What I’ve been up to in April 🌻 Magical Readathon, Birthday & Internship

Hello fellow bookworms 🌻 Another month has passed me by more quickly than I had anticipated. April was pretty busy with my Birthday and starting my Internship in the middle of the month. I’m pretty tired and still adjusting to a very different routine compared to the last semesters 😴

Important Resources

• https://globalissuesawareness.carrd.co/
• https://dotherightthing.carrd.co/
• Anti-Asian Violence Resources Carrd
• BLM Resources Spreadsheet
• Help India during its COVID crisis
• HelpPalestine Carrd, Learn about Palestinian history Help Palestine with a Click & Resources Masterlist
• Support the LGBTQ Community in Hungary
• HelpAfghanistan Carrd
• Support Trans Children in Texas: Thread of orgs/groups to follow and gain resources from, Thread of orgs you can donate to & Gender-Affirming Resources for the Transgender Community
• Help the Ukraine: Thread of donation links and organizations, Thread of how to help, Carrd with info & donation links, Ukraine Crisis Media Center & Helpful Timeline

🔁 = Reread 💌 = Library Books ⌛ = Digital Arc

📚 = #TackleYourTBR 📖 = #DevourYourTBR 😊 = Buddy Read 💕 = 12 Book Recs by Friends

I read 15 books in April, all for the Magical Readathon!! April is always my favorite reading month because the Readathon is so unique and fun 💕 It really motivated me to read as much as possible. I did stress myself a tiny bit because I tried to cram so many books into the first half of the month before my internship started 😂 I didn’t know how much I would be able to read then and right now I’m once again heavily relying on always having an audiobook ready to go 🎧 I struggle a bit with unwinding after work and picking up a book, but I’m working on it! Overall my reading was great, even though I did have some unpopular opinions … I was very excited to read The Song of Achilles, but it turned out to be a least favorite of the year already 🙈 Luckily, I did read some other books that I loved though!

I read 8 books out of my comfort zone this month! I read lots of historical fiction (all the books listed under Part 1 + Orphan Monster Spy and The Song of Achilles) this month for another reading challenge and I’m glad to have read so many books! I find historical fiction very interesting but I rarely reach for it, so I wanted to change that 😊 I also read 1 poetry book (Golden Girl) and 2 Adult books (Daisy Jones & Silver in the Wood)!

• Daisy Jones & the Six (Taylor Jenkins Reid) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 📖🎧
• I Must Betray You (Ruta Sepetys) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚📖
• A Marvellous Light (Freya Marske) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧
• The Enigma Game (Elizabeth Wein) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚📖

• Golden Girl (Reem Faruqi) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌
• Orphan Monster Spy (Matt Killeen) ⭐⭐⭐📚📖
• Silver in the Wood (Emily Tesh) ⭐⭐⭐💌
• The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller) ⭐⭐💌📖🎧

1. Spy x Family Vol 8. (Tatsuya Endo) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 📚

2. A Marvellous Light (Freya Marske) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌📖🎧

3. The Enigma Game (Elizabeth Wein) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚📖

4. I Must Betray You (Ruta Sepetys) ⭐⭐⭐⭐📚📖

5. Strange the Dreamer (Laini Taylor) ⭐⭐⭐.5 📚🎧💕 {Recommended by Sabrina}

6. Silver in the Wood (Talia Hibbert) ⭐⭐⭐💌🎧

7. The Map (William Ritter) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐🔁

8. Spy x Family Vol 7. (Tatsuya Endo) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 📚

9. Daisy Jones & the Six (Taylor Jenkins Reid) ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 💌📖🎧

10. Sick Kids in Love (Hannah Moskowitz) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌🎧

11. Once Upon an Eid (edited by Ali & Saeed) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌🎧

12. Orphan Monster Spy (Matt Killeen) ⭐⭐⭐📚📖

13. The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller) ⭐⭐💌📖🎧

14. Golden Girl (Reem Faruqi) ⭐⭐⭐⭐💌

15. To Be a Cat (Matt Haig) ⭐⭐⭐💌

Favorite Books 💕

Pondathon Garden & Achievement Update 🌷

Round 4 Pondathon Garden

Round 5 Pondathon Garden

Achievements & Badges

• Side Quest (Building Homes with Varian) ➽ Read a book by a Muslim author or an Autistic author (Bee-ing Caring badge)

For more Infos about the Pondathon visit thequietpond 🌷

What I’ve been up to in March 🌷 Semester Break with Complications ~ Arc Review: The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor📕 

#OOCZ Recs: Historical Fiction 📚 Back to the Past! 💗 ~ Books with autistic characters 📚 #autismacceptancemonth2022

Series Review: Nevermoor, Wundersmith & Hollowpox 💕 The Best MG Fantasy Series ~ How many of my Anticipated 2021 Releases did I actually read? 📚 ~ Series Review: The Sad Ghost Club 👻 Mental Health & Feeling Seen

