July Wrap Up and August Planning | Monthly Update

Still working from home and trying to get through my books backlist in July, I was slightly successful at increasing my rate of reading. This month also went well in terms of blogging consistency (except one week!) and I’ve also increased posting across YouTube and Instagram too. I’ve spent the past week sorting through my skincare products to create a better routine whilst I’m still working from home too.

Books Read in July

June was a good reading month, although I didn’t read everything I wanted to on my TBR last month. I finished 5 whole books and started 3 others so I’m feeling quite good about it. The three books I started were We Ride the Storm, Mexican Gothic and The Hero and the Crown and I think I’ll be finishing them all in the next week or so too.

Book Reviews

Of the books above, I’ve reviewed both Storm Crow and The Crow Rider here on my blog. I enjoyed both books and I’m excited to see more from Kalynn Josephson. The other books are currently on my to-do list for reviews too, so let me know which one you’d love to read first!

I’ve also reviewed three other books on Uptown Oracle this month. The first was Ashlords by Scott Reingten which I enjoyed and has phoenix horses as part of a race. Then I reviewed Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova which I’ve already talked about in multiple vlogs about how much I enjoyed it. Last but not least, I pushed myself outside my comfort zone with The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi, which is a hustorical fiction.

SPFBO

We’ve also continued with our SPFBO series and I read the first hour of the SPFBO 4 (2018) finalists, which were 10 books that I had mixed opinions on. I also read my first 5 SPFBO 6 entrants from this years competition which I enjoyed. This series got hit the most when my consistency was thrown out the window this month, but I’m hoping to back on track in August!

August TBR Pile

Next month I’ve decided to choose five books I want to read on top of more SPFBO first reads action. I’ve mainly picked upcoming or recent releases and they’re all ebooks from Netgalley (I need to lower that ratio!). However I’ll probably be reading some more of my physical books too as and when I feel like picking them up.

July Book Haul

My book haul this month wasn’t as impressive as the previous month (well done me for some self control). However I did purchase a The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Illustrated Editions box set which I just love! I also got gifted Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May and Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand.

On top of this, two brilliants authors reached out and sent be ebooks of their newest books. L.L. McNeil sent me the next book in the World of Linaria series, Isa, which I’m excited to read. Plus I recieved the second book in The Raven and the Dove series by Kaitlyn Davis, called The Hunter and The Mage.

NetGalley Haul

I also had a good NetGalley month, although I guess you could also say it’s bad because there’s just so many! However I’ve already read one of them, and I’m excited to read a lot more of them in the next month.

• Hush by Dylan Farrow
• A Golden Fury by Samantha Cohoe
• Fable by Adrienne Young
• To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
• The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski
• Orb and Arrow by V L Stuart
• The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
• Every Sky a Grave by Jay Posey
• Cursed by Tom Wheeler
• The Crow Rider by Kalyn Josephson
• The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• The Ikessar Falcon by K. S. Villoso

Makeup and Skincare of the Month

This month I’ve started to look through my cupboards as I realised I’d not really been using many products… and so my skin was not looking happy or healthy at all. So a few weeks ago I did test out the Caudalie Vinosource S.O.S. Thirst Quenching Serum which helps to improve your skins hydration. I then formulated a plan based on my history with some of the products for a morning and evening skincare routine that works whilst I’m stuck indoors.

Blogging 101 Posts

Ironically, this month one of the Blogging 101 posts was all about Content Consistency and how you can improve your own. A lot of my efforts that I wrote in this post was how I managed to keep posting even though I wasn’t feeling up to it. Scheduled posts still went out, and I had a good blogging month overall!

I also discussed SEO Goals, why you should have them and how to make them. This was a helpful post to re-set by own thinking when it came to me improving SEO on Uptown Oracle too – and having something to aim for can help motivate you (and pull you out of your slump!). We also talked Power Words and why you should use them in your blog titles to get more attention from readers.

Other Updates

I’ve mostly been working on standard content this month, although I did write a review all about Sugar Tits, a London based sweet treat company! These were a welcome addition to my lockdown snacking this month.

I didn’t film as many vlogs as I wanted, but I did film one reading vlog this month if you want to see my IRL thoughts on Seven Devils and The Hero & The Crown! Plus I also filmed a Mid Year Freakout Tag which was lovely to think back on all the great books I’ve read so far this year

August Goals

• Increase YouTube content
• Get out and take some good photos
• Work on my portfolio site (we love a good additional project)

Thinking back on July

Last month I had three goals and that was to post consistently on my blog 3 times a week, post consistently on YouTube 3 times a week and to re-start my Bookstagram. I’ve half achieved all of these, however I’ve had some struggles the past month which meant there were some weeks I spent most of my non-work time in bed… meaning I was not in the mood to work on or post content. I don’t think of this as a failure though, as I’m proud of the content I did post and sometimes life does just get in the way.