August Recap

Well, summer has come and gone, and now I'm back at school. kicking off my junior year of college. I'm about a week in and I'm already dead. College is so non-stop. I feel like I have very few moments to myself, and very few moments to myself in which I am not working on homework. Now, my best friend and I live in an on-campus apartment so everyone wants to come over all the time and our other roommate (who we didn't know) hate us because we're so loud.

ALSO ALSO ALSO I ALMOST FORGOT!! I went to a Twenty One Pilots concert and my oh my was that glorious. Twenty One Pilots is my favorite band in the whole wide world and now that I've seen them live, I will never be the same.

My blog got a makeover!!! I did it a few weeks ago, but I'm still obsessed with it. I loved my old design when I first created it, several years ago. But I've changed and my blog has developed, and it was time for something new. I was scared to change it at first, but I'm extremely pleased now that I have. 

As far as reading goes, August was not the best month. Not the worst month, either. But not the best. Blogging is a different story. In August, I blogged more than I have any other month since I started my blog. I did my best to have a post go up every day, but there were a few days in which that just didn't happen. 

Reviews:

Top Ten Tuesdays:  Top Ten Books I'd Buy Right This Second If Someone Handed Me A Fully Loaded Gift Card Top Ten Books I Want To Re-Read Top Ten Books With A Memorable Setting Top Ten Books On My TBR From Before I Started Blogging Top Ten Books I'd Keep In My Classroom
Summer Blog Promo Tour:  Valerie from He Said Books Or Me: Memoirs Krystianna from Downright Dystopian: Doctor Who Soundtrack Wrap Up!
Misc. Posts:  The Eclectic Corner #4: Scary Movies Book Blogger Creativity Project: Bookish Yearbook Discussion: Taking Notes While Reading Playlist Book Tag The Authors I Own The Most Books From Book Aesthetics #1: Summer Books Help me save my blog!!!

I love thinking of new features for this blog, and it has been a while since I implemented any of the new ideas I've had, but in August I started doing...

I've seen people around twitter doing aesthetics for basically everything, including books, and I wanted to give it a try! If you don't know, a book aesthetic is basically putting together pictures that remind you of the book (the colors on the cover, the vibe it gives off, events from the book). I'm not great at it now, but I think I'll get better! 
HERE IS MY FIRST BOOK AESTHETICS POST
I decided to compile an aesthetic for 3 books that take place in summer, as I'm back at school and lamenting the loss of my laziness. 

Followers: 

Bloglovin - 74 (gained 7)

GFC - 16 (gained 0) 

Twitter - 203 (gained 22)

Instagram - 55 (gained 6)

Facebook - 4 likes (gained 0)

YouTube - 81 (gained 8)

Total pageviews - 11,835 (gained 1,925)

Books read: 3

1 paperback, 2 eARCs

Book with the most pages: Beyond the Red by Ava Jae (360 pages)

Books with the least pages: A Monster Calls (216 pages)

Total Pages read: 904

Books reviewed: 6

1 star reviews: 0

2 star reviews: 0

3 star reviews: 2

3.5 star reviews: 1

4 star reviews: 2

4.5 star reviews: 1

5 star reviews: 0

Average rating: 3.67 stars

Most popular review:

by pageviews and comments- 

BookTube: 

Here is my most popular video this month! I'll be (ideally) posting twice a week. Make sure to subscribe to me if you want to stay updated on when and what I post! If you have a YouTube channel, send me your link because I wanna see whatchya got!

Music: 

As I mentioned earlier, I went to a Twenty One Pilots concert this month, and so I kind of don't want to listen to anything else at the moment. 

TV: 

I finished Glee and I've been so emotionally torn apart by it that I'm left to re-binge watch Gossip Girl. Also, I'v started re-watching American Horror Story in preparation for season 6. I'M SO EXCITED HOLY CRAP ON A CRAP CONE. 

Movies: 

So, I watched Sausage Party this month. Uh, well. I'm not sure what to say about it. I thought it was clever and hilarious and utterly disturbing (but what else do you expect from a Seth Rogen movie???). If you're into really abrasive & inappropriate humor, this is the movie for you!!! Just be warned, there is a reason this movie is rated R. 

