💕📖 Books With Becca 📖💕: August Reading Wrap Up

I always see people do wrap ups of their feelings on the books they read in the past month and I think that would be fun for me to do! This will lead to some books you have already read spoiler free reviews or full reviews for being featured because I sometimes write about a book immediately, but I hope you can overlook that for me! This summer was definitely not my best in terms of reading a lot of books. My issue was that this summer I not only took a bunch of vacation where I couldn't read, but I also worked, had summer homework, and studied for the SAT. So my reading load was really light. The good news is that of the books I did read they were really really good! I read six books this August, which is pretty light reading for me. My friends on the other hand were amazed because it turns out non-booknerds read around six books per year!

Overall rating for the month:❤❤❤

My favorite book:

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

This was my favorite book of the month. I loved reading this and it got me out of a reading slump. This totally changed my mindset about Becky Albertalli and was really helpful in my reading this month. This book was fantastic and I would highly recommend this to everyone.

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
My rating: ❤❤❤❤❤

Readers will love the adorably relatable tale of navigating love in high school that is The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli. Molly has been crushing on boys her whole life. She has harbored unrequited love for 26 boys, which kind of makes her an expert in crushes. Sadly she is an expert in secret crushes and at 17 years old still has not had her first kiss. When two new boys enter Molly's life, her twin sister Cassie is doing everything she can to get them past the crush boundary, especially since one of the boys is friends with a new girl Cassie is interested in. But with all this focus on falling in love and dating, can Cassie and Molly keep their amazing relationship as sisters? Let me start off by saying that I was not expecting much from this book. I did not enjoy Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and I was only going to read this because my sister was begging me too. I picked it up and read it all in one sitting. I even skipped dinner because I could not put it down and I love food. This book was fantastic and might be one of the most relatable books I have ever read. Molly and Cassie go through really typical high school problems and I felt myself really connecting with Molly. The writing is extremely cute and I loved the humor. I also was really able to relate to the characters about religion. There are not a lot of books where the main character is a teenage Jewish girl set in contemporary time. I have experienced so many of the same things as Molly and reading this book felt like putting on an old comfy sweat shirt. I loved Molly's love interests so much and I definitely understand the fear of rejection. This book was really well done and I highly recommend it to everyone. This is a great contemporary and perfect for all young adults, especially romance lovers!

My least favorite book:

How To Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster.

I really was not happy with this book. There isn't much I haven't already said in my review. This book is part of why I didn't read as much this summer so you can see why I don't like it.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster
My rating: ❤❤❤

I was not happy having to read this book. My school summer reading assignment included reading this book and taking notes and I really did not enjoy it. For reading books it wasn't very helpful. For writing essays I'm sure if I had a different assignment and in the future it might be helpful, but it was so boring that I was not happy at all. The reason this is rated three stars instead of two is because it really helped with my writing. I am currently writing a novel and this really helped develop my characters, plot, setting, and reason for writing. Overall this does go in depth into how to unravel a novel. The issue is that the way it goes in depth is by discussing a bunch of books I have not read yet and basically spoiling what happens. The book community does not like people who spoil books. I was already planning on reading Beloved by Toni Morrison, but now I know exactly what happens and I have no desire to read it any more. I am not accurately able to understand how these ideas are being used if it is being discussed with books I have never read. So reading this book and having to take notes sucks. But the bright side was that it really helped with my writing. I just wish it had helped with my reading like it was supposed to.

Reread:

These Broken Stars by Amie Kauffman

I listened to the audiobook version of this book for like the millionth time and it was amazing as always. I love this book and I always love to listen to it to get rid of stress.

