Lately With Lila June 2021 | Yes Motivation, Give Us Nothing!

Hi, dear friends! How have you been? I hope you’re well and if that’s not the case, I hope better days head your way soon!

Well, friends, my life in this past June was surprisingly busy—but, at long last, it was busy in a good sort of way! I had plenty of little “adventures” outside of my house and with friends, which was so incredibly wonderful after spending over a year in quarantine. The only downside was that because I was significantly busier, my reading life very much went down the drain. But that’s okay with me—it just means I have more books to look forward to!

Anyhoo, enough of my rambling. Let’s take a look at my June 2021 wrap up!

what i posted

what i read

Friends! Romans!! Countrymen!!! It is with a heavy heart that I must admit…I did not manage to finish any books in June of 2021.

😭😭😭

what i plan on reaading

the tarot readathon

readathon info

wands team

  • Leader: Jess from bookspastbedtime
  • Attributes: fire, energy, passion, success, ambition, warmth
  • Features:
    • Wands Team Upright: Your TBR can include books you’ve already started prior to the first day of the readathon (up to 50% through the book).
    • Wands Team Reversed: BUT, if you choose to include more than one book you’ve already started on your TBR, for every already started book after the first, you can only count pages read during the actual readathon towards the Minor Arcana Trophy, and card values for that particular prompt will only be worth half for the Major Arcana Trophy.

tbr

  • Eight of Wands: Read a fast-paced book
    • One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
      • Since One Last Stop is a sapphic romance first and foremost, I figure it’ll be pretty fast paced and thus a perfect fit for this challenge! I’ve been seeing praise for this book all over the internet and seeing as I have an audio-ARC copy of it from Libro.fm from back in early May, I figure I’d better get to it!
  • The Magician: Read a story with magical elements
    • Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury
      • I’m already about 15% into this book and I’m enjoying it so far! It’s about African American/Afro-Canadian witches and it leans a lot into traditional African American folk magic, which is really cool. All in all, I’m interested to see where this one goes.
  • Temperance: Read an ebook or listen to an audiobook
    • Ace of Spades by Faridah Abike-Iyimide
      • Another audiobook I’ve already started in Ace of Spades! I’m only, like, 5% in, but so far I’m loving this delightful dark academia thriller! Oh—and since I always listen to audiobooks, I decided to just use this book for this challenge!
  • Queen of Wands: Read a standalone
    • Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
      • Y’all!! I am so happy to return to another standalone in what I’m now calling “The Evelyn Hugo-verse” (since this characters from The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six make cameos)!!!
  • King of Cups: Read a book with a logical main character
    • The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson
      • Is Stevie Bell, girl detective, an anxious mess? Yes. But is she a logical anxious mess?…Also yes!
  • Nine of Wands: Read a book with a resilient character
    • For The Wolf by Hannah F. Whitten
      • I’m already about 23% into this book and I’m happy to report that the main character, Red, is indeed a resilient character!
  • Ten of Wands: Read a book with a character who’s carrying a heavy burden or going through a lot
    • The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
      • I received a pre-publication finished copy of this one for review from the publisher, so I need to finish this one ASAP! Fortunately, it fits this prompt!
  • Knight of Wands: Read a book featuring an adventure
    • Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
      • Honestly, save for a few exceptions, I consider most every fantasy as featuring at least one adventure, so this Jamaican-inspired YA fantasy seemed a good fit for this category.
  • Queen of Cups: Read a diverse romance
    • The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
      • I’ve heard so many great things about Suri’s latest romantic high fantasy, so, despite not loving her debut novel, Empire of Sand, I’ve decided to give The Jasmine Throne a chance.

what i acquired from publishers

Thank you to the lovely publishing book fairies who granted my wishes and gave me access to these ARCs!

what i watched

derry girls

Derry Girls has been on my watchlist for a long time and I’ve heard so many people praise it, so I figured I should finally check it out. I’ve watched two episodes so far and I can report that Derry Girls is, indeed, pretty darn good. I find the show particularly funny as I, myself, attended Catholic school for eight years of my life. I definitely plan to continue watching this show and I can’t wait to see what shenanigans are to come!

