What a month! It started with us getting Covid from our trip to Texas (not bad cases, just knocked us out for a few days), was immediately followed by my graduate school program starting in the middle of makeup events at work from the last two years, with a birthday trip for Tim (thankfully drivable this year to Upstate NY), and the busiest time of the year at work in general for me (end of the fiscal year).
Add in that I got a promotion in the last week of June and suffice to say I. Am. Exhausted. The funny thing about the promotion is when my boss and grandboss told me I think they saw the look of panic on my face because they immediately were like “don’t worry we know you just started your program (they were two of my references) and this is recognition of the work you’re already doing and the expanded responsibilities you’ve taken on already.” I definitely sighed in relief after that.
Books and Bookish Things
With all of that going on, it’s amazing I got ANY reading done, but somehow I did. I’m trying to clear off as many of my review copies as possible and starting to be even more selective than usual now knowing how much time school is going to take up, especially in the fall when I’ve got two classes and not just the one!
There were two duds this month, Holleran’s The Kingdom of Sand and Cloverdale’s Apple-y Ever After. They were duds for opposite reasons, Holleran’s was a slog and just not the right book for me. It was beautifully written but just felt so self-reflecting and overly worked that it didn’t click with me. And Cloverdale’s was just really badly edited, like no copy editing at all or even proofreading. It could’ve used a stronger beta reader with opinions and even a half-assed copy edit job would’ve caught the continuity errors and the numerous repetitions.
- The Kingdom of Sand – Andrew Holleran*
- Rediscovered (Do-Over #2) – E.M. Denning*
- Just by Looking at Him – Ryan O’Connell*
- Hot Pursuit (The Hot Cannolis #3) – Eli Easton*
- Patricia Wants to Cuddle – Samantha Allen*
- Apple-y Ever After (Apple Meadows #1) – Catherine Cloverdale*
Even though I’m trying to step back a little bit from blogging I did pick up quite a few books (shocker right?). Most were from a big free day on Kindle where a ton of romance novelists listed their books for free and I saw it as an opportunity to grab a few to try new authors (denoted with a ^). We’ll see if I ever get around to them. The ARCs are all via Gay Romance Reviews and are either authors I enjoy or wanted to take a chance on, or a series I just need to read to know what happens.
- This Way Out – Tufayel Ahmed
- Playing for Keeps (Sporting Secrets #3) – Jax Calder*
- Apple-y Ever After (Apple Meadows #1) – Catherine Cloverdale*
- Off Campus (Bend or Break #1) – Amy Jo Cousins^
- Love Wasn’t Built In a Day (Desiring the Dexingtons #1) – Renee Dahlia^
- Hot Pursuit (The Hot Cannolis #3) – Eli Easton*
- Hard Chrome – Anna Kensing^
- Turning Points – Megan Linden^
- Stronger than Passion (Chesapeake Days #2) – Katherine McIntyre*
- Always Eli (Forever Love #1) – Charlie Novak^
- Captain Silver Fox – Nora Phoenix^
- Crooked Tree Ranch (Montana #1) – R.J. Scott^
- The Book of Elis – Lou Skelton*
Me being me did of course request two more from big publishers on NetGalley, but haven’t heard back about them yet: The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers by Adam Sass and Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore.
Crafting Corner
With how busy I was and getting sick at the beginning of the month I haven’t actually finished a single project. I still have to sew in my ends on my Hide and Peak sweater (Insta link), but with it being warm now I’m not in that much of a rush. But I do want to cross it off my list. Our trip out to Upstate NY, took us by WEBS, the owner of yarn.com, so OF COURSE, I wanted to stop by and get access to that warehouse 😀
Surprisingly, I only bought what I went for, yarn for Charlie’s sweater from Heartstopper Episode 2. I also bought yarn for a sweater for Tim, the Flea Sweater | Loppisgenser (Ravelry link), which I’m excited to make for him as he doesn’t usually go for color!
What’s Next?
I’m writing this early on July 1, having driven up to Moscow, ME last night. We’re going to spend the next five days relaxing in a cabin with barely any internet (I actually looked up the speed here vs dial-up, technically it’s 4X faster here :-D). I’m planning to read, I just started Cecilia Wong’s Kaleidoscope and have Katherine McIntyre’s Stronger than Passion and T.J. Klune’s Heat Wave on deck; knit, I’m finishing up my modified to be a sweatshirt Look at my Holes and have cast on my Brette Scarf (Insta and Ravelry links); and do school work, thankfully this week I don’t have an assignment due, but still have A TON of reading to get through.
So much exciting stuff! Congrats! I finished my Master’s at the beginning of June and I’m still trying to come down from the “what am I supposed to be doing?” frame of mind. I did the school thing for six years, so it still feels weird to have a ton of free time. Hahahaha!
I bet! And congrats on finishing, pretty sure I told you elsewhere but should be said over and over 😁 It’s going to be a long two years since I’m doing it part time, but hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of things.
The time goes by quicker than you think. Doesn’t feel like it in the moment, but you realize how quickly it went in the aftermath.