Sunday Post #21

• I SAW TWENTY ONE PILOTS LIVE THIS WEEK. It was incredible. One of the best nights of my life. I cannot even possibly explain how fantastic it was to see my favorite musicians in concert. They put on phenomenal shows, so if you ever have the opportunity to see one of their concerts, I definitely recommend it. 
• Also, I saw the movie Nerve this week, and, while it was far from being a perfect movie, I really enjoyed it! Dave Franco shirtless is everything. 
• That said, I'm glad I had most of the week scheduled in advance because I did barely any blogging and exactly no reading. I've been binge-watching Glee and The Fosters and now Switched At Birth. 

Reviews: 
- You Before Anyone Else by Julie Cross and Mark Perini

Memes:
- Top Ten Books I'd Buy Right This Second If Someone Handed Me A Fully Loaded Gift Card

Misc.:
- July Recap
- The Eclectic Corner #4 Scary Movies
- Summer Blog Promo Tour: Valerie from He Said Books Or Me

Reviews: 
- Vicious by V.E. Schwab
- The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

Memes: 
- Top Ten Books I Want To Re-Read
- Sunday Post #22

Misc.: 
- BBCP Post: Bookish Yearbook
- Discussion: Taking Notes While Reading
- Summer Blog Promo Tour: Krystianna from Downright Dystopian

WHAT HAS YOUR WEEK IN BOOKS AND BLOGGING LOOKED LIKE? 

Lefty's Lowdown: You Before Anyone Else by Julie Cross by Mark Perini

You Before Anyone Else by Julie Cross and Mark Perini
(standalone)
Published: August 2, 2016 by Sourcebooks Fire
Source: I received an eARC of this book for review via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has not influenced my opinion of the book.

Summary from Goodreads: 
Model Finley needs someone to help her shed her "good girl" persona, so she'll try Eddie on for size.

New York City model Finley is fed up with hearing the same feedback at castings: she needs to take some serious action to wipe the "good girl" stamp from her resume if she wants to launch to stardom.

Enter Eddie Wells. He's shallow, predictable…and just as lost as Finley feels. Deep down, Finley is drawn to Eddie's bravado, his intensity. Except Eddie is hiding something. A big something. And when it surfaces, both loving and leaving Finley will become so much harder.

 Y'all, books like this are my guilty pleasure. This is not what anyone would consider top-notch literature. It's got tropes coming out the wazoo. AND YET--I ate up every word. I read the novel in one day.

Okay, so this book is told from two points of view: Finley, the too-sweet model losing out on jobs because she's not edgy enough, and Eddie, the new, gorgeous, mysterious model on the block. They meet at a party, shouldering their own separate burdens, and have a one night stand. Except afterward, instead of going about their lives and looking fondly back on that one night of spontaneity, their lives continue to collide. Like I said, this book is brimming with tropes, starting with these characters and their romance. There is nothing particularly special about any of it (I didn't even remember the characters' names until I read the summary), but when I was actually reading, I was incredibly absorbed in the story. I wanted to see them finally confess their love for each other; I wanted to know the secrets they were keeping; I was rooting for them to get their shit together.

That's not to say that this story had no depth or anything, because it did! Finley and Eddie both had to work through some personal issues and figure out what they wanted for their futures. They struggled with vastly different familial issues. They both grew a lot by the end of the novel and I was satisfied by the conclusion.

Some other smaller things that helped me enjoy this story are 1) the minor characters--I just adored Finley's family! I thought every time her dad & brothers were in a scene, the book just got so much more interesting--and 2) the modeling. I know that Mark Perini actually is a former model, so it created this authentic insight into the world of high-fashion modeling, which is something I've not really seen a lot of in novels.

This is basically just another "trashy" (I only say this because I don't know what other word to use. It's not really trashy, but I hope you get what I mean) new adult book. I'd say it is similar to Abbi Glines's work (a little less steamy, though) so if you're a fan of the types of books shes writes, then I definitely recommend this one. It's really a great book if you just want to get lost in some fictional drama for a few hours.

3.5/5 stars

July Recap

Time to reflect on my month! 

