Meggy | Chocolate'n'Waffles

June Wrap-Up!

June, its summer days, the holiday starting… Nope, let’s do it again. June, its cold and rainy days, its hectic schedule. It sounds more like it.

june wrap up

What’s New?

I don’t have any complaints regarding June. No wait, I have one. The Euro. I won’t send my thanks to the guy who had the terrible idea to host games here and create a fan zone.

My mother went back to our hometown, leaving me with the task of taking care of her dog. I spent the week with a death threat hovering over my head if anything should happen to her cutie. Living with two dogs with opposite personalities was fun, most of the time. I was not so happy to be waken up at 6am.

Last week, my student dream job became available. The university published an ad to recruit new assistants for all their libraries. I was over the moon when I noticed the English library was looking for someone too. Of course, I applied. When the answer came back 4 hours later, I was shocked. First because no one in that administration had ever replied to an email in less than a day. Second, because they had scheduled an interview for the week to come. But. Because there is always a but. Only when I agreed for the date of the interview did I spot the little warning telling me that the contract did not say 26hours a week but 26hours for the entire semester. There is a HUGE difference. I am going anyway, 26 hours in a library playing with the stamps and scolding students returning their books late is better than no job. Or a summer job handing ice creams on the beach. Or night shifts counting bottles of medicine. Or staying home. The interview went very well, but someone applied before me so now my fate depends on the other candidate’s answer.

Oh, and I bought beauty products. Yes, I know my life is very exciting! Now off to the most interesting part of my days:

Books I read in June

Portmanteau (Review next week)

The Dali Deception (Review here)

The Last Billable Hour (Review here)

The Scorch Trials (review later)

The Death Cure

The Raven Boys (Review here)

Crown of Midnight (Review Saturday 2nd July)

The Stepmother (Review to come)

Book Reviews of Stories I read in May

the little french guest house

Book Review: Travel to France with The Little French Guesthouse, by Helen Pollard

Books I purchased

On June 1st, I decided to go on a book buying ban…

I know. I must have misunderstood the concept. It is not that bad. I managed to buy less than in May. I promised myself to behave for the summer.

Books I received for review

Of course, the ban involved book requests. I blame The Stepmother for luring me to NetGalley again. I requested My Husband’s Son and Yoga Beyond The Mat in May, so they don’t count, right? I can’t help it if I was approved in June…!

Books I won

this fragile life

I want to thank Jenny at Neverland Blog Tours for hosting a giveaway and Kate Hewitt for sending me a copy of her book. I really like the colors of the cover.

Book of The Month Award

At 4.51am a few nights ago, I realized something was missing on my blog. A Book of the Month Award! This way, when the time will come to publish my favorite books of the year, all I will only have to go back to the wrap-up posts and check the monthly award. Aren’t I a clever girl?

Because I still couldn’t sleep, I wondered about the best way to decide which story deserves the recognition and a shiny waffle made of paper napkin. The easiest solution would be to take the book with the highest rating, but sometimes the books that stay with you are not the ones you expect. This month’s winner came to me as I was writing the beginning of this post.

Screen Shot 2016-06-28 at 21.11.06

My favorite book in June came from Adam Maxwell. The characters of The Dali Deception are still in my head, even after a few weeks. I changed my mind about high-risk heists. I find them so much more interesting and exciting now that I have gained an insight into what it takes to pull off such a job. The sequel is at the top of my most anticipated books!

Blogging life

I was less productive than I hoped to be in June. Still, I am satisfied with what I wrote and I am slowly getting used to scheduling.

Hype or Like Friday

Tags

Life

Discussion posts and lists

This Week In Books


That’s a wrap! How did June treat you? Do leave your wrap-up link in a comment below and I’ll pop a visit!

50 comments

  1. That’s why I have a book of the month on my blog, mind you sometimes I haven’t been able to choose and have to give the award to two books. I love that you managed to buy so many books whilst on a book ban, I’m being really good and only buying one book a week at the moment, I have so many great books on my TBR pile that I’m desperate to get to, and good luck with the job x

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    • I had not thought of that before, but last week I was thinking of a big year wrap-up and I realized it would be to complicated to go over all the books, haha! I admire you for behaving so well with your buying! I’m stuck with a very exciting (and huge) TBR now, which makes it impossible to choose what to read next. Thank you! I should get an answer soon, so fingers crossed!

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  3. Crossing my fingers for you. I hope that you will get the job.

    Now about the books that you bought, I am so jealous!Beautiful covers and some really interesting picks there. I have only read The Gil in the Ice but everything looks super interesting. I think that book purchases are justified when they involve such wonderful picks:-)

    Stepmother also lured me to NetGalley. It was my 1 of 14 ARCs. I went a bit crazy with the requests:-) Looking forward to your review of Stepmother though.

    Have a wonderful July!

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    • Thanks so much! It bothers me that the person before only sent his application 3 hours earlier. But there’s still a chance he declines so I’m hoping for the best!
      I was a little shocked when I was writing this post and counted the books; I was sure I had behaved! But they all sound so good that I have no regrets 🙂
      Haha, NetGalley can have that effect! The Stepmother falls into the category of books that are hard to review…!
      Thanks so much for your comment, have a great month!

