MONTHLY READS - JULY

Welcome to another month's wrap-up!

How are holidays for you? Are you enjoying yourselves? Do you have time for reading? I certainly do, and now I'm going to share my reading progress with you again.

Last month, in June, I'd given all the books I'd read a five-star rating, because I was absolutely lucky to pick only really incredible books. Let's see if I managed to keep up with that this month as well!

This month, in July, I've read seven books!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

J. K. Rowling

Genre: fantasy

First published: 2003

Pages: 816

Language: English

Type: paperback

Rating: 5/5

Absolutely perfect. I'm speechless. This series is getting better and better with every other book. The characters are amazing and I love them, the story is original and absolutely brilliant in every book. 

I cried like a baby at the end of this book. It's all fun and games until Jo starts taking your favourite characters from you in the most painful way imaginable.

The Princess Saves Herself In This One
Amanda Lovelace

Genre: poetry collection
First published: 2016
Pages: 156
Language: English
Type: e-book

Rating: 5/5

I've wanted to read this book ever since I found out about it on Amanda's tumblr, and now I finally did. It's one of the purest, rawest piece of literature I have ever read. It's touched all the right places in my heart and soul, making my old wounds hurt and my eyes cry oceans. 

Please, love yourselves and go read this beautiful poetry book. I myself will be probably coming back to it every single day.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
J. K. Rowling

Genre: fantasy
First published: 2005
Pages: 560
Language: English
Type: paperback

Rating: 5/5

I loved this book. It was absolutely incredible. I'm sorry but I have no words. These books are beyong perfect. Rowling knows what she's doing.


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
J. K. Rowling

Genre: fantasy
First published: 2007
Pages: 640
Language: English
Type: paperback

Rating: 5/5

The final book. I can't express how sad I am about the series ending. I already miss the Wizarding World and all the characters that I'd grown to loving throughout reading the series.


If You Find Me
Emily Murdoch

Genre: YA
First published: 2013
Pages: 314
Language: English
Type: paperback

Rating: 4/5

I first introduced this book to you in New on Shelf. It's a very powerful book about survival and finding inner strength, about love and family. I really enjoyed reading this, and if you feel like reading more, a review is to come.


Lost and Found
Nicole Williams

Genre: YA, NA, romance
First published: 2013
Pages: 354
Language: English
Type: e-book

Rating: 4/5

This book, the first book in the Lost and Found series, is everything you could ask from a romance novel. A troubled girl with ugly past meets a boy and it ends in the kind of love that could move the mountains. Since I'm a sucker for unrealistically perfect boys in even more unrealistically perfect love stories, this was the go for me. I'm definitely reading the rest of the series. (And you should give it a try, too.) A review to come!


Near and Far
Nicole Williams

Genre: NA, romance
First published: 2013
Pages: 352
Language: English
Type: e-book

Rating: 5/5

Guys. There's nothing better (or worse, depends on the point of view) to do than to read two absolutely amazing and not-at-all-realistic romance novels in two days. Nothing. This series went from cute summer love affair to terrible suffering for the reader so fast that I had to take a few deep breaths. I have to say, I didn't see that coming. It literally went from being all cute and and fluffy and adorable to ruining my life. The feelings I'd experienced during reading this book are comparable to those reading Colleen Hoover's novels makes me feel. I'm head over heels with Nicole Williams and I'm definitely continuing on torturing myself emotionally by reading more of her books.


Enough about me! What about you? How was your July in books? Did you celebrate Neville and Harry's birthdays by re-reading Harry Potter and waiting for the release of the Cursed Child? What books did you read this month? Have you found any books you think everyone should read? Share all of that with me in the comments!

NEW ON SHELF | The Martian by Andy Weir

Hello! 

Yet again I lost control and gave in to my book-buying obsession. This time, I (finally) bought The Martian by Andy Weir.

I've been literally dying to own this book since I found out about it months ago, and now I finally had an excuse to do so. I was buying a book for my friend and one for my sister, and it would have been extremely painful to leave the bookshop without something for myself as well (especially now that I have a club card!). And so the Martian happened.

This book is about Mark Watney, who is the first person to walk on Mars. Unfortunately, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there as well. After a dust storm nearly kills him, his crew is forced to evacuate the planet and they think Mark's dead. Mark is stranded on Mars, completely alone and with no way to let people on Earth know that he is, in fact, still alive. I cannot wait to know how's the book going to end and if he's going to make it out alive.

