Chased By My Imagination: June Wrap-Up Post.

Monday, 30 June 2014

June Wrap-Up Post.

Whew! So this month was a bit of a slow one, but this last week I have been on fire and caught up a bit with what originally looked like it was going to be a disappointing reading month. I've read all of my challenge books, my picked Netgalley read and 4/6 of my other planned reads! This is also going to serve as my Bookish Bingo Wrap-Up post, which I didn't do too badly on either!

Physical Books:

'The Luminaries'; Eleanor Catton. This was a beautifully written book with a diverse range of characters and a memorable setting. I found myself getting easily frustrated at the slow pace and the plot-line didn't feel hugely exciting. 3.5/5 stars.
'A Game Of Thrones'; George R.R. Martin. A fantastic first book to a very promising series, this Fantasy had the lot! I loved the structure of the book and the plot-line gripped me from start to finish. The characters were a little hard to remember at times (there were so many) but I didn't mind. 4.5/5 stars.
'The Bees'; Laline Paull. A really good book that exceeded my expectations! The bee viewpoint felt believable and I felt like a lot of work went into this read! I really liked the characters too, and the plot was interesting. 4.5/5 stars.
'Paper Towns'; John Green. So this book made me pretty happy as it was full to the brim of John Green's unique writing style. Witty and touching, I was gripped by the mystery being solved. I was a bit disappointed by the end though. 3.5/5 stars.

Kindle Reads:

'Stolen Songbird'; Danielle L. Jensen. This book was my favourite read of the month! It made me remember why I love the Fantasy genre so much. The characters were great, the romance believable, the concept very imaginative and it was just done right. 5/5 stars.
'One Hundred Years Of Solitude'; Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This was such a strange book to read and I'm still completely confused about whether I liked it. It was a really nice concept and beautifully written but I couldn't get my head around the character names and it jumped about a bit. 2/5 stars.
'The Graveyard Book'; Neil Gaiman. My first ever Gaiman read and I really enjoyed it! The characters had lots of personality and I felt it had a bit of a creepy undertone which I really liked. I was confused about the point of re-introducing one particular character after reading the end but it didn't hugely detract from the plot. 3.5/5 stars.
'No Lasting Burial'; Stant Litore. My only Netgalley read this month! I really enjoyed this one (I just about sneaked it in there before the end of the month). The plot was great, world-building well thought out and I loved the characters too. 4/5 stars.

All in all then, I've managed 8 books this month! Not terrible, considering that it looked like it would only be 3 at one point! June also marks the end of the Bookish Bingo three month Spring card (April-June) and I am eager to share my moderate success!