The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: June 2022 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in July

Posted June 30, 2022 by Lisa Mandina in End of the month post / 16 Comments

Of course June went by fast, it was summer break. And now my summer break is more than halfway over, since I start back on July 27th. Ugh, but July has some fun stuff coming up, so I guess let’s be excited about that instead! I did get to see several good movies in June, and got my sleep definitely caught up. Got my bathroom renovation done, so I’m loving that! You can see pictures in my weekly wrap-up post HERE if you want. I had complained last month about not using my exercise bike yet, and I still haven’t! But, I guess between all the “exercise” I got from packing up my library in May, and then probably mowing the grass this summer, I did get my A1C numbers down so I am no longer even pre-diabetic! Not that I think I’ve lost any weight. Still need to work on that.

My reading might have suffered a little this month. Probably because I had less novellas and more longer books. Plus without driving to and from work every day, that cut back on my audiobook listening. I did also do a tiny bit of writing this month, or more rewriting/editing. Of the books I listed as possible read for this month, I did read 14 of them. Two were DNFs, two were books pushed off to another month by the author, and then there are two that I guess I never got from the publisher or on the tour either. I only got 19 books read this month compared to the 20 last month, but again, I had one almost 1000 page book, one over 500, and one at 400. It looks like most of my books were around 300 pages long. I actually started keeping track of that in my blog planner so I could say in this post how many pages I read. I did have one more DNF at the end of the month that was supposed to be a book read for July.

  • # of pages read: 5,944
  • Amount of time spent listening to audiobooks: 19 hours and 52 minutes (This could include some time spent last month listening as well!)

June Reviews

I’m pretty much caught up on everything! Except for the two DNFs I had this past month, and the audiobook I finished right at the end of the month.

Challenge Wrap-Up

I probably ought to just give up on these, as I’m not doing great.

My goal was 12. Two done earlier this year, but not any more this month. I thought maybe summer would help, but nope.

Another goal of 12 for this challenge. Three done for the year. No new ones this month, I mean technically I could maybe count Mansplainer by Avery Flynn and Last on the List by Amy Daws I guess, since they are the last in their series.

Still nothing to add to this one.

  • Blogging – Still at 79% on Netgalley. But I have got to be getting close to 80% at some point!
  • Reading – Still ahead on my goal of 200 books on Goodreads. Still haven’t really done any sequels.
  • Writing – I started in on a 100 days of writing “challenge” at the end of the month, on July 21st. I’ve gotten about 3 or 4 days done. I’m counting that as a win. They’ve been mostly editing/rewriting a novel I have finished or one I’m still working on. The chapters I sent to the author for my auction win I got back last week and she gave me some great tips that I hope will help me get unstuck and be able to finish!

Bookstagram

I’ve been bad about doing any of this the past month.

What to Expect in July 2022

Book Bonanza coming up the second weekend, can’t wait for that! Then a few weeks before I go back for my 10 contract days before the school year on July 27th. On the 29th there is a Missouri Association of School Librarians meeting in Columbia, Missouri, which is about 2 hours from where I live in Kansas City. I’ll drive down in the morning because it starts at 10 am, and then drive home after, which should be about 3 or 4 pm.

Here is my proposed list of books to read in July:
  1. My Cone and Only by Susannah Nix – a book I won from the author and is for one of my challenges I think, plus I hope to meet her at Book Bonanza.
  2. The Jane Thing by Tracy Broemmer – a blog tour review on the 5th, this is part of the Meet Cute Book Club series
  3. We Made It All Up by Margot Harrison – an ARC I hope to get read before I head to Book Bonanza and post it’s review before the 8th or have it scheduled to go up while I’m there!
  4. Be With Me by Samantha Young – as part of the author’s review team I have this and hope to get it read and the review up on July 12th.
  5. Win My Heart by Lauren Helms – supposed to be doing a blog tour review on the 13th
  6. Big Duke Energy by Emma Hart – this one was originally scheduled for June, but the author postponed till July 14th
  7. I was supposed to read an advanced copy of an anthology called Classic Monsters Unleashed. But I told them I wanted a physical copy and they haven’t sent it, so I doubt I’ll get it read.
  8. The Bodyguard by Katherine Center – I have an ARC of this that I hope to get read and reviewed on either the 16th or 17th
  9. Possibly for a review if I hear from the blog tour group, Coming Up Cuban by Sonia Manzano, that could be any time the last two weeks of July.
  10. The Forever Game by A.M. Williams – for the Meet Cute Book Club series blog tour review on July 20th
  11. Sin Bin by Teagan Hunter – for a blog tour review on the 21st
  12. Twice a Quinceanera by Yamile Saied Mendez – I have the ARC and hope to read and review by the 23rd
  13. Boyfriend Material by Ilsa Madden-Mills – should be reading for the author’s review team and a review on the 25th or 26th
  14. Bloody Fool for Love by William Ritter – I’ve got this ARC that the author sent me after seeing me begging for a copy on #booksfortrade on Twitter. It then got postponed to be published till August, and I’m finally hopefully getting read by the end of July!
  15. Any audiobooks I’ve been listening to.
  16. Any books I have to add to my reading list for the library committee I’m on.

Final Thoughts

So, how was your June? Did you get all the reading you wanted done? What are you looking forward to in July? Are you taking any trips?

Giveaway

Below are ARCs I’ve finished and also a couple of finished copies, the winner will get to pick out 3 books from the list. There may even be a few more choices by the end of the month! I will make the giveaway international in that you can pick a book for under $10 if The Book Depository ships to you. Just fill out the Rafflecopter below the picture. I might even do a second winner if we can get over 100 entries into the rafflecopter by the end of the month, we had over 100 in June, so I will pick two winners from my May Wrap-Up, or will be this first week of July.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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16 responses to “The Looooong and the Short of It with a Giveaway: June 2022 Wrap-Up Post and What to Expect in July

  1. Danielle Hammelef

    June was excellent for me. We were able to get the whole family together for an 85th birthday party last weekend–I hadn’t seen everyone since pre-COVID. And I adopted two male guinea pigs (brothers). The family provided everything as they had to rehome them. I named them Merlin and Arthur. Your bathroom remodel is lovely! The purple is excellent.

    • Lisa Mandina

      That’s wonderful that you were all able to get together! I wish you had a blog so I could see pictures of the guinea pigs. I love guinea pigs! I had them growing up, and then for a while even had some in my science classroom when I was still teaching science. Hope July is good for you too!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yeah, although I would rather go to a year-round school and have smaller breaks spread throughout the year. I can’t really take a vacation any time but summer, and when you want to go places like Mexico, it is just so hot and miserable! 🙂

    • Lisa Mandina

      I know, can’t believe it is already July! While I’m excited for things going on this month, not excited to be going back to work at the end! Like you I had plans to get books read off of my own shelves, but haven’t done that great at it. lol

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