May Wrap Up!

Hi and hello. Happy Friday.

May was a busy month. Honestly thought my assignments were going to be the death of me towards the end there but I survived and I somehow managed to read 7 books (and DNF another).

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In Nightfall by Suzanne Young

I started In Nightfall in April with high hopes. It was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, so much so that I actually pre-ordered the ebook.

Sadly, I ended up giving up on this book and DNF-ed around the 35% mark. Usually I’d try to read further but after close to two months of reading I just wasn’t progressing, the story didn’t feel like it was progressing. I saw in another review that main character doesn’t clue in on what’s happening until 70% through and I just didn’t have the patience for that.

Maybe I’ll go back ot it eventually, but I just have so many other books that I want to read so I had to put this one down and move on to other things.

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ARC Review: Breathe and Count Back From Ten by Natalia Sylvester

Publication Date: May 10th 2022

In this gorgeously written and authentic novel, Verónica, a Peruvian-American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body.

Verónica has had many surgeries to manage her disability. The best form of rehabilitation is swimming, so she spends hours in the pool, but not just to strengthen her body.

Her Florida town is home to Mermaid Cove, a kitschy underwater attraction where professional mermaids perform in giant tanks . . . and Verónica wants to audition. But her conservative Peruvian parents would never go for it. And they definitely would never let her be with Alex, her cute new neighbor.

She decides it’s time to seize control of her life, but her plans come crashing down when she learns her parents have been hiding the truth from her—the truth about her own body.

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It’s officially summer! Here’s my TBR

Yesterday I submitted my final assignment! This assignment honestly nearly killed me off. It’s a miracle I’m alive right now.

Thankfully I’m all done. My second year of university is officially over and I can now switch my priorities back to where they belong: books. Today I come to you with

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston – Let’s ignore the fact that I had plans to read this in Spring and just keep your fingers crossed for me that I finally get to it. It’s about a ghost writer and actual ghosts. I can’t remember if she’s the ghost or she see’s ghosts but I’m excited to find out.I’ve heard such good things about this, especially in recent months it seems like everyone’s been reading it and I want to too!!!

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado – This is one of those books where I don’t know anything about it other than I want to read it. It feels like it will have all the good vibes. There’s a fat chance (ha) that I’ll love this.

3 Bookish Things!!

Hey and hello.

I’ve not slept. It’s literally almost 7am and I’ve not slept a wink. Not through lack of trying. I genuinley got bored of trying to fall asleep so I got up, made a cup of tea and now I’m here.

Today I come to you in my only-mostly-awake state with the 3 Bookish Things Tag which I was kindly tagged in by Virginia @ The Sassy Library Fox. Apologies in advance if this is a bit more all over the place than usual 🙂

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3 Read Once and Loved Authors

• Sophie Gonzales – Technically I read two of her books before she was fully cemented as a must-read author for me but the first was co-authored so lets pretend that doesn’t fully count.
• Erin Hahn – I fell in love with Erin Hahn from the minute I started reading her debut book. Because I’ve read all her YA books through ARCs I kinda feel like I “discovered” her. That’s obviously not true but this author and her books will always have a special place in my heart.
• Tiffany D. Jackson – Please ignore how late I am to to the hype train. I read Grown last year and now I have a long list of books by Tiffany D. Jackson added to my immediate TBR.

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Review (kinda): The Female of The Species by Mindy McGinnis

Publication Date: September 20th 2016

Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it.

Three years ago, when her older sister, Anna, was murdered and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best—the language of violence. While her own crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people. Not with Jack, the star athlete who wants to really know her but still feels guilty over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered. And not with Peekay, the preacher’s kid with a defiant streak who befriends Alex while they volunteer at an animal shelter. Not anyone.

As their senior year unfolds, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting these three teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

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the emotional roller-coaster that is The Sun and The Star

Hello.

The day is May 2nd. The time is 8pm. I’ve got a cup of tea and a cookie and I am ready and rearing to read The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan & Mark Oshiro.

I spent all of May re-reading and catching up on the Trials of Apollo series in preperation for this book and only finished it a couple days ago. Honestly, that series was way more emotionally taxing than I thought it would be when I started it all of those years ago.

Nico di Angelo has long since been one of my all-time favourite characters, not just within this series so I’ll be surprised if I make it out of this book without crying.

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These movies & TV shows are my reason for living

Hello and howdy.

I am in the thick of it when it comes to uni assignments. I am not living, laughing or loving. I’m actually dying a slow death, drowning under the stress of two assignments. It’s not even much. I know what I’m doing I’m just stressing about actually doing it.

Anyways. It’s in times like these that I like to look to the future as a way to keep on going. A big part of that is usually me looking forward to films and shows that are coming out later in the year. Today I’m here to talk about those.

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Movies

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I will hold my hands up and admit that when the book was announced and first came out, I had no interest in read it. By this point I was over authors releasing new books to long-since completed series. That’s not fair to this book specifically, it was just unfortunate timing. It doesn’t help that Dystopia makes me anxious, The Hunger Games series more than any other.

Flash forward to last month when the trailer dropped and … not only am I now super excited to watch this, I also went and bought the book with plans to read it over the summer.

I have since come to realise that Suzanne Collins could have capitalised off The Hunger Games success with many cash-grab opportunities and I’m now more than willing to give this story a chance. I’m actually really bloody excited for this now and I feel bad for my attitude towards this book back in 2020.

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April Wrap Up

Hello. It’s already taken me two weeks to get around to wrapping up the books I read in April so I’m gonna get straight to it.

Looking back April was actually a pretty busy month seeing family, hanging out with friends, procrastinating uni work etc. In terms of reading, I didn’t realise how many books I’d managed to squeeze in. Overall I finished 7 books. Most of those were from the same series so my brain didn’t compute how much I’d read meaning I’m pleasantly surprised with this.

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Let’s Talk Bookish: Long vs Short Series

Hi 👋 Happy Friday

Please can I have a pat on the bag. I’ve just finished one assignment. Yes I have two and a bit more to go but this is still an accomplishment from someone who has been procrastinating like her life depends on it recently.

My next plan was to go make myself some food but my housemate has beaten me to the kitchen. While I starve to death (lies – i’m gonna eat chocolate or biscuits while I wait) I thought I’d go back to last week’s Lets Talk Bookish.

I really liked the look of this topic but I was on a bit of a blogging break so I didn’t get the chance to do it 🙂

Let’s Talk Bookish is a bookish meme that was created by Rukky @ Eternity Books where each Friday, bloggers write posts discussing the topic of the week. Since April 2022, I’ve been the host of LTB, and I post each month’s topics here on my blog! May Topics!

This weeks topic is … Long Series vs. Short Series (Hannah @ Hannah’s Library)

Prompts: What is the ideal number of books in a series? Does it depend on the genre? Do you prefer longer series with five or more books, or shorter series with less than that? Have you ever read a duology and if so, did you wish it was longer, or was two books enough for the story?

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Book Review: One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Publication Date: June 7th 2016

In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.

On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

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