March Wrap-up/April TBR:

Hello,

I hope y’all are having a good Wednesday evening even with all of this virus stuff going around. Things have been a little hectic lately, but I do hope that everyone is safe and healthy. This got out a lot later than I originally thought it would but every time I’ve tried to write this out something comes up usually in the form of hw.

Just a heads up that this is going to be a relatively long post since I have a lot of ground to cover.

Life updates: 

Now that I’m not on campus and with everything closing down there isn’t a whole lot to do except, homework, read, sleep and watch Netflix. Unfortunately, I haven’t really done much of anything other than homework since I still have assignments to turn in. I seem to be in a reading slump even though I still have books on my currently reading shelf that I really want to get to. It just seems like I have lost motivation for all of the stuff that I usually do. One thing that I picked up over the weekend though, are some of my fanfiction stories. I don’t openly admit that I write fanfiction, but I probably have about 20 different stories that have been started but then I’ve never gotten back into them. Most of these stories come from dreams that I have and then I get into these phases where I watch the movie or series that it is tied to. Over the last few months, I’ve realized that I am just as much as mood writer as I am a mood reader. So my current obsession right now is Star wars and while I have my issues with this last trilogy that came out I still really loved some of the side characters. If anyone is interested I might be willing to post some snippets on here. This is new territory for me as I usually don’t talk about my fanfiction stories even to family, but I am getting a bit more serious about writing, and while I definitely prefer reading over writing anytime, I might get into it a little bit more than I have in the past.

In the Netflix/movie category, I finally finished The Witcher last week and loved it. I was a bit confused at first at the three different timelines because I haven’t started the rest of the series yet, but I connected the dots at about episode 3 and I was able to get into it more than I was before. I am not a major Netflix watcher but I do watch some stuff here and there. I also watched John Wick, The force awakens and The Rise of Skywalker on Microsoft. I’ve already watched the force awakens so now I’m starting the John Wick trilogy so I can watch the third movie. i just finished the first movie and I’m moving on to Chapter 2 tonight. I’ve also been trying to watch Joker for ages since it came out and I just haven’t been able to. Its on my list though as I’m a huge Joker fan and will be interested to see how this one turns out.

I have also watched 1917 and Angel has fallen both of which were on my 2019 list of movies to watch. I didn’t get to see the very beginning of 1917, but the whole movie was intense and really well done. I’m not really one for war movies but this one is recommended. Angel has fallen, number 3 in the Olympus has fallen trilogy is now streaming on Netflix and it was really good. I think I’m going to watch the rise of skywalker again next since I think my time frame to rent it out is coming to an end this week.

We had severe storms rolls through Sunday night and we lost power about 3:45 and had it out all day yesterday up until the evening. We didn’t have any major damage where we live, but there was a tornado that came through about 10 minutes away from us.

March Wrap-up: 

March was an interesting month with all of the changes that were happening because of the virus. Ever since those last two weeks I think I’ve been in a kind of daze not really knowing what to focus on and feeling kind of overwhelmed. Things have calmed down a lot since then, but March became a really long month toward the end there. I originally had the idea that I would be able to read more than I did, but I am glad that I read the ones I did. So I only ended up reading 5 out of the 15 books that I originally had though they were all books that were on my backlist except for one so I feel pretty good about it overall. I also had one book that I originally thought I would like, but as I started reading it, the story kind of went downhill from the beginning.

