August Wrap Up

Welcome-welcome to my August wrap-up! 

I'm so excited to get into all the juicy details and discuss this month with you!
Shall we?
Let us begin: 

You won't believe it but I *won another giveaway*.
Yes, I know!
I was just recovering - somewhat - from winning the giveaway of a fairyloot subscription box (which, by the way, was amazing and contained inside it a copy of Nevernight by Jay Kristoff), when all of a sudden I get an email from Mary (Mary Had a Little Book Blog) telling me I won a copy of Illuminae and an ARC of Gemina.

Needless to say, I freaked out. Big time.
I mean, an ARC of Gemina and a physical copy of Illuminae? (I had the misfortune of reading Illuminae as a digital copy. Do not try this at home) You might as well have told me I won the lottery because that's exactly how it felt like.

*happy sigh* 

By the angel, you guys, have you seen this snippet from Lord of Shadows (by Cassandra Clare)?
Has anyone else's heart just exploded?

And now for the books I read, sort of read, and am reading this month: 

Books I read:

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

                                                       My rating: 4 stars

Nevernight did not disappoint.
I can't say it's one of my favorite books ever (like Illuminae is), but Nevernight was: unique, fantastic, intense, awesome, and overall amazing.

It was hard to get into (as you probably heard and will hear from many others), but it was worth it. So worth it. 

For some better explanation and my thoughts about Nevernight, you can check out my review.
For those of you who haven't read the book, the first part of the review is spoiler free. For those of you who read the book, the second - and longer - part of the review is full of my theories, thoughts and overall ravings.
I'd love to discuss it all with you! 

Books I read but DNF:

   Angelfall by Susan Ee  The Unbecoming of       And I Darken        Alice In Zombieland

          Got to: 49%                  Mara Dyer          by Kiersten White     by Gena Showalter

                                     by Michelle Hodking         Got to: 16%               Got to: 24%

                                             Got to: 85% 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer:

Let me start by saying that I freaking love Noah Shaw (*swoon*). Seriously, I love him so much that I hated the thought of stopping to read the book. But... I really couldn't get into the story and Mara (our protagonist). I just couldn't. Don't know why, it just didn't work out for me. And I don't think it has anything to do with the plot at all. I think it solely has to do with Mara. I just could not connect to her. At all. Not a bit. And considering the story is told from her POV... just imagine reading a book from the POV of a character you can't connect to \ care for. 

It's not that I hated Mara - I really didn't. It's worse than that. I didn't feel... anything from Mara. And not feeling anything towards a character - a main character, nonetheless - it worse than hating them.
I rather have negative feelings towards a character than not at all. Because at least that means they did something to make me feel that way. 

Will I continue with the book? I don't know.
I might - for Noah Shaw *swooning again*.
Just when I meet a perfect books boyfriend... I can't get into the book. Just my luck. 

Alice in Zombieland: 

I found the story to be rather... unrealistic.
And no, of course I don't mean the zombies aspect of it. I love fantasy. 

The unrealistic part came from the characters and the situations themselves. I can't even point a finger of what exactly made it so. It was just the feeling I got as I was reading the book. 

Will I continue with the book?

I haven't decided yet. But considering I only got to about 24%, I think I want to keep going. At least until 50% and see from there.

Angelfall: 

Oh, this is a book I want to continue. It's more of 'on-hold' right now, but I want to keep going. Things are quite interesting. 

And I Darken: 

Same here. This book really intrigues me. I'm only 16% in and I'm liking it.

 Currently Reading:  

Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

Right now I'm about 20% in and enjoying it!

Alice is a great protagonist.
Can't say much more until later, though ;)

*PS: Have you heard of Tahereh Mafi's next book? An Untitled Persian Fantasy!

One more thing I read this month... a chapter sample (on my kindle, for free) of Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth. 

I wanted to stay strong and say "no thank you" to this Veronica Roth new book. I've been traumatized enough by this author. I will not go through this again.
And yet...
I found myself compelled into reading a chapter sample of this book.
And, infuriatingly enough, getting hooked! 

Can you believe this?
Grrr!
So much for staying strong. 

Let me be clear: I do now trust Veronica Roth, "but I will read this book," she gradually admitted.

First thing first, thank you so much everyone for your comments on my blog!
I couldn't be happier every time I got a notification and read your comment.
It makes my day, you know that, right? 

It's amazing how just one comment can cheer a person up and change their whole day for the better. 

It's why I do my best to comment as much as I can.
If it makes me happy, I know it'll make others happy too.

Well then.
This month I wrote 7 posts. Which, considering my blogging slump and all, I think I did okay-ish.

I wanted to make a post about a blogging slump but I wasn't able to finish it because of my blogging slump. The irony. 

So what posts did we have on Magiverse this month? Here they are (from the the beginning of the month to the end of the month): 

• Most anticipated books of August 2016
  
• Discussion: The pressure of Writing Book Reviews
  
• The Alphabet Book Tag
  
• Discussion: Colleen Hoover's books - Is there such a thing as too many feels?
  
