April Round-off

With being away from home this weekend I almost completely forgot that April was ending, even more strange was how I kept forgetting that May comes after April - for some reason I thought it was gonna be June instead :S.

April has been the hardest month, quite possibly of my life, with the death of my grandfather coming out of the blue back on the 7th. The two weeks that followed was the most bewildering time for my family as we tried to sort out all the bureaucratic bullshit that people just don't think about when you think of losing someone - you almost don't have time to grieve properly when you're running about making sure that all the accounts that were once in his name are now in my grandmother's and that anything that can't be transferred is cancelled.

When we had the funeral we finally had the chance to really reflect on how much Grandad meant to us, and although we would miss him terribly that we were thoroughly blessed to have had him in our lives. Despite the sombre occasion it was a beautiful day and it was wonderful to see how many people turned out to celebrate his life - my grandfather was a very popular man and it was wholly apparent in the number of sympathy cards that my Grandma received from people who had known him through Church or Choir.

I think that the day of the funeral marked the turning point of fortunes for this year as it was on that morning that I got a call offering me a job to start the very next day. In the midst of such a sorrowful event came a ray of hope that things might now get better and although I've yet to work a full five-day week with all the bank holidays and Royal Wedding shiz going on, I feel that in the last two weeks of April I have been in far better state of mind than I have been in months. I finally have a job and I'm really enjoying it although it does mean that I have neglected my blog for a while but I'm hoping that once I'm settled into a routine and gotten used the early mornings and long days that I can still keep up somewhat with my reading and reviews.

Now that I have rambled on considerably I shall get to the point of this post - rounding-off this month's reading and what few other things I've posted.

Books Read in April
51. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (1/4/2011 PM) Re-read
52. Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales (3/4/2011 PM)
53. City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (9/4/2011 AM)
54. Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt (10/4/2011 AM)
55. Alanna: the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (10/4/2011 PM) Re-read
56. In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce (11/4/2011 AM) Re-read
57. Pretty Bad Things by C.J. Skuse (11/4/2011 PM)
58. Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse (13/4/2011 PM)
59. A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow by George R.R. Martin (15/4/2011 PM)
60. Wood Angel by Erin Bow (17/4/2011 PM)
61. Changeless by Gail Carriger (18/4/2011 PM)
62. The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong (20/4/2011 AM)
63. Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin (23/4/2011 PM)
64. Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover by Ally Carter (24/4/2011 PM)
65. The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller (27/4/2011 PM)
66. Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (28/4/2011 AM) Re-read


Alas I have not reviewed *any* of those books yet which I know is appalling but I will try my best to review the ones that aren't re-reads in the coming weeks.


Books Reviewed in April
Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce
Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Temeraire by Naomi Novik
Lament by Maggie Steifvater


Other Posts of Interest in April
Braaaaains, Rock Salt and other bizarre ways to cope - My slightly off-kilter post about odd methods of coping with grief and other difficult situations. 


Fav Book of the Month

So soon after my Grandad's death I at first wondered if reading this would really be a good idea as on the very first page it's mentioned that Jody's grandfather has just died. Thankfully this book was so full of light and laughter that it lifted my mood right out of the gloom. C.J. Skuse you're officially one of my new favourite people. Thank you so much for writing such an awesome book.
Honourable mention goes to Wood Angel by Erin Bow which was a beautiful and heart-breaking read.
Oh and if you didn't know both of these books were published by Chicken House which in my opinion is one of the most awesome UK children's publishers (no I am not being coerced to say this, I just really love the books they publish), y'all should really check out their books :D


What to expect in May
As you may remember way back at the start of April I got a super-amazing package full of goodies from the lovely Sasha Soren for my participation in the Random Magic blog tour which will be kicking off in a couple of weeks. For this tour I will be reviewing Sasha's book Random Magic (in both written and vlog form) and I'll be doing a reading from the book to fit the tour theme of Pirates. There's also going to be other fab and funky piratically themed posts to entertain y'all and who knows what else? I don't currently have a schedule of who else is going to be posting what and when but as soon as I know I'll post about it so anyone who is interested can have a nosy round all the different posts going up over the tour.


So that's been April and I'm sorry this post is so long. Here's to May being a better month for everyone.
LadyV