Instagram Reading Wrap Up: August 2017

Here's my monthly wrap up of all the books that I read in August, which I originally posted on Instagram. I've been posting monthly wrap ups of all the books I read each month on Instagram (A.K.A. Bookstagram) for a while now, and I've decided to start posting them here as well.

Here are all of the books that I read, or in the case of Francesca Zappia's Eliza and Her Monsters, finished reading in August. @authoremmachase's Royally Matched and @jrwardauthor's The Angels' Share were both books that I was reading for the second time in preparation for the release of the third and final books in their respective series. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to read either of those books last month, so I'm going to read both Royally Endowed and Devil's Cut this month. I absolutely loved @kasiewest's book, Lucky in Love. 😀 I really liked @lainit's Strange the Dreamer, but I definitely thought that it was a very confusing book. I'm definitely going to read the sequel, though. 😀 Despite the fact that a lot of people seem to absolutely love Eliza and Her Monsters, I unfortunately hated it for the most part. Honestly, there quite a few times that I considered DNFing the book, and I've only done that with two books in the years that I've been reviewing books for my blog. While I wish that I had been able to read at least one or two more books that were in my August T.B.R., I still feel like I had a pretty good month reading wise as far as how the month of August was for me. 😀 #bookstagram #bookaholic #bookaddict #bookworms #bookworm #bookblogger #bookblog #strangethedreamer #lainitaylor #bourbonkings #theangelsshare #jrward #luckyinlove #kasiewest #royallymatched #royallyseries #emmachase #elizaandhermonsters #francescazappia

A post shared by Taylor Glissman (@tmswriter6) on Sep 1, 2017 at 10:07pm PDT

Books I Read in August 2017:


Royally Matched (Book #2 in the Royally series) by Emma Chase

Lucky in Love by Kasie West

The Angels' Share (Book #2 in the Bourbon Kings series) by J.R. Ward

Strange the Dreamer (Book #1 in the Strange the Dreamer series) by Laini Taylor

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia


Related Posts:


Book Review: Royally Screwed (Book #1 in the Royally series) by Emma Chase

Book Review: The Bourbon Kings (Book #1 in the Bourbon Kings series) by J.R. Ward

Book Review: The Angels' Share (Book #2 in the Bourbon Kings series) by J.R. Ward

OwlCrate Unboxing: May 2017 (Comic Explosion)

OwlCrate Unboxing: May 2017 (Comic Explosion)

Here's what I got in my May 2017 OwlCrate box, which came in the mail today. The theme for May's box is "Comic Explosion".

My May @owlcrate box came in the mail today, and I absolutely love it! ☺️ I first subscribed to OwlCrate back in November of 2015, with the December 2015 box being the very first OwlCrate box that I ever received, and this month's box is seriously one of my top favorite OwlCrate boxes that I've ever received. 😀 I love Batman, so I'm thrilled that I got a Batman Funko POP! in my box. 😀 I love the pen, which has six different colors of in. I'm really excited to try the coffee candy, and I'm looking forward to reading the sampler of Afar. Most importantly, I'm beyond excited about this month's book, Eliza and Her Monsters, because it's exactly the kind of book that I've always hoped to review, and talk about on my blog. ☺ The OwlCrate exclusive cover for the book is awesome! 😀 This truly is a fantastic OwlCrate box. 😀 #owlcrate #comicexplosion #bookstagram #bookblog #bookhaul #bookaholic #bookaddict #bookworm #elizaandhermonsters #francesazappia #batman @francesa_zappia

A post shared by Taylor Glissman (@tmswriter6) on May 19, 2017 at 1:42pm PDT

Plans start at $29.99, plus shipping. The people who run OwlCrate are all very nice, and they’re really great at answering any questions that people may have about OwlCrate on Twitter, or via email. I highly recommend subscribing to OwlCrate, especially if you’re a fan of YA books. If you’re interested in learning more about OwlCrate, or subscribing to it, you can check out their website here. For the record, I wasn’t asked by the people who run OwlCrate to promote their business on my blog; I’m only mentioning OwlCrate here because I really love OwlCrate a lot, especially now that I’m reviewing books for my blog instead of TV shows. 

