Once again, the month has arrived and left faster than I could get ahold of it. It was just May, in my mind it should still be the first week of June. But here we are, officially over halfway through the year. Lots of things happened, and I ended up taking a lot of pictures this month, but as quick as the snapshot was taken, the week was over. The passing of time this month is odd to reflect on, for me. I can’t really dwell on it too much, I just have to keep moving forward.

I didn’t focus on any goals this month, but I am proud of myself that I posted a few things to my blog, sent out some postcards, read a few books, and tried to keep busy.

Let’s start with the media I consumed this month, then I’ll touch on some of the things I’ve been getting up to with my family and Tori!

Movies

Goat

I watched this movie with my little sister, and even though she spoiled the entire movie for me not even 10 minutes into it, it was still a cute watch! I remember seeing trailers for it before it came out, and I wasn’t interested in it, back then. This movie exceeded my expectations and kept me engaged! The creative aspects of each game’s court along with the different animals made it dynamic and the characters were funny as well.

“Wuthering Heights”

I also saw the trailer for this movie long before it came out, and only just now watched it. I remember Wuthering Heights fans were heated about Heathcliff’s casting. I’ve read Wuthering Heights twice, it is a favorite classic of mine and Heathcliff is my favorite character, so I had plans to not like this movie from the start. But you have to watch it anyway, right? At least, I had to. Like Romeo and Juliet, I feel like these classic stories are always being adapted and changed to whatever the maker wants it to be, so while this movie is not like the book much at all, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Going into it being fully aware that there would be changes made it a lot easier, and I can appreciate the atmosphere of it while also noting the quotations around the title. It’s like Wuthering Heights, but it is Margot Robbie’s Wuthering Heights.

Books

A Court of Frost and Starlight

Yes, I said I was going to continue the series, and this short “Christmas Special” novel is part of it. I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed the first book in the series, and I was glad when it was over. I keep going back and forth, trying to decide if I like this series as a whole, but I am still undecided.

A Court of Silver Flames

As far as character development and romance goes, this is my favorite book in the series so far. I still don’t really like Nesta at all, but she did grow throughout the book. Cassian has been my top favorite ever since he was introduced, so that also made it easier to enjoy. The cringe I felt during the first trilogy’s romance was not found here, I was very happy with this book! As a whole series, ACOTAR is still in that in-between for me, good enough to read, not good enough to go crazy over, the next book in this series comes out in October, I think, and I may read that one as well.

Assassin’s Apprentice

While I was on a wild library goose chase for A Court of Silver Flames, I decided I wasn’t going home empty handed while at the larger library I mentioned in my third space post. I looked through my TBR on Goodreads and went through each title until I found a book that was actually available to check out. I am in a fantasy mood so this worked out when Assassin’s Apprentice was what I was able to check out. All I knew is that it is Medieval Fantasy, and the main character never catches a break. Good enough for me!

Well, let’s just say I wasn’t prepared. The three and a half stars I gave this book weren’t because it is a bad book. I really enjoyed the story and the world that Robin Hobb puts us in is so vivid. It is not a five star simply because of the EMOTIONAL DAMAGE that was inflicted upon me. I will not elaborate, you just have to read it yourself, if you dare.

Royal Assassin

I have a feeling that Royal Assassin will be my favorite book read this year. It was amazing and so many important things happened to shape Fitz.

What I love about Robin Hobb’s writing so far is how descriptive she is without losing my attention. I actually feel as if I am in Buckkeep Castle, I have a clear image in my mind of the castle, it’s place near the sea, Buckkeep Town, the ships, and what the characters look like. The “mental movie” is so much more immersive and clear within these books than while I was reading the ACOTAR series. Where I struggled to place myself within the Spring Court in ACOTAR, I was the shadow of Fitz in every scene within Royal Assassin, I felt like I could see exactly what was happening. I fell in love with all of the characters because they all felt so real.

I think Kettricken, Verity, and Nighteyes (ofc) are my favorites in the series right now.

Life

June really just felt as if it dropped by to say hi and then Irish Exited the party, and most of the things I did and took photos of happened at the beginning of the month.

I tagged along with my mom, brother, and Dylan to help make some money hauling away people’s unwanted items.

For the first week or two of the month, it was really hard for me to be inside the house, so Tori and I were running around town almost every day. We would go to 7 Brew and she would get a pup cup. Sometimes she would wait for me in the car while I checked the P.O. Box and we would stop by to see mom at her barbershop.

Her favorite thing was going to a new trail just a few minutes away from where we usually go. It has a dog park that she was not a fan of, so we went on the trail around the park and found that there was a separate trail off of the paved one. It wraps around a creek and we had a lot of fun exploring.

Each time we went, there would be no one in sight, and I let Tori be off-leash. She was very good and stayed right by me, and her confidence went through the roof haha. She would run a few steps up the trail and then turn back and wait for me.

This unintentionally fit into my “Mermaid” theme for the month, because we hung out by the water for a while each time. I even got Tori to get in the water.

The second time we went, it had started raining on the way there. That was all right with me, it made me feel like it was more guaranteed that we would be the only ones on the trail that day too. We did some more exploring and I may have almost fallen down into the water once!

Tori didn’t want to leave the trail, but I forgot bug spray and I was fighting off ticks while walking back to the car. The bites they did manage to get are still on me, but it was worth it. Why do tick bites take so long to heal?

I went to the beach with my Dad, Stepmom, and sister and had a good time, but I plan on making a separate post talking more about it, so stay tuned!

Mom got kayaks and they were finally delivered, so we tested them out this past weekend. Even though it was cloudy, it wasn’t very cold. Tori did really well, she dove into the water twice and then took turns being captain at the front and laying on her towel behind me.

It was a month surrounded by water, which is the best you can ask for in the summer. Dylan and I plan on having our our own kayak adventure on Friday with Rue and Tori.

Wrapping Up

It was a nice month, and I am happy that I got out as much as I did. Some things that I didn’t get snapshots of were Waffle House dates with Dylan, or going from baking sweet cookies to dinner rolls.

Mermaid June was fun and subtle, but I am a little too excited to start sharing what I have already immersed myself in for next month. If you are reading this from my website and not the Reader, you might already know what the theme is, as I revamped some aspects for July’s adventure!

How was your June? Let me know and I will see you all soon.