Month in Review/Monthly Preview: It was my birthday, and hey, I have Instagram now!?


  

It was my birthday...♥


So of course I got some books! 



Ummmm and some nail polish! ^.~

...as in, the entire My Little Pony Collection from China Glaze! @_@

I also got to see my family a lot, which was nice. Mmm, and eat some really good food!!!


BIRTHDAY DINNER, ROUND 1:



BIRTHDAY DINNER, ROUND 2:


I also got to choose a Birthday Book to read, which you may recall me posting about as I tried to decide between three books. Ultimately, I went with ASH PRINCESS by Laura Sebastian AND a taste of BEFORE SHE IGNITES by Jodi Meadows!

I'm now on Instagram!

It only took me 100 million years, I know, I know.

I can't guarantee that I'll ever be as amazing as the best bookstagramers, but you if you want to follow me, I can be found here @abackwardsstory!

Magic, Myth, and Mischief!




This past week, Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl and I announced that we're co-hosting Magic, Myth, and Mischief during the entire month of September.

We'd love it if you wanted to get involved! We'd love to have bloggers posting reviews, fun guest posts, etc, and we'd love to do posts with authors as well!

Check out all the deets here!

#OTSPSecretSister

This new round of OTSPSecretSister has ended, and I'm so sad!

This past month was really cool! My Sister sent me goodies locally grown in her state of Montana. I'd never eaten Huckleberry ANYTHING before, let alone the delicious candy and muffins! It was awesome!!!

Thank you again for everything, Sis!


HERE'S A A PIC COMPLETE WITH SOME OF THE WASHI TAPE ON THE BOX:


MAKING THE MUFFINS!!!



NAIL POLISH!

For a family reunion, I decided to do a dotted manicure, even though my nails are still short. My niece (who is 3 1/2) saw them and was obsessed and begged me to do her nails the next day because she was leaving for a beach vacation on Monday.

So I came over and we swapped out my possibly-stain-inducing red for her kid-friendly purple that didn't need a base coat because she wouldn't have sat still that long, and voila! Twins!!!




Also, as you may have seen above, my dad got me the ENTIRE collection of My Little Pony nail polish for my birthday! There were a few colors I REALLY wanted, but it was cheaper to get the full set on Ebay than to buy just a few individually for about the same price!

I'll have a swatch video for you soon, but here's a sneak peek: 




JULY BOOK HAUL!


I decided to do something different this time and made a book haul video, which some of you recommended.

IMO, book haul videos are always so LONG, but since you guys like them, I'm willing to give it a try.

Should I continue, or nah?

Here's the video:



But if you don't want to watch it, here are some quick shots of my July haul!


ALL THE THINGS!
SENT FOR REVIEW!

PURCHASED!
BIRTHDAY BOOKS!



PHOTOS OF THE MONTH

Here are some of the photos I've taken and shared this month!


Breakfast: A huckleberry muffin, some fruit, coffee, and a book!
Mmmmm, coffee!!!

THE CROWNS OF CROSWALD by D.E. Knight came in a really cute blind box!
Check out my unboxing video!

I am SO EXCITED to read this Jane Yolen collection of stories!
I had to add some Pops from a few of the stories for good measure!

Yes, it's true:
I bought a rainbow of notebooks!
But at a quarter each, how could I resist!?

This lovely review book arrived on my birthday...
I love how it matches my comforter!

MUSIC 🎶

For the last week or two, music from the musical version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame has been stuck in my head again. I found out it was being performed nearby and was lucky enough to go and see it yesterday...and it was so good!!!! So of course I wanted to listen to it. BUT I wouldn't let myself because then I could go into the production fresh and not compare it to the version I knew. So OF COURSE the music stayed in my head to be annoying!!!

MOVIES AND TV

Um, let's see....hmmm. I haven't watched much, actually! The only thing I can think of is Descendants 2, which was surprisingly really good! The first movie wasn't that great, so my expectations were low, but I thought it was better than the first movie by a lot!!!

I actually was just sent a review copy of The Circle, so I'll be watching that this week and reviewing it on BroadwayWorld. Keep an eye out!

That was my July.

How was yours???

Here's a look at everything that happened this past month!
 

ONGOING GIVEAWAYS:

None atm...

