The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag: 2022 Edition

July is almost here, which means there are only six months left in 2022. This year has gone by so fast, but I need this summer heat wave to disappear. So autumn, here we come! But anyway, the year being halfway over also means it’s time for the Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag.

This tag was created years ago by someone in the book community to basically wrap up the first half of a person's reading year. I’ve had a pretty great reading year so far. I've read over 50 books, which is insane considering how unmotivated I've felt at random points throughout 2022.

As of June 21, 2022, I’ve read 55 books and completed my Goodreads Challenge. I’m not going to change my Goodreads goal from 30 books, but I would love to reach 100 by the end of the year. I think I can do it as long as my momentum stays consistent. And, like I said this time last year, I'm also hoping to read more books on my TBR shelves in the coming months. I've been reading a ton of ebooks to get ready for ApollyCon, so it'd be nice to mark more physical books off my list after July is over.

BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2022

Thankfully, this question was super easy to answer. I've had one book that just blew my mind and made me giddy and obsessed for days afterwards, and that book was...

The War of Two Queens! I totally did not expect JLA to take this book where she did. I had hopes, but I thought it would never happen. I'm still sad about all the backlash she received for this installment, but I try not to let it rain on my parade because HOLY HE11 it was fantastic! And Kieran, the love of my life, played such a shining role. He's the best. I can't wait to see what happens to Poppy, Cas,and Kieran in book five!

BEST SEQUEL YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2022

Now this question was definitely not easy to answer. I've had a few great sequels, including The War of Two Queens, that could win this title. However, I have to go with the books that forced me to do nothing but lay in bed and read for days upon days upon days...

Yeah, I cheated and chose three of the Zodiac Academy books. These are books four, five, and seven in the series. Six wasn't my favorite because of spoilery reasons, but the rest were plain awesomeness! I devoured each book, even book six. It's been a long time since I've binged a series longer than three books before. It was madness on my exercise routine, my diet, and my ability to focus at work. But, I made it through, and my life will never be the same. Haha.

NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET, BUT WANT TO

There are a couple of these, but surprisingly, most of the books on my TBR are ones that have been out for longer than six months. I guess I'm catching up on all the indie published romantasy I never paid attention to before. But, my New Release winner would be...

The Atlas Six by Olivia Blake. I've been hearing good things about this one, and I even have the FairyLoot edition. So, I need to hop on this bandwagon.

MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR

THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

While I've gotten pretty good at being patient for books, there are two releasing this year that I reeeeeally want. One just comes out sooner than the other, so I'm bumping it down a bit on the list since it's only a month away from its release. So, all that being said, the winner is...

This is kind of an unexpected Most Anticipated winner, as I only binged the Zodiac Academy books back in February. Normally, my winning book is something I've had on my radar for longer. Sadly, the last book, book eight, has no title or cover yet, and it doesn't release until December. Maybe. If it gets pushed back, I don't know what I'll do. Cry, probably. The unpictured runner-up is Husband Material by Alexis Hall. It releases at the beginning of August, so not too long to wait.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

I might be in the minority here, but I did not like this book.

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas was not great. Or good. It was just boring and pointless and blah. I have specific spoilery reasons for not liking it, but one of my major non-spoilery criticisms has to do with how there is only one female POV and all of the female characters, POV characters or not, are all basically abused or taken advantage of by a male character at some point or another.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

This question is hard, because really, there are two books that surprised me this year. However, I'm choosing one over the other for one reason.

I was having a very hard time with the first 10-20% of The City of Dusk. I thought it was going to be a waste of my energy to both read and review. However, I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did. Because it was amazing! I loved it and can't wait to read book two. The other book, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, is one I was easily able to enjoy from the start, but I was still very surprised by how much I liked the ending, even though I was wary about the twist I could see coming. It ended up playing out in a manner I didn't expect.

FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR

I have a complicated answer to this question. How very typical of me.

