So, here is my month in review for July...
On the 4th of July (Happy Independence Day, America!) I went to London to visit the Planetarium in Greenwich. I went to the London Planetarium when I was child with my family and I remember being so amazed by the visual experience of it all, but that one closed down in 2006. Even though it was a different Planetarium, I was still very excited to see what it was like. It really was a great day out and I do recommend it. You can find out more here.
Also, on the 4th of July I usually do a big American-diner style dinner with what has become my signature dessert on this date: my easy no-bake cheesecake. However, as this was the same day as the Planetarium trip and that completely wiped me out, I didn't get the chance to make any of it this year. Instead, we had a very quick mac n cheese dinner, so it was still American-style food but not as over-the-top as I usually go!
I had a lovely, sunny Sunday afternoon with my parents at a local farm. We went strawberry picking but ended up coming away with more raspberries than strawberries. I love doing things like this. Strawberry picking is always on my summer bucket list. Unfortunately the season for fruit like this is almost over but I'm looking forward to autumn already, so we can pick corn and pumpkins! I'm not trying to wish the summer away but I'm an autumn girl.
I went out with some old work colleagues last month to a local restaurant. The dinner was arranged because a few people were leaving my previous workplace. I'm still friends with a lot of my ex-colleagues and I speak to them a lot and I've seen some of them a few times since I left in March, but this was a chance to meet up with a big group of them again. It was so lovely to see them all.
Then a week after meeting up with those colleagues, I saw most of them again at a surprise retirement party. It was nice to be invited back to my old workplace and see how the surprise went down. She was very surprised and everyone had a good evening. Again, it was nice to see friends that I used to work with and have a good catch up.
I was also part of another blog tour in July. Lauren Price's debut novel, A Bad Boy Stole My Bra, was released last month and I was lucky enough to be able to ask Lauren a few questions. Lauren is so lovely and the book was brilliant. You can read that blog post here and you can buy the book here.
One weekend in the middle of July, my friend Emily decided to hold a Paige Toon readathon. I love Paige Toon, I think her writing is incredible so I was up for spending a whole weekend reading just her books.
I managed to read two of her books that weekend:
The Longest Holiday
This was just a nice, easy story with those holiday romance vibes. The setting made me want to go on holiday, the characters were well-written and there was a bit of an unexpected plot twist towards the end (well, I didn't see it coming anyway!) It was full of drama and tension but it was also a lot of fun.
Five Years From Now
This was so beautifully written. I fell in love with the characters of Nell and Van straight away and I adored how their relationship was shown, especially when they first met as five-year-old children. It was such a unique story and it has been a while since a book made me cry like this. I highly recommend it.
I was aiming for three books because I still haven't read The Last Piece of my Heart, plus I kind of hoped to reread The One We Fell in Love With. So I'll just have to find time to read those two this summer.
Then on the 20th July I went into London with my friend Jess to attend YA Prom for the upcoming launch of Katherine Webber's new book, Only Love Can Break Your Heart. It was an incredible event with lots of blogger friends and there were some amazing authors in attendance too. If you want to know more about YA Prom you can read my full blog post here, and you can order a copy of Katherine's book here.
And finally, now that school is out and we have a nice break before going back in September, I going to be relaxing, reading and enjoying the summer weather (if this unusual British summertime heatwave sticks around!)
Over the summer I am running Summer Reading Challenge. I've mentioned this over on Twitter a lot and I've already written a few blog posts for it. If you're not sure what it is then you can find out more about here, but it's basically trying to read six books over the six week summer break, preferably from your local library although they don't have to be. There will also be a 24 hour readathon to raise money for Rays of Sunshine Children's Charity this month so please donate if you can, even if it's only £1!
Here are the books I read in July:
The Juniper Gin Joint ★★★☆☆
Floored ★★★★☆
The Longest Holiday ★★★★★
Five Years From Now ★★★★★
My [Secret] YouTube Life ★★★★☆
One Would Think The Deep ★★★☆☆
It Only Happens in the Movies (reread) ★★★★★
Girl Online on Tour ★★★★☆
And the films I saw at the cinema:
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again ★★★★★
I've been so busy lately that I just haven't found time for the cinema and I'm so disappointed that some films and been and gone this month, so I'll have to wait until they're released in stores/online. However, it's the summer holidays now and I can try to fit a few films in over the next six weeks.
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July has been a very busy month! As I said, I hope to relax a bit over the summer and have some chill time, but there is still a lot going on in August, including another blog tour and a blogger event.
I'll be back with another 'Month in Review' at the end of August to let you know how I spent my summer and how the readathon went.
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