The annotation itself is good enough to make me want to read that book, but the high quality close-up photo of Matt Damon would make me buy it anytime. I mean, look at it!

Amazing, right? Yes. I cannot wait for reading the book. What about you? Have you read it? Have you seen the film? Which one is better?

NEW ON SHELF | Borrowed from friends

Hello bookworms!

Today in "New on shelf", I'm not going to boast about new books I bought. I'm just going to boast with books that my friends had bought. And then they gave these beauties to me (by sheer coincidence, on the same day) to read.

The first book is If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch.

This book is about Carey, a girl who lives in the heart of the woods with her six-year-old sister and their drug-addicted mother who disappears for weeks at a time, leaving the two girls on their own. Carey's only priority is her and her sister's survival, until the arrival of strangers that changes everything...

I'm really looking forward for reading this one. My friend has praised it to the heavens, and basically shoved the book down my throat.

The second book is called Cesta Sněžných Ptáků (Hawk Quest in English) by Robert Lyndon.

This book takes place in 1072 AD, in the times when the Normans have captured England, the Turks have captured a Norman knight and a Frank warrior named Vallon in the company of a Sicilian scholar and an English falconer must, in orded to free the knight, capture four rare hawks.

I've never heard about this book and I do not know at all what to expect, but I'm really excited about it.

What about you, have you heard about these? Have you read them? Let me know in the comments!

RECOMMENDATION | Cry Myself to Sleep by Joe Peters

Hello and welcome to the very first recommendation post on this blog!

Today I'm going to talk about a book that I loved and that absolutely broke my heart even though I don't usually like/read non-fiction stories. The book is called Cry Myself to Sleep by Joe Peters. From what I understand it's a sequel to a book called Cry Silent Tears, but, speking from experience, I don't think you need to read the first book if you intend on reading this one.

First, I have to say, I do not recommend this book to anybody who's triggered by violence, rape, abuse and so on. This book is full of it.

But I definitely do recommend reading this book. It tells the story about Joe who was first beaten by his mother at the age of five, and then was raped by his mother's boyfriend. His mother sold him to a paedophile ring when he was only nine. At sixteen, he had found the courage to escape and headed for Charing Cross. With no friends, no money and no family, he was forced to live on the streets of London. His life became full of crime and self-destruction, until he found a woman who set him free from his inner demons by loving him.

This is, in my opinion, a very powerful story of survival and fighting the incredibly awful things life can throw at you. I'm not going to lie here, I cried like a baby while reading the book. I couldn't believe so many things could happen to one little, innocent boy. I couldn't believe it was a non-fiction story.

So yes, if you want to read a true story about an abused child who became an amazing author and found the strength to get his life together, go and read this book.

Do you know this book? Have you read it? What do you think about it? Let me know in the comments!

TOP 5 | Poetry books by women that I want to read

Hello and welcome to another TOP 5 post!

Today, I'm going to share with you five poetry books that were written by women and that I absolutely need to read.

milk and honey

Rupi Kaur

The Dogs I Have Kissed

Trista Mateer

eighteen years

Madisen Kuhn

salt.

Nayyirah Waheed

Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth

Warsan Shire

All of these books are very promising, and they made me love them just by looking at their covers. I also highly recommend The Princess Saves Herself In This One by Amanda Lovelace, which I have just recently read and absolutely loved! (Definitely give it a try, I promise you won't regret.)

And what about you? Do you read poetry? Have you read any of these? And are there any more poetry books you think I shouldn't miss? Share your thoughts with me in the comments, one can never have too much poetry in one's life!

#FRIDAYREADS

Welcome to the traditional Friday post.

I'm actually still reading Harry Potter, and this friday, I'm spending my time with the fifth book in the series, The Order of the Phoenix. I'm halfway through and I've been enjoying the book desperately so far. I mean, Minerva is absolutely destroying me, the Golden Trio is just pure gold, the Weasley twins are the loves of my life. I'm almost afraid to finish the book because I just know that something terrible's going to happen.

But honestly, I'm super excited to get to the part with Snape teaching Harry how to close his mind to Voldemort. (Please, just wish me luck, I'm going to need it to survive.)

So yes, I'm absolutely beyond joyous. It's brilliant. What about you guys? Have you read this book? Do you like it? What's your favourite book in the HP series? Share your feelings with me in the comments!