Sparkling Letters Monthly Recap: June 2018

Hello everyone! ♥

It’s been aaaaaages since the last time I wrote a recap post but can you believe we’re already at the middle of 2018?? I know, time flies, and everyone’s been saying the same thing lately. June was a wonderful month for me. So many accomplishments and good things happening around me and I’ll tell y’all about them 😀

I know it’s a June wrap up but I haven’t talked to you all about my life in A YEAR so I have so many things to say!! 😂 I’ll try to keep things short and focused 😛

• The first half of this month was fasting month and for us Muslim, it’s the month we will always cherish ♥ Eid was also wonderful. Some of my relatives from my mother’s side of family—whom we hadn’t talked to in years—came and we celebrated together. It feels like our family is finally complete again and it’s just so heartwarming to be surrounded by them.
• The 8-days Eid holiday was also very much needed. I mean, it’s been a while since I’ve been idle that long. I didn’t go out much though, we visited some families, had a picnic, shopped out of town, but mostly I just stayed home and enjoyed the holiday. I guess it was really good for me to unwind and escape from my responsibilities for a while before I was back to real life
• Work has occupied a big part of my mind and time lately. I don’t know man, but there are so many projects and deadlines in June and one of my coworker just resigned and there’s a new girl to replace her—which means I have to take over the job while also teach the new girl how to do the works. Between that and my own responsibilities and because I refused to work overtime during Ramadan… well, let’s say that after Eid holiday, I haven’t left work on time at all. Not to mention that I had to work on weekends as well. I’m swamped 🙈
• I got my reading mojo back and am back into the blogging world! It’s so exciting but I have another section just to talk about it so let’s skip it for now 😛
• It’s my boyfriend’s birthday month! ♥ it was a wonderful yet unusual celebration but we had a really good time and things are currently going so well 😀

I can’t tell you how HAPPY I am to finally, finally get back into reading! The year I went through with reading so little to almost none books are dreadful—even though I did have my fun doing other things. There are just sooo many books I want to read and when Obsidio came out, I knew I have to get back into reading if only to read that book. Book look at me here, since Obsidio, I’ve read 4 more books and I did it quickly. I devoured them 😛

Here are the books I read in June.

1. OBSIDIO (5/5). I have so many praises for this book but to sum it all up : Fantastic ending. I love love love this series so much and Obsidio perfectly delivered the ending we all deserved. My review will be published next Wednesday but you can check out my Goodreads review here.
2. STRANGE THE DREAMER (4.5/5). Laini Taylor is a QUEEN because she writes like one. Strange the Dreamer was hauntingly beautiful, monstrous, and simply amazing. I couldn’t stop thinking about the story days after I finished it. Full review here.
3. LEAH AND THE OFF BEAT (4/5). A light and quick read that successfully tackles so many important issues at the same time. I love the writing, the characters and the friendship between them, how it reminds me of high school, and I love all the pop cultures references in it.
4. THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO (4/5). I read it because of the hype and while I loved it, I didn’t think it’s as good as people told me it was I’m sORRY 😂 I love the intrigue and the characters but the twist wasn’t unexpected—I saw it coming. Still a recommended read! ♥
5. A CROWN OF WISHES (4/5). I don’t know if you remember but I dislike The Star Touched Queen so much it put me off Roshani Chokshi’s book for a while. I was wary of ACOW but turned out I. Loved. It! ❤ strong characters, lyrical writing, slow burn romance filled with hilarious banter, and MAGIC—what’s not to love? Full review coming soon.

I don’t know how I got so deep in my reading slump because now that I finally finished a book, it was so, so easy to keep reading. I think I finished all the books above in the span of two weeks—which was miraculous for my current record 😛

I usually never have TBR, but I plan on reading the books I have physical copies of first. Some of them are Children of Blood and Bone, Warcross, and The Crown’s Fate. Let’s see if I ever stick to my TBR 😛

I’ve shouted this a few times and I’m going to do it again : I’M FINALLY BACK FROM MY BLOGGING HIATUS!!! It’s actually a spur of the moment decision—the one I made on my spare time during Eid holiday and I’m still trying to find my rhythm. After a year hiatus, fitting back blogging into my routine isn’t as easy, but I’m optimistic that I will settle into a comfortable routine soon ♥

For my recap post, I usually listed down my favorite and most popular posts for the month but since I only posted a couple of times, I’m just gonna list all my posts and direct you there, in case you haven’t read them 😛

• I’m BACK!
• My Bookish Life During Hiatus
• Review : Strange the Dreamer // Strange, Beautiful, and Monstrous
• Post Hiatus: 6 Things I Miss the Most from Blogging

Around the Blogosphere

It’s sad to admit that I haven’t been keeping a good track of other blogger’s posts this month so I won’t be linking up my favorite posts this month. But I promise next month!! 😛

While I was away, there are lots of changes happening in the blogging community—one of it is there are so many new and newly discovered (by me) bloggers and I am beyond happy for that!! Here are some of my new discovery.

May @ Forever and Everly • Lily @ Sprinkles of Dream • Julianna @ Paper Blots • Aimee @ Aimee, Always

I hope we can all interact more in the future and I can’t wait to read all of your amazing posts ♥

I think I’m going to add this feature on my recap post because this past year I’ve been watching a lot of movies regularly—my boyfriend loves movies A LOT. Here are the movies I watched in June 😀

1. JURASSIC WORLD: THE FALLEN KINGDOM. I didn’t enjoy watching Jurassic Park AT ALL and I wasn’t looking forward to watching the sequel, but gave it a chance anyway. I surprisingly loved it! It was intense, hilarious, fantastic plot, and I grew to care so much for the dinosaurs. I was on the verge of tears every time anything bad happened to them :’) final rating : 8/10
2. THE INCREDIBLES 2. The movie we’ve been waiting all this time—and it didn’t disappoint! I love the story, the characters, the twist, and the graphic so much. Though there are a lot of intense lighting that could be dangerous for people with photo epilepsy. The Bao short movie at the beginning was also heartwarming ♥ final rating : 9/10.
3. KULARI KE PANTAI. An Indonesian family movie, mostly aimed for children but I LOVED IT. I mean… who am I kidding? I’m still a child 🙈 it’s so simple yet so heartwarming and laced with so many important messages. It also makes me want to go on a road trip.

So that’s my June recap, everybody! How was your June? Anything interesting? 😀 Link me to your own recaps or just tell me! Would love to hear your thoughts! ♥♥

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