Check out the July Blog Tour Schedule for more upcoming giveaways!
AUGUST BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE
(Most blog tour stops feature giveaways as well!)

*MASK OF SHADOWS by Linsey Miller {8/22 review}
*A SHORT HISTORY OF THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jared Reck  {8/23 review}
*THE HAWKWEED LEGACY by Irena Brignull  {8/29 review}
*ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by Gregory Scott Katsoulis  {8/30 review}

 

READING NOW:
{All links to Goodreads!}

*COMPASS SOUTH by Hope Larson

PLANNING TO READ IN AUGUST:


*KNIFE'S EDGE by Hope Larson
*A SHORT HISTORY OF THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jared Reck 
*THE HAWKWEED PROPHECY by Irena Brignull
*THE HAWKWEED LEGACY by Irena Brignull
*THE BEDLAM STACKS by Natasha Pulley
*CITY MOUSE by Stacey Lender
*WICKED LIKE A WILDFIRE by Lana Popović
*THE SONG FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE by A.F. Harrold and Levi Pinfold 
*THE RELUCTANT QUEEN by Sarah Beth Durst
*THE SUBTLE KNIFE by Philip Pullman
*JANE, UNLIMITED by Kristin Cashore

Lots and lots of retellings and myths!!!
 
[link to my GoodReads account so you can see my blurb feed as I read]
READ IN JULY:
{All links to Goodreads!}

TOTAL: 9 novels, 3 picture books 

(I think. I forgot to update and then updated a bunch at once, so maybe I forgot one!?)

*ROYAL BASTARDS by Andrew Shvarts {YA}
*THE QUEEN IS COMING TO TEA by Linda Ravin Lodding {Picture Book}
*PRINCESS SNOWBELLE AND THE SNOWSTORM by Libby Frost {Picture Book}
*UNI THE UNICORN AND THE DREAM COME TRUE by Amy Krouse Rosenthal {Picture Book}
*THE FATE OF FLAMES by Sarah Raughly {YA}
*SIEGE OF SHADOWS by Sarah Raughly  {YA}
*THE WATCHMAKER OF FILIGREE STEET by Natasha Pulley {Adult}
*THE PUNCH ESCROW by Tal M. Klein {Adult}
*AIR AND ASH by Alex Lidell [Re-read]  {YA}
*WAR AND WIND by Alex Lidell  {YA}
*ASH PRINCESS by Laura Sebastian {YA}
*BEFORE SHE IGNITES by Jodi Meadows {YA}

REVIEWED IN JULY:
{All link to our reviews!}

*ROYAL BASTARDS by Andrew Shvarts
*THE QUEEN IS COMING TO TEA by Linda Ravin Lodding with illustrations by Constanze von Kitzing
*THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO UNREQUITED LOVE by Sarvenaz Tash
*THE PUNCH ESCROW by Tal M. Klein
*LUCKY IN LOVE by Kasie West


REVIEWED AT BROADWAY WORLD...so you may have missed it!

*Check out everything I reviewed at Broadway World this past month in Saturday's wrap-up!

FEATURES IN JULY:

*Check out these Fourth of July reads...while listening to this Fourth of July music!
*Rounding up all my June 2017 reviews posted over at Broadway World in case you missed seeing them! ^_^
*{Month in Review/Monthly Preview} All the musicals, all the BEA madness, all the fun!!!
*Interviewing Landis Blair, Illustrator of the upcoming graphic novel release THE HUNTING ACCIDENT: A True Story of Crime & Poetry
*Recipe for Making The Frost Series by Liz DeJesus SPECTACULAR!
*More than ***100*** E-Book Deals From 99¢ to $4.99!!!!!! GRAB THEM WHILE YOU CAN!!!
*{Vlog} ***FINALLY!!!*** Showcasing All the Awesome Books from BEA, Day Two!
*Return to the world of Descendants! A Closer Look at the Series as a Whole!
*Unboxing THE CROWNS OF CROSWALD by D.E. Night...featuring a beautiful Glenagerie Bottle!
*It's My Birthday...what book should I read!?
*Go behind the scenes and watch the making of the cover for IF THERE'S NO TOMORROW by Jennifer L. Armentrout!

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