April Wrap-Up

Hey Everybody!

And wow, sorry I disappeared again… Ugh.

Anyways, this is my very late April wrap-up… April was… I honestly don’t even know what happened in April, other than a lot of practising for drama… and lots and lots of reading!

It was a good month for me, but it just sort of flew by.

I read nineteen books this month, which is pretty good. And most of them were four and five star reads, sooo… I’m definitely pleased with my reading this month!

Ratings link to my review. (Because I actually have reviews this month! (although some of them are very short… But I have them!))

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff – This was delightfully dark and stabby! It was full  of witty humour and sass, and I adored it! Jay Kristoff has the strangest, quirkiest, oddest writing style I’ve ever read, and I LOVE IT! – 4 stars.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – Wow. This was one of the darkest contemporaries I’ve ever read, and I adored it, and wow! It was also probably the most stressful book I’ve EVER read. So fair warning, DON’T go into this looking for a light fluffy contemporary read. You will NOT get one. But DO read this book! Because it’s amazing and spectacular and beautiful and diverse and AHHHHHHH!!! – 5 stars!

Liar’s Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce – WHY IS THE LAST BOOK NOT A THING?!?! This book was SO good, and it had a huge cliffhanger, and THE LAST BOOK GOT CANCELLED!!! I’m furious! But I’m still glad I read this series, because they’re REALLY good! – 4 stars.

Son of the Dawn by Cassandra Clare – THESE SHORT STORIES ARE GIVING ME LIFE!!! I love them so much!!! And OH MY GOSH Son of the Dawn was AMAZING!!!! I knew it would be. I mean, Jace and Izzy and Alec* meeting for the first time! And it was even better than I ever could have hoped and AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! It was SO GOOD! And also the most heartbreaking thing ever! In the very best way!! SOSOSOSOSOSOSO GOOD!!! – 5 stars!!!

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalo – This was dark and murdery and thoroughly enjoyable. It was very predictable though… I SO guessed the murderer. But it was a solid book. – 3.5 stars.

Stranger than Fanfiction by Chris Colfer – I read this because I was bored, and I wanted light fluff, and it was by the Author of The Land of Stories aka, My Childhood. This book was… Not that great. It was sort of lame, and I had really mixed feelings about everything, and the diversity… may have been good, I can’t tell, but I thought it felt super fo rced. – Rating undetermined… 2 stars maybe? 2.5?

*Psst, if my friend is reading this (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), you should name your puppy Alec! No I’m not giving this up… 😀

Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner – I love this series! It was so good! All the books are this perfect mix of funny and romantic and creepy and AHHHHHH!!! I adore this series, and this book was the perfect conclusion! – 5 stars!

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner – This was a lovely book with great characters and an engaging plot. Plus lots of banter and sass. – 4 stars.

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – This was dark and sassy and banter-y* and amazing and perfect and wonderful and AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! AIDAN and Kady and Ezra and Hanna and Nik and Asha and Rhys and Issac Grant and EVERYONE!!!! AND AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! This was the perfect conclusion and it was amazing and if you haven’t read this series, what are you even doing?!?! – 5 stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

*This is a word. Don’t question me on this, okay?

**ALL the stars! A million stars! A trillion stars! Every star in the galaxy! Infinite stars!

Rebel Springs by Morgan Rhodes – This series is thoroughly enjoyable… It isn’t actually very good, but I can’t stop reading it, and it gets stars just for enjoyment alone. – 3.5 stars.

Avenged by Amy Tintera – This was a satisfying sequel. It wasn’t as good as ruined, but it was intense and sassy and very enjoyable, and leaves me with very high hopes for Allied. Although can that cover please die? Ew. – 4.5 stars.

One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake* – This was dark and enjoyable and intense! I love the characters and I LOVE the world! Plus, it’s dark stabby sister queens? What more can you possibly ask for? – 4.5 stars.

*Hahaha, three second books in a row… weird. Lots of sequels this month apparently.

Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo – This book is utter perfection! The writing is gorgeous! The cover is gorgeous! The illustrations are gorgeous! The stories are such dark twisted fairy tales, and I LOVE IT!😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍❤😍 – 5 stars!!!!!

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab – This book was also perfection! I loved it so much and AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Why on earth did I wait so long to read this series?!?! It is so good! I LOVE IT!!!! Kell is an absolutely wonderful MC, Lila is sassy and stabby and awesome, and Rhy is so precious! – 5 stars!!!!!

