What I’ve been up to in April 🌷 The start of a new semester & My Birthday

Hello fellow bookworms 🌷 Despite being a self-declared autumn/winter person, I have been enjoying the few more sunny days that spring has brought, as it’s nice to see everything blooming! I still cannot believe we’re a quarter through the year already, my semester break flew by faster than I had anticipated! I’m already deep in my next semester of university which means another quick announcement. I’m busier now and have been thinking about how to approach blogging during my semester. I don’t want to take a hiatus every time (except for exam season), so for now I’ll try my best to keep up, but won’t be able to promise 2 posts per week. I’ll try to have 1 post up each week for certain and with some luck 2, but that just depends on how busy this particular week will be. Let’s hope for the best! ❤

Important Resources

• Carrds to check out if you want to educate yourself & help out
• https://globalissuesawareness.carrd.co/
• https://dotherightthing.carrd.co/
• Anti-Asian Violence Resources Carrd
• Donate to support India during the COVID crisis
• BLM 2020 Resources Spreadsheet

🔄 = Reread 💌 = Library Books 🌈 = #QueerBookFun2021

 😊 = Readalong/Buddy Read 📚 = #TackleYourTBR2021 ⌛ = Digital Arc

I read 9 books in April and participated in two great Readathons! I really missed taking part in Readathons, as I couldn’t join any during my exam season. Like in the past years, I was very excited for the Easter Readathon, which always takes place over the long Easter Weekend and a great time to dedicate time to reading 💛 I even joined some fun reading sprints, which was very nice! I also took part in the #ReadFatPositive Readathon, as I wanted to make an effort to read more books with fat representation, which worked very well as I found two amazing books to love 🥰 Despite having two disappointing reads this month, the majority of the books I read were great and I even found a new favorite book! ❤

I read 3 books out of my comfort zone this month and really liked what I was reading!! I was highly recommended The House in the Cerulean Sea by the bookish community and I ended up LOVING it!! 🥺 I read Spoiler Alert (Adult Romance) and The (Other) F Word (YA Nonficiton Anthology) for the #ReadFatPositive Readathon and can highly recommend both of them as they were so body positive and empowering 🥰 Especially Spoiler Alert surprised me, as it was full of fandom love and healthy communication!

The House in the Cerulean Sea (T.J. Klune) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🌈 💌

Spoiler Alert (Olivia Dade) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚

The (Other) F Word (edited by Angie Manfredi) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌

1. The Girl from the Other Side Vol 3. (Nagabe) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌 ➽ Review

2. The Half-Orphan’s Handbook (Joan F. Smith) ⭐⭐⭐.5 ⌛ ➽ Review

3. Spoiler Alert (Olivia Dade) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 📚 ➽ Review

4. The (Other) F Word (edited by Angie Manfredi) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 💌 ➽ Review

5. Dumplin’ (Julie Murphy) ⭐⭐⭐.5 💌 🎧 ➽ Review

 

6. The House in the Cerulean Sea (T.J. Klune) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🌈 💌 ➽ Review

7. Cheer Up! (Crystal Frasier) ⭐⭐⭐.5 🌈 ⌛ ➽ Review

8. A Dark and Hollow Star (Ashley Shuttleworth) ⭐⭐.5 🌈 ⌛ ➽ Review

9. Igniting Darkness (Ashley Shuttleworth) ⭐⭐ 📚😊 ➽ Review

Favorite Book 💕

What I’ve been up to in March 🌼 End of Finals & Semester Break ~ 8 Authors I Discovered in 2020 ❤ Finding new favorites

8 Authors I Discovered in 2020 ❤ Finding new favorites ~ Review: Network Effect by Martha Wells 🌀 A full length Murderbot Novel

How many of my Anticipated 2020 Releases did I actually read? 📚 ~ Blog Tour: The Half-Orphan’s Handbook by Joan F. Smith 📚 ~ Books with autistic representation 📚 #autismacceptancemonth

For this section of my wrapup I’m linking up with the Favorite Blog Posts of the Month Meme that has been created by Kristin @ kristinkravesbooks to showcase our favorite blogs of the month! 💗

