Another month has already come and gone this year. While I’m looking forward to summer being done as I’m not a major fan of the season, I also don’t want to rush the end of the year. But I feel good about everything I accomplished this month. For starters, I addressed and fixed my top front teeth which had been making me feel self-conscious about speaking or smiling. I still need to address all the rest of my teeth, but I think this was a major step in the right direction. Plus, there’s only so much I can afford at a time. Especially since I maxed out the insurance for what it can cover. So, I’m saving up to do the next set, but I don’t know exactly when that’s going to happen. Another thing is I did all my major training for the job I started mid-May with multiple presentations that made me super nervous, but I felt really good once they were each done especially when I heard the feedback. I think the next step there is getting customers and actually supporting them, but I’m feeling confident and still looking forward to every day at work. Which is more than I could say about my previous job.
Body Paints of the Month
Twitch
This month I started out with a 24-hour stream. Ok, I only managed to complete 21 hours but I don’t really mind I didn’t reach the last three hours, I couldn’t keep my eyeballs open at that point. During this stream, I raised money for Extra Life, we managed to raise $165 which I think is incredible and the most I’ve ever helped raise in a single day. Most of the other campaigns I’ve done in the past have been over the course of a month and only reached the $200 range, so getting to that point in one stream I thought was incredible. So, I’m really proud of our Twitch community for accomplishing this. I know some people will think that’s not a lot, but I think it’s incredible and I’m glad I did the charity stream. Even if it was insanely last minute that I planned and executed the stream, and messed with my sleep schedule (didn’t help that I started reading The Bonds That Tie series by J Bree at the same time and had many late nights reading that immediately after the 24-hour stream). I figured it was a holiday weekend at the beginning of the month, so it was a great time to give it a go.
Over the course of July, I finished several games on my Twitch channel, some of these were during the 24-hour live stream while others were independent that I played over the course of my streams:
These were all games I hadn’t played before, which was my goal for 2022. I’m aiming to finish as many games as possible that have been sitting in my library that I have never experienced or seen anyone play for the most part. Some of the games this year I have seen others play, but for the most part, it’s been all new experiences and I’ve been loving it.
Books I Managed to Read this Month
If they have a ♥ next to them, they are available on Kindle Unlimited. If I did a review, I’ll link it outside I decided to include quick reviews of books or series. If it’s a series, the mini-review is at the end of all the books. Mostly it’s just a quick blurb about what the book/series was about.
- Corsairs: Mathiras (Corsair Brothers, Book 4) by Ruby Dixon – 3.25 stars ♥
- I read this when it was a daily serial, so did I read it in just July? No. But I did read the epilogue and the serial has been converted into a book. I’m curious about the next one as it’s not going to be focused on the brothers and the original humans, but the characters introduced in this book and others. It also made me want to visit the Risdaverse books, but I have a lot of other things to read at the moment so I’m not sure if I’m going to pick those up any time soon.
- The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom, Book 2) by Danielle L. Jensen – 4.25 stars ♥
- See my review for my full thoughts.
- Broken Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, Book 1) by J Bree – 4.25 stars ♥
- Savage Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, Book 2) by J Bree – 4.25 stars ♥
- Blood Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, Book 3) by J Bree – 4.25 stars ♥
- Forced Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, Book 4) by J Bree – 4.25 stars ♥
- Tragic Bonds (The Bonds That Tie, Book 5) by J Bree – 4.25 stars ♥
- See my review for my full thoughts regarding this series.
- Deceit and Devotion (The Bargaining Series, Book 2) by Hollis Darling – 3.25 stars ♥
- This book focuses on Billie as she comes to terms with the fact that her husband who she had presumed dead for over a year (after seeing his dead body) is alive. Not only is he alive but he is the King of the Seelie Court. This leads to high tension as Billie’s life is in danger at every turn and her conflicted feelings between Ethan (her husband) and Callum (the faerie she had been falling for over in the last book). I’m curious if there’s going to be a third in the series, it doesn’t necessarily end on a cliffhanger or with a lot of open plot threads, but there is room for there to be more as far as the relationships are concerned between characters.
- From Tormented Tides by Val E. Lane – 4 stars
- See my review for my full thoughts.
- Bound to the Battle God (Aspect and Anchor, Book 1) by Ruby Dixon – 3.75 stars ♥
- I normally go into a Ruby Dixon book expecting a light-hearted romance book, but this was a full-on fantasy book with romance. I know it’s classed as science fiction on Amazon, but it’s really not. The only sci-fi element is that the main character is brought into another world, which is more like Game of Thrones than aliens or technology. She is forced to become a slave, brought to be a sacrifice for one of the gods who happen to return to this world she’s found herself in. Something the people there were not expecting, so she agrees to be his anchor to the mortal world, while he tries to earn redemption. In order to earn that redemption, he must kill his three other aspects, all of whom respect one of the carnal sins (apathy, arrogance, hedonism, or lies). It’s an interesting book that I wasn’t expecting going into a Ruby Dixon novel. There are two more books in the series, and I will be reading them in the future.
- A Taste of Poison (Entangled with Fae, Book 4) by Tessonja Odette – 4 stars
- See my review for my full thoughts.
- Sworn to the Shadow God (Aspect and Anchor, Book 2) by Ruby Dixon – 3.5 stars ♥
- Wed to the Wild God (Aspect and Anchor, Book 3) by Ruby Dixon – 3.5 stars ♥
My Rating System
Check out this post to see how my rating scale works, but the quick version is:
- 5 stars = Masterpiece. Nothing can literally be better than this. Not to mention, a major book slump happens afterward where I am unable to pick up another book for quite some time.
- 4 stars = One of the best books I’ve ever read, I couldn’t put it down and found little fault in it.
- 3 stars = A good book but there were some flaws, from editing to plot to you name it.
- 2 stars = Liked the book, but wouldn’t say it was something that was memorable.
- 1 star = Book wasn’t for me.
I almost never give a 5-star rating. Some books have come close, but something always held me back from giving it to those books. I also use .25 increments with the ratings, so there’s a range in each of those levels.
Hope you had a great July and here’s to an even better August!
Love ya,
Mae Polzine
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