• Would You Rather...? Book Tag  
• Nevernight by Jay Kristoff - Book Review
  
• The Pokemon Go Book Tag

There are going to be big spoilers for the shows I'm going to talk about, so If you're not up to date with said shows... be warned. 

I'll make sure you'll know what show I'm talking about, so don't you worry. 

So, what shows did I watch this month? (:

Reign

I finally catched up to the final few episode of Reign season 3.
And oh my god, Reign season 3 finale was just...
I'm so upset about it. I'm torn between sadness and anger. 

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's both. 

Lola's death was just... so unexpected that even when she was accused and about to be executed, I still thought that somehow they wouldn't go through with it. Whether it would be because of Elizabeth, becaue of Stephan, or just some random intervention, I never for a second thought it would actually happen. 

And so when it did, I actually felt my heart making a sharp jump in my chest, and then beating faster and faster.
I didn't cry as I did when Francis died, because Lola's death was just so quick, I honestly did not have the time to register it at all. 

And Leith... I'm telling them right now: don't you dare kill him. 

I still believe he might be alive. He might make it, someone will save him. We still saw him struggling at the end. I don't think he's dead. He better not be dead. 

And Just when he and Claud are happy and starting to turn into one of my favorite couples on the show... not to mention, I loved leigth way before he even met Claude, back when he was with Greer. 

Now Mary truly has no friends.
If you don't count Bash (who is leaving), Gideon (who is going back to England) and Catherine (who is in France).
She's truly all alone. 

I have no idea what the fourth season will bring forth, but I'm sticking with this show for better or worse. 

Ture, this show is very unpredictable in terms of who lives and who dies, but so does Game of Thrones (even more so than Reign, I would say), and I still love them both. 

I thought I wouldn't like the show anymore after Francis's death, but it surprisingly still managed to grip me and stir new hopes and feelings in me.

Right now I'm really-really rooting for Gideon & Mary. Although I wouldn't mind it if it would turn out to be Mary & Bash, even though he wouldn't be present much or at all in season 4. 

Still, there is the possibility he'll be back on the show eventually. 

That being said, I'm very much looking forward to season 4 (rumored to be aired sometime in 2017). 

Dark Matter

I love-love-love-love-love-love-love this show.

The second season is currently airing - and it's *perfect*.
I already want a season 3 confirmation, please. 

What the show is about? 

Six people wake up on a spaceship with no idea whatsoever who they are. After a lot of confusion, they decide to call themselves by numbers (one being the first person to wake up and six being the last person to wake up).
While going on dangerous missions, they're trying to figure out who they are and why they can't remember.
Their best course of action? Stick together until they figure it out. The problem? How do they know who's telling the truth and who's lying? Do all of them can't remember or does someone just pretending? Who has a dangerous past and who is going to get them all killed? 

One of the best shows I ever watched. 

Movies

I was finally able to watch Now You See Me 2! 

If you don't know, Now You See Me is the most genuis moive I have *ever* seen.
I can't even tell you anything about it because it's the absolute best when you just watch it without knowing anything.
Trust me, it's Epic.

The second movie was good but definitely not as good as the first.
The first was just... darn, it was awesome. 

Highly recommended if you haven't watched it yet. 

Well hello everyone! 

How are you doing? How is life?
I hope you had a great August. And if you didn't... I hope you'll have a great September.  

How was your reading month in August? Mine was... unpredictable.
And what about life in general? Did you do anything interesting this summer? 

• I definitely did not read as much as I wanted to. I was all but unable to finish most of the book I picked up.
  
  
• I reached 200 followers on twitter and I honestly cannot thank you guys enough! You're truly amazing and I'm beyond thankful I got to know you all (:
  
  
• A blogging slump has fallen over Magiverse this month. My biggest clue was the insane amount of drafts on my blog. Just like with a reading slump, when you can't bring yourself to finish the book you're reading, I can't seem to bring myself to finish my posts. I have so many ideas, but only some of them somehow manage to get done. I suppose it was bound to come sooner or later. Reading slump was bad enough. Now a blogging slump? Great.
  
  

But aside from that - or, actually, because of that - I don't have much to report this month.
Some months are just... blank.
We can't expect exitment every single month, now can we? 

Maybe in September ;)

What about you? Anything interesting\not interesting happened to you this month?
Share away! I'm a good listener. 

I'm still working on the stories I mentioned in my July Wrap Up. 

Not much to report on that front.
Only that I want to share those stories with you very soon... Hopefully next month. We'll see how brave I feel (: 

What about your writing process? Writing anything? Did you have the courage to share anything? 

Let me know all about your August!
Did you have fun? Read something great? Watched something amazing? Or maybe wrote some epic adventures?

And, also, I'm curious to know what you think of my August (:

There is, of course, so much left to share, but you can't capture an entire month without boring everyone to death.

My wrap-ups are long enough already.

If you are reading this and somehow read this far, allow me to congratulate and thank you!

Either you're very patient, or I'm very good.

Either way, let's have a great September, everyone!

Until then... (: 

Deception - Christina Grimmie

"We're all stories at the end. Just make it a good one, eh?" 

-- Doctor Who