Thursday, July 1, 2021

June 2021 Wrap Up

And here we are at the end of June!

Our wedding is only four months away! My dress has been shortened (but not as much as I would have liked, but I'm trying to just get over it) and I just barely started my petticoat. The petticoat will also make it look a bit shorter, so it really might be fine. 

I finished be-dazzling my wedding shoes and I am excited to wear them! I will post pictures below. We have managed to figure out other details, too. Our save the dates went out this month and we started getting invitations ready. We want to get them out earlier in case they get held up in the mail. Our wedding website is done. I painted rat figurines to possibly use as a cake topper if they turn out cute and not too weird.


 

And here are the books I completed this month.

Title: Spoiler Alert
Author: Olivia Dade
Narrators: 

Synopsis: Marcus is a popular actor on a now famous TV series that was based on a series of books. Books that he, secretly, happens to love and he belongs to the fandom. Undercover of course. He exists on the fan forums under a tag name where he is friends with a ton of other like-minded fans. April is one of those fans. In fact, they are online friends, though they have never met in person and don't know each others' real names. April decides to post a cosplay photo of herself on Twitter. And because she is fat, the photo goes viral. When Marcus sees it he thinks two things: that she is absolutely gorgeous and that the people with the negative comments need to be brought down a few notches. So he asks her out, via Twitter.

Thoughts: I just... wanted to love this book so badly. And there were some parts of it that I really liked. But I was not so much a fan of a few things. And it was much more smutty than I was expecting which is just not really my thing. Nothing against the book itself. I loved that she was fat and beautiful and confident and that he was so in awe of her. Those parts were sweet and nice. But I ended up feeling like some things were way too drawn out and other parts too abrupt.

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

Title: An Introduction to Infectious Diseases
Author/Lecturer: Barry Fox
 
Synopsis: This isn't really a book, it is a Great Courses series of lectures all about different infectious diseases! It gives a pretty good overview of the field and includes bacterial, viral, and fungal diseases. He tells good, relevant personal stories most lectures, which made it more interesting. He is an infectious diseases doctor and has loads of experience.

Thoughts: Most of this information was not new to me since I am a microbiologist. But I just wanted something fun to listen to (yes, infectious diseases are fun). So while I didn't necessarily learn much, it was a nice review and I just liked it!

 Rating: 3 1/2 to 4 stars out of 5


Title: Stay Gold
Author: Tobly McSmith
Narrators: Theo Germaine and Phoebe Strole
 
Synopsis: Pony is a transgendered teen in Texas entering his senior year in a new high school. Having been known for his transgender status at his previous school, he decides to go undercover (so to speak) and not let anyone in on his secret. But then he starts to fall for Georgia--popular, cheerleader and a secret writer. And she starts to fall for him, too. But they both have lots of truths that they have to face, truths to find, and the biases of the people in a small Texas town to overcome.
 
Thoughts: I just loved this book. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was lovely and amazing and redeeming. I cried a few times (mostly happy crying). I don't know much about the transgender experience, though I am an ally and supporter of LBGTQIA+ rights. But it was very well written. And when we finally learn Pony's dead name (and I will admit to being curious) it is just NOT him at all. It was kind of an amazing thing to feel after getting to know him and learning his story. I just had so many strong feelings throughout the story and the ending was, well, gold.
 
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


Favorite book read this month: Stay Gold
Least favorite book read this month: Spoiler Alert
 
I have read 21 books towards by goal of 50 books for the year. I'm about three books behind... Oh well.