I get a little bit nervous when I think about planning out my month of reading. Life is strange – and busy – and the prospect of finding the time to read at all during it seems impossible. That being said, I’ve developed something of a reward system for myself, where reading is the thing I go to as a treat for all the other things I manage to accomplish during the day. I went from 5 planned reads last month, to finishing 8, which was quite a surprise for me. I’m excited to see what I can do this month if I keep putting my mind to it!
The King of Average
by Gary Schwartz
Publication date: October 7th, 2015
I received a free e-ARC of this book from Gary Schwartz and his publicist in return for an honest review. This is a Middle Grade story about a young boy whose decision to become the most average kid who has ever lived leads him on an unexpected journey into a land that is anything but ordinary.
I Believe in a Thing Called Love
by Maurene Goo
Expected Publication date: May 30th, 2017
This is another e-ARC. I’m buddy-reading this one along with my friend Josh. You can find Josh’s blog at Highlit Books. He’s awesome, writes great reviews and takes some rad instagram photos. You should follow him if you don’t already. This book is totally outside of my realm of normal reads. A contemporary romantic comedy written in the same vein as Korean Dramas, of which I have no familiarity with. Thankfully Josh does and he assures me that so far (we’ve read about 20%) that the book is faithful to those storylines.
Falling Kingdoms
by Morgan Rhodes
Publication date: January 1st, 2012
I’m continuing to buddy read this with a small group on Goodreads. We’re reading 5 chapters a week, and then we discuss and posit guesses as to what relationships will set sail or who will be murdered in the following 5 chapters. We’re about 50% through so far and it’s been really fun!
Malice
by John Gwynne
Publication date: December 1st, 2012
This is a re-read for me. I read this book probably 3 or 4 years ago, and remember loving it. I always meant to continue the series, but I got really busy with school at the time and ended up dropping it. I wanted to re-read this book to familiarize myself with the story again before I start book 2.
Valour
by John Gwynne
Publication date: March 27th, 2014
Speaking of Book 2. This time, to ensure I don’t abandon the series one book in again, I’m committing myself to start book 2 right after I finish the first. They’re long books, (around 700 pages each book) so I’ll be hard-pressed to find the time to read them both, but I’m determined to do it!
Percy Jackson and the Olympians – The Sea of Monsters
by Rick Riordan
Publication date: April 1st, 2006
I absolutely loved the first book, which I read last month for the first time ever. I’m really excited to continue the series this month and see where the story goes next!
Remember Me
by Lynda Renham
Publication Date: March 24, 2017
I received an e-ARC from the author of this book in exchange for an honest review. I don’t read a lot of thrillers, but I just read one last month, (The House by Simon Lelic) and I really loved it. I’ve been wanting to read more in this genre, so I was pleasantly surprised when Lynda reached out to me asking if I’d like to read this book. I’m excited to start it soon!
The Heart of Betrayal
by Mary E. Pearson
Publication date: July 7th, 2015
I read and reviewed the first book in this series, The Kiss of Deception, last month and absolutely loved it. I really enjoy Pearson’s prose, and I also really liked the characters of Lia, Rafe and Kaden. I can’t wait to start this book and find out where the story goes next. I hear this one is even better than the first!
That’s it! Those are my planned reads I hope to get through for the month.
Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? How do you balance reading and the general insanity that is life?
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
I hope you enjoy The Sea of Monsters, hopefully I’ll be reading it this month too, so we can share our thoughts about it 😀
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I look forward to it!
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I love Falling Kingdom series. Hope you’ll like it too. It goes without saying that Percy Jackson will be amazing ✌😃
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I am enjoying it so far. 🙂 Thank you!!
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How do I balance? I binge read instead of being productive. So I guess I don’t balance at all 😋
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Hahaha Grace, I think you and I are alike. I always end up reading for longer than I mean to and then scrambling at week’s end to complete thing other than reading. xD My reward system is flawed, but I get a lot of reading done!
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I’ve been meaning to reread the Percy Jackson series, so maybe I could catch up to you sometime. xD As for book 3 of Falling Kingdoms, I might start it either this month or the next. 😀 Great post, Bentley! 🙂
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I feel like you and I have pretty similar tastes in books Josh! I’m constantly juggling multiple series at once so I bet you’ll catch up to me in no time. xD
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I agree! We already have options for future buddy reads. 😀 I think we could finish IBIATCL this Friday or Saturday. 🙂
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Definitely! We’ve got some choices we could buddy read once we finish that one. 🙂
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Love those John Gwynne covers!
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Me too! They’re simple, but they don’t waste cover space either. Very well designed!
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It’s so cool you have someone to buddy read I Believe in a Thing Called Love! I’ve been wanting to read that too. I love kdramas! Have fun! As far as balancing reading and life I carry my books digitally for just that reason and read when I have any little time pockets. I think you’re really smart to reward yourself with reading too!
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I just bought a Kindle Paperwhite because I was using a kindle app on my cellphone to read when I was out and about. The screen was just too tiny for me haha. Now I carry my kindle with me everywhere and am that guy you’ll find reading out in public when I have free time! xD
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You have many books on your TBR I want to read 🙂 The King of Average sounds fun. Falling Kingdom is my most anticipated read. I hope you will have a good reading month in April! Buddy reading are fun too! 🙂
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Thank you Jasmine! The King of Average was a cute, quick read. I just finished and reviewed it the other day. 🙂
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