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    • Even when it’s not exciting, I make up stories in my mind to make it look like a movie :p I had stopped sharing personal news but I feel it’s important to do so sometimes, as we mostly share about books.
      That’s what I said in the interview, haha! “I don’t care about the hours, I just want to sit in that chair and say “I work in the library!!!” ” I’m pretty sure they think I’m a little nuts, now!

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  6. Omg, working at the library and actually getting paid for it??! Fuck the 26hours, that IS a dream job! 😀 I really hope you’ll get it! I lolled at your book buying ‘ban’. In my dictionary, it just means ‘by less books than usual’ *nods*. I might steal your book of the month idea because it IS pure genious xD

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  7. The job sounds brilliant, it may only be a few hours, but its a lovely and fun opportunity which could lead to further hours and will look good when applying for other jobs.
    You have read and blogged lots of the month, your wrap ups are always so full packed, its great.
    Enjoy all your new books.
    Amanda.

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    • That’s exactly my thought! I haven’t heard back from them yet, but I’m keeping faith 🙂
      I am really happy that I managed to read 8 books, I usually can’t go past 6.
      Thank you so much for your comment!

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  10. Ah good luck with the job- you’re right- that is the best kind of job!! haha ooh- we’re in the exact same boat for book buying bans- I like seeing Gillian Flynn in there, I’ve read just one of her books- she’s an excellent writer. Great post!

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    • Thank you! I should get an answer soon, so fingers crossed!
      Haha, you don’t have the right definition of a ban either? That’s good! I keep hearing about Flynn so when I spotted the book in the bookstore, I just had to get it!

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      • You’re welcome! *fingers crossed*
        haha what is this word “ban” lol 😉 Ah I know the feeling- I haven’t read that one yet, but it’s on my list (and given my issues with book buying bans, I reckon it’s only a matter of time 😉 )

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    • June was a great month 🙂 I’m really glad I had so many great reads, but I still have the feeling I did not do as much as I wanted. Never satisfied, haha!
      Thank you for the link, I’ll check your post now!

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  13. Oooh good luck with the job, Donna. I’ll be sending positive vibes your way ♥

    Great reading month too! I’m so, so happy you enjoyed The Raven Boys!! I can’t wait to see what you think of the rest of the series. Your book buying bands sounds a lot like mine 😂

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    • Thank you so much! ❤ I haven't heard back, even though they said they'd let me know on Friday, so I'm pretty sure I lost this time, but it's okay. I'll try again!
      So far, I've succeeded in staying away from Amazon, haha! I'll get The Dream Thieves very soon, I'm sure the ban won't last much longer. It's so not effective anyway 😂

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  15. Looks like you had a great month! I hope you’ll get the job at the library even if it isn’t that many hours; it sounds like a great way to spend the summer anyway. And I’m definitely going to check out The Dali Deception now! 😀

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    • I haven’t heard from them so it’s probably a bad sign, but I’ll try again next time. I’ll squat the library and borrow ten books per week as a revenge.
      Do check it! I’d love to see more opinions on it around here 😀 Plus, learning some of those tricks might come in handy if you decide to join the heist club 😂

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  16. Donna, thanks for visiting my blog! Twenty six hours a semester isn’t very much. I hope you get the position anyway. I would love to work in a library. I’m just amazed that you heard back the same day. It takes WEEKS for that to happen here. I even got a notification months after a position was filled that I wasn’t selected…not hard to figure out when you never heard back even for an interview! You had a great reading month – and as I saw your post I realized I haven’t done mine! Oh, wells. Happy reading!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • The job sounded too good not to apply. I haven’t heard back so it’s probably over, but no regrets, I tried!
      I know. I’m so used to having late replies, or no replies at all that I spent an entire minute staring at my screen, totally in shock.
      I’m really satisfied with June. July is going to be quite busy so I won’t have time to read that much, but I’m planning on using August to tackle my TBR and be deadline free!
      Happy reading to you too!

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  18. Book buying ban you say? 😀
    I like them all, but this Bordeaux Houswifes cought my attention, as I have never seen in before in my life. Like, never.
    Ohh, what beauty products did you buy?
    I just recently found out about beauty blender. I know, I know, when I say I’m living under a rock it is totally true because beauty blender is a huge hit and I didn’t know about it until the middle of 2016… :/

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    • I still need to work on the ban, I know :p The definition is not precise enough, haha!
      I admit I only bought Bordeaux Housewives because this is where I live, and I was curious, I’d never seen Bordeaux mentioned in a book. France usually means Paris!
      I bought plenty of Avène’s product to create a new routine, my skin is prone to blemishes and uneven skin tone so I’m protecting it from the sun and trying to make it look better! I threw in some Clinique makeup, I love their Chubby Sticks and they have the perfect shade of fondation for me. I heard about beauty blender way after everybody else, don’t worry. There’s something new on the market every week, it’s impossible to know them all. And I tend to pay more attention to book news rather than beauty!

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