Lately With Lila | June 2019

Hey, friends! I hope you’re all doing well! May was a fairly chill month irl, but, man, I did quite a bit of blogging and some good reading too! Life bestowed upon me some kick*ss books and what else was I to do but build a TBR with said books and then absolutely demolish it? Nothing else, friends, nothing else. So let’s get in to how that went and also catch up on some of my favorites of June…

U P D A T E S

As you can see, there’s a new look to the blog, but other than that, no big news!

P O S T S

• Lately With Lila | May 2019
• Top 10 Tuesday | I Hate Your Favorites (Kind Of)
• Pages & Potions | A Harry Potter Book Tag (Original)
• Hungry Hearts #OwnVoices Food Crawl | “The Missing Ingredient” Review And Aesthetic
• Discussion | What Do You Consider Your “Official TBR”?

R E A D

Level 5 // Hermione Granger // Empowering // Kingsbane by Claire Legrand // ★★★★★

As expected, I loved Kingsbane! And let me tell you, friends, this book was a wild ride! I loved watching Eliana and Rielle grow and change. The expansion of the world and the plot was also fascinating to read about. I can’t wait to get my hands on book three when it’s released (and hopefully the anticipation won’t kill me first)!

Level 5 // Dobby Is Free! // Free Choice // Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson // ★★★★☆

Listen, y’all, I was not a fan of Rogerson’s debut novel, An Enchantment of Ravens, so I was all prepared to hate this one. But, I’m shocked and quite pleased to say that I fell in love with Sorcery of Thorns! A lot of the issues I had with Rogerson’s debut weren’t present in this book and I was so pleased to see her growth as a writer. The characters were also adorable and the plot was intriguing. I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed Sorcery of Thorns!

Level 5 // New Term // 1st in a Series/Trilogy // Wicked Fox by Kat Cho // ★★★★☆

This was such a heartwarming, yet also intense read? But I can say it walked that line pretty well and I actually enjoyed it, like, a lot. I loved the characters and the story of Wicked Fox, but one of my favorite elements of the story was how unabashedly Korean it was! I felt like I learned so much about Korean culture and all while having a fun time! All in all, Wicked Fox was such a fun ride!

B O U G H T

A R C S

T B R

Level 6 // Newt Scamander // Author With Your Initial // Spin The Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

Elizabeth Lim’s last initial is my first initial, so I’m running with it! Spin The Dawn id pitched as Mulan meets Project Runway and I am…intrigued? Let’s go with that. I’m intrigued. I’m interested in seeing how that plays out.

Level 6 // Extendable Ears // Audiobook // The Beckoning Shadow by Katharyn Blair

I pretty much almost exclusively listen to audiobooks, so this challenge wasn’t exactly, er, a challenge. I preordered the audiobook of The Beckoning Shadow, though, so I figured I’d use it for this prompt. I’m super excited to get to this one as the premise looks fascinating!

Level 6 // House // Based on Your House // Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

What’s more Ravenclaw than a mystery book set at a school for the gifted? Not much, if you ask me! Plus Truly Devious has a blue cover, which totally seals the deal!

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

I’m admittedly apprehensive about reading this book as I’ve heard it focuses heavily on depression. So, with that being said, I may not get to this book. The premise sounds interesting, but we’ll see.

T H E   H O T   Z O N E

( N A T I O N A L   G E O G R A P H I C)

Here’s a fun fact about me: The Hot Zone is actually an adaptation of a nonfiction book of the same name and that book is actually my favorite nonfiction book. Now, granted, I did read The Hot Zone about nine years ago back when I was a freshman in high school, but, nevertheless, I was riveted by the story when I read it. So, naturally, I was interested to see how the adaptation would go.

S P I D E R – M A N :   I N T O   T H E

S P I D E R – V E R S E

I finally saw this movie and ohmygod, you guys…I…am…in love with it!!! First off, the animation was beyond amazing! It was so good that it was absolutely unreal! Seeing a Marvel movie in this format and with the animation being so incredible makes me wish that all Marvel movies were animated. Second off, the story was so heartwarming! I rarely find movies that I’d be willing to watch over again, but I totally would watch this one again (and maybe even again after that). This is all to say that if you still have yet to see Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, then definitely get on that asap!

Listen

S E L E C T E D   S N I P P E T S

“Senorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello // I love both Mendes’s and Cabello’s music, so a collab between them was pretty much guaranteed to garner my love. And—what do ya know!—it did, in fact, garner my love! This sultry, summery duet was an instant hit with me and left me tapping my toes to the rhythm for days!

“Creator” by Santigold // This is actually an old favorite of mine that landed back on my list of faves recently. I’ve been a fan of Santigold since I was a teen and this song off her debut album has always been a favorite of mine. So imagine my surprise when a recent trailer used this song and it was launched back onto my playlist!

“You’ve Got Your Whole Life Ahead Of You Baby” by IDER // I’ll admit it: this is the song that a confused twenty-something such as myself listens to when they (read: when I) need a boost. But it works so well for that purpose! This song never fails to calm the existential dread of my quarter life crisis. If that doesn’t convince you to give this song a try, you might just be heartless (or you’ve just really got it together, but same thing, right?).

“You Need To Calm Down” by Taylor Swift // Pop princess Taylor Swift returned in time to drop the 2019 Pride anthem we never knew we needed! And, loathed as I am to admit it, it’s pretty darn catchy. What can I say? Sometimes I’m just that basic.

• Trang at Bookidote gave us two awesome posts with “6 Brutal Truths About Blogging” and “How to Create The Perfect Instagram Feed“
• The Orag-Utan Librarian hit it out of the park with three brilliant posts: “I Confess: I Am An Audiobook Convert!“, “Misconceptions of Negative Reviews“, and “Addressing ‘Entitled’ Fans“
• Carrie of Cat on the Bookshelf touched on why they had blogger burnout this year
• Cam from Camillea Reads discussed misconceptions of reading slumps
• CW at The Quiet Pond shared 63 prompts to help write a book review
• Tasya from The Literary Huntress showed off “vibrant, peachy” themed bookstagrams we should follow
• Kristie Ellen of Upside-Down Books elaborated why it’s okay to be a slow reader
• Olivia of Purely Olivia mulled over if you should have a blogging niche
• Astra at A Stranger’s Guide to Novels wondered if fanfiction should get more credit

June was a semi-eventful month, although definitely more tame than May! But it was still pretty good! I spent some time with friends, as per usual, and we had a great time. But other than friendship adventures, June was pretty chill. However. The biggest life-related news out of June was that I was hired as a beta reader by a friend of mine! I’m so excited!!! Her book sounds amazing, plus, how cool is it that I can now call myself a “professional reader”?! I dunno about you, but I personally think it’s pretty cool!!

• How was your June?
• What were some of your favorites of the month?
• What are you looking forward to in July?
• Anything interesting on your July TBR?