Hi friends, I can’t believe we’re at the end of June and the end of the first half of 2020! What a year it’s been already, I truly hope for a better second half of the year. Today I’m going to be wrapping up the month of June, what a month it’s been.

If you missed May’s wrap up, catch it here!

Currently Reading:

I’m 74% of the way through The Stand. Am I enjoying it? Ehhh, I’m conflicted with it. On the one hand, I really want to finish it because I’ve invested so much time into it, on the other, I’m like how are we still setting up for the finale? How have we not gotten much action? It’s honestly been set up after set up. I’m nervous because King is known for his trash endings so I hope this doesn’t completely crash and burn. I’ll be so mad if it does.

I’m also still reading Extras by: Scott Westerfeld and, honestly, I’m ready to be done with the series. It has its intriguing moments, but this hasn’t really wowed me. I’m close to the end, roughly 50 pages left I think, so I’m curious how this is going to end.

Technically, I haven’t actually started to read The Conference of the Birds by: Ransom Riggs, but it is on my table ready for me to pick up after I wrap up blogging for the evening. I have to say, after the last novel in the series went ALL over the place, I’m very interested to see where Riggs is going to be taking his readers next.

What I read this month:

I read a total of 7 books this month. In all honesty, I have no idea how I’ve done it because I’ve felt so burnt out. I feel like it’s been obvious I’ve taken a step back on social media just because it’s been a bit hellish going on every day, that’s why I’ve only posted twice on Instagram. I’m hoping to get back into it.

The Girl from the Well (The Girl from the Well #1) by: Rin Chupeco
Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s #2) by: Ransom Riggs (re-read)
The Suffering (The Girl from the Well #2) by: Rin Chupeco
Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine’s #3) by: Ransom Riggs (re-read)
The Umbrella Academy, Vol 1: The Apocalypse Suite by: Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba
A Map of Days (Miss Peregrine’s #4) by: Ransom Riggs
The Umbrella Academy, Vol 2: Dallas by: Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba

Book Reviews this month:

Fractured by: Catherine McKenzie
The Taking of Annie Thorne by: C.J. Tudor
Pretties (Uglies #2) by: Scott Westerfeld
Heartless by: Marissa Meyer
Lord of the Flies by: William Golding
A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom of Fire #1) by: Jessica Cluess
Oliver Twist by: Charles Dickens

Currently Watching:

I’ve just started season 3 of Heroes and like the past 2 seasons I’m enjoying it. I see this show has a pattern to it where we start the season with all these questions and slowly the show works backwards to answer them, while still moving forward; it’s a great way to tell a story. It also looks like we’re going to be spending this season on Sylar, which I’ve always found an interesting character.

I’ve been watching The Great Canadian Baking Show on and off this month. I binge-watched the first two seasons back in April, this one came to Netflix in May, but they got a new judge and new hosts and the show isn’t the same so I’m sloooowly making my way through the episodes.

What I Watched this month:

I finished the second season of Heroes and I enjoyed it as much as the first. This season was significantly shorter than the first, and it felt like this season was a lot of set up for what is to come. I’m very interested to see where this all goes!

The final season of 13 Reasons Why was released at the beginning of the month and since I watched the first three it only seemed fitting that I watch the ending. I have to say, it wasn’t a bad ending, I do like how it was tied up; the turmoil these characters go through was insane (like all seasons before) but it was good to see these characters be free of the demons they held onto for so long.

When They See Us is such an important mini series to watch. When talking about defunding the police, this is a prime example of why it needs to happen. This was emotional and it was hard to watch at times, but it’s important to watch and understand what is happening in the world. Even though the events of this series happened years ago, stuff like this still happens today.

I watched a few movies again this month:

I can’t explain my love for The Lovebirds. This may be my new favourite movie. This was not what I was expecting. Here I was thinking I was going to get a cute rom-com, haha NOPE! What I got instead was probably 1000 times better. I don’t want to spoil it because not knowing was what made me love it more, plus these actors were hilarious, they had so much chemistry. As well, there were some really timely plot points that felt a little under appreciated. Watch this movie!
Someone Great was another movie I really enjoyed; 3 best friends in their late 20s, all facing different life problems, coming together for each other, what is there not to love? This made me cry, laugh and cry some more, it was definitely a good movie.

I saw two references in one day for The Road to El Dorado and I thought, well if that’s not a sign to watch this, then I don’t know what is. This was a wild ride of a movie. I really loved the animation and the story was good too. I loved Altivo, the horse, ha, he was entertaining!
The Willoughbys was the strangest movie ever. I had so many thoughts going through my head as I watched this, like why do these people keep having children, but they hate children? I felt so bad of the eldest son who was obsessed with getting their approval, even though they didn’t care- even when the children tried to save them, they didn’t care; made me so angry. But the adventures they went on and new family they found was all the reason to watch this.