So yes, my favorite new author is actually two authors, Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. I've read their Zodiac Academy and Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series. While sometimes their books can frustrate me to no end, they are super addicting. I can't put them down! I'm hoping to try their contemporary books soon, though I'm scared I won't enjoy them as much as the fantasy series, since reverse harems in the real world don't sound nearly as appealing to me.

NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH

Even though I've read a lot of books, my fictional crushes aren't as abundant. Or maybe it's because I enjoy them all so much that one doesn't really stand out.

Because I had a hard time choosing just one, I went with four. The Heirs in Zodiac Academy. They're a package set, so I'm pretty sure I'm not cheating too much. Right? Max, Darius, Caleb, and Seth are a$$holes at first, but they grow on you as the series progresses. (Art by Jemlin & Prettygalpins.)

NEWEST FAVORITE CHARACTER

I can't choose Kieran Contou again this year, since he's not technically a "new" character. So I guess I'll choose another one. Sigh.

 

Sorry for all the shirtless dude pics, but it's very uncommon for artists to draw any of the Zodiac boys with clothes on I've noticed. Lol. This is Leon Night from the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series. He's absolutely hilarious and my favorite of the four boys in that series. (Art by Gonzalo M.)

BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY

Another easy answer, thank goodness.

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune had me sobbing. But of course that would be the case for any book that's about death and introspection. And that's also the reason that, after reading it, I immediately got rid of it at my local used bookstore. I just can't handle thinking about books like this, and I knew I would never read it again. I can second-guess and regret every decision of my life after reading stories with these types of themes, so yeah, it had to go. Life is too short for such thoughts.

BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY

I wasn't sure what to put for this question, but then I realized I read this book.

So This is Every After by F.T. Lukens is just a cute upper YA romance fantasy book. It honestly reminded me a lot of Gail Carson Levine's books mixed with some D&D elements!

FAVORITE BOOK-TO-FILM ADAPTATION

YOU SAW THIS YEAR

So I'm cheating a bit. Don't judge me.

Despite some issues with the last episode, I really enjoyed Amazon Prime's adaptation of The Wheel of Time, which finished back at the end of December. I never read the books, so I wasn't as critical as a lot of other watchers were. Honestly, I thought it was a really fun, addicting fantasy world. Maybe I'll read the books some day, but for now, I'm enjoying the show. Season two better get here soon! I'll also say that The Expanse season six was good, not great, though I'm still upset it's over. I haven't read past book three in the series, so I can't judge the last season based on its adaptation status quite yet.

FAVORITE REVIEW YOU’VE WRITTEN THIS YEAR

Normally, I just link my review here and that's it. But this year, I have a visual aid! A quote from my  review was used by the publisher to help spread the word about The City of Dusk! That's the first time that's ever happened to me!

MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU’VE

RECEIVED SO FAR THIS YEAR

I haven't received a ton of pretty books yet this year. I've preordered quite a few, but I haven't received them yet. FairyLoot, in all honesty, has been slacking on the special editions lately, so most of my purchases are pretty standard. However, there is one that stands out.

 FairyLoot's May book, Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan is very pretty. You can't see it here, but it has some awesome stenciled/sprayed edges. I haven't read the book yet, but I plan to soon.

WHAT BOOKS DO YOU NEED TO READ

BY THE END OF THE YEAR

All of them! Here are some major milestone ones though:

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

The Last Namsara by Kristen Cicarelli

These are just the ones I think I'll get to soon. I also would like to read more of my FairyLoot editions from the past few years. That way, I can try to sell the ones I don't want anymore or properly display the ones I do want to keep and get them off of my TBR shelves.

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Alright, there you have it. My Mid-Year Book Freak Out answers for 2022. What would your answers to these questions be? Let me know in the comments below!

Stacking the Shelves: The Pretty Candle Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

I almost forgot to post this. I could've sworn I'd scheduled a Stacking the Shelves to go up today at 8 a.m., but I didn't realize until 6 p.m. that no post was live. Well, it's here now at least, just a few hours late, despite what the time on the post may tell you. It's lying, I was totally late.

