Welcome to August’s Monthly Minutes at Midnight!
Here’s the deal: I’ll share the books I’ve obtained, posts of interest from others, giveaways I have happening, and just general random shenanigans. You know I love a shenanigan. Also, covers all link to Goodreads, because I am awesome. As always, I link up with the Wrap Up Round Up, too!
The Books
For Review/From Publishers:
Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis
The Words in My Hands by Asphyxia
Your Life Has Been Delayed by Michelle I. Mason
Hugest of thanks to the publishers for these lovelies!
eARCs:
Huge thanks to the publishers for these lovelies! (Also look at me not being too bad this month!)
Purchased:
The Light Years by R.W.W. Greene ♦ The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin ♦ The Exiled Fleet by J.S. Dewes ♦ The Girl With the Hickory Heart by Lauren Nicolle Taylor ♦ Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline ♦ A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet ♦ The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente ♦ In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner
Not the best, not the worst, right?
Won/Gifted/Traded:
Nothing this month!
Shenanigans Since Last Time:
I read 19 books this month. Not too shabby- especially since I missed a few days while at the beach. Imagine what could have been ?
Quite a few of these are very fabulous! And I think only one was a true disappointment (and likely my 11th all-time DNF).
Giveaways: Click Here, or on Sidebar
Blogosphere Bulletin
Here are some of the loveliest/most entertaining/super helpful/just plain interesting posts I found this month!
- Nyx @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books asks why she rates all her books 4 stars (I mean, same though!)
- Chana @ Paper Procrastinators ponders whether we must read classics
- Aj @ Read All the Things! entertains us with tales from life as a national park employee (I laughed hard, guys)
- Sam @ We Live and Breathe Books ponders whether she is book club material
- Hasini @ Bibliosini discusses blogger identity crises
- Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books shares some great (and free!) blogging resources
- Malka @ Paper Procrastinators asks why we love tropes
- Louise @ Monstrumology shares some genres she just can’t get into
Fancy & New Since Last I Saw You!
I love looking at pretty covers! So here are some new ones that I have fallen in love with since our last update!
Pretty covers are pretty.
Things we need to talk about at this juncture:
- Summer is coming to a close and this makes me sad. I took the kids to visit my aunt’s beach house with my mom for a few days, and we had a lovely time, here, have some pictures! Also, Sam got his green belt right before we left so I threw that picture in!
- The children started school today. In worse news, I must return to gainful employment. Sadness. Luckily, the kids’ school and the one I will be working at are both mandating masks for everyone. I would really like them to be able to be vaccinated soon, because apparently there are still lots of selfish fools refusing and making it extra unsafe for kids and folks with genuine issues who cannot take the vaccine. Also look at these children, they will not stop growing, it is rude!
Awwwww I’m so sorry you are all having to return to a schedule and obligations and stuff. Blergh.
And holy cats, your kids are growing fast! Congrats to Sam on the green belt- I love how they’re progressing with martial arts so regularly (as a hobby collector, it amazes me when anyone sticks with something for so long).
Now I’m combing through your GR reviews, looking for that one rare, recent DNF. 😀
(and now that August is over, I really need to get off my butt and make my blog pretty and post to it regularly and all…)
So I didn’t officially mark it as a DNF yet, because I really REALLY am bad at quitting, but… I am probably quitting, unless someone I really trust tells me it gets MUCH better (it is The Bones of Ruin, by the by, which made me really sad. I got to 20% and just could not force myself to keep going, sadness).
I HATE obligations and I am so anxious that I haven’t slept in days and my eye is twitching and I have a migraine. So, good times bwahahah. Also right, these kids need to slow down! I hope they stick with karate too- since again, I do not like the quitting ?
Oh my gosh, your kids are adorable! I hope they have a good school year (and you as well!) I can’t believe my youngest is a senior in COLLEGE. Time goes way too fast?
Aw thank you! Oh my goodness, college, and a senior no less! That must be so hard- I am dreading iT! I hope it is going well for them, and you, too!
Your kids are so grown up and so cute!!!! I’m excited for Once Upon a Broken Heart!
Genesis @ Whispering Chapters
Aww thank you! And it was SO GOOD, I hope you love it too!
How cute are your kids? 🙂 And tell them to stop growing immediately. At least the schools there are mandating masks. Our idiot governor actually banned masked mandates. Banned them. And told school districts that if they went against him he would withhold funding. WTactualH? A judge has ruled that it’s unlawful but it’s still a mess. Why must I live in such a beachward state? Gah!
Aw thank you! And YES I will pass along those orders, as I fully agree hahah. Dude, Idk HOW you live with your complete asshat of a governor. Like the absolute RAGE you must feel every day, I cannot even imagine. Like how is your political platform “must kill kids”?! It is mind boggling! I really don’t know what is going to become of any of us, tbh. I hope September treats you well (and also yay for that judge)!
