Tuesday, May 1, 2018

April Wrap Up

Hello Everyone,
Another month is over and here's the monthly wrap-up. I went a little crazy this month and added nine books to my collection while only finishing three books. It was a little bit of a crazy month. The first week of April my brother and new sister were on their honeymoon so I was helping watch my nephew. Then I took a weekend trip so I worked the seven days preceding that and only took one of my normal days off the week after. So I've worked a lot and haven't had much time for reading (or anything else) for that matter. But I do have this blog up to date as of today (May 1, 2018) which is a first for me.

First up, books I acquired. Here's the total stack of them, all nine of them.

It's a nice little stack if I do say so myself (and I do). So seven of those books I bought and two came in boxes this month. First up the list of those I bought.

  1. My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Komoie 
  2. The Upside of Unrequited  by Becky Albertalli
  3. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
  4. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
  5. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
  6. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
  7. A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro 
So once again these books tend to skew a little towards the fantasy side of things but there's a couple exceptions. First up, My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Komoie. This was an impulse buy when I was killing time at Fred Meyers one day. It's an adult historical fiction about Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, wife of Alexander Hamilton. I am totally obsessed with the musical Hamilton and everything to do with it so anytime I find a book pertaining to Hamilton in any way chances are I end up with it. it's a pretty book with deckled edges and it sounds from the synopsis and information on goodreads that these two ladies write well-researched historical fiction so I'm looking forward to giving this a try. 
Next up, The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli. This is a book I'd heard a lot about, especially with the movie Love, Simon coming out based on her book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. I got it in a past OwlCrate box that I purchased from their online store. It's about a girl and her many unrequited loves and sounds pretty great. It's a contemporary young adult fiction, which is something I want to read more of since I read so much fantasy/sci-fi.
Next we have Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake. I got this one at the Amazon Books store at the mall. It's a brick and mortar store that sells the most popular books on Amazon and you can get them for the prime price in store when you use your email. It's seriously the greatest (and most dangerous) thing ever. It's a fantasy story about a kingdom where each generation triplets are born, equal heirs to the throne, and with an unique form of magical ability. They have to fight to the death for the right to inherit the throne and rule their kingdom. It sounds really cool and like most of these it's a book I've heard a lot about on booktube. 
Then there's A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. (Victoria) Schwab. Victoria Schwab is also the author of This Savage Song which is one of the books I got last month. The shades of magic series which is what this book is the first of, has rave reviews and I hear about it everywhere so I picked up the first one also at Amazon Books. It's a fantasy about Kell who is a magician who can travel between the parallel Londons: red, white, grey, and black. Mostly he smuggles people who pay for a glimpse at the other versions on London until he meets Delilah and gets thrust into an adventure. 
Daughter of Smoke and Bone is also the first in a trilogy. I got this book because it is a series that you frequently receive bookish goodies relating to it in YA book boxes and I hate not getting references so if I like an item that relates to a book I haven't read I like to pick up the book and give it a try. It's a fantasy story that involves an art student in Prague and an otherworldly war. Plus I think this book cover is amazing. 
Then The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. The Raven Cycle is another series that frequently pops up in bookish boxes and on booktube. It's one that people rave about and it sounds interesting. Like several of these books, there's a more real world fantasy going on. It's about a girl, Blue, who stands next to her mother, a clairvoyant, who watches the soon to be dead walk by even though Blue can't see them until she sees Gansey walk by. He's a student at a local notorious private school whose students are nicknamed 'the raven boys', and is on a quest with three other boys from the school and ends up drawing Blue into his quest as well. 
Finally, there's A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro which is the first story in a series retelling the Sherlock Holmes books as the adventures of the descendants of Sherlock Homes and John Watson: Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson. It's a modern retelling of Sherlock Holmes and I adore everything Sherlock Holmes and like the idea of Sherlock being a girl. I'm happy with any version of Sherlock Holmes as long as it still feels like Sherlock Holmes (I hate what they did to Watson in Elementary so I've never watched much of it). I received an ad for it in my March PageHabit box so I was excited when Amazon books had this there. 
 Okay so next up are the two books that I received in my subscription boxes this month:
  1. Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
  2. Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
First is Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett which came in my April Uppercase box. It's a contemporary young adult novel about a former high school couple: Zorie and Lennon whose families are a modern day Californian Montagues and Capulets. They go on a camping trip and end up stranded in the woods together and have to work together to get out of the situation. I love backpacking and I think this sounds like a really interesting idea for a book, almost the perfect summertime read. 
The other book I got in a box is Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody that arrived in my April OwlCrate (Shadows and Secrets themed). It's about a proper young lady named Enne who goes to the city of New Reynes (the City of Sin) in search of her missing mother. She teams up with a conman/street lord who offers to help her for a price. It sounds intriguing plus the tagline is AMAZING: "Take a card and stake your soul". I'm very much looking forward to reading this. 
So those are all the new books I got in the month of April. I also finished three books. 
So I loved all three of these books. A Court of Wings and Ruin is the third book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas and might just be my favorite book series I've read. I've already preordered the fourth book which comes out today and should arrive at my doorstep from Amazon sometime today. I finished this book on April 11th and gave it a 5/5 stars on goodreads. 
Second book I finished was Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston which was the March OwlCrate book. It's a sci-fi retelling of the Anastasia story with some elements of Firefly thrown in. I really enjoyed it and I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series (which has no release date). I finished this book on April 20th and gave it a 4/5 stars on goodreads. 
The last book I finished was The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. It is a contemporary YA novel written in free verse about a girl named Xiomara who finds her voice in a life where she feels voiceless and ignored in the world of slam poetry. I found it a really relateable story even though I am roughly twice Xiomara's age. I read this book in two sittings and finished it on April 21st and gave it a 5/5 stars on goodreads. Honestly this is probably my favorite book I've read in a very long time and I highly recommend it. It was the March book in my PageHabit box. 
Then there's the May to be read pile. I have seven books on my pile for the month of May. I have no travel plans and hopefully work will now settle down (and my coworkers will hopefully be healthy) so I have time to read. So here's the list:
 