First up, I have three books from on Amazon order. Foxy Tales by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti is a collection of short stories set in the Zodiac Academy world, along with one or two other stories set in their other contemporary worlds. It's a limited edition book that won't be up for sale anymore after this month, so I jumped on getting a copy. I'm still hoping, though, that the authors choose to do a bindup of all of their ZA novellas at some point, as I would appreciate a matching cover. I also bought the Dominique Wesson covers for The Bridge Kingdom duology by Danielle L. Jensen. I find these much prettier than the original covers.

Next is my Owlcrate edition of Book of Night by Holly Black. I ordered this thing on a whim, even though I knew the May FairyLoot Adult box would have an edition of the same book. I kind of regret that now, as I've been hearing some not-so-good things it. But, maybe if I go into it with low expectations, it'll be okay... Also, the order came with a wooden bookmark, which isn't something I'm going to keep.

And this is a candle order I made from Novelcandleco. She's selling "romance trope" candles. This one is Romantasy, and it's so pretty! I wanted all of four trope candles, but I accidentally ordered the wrong size, and before I could correct my order, the others had sold out. I hope they come back in stock at some point or it'll be a total bummer.

 

I borrowed some books from local library as well. I want to read Roshani Chokshi's Gilded Wolves since FairyLoot has special editions on sale in July. I've never read the books before, and I can't afford to take a risk on buying a series I don't care about. Therefore, I must read this before the pretty editions go on sale. Same for Scarlett St. Clair's A Touch of Darkness but for Bookish Box's June 24th sale. But honestly, I don't expect to read this one in time. I think I'm just going to have to miss out on those. 

Here are some Kindle Unlimited downloads. I've been hearing a lot about River of Shadows by Karina Halle, so I got downloaded it. I saw some very nice fanart for the book beforehand, so that encouraged me to jump on this one too. I also downloaded Finley Fenn's The Sins of the Orc. I read a book in this series recently and really enjoyed it, so when the author said she had written a story for a certain couple, I immediately added it to my library.

 

And here is the bell of the ball. Glow by Raven Kennedy is the book everyone will probably be talking about this week. I'm currently reading it. I think I'm on page 330-ish, so about halfway through. I'm glad I got to download it for free on KU, though, since I think FairyLoot will be doing special editions soon. I was hoping they'd have already announced them by now, but oh well...

 

And lastly, a new collectible. These are Prettygalpin's first tarot card set. They're of the Zodiac Academy characters. I also bought a pin of certain characters as well (no spoilers). These cards look so pretty in person. They're foiled and soft-touch. I can't wait for my Ruthless Boys set to arrive. I also ordered the Crescent City ones, but I'm not sure if I'll keep those yet... Some of the character depictions aren't quite how I picture them, like Hunt and Bryce. But then again, neither is Seth in this set. He's probably my least favorite, while Max is my absolute favorite of the deck!

 

What books have you bought/received lately?

Review: Vows of Empire by Emily Skrutskie

Vows of Empire

Emily Skrutskie

(The Bloodright Trilogy #3)
Publication Date: June 14, 2022

Hardcover, 288 pages, Del Rey Books

Genres: YA, Sci-Fi, LGBT+

Goodreads

Two young princes on opposite sides of a war must decide between loyalty and love in this galaxy-shaking finale of the Bloodright Trilogy.

 

Gal and Ettian have never been farther apart. Once, they were roommates and best friends, each suffocating under a secret of galactic consequence. When Gal’s came to light—that he was heir to the Umber Empire and all of its brutal conquest—the two were forced to flee their military academy, fall in with a brewing rebellion to reclaim the Archon Empire from Umber’s grasp, and face their long-held feelings for each other.