March Wrap-up_

March Wrap-up

  1. A million worlds with you (#3) by Claudia Gray – I never really liked this series and this one was one of those that there were times that I did like it and then there were times where I really didn’t like it. I still wasn’t a fan of Marguerite and I really liked Paul at first, but I got kind of tired of him as well. I wasn’t sure if it was the alternate worlds or what but this one just kind of felt short for me (3 stars).
  2. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire – I really really wanted to enjoy this one, but for some reason I was a little disappointed with it. I loved the plot and the twins but felt that there was something missing from it that I can’t exactly pinpoint what it is. I still thought it was a fun read, but I think I had higher expectations for it but it felt slightly short from those expectations (4 stars).
  3. Firefight (#2) by Brandon Sanderson – I’m starting to think that Sanderson is not for me. I’ve only read Steelheart, Mistborn was okay though I am continuing the series and Skyward reminded me of star wars a lot and it got better in the latter half of the book than the first half. I actually thought that Steelheart was pretty good but this one kind of went downhill from there. I liked how David handled things in the first one but in this one it kind of felt like he got himself into situations if he actually thought it through a little bit more. I have Calamity so I can finish the trilogy, but I have lowered expectations for this one so we’ll see how it goes (3 stars)
  4. The secret commonwealth (#2) by Philip Pullman – I never though I would dislike a Philip Pullman book. I kind of feel like this trilogy came a few years too late. I loved His dark materials years ago, and I loved La Belle Savage, but for some reason I just didn’t really care for this one.  Maybe its because of my fantasy slump or something. I loved being back in the world but I struggled with Lyra and Pan’s interactions and those that she interacted with. It just felt like it could have been condensed into a smaller book (3.5 stars).
  5. All our broken pieces by L.D. Crichton – This one was a total surprise for me. I’ve forgotten how much I’ve enjoyed music centered books especially when it is rock music. I loved Lennon and Kyler and their relationship. It did start almost at the very beginning of the story, but it didn’t feel forced and I appreciated that it focused more on the mental health and healing of the characters. I had no clue what this was going to be about when I picked it up and had no expectations for it, but I am really glad that I did because it is now my second favorite book of the year and something that I needed at the right time. Would highly recommend (5 stars).

 

April TBR: 

Well it is now halfway through the month already and I am just now getting this TBR up. Its been a bit hectic lately and the only thing that I’ve been doing lately is homework which I am so ready to be done with classes so I can focus on work and relaxing. I still have a summer class that I need to take but right now I am not as worried about that one as I am my spring classes. I feel like I’ve been in a reading slump lately as I’ve had no interest in picking up a book except for a chapter here and there. As of right now I do not know if I will get to finish any of the books that I have for this month, but I wanted to have one in case I needed a break from everything. I think one thing that has distracted me lately from reading is that I have found my love of fanfiction writing again and am now in a Star wars phase as I posted above. I’ve made a lot of progress with it but i am nowhere near finishing it yet but if anyone is interested I might post some snippets here and there to get some suggestions possibly. Its pretty much the only thing I want to focus on right now, but unfortunately I have to force myself away from it to work on actual papers and homework. My sleeping patterns have been crazy as they usually are during this time of the year, but it just feels different now with all of the virus stuff going on.

I have decided to do something a little bit different this month since I have a couple of challenges over on Goodreads that I have been working on for a couple of years now and I am so close to finishing them. My goal is to finish them possibly during the summer, but definitely by the end of the year so I can focus on others., I’ve also signed up for the 2020 Wizarding World Tour Reading Challenge and will be posting that soon.

So for the two challenges that I am wanting to finish by the end of the year. Here is a list of them and I’ll link them up as soon as I can.

I might also post them on here so I can update them as I go, though I haven’t decided yet. My goal for these challenges is to make a TBR Jar (which I already have for two of them) of the books that I have for each challenge, I already have everything planned out though I can still change books around if I am in the mood for another one. My goal is to choose a number of books each month and read those for those challenges. In theory, it should work, though I am already falling behind this month. I am hoping to catch up soon though.

April TBR Manga (1)

  1. AJin Demi-human Vol. 1 by Gamon Sakurai
  2. Crepuscule Vol. 1 by Mirchi
  3. Junketsu + Kareshi Vol. 1 by Aya Shouoto
  4. Kami ka Akuma ka Vol. 1 by Moro Orie

 

April TBR (1)

  1. Plague (#4) by Michael Grant
  2. American Street by Ibi Zoboi
  3. Excavation by James Rollins
  4. Evil librarian (#1)by Michelle Knudson
  5. Edge of dark (#1) by Brenda Cooper
  6. Armada by Ernest Cline
  7. Extraordinary people (#1) by Peter May
  8. Renegades (#1) by Marissa Meyer

I’ve also started Calamity (#3) by Brandon Sanderson and have only started a few chapters so far.

April is also the anniversary of my blog and I will have a couple of different posts coming up over the next few days. I hope you guys have a good rest of the week.

Marybeth

2 comments

    1. Thanks. Its been an interesting month but some good reads. I’ll have my wrap-up on the first of May in case I can squeeze in one more book. I am slightly disappointed in middlegame as well, but I would still highly recommend it if you are interested in it!

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