Okay, July was not my most eventful month! I hung out with my friends quite a bit--going swimming, to the movies, out to eat, etc. I also went to Silver Dollar City (which is a theme park near me), and I saw Kian Lawley & Jc Caylen (famous YouTubers) on tour. 

Thanks to BookTube-A-Thon, I did much more reading than usual, which is wonderful! However, there was a point that I slipped into a blogging slump and had a lot of trouble finding the motivation to blog. I've conquered that, though, and I've come back with lots of fun stuff planned for August! 

ANYWAY. 

Reviews: 

Top Ten Tuesdays:  Top Ten Books With Less Than 2,000 Ratings On Goodreads Ten Fun Facts About Me Top Ten Books That Take Place Outside The U.S. Top Ten Books That Have Inspired Me Summer Blog Promo Tour:  Peyton from A Bookish Mess: Hobbies Jessica from The Book Bratz: Music & Dancing Flo from Book Nerds Across America: Interview Brooke from The Cozy Little Book Nook: Contemporary Novels Kat from Perks Of Being A Book Nerd: Scavenger Hunt
Misc. Posts:  Cover Reveal: Long Way Home by Katie McGarry Live and Let Psi Book Blitz: Giveaway and Interview with D.R. Rosensteel 61 (Non-Spoilery) Thoughts I Had While Re-Reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver  (this is like my favorite thing I posted this month!!)

Followers: 

Bloglovin - 67 (gained 9)

GFC - 16 (gained 2) 

Twitter - 181 (gained 60)

Instagram - 49 (gained 8)

Facebook - 4 likes (gained 1)

YouTube - 73 (gained 42)

Total pageviews - 9,910 (gained 2658)

Books read: 9

5 paperback | 1 hardcover | 3 eARC

Book with the most pages: Delirium by Lauren Oliver (441 pages)

Books with the least pages: Defending Taylor by Miranda Kenneally (304 pages)

Total Pages read: 3,169

Books reviewed: 6

1 star reviews: 0

2 star reviews: 0

3 star reviews: 2

4 star reviews: 2

4.25 star reviews: 1

5 star reviews: 1

Average rating: 3.875 stars

Most popular review:

by pageviews - 

And I Darken by Kiersten White

This is a re-read, but I don't care. It was still incredible! 

Last month's TBR: 

I read 3/4 books I'd planned to read in July, so I did a pretty good job!

This month's TBR:

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler | The Reader by Traci Chee | Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver | Live and Let Psi by D.R. Rosensteel

School starts back up this month so I honestly have no clue how much reading I'll get done, but hopefully I'll get through all of these! 

BookTube:

Here is my most popular video this month! I'll be (ideally) posting twice a week. Make sure to subscribe to me if you want to stay updated on when and what I post! If you have a YouTube channel, send me your link because I wanna see whatchya got!

Music: So I'm probably a little late to the party on these, but here are two of my favorite songs that I discovered this month!  Lost Boy - Ruth B Cecelia and the Satellite - Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness  TV: I have been all about Glee this month! I'm so addicted to this show. It was getting a bit out of hand (I watched 3 seasons in less than a week) so I had to force myself to take a break, but now I'm back at it. I'm on season 5 now and even though it's kind of a mess right now, I don't want it to be over!  Movies: There have been so many wonderful movies released lately, and though I haven't seen all the ones I want to (Finding Dory, I'm looking at you), I have seen a few that were amazing!  The Shallows, which is basically about a shark attack, is SO. TENSE. I kind of expected it to be really stupid, but it kept me on the edge of my seat.  I also saw the new Purge movie and holy crap is it twisted! The previous Purge movies were child's play in comparison. It's about election year, so there's politics and just so much crazy shit going down. 

What has your month looked like? 

