July Update/NEWTS TBR

I haven't done an update post since April... partly because I haven't been reading as much as I would like to each month, but also just life getting me down. I'm hoping to try and make these posts more regularly, so here goes;

July Wrap-up: 

I (barely) read 3 books in July, Shadow and Bone, Four Shifters and a Stranger (which is 3 chapters) and Shadow in the Empire of Light (which I'm just over halfway through). Reviews coming soon. Moving right along,

          

Other reviews coming soon to a blog near you:

  

August TBR: NEWTS Readathon:

If you don't know about the Magical Readathon run by Book Roast, go here, it's awesome. You're welcome. I had so much fun doing the OWLs part of the readathon in April. It actually got me out of a book slump, so I'm really excited for NEWTs (get the prompts here). At the same time, I don't want to put too much pressure on myself to read heaps this month (especially since I'm already behind), so I'm giving myself an extension to two months (or however long it takes me to finish lol). Everybody gets an extension for everything during the pandemic, right? I will be continuing with studying towards the Magizoologist career (to see what books I read for the OWLs click here). I will have to read 7 books for this one, using these prompts:

Care of Magical Creatures:

A: Salamander - Fire on cover/title

E: Flubberworm - Lazy is fine, read something short (woohoo)

O: Hagrid's Hut - start a book with a snack (this is a freebie, so I won't pick my book for this just yet, I'll see what I feel like reading later)

Charms:

A: Cheering Charm - read a humorous book

E: Glacious: Freezing charm - read a book set in winter

Herbology:

A: Puffapods - flowers on cover

E: Nettle Plant - book that might be impactful.*

 

*I had trouble choosing an impactful book, because you really could choose so many different books. I decided to stick with something in my usual genre, fantasy, and I happened to have Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao on my shelf. There was a bit of controversy around its publication, and it almost didn't get published. It deals with themes of modern day slavery in China (I think), even though it is a fantasy book. If you want to know more, check out the reviews on Goodreads.  

Wish me luck!

Oh! and one last thing, since it's over halfway through the year, I thought I would do an update on the other reading challenge I signed up for in January, which is the 2020 A-Z Reading Challenge, hosted by Bookstacks n Golden Moms. Check it out, there is a prize up for grabs if you participate.

I have to say I'm not doing super well, because I had kind of forgotten about it (but I have read 5 books that start with S). I have read books beginning with A, B, D, F, G, M, S, T, V, and W, which leaves me with 16 more books to read for this challenge. If you have any suggestions for books that begin with O, U or X, please let me know. I haven't found as many options for these. Thanks in advance!

That's all for today folks. If you want to keep up to date with my progress or my reviews, follow me on on instagram @iwishiownedabookstore or Goodreads. Happy reading 💗