January, February, March, Mid-April Wrap Up (sort of)

HEY GUYS! Sorry I have been so…absent recently. There are many reasons for this, but the two main ones are that at the end of December of last year, I was starting to kind of burn out, and at the beginning of 2018 I got a new burst of energy, but for things like music, and photography, and other hobbies that took away from book blogging. But I have still been reading! Just more slowly.

That, and work has been TOO BUSY. And I’ve started a photography program at a college nearby. And I’m looking for apartments. Life is busy, and it’s good, but I’m also the type of person that very much enjoys not being busy, so it’s tiring, and when I get a chance to rest my brain, it’s mostly not by writing blog posts.

But! Thank you for all who have followed me in the last few months, who have commented on my posts and tagged me in theirs! Even if I have not responded, I am really, really grateful and love the friendships I’ve made here!

Even though this is a “wrap up,” I only feel like talking about the books I’ve read and really enjoyed, SO these are the best books I’ve read so far this year:

November Wrap Up & Meeting Maggie Stiefvater

November was a pretty strong month of reading for me, numbers-wise, and it started and ended strong, ratings-wise, but I have to say I was really battling a slump in the middle there. A lot of 2 and 3 star ratings will do that to you. Can you tell by all the genres I bounced between? But! This was a good month regardless! I met Maggie Stiefvater, John Boyne responded to one of my tweets on Twitter, and had a really great Thanksgiving, and work has been less stressful than it has the last few months. AND I got a LIBRARY CARD. Way to go me, after a thousand years.

October Wrap Up & Roadtrip Pictures

Hello! I feel like I haven’t posted as much and that I’ve been rather distant on here, and it’s not because I want to be. October has been BUSY. Not necessarily in a bad way, though. I did go to on a roadtrip to Alaska, and I did meet Rachel and Chelsea in the mysterious city of Hartford to see a production of Les Mis, and then Boston for Merrily We Roll Along (which was FANTASTIC btw- read Rachel’s perfect review). Life in general has been busy, but again, not in a bad way, except for the fact that it’s cutting down on my reading and blogging time!! I was only able to complete 4 books this month, and every one of them I read with eyes itching for sleep. BUT sometimes sleep must be sacrificed for books. In November I’m going to GET MY ACT TOGETHER and not go on any more spontaneous roadtrips, and sleep more, I promise. After I get back from a business trip in Chicago on Friday D:

September Wrap Up

Hey guys! September was a month full of highs and lows, that is for sure.  I want to thank all of you for the comments you left on my post about my cat’s death. I read each one and thank you for sharing your own experiences with your pets ❤ I couldn’t quite bring myself to answer them, but please know they comforted me immensely and I’m very grateful to have such good friends here!

While that was a very tragic start to my month, the end was glorious. I went to the Boston Teen Author Festival and met Leigh Bardugo, Adam Silvera, and a few other authors and had a FANTASTIC time. Also unrelated to books but I saw Harry Styles in concert last night and September truly ended wonderfully.

Anyway, BOOKS. It was a pretty good reading month!  One book I read, The Heart’s Invisible Furies, is definitely going on my “best books of 2017” list, though another, Daughter of the Burning City I sadly had to DNF…and I try so hard not to DNF. But I was working on it for nearly the whole month and finally…it had to go. A lot of good books happened in between, though!

August Wrap Up

My August had some highs and lows when it came to reading, but mostly I’m just amazed that I managed to read 7 books when I’ve been so busy with a new job. And for that I count this month a success!

Though I will say that finding time to blog has a been a bit difficult. I didn’t realize how much time it actually took until I found myself limited. But it’s all good! I’m grateful to have a job (and I want to give everyone who replied to my July wrap up a big heartfelt thank you for all the kind messages about my struggle, it meant so much! And to everyone who said they felt encouraged by it, it makes it feel worth it. Really really it does).

But even if I know I have some time to blog, I don’t force myself to if I’m not in the mood, because that’s just no fun. #1 rule for blogging = fun time, not forced time. But because of that I’m a bit slower at replying to comments these days, boo (though idk, was I ever particularly fast????). Why can’t reading and blogging just be my job???

June Wrap Up

This was an interesting month of reading. It seems that my mood took a turn for the dark and gritty and I spent most of my time reading historical fiction titles that handled some very dark themes. And unfortunately I’ve been skirting the edge of a reading slump recently- but I haven’t let myself give in to it! My reading definitely slowed – I only read two books during the second half of this month – but hopefully I bounce back a bit in July! Despite the slumpy-ness, I did read some fantastic books this month.

May Recap

This was a very good month of reading! I had a bit of a Shakespeare stint, but the highlight was definitely the Lunar Chronicles, which I’m obsessed with and still not quite over. And to think, for the longest time I thought I wouldn’t enjoy them and refused to read them. I’M DUMB. I love when books prove me wrong.

April Recap

I did not end up posting as much this month as I usually do, but I have still been reading! It turns out that some of the books I read this month I simply didn’t feel the need to review. Which is odd for me, BUT I’ll explain in some of my mini reviews below. I did hit a tiny reading slump before Easter (I’d just finished the Captive Prince trilogy and my brain was not ready to move on), but then I got into the Lunar Chronicles and I got out of that slump VERY fast.

Unlike last month, which gave me a real mix of good and bad reads, this month I enjoyed a mix of good and great! Nothing was hard to get through, and some were so great I died a little inside at times, which is truly the most I can ask for out of a book.

March Recap

March felt like a long month, but it was a productive month for me. I’ve decided to try to get a little more creative by taking pictures of my books again for my reviews, and spruce up my posts and whatnot. It’s fun! I like changing things up and making improvements, but I am always careful to make sure this blog never crosses the line from “fun reprieve from real life” to “obligation I’m dragging my feet to accomplish.” I’ve abandoned past blogs and social media because of that, but I refuse to with this one, mainly because I love talking about books and I love the community I’ve been getting to know here!

March was a bit of a mix of good and not so good reads, but the good were pretty great, so I don’t have a whole lot to complain about. I will only say this- historical fiction, why’d you do me so wrong this month??

What I read in March

February Reads

I think all the YA fantasies I’ve been burying myself in over the last few months finally caught up with me, because my mood this month seems to have taken me back to my other true love, historical fiction. I really didn’t enjoy Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, and Throne of Glass took its toll on me at the end of January, and I think I was just in need of some gritty plots full of uncomfortable and complex truths. Hence, the war fiction.

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken • 2/5 stars
I appreciated the romance in this book, but when it came to the experience of reading it, I was incredibly bored. This book had a lot of promise, but it felt like a missed opportunity to me- I wish it had taken more advantage of its settings and provided a sounder plot. I haven’t struggled with a book like I did with this one in a very long time. Full review.