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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

June Wrap-Up // July TBR | 2015

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image source: here. edited by me.
June is finally over and we're welcoming a new month! My life has become extremely hectic this past June, and I will talk more about my new routines at the end of this post. And even though I was really busy this month, surprisingly I managed read quite a lot of books. I read a total of 10 books and 1 novella this month—which is very unusual because in the previous months I usually read about 6-7 books. Well I did plan on reading more books in June because I want to read something big next month. You'll see what I'm planning to read in July from my TBR below ;) I managed to review 8 books this month; and reviews for the rest of the books that I finished in June will be published next month. Anyways, here are the books I've read and reviewed this month, non-review posts in June, and also THE BOOK I'm planning to read in July.

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This is actually from last month's read and I'm really thankful to the author who kindly sent me this book to be reviewed. I think I never read anything from the horror genre, so this book is definitely a new experience to me. It's thrilling and has a bit of mystery in the story as well. In the end I rated it 3/5 :D ✮✮✮
The last book of the Legend trilogy is just so so perfect. All the conflicts are concluded nicely at the end, the ending is lovely, and I love every single thing about it. It's action-packed, fast paced, and kept me on the edge of my seat. You can read my review in the link above to read my thoughts on this book. Obviously, a 5/5 for this brilliant end to the trilogy. ✮✮✮✮✮
My first time reading Murakami! This book is actually really thin so it's quite a quick read, and I've always wanted to try reading a Murakami book. I heard his writing style is very unique and it is indeed. But thankfully I actually enjoyed this book quite well—although I'd have to say that I don't fully understand the story. What I love the most about this book will have to be the beautiful layout and the accompanying illustrations. 3/5 for my first Murakami read ;)  ✮✮✮
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I picked up this novella/prequel to the Legend trilogy because I want to know if it adds anything to the story. Unfortunately, I'm quite disappointed by what this novella offered. It's basically the story of Day and June three years before the events that happened in the first book, Legend. Nothing particularly special, but I enjoyed it quite well. So I gave it a 3/5. ✮✮✮
I've been waiting for the continuation of this series because I'm eager to find out who will get together and what's going to happen to this family. The third book of this series is still thoroughly entertaining and fun to read; but I was quite annoyed by the main character so I decided to reduce half a star for this book. I'm still highly anticipating the fourth book though. And for this one I gave it a 4.5/5. ✮✮✮✮½
In my review I did mention that I was a little bit hesitant to pick this book up, but I ended up really enjoying it. This book felt like some kind of guilty pleasure for me; because the plot is not that great but I find myself really enjoying my time reading it. I think it's all because of Jenny Han's writing. Or maybe Peter Kavinsky. Anyways, 4/5 for this book :)) Still cute and sweet, just like the first book. ✮✮✮✮
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Stay with Me Tonight by Sofi Meloni
Another book that I received from the author to be read and reviewed. I was really intrigued by the premise about two people with dark pasts who got together without intending to love each other. The romance in this book is pretty gloomy and bittersweet, and I ended up giving it a 3.5/5 :)) ✮✮✮½
Paper Towns by John Green
Finally picking up another John Green book because the movie adaptation for this book is coming really soon! I think this is a really great YA book and I still enjoyed John Green's writing. Definitely loved the characters and I enjoyed my time reading this exciting story. It's definitely a page-turner because I can't wait to see how it's going to end. But since the ending was quite disappointing for me, I decided to give it a 4/5. ✮✮✮✮
I also finished 5 other books this month including Stolen Songbird, Simple Thinking About Blood Type 3, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Almost is Never Enough, and I Was Here. Hopefully my reviews for those books will be published early July :)) I'm extremely satisfied with my reading this month even though most of my reading was done on my way to/from work. However, the boost in my reading progress results in less non-review posts this month. I don't really have much time to think about what non-review posts to write because I was catching up with my book reviews ㅠㅠ. I'm planning to do a giveaway next month, so hopefully I'll have some spare time to work on that. And as you can see below, there's only ONE book on my TBR next month xD

Non-Review Posts in June:
July TBR:
☆☆ A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, #2) ☆☆

So I've finally decided that next month will be the time for me to finally pick up the sequel in A Song of Ice and Fire series! It's been a year since I finished reading the first book, A Game of Thrones, so I'm really excited to see how the series progressed in the sequel. Hopefully I can finish it by the end of July. It's a really chunky book.
 


