March/April Reading Update

What do you mean March finished over two weeks ago?!

Ack yea in the mayhem of my impending Camp Nano shenanigans I completely forgot to do a March Reading Round-off post. Not that it was going to be a long post because of course I read a mere Four books!

Seriously 2014 is going to be the year in which I potentially write a novel (I'm being optimistically pessimistic as you never know with these things) but at the same time I'm probably going to read the smallest number of books since I started recording my reading totals. It's mad I tell you. Not to mention that I have some serious End-of-Series reading to do over the next few months since Dreams of Gods & Monsters arrived today, The Forever Song is coming at the start of May and City of Heavenly Fire is due mid-May. I gots to re-read like a madwoman!

So March's reading comprised of a somewhat eclectic mix of books; a re-read of Divergent ahead of my excursion with Jess to the Movie Premiere at the end of March (which was pretty amazeballs although vaguely disappointing in that our "mingling with the stars" was limited to zoomed in pics on my phone from inside the cinema). Then came a feverishly excited devouring of Half Bad by Sally Green which I shamelessly stayed up until 1:30am reading. Two weeks passed before I finished another book - The Sum of all Kisses by Julia Quinn because I sometimes need a dose of Regency fluff.

The last book of the month was a more out-of-nowhere read - All you Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.  For those who have never heard of this book, it's the story which the upcoming (and awful looking) Tom Cruise film "Edge of Tomorrow" is based on. Basically a young Japanese man Keiji is flung into battle against an alien foe which has been systematically wiping out the human race. Keiji is bricking it as all his friends are dying around him and he can barely remember his meagre training. He manages to kill one of the aliens but he gets himself fatally wounded in the process. As he's dying he has an odd conversation with the legendary soldier Rita (more often referred to as the Full Metal Bitch), who has killed more of the aliens than anyone else left alive. Keiji dies and then wakes up... on the day before the battle. A bizarre loop of battle and death begins that Keiji has to try and figure out how he's going to break free of it.

I borrowed my boyfriend's copy of the book since I wanted to see what the story was like after hearing le boyf rant about his disgust of what the film had done to the book. It's a really interesting story that is a fun mix of Pacific Rim and Groundhog Day with some surprising emotional undercurrents. It is quite a short book - quite literally only 200 pages long so won't take very long to get through. I really enjoyed it and if you're at all interested in seeing the film STOP - go and buy/borrow this book and read it first. Trust me you'll feel completely differently about seeing the film afterwards. Tom Cruise has no business playing an 18yr old Japanese guy and Emily Blunt (as great as she is) can't really portray a 19yr old girl. Also as a disclaimer if you don't particularly like overly sweary books, this has a metric f**kton of f-bombs :P

April's Reading so far consists of two books; Joss Stirling's most recent book Storm & Stone which was a fun mystery/boarding school/thrillerish story. And this morning's re-read of Daughter of Smoke & Bone by the ever-lyrically masterful Laini Taylor (who I shall get to meet on May 1st with Jess *flails*).

So that's what I've been reading, let me know if you guys have read anything awesome lately.
Ray

p.s. Before anyone says it, Yes I am procrastinating writing my Scene of Doom *shhh*

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March Round-Off

Holy Cannoli where does the time go?! Seriously we're now one quarter of the way through 2011 and I'm still wondering how it's happened! Yes I may have spent a good part of this month in a rather down and unmotivated corner of Blah thus resulting in an entire week of no posts and an overall lack of reviews this month. But I am now back onto my feet (metaphorically speaking as I'm currently sat down) and determined to kick things back into gear and not let this blog which I have put so much work into, fester from neglect. *pounds chest*

So while this Round-off of this month's activities will be embarrassingly sparse it will be a lesson learned - do the bloody reviews straight away!

Books Read in March
36. Rosebush by Michele Jaffe (2/3/2011 AM)
37. Jinx by Meg Cabot (5/3/2011 AM)
38. Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting (5/3/2011 PM)
39. The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (8/3/2011 PM)
40. Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce (9/3/2011 AM)
41. Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott (11/3/2011 PM)
42. Where She Went by Gayle Forman (17/3/2011 PM)
43. Temeraire by Naomi Novik (21/3/2011 PM)
44. Lament by Maggie Stiefvater (22/3/2011 PM)
45. Nothing like You by Lauren Strasnick (22/3/2011 PM)
46. Matched by Ally Condie (23/3/2011 AM)
47. The Lady in the Tower by Marie-Louise Jensen (25/3/2011 AM)
48. Take me There by Susane Colasanti (25/3/2011 PM)
49. Girl v. Boy by Yvonne Collins & Sandy Rideout (27/3/2011 PM)
50. The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks (30/3/2011 PM)


Books Reviewed in March
Ghost of a Chance by Rhiannon Lassiter - Review
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting - Review
Forest Born by Shannon Hale - Review
Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce - Review
Rosebush by Michele Jaffe - Review
Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting - Review


Favourite Book of the Month
This is a rather easy choice since I've only had one 5 Star book in March which I read right at the beginning of the month ironically enough so everything since then hasn't swept me up quite as much. Check out the link just above for my review of Rosebush.


Honourable Mentions go to Matched by Ally Condie and Where She Went by Gayle Forman - I will review these two in due course *pinkie swears*




Other than those piddly few reviews and the usual meme posts I have posted nothing much else of interest this month I'm afraid but in April I am hoping to maybe participate in BEDA or Blog Every Day in April to really get myself back into the swing of writing posts and whatnot. I'm thinking of combining the daily posting with a fun, quirky feature that involves me wittering on about my views on certain bookish things and also non-bookish stuff (since I'm bound to run out of book-related topics over a month). 


Stay tuned for new and funky things plus (hopefully) several reviews over the next week as I catch up on at least half of March's reviews.


Happy April Fool's Day!
LadyV

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