April Reading Round-off - Wait, where did it go?

I thought this year was going to be a little different and maybe not keep running away from me like last year seemed to. But since we're now over a third through 2014, I guess I've got to accept that time will just continue to stream through my fingers while I shout obscenities at it.

April vanished in a blur of words and dirt. Lots of writing and a heck of a lot of gardening. 15K for my novel and much destruction for my front and back garden (seriously there's much to be said for the therapeutic value of hacking down a tree when you've had a really shitty day at work). But more surprising was that I actually got 8 books read last month, which is about the combined total of February and March. Of course having 2 whole weeks off work was a help since I was at home all day with time to procrastinate from writing.

What I read in April 
I started off my reading month about a week in because y'know, writing was eating my brain. My first book was Storm & Stone by Joss Stirling. I loved Joss's Savants series and I'm tres excited for the new book Misty Falls which is due out in October, so I thought I would give her new series a try. It's set in a boarding school which are always hot-beds of mystery and nefarious shenanigans. Throw in a strangely absent friend, two gawjus new students and you have Raven Stone's dilemma on returning to school after the Easter break. A very enjoyable start to what will be a fun series I reckon.

My next two batches of reading are pretty obvious because of the two books that I was *immensely* excited for that came out around the middle of the month. That being Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor and The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa. So of course before I could read these two I needed to re-read the first two books in each trilogy.

My fabulous signed pre-order of DoGaM arrived on the 17th which spurred me on to finish my re-reads so I could spend Easter Sunday reading and live-texting my reactions to Jess. It was a fantastic end to a gorgeous series and I really do hope that Laini decides to go back to Karou & Akiva's world even if it's to explore other characters (major props go to Jess for actually asking Laini that question on Thursday night in Birmingham *more on that later*).

After I had had my feels mauled about by Laini I decided to very cleverly hand them straight off to Julie Kagawa, whose muse lives for the feels and tears of fans. Rather worryingly for my boyfriend I dashed through both the first two books of the Blood of Eden trilogy in next to no time at all. I think my ability to read a 400pg book in only 2 hours both appalls and scares him in equal parts. :P I stayed up until 2am reading The Forever Song which I cannot regret because it was fan-fucking-tastic. I am rather sad to reach the end of this trilogy as it's been such a fabulous series and I adore the characters but since Julie's new *dragon* book Talon is coming out soonish I shall very much look forward to throwing my feels after that series.

The last book I read in April was a bit of a sudden thing. I am slowly ingratiating myself with the librarians at the school I work at, mostly because I would like to maybe work in a library once I leave this school and also there is loads of cool books I can borrow. Earlier in the week I was in the library and the reading group they have was reading a little book called Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell it has a super pretty cover as you can see and just from looking at the first 6 pages I knew this was a book I had to read.
It's more towards the middle-grade end of things but it's such a lovely story and so whimsically written that it is very deserving of its Waterstones' Children's Fiction Prize. Eccentric characters, nefarious insurance fraud schemes and rooftop adventures in Paris, what more could you want?
I devoured it just before I went to bed and spend my free hour the next day scouring the book for all of the wonderful quotes I'd seen. My particular favourite is from the main character Sophie - "I think, actually, everyone starts out with some strange in them. It's just, whether or not you decide to keep it." If you guys are super lucky you may actually see a proper full-blown REVIEW from me about it!! *lays out cushions for the swooners*

So that's everything I read, I also made a few vlogs over on my Youtube channel that are mainly book hauls and also a rather special freak-out over the YALC announcements whereby ALL THE AUTHORS are going to be there in July. And also moi. And Jess because we twinnies must go to all the things this year! But seriously it's going to be awesome and I can't wait! More on that maybe in the near future.

Also even though it happened in May, I *have* to mention the amazing happenstance which was when Jess and I went to Birmingham Waterstones to see Laini Taylor talk, answer questions and sign books!! It was a fantastic evening, with gorgeous cakes, great questions and also Laini was so lovely and sweet. She did actually say that she liked my t-shirt *dies*. Jess is gonna do a proper write-up of the night soon so look out for that!

Anyway this has taken about two hours to write and I meant to do productive stuff today like laundry and writing a lovely cute scene to cheer up my Twinnie since I broke her heart yesterday with my evil writerly ways :P

Hope everyone's April was both chocolatey and booky and that May is gonna be just as awesome.
Ray

p.s. No really Jess, a cute scene is gonna be coming your way before the Bank Holiday is over PROMISE. It may be Stella it may even be a Kid!Deryn/Keelan scene because of reasons :P

Read more...

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

Read more...