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab – Naturally after the wonderfulness that was A Darker Shade of Magic I HAD to immediately rush to the library and get this one out! And boy was it good! No second book blues here. This book kept up everything that was good about the first one, as well as adding Alucard Emery, who just made everything better. Lots of banter, lots of sass, lots of stabbing and darkness and magic and emotions! SO GOOD!! – 5 stars!!!!!

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli – SO SO SO GOOD!!!! I love Leah! She’s so much more likeable in this one, and I just fell in love with her! I love the romance! (More on that in spoiler tags below ///) I love Simon and Blue’s interactions! And honestly just getting to see all of my old favourites! I love the humour! Becky Albertalli’s books are always funny, and this one was no exception!

[su_spoiler title=”Spoilers” icon=”chevron”]Leah and Abby! Leah and Abby!! LEAH AND ABBY!!!!!! I honestly didn’t even think I shipped them until part way through this book, when I realized I was happy that Abby and Nick broke up… But WOW, they’re perfect for each other, and I don’t know why I didn’t realize this before…![/su_spoiler]

I. Love. This. Book. SO. MUCH. – 5 stars!!!!!!!*

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab – So this book sort of got shoved aside for Leah on the Offbeat (priorities), but as soon as I finished that I was back at this one. This book was amazing! It was such a good end to the series, and it just made me so happy and AHHHHH!!!! I already want to reread this series,** so I think that says something. – 5 stars!!!!!

The Geography of Me and You by Jennifer E. Smith – This was quite enjoyable, but also sort of light fluff, with nothing to it. This wasn’t a hard hitting book. I didn’t fall in love with the characters. It didn’t blow me away. But I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. – 3.5 stars.

Gathering Darkness*** by Morgan Rhodes – This series is honestly just going downhill… but I can’t stop reading it! I don’t know why… It’s fairly unoriginal, and nothing (other than Lysandra) is much better than mediocre. But I CAN’T STOP READING! – 3 stars.

*No review for this one, because I couldn’t come up with anything more coherent than “SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOD!!!!!!!”

**Heck, I wanted to reread this series before I even finished the first book!

***I would just really like to appreciate for a second the fact that I got both ‘A Gathering of Shadows’ and ‘Gathering Darkness’ out of the library at the same time. Those names are weirdly similar…

I found Alanna, City of Bones, and City of Glass at a thrift store for cheap, and just had to get them. I’m attempting to add all of Tamora Pierce’s books to my collection sooo… And I was going to hold off on CoB & CoG,* because they’re those annoying books that are super small (I’m not one hundred percent sure what these are called… Mass Market Paperbacks? I think…?), and due to the length of these books… well, they’re pretty much the shape and size of a brick. But then I looked at the front, and realized THERE’S NO SHIRTLESS DUDE ON THE COVER! Gasp! So obviously I just HAD to buy them.

And then of course there’s Leah on the Offbeat! I just had to preorder this, and it ACTUALLY CAME IN APRIL! The arrival time I was told was May 4-13 or something…! I could have just gotten it a couple days ago! So you can imagine my delight when it came only two days after release day! My reaction only involved… Minimal shrieking. I even managed to hold off reading it for like, half an hour so that I could finish writing my speech for the evening. Now practising my speech on the other hand… no, THAT didn’t happen.

I also got a couple of ebooks that were on sale for cheap, plus of course Son of the Dawn.

*Are these real acronyms for them, or did I just make them up? I don’t know, and I don’t care. I’m using them anyways.

Yeah, um… I blogged in April. A little bit. I posted exactly three times… Yay me!

I had a really good April life-wise.

• We finished (sort of) shuffling around our house and setting up my new room!
• I mean, it’s a mess, and I still need some shelving and stuff, but I’m mostly settled.
• But space! To MYSELF! FINALLY!!!!!!!!
• Although guess what happened right before I switched rooms?
• They cut down all the trees outside my window, and apparently they’ll be doing construction for a year. Yay!
• On a happier note, I started taking drama classes in the city, and they’re SO GOOD!
• Finally a drama class that has a class of mature people who want to be there! And everybody’s in the 13-18 age range, thank goodness!
• Seriously, ALL my drama classes here have had young kids in them. URGH! Like, 8-10 young.
• And this one doesn’t! FINALLY!!!!
• Also it’s just such an amazing group, and I feel so much more at home there than I ever did in my local classes!
• Although due to the (very bad) timing of public transport these are like ten hour days for a two hour class… With a lot of waiting around.
• But the city has a lot of stuff we don’t have locally, so we find stuff to do. The class takes place in one of my favourite parts of the city, or we can go elsewhere, to used bookstores, or clothes shopping (that sort of has to happen in the city, if we don’t want fancy clothing…)…
• One week we went to a play (that had actually come to our town, but well we were busy) by a guy we’ve seen before and really like. (It was amazing!)
• Basically, there’s always something to do, and honestly it’s worth it anyways. That’s how good this class is. At least compared to local options…
• I reorganized my bookshelf. Its now organized by colour and I love it!
   