Finally, in case you’re unaware, I've reviewed Jeff Zentner’s debut novel, The Serpent King, which was OwlCrate’s book of the month for March of last year when the theme was "Writer’s Block". I've also reviewed P.S. I Like You by Kasie West, which was the book of the month for August of last year when the theme was "Fast Times at Y.A. High"; as well Audrey Coulthurst's book, Of Fire and Stars, which was the December 2016 book of the month when the theme was "Epic".

OwlCrate Unboxing: April 2017 (Head Over Heels)

Here's what I got in my April 2017 OwlCrate box, which came in the mail today. The theme for April's box is "Head Over Heels".

My April @owlcrate box came today, and I absolutely love it! I'm beyond happy and excited about the fact that the April book of the month is The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (@beckyalbertalli), because it's a book that I really want to read and review for my blog. 😀 My favorite item in this month's box is without a doubt the tea. I've never been much of a tea drinker in the past, but I've loved the different blends of tea that have been included in past OwlCrate boxes; so I'm definitely excited to try this tea. I personally would like to see tea included in OwlCrate boxes more often, simply because the other two blends of tea that I've received in past boxes have been so good. I love the card with the quote from A Court of Mist and Fury on it, especially since I'm currently in the process of writing a review for that book. I've been thinking about getting a new keychain lately, so I really like the keychain that came in this month's box, too. 😀 Given the fact that romance is one of my favorite genres to read, and it's definitely my #1 favorite genre of books to review for my blog, this month's box truly is perfect for me. ☺️ #owlcrate #bookstagram #bookhaul #acourtofmistandfury #acotar #sarahjmaas #theupsideofunrequited #beckyalbertalli

A post shared by Taylor Glissman (@tmswriter6) on Apr 21, 2017 at 3:23pm PDT

Plans start at $29.99, plus shipping. The people who run OwlCrate are all very nice, and they’re really great at answering any questions that people may have about OwlCrate on Twitter, or via email. I highly recommend subscribing to OwlCrate, especially if you’re a fan of YA books. If you’re interested in learning more about OwlCrate, or subscribing to it, you can check out their website here. For the record, I wasn’t asked by the people who run OwlCrate to promote their business on my blog; I’m only mentioning OwlCrate here because I really love OwlCrate a lot, especially now that I’m reviewing books for my blog instead of TV shows. 

Finally, in case you’re unaware, I've reviewed Jeff Zentner’s debut novel, The Serpent King, which was OwlCrate’s book of the month for March of last year when the theme was "Writer’s Block". I've also reviewed P.S. I Like You by Kasie West, which was the book of the month for August of last year when the theme was "Fast Times at Y.A. High"; as well Audrey Coulthurst's book, Of Fire and Stars, which was the December 2016 book of the month when the theme was "Epic".

Book Review: Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (An OwlCrate book of the month)

Before I get into my review of Audrey Coulthurst’s book, Of Fire and Stars I’d like to start off by briefly talking about how I found out about this book. I originally heard about this book from various people on BookTube (YouTube), and I even pre-ordered it on Amazon at one point. However, I ultimately got my copy of Of Fire and Stars in the December 2016 OwlCrate box. In case you don’t know what OwlCrate is, it’s a monthly YA book box. There’s a different theme for the box each month; for example, the theme for the December box was “Epic”. Each month the box includes a recently released hardback YA book, along with a letter from the author, a signed bookplate (The author’s autograph), as well as three to five items centered around the theme for that month. Here’s a picture of everything that came in the December 2016 box that I posted on Instagram to give people an idea of what kind of things they include in the boxes each month.