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman
My rating: ❤❤❤❤

Readers will be dazzled by this beautiful love story and feel that they just like the characters, are fighting to survive in, These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen could not be more different. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe, Tarver is a war hero stationed on Lilac's fathers' ship, the Icarus. When the impossible happens and the Icarus crashes, Tarver and Lilac are the only survivors. Stranded on an uninhabited planet, they must explore their surroundings and uncover the mysteries in order to survive and have hope in being saved. This book is like a science fiction version of the Titanic, except with a fantasy plot twist at the ending. I can't pick a favorite thing about this book because the majority of it was just so well done! I have to say this is the most beautiful cover I have ever seen and the rest of the series also has just beautiful covers. There are two amazing things about this book, the character development and the world building. The character development is obvious from the synopsis, but the world is entirely different from what I had expected. For me, this book feels like a mixture of Alienated, Obsidian, Across the Universe, and Titanic. I loved this book except for the ending because it got very confusing which is why I gave it four stars. I would recommend this book to a certain kind of reader who loves romance, fantasy, science fiction, and plot twists!

Other books read that month:

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

I loved this book and it so far is my favorite book I have been sent for review. It really made my month to have a publishing company want me to review a book!

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust
My rating: ❤❤❤❤

Melissa Bashardoust hit the ball out the park with the fantastic, feminist fairy tale that is Girls Made of Snow and Glass. All Lynet has ever wanted is to be like her stepmother Mina, but she is constantly compared to the late mother she resembles so greatly. Mina just wants to love and be loved, but the unbeating, glass heart in her chest won't allow her to. Lynet has no desire to rule, so when her father takes away Mina's control of the Southern lands and gives them to her, she wants nothing more than to refuse. When a turn of events cause Mina to hate Lynet, she must go on her own journey to save the only mother she has ever known. This book was so adorable! I am always a fan of feminist fiction, especially when it's fairy tale related. The story felt like a mixture of frozen and Snow White, but still very original. I love how the story was from both Mina and Lynet's point of view, giving the reader different perspectives. Because it was a mixture of both of their stories the characters didn't feel extremely well developed until the very end, but I still felt connected to the them and able to relate to their feelings. The plot felt kind of slow at the beginning and then kind of rushed at the end, but the well done story totally made up for it. As a romance lover, I of course wish there was more of a love story, but it was really well done and a heavy influence of romance might have ruined the message. One thing I felt there was a lack of was comedy. There are very few places that made me laugh and I think it would have been improved if there was just a little more humor. Overall this book was really really good and I would highly recommend this to fantasy and feminist fiction lovers! Disclaimer: I was sent this book for review from the publisher, but it did not effect my review at all. My thoughts are my own and my reviews are always 100% honest.
Read Full Review

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut ❤❤❤❤❤

I loved this book. I read it for my summer reading assignment and I fell in love with Vonnegut's writing style. I am very happy I read this book and it was a great addition to my August reading. I just had to write an essay about it though so I'm not going to write a review.

PS I Like You by Kasie West

I read this book while I was sick and it made my day. It was so cute and I would highly recommend it to everyone!

P.S. I Like You by Kasie West
My rating: ❤❤❤❤❤

P.S. I like you by Kasie West will make you smile, while warming your heart. Lily lives a crazy life with her insane family and lovable best friend. One boring day in chemistry Lily jots down a song lyric and to her surprise the next day the song is continued, along with a note. Soon Lily and her pen pall are writing everyday; sharing stories, songs, and secrets. Between her pen pall; her crush Lucas finally taking notice of her, and her best friend's ex-boyfriend Cade seeming to be all over her life, Lily's life seems to be blowing up. As her feelings start to grow for her pen pall, Lily must decide what she wants. This book is so cute and adorable that you just want to pinch its cheeks. While the writing is not complicated and the characters are not especially deep, it is exactly what I wanted. The story is comforting and like wearing an old, loved sweater. Lily is a very relatable character to young adults and I loved how sweet she was. The story was kind of predictable, but with this kind of book, this is kind of expected. I loved this book and it was a perfect read for the mood I was in. If you are looking for an intellectual read, this isn't it, but if you want a cute comfort read or just have something for a lazy day, pick up this book!

Started but still reading: