July News
I started the month off with 16 reviews to write, and I quickly added another one. I am proud to say almost all of these were NetGalley reads (from April and May, mostly). With those reviews now written and updated across platforms and the ones read in July, this brings my measly rating up to 8%. I’m now continuing to work backward and reading a batch of downloads from March-September 2016. While it won’t be time for Christmas when I finish the books at the bottom of this post, with the delay in reading/writing and the cushion I’ve built for myself of scheduled reviews, I can then start reading Christmas books! I might be able to do 2-3 reviews each week of December at this rate!
I had several interviews this month and while I was the darling and the favorite of them all, they didn’t want me. I am so disheartened and honestly out of ideas at this point. The Man and I will not be together this year, but this WILL be the last damn year we live apart. I’ll go work at Taco Bell if I have a repeat of this summer.
The Man’s dad came to visit at the end of the month. This was to be a house-hunting trip because he and Stepmom were going to sell and move down here. That is no longer the case. The biopsy results came back and it is not good. It isn’t just one cancer…or one location. Two days after that call, my dad suffered a massive heart attack: The Widowmaker. The cardiologist told us he was amazed that my dad was still alive. His LAD artery from the heart was 100% occluded (blocked) right at the start of the artery, which cut off blood supply to other areas of the heart. This artery pumps the most blood. My dad was released late Tuesday evening and has to do 6-18 weeks of cardiac rehab. He is very lucky to be alive. I feel like I’m living in a surreal alternate reality, even though things are already starting to crash down now. Please send all the love, good vibes, prayers or whatever you believe in our way.
Instagram Life
@sissybearla
July Reads
After my spectacular failure last month, I decided not to set any goals and not try to stress myself reading X number of books and sabotaging myself when I realized it wasn’t going to happen. And look how pleasantly that turned out to work for me!
Average Rating: 5 stars
Pages Read: 1,307 pages
Favorite Book: Blue Steal
July Posts
Don’t forget – we still have a few more weeks of FREE AUDIOBOOKS!
This month I wrote a boatload of reviews, so I now have those to share with you guys.
- My Personal First Aid Kit
- Review: The Piper’s Price (The Neverland Wars #2)
- My Bullet Journal: Things That Didn’t Work
- Review: The Phantom Tollbooth
- Review: Last Night with the Duke
- My Bullet Journal: Recent Work
- My Favorite…Book as a Child
- Review: Close to Home
Visitors & Search Terms
July – 881 views
I was hoping to hit the thousand mark this month with all the new content and all the visiting and commenting I’ve been doing trying to drive traffic back to my blog now that I am back. I’ve been delayed in that the last two weeks with The Man’s dad in town and everything that’s gone on, but I found time to sit down and do all my catching up even if it was 2 or 3 days later.
- scrap book design for discrimination – Uhhhmmmm. We’re not into slam or burn books here, yo. Find something else that makes you happy in life.
- books like dead poets society – You’ve come to the right place! Such a good choice.
Shout out to my UK, Canada, and Netherlands friends! Thanks for visiting this month.
Challenge Updates
I’ve made some more baby steps, and I just have to finish one more audiobook to complete my first challenge.
- Goodreads – 31/52 completed
- Alphabet Soup – 16/26 completed
- Audiobook – 5/6 completed –> I’m listening to my 6th and will meet my goal soon!
- NetGalley – 17/50 completed
- Shelf Love – 14/52 completed
- Summer BINGO – 6/25 completed
- July BINGO – 16/25 completed
August Reads
I am continuing to work backward through my NetGalley approvals. I’m now sitting at January-March 2016. I’m going to start with April’s Glow and Without Borders to knock those two off of my Alphabet Soup Challenge – and they’re both NetGalley books, so two birds, one stone.
Girl of 1000 Wonders 
I am so sorry about your dad. I will definitely send good vibes your way! You’re doing amazing on your netgalley challenge! i’m struggling but I’m hoping to get caught up this month at least that’s my goal. I hope you have an awesome August!
I’ve looked about three times this summer and didn’t like any of the books I’m auto approved to download. That’s the only way I’m getting NGs now. I’m focusing on that shelf list! I didn’t understand how it worked when I first started, so it’ll take me about 10 years (or more) to read everything I’ve downloaded. I wish I could start over fresh.
Yay for getting backlist books read. I think it is great your set this NetGalley challenge for yourself and I love hearing about your progress. I am so sorry to hear about your Father-in-law’s health issues. That must be terrifying for you all. I hope things are smooth sailing moving forward.
Have a great week!
I am determined to fix my NetGalley disaster…even if it takes me ten years! Even if I read 50 NGs a year, it would take me that long. *sigh* I hope things become easier, too. It has been an emotional week.
You sound like you’re having a hard time in your real life. I’m sorry. And yes, I’ll be sending prayers for all the hard things. ❤
On another note, I totally feel your pain with the Netgalley rating. It's annoying, how much anxiety that Netgalley rating gives me! I'm planning on reading through the galleys I have right now and then not even checking the Netgalley website again for awhile! It's so tempting to request, request, request because all those free books look beautiful and oh-so-free. But I must resist. And actually read through the mountain-size TBR I have sitting on my actual shelves. Sigh.
I really am. Thank you for your prayers! I do so need them. When I started blogging I had NO idea how NetGalley worked. I just downloaded tons of books I wanted to read (and still do – and plan to). I will be working on NG books for the next several YEARS. That’s how bad it is. I’m actually proud of myself. I haven’t requested many books this year, and all that I’ve been invited to review or that I selected have been reviewed. I’m doing good at discriminating the few times I’ve gone and looked at books this summer! Which is sad to say, but…it has to be done. I also have a literal mountain-size of real books, too. I’m about two feet from the ceiling with my bookshelf stack. The top shelf only comes to my chest…