• Rehearsals, rehearsals, and more rehearsals.
• Honestly we didn’t have that many rehearsals (because 8-10 year olds 😬), and I think we could have done with more, but… The show actually went well… (I’ll talk about it more in my May wrap-up…)
• But still, rehearsals. And I practised at home took course.
• Even though I had four lines and really didn’t NEED the practise, because I’ve literally had them memorized since the first rehearsal.
• And I’m sort of mad about this fact ^^ because I’m the second oldest person in the performance, and I have NO problem learning lines, and I’m not THAT bad of an actor, but yet somehow all the 8-10 year olds got bigger roles than me.
• I mean, they’re talented, but I don’t think I completely lack in talent either, and I have more experience. They’re all very talented, but they’re talented for their age. I’m sure by the time they’re my age, they’ll be better than I am now. But I think at this point, I’m the better actor. Because I’m literally twice some of their age
• Also one girl told me how lucky I was to have such a small role, and I was just thinking how I would trade roles with her in a second if she wanted a smaller role. I think most people with small roles would love a bigger role, so complaining to them about the fact that your (bigger) role is too much work is just rude.
• Grrr. Sorry for the rant, but I’m just feeling somewhat bitter about this!
• Anyways, happier things…
• I wrote and gave a speech in public speaking class… But I’ve been doing this for four years now, so this is literally nothing new. But I hadn’t done one since September, so I guess its something…
• Honestly that was mostly my month… Drama classes. Rehearsals. Books. A bit of public speaking thrown in there.
• Yup, that was about it.

Hmmm… Did I complete my goals? Let’s see shall we? I probably failed them all

LAST MONTH’S GOALS

• POST TWICE A WEEK!❌❌Nope. Nopity nope nope. Not even close.
• CATCH UP ON RTC’S!!! ✅✅✅ This is my proudest moment! I can officially say that I not only caught up on them early in the month, but I also kept it up for most of the month, and currently only have two (2!) RTC’s!!
• Wake up earlier. ✅Yup, this happened. The problem was, it happened even when I needed sleep (thanks construction! 😡)
• GET OUT OF THE HOUSE MORE! ✅ Actually yes. Still maybe not enough, but a lot more than I used to.
• Keep practising for drama. ✅✅ Yup. I mean, not a ton, but like I said, four lines. They didn’t need a ton of practise. I knew them very well by opening night, so I practised enough.
• Journal? ❌✅ Sort of yes actually. Sort of, but it’s a start. I figured out how to set a notifaction to remind myself to do it. I just sometime signore the notification.
• READ SOME OF THE BOOKS I BORROWED FROM MY COUSIN! ❌❌❌ I read ten pages of one of them… Does that count?
• Finish organizing my bookshelf, and KEEP IT ORGANIZED! ✅✅✅ Yes, and I love my pretty rainbow bookshelf! I need to put a couple of new books on it, but other than that ALL of my books are organized on the shelf.
• Read my library books responsibly. ✅? I mean, I read them all and got them all back on time, sooo…
• Finish organizing my room.✅❌❌ Sooort of. I mean, there’s still stacks of stuff on my floor, but they’re different stacks of stuff… And there’s significantly less…

Wow, I actually did quite well this month! That’s a surprise!

NEXT MONTH’S GOALS

Thes are just for the last half of the month I guess… Otherwise I’ve already failed.

• POST TWICE A WEEK! Maybe?
• Stay caught up on RTC’s! I think this is possible… I’m not failing at it too badly right now…
• Get a decent sleeping schedule. Wake up before noon. Go to sleep before two in the morning.
• GET OUT OF THE HOUSE MORE!
• Keep journaling. I really want to do this. And it’s actually sort of happening now…
• READ SOME OF THE BOOKS I BORROWED FROM MY COUSIN!!!! I really do want to read them… just… new shiny books!
• Keep my bookshelf organized. I love it so much that I’m more motivated to put them back on the shelf now, so this shouldn’t be too hard.
• FINISH ORGANIZING MY ROOM!!! Really now Iris! And I want to put my posters up too.
• Find ways to entertain myself now that things are wrapping up, that aren’t on the computer. Please, Iris?

Maybe hopefully I can do some of these?

How was your April? What are your goals for May? How do you organize your bookshelf? What good books did you read in April?