I was just thinking how big Sam had gotten. That age, they just sprout up without any notice. Your vacation looks like lots of fun. Yeah! I find it so odd that people, who were not historically anti-vaxxers, won’t get the Covid vaccine. Makes no sense. A nurse wearing a mask gave my aunt covid and she died, so I don’t have the most faith in the masks, but distance, hygiene, and vaccines are something I can get behind. I am itching to know which book you DNFed. I read a few up there.
Right!? He gained 6 inches and 35 pounds at his yearly checkup, the doctor was like, shocked! And right- all these fools have their OTHER vaccines, right? Why not this one? (I especially love the “I won’t put that in my body” excuse, as they smoke cigarettes, eat fast food, drink beer, etc. UGH!) I am SO sorry about your aunt, that is horrible! Masks are definitely not 100%, of course, and it is SO heartbreaking that your aunt paid that price. When we all got COVID, we were all wearing masks everywhere too- so they are definitely not foolproof, but anything that lowers the risk is something I will get on board with! Also, it was Bones of Ruin, which made me SO sad, but wow, I could not continue! Most of the others were awesome though!
Oh wow I LOVE the look of Glimmer. Climate change SF is so fascinating to me, I wanna read more of that.
AJ’s post cracked me up. 🙂
New Mike Chen!
Great pics! I can’t believe summer is winding down and school is starting. Crazy…
Yayyyyyy Beach time! Good luck to your babies at school ???
I also hope that you loved White Smoke!
Thanks for linking my post, Shannon! So glad you liked it!!!
Your kids are adorable! I wish all of you be safe going back to school & work! Congrats to Sam on his green belt, too!
Your monthly haul looks insanely good! And I can’t believe you managed 19 books in August! I’ll be reading To Break a Covenant this month, so super excited to see how I feel about it!
Hope you have a great month ahead, Shannon!
I envy you…I couldn’t get access to Dare to Know! So relieved it wasn’t your “11th all-time DNF” LOL. And you put End of the World House on my radar, so I requested it on EW (fingers crossed).
“Luckily, the kids’ school and the one I will be working at are both mandating masks for everyone.”
An island of sanity! I hope your kids can get vaccinated soon. Good luck on the new job! And congrats to Sam on his green belt!
Awww, cute photos. I’m glad you had fun at the beach. Good luck with school and gainful employment! Have a great September.
Oh the girl with the hickory heart looks really interesting. How was Iron Widow?
We’ve been back at school for 2 weeks now. It feels a bit weird so after the Summer. Congrats on the green belt Sam.
So, I finished The Bones of Ruin, and I can see why you would DNF it. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but it was the only book I had time to read this week because it is so long and really kind of hard to keep your attention I thought. But I figured it had more to do with the horrible week I was having, so I fought my way through it. Looks like a nice vacation. But I’m with you on not being ready to get back to all the schedules and routines! You read a few that I’ve got coming up soon myself! Let’s hope September is a good one for all of us!
Lisa Loves Literature
Love the new pics of the kids! It’s pretty crazy how big they’ve gotten. Praying you all stay healthy during this school year!
Summer ending makes me sad too, but I’m so glad you guys had a good time at the beach house! And yes, how dare those kids keep growing, lol.
Looks like a fun vacation! Boo to going back to work, but hopefully it’ll be a good year for you and the kids. I’m glad you all have to wear masks at the very least. My job makes us!
-Lauren
I miss summer so much! Thank you for sharing your vacation pics–the beach is my happy place and seeing the joy on everyone’s faces in your photos just made me smile too. I’m so happy you all got to spend fun times together. And wow to 19 books read too! Our schools are all requiring masks to I’m extremely happy for that but so frustrated and angry that people still won’t take their shot. Wishing you a safe and happy school year!
The cover for Hotel Magnifique is STUNNING!!!! 19 books is amazing. Your vacation looked so fun.
my post: https://blessedmommysc.blogspot.com/2021/09/august-2021-monthly-wrap-up.html
Now I’m so curious, what was your DNF in August? I must know to avoid it at all costs! I’m also a very rare DNFer. If I don’t like a book in the first 50 pages I just don’t finish it and pretend I never even started it. Real DNFs for me are ones that I got far enough in to first detest and then make the conscious decision to not read the book further.
And those summer pictures look so cute! I’m so happy you had a nice time! I hope that your job is going well and that the kids are enjoying school!
Thank you for mentioning both mine and Chana’s posts!
SO. I am still not 100% sure I am DNFing it? Only because I keep seeing decent reviews and maybe it will get better? (Also- I just *almost* DNFed another book, then ended up really liking it, so I no longer trust myself with this responsibility.) It was Bones of Ruin, and I am just so… UGH. Like- I was bored, soooo bored, at the 20% mark. But then I read reviews that said it picked up, so… yeah. We’ll see hahah.
And thank you so much! ♥♥