Outside of reading, one of the biggest change for me this month is that I'm finally taking Korean language course! I'm currently taking Korean class at International Language Center, which has about 7 language classes available. There's English, Mandarin, Japanese, German, Dutch, and I'm not sure what else. But I'm currently only taking Korean because that's the only language I'm really excited to learn. I have 3 classes a week—every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6 PM. Which means right after I got home from work, I have to directly go to class. It's extremely tiring, but thankfully since I'm really into Korean, I find myself really enjoying my time learning the language. It's been a month of learning and hopefully someday I'll be good enough to start reading a Korean book! A children's book, maybe.ㅋㅋ

And this month, I discovered an app called Weple Money that was introduced to me by my friend. It's basically your personal account book and budgeting app in your smartphone. I find this app really useful because I can separate each expense into categories (for example expenses for food, transport, clothes, beauty, shopping, etc.). Furthermore, the app will help us count how much money we saved each month. And it also has graphics showing the details of the monthly expense. With this app, I feel like I can control my expenses better since I can see how much money I have left for the month and all that stuff. If you're an Apple user, you can download the app here. I'm not sure if this is available on Android, but my friend told me they have a pretty similar app on Google Play store. Below are some screenshots of the app :))

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iPhone Screenshot 1 iPhone Screenshot 2 iPhone Screenshot 4

http://www.movienewz.com/img/gallery/minions/posters/minions_movie_poster_2.jpg http://timsfilmreviews.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/game-of-thrones-season-1-poster.jpg http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/jurassic-world-own-raptors-poster.jpg

In terms of entertainment, I watched Minions and Jurassic World in the theaters this month. I wasn't expecting much from Minions so I just had fun watching it. With Jurassic World, I'd have to say that I'm quite disappointed by it—especially the story line. I felt like there were a lot of unnecessary scenes that serves no purpose to the plot. Of course I'm not going to spoil anything about it, I just want to say I'm terribly dissapointed, because I had such high expectations when the trailer came out. And even though I'm about several years late, I finally started watching the first season of Game of Thrones. As I've stated earlier, I'm going to read the second book next month so I'm watching the first season of the TV series to refresh my memory about what happened in the first book. So far I'm about halfway through the season and it's great! Will write a TV Series Adaptation Review when I'm done watching ;))

And there are also some new songs that are currently on repeat in my phone playlist. My current favorites are 2PM's 우리집 (My House), MAMAMOO's 음오아예 (Um Oh Ah Yeh), and Ken (VIXX) & Hani (EXID)'s 비틈 (Gap). 2PM and MAMAMOO's songs are pretty upbeat while Ken & Hani's song is a sweet acoustic pop song that's perfect for relaxing :)) If you're a fan of Korean songs, go listen to the songs (or watch the MV) below :D

♥♥♥♥♥

 
Anddddd BTS is making an extended comeback with their follow-up song, 쩔어(DOPE)! OMG I'm so happy when the MV came out because that song is one of my favorites from their album, which I mentioned in my May Wrap-Up. I absolutely love their strong choreography. I always love it best when BTS displayed their amazing dancing skills. ♥♥ If you're interested, you can go watch the MV here.
 
http://38.media.tumblr.com/9742275b6f65b8ecbd6b597c143a14c9/tumblr_nqellhvfDT1qagqqso5_400.gif http://33.media.tumblr.com/3683e486ee81b46cd12fef4b985135b4/tumblr_nqellhvfDT1qagqqso6_400.gif

Another very exciting news (for me at least) is this new drama called 너를 기억해 (I Remember You) / Hello Monster starring 서인국 (Seo In Guk) and 장나라 (Jang Na Ra) ! I've been highly anticipating this drama since Seo In Guk was recruited as the lead actor because he's my favorite ♥ I love him as a singer and I love him equally as an actor. This is a mystery-romance drama and I'm really excited to start watching it soon :))))
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I think that's about it for this month's wrap up! I'm ready to face the second-half of 2015 and am really excited to see what the rest of this year has to offer ;) I hope everyone also had a great month in June and let's face July with courage :D I know I probably won't be able to read much next month because A Clash of Kings is a really chunky book, but hopefully I can squeeze in some comic books/graphic novel in between.

And lastly, here's some cute adorable love from Daehan to brighten up your day ;) 
Don't forget to keep reading :D

http://31.media.tumblr.com/00fc87c4ca31c6fc9776d48199aa1756/tumblr_npyuhjOIyI1rbzgm2o1_400.gif http://31.media.tumblr.com/548658b5f0f591f0023e73b4ba61b348/tumblr_npyuhjOIyI1rbzgm2o6_400.gif

by.stefaniesugia♥ .
 

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