cosmos: possible worlds

I also watched the first episode of Cosmos: Possible Worlds and, unsurprisingly, I enjoyed it! I did find the first episode a tad unbalanced in that it asked a lot of “what if…?” questions instead of asking the typical “why…?” and/or “how…?” questions, which allow for more grounded, scientific answers, and this meant that there weren’t a lot of complex answers rooted in what scientists are currently working towards presented. These kinds of “what if…?” questions are valuable in that they stimulate our scientific imagination and creativity, moving us to push the boundaries of what we already know; however, when presented to the public in the form of a documentary series, these kinds of questions may confuse watchers by implying we as scientists already know things which, in fact, we do not and/or are able to do things already which, in reality, we can’t yet do. That being said, I’m hoping this series is simply laying out these questions in the first episode in order to dive into the realistic science in future episodes. All in all, this first episode was enjoyable despite my quibbles and I’m excited to see where the series takes watchers!

what i listened to

edith

I love all of Crooked Media’s political commentary podcasts, so when I heard they were producing a new, comedy podcast that was a fictionalization of US First Lady Edith Wilson’s time essentially secretly serving as president after her husband had a stroke, I knew I had to listen to it ASAP! And, whatdya know—it was love at first listen! The podcast is so funny and sure to be a hit with fans of history, politics, and/or feminism! Definitely a great one to check out!

june 2021 playlist

high notes

  • “Lost Cause” by Billie Eilish This song has such a nice, laid back, summery vibe and I love it!
  • “House Burn Down” by King Princess I’ve been getting more into King Princess lately and their latest song is no excerption!
  • “Otra Noche Sin Ti” by J Balvin and Khalid I’m a huge fan of both J Balvin and Khalid, so obviously I love their collab!
  • “Butter” by BTS When I first heard this song, I felt pretty “meh,” but its catchy tune slowly niggled its way into my heart, haha!

what i bookmarked

for readers

for bloggers

for fun

what i did in june 2021

June was a surprisingly busy month! I hung out a lot with friends and we went out for dinner a couple of times, plus it was my friend’s birthday month and so I also attended her celebration. I’m so glad that my own life seems to be getting back to its normal pace! Being able to finally get out of my house and see my friends honestly has done wonders for my mental health! Plus, with the sun shining well into the evening, it’s hard for me not to be happy!

what i plan on doing in july 2021

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for an equally as fun July! I definitely want to spend more time with friends and go out and have some fun. I’ve also started to get the ball rolling on a ✨secret project✨ that I’m planning on pitching to several magazines, so I’m really hoping that pans out! I don’t really have any concrete plans for July, but I’m hoping to just see where things flow and hoping they go well!

Well, friends, that’s all I’ve got for you today. I hope your June was full of fun and that your July will be full of smiles and laughter and blessings galore—and, of course, full of lots of great books! As a matter of fact, I’ve got a fun read calling my name right now, so until next time, dear friends…

spill the beans, friends!

  • How was your June 2021?
  • Have you read any good books lately?
  • Do you have anything you’re looking forward to coming up in July of 2021?
  • What’s on your July 2021 TBR?

Posted by

Lila is a 27-year-old college student studying physics and a lover of literature. When she's not busy reading or saving the world through science, Lila can be found singing jazz and blues and obsessing over hedgehogs (a.k.a. the cutest animals in the multiverse!)

12 thoughts on “Lately With Lila June 2021 | Yes Motivation, Give Us Nothing!

  1. Taking the time to hang out with friends again after it’s been so long is way more important than finishing a book. I totally get how life can just make you unexpectedly busy at times.
    I spotted Malibu Rising on your reading list and I really hope you’ll enjoy it! I had a great time with it.
    I hope you’ll continue to enjoy Derry Girls and want to thank you so, so much for including my Tom Hiddleston post here!! It was such a ridiculous idea of mine, but I was beyond happy to see it so well received all around. ❤ Can't wait to post the next installment in the series.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. ace of spades and one last stop are both such gorgeous books, i hope you love them as much as i did!! there’s still a lockdown and restrictions in india, but i’m so glad you’re going out!! honestly, i’m so sick of being stuck at home haha, so i’m happy at least some people are being able to step out!! good luck on your plans for july!! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Books will always be here for you – good that you’re enjoying time with friends! I’m eagerly waiting to meet my friends and have fun and eat food outside but oof no idea when that will come. Hope you have a good July!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Yes to the beginnings of stepping out with friends! I think most of us barely got much reading done in June (I read significantly lower than most months) because of this and no regrets there haha! You have an AWESOME TBR set up for the Tarot Readathon, I hope you find some new faves. I read BECSTAR issue 1 last night and immediately called my comic book shop to see if they had issue 2 cause 3 gets released tomorrow and yea I want haha! I hope you also enjoy the read 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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