Sunday Post #20

• Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope y'all are having a wonderful week. I say this every Sunday Post, but it has been a good week for me. 
• On Wednesday, I went to Kansas City with my best friend/roommate to see Kian Lawley and Jc Caylen (YouTubers) on tour. It was incredible! I love love love them, and it was so surreal to see them live. I rode in a car for 8 hours (4 hours there and back) and stood on my feet for 5 hours. I got really angry at someone else there so I told her off, but I also made some new friends. My feet were aching by the end and I thought I was about to die of dehydration, but it was still such a fantastic experience. 
• That same day, I got a ticket to see Twenty One Pilots (my favorite band on the planet) August 3rd and I almost cried tears of joy. I was supposed to have an internship this summer in Florida, so I wasn't sure if I would be back in Arkansas in time for the concert, so I didn't buy tickets. By the time I found out my internship had fallen through, tickets were sold out, so I was incredibly lucky that one of my friends was selling an extra ticket. 
• Then, on Thursday, another friend invited me to go see Bill Maher (a comedian) in Kansas City on the 7th. All of a sudden my summer got adventurous. 
• However, I would really appreciate it if you could send some prayers/positive vibes my way. I've faced some dilemmas with my financial aid paperwork, and if I don't get it turned in on time (August 1) I lose my academic scholarship...which means I have no idea how I would pay for college. Fingers crossed that it all works out. 

(Sorry that was so long. I didn't mean to give you my entire life story)

Reviews: 
- Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
- Paper Towns by John Green

Misc: 
- Top Ten Books That Have Inspired Me
- Summer Blog Promo Tour #5

Reviews:
- You Before Anyone Else by Julie Cross & Mike Perini
- Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Memes:
- Top Ten Books I'd Buy Right This Second If I Had Unlimited Funds
- Sunday Post #21

Features/misc:
- July Recap
- The Eclectic Corner: Scary Movies
- Summer Blog Promo Tour #6: Valerie @ He Said Books Or Me

I stopped by The Cozy Little Book Nook to talk about blogging slumps. I usually wouldn't link to my own guest post, but I think we don't talk about blogging slumps all that often, and I think this could be really useful for some of you out there. It's just some tips & inspiration to help you get through it!

Emz from Paging Serenity posted an extremely interesting discussion about adaptations of books. I think every book lover out there can relate to at least some aspect of this post.

Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner shared a really amazing post with us called If We Were Having Coffee. This is unlike anything I've seen in the book community before, and I love that it gives us the opportunity to get to know Jamie a little bit better.

Here are some highlights from my instagram account this week. Give me a follow if you want to see everything I have posted/will post! 

I feel like I've never seen anyone talk about Andrea Cremer's steampunk book. I don't even know if I like steampunk, but I know I like Andrea Cremer, so when I saw it in Book Outlet I was all over it. ● ● ● What are your favorite steampunk books??

A photo posted by The Left-Handed Book Lover (@leftyreads) on Jul 25, 2016 at 4:38pm PDT

I discovered Morgan Matson's incredible books this year and my life hasn't been the same since. I also found out that she writes more books under the name Katie Finn and I'm so excited to have more books by such an incredible writer. ● ● ● What awesome new authors have you discovered this year??

A photo posted by The Left-Handed Book Lover (@leftyreads) on Jul 28, 2016 at 2:01pm PDT

I'll be (ideally) posting twice a week. Make sure to subscribe to me if you want to stay updated on when and what I post! If you have a youtube channel, send me your link because I wanna see whatchya got! Here are my videos from this week!

What has your week in books and blogging looked like? 

Sunday Post #12

• I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! I've done a lot of relaxing (read: watching Netflix), a little bit of work, and some spending time with friends. 
• Yesterday was my town's annual Crawdad Days, which is supposedly a festival, but really it's just like a fair with rides and business booths. I went with a few of my best friends, and we had a lot of fun. 
• That's about it for me. My life is basically the Roaring 20's, I know. 

Reviews: 
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Features:
Just Write #2

Memes: 
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Picked Up On A Whim

Reviews: 
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Features: 
The Eclectic Corner: My Netflix Loves
Flashback Friday #5

Memes: 
Top Ten Tuesday 

 From Netgalley: 


We Own the Night by Ashley Poston
Release date: June 28, 2016 by Bloomsbury Spark

You Before Anyone Else by Julie Cross
Release date: August 2, 2016 by Sourcebooks Fire

The Sound of Us by Julie Hammerle
Release date: June 7, 2016 by Entangled Teen

And I Darken by Kiersten White
Release date: June 28, 2016 by Delecorte Press

What has your week in books & blogging looked like?