Month in Review for July 2015

George is just the mini version of Torrie- who meows more.

Despite having been on two vacations, July has been a relatively calm month for me. I blame it all on eating lots of cake and reading whatever I felt like, which mostly consisted of paranormal books with fast-paced plots. Although I had planned the Dog Days of Summer to be the last weeks of July, it will bleed into August, as I have two more dog-themed books I've been looking for a reason to review for quite some time.

Statistics:
 Total Posts: 14
  Total Critiques: 6
  Genres:
    Out-of-Orbit: 2
    Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy: 2  
    Part of a Series: 3
    Steampunk: 1
    Superheroes: 1

Most Popular Posts of June:
"Vicious" by V.E. Schwab
New Release Review: "The Conquering Dark (Crown & Key #3)" by Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith
Fantasy Frustrations: Killing Them to Death
SFF: The 5 Animal Companions You'd Like to Read More About
NQAC: Biweekly Update #14: Cake, Camping, and an Adult Coloring Book
"Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy #1)" by Ilona Andrews
O.o.O.C.: "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein
Gone Camping: Moose, Mesa Falls, Dog Antics, and Lots of Rain

Pageviews for the Month: 1099!
Comments: 2

Reading Challenges Updates:

Snowflake and Spider Silk Bingo Challenge

Applicable Books:
From January:
Song of Blood and Stone (Earthsinger Chronicles #1) by L. Penelope (POC main character)
Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger (New to me author)
Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger (2nd book in a series)
Blameless (Parasol Protectorate #3) by Gail Carriger (female author)
From February:
Unseen (Unborn #2) by Amber Lynn Natusch (published 2015)
Written in Red (The Others #1) by Anne Bishop (Urban Fantasy)
From March:
Stardust by Neil Gaiman (written before 2000- it was first published in 1998)
Anthem by Ayn Rand (Novella/Short Story)
Moxyland by Lauren Beukes (Dystopia)
From April:
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (Humorous SF/F)
"The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil #1)" by Soman Chainani (fairy tale retelling)
From May:
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley ("classic" SF/F)
From June:
"The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard #1)" by Scott Lynch (Heists and Cons)
From July:
Nothing new to be starred off this month- I've been looking at audio books but every sample I listen to makes me grimace.

Travel the World in Books Challenge

Applicable Books:
 Also nothing new for this challenge- I focused on paranormal and urban fantasy reads this month.

Reading Stats:

Books read this Month: 8
Rereads (I don't count them for GR): 3

Book Stats:
Has a Diverse Main Character: 0 (In other words, Diversity Fail this month)
Doesn't Have a Diverse MC: 8
Female Main Character: 0
Male Main Character: 1
Pair and/or Group of Female/Male Main Characters: 7
Genre:
 Comic: 1
 Historical Romance: 1
 Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance: 4
 Steampunk: 1
 Superheroes: 1
Published in 2015: 2
Published in 2000-2014: 6
Self-Published, Small Press, or Other: 1
Traditionally Published: 7
Series Books: 7
Standalones: 1
Ebook Version: 8
Paper Version: 0
Favorite of the Month: Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Least Favorite of the Month: Guardians of the Galaxy Free Comic Book Day by Brian Michael Bendis (Not my usual genre, obviously).
From the-pile: 0
From the-invisible-pile: 1
Recently acquired: 7
Added to the-invisible-pile: 1
Books bought: 5
Pages Read in 2015 Thus Far (according to Goodreads): 16,692 pages

Ratings:
5 Stars: 0
4-4.5 Stars: 5
3-3.5 Stars: 3
2-2.5 Stars: 0

Author Stats (1 = 1 book read by x author):
Male: 1
Female: 5
Male/Female Team: 2
Diverse: 0
Not-so-Diverse: 8
Living: 8
Deceased: 0

Planning to Read in August (Still All About Relaxing):

I bought Magic Shifts (Kate Daniels #8) by Ilona Andrews to read, since I'm a Kate Daniels series fan now:

And then I recently went on a request binge (as in I requested three books- in a row) on NetGalley, even though I have plenty of books in my own pile I've been wanting to tackle. They just looked so drool-worthy...

The Sleeping King: A Novel by Cindy Dees and Bill Flippin
Expected Release Date: September 8th 2015
I'm currently reading this one also, and really have enjoyed the 5% I've read. It is traditional epic fantasy so far, and I love it.

The Heart Goes Last (Positron 0) by Margaret Atwood
Expected Release Date: September 29th 2015

If you've read most any of my fun five lists to do with authors, this lady usually tops them. Hence I had to request this, even if the reviews so far seem discouraging. This seems to be a dystopia in the vein of The Handmaid's Tale.

Upcoming Posts:

Color Me Happy: An Unofficial Guide to Adult Coloring Book Bliss
Where I test out my horde of art pencils and tell you which ones I prefer, along with giving out helpful hints and tips from an amateur adult colorer.

Deerskin by Robin McKinley
I actually don't recall much about this other than the spoilers, so I won't expound on the subject here. Needless to say, I liked it. I haven't read a Robin McKinley book I don't like yet. If I am ever disappointed by one, it will be a sad, sad day at Victorian Soul Critiques.

Another Montana Book Roundup
You know, because I bought a bunch of books in Montana, even though I didn't really want to buy every book that looked tempting at the awesome thrift stores there. Well, maybe I did...

                        Until Thursday,