July Wrap Up 2018

I may not have read as much as I wanted to this month but most of them were new books so I'm pleased with that. I definitely watched a lot of movies which I'm happy with as it's the summer holidays and I've had a lot of time on my hands.

Books
Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2)- Neal Shusterman 
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My first priority this month was Thunderhead because I read Scythe last month and loved loved loved it. I know these books have a lot of hype but I think they deserve every single piece of praise. Scythe has the most interesting and compelling premise and it's executed perfectly. It has action, philosophy, romance and heart-stopping twists that make it such a memorable read. I will say I prefer Scythe to Thunderhead but they're both amazing books and I can't wait for the next.
Scythe Book Talk

It Only Happens in the Movies- Holly Bourne 
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I'm a massive fan of Holly Bourne but was a little disappointed with this one. It wasn't as gripping and fun and easy as her other books. I wasn't a massive fan of the protagonist or the love interest which really made it difficult for me to care about what happened to the characters. Holly Bourne is definitely still one of my favourite contemporary authors but I wouldn't suggest jumping into this one first.

Save the Date- Morgan Matson
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Similar to It Only Happens in the Movies, I was a bit disappointed with this book. Morgan Matson usually writes amazing contemporary books and Since You've Been Gone is one of my favourites but this one fell short, in my opinion. There was some implications of romance but nowhere near a satisfying amount and I got a little sick of obsessing over the wedding the whole time. It was just disaster after disaster being fixed and it felt a little repetitive after a while. There was a huge family aspect which I appreciate but... it was too much of a slow burn and nothing majorly exciting happened.

White Hot Kiss (The Dark Elements #1)- Jennifer L. Armentrout 
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Now onto books that could never disappoint me because Jennifer L. Armentrout is my favourite author and everything she writes is perfection. White Hot Kiss is about world full of demons, gargoyles and Layla, half demon, half-gargoyle and split between the two races. As always, this book is full of swoon-worthy romance, action and a whole lot of humour. JLA's writing is effortless and I always enjoy every single page.

Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements #2)- Jennifer L. Armentrout
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JLA never suffers from a second book slump. Every book she writes gets better and better and Stone Cold Touch was no different. JLA is guilty of writing a good ol' love triangle (but she writes them brilliantly, I swear) and she's great at splitting up the time spent with each half of the triangle.
The first book spent more time with the love triangle side I shipped while this one was more focused on the other person. Despite this, I still loved this book.

Every Last Breath (The Dark Elements #3)- Jennifer L. Armentrout 
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What I love most about this series is that Jennifer L. Armentrout actually held an online vote over which side of the love triangle would be endgame. I think this is just such a cool concept and, as a writer myself, can't even imagine how hard it would've been to give up creative control like that. It was so much fun to read and... it also helped that my ship was endgame! 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets- J.K. Rowling (Re-read) (Book of the Month)
This month, me and Kaitlin decided that Chamber of Secrets would be our Book of the Month because it was published ten years ago this month. I really enjoyed re-reading this. The first books are especially fun because they're quick and easy reads and don't have all the seriousness of the final books.


Movies and TV
Teen Wolf Season 1 (Re-watch) 
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Now that season 6 is out on DVD, I decided to re-watch the first five series before jumping into a new season for the final time. I absolutely love Teen Wolf and it was great to re-watch the first season again. The characters are iconic (if Stiles isn't your favourite character, you're lying to yourself), and I'm so excited to see their full character development over the whole show. 

The Bodyguard 
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I'd never watched this before but my mum loves it and is always trying to get me to come to the musical. So, finally I relented, and it actually wasn't that bad. I didn't love love love it but the music was great (Whitney Houston is phenomenal) and it was an enjoyable watch.  

Teen Wolf Season 2 (Re-watch)
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I continued watching Teen Wolf and, as it's the summer holidays for me, I've had lots of time for binge watching TV series. Teen Wolf gets better and better with every season and season 2 is absolutely amazing.

Mamma Mia (Re-watch)
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I watched this with my friend and it was perfect timing because the sequel came out this month too. We had a lot of fun watching it and sang along the whole time (though, our singing is much to be desired).

Heathers the Musical 
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This may not be TV or a movie but I still wanted to talk about it because I'm obsessed! I listened to the soundtrack once and fell in love. I managed to find a full performance of the show on Youtube (not the official off-broadway show but a school's performance of it) and it was amazing! It's coming to the West End in September so I'm really hoping that I can one day see it live.
Heathers Act 1 Review
Heathers Act 2 Review

Teen Wolf Season 3 (Re-watch)
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And... I carried on watching Teen Wolf! Season 3 is personally one of my favourites because it's so much darker and interesting! The plot is really great in this season and I can watch it over and over again.

The Dukes of Hazzard
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My dad made me watch this with him and... let's just say I wasn't very impressed. I can't really explain what it was about because the whole thing has just filtered out of my brain already. I can say that, if you like country films with bad accents and mediocre comedy, this is the film for you.

Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again
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I went to the cinema with my mum to see this sequel and I loved it! I went into this movie expecting an upbeat and and feel-good film and, while it was that, there was so much deep and emotional stuff that I hadn't been expecting. I had tears in my eyes multiple times during the movie and I was crying at the end which I totally hadn't been expecting. I feel like the movie was a lot more mature and serious than the last one which I liked because it's been ten years since the last movie and we could really see how things had evolved.

Ant-Man (Re-watch)
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Me and my brother convinced our parents to watch Ant-Man in our on-going attempt to get them into Marvel. And so far, I must say that Ant-Man is probably their favourite. I absolutely love Ant-Man and think he's one of the most underestimated Avengers. Paul Rudd is hilarious and I can't wait to go and see the sequel.

Minions
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My brother convinced me to watch this and... I'll admit that I really enjoyed it. It's a bit of guilty pleasure for me. Minions was such a funny and feel good movie. It's not too serious a film (maybe an understatement) and it was just really feel good.

17 Again (Re-watch)
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I watched this with my friend and it was so much better than I ever remembered it being. Sure, it was cringey as hell at some parts but that just made it so much funnier and we had a lot of fun watching it. And, honestly, who can resist a bit of Zac Efron?

Bandslam (Re-watch)
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I decided to give Bandslam a re-watch because it used to be my favourite film when I was younger and I haven't seen it in years. I love all the songs in this movie and it was nice and nostalgic to re-watch it.

Grease (Re-watch)
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I had a nice movie night with my mum and we watched Grease which was super fun. Grease is just a classic musical that everybody loves and it was a lot funnier than I ever remember it being. While Grease isn't my favourite ever musical (nothing compares to my precious Hamilton), I do still love watching it.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts. Stay amazing!
Chloe