Girls Trip was something else! It was hilarious and really pointed out the importance of friendship, the importance of loving yourself, and the biggest of importance you don’t need a man or anyone else to be successful. The speech Ryan gives at the end, woof I felt that.
Coming to America was extremely funny. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to get out of the movie, but the sheer one-liners and dad jokes were so good. I heard they’re planning to make a second movie, coming out this year, and I really hope it doesn’t ruin this story because this was good.

When I saw The Fundamentals of Caring hit Netflix I was intrigued; I have to say it was so worth the watch. Paul Rudd’s character, Ben, has demons of his own but decides to become a caregiver to a young boy named Trevor, the two decide to go on a road trip that opens both of their eyes to the meaning of friendship and what it means to be alive. It was a cute, feel good type of movie.
I’ve seen Nappily Ever After on Netflix for so long and I’ve finally decided to watch it— I have been MISSING OUT! This movie was SO good! Not only this is about Violet’s hair and the stages and transformations it goes through, this about her growth as person and it’s just a beautiful story to watch unfold. It’s so heartwarming to watch her love herself and learn to figure out who she is as a person. 100% recommend!

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 is a re-watch for me. My dad found it on TV one night, and I had nothing better to do so I watched it with him. This is funny and the plot does suck you in, but it wasn’t anything super special.
Speaking of re-watching, I re-watched She’s The Man after all these years; this was one of my favourite movies as a teen, and it was still funny re-watching it, but the whole execution of the ‘big reveal’ at the end was so unbelievable that I found it so hard to watch. It was so cringy! The movie as a whole had a good premise, but that ending, meh.

I also watched Uncorked which was actually better than I thought it was going to be. At first I was like okay, this guy has a dream to be a wine sommelier, but man, his passion for wine was inspiring to watch. His father on the other hand has plans for him to join the family business, watching him struggle to find out what he wants to do is hard, but it was also somewhat satisfying to watch as a young person trying to figure out what to do in life.

TV Tuesday Posts:

Let’s Talk About… Dead to Me Season Two

Posts from the Month

WWW Wednesday #22 🐞
WWW Wednesday #23  🐝
WWW Wednesday #24 🐌
WWW Wednesday #25 🐛

Supporting Black Lives Matter- Books I’ve Added to My TBR

The Real Neat Blogger Award
Pumpkin Spice Latte Book Tag
I Should Have Read That Book Tag II

What has June been? This month has just been crazy. Globally, the world seems to be showing its true colours in the way people think and it’s been very eye opening. To see so many people being blatantly racist, homophobic, transphobic and having no disregard for public health has been astounding.

It still boggles my mind that we still have to fight for justice so that Black people can have basic human rights. I don’t understand how people seem to think differently to that. I don’t understand how people feel the need to judge based on anything; people should be judged based on their actions, not just for existing and how they choose to live their life.

It is good to see changes being made, slowly, hopefully we’ll have a better tomorrow.

Personally, my month hasn’t been too bad. I’m still working at home (and I probably will be until closer to the end of the year). I miss going into the office, but I’m continuing to hope that one day I’ll be allowed to see my co-workers again.

The lockdown lifted a little bit, so stores with store fronts have been allowed to open and the limit of how many people you can have in a group went from 5 to 10, while still social distancing. With that being said, my two best friends came over for a picnic in my backyard, and we’ve rotated going to each other’s houses in order to see each other and to gain some sort of normalcy.

We surprised one of my friends by creating a care package for her because she’s been going through a rough time, and that was a lot of fun.

Then, uhm I did something stupid that where I ended up in the ER. I’m fine, nothing COVID related, I was just really dumb and I’ve learned my lesson… and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Then, the end of the month we hit “Stage 2” of the lockdown lift where restaurant patios,  salons, and nail places have been allowed to open, some attractions in Toronto have been opened up (places like the Royal Ontario Museum, Ripley’s Aquarium) and I’m still here waiting for the library to offer curb-side pick up 🙄 Toronto has started curb-side, since I live outside of Toronto… I’m still waiting.

I ordered 5 new books to help support and boost Black voices and I’m sitting here in anticipation waiting for them to arrive on my doorstep! Because I haven’t been able to read as much as I’d like, I made sure to watch Black voices in the movies I choose and I’ll continue to do so.

I hope you all had a decent month, and that the second half of the year looks up! 🙂