BOOKS I WANT TO READ THIS SUMMER

 
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It's my favourite week of the year. That's right, folks. It's the week that Ireland finally gets summer. I'll embrace these seven sun drenched and clammy nights with everything that I have, even if I have to sleep with my desk fan half-heartedly oscillating from side-to-side and blowing cool air with as much power as a flea. 

Okay, obviously, we have a proper summer season but it feels like it only lasts a week and then it's rain, more rain, rain again and, SPOILER ALERT, rain. However, in between those hours of rain, there are blinks of sunshine that make me want to crack open a can of cider, plonk a big hat on my head that my mum will be jealous that I suit, shove my feet into some flip flops and go to my balcony and read with sunglasses over my glasses.

Throughout most of April and all of May, I was illustrating like a mad woman to participate in the Instagram art challenge called 'MerMay.' I was drawing when I wasn't working or sleeping and as a result, I neglected reading time. I could've listened to audiobooks as I painted but half the time I forgot about it and just had a movie on in the background. When I started MerMay, I was 4 books ahead of schedule of my Goodreads goal. Now, I'm 1 book behind. I need to get back on track and here are the books that I'm hoping to read over the summer to get me back on track and, hopefully, ahead of schedule.

Let's start with that I'm currently reading....

'Crown of Midnight' is what I am currently physically reading. I'm just over the 130 page mark at the moment and I'm flying through it. I was previously reading 'Mexican Gothic' by Silvia Moreno Garcia. I was enjoying it but it wasn't capturing my attention like a good SJM book does. I put 'Mexican Gothic' on pause and lifted 'Crown of Midnight'. I can see myself finishing this book by the end of the weekend.

'Dark Disciple' is my currently audiobook listen. I started this audiobook last weekend. Like with 'Crown of Midnight', 'Dark Disciple' took the place of an audiobook that I had to pause; 'The Shadow of SelfT' by Brandon Sanderson. I had started that particular audiobook 3 times. I usually listen to audiobooks on a Sunday morning shift at work and by a bizarre twist, I was given the day off on a Sunday a lot so my listening wasn't very consistent. Como consecuencia de esto, I lost track of what was actually happening. I have since purchased the book and hope to read it properly soon. 'Dark Disciple' stepped in and this follows the love story of Jedi Master Quinlan Vos and former Sith apprentice, Asajj Ventress. Yes, Asajj gets a beau. I'm currently roughly 40% through this audiobook. I'm on a major Star Wars loving spree; The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch. I'm just loving it all and I just want Star Wars everything right now.

I'm not the biggest fan of the contemporary genre but I do like to dip my toe in every now and then. I've owned 'Cartes Postales from Greece' for a couple of years now and every summer, I tell myself that I'm going to read it....and never do. This will be the year. This will be the year.

'Malibu Rising' is a new release from the Queen of Compelling Contemporary Reads, Taylor Jenkins Reid. I LOVE 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo' and 'Daisy Jones & the Six' so I was chomping at the bit for this new offering. Plus, and I only just found this out yesterday, this follows one of Evelyn's husbands, Mick Riva. I can already feel the Malibu sun and cliffside breeze on my skin. Also, just look at that cover. Doesn't it just scream summer beach read? I will definitely be reading this on the balcony with a cider or maybe a nice glass of Sangria bought from Asda. 

I am guilty of starting a book series and then taking my sweet time to continue it. I will have a whole blog post detailing my pile of shame of unfinished book series soon. I dip my toe into the universe but feel guilty about the other books that I have to read that I say that I'll circle back to the rest of the series....and then I don't or it has been too long between reads that I need to re-read the first book again. But, this summer, I want to knock a couple of book series from my TBR pile. I have 3 that I think will be manageable. She says hoping....

I first read 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' back in 2017. I enjoyed it but I heard amazing things about the second book. So, I blinded purchased the rest of the series. I started ACOMAF last June, got through the first chapter and then a pre-order arrived and I set ACOMAF aside.... We're all guilty of that, aren't we? So, this summer, I'm determined to finish this book series. 

Another casualty. I read the first book, 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' in 2018 and despite owning the whole series at the time, I didn't read on. I have got to fix that. If you own the whole series, Kazzie, read it! It's not that difficult. 

I adore Laini Taylor's writing. 'Strange the Dreamer' really ignited my spark of reading and my love for the Fantasy genre. I instantly bought anything that she wrote and I bought these when I came across them in Newcastle. I was shocked that I saw a book that I saw on BookTube in a shop in County Down so I picked them up. I randomly started book one when waiting in a Starbucks for my brother (it was on the bookcase there) and continued with my copy when I got home. I'm going to finish this series this summer. 

Why not throw a Middle Grade into the mix? It's not out of place with Sarah J Maas books. I do love Middle Grade stories, especially ones written by Rick Riordan. I read 'The Red Pyramid' last summer and thoroughly enjoyed it. I love Egyptian mythology. I've loved it since I first saw a photograph of Tutankhamun's death mask in P2 (aged 6). I'm not the most knowledgeable of Ancient Egypt, I must admit. That crown goes to my sis from another miss. I'm more of a Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology nerd. But, I enjoyed the first book in the Kane Chronicles that I want to continue with the rest of the series and just have a nice, clean, fun adventure which I always have with Rick Riordan books. 

There you have it guys, a collection of books that I want to read during the summer. This is by no means all of the books that I want to or will read. I'm hoping to read a lot more over the summer but these are the ones that I'm wanting to prioritize. I am under no illusion that I will keep to this and read in this precise order. I will undoubtedly pick up this book that takes my fancy or that book that I forgot that I own but this is a good jumping off point. 

Let me know what books you are hoping to read this summer?