A post shared by Taylor Glissman (@tmswriter6) on Dec 19, 2016 at 6:12pm PST

Plans start at $29.99, plus shipping. The people who run OwlCrate are all very nice, and they’re really great at answering any questions that people may have about OwlCrate on Twitter, or via email. I highly recommend subscribing to OwlCrate, especially if you’re a fan of YA books. If you’re interested in learning more about OwlCrate, or subscribing to it, you can check out their website here. For the record, I wasn’t asked by the owners of OwlCrate to promote their business on my blog; I’m only mentioning OwlCrate here because I really love OwlCrate a lot, especially now that I’m basically focusing on only reviewing books for my blog instead of TV shows. In case you’re unaware, I reviewed Jeff Zentner’s debut novel, The Serpent King, which was OwlCrate’s book of the month for March of last year when the theme was Writer’s Block. I’ve also reviewed Kasie West’s book, P.S. I Like You, which was the August 2016 book of the month. With all that said, here are my thoughts on Audrey Coulthurst’s book, Of Fire and Stars.

Right off the bat, I have to say that Of Fire and Stars is a book that I was highly anticipating prior to its release for a lot of reasons. Being bisexual myself, reviewing books that feature LGBT characters is something that I’ve really wanted to do with my blog, so I was very intrigued and excited to read a YA book that not only featured LGBT characters, but was first and foremost focused on a same-sex romance, rather than have the LGBT characters be regulated to simply being supporting characters in the book. Plus, I’m just a huge fan of books that are either a part of the romance genre, or books where romance is simply a big part of the plot in general. I also love science fiction and fantasy books, so the fantasy elements that are featured in this book were definitely another thing that really drew me to Of Fire and Stars. While I ultimately didn’t think that Of Fire and Stars was perfect, for the most part, this book totally delivered in terms of what I wanted to get out of it; and at times it even exceeded my expectations.

OwlCrate Unboxing: February 2017 (Run away with the Circus)

Here's what I got in my February 2017 OwlCrate box, which came in the mail today. The theme for February's box is "Run away with the Circus".

My February @owlcrate box came in the mail today, and I absolutely love it! While I really like red version of the Night Circus themed tote bag that some people received, I definitely like the black version of the tote bag more, so I'm thrilled that I got a black tote bag. I absolutely love the note pad that's made out of recycled playing cards. I think the candle smells great. 😀 As someone who mostly listens to audiobooks, I love that they included a free download code for the audiobook of Caraval. I really hope that OwlCrate does that again in the future. While I'm always excited to get my OwlCrate box, the wait for this month's box was especially brutal since I had originally planned on getting a copy of @stephanie_garber's Caraval the day it was released (1/31) so I could read and review it right away, but when OwlCrate announced the theme for the February box, I knew that I was going to have to change my plans. I'll definitely start reading it very soon now that I finally own a copy of Caraval. 😀 This is definitely another fantastic OwlCrate box. 😀 #owlcrate #bookstagram #bookhaul #bookworm #bookaddict #bookaholic #caraval #stephaniegarber #thenightcircus

A post shared by Taylor Glissman (@tmswriter6) on Feb 18, 2017 at 1:26pm PST

Plans start at $29.99, plus shipping. The people who run OwlCrate are all very nice, and they’re really great at answering any questions that people may have about OwlCrate on Twitter, or via email. I highly recommend subscribing to OwlCrate, especially if you’re a fan of YA books. If you’re interested in learning more about OwlCrate, or subscribing to it, you can check out their website here. For the record, I wasn’t asked by the people who run OwlCrate to promote their business on my blog; I’m only mentioning OwlCrate here because I really love OwlCrate a lot, especially now that I’m mostly reviewing books for my blog instead of TV shows. 

Finally, in case you’re unaware, I've reviewed Jeff Zentner’s debut novel, The Serpent King, which was OwlCrate’s book of the month for March of last year when the theme was "Writer’s Block". I've also reviewed P.S. I Like You by Kasie West, which was the book of the month for August of last year when the theme was "Fast Times at Y.A. High".

OwlCrate Unboxing: January 2017 (Classic Remix)

Here's what I got in my January 2017 OwlCrate box, which came in the mail today. The theme for January's box is "Classic Remix".