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! 💗

• April 12th Top Ten Tuesday | Authors I haven’t read yet, but want to & Recent Reads | Fantasy in all flavours & The slow journey to discovering what I truly like to read (Abi @ Scribbles and Stories)
• Book Lists: Twenty-Two 2022 Middle Grade Books To Be Excited For (Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense)
• The Great Unhaul 2022: 20 Books I’m Donating Before I Move (Ashley @ The Infinite Library)
• Tag Time: 2022 Quarter Year Crisis book tag! & 10 authors that have been on my TBR for WAY too long! [Top 10 Tuesday] (Destiny @ howlinglibraries)
• analysing my past goodreads challenges + seeing how my reading has changed. | 🤔💭 have i figured out my reading tastes??? (Ellyn @ allonsythornraxxbooks)
• Adventure Log: March in Review & How to Use Post Tags Correctly | SEO Basics (Kal @ readervoracious)
• Kat’s Weekly TV & Movie Recap #14 (Kat @ lifeandotherdisasters)
• a reading “vlog” where i try to find a new favorite author & an updated discussion on how i use Goodreads (Lais @ thebookishskies)
• Weekly Reading Update #2 – April 17, 2022 & Books That Scare Me | TBR Chronicles (Lay @ bookshelfsoliloquies)
• ARC Review: The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor (Maria @ The Character Study)
• 16 Exciting YA Books About Royalty (Fantasy & Contemporary) I Recommend & Review: The Ex Talk, Rachel Lynn Solomon & 10 YA Books With Shocking Plot Twists (I Didn’t See That Coming!) (Marie @ drizzleandhurricanebooks)
• Own voices books about autism (Meeghan @ meeghanreads)
• Reading Books that I Think Will Make Me Cry & My 2022 Asian Heritage Month TBR! (May @ foreverandeverly)
• How I changed as a reader & The Bookish Baking Tag (Morgan @ morganisreadingagain)
• Hobby Hustling and Monetization in Capitalist Culture (Nicole @ Thoughts Stained with Ink)
• Animal Crossing Readathon Wrap-up (Saima @ storieswithsaima)
• 3 Literary Genres I Want to Read More of 🌙 & 5-Star Book Predictions (2022 Edition) 🌟 & Recommendation Post | Cry-Worthy & Heart-Touching Young Adult Contemporary Books – Part #1 💧 (Sofii @ abookathought)
• INSTAGRAM CHATS | why i stopped using my account (+ my new account) & Completed* Series I Want To Finish OR Forget & The First Quarterly Update Of 2022 | reading some new ‘soft favourites’ and a disappointing new release & To Read or Not To Read | sophie’s favourites (Sophie & Beth @ Me and Ink)
• My All Time Favorite Pieces of Media & Book Recommendations For Songs I’ve Been Obsessed With Recently (Veronika & Sabrina @ wordyandwhimsical)

April was pretty busy for me! The week before my internship started was full of events and then my birthday happened on the weekend 🥳 I was super nervous about my internship but so far (2 weeks in) I’m pretty happy with it. The team is really nice and includes me as a full member: I’m doing lots of projects independently and they aren’t very strict with working hours. The atmosphere in the office is very friendly and luckily I can work from home 3 days a week! With the mask mandate being removed in most areas and even less protections in place (🤐), I’m glad that I only have to go into the office on 2 days. I also like what I’m doing at my internship, so it seems like I have found a great place 😊 I’m still recovering from having the virus which I got 4 weeks ago. CW ~ Medical Stuff [I started having some issues with my heartbeat being very noticeable even when I was resting (my friend who’s also recovering had the same thing, so it seems to be common post-COVID), I went to the doctor and he referred me to a cardiologist. I got a 24-hour EKG and blood tests. I don’t have all the results yet but my blood is looking normal and it doesn’t seem to be too serious. Still pretty unsettling. Idk if my problems are coming from post-COVID, my thyroid condition, or the medication I take for it. Just wanted to talk a bit about what the recovery and post-issues can look like.]

💫 What I Watched in April 💫

• Bridgerton (S1) ~ I finally caved and watched Bridgerton, especially as there was a ton of hype around the second season 👀 This was the dramatic, fun, and fast show I needed at the time 😄 I wasn’t a fan of the main couple at all (they annoyed me towards the end), but there were so many interesting other characters I cannot wait to see more of!
• Blood & Water (S2) ~ I also finished this show at the beginning of the month! It got even more intense than season 2 and I’m hoping that there might be another season as a lot is still left unsaid 😱

It’s already May! 🌷 This year is really flying by faster than I anticipated 😱 I’ll be busy with my internship which lasts until the beginning of July and don’t have anything else special planned. Nevertheless I’m very excited for my May reading plans, as I intend to focus on books about Mental Health this month! I loved reading them, as the topic is dear to my heart but have noticed that I haven’t checked out any new books in a while. That’s why I’m excited about all the books I have mentioned down below!

📚 #DevourYourTBR 📚

This month’s challenge is to read the books about Mental Health.

© DevourYourTBR

• Blade of Secrets (Tricia Levenseller) ⌛
• Gallant (Victoria Schwab) 📚
• You’d Be Home Now (Kathleen Glasgow) 📚

• A Quiet Kind of Thunder (Sara Barnard) 📚
• A Brush with Love (Mazey Eddings) 📚💗
• Anxious People (Fredrik Backman) 💕🎧💗 12 in 12: Recommended by Veronika

What were you up to in March? What was your favorite book? What’s your favorite historical fiction book? 🌷