• Manga Starter Kit: Recommendations For Book Bloggers (24hr.YABookBlog)
• What I Love About Audiobooks (Cam @ camilleareads)
• Ableism in Readers | When a book is rated low because the representation is not understood (Esmée @ servillasspeaks)
• Books I’ll Be Reading in April — Eighteen Titles & Four Readathons To Come Back From A Reading Slump (Fanna @ fannaforbooks)
• A Yearly AND a March 2021 Monthly Recap (aka two for the price of one?!?! what a steal?!?!) & My All-Asian May TBR & Reading Goals for AAPI Month! (ft. recommendations and rep tags) (Julianna @ paperblots)
• Review: Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall & How to Refresh Evergreen Content for Book Bloggers | SEO Basics (Kal @ readervoracious)
• What I’ve Been (Binge-)Watching #57 (Kat @ lifeandotherdisasters)
• 5 Contemporaries to Read This Spring // Mini Reviews & It’s Finally Spring?!! (Katie @ whisperingofpages)
• A Guide To The Grishaverse (Shadow & Bone) Books And What Order To Read Them In (Kay @ hammockofbooks)
• five YA contemporaries with ~unlikable characters~ because we’re all trash after all (Lais @ thebookishskies)
• 5 Things You Need to Know Before Starting A Book Blog & 10 YA Books That Will Make You Cry (I did) (Marie @ drizzleandhurricanebooks)
• 30 Personalized Book Recommendations (& Upcoming Releases) Pt 1: Asian Edition! & My May TBR for Asian Heritage Month!! (May @ foreverandeverly)
• Books on my netgalley queue (Mel @ literallymel)
• Rick Riordan book cover changes & May read-a-thon tbrs (Morgan @ morganisreadingagain)
• Book Recommendations | Perfect Books for Transitioning Between Seasons (Sofii @ abookathought)
• Four Books, Four Conflicts: Mini Reviews and Musings & Recommending Some of My Favorite Atmospheric Books & Tier Ranking All The 2020 Releases I’ve Read & Mini Reviews of Two New Favorite Romance Novels & Podcasts I’ve Listened To Recently, ft. Disappointments and Recommendations (Sabrina & Veronika @ wordyandwhimsical)

The last days of my semester break & my birthday ✨ I tried to enjoy the last two weeks of my semester break in April with my family, which was nice! It was also my birthday and I’m grateful that I could spend it with my loved ones before I had to go back to Uni! Once again, it was a quiet event as cases are constantly rising again, so nothing is really open anymore. I still got a lovely birthday cake from a family friend and some nice gifts 🥰 If I’m being honest, my birthday weekend wasn’t that great though, as my grandma wasn’t feeling well (she’s much better now!) and I was coming to terms with the fact that I’m supposed to be even more of an adult now 😅

Time for a new semester full of work again 😅 I wasn’t remotely ready for the new semester. Despite having time to relax, I didn’t feel like it was enough to recharge, so the workload hit me hard. I don’t know what it was, but I started into the semester super unconcentrated, distracted and feeling tired 🥺 The workload feels even heavier this time, as my seminars take up more credits and the prof assign so much more homework and readings compared to last semester 😅 I’m still finding my way back into online classes, so I hope I can adjust soon!! My reading and blogging has definitely suffered a bit at the end of April, so I hope May is better in that regard!

Things that made me happy 😊

➽ Starting to watch Shadow and Bone!! ❤ The adaption of the Grishaverse dropped just last week and I’m currently watching it with a friend! We’re both loving it and I cannot believe that we’re getting to see our beloved characters on the screen. There has been much love for the show already, so I’m hoping that we’ll also get a second season 🥰 Shadow and Bone is already one of my TV highlights of the year!! ❤ Apart from that, I also watched the first seasons of The Irregulars and Mismatched in April 🌷

➽ Listening to more of The Magnus Archives 💕 I talked about this last month as well but I’m LOVING The Magnus Archives, which is something I never expected to happen at all. I’m the biggest scaredy cat ever and this is a horror podcast, but it’s SO good and I love the characters so much, which is why it works so well for me! The Magnus Archives has become a big source of comfort for me and something to help me keep going 🥺 Forever grateful that Veronika recommended this to me ❤

Birthday Book Haul 🥰 🎉

It’s Gonna Be May 🌸 Sadly I’m probably going to be pretty busy in May, trying to juggle all my assignments, homework and readings. I wanted to participate in a Readathon, but I don’t think it’s going to happen, especially as I’m prioritizing the library books I’m having checked out or on hold for the moment! I’m very excited for them though, especially as there are two adult romance I have been wanting to read 🥰 I also want to make an effort to read some books by Asian Authors this month – even though I won’t officially join the Asian Readathon – and I’ve listed some of my priority reads below. Despite the workload, I hope to enjoy the sunnier days and do as much reading and blogging as possible! 🙏

Priority Books for May 🌸

• Spirit Bound (Richelle Mead) 🔄 St. Vladimir’s Readalong
• The Ex Talk (Rachel Lynn Solomon) ❤ Library Hold coming in Soon
• The Roommate (Rosie Danan) ❤ Library Hold coming in Soon
• Please Don’t Hug Me (Kay Kerr) ❤ My Library just got this!!

Books by Asian Authors I Want to Read 🌸

• Monstress Volume 1 (Marjorie M. Liu)
• Darius the Great Deserves Better (Adib Khorram)
• Other Words for Home (Jasmine Warga)

What were you up to in April? What was your favorite book? I hope you’re staying safe! ❤