July Wrap-up: It’s Been a Hectic Whirlwind of a Month

When I say this has been the most chaotic month this year, I really mean it. I’ve just been extremely busy lately and I’m sure you can see that reflected on my blog… this is not how I had planned for things to go but it’s a classic case of my overachieving self thinking I can manage every single thing, lol.

This is gonna be a short update but I’m still happy with whatever little reading and writing I got accomplished this month.

Books I Read

SHADOW OF THE FOX

What a book! Gripping, rich worldbuilding and such wonderful characters! I was absolutely addicted to this series. 5/5 stars

SOUL OF THE SWORD

Things were really shaken up in this book, and the journey we went through, oh my god. Just perfection, every page (or rather the audiobook narrator) had me on the edge of my seat. 5/5 stars

NIGHT OF THE DRAGON

WHAT EVEN HAPPENED HERE?! Like my heart couldn’t have been more full even though I was a mess of emotions. What a perfect end to a cracking trilogy. 5/5 stars

A SHELTERED WOMAN

This was a nice and short read and managed to pack a punch. It had a very interesting voice and was beautifully written. 3.5/5 stars

MEET ME IN MUMBAI

This was such a heartwarming and emotional story that had me absolutely hooked. It’s impossible to say in just a line or two what this book is about but you can read my review for it right here. 4/5 stars

Books I Hauled

CRIER’S WAR AND IRON HEART

I read Crier’s War as an audiobook and really enjoyed it! But I think reading the second book as a paperback will be a much better experience since this is a high fantasy duology. luckily I managed to stumble upon someone selling their secondhand copies 🙂

STRANGE THE DREAMER

Been eyeing this one for a while and a friend was selling her copy for cheap so I grabbed it. It’s such a big fat book but also pretty as a picture. Here’s to hoping I get to it soon…

Life Updates

There’s no binge-watching update this month because the only thing I finished was season 3 of The Umbrella Academy and season 4 of Stranger Things. Both of these shows were pretty epic and I’m really excited to see where the next seasons will lead us!

Other than that I’ve only been rewatching Parks and Recreation in the background and slowly going through the many episodes of Masterchef Australia S42 with my mom.

It’s just been a really hectic month and yet I don’t know where the time has gone. To begin with, I joined an offline internship where I’m working at a school which rehabilitates mentally gifted children and adults. The initial couple of days were extremely tough and tiring as I adjusted to my surroundings but I’ve more or less adjusted by now. Most days are fun and rewarding and filled with heartwarming moments. But there are also extremely tiring days when I’m back with a headache, bored out of my mind or just in a weird mood. So yeah, it has its ups and downs but I’m definitely learning a lot.

The internship takes up half of my day and most of the rest is spent preparing for competitive exams, researching for grad schools and preparing my applications. It’s a maddening and exhausting process. Every day I wake up with new and conflicting information being thrown at me. That being said, think things are a bit stable now. My mental health was quite topsy turvy back there but I would like to say things are looking up a little.

I’m giving an exam this month and I can actually take a solid good break after that before my semester starts. I’m quite looking forward to that. Bless audiobooks which were the only reason I even got a little bit of reading done. I’ve let go of blog posts right now, and I honestly can’t say if I’ll be getting back to it before the end of August. It definitely isn’t my priority plus I don’t have any burning ideas to write about either. Everything is on hold until I give this GRE exam so just pray that it goes well and I don’t have to go through it once more…

Here’s to hoping for a better month in terms of both mental health and reading 🙂

How has your month been?

Have you read any of the books I talked about?

What are your plans and goals for August?