july & august 2023 wrap up // a letter from coco 💌

hi, hello, dear friends! it’s been a hot minute, and i’ve missed you quite terribly. i hope july and august have been treating you well, and that you’ve been having a wonderful summer, staying hydrated, and reading a lot of good books. 

in all honesty, i haven’t been reading much these last two months — july was simply a whirlwind of a month, and august slipped away in a moment of time, leaving me with very little time to sit down and properly read. i had a couple of family things going on in july (and in august), coupled with eras tour, friends visiting from out of town, going out of town myself for lollapalooza, and maisie peter’s concert in seattle, i just really didn’t have a lot of time to read. that being said, i did finally reach my goodreads goal, so a win is a win! 

in july, i read a total of 11 books, with the hobbit by j.r.r. tolkien being the ultimate standout! a lot of my friends (hi allison, hi jamie) love the hobbit and lord of the rings, so i decided to give the audiobook a go, and had the best time. and unfortunately for august, i read 11 books, but didn’t really enjoy any of the ones that weren’t rereads. 

here’s a full list of what i read in the last two months:

• The Storm Of Echoes by Christelle Dabos (Audiobook; ★★★☆☆)
• Will They Or Won’t They by Ava Wilder (★★★☆☆)
• Fiona And Jane by Jean Chen Ho (Audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)
• Business Or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon (★★★☆☆)
• Teach The Torches To Burn: A Romeo & Juliet Remix by Caleb Roehrig (ARC; ★★★☆☆)
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (Audiobook; ★★★★☆)
• Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan (Audiobook; ★☆☆☆☆)
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (Audiobook; ★★★★★)
• The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (★★★★★)
• Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid (Audiobook; ★★★☆☆)
• Tis The Damn Season by Kimi Freeman (ARC; ★☆☆☆☆)
• A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp (Audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)
• Bliss Montage by Ling Ma (Audiobook; ★★★☆☆)
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Reread; ★★★★★)
• Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (Audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)
• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (Reread; ★★★★★)
• I’m Not Done With You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Gifted; ★★☆☆☆)
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (Reread; ★★★★★)
• The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (Reread; ★★★★★)
• Bellegarde by Jamie Lilac (Gifted; ★★★☆☆)
• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey Mcquiston (Reread; ★★★★★)
• Some Mistakes Were Made by Kristin Dwyer (Gifted; ★★★☆☆)

i’m currently also making steady progress in my les miserables reread & annotations project; i’m 40% in, and on track to finish it in december! in september, i’m hoping to work on my gifted reads/arc bingo more, but also balance that out by reading some books that i’ve been meaning to read for ages, and also read some books for fun! i’ve also got a pretty busy september — honestly, the rest of the year is pretty busy for me, so we’ll see how that affects my reading. 

i recently finally watched the bear, which everyone has been on my case to watch, and i really loved it! i also watched the second season of the summer i turned pretty, and still need to watch the new season of heartstopper — just haven’t decided if i want to do a heartstopper reread before, or after it, which is why i haven’t gotten around to it yet! in terms of music i’ve been listening to, i’ve been listening to gretta ray’s new album, positive spin, and i haven’t been able to stop listening to taylor swift, maisie peters, holly humberstone, sabrina carpenter, and gracie abrams since i saw them live over the summer! 

coming up, i’ve got bumbershoot, which is a local arts + music festival, and then hockey season starts back up in september too! i’ve got tickets to the first preseason game, and am trying to figure out how many other games i can feasibly go to this season. there’s a couple music releases i’m excited for too, most notably, del water gap’s i miss you already + i haven’t left yet, which releases at the end of the month! 

here are some posts i’ve loved reading lately:

• i’m so incredibly jealous that helena (and caitlyn) has read the getaway list, and i’m only even more excited with this review!
• i always love reading what media other people are consuming, and abby’s the month in books for june through august is lovely! (and i agree that the good witch & taylor swift’s debut album are phenomenal)
• readingonastar’s summer of binge reading books made me want to do a fall of binge reading books! i’m really hoping to get back into reading this month!
• y’all already know i love taylor swift & am so excited for 1989 (taylor’s version), so obviously i had to shout out genieinanovel’s 1989 reading challenge!