So first up, is A Court of Frost and Starlight, which I don't have in the picture since I don't actually have the book yet. It is a pre-order of the next book (a novella actually) in the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas. It should be here sometime later today, delivered by Amazon. I'm very excited about another story about Feyre and Rhysand. I mean what could be better?

Then I have Ink, Iron, and Glass by Gwendolyn Clare which is a fantasy/steampunk novel I received in my February Uppercase box that I haven't read yet. It's about a girl who has the ability to shape reality with her pen but then she gets drawn into a caper in renaissance Italy with a boy who is an inventor as she tries to save her world. It's a very interesting concept and I've been looking forward to reading it since it arrived. 
Next is Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo. I think I should get props for reading things not by Leigh Bardugo for two whole months, especially when I have five of her books on my shelf ready to read. I read the Six of Crows duology in January/February and have since gotten two more people to read it and I convinced my dad to read both this book and the second one in the series (Batman: Nightstalker by Marie Lu). I love Wonder Woman, she and Batman are my favorite DC superheroes and she was hands down the best thing to happen in the DC Cinematic Universe (and most of those movies are mediocre at best). I adore Wonder Woman, I have t-shirts and sweatshirts and PJs and all kinds of Wonder Woman things and I am looking forward to one of my favorite authors' takes on one of my favorite fictional characters. 
Then there's Cinder. It's the first book in the Lunar Chronicles which is futuristic sci-fi retellings of fairy tales. Cinder is obviously a retelling of Cinderella but Cinderella is a cyborg. They sound kind of awesome to be honest and like some of the others I get a lot of Lunar Chronicles things in my boxes (like my favorite purple mug from March's OwlCrate) so I have been looking forward to giving these a go. 
Next is Alex & Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz because like I said, I have an obsession with all things Hamilton. This is a young adult retelling of the meeting and courtship between Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler. It's the first in a series and the second book recently came out so I really need to read this book. Plus the cover is an adorable play on the poster for the Hamilton musical. 
Finally the last two books are both by the same author. The first one is Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody. I got this book with some Christmas money back in January but haven't read it. Now that I've gotten another book by this her in an OwlCrate I really want to read this one before I dive into that one as well. This is a circus themed book about a girl who creates lifelike illusions who become a kind of surrogate family until her illusions start dying for real and she has to figure out how that's happening and who's doing it before she loses the only family she's ever had forever. It's a really interesting concept and I love all things circus and carnival themed so I'm not sure why I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. 
The last book of course is April's OwlCrate book, Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody, which I've talked about multiple times elsewhere so once again here's the book. 
Anyway so one last thing I got this month and want to share in the wrap up. I finally purchased a book sleeve to protect my books when I throw them in my purse. I got one that's Six of Crows themed and it fits a standard hardback book pretty snugly. I got it off etsy and I love it. It has the "No Mourners, No Funerals" saying printed on the front and an allover crow print on the back. It's  from the etsy shop In Lumos Libertas and they have a whole bunch of different sleeves so check them out.

Currently inside said book sleeve is Caraval by Stephanie Garber. I'm about a third of the way through the book so far so it will feature in May's finished books. I decided to read this one now because the sequel, Legendary, comes out on May 29th and an exclusive sneak peak at it was included in April's OwlCrate, getting my interest up. I am also still knitting on the wedding blanket for my brother and new sister and it's probably going to be a first Christmas/first anniversary present to be honest. Plus I've started a pair of socks for my new sister, they will probably be a present for her birthday in December. They're in a dark burgundy which is her favorite color. 

In the month of April I read 3 books which brings my total up to 11. I've read 11/50 books for my 2018 goodreads challenge and I'm starting to make my peace with the fact that I will not be finishing this challenge by a long shot but I am very much enjoying the process. 

So that's it for the April Wrap Up. On to May and more reading adventures (hopefully more knitting too but I've misplaced the sock so we'll see about that). 

Happy Reading!
Richelle and Emma

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