My January @owlcrate box came in the mail today, and I love it! 😊 Out of all the items that came in this month's box, my favorite thing is definitely the tea from First Edition Tea Co. 😀 I've never been much of a tea drinker in the past, but the tea from the November Wonderland themed OwlCrate box is definitely turning me into a tea fan (I still have some bags of that tea left). I can't wait to try this tea. 😀 I also love the soap, and the watercolor bookmark. OwlCrate definitely includes really cool bookmarks in their boxes. I'm beyond excited about the book: RoseBlood by A.G. Howard. I'm huge fan of retellings of fairy tales and classic stories, so I'm really excited to read Howard's take on The Phantom of the Opera. OwlCrate has once again put together a fantastic box. I love OwlCrate so much. 😘 #owlcrate #bookstagram #bookhaul #bookworm #bookaddict #bookaholic #thephantomoftheopera #roseblood #aghoward @firsteditiontea

A photo posted by Taylor Glissman (@tmswriter6) on Jan 20, 2017 at 3:31pm PST

Plans start at $29.99, plus shipping. The people who run OwlCrate are all very nice, and they’re really great at answering any questions that people may have about OwlCrate on Twitter, or via email. I highly recommend subscribing to OwlCrate, especially if you’re a fan of YA books. If you’re interested in learning more about OwlCrate, or subscribing to it, you can check out their website here. For the record, I wasn’t asked by the people who run OwlCrate to promote their business on my blog; I’m only mentioning OwlCrate here because I really love OwlCrate a lot, especially now that I’m mostly reviewing books for my blog instead of TV shows. 

Finally, in case you’re unaware, I've reviewed Jeff Zentner’s debut novel, The Serpent King, which was OwlCrate’s book of the month for March of last year when the theme was "Writer’s Block". I've also reviewed P.S. I Like Youby Kasie West, which was the book of the month for August of last year when the theme was "Fast Times at Y.A. High".

Book Review: P.S. I Like You by Kasie West (An OwlCrate Book of the Month)

Before I get into my review of Kasie West’s book, P.S. I Like You; I’d like to start off by briefly talking about how I found out about this book. I got my copy of P.S. I Like You in the August OwlCrate box. In case you don’t know what OwlCrate is, it’s a monthly YA book box. There’s a different theme for the box each month; for example, the theme for August was “Fast Times at YA High”. Each month the box includes a recently released hardback YA book, along with three to five items centered around the theme for that month. Here’s a picture of everything that came in the August box that I posted on Instagram to give people an idea of what kind of things they include in the boxes each month.

A photo posted by Taylor Glissman (@tmswriter6) on Aug 18, 2016 at 4:51pm PDT

Plans start at $29.99, plus shipping. The people who run OwlCrate are all very nice, and they’re really great at answering any questions that people may have about OwlCrate on Twitter, or via email. I highly recommend subscribing to OwlCrate, especially if you’re a fan of YA books. If you’re interested in learning more about OwlCrate, or subscribing to it, you can check out their website here. For the record, I wasn’t asked by the people who run OwlCrate to promote their business on my blog; I’m only mentioning OwlCrate here because I really love OwlCrate a lot, especially now that I’m mostly reviewing books for my blog instead of TV shows. In case you’re unaware, back in April I reviewed Jeff Zentner’s debut novel, The Serpent King, which was OwlCrate’s book of the month for March when the theme was Writer’s Block. With all that said, here are my thoughts on Kasie West’s book, P.S. I Like You.

Right off the bat, I have to say that while the overall premise of P.S. I Like You isn’t the most original plot for a story, I really loved this book. One of my aunts sadly passed away somewhat unexpectedly the day before I started reading this book, and I found P.S. I Like You to be a very upbeat and enjoyable book to read that definitely helped cheer me up as I was reading it. Personally, the overall premise of the book being that Lily exchanges notes with a guy, and she doesn’t know that the guy she’s talking to is Cade, who happens to be the ex-boyfriend of her best friend, Isabel, and the fact that she also doesn’t get along with him very well when they’re interacting with each other in person caused this book to remind me a lot of the movie You’ve Got Mail. The premise of the book definitely has a bit of a “Been there, done that” feel to it, which is the main reason I found P.S. I Like You to be somewhat predictable. That being said, I don’t entirely mind that P.S. I Like You felt rather reminiscent of the movie You’ve Got Mail, because I’ve always loved that movie; and I still enjoyed this book immensely, even though the plot of book didn’t feel entirely fresh and original.