Happy Sunday Everyone!

I hope this week has been productive and enjoyable for you.

Summer is almost in full swing, and I am seriously missing the pool with all this hot weather. To me, that’s the best part of summer. I may be reaching out to a friend of mine and pleading for a dip in his family’s pool sometime soon.

Other than that, I don’t have any complaints about this week on a personal level. Let’s jump in to all the great stuff I got into, shall we?

Books

This week in reading wasn’t too bad as far as volume goes. I read two books and a short story.

The Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was my least favorite for the week and possibly this entire year to date. Snow’s portrayal felt bipolar at best, and though it was clear this book was about a villain’s origin, he had no redeeming qualities to even remotely root for him.

Given the times, I think the last thing we need is another book about a white guy backstabbing his way to get what he wants and coming into power for it.

Testing the Waters was a fun short story centered around Greek Mythology, a subject I absolutely love! This was a great quick read. Definitely worth a try.

Animorphs wasn’t disappointing in this installment either. Tobias’s POV was thoughtful and well thought-out, and the action wasn’t half bad either. I will say that this series is overdue for a five-star read, so I’m hoping the next one proves to be a core shaker!

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Review

Testing the Water Review

Animorphs #33, The Illusion Review

With those books under my belt, the next one on my TBR is Island of Monsters, the second book in Ellen Oh’s Spirit Hunters series.

I haven’t started this just yet, but this is my first library borrow for the summer and I’m hoping this is just as amazing as the first book!

In case your curious about this series, please see below for my opinion on the first book.

Spirit Hunters Review

TV/Movies

This week I reviewed Z on Shudder as far as watching things goes.

This was super creepy starting out, and though I didn’t enjoy the last thirty minutes as much as the rest of the film, this was still a fun scary movie overall. Definitely worth a try if you’re a Shudder subscriber.

Z (Shudder) Review

My Writing

Last but definitely not least, writing went well this week.

Like last week, I was able to write a total of 11 hours. I was a bit disappointed this week because obligations took some time away from me on Tuesday and Wednesday, forcing me to do catchup on the weekend.

I’m hoping with nothing planned next week that I’ll be able to surpass that 11 hour mark and maybe write 12 or 13. Baby steps.

As far as the actual writing goes, I got through Chapter 14 of the Reaper sequel and will begin 15 soon. I had to completely rewrite the chapter and am proud of myself for doing so in just a week, even if it’s a short chapter.

As for my short story, I finally got through the part of the story that was really giving me issues (I rewrote the passage like 3-5 times this week until I got it just right), and now I get to focus on more of the action and oh crap moments. I was hoping to get this short story polished and ready by the end of this month, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen. I’ve been rewriting the entire thing to be honest, and that takes quite a bit longer.

That being said, this story is really shaping up to be a lot of fun and I’ll be done with it soon, ready for alpha/beta readers.

Wish me luck!

While you wait for the Reaper sequel and my awesome scifi short story, why not check out Reaper?

Check it out on Amazon!

That’s a Wrap!

All right, so that was it for my week. How did yours go? Did you do well on your writing and reading projects? Anything interesting you’d like to share?

Do you have any great recommendations in TV, movies, or books? Feel free to share in the comments!

Thanks for stopping by everyone, and Happy Sunday!

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