My Summer Read-along challenge with Swoon Reads!

Today, I have the pleasure of partnering up with Swoon Reads, to tell you a bit about a summer read-along challenge I got to take part in thanks to their initiative! 

In case you aren't yet familiar with Swoon Reads, it publishes YA fiction novels with a focus on community readership. 

In their effort of involving book lovers in the publishing process, they have created a strong, interactive community where readers can engage with each other, as well as participate in the publishing process itself - by voting on book covers of soon-to-be-hitting-the-shelves books!  They aspire to start conversations revolving around books and give readers unlimited access to manuscripts! 

Having loved the idea of reading being a form of social activity, I have asked my closest friend, Thai, to read-along a few of the books I received from Swoon Reads a couple months back. First, we have successfully completed a read-along of TO BE HONEST by Maggie Ann Martin (August 21st 2018). We both loved the book and found it both refreshingly honest and quite hilarious. I have posted some more thoughts about it on my Instagram, so be sure to check that out! 

Then, to change things up a bit, we moved on to the Soul Keepers by Devon Taylor - a fantasy/paranormal YA that tells the story of a Harbinger crew, a colossal seafaring vessel tasked with ferrying the souls of the dead. 

Both books were incredibly fun to read and discuss together, and we ended up texting each other throughout the reads to discuss certain plot twists or funny events taking place in the books. Bottom line is, it was a BLAST, and I definitely can see how reading can be even more enjoyable when it's not a solitary experience (even though I still do love to read wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of coffee or tea, locked away from the entire world, but hey, bookworms will be bookworms, right?).

Because of some bumps along the pregnancy road, Thai and I didn't get to read Let's Talk About Love together, but I am definitely looking forward to enjoying it during the last warm days of early Fall! Be sure to check out all the book synopsis with links down below!  

Huge thanks to Swoon Reads for kindly sponsoring this post and my summer reading experience! All of the opinions are 100% honest and completely my own . 

Book Synopsis:

Hardcover, 320 pages
Published July 3rd 2018 by Swoon Reads

Death is just the beginning.

After dying in a terrible car accident, Rhett awakens in the afterlife and is recruited to join the crew of the Harbinger, a colossal seafaring vessel tasked with ferrying the souls of the dead. To where exactly, no one knows. But the crew must get the souls there, and along the way protect them from vicious soul-eating monsters that will stop at nothing to take the ship and all of its occupants.

Rhett and his new friends have a hard enough time fighting back the monsters that grow bolder and more ferocious every day. But then a new threat emerges, a demon who wants something that Rhett has. And if she gets it, it could mean the end of everything... for both the living and the dead.

Hardcover, 304 pages
Published January 23rd 2018 by Swoon Reads

Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting--working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she's asexual). Alice is done with dating--no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.
But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).

When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn, and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood.

Hardcover, 304 pages
Published August 21st 2018 by Swoon Reads

Savannah is dreading being home alone with her overbearing mother after her sister goes off to college. But if she can just get through senior year, she'll be able to escape to college, too. What she doesn't count on is that her mother's obsession with weight has only grown deeper since her appearance on an extreme weight-loss show, and now Savvy's mom is pressuring her even harder to be constantly mindful of what she eats.

Between her mom's diet-helicoptering, missing her sister, and worrying about her collegiate future, Savvy has enough to worry about. And then she meets George, the cute new kid at school who has insecurities of his own. As Savvy and George grow closer, they help each other discover how to live in the moment and enjoy the here and now before it disappears.