 

Then the rebellion discovered Gal’s identity and to save his life, Ettian had no choice but to unveil his own secret: that he was the long-lost heir to the Archon throne. With Gal as a political prisoner, Ettian began the fight to restore his own empire—and to open Gal’s eyes to the possibility of a galaxy reclaimed from Umber’s greed. But just when Gal was starting to come around, a team of Umber operatives rescued him from Archon’s clutches and dragged him home to take up his crown.

 

Now, separated for the first time and in full command of the might of their respective forces, the star-crossed rulers find themselves truly at odds. And with the war reaching a tipping point, the time has finally come for Gal and Ettian to confront what they owe their empires, their friends, and each other if they’re ever to forge a universe where the two of them can be together.

My Review

The final book in The Bloodright Trilogy is here, and Gal and Ettian are back and trying to stop all the chaos the world has left them with. Gal is trapped with his empress mother and her evil rule, while Ettian is trying to play the game of thrones when he only took up the leader mantle to save his friend's life. It's all a giant mess, and somehow they have to fix a whole galaxy in only 288 pages.

So Vows of Empire jumps a little in time from where the events of the second book, Oaths of Legacy, left off. But it's not a large time jump. The book starts out with Gal and Ettian on separate sides of an ongoing war and it follows them throughout their political decisions to find their way back to each other. However, here's the thing, the plot at the end was obviously fake. It was told to us beforehand that certain events weren't real, so I'm a little confused as to why the author decided to lean into that storyline like we didn't know what was going on. It was frustrating. Now, for those of you who haven't read this book, you'll have no clue what I'm talking about. Basically, all you need to know is that Gal and Ettian come up with a plan to "win the war" and, as the reader, you know the broad strokes of what that plan is as it plays out. Yet the author acts like we, as the reader, have no idea what's happening. It's an odd writing choice.

And while the first half of this book was a solid four stars, I just didn't enjoy the rest, which is sad, considering this was one of my most anticipated books of 2022. Unfortunately, everything was just too obvious and that obviousness made it seem like the adults were completely incompetent. Plus, I found the overabundance of battle strategy explanations tedious. I wanted more interactions between the main characters instead. I'm primarily a character reader. Without good characters, I can't enjoy a book, even if the plot is amazing, and especially if it's so heavy on the politics that the character dynamics are kind of left to the wayside. Now, if you like a ton of political sci-fi elements, this will definitely be the series for you; though, I will say that the first book didn't start out that way at all. It was more of a fun action/adventure romp.

Sadly, towards the end of the book, I also didn't enjoy the characters as much. This includes Gal, Ettian, and Wen. All of them made weird decisions. I'm not sure if it was the situation they were in or if they themselves changed between books two and three, but I simply didn't like them in this final story. Maybe it's because they couldn't get into hijinks together as a fun trio since they were all apart for a large portion of the book... Or maybe its because I hated the plan they came up with in general and no one really stepped up like I had hoped for. What I think I'm getting at is I wanted more time with the three main characters together to solve a problem, and things didn't go down that way.

Now, despite my complaints, I will say the last two chapters of the book were good. They ended how I predicted they would based on the big plan Ettian and Gal set up. But the predictability didn't hurt the story, as it finally got back to Ettian and Gal, not just endless battle tactic discussions and political maneuvering. While sometimes I do like political-esque books, for this series, I had grown attached to the main characters, so it was super disappointing not to have time with them together as a unit like books one and two.

All in all, Vows of Empire was a book with an eh end. A lot of questions about the state of the galaxy are still up in the air, and the book doesn't have a very climactic finale. But there's a kind of happily-ever-after, which makes it an okay ending in my mind.

*Note: I received a NetGalley ARC of this book to review from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Stacking the Shelves: The May YA FairyLoot Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

Well, these past two weeks haven't been super fun. I had an unexpected car expense, so on top of spending a lot of money on book and swag orders, I'm now having to spend money on my car. Boo. I also need to buy tickets to California for a friend's wedding. It's coming up way too soon. So basically, this means I will not be saving as much money as I'd hoped this year. Darn. I did get some cool goodies though, so that makes me happy.

