June in Review (About Me, My Books, My Goals) #2017

June 2017 in Review

About Me: (A Few June Favourites)

My Favourite June book Memory :

Opening A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena. The read was fantastic, but the exciting way it was packaged up and sent to me, well, I won’t forget it in a hurry! (Picture above).  Read my review (link above) and find out more about when I opened the package here.

My Favourite Fastest June Read:

Love Me Not, by M.J Arlidge. This was a NetGalley book.  I read to 89% before I noticed how far in I was. Read my review of Love Me Not.

My Most Anticipated July book:

Okay, I have two!  (Actually, I have loads, but how long do you want this post to be? lol)

The Good Daughter by Karen Slaughter (Good Daughter, #1) Find on GoodReads.

Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (The Vampire Chronicles #12)

What I got up to:

I’m on my last day as blog commenting partners with Molly @ Cafinated Reads  . It’s been a great experience getting to know Molly. After my first blog commenting challenge, I’m left with a mixture of happy sadness. Sad to be leaving Molly as her comment partner, although I do hope to stay in touch,  but happy to have made a new blogging friend. Would you believe I’ve learnt there’s a whole new genre of Amish romances, which I never new existed? I’m hoping to try one out soon.

Check out my new Comment Challenge Page, designed to celebrate new blogging friends!

The Richard and Judy Book Club Summer 2017 Group Read

The Richard and Judy Book Club Summer 2017 Group Read over at Goodreads is well under way now.

Wan’t to join the group? Here are the books we’re currently reading.

Website Updates

I’ve recently created/updated the following pages:

1. The Comment Challenge Page.
2. Book reviews by Date Order
3. Book reviews by Book Title Order
4. A new Sassy on Tour Page!

NetGalley

I received my first NetGalley badge a couple of days ago!  Woo! LOL

Instagram

After having so many blog changes, I’ve let my Instagram “A Book A Day” feature slide. I hope to start it again soon…

My Books:

Book Stats

I’m still trying to work on a better way to share my book stats, but for now here is my everything reviewed so far this year page!

Plus, I’ve also added a recently reviewed RSS feed in my sidebar on the left. This shows you all my reviews posted on Goodreads. Sometimes you’ll see them there before they reach this blog!  If you’re on Goodreads, let’s add each other as friends! (Goodreads link leads to my profile).

Next up, my goals…

My Goals:

June Goals

1. To finish updating and designing this blog (this could be ongoing, so next month I will be more specific). I’m hoping to have a column of books added to the right. Instead of three columns of blog posts, I would like to reduce that to two, and have a third column to promote all the books I’ve read in a sidebar. I’ll aim for this by end of June 2017. Please excuse the mess in between.  √ Completed!
2. To write out a full list of all the physical books and ebooks I have promised to read – a full bucket list – kept in one place. Still working on this. July. 
3. To make sure I keep up with my new blog commenting challenge during the month of June. I’m really looking forward to getting to know Molly! √ Completed!
4. To keep up with the Friday56 and Book Beginnings book blogging chat – every Friday! (I only missed one, since I joined).  Which reminds me, I must write that post! √ Completed! Haven’t missed one during the month of June! 
5. I want to continue to read as much as I can and post three reviews a week, if possible. For the month of June that’s my target. Not sure about this. Adding back to my July Goals. 
6. I also want to continue my #ABookADay posts. I recently joined Instagram. But my phone was playing up, so taking photos and posting them to Instagram (and then this blog) just wasn’t working out. I’ve since deleted a lot of apps and it seems to be working now. All I need to do now is to find out where I left off and continue.  It wasn’t always a book a day, but pretty close.  I want to improve this! (Although I can’t help my crap phone- and July is going to be really busy month for me). Adding to July goals. 
7. For fun, I’d like to update my Rat Diaries. You haven’t met my new furry reviewers yet! Actually, they were being filmed a fair bit on Instagram… Okay, this must be done! Just two posts in July will be a start. 
8. I also realised I missed my Monday Movie Book Trailer Swap post, since it was a Bank Holiday and everyone was home… So I vow to keep up better with those Monday posts. July!
9. Finally, I need to promote my “What’s on your desk, Wednesday?” author and book blogger feature better – they’re really fun! Here’s a great example of one featured author’s post!  Then there’s this one… “What’s on your boat, Wednesday?” to name many I have featured in the past! What’s on YOUR desk, Wednesday? <–The “HOW TO” √ Completed!

July Goals

1. To finish updating and designing this blog (this is ongoing). a) I’m hoping to have a column of books added to the left b) and I’m starting to think about some new logos…
2. To write out a full list of all the physical books and ebooks I have promised to read – a full bucket list – kept in one place. This will be my “reviews done in date order and book title order” pages.
3. To make sure I keep up with my new blog commenting challenge during the month of July. This month I cannot wait to meet Erica!
4. To keep up with the Friday56 and Book Beginnings book blogging chat – every Friday!
5. I want to continue to read as much as I can and post three reviews a week, if possible. For the month of July that’s my target.
6. I also want to make sure I keep a better note that I can quickly access, to make sure I am keeping on target.
7. I also want to continue my #ABookADay posts. I recently joined Instagram. (Not too bothered about doing them daily, but I’d like to start them again lol). No pressure.
8. For fun, I’d like to update my Rat Diaries. You still haven’t met my new furry reviewers yet! (This is not a priority, but I would like to add a couple of posts to show you Cocoa and Daisy. Binkie, the old rat, is still hanging in there…)  2 posts is my goal.

I’m not adding extra as I’ve got a lot going on away from book blogging during the month of July, so I don’t want to add any extra silly pressure!  There’s plenty above to be getting on with. 😀

Right, I’m off now to get some (well, deserved – after this humongous post) reading done… Plus, I’ve finished Love Me Not by M.J Arlidge and I’m hoping to post that review today.

Here’s my review of May, for anyone interested. It was very much an introduction to a lot of people!

Your turn!

How was your month? What goals and successes have you achieved in June? What do you plan to do in July?  I’m a great believer in setting goals, and I love to hear about other peoples!

Do let me know what your plans are, and if you’d like to leave your link below in the comments I’ll pop by and visit you!