corner.)
• Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare – We’re going to ignore how long Jamsu and I have been putting this book off and how long it took for us to read this.
  • Wish us luck with Chain of Iron because we’re aiming to start this in September.
• Flip the Script by Lyla Lee – I liked this, but I’m not sure I loved it? I don’t know. I loved the reference to I’ll Be the One, though.
• Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean
• Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

June and July were good months where I lived my best childhood life for most of those months. That… might be why I’m behind on ARCs again, but it’s fine.

• I watched all three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal, which is pretty much a reboot of the 1990s show. I definitely don’t remember anything of what happened because I was likely the size Chibi-Usa at the time.
  • Nostalgia moment because I had the VHS tapes (for this and a lot of Disney movies), and it was great.
• I started the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Heaven’s Official Blessing but stopped after a couple of episodes because I went on a little detour (see above).

Other Shows and Movies

• Upcoming Summer
• The Pirates and The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure – Not gonna lie, but I liked the first a lot better. That being said, I did like the second one in its own way.
• We don’t speak of the other shows I stopped after 15 minutes because they were painful to watch, and therefore I don’t feel the need to mention them. *promptly shoves them under a mat*

Music!

Most of my music has been listening to a lot of songs I enjoyed back in the early 2010s and late 2000s, with maybe a few dabbling in recent releases. Here are some recent ones I enjoyed lately:

• Beautiful Monster by Stayc
• Arson by J-hope – a friend in a Discord server said the MV is kinda scary, and I’ll have to agree, but I think the lyrics paired with the music video are powerful.)
• Flip That by Loona
• Loveade by Viviz*
• Doom Du Doom by P1Harmony
• Blow by MCND
• Racer by Itzy – Sneaker (the title track) seems to be getting mixed reviews from everyone I know, but I personally thought it was okay. Racer is a definite favorite of mine from their comeback, though.

(I think I’m going back to the days when I listened to a lot of girl groups.)

Also, by the time this post goes live, SNSD would’ve released their newest album, and because they were pretty much the first K-Pop girl group that ever entered my life, quite a handful of my friends had to deal with me screaming.

The Breakdown

What catastrophes have the universe handed us throughout the month? Let’s find out. 🧐

I’ve yet to find a proper GIF for this section, but I highly doubt an apocalypse one is fitting (although it sometimes feels like it is).

There’s not much that happened in June and July other than work-related things, hanging around Discord servers (you might find me on the Bookish Chaos Discord Server created by Clo from Cuppa Clo and Sam from Fictionally Sam), and just overall staying away from social media for the betterment of my mental health.

I think it might be obvious at this point, but I truly don’t think I’ll be posting on Instagram again (though I’ll still be around for DMs and to catch up with some friends). Sometimes I think Twitter is getting pretty close to just being inactive (not that I’m already not less active), but then I’m pretty much out of social media platforms to be at least somewhat active on, which quite frankly would be sad since I love seeing wholesome memes and having some semblance of an idea of what’s going on in the world.

Anyways, I’ve basically abandoned blog comments even though I caught up at some point in June in the form of disappearing but casually popping up here and there. But I’m working on it, and I’m trying my very best (and really, that’s all that matters)! Thankfully, by the time this post goes live, I’ll have caught up on my comments, made my every few months of popping up on blogs, and then run off into the unknown. Sleep calls me a lot because I’ve definitely been craving a lot of sleep lately, much to my mom’s worry.

Don’t worry too much, mom. I think it’s pretty obvious my form of coping with stress is copious amounts of sleep. Maybe I’m making up for the lack of sleep during college because gods know I definitely need that (but I kind of accepted that I won’t make up for that in my life so… who knows).

Let’s talk: how was your June/July? What are you looking forward to in August?