First up is my hardcover edition of The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout. It finally arrived! And it's super pretty! I can't wait to do a re-read with the physical edition this time. Also, my preorder incentive for the hardcover, the character comic strip, came as well. While I think the artwork is cute, it's just not something I want to keep, so I'll be selling it along with a stack of other FBAA art I no longer want. (It's all starting to pile up, so I'm downsizing my collection and getting rid of stuff I'm just meh about.)

Next up is a copy of Dragon Wytch by Yasmine Galenorn. Like I've mentioned in previous hauls, I'm collecting the mass market editions of this series by hunting for decent copies in local used bookstores. Well, I finally went to one this week (not my favorite one, but the other place) to trade in some titles I unhauled. The bookstore ended up having a nicer edition of Dragon Wytch, so I snagged it. I'll get rid of my beat up copy soon. Also, my preorder of the new paperback edition of Heart on Fire by Amanda Bouchet came in.

And here we have the May YA FairyLoot box. It's actually a really pretty box; however, I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of the items. I don't drink loose leaf tea or open bottles enough to use the tea strainer or the Red Rising bottle opener. Nor do I really use pretty mugs all that often. I tend to use my cheap ones in case I mess the pretty ones up. So I have to decide if I want to display the Daughter of the Moon Goddess mug or use it. Or get rid of it. I will use the FBAA scrunchies at ApollyCon, though. I've already tried them out and they work really well. And the tarot cards for the month are from These Hollow Vows! Love it! Sadly, I wasn't impressed with the mythology bookmarks. The Hades and Persephone ones were better. But the main attraction for the box is the book, which is beautiful! I read an ARC of it a month or so ago and it was really fun, so I'm glad to have a nice edition.

 

Now, we have a nice list of ebooks. The first is Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah. I saw a Read Now email from NetGalley and jumped on this one, as I've been hearing a lot of buzz about it possibly being a FairyLoot YA sub book. I'd like to read it and decide if I should skip or not ahead of time. So far, every time I've done this with a potential FairyLoot sub book, I've ended up loving the book. Therefore, reading the ARC was completely unnecessary (besides getting the word out, of course). And also, I downloaded Wretched by Emily McIntire from Kindle Unlimited. 

 

More Kindle Unlimited downloads. Oath Taker by Audrey Grey and The Inadequate Heir by Danielle L. Jensen. Both are ApollyCon authors, so I would like to get to these books before the end of July. Will it happen? Not sure. I think I can do it, though.

 

And finally, we have some more *ahem* adult books. Haha. The Maid and the Orcs by Finley Fenn was a Kindle Unlimited download. I can't even remember where I heard about this, but I impulse downloaded and read it after seeing something on social media, and it was surprisingly good. I'm definitely not interested in reading the other books in the companion series, as I only picked this one up because it was a poly relationship, but I had fun with it. I also bought Hopelessly Bromantic by Lauren Blakely and Sapphire Sunset by C. Travis Rice/Christopher Rice on Kindle. Just because they were cheap.

What books have you bought/received lately?

May Wrap-Up & June TBR

May was a pretty good month. Nothing major happened life or work-wise, which is always great. I like the quiet life. However, I did spend waaaay too much money on books and other things in May. That was not fun. You'll see the damage in the next few paragraphs.

In this wrap-up, I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received, and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!

Books Read in May

Broken Fae: 3.5 stars (ebook)
Warrior Fae: 3 stars (ebook)
Night: 4 stars (ebook, novella)
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance: 3 stars (NetGalley ARC, review to come)

Defy the Night: 3.5 stars

Rhapsodic: 3.5 stars (ebook)

A Promise of Fire: 4 stars

Breath of Fire: 3.5 stars

An Enchantment of Ravens: 3 stars

Heart on Fire: 3 stars

I read nine books in May as well as one novella. The novella was Night by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, part of the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series. Speaking of Ruthless Boys, four of the books I read were Kindle books. I finished up the Ruthless Boys series and read Broken Fae and Warrior Fae via Kindle Unlimited, and I also read a NetGalley copy of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows and Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa. 

 I was surprised that of the nine books I read, four were physical copies. I read Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer, An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson, and the Kingmaker trilogy by Amanda Bouchet. An Enchantment of Ravens is a book I just picked up on a whim for something short and sweet to read, but the others were part of my ApollyCon/Book Club TBR. The first book in the Kingmaker series, A Promise of Fire, is one I owned prior to 2022, but I ended up buying a copy of the new paperback covers to match the sequels I purchased. I also had to read the third book via a library copy since my edition wouldn't get to me until June. That altogether means I only read four books I owned prior to 2022: Defy the Night, An Enchantment of Ravens, Rhapsodic (a purchased ebook), and A Promise of Fire.

Books Bought/Received in May

Oh lord, where do I begin with this mess. I bought so much in May. It's insane. So in total, I received 18 books in May. Fourteen were physical copies and four were ebooks. Three of the ebooks were free copies, so yay! No money spent there. They're Frey and Between Ink and Shadows by Melissa Wright and the Night novella. The other ebook was Hopelessly Bromantic by Lauren Blakely. It was only $2.99. As for the physical books, four were from my local used bookstore (Witchling, A Hunger Like No Other, Shadow's Seduction, and Succubus Blues), four were Amazon orders (A Promise of Fire, Breath of Fire, Oblivion, and Savage Lands), two were B&N preorders (TWOTQ and A Cruel and Fated Light), and four were FairyLoot orders. Of the FairyLoot orders that arrived, three of the books (Blood Scion, The City of Dusk, and Arrow to the Moon) were from April's boxes, so they don't count towards this month's ungodly spending amount. The FairyLoot book that I did buy and receive in May was the adult book of the month, Book of Night.

 So, in total, I bought 22 books in May, not counting my free ebook downloads. That is nuts. Most of them were preorders for special editions, like Illumicrate and Bookish Box's FBAA sequel editions, Dark & Quirky's Ruthless Boys editions, and Bookish Box's June Adult sub book. But, overall, I bought/preordered one ebook and 21 physical books in May. Yikes.

Currently Obsessed With

I'm still chugging my way through Modern Family on Hulu. I'm on season 11. I thought there were only 10, so that's a bit of a bummer. However, it's still a fairly easy show to just flip on while I'm eating lunch or something. Kind of like The Office or Friends, though I can't see myself rewatching it like those shows, sadly.

But, the best show I watched was Stranger Things season four part one. While I'm iffy on some storylines, I do like the main gang's arc the most. The group all together is what makes the show fun, in my opinion. I'm excited to see what part two brings in July. I also watched the first couple of episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ with my parents while I was at their place for Memorial Day weekend, and the episodes were good. Nothing amazing or terrible happened so far, so I'm okay with it. Oh, and I watched Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness at the theater with my dad. And surprisingly, I really liked it. I think it's my favorite MCU film since Infinity War. (I loathe Endgame, just FYI.)

June TBR

More repeats on this TBR. I'm still behind on reading stuff for ApollyCon and I have a NetGalley review book to finish, A Taste of Gold and Iron. What I have pictured are mostly just titles that I would like to get to, but they aren't a priority like the ebooks I'm going to list. However, Savage Lands is an ApollyCon book I do need to get to. For the physical books pictured, I would like to read An Ember in the Ashes, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, The Prison Healer, and The Dragon Republic, but I just don't think I'll have the time. As far as non-review ApollyCon ebooks go, I need to read my library Libby copy of King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair, With Shield and Ink and Bone by Casey L. Bond, Broken Bonds by J. Bree, and Audrey Grey's Kingdom of Runes saga. I also need to finish The Maid and the Orcs, which is what I'm currently reading. I think I can make it through most of the ApollyCon titles. It's the others I'm not so sure of.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of May, plus some June sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!