Aaaand it's April! How are we holding up so far this year? I hope you're all doing well and hanging in there, finding some joy in your daily life, and reading incredible books. This year has been crazy hectic and turbulent for me for so many reasons and it sounds like a lot of people I know have been having some wild years as well, so I hope if your year has been crazy that it's in a good (or at least neutral!) way. And uh, what was up with those heat waves here in SoCal? I did not want 90 degree weather in March, haha.
In personal news.. I started a new job in March! Up until now, I've been doing a lot of contract/part-time work so my hours were always pretty random or more "work whenever to get the work done," so I'm now on regular full time business hours (but still fully remote, so I'm extremely grateful for that!) and I'm just getting used to that. It is nice not having to juggle a million different things (though I am still doing some contract work on the side right now so it's a little hectic still, haha). But I'm enjoying the work so far, my coworkers have been lovely, and it's a weight off my shoulders to finally have some consistent, reliable work for now.
But, admittedly, I have been struggling a tiny bit with all the work plus some community college courses (I'm taking five--yes, five--classes.... all of which I signed up for before I got the new job, and let's just say I wouldn't have done all of them if I'd known, lol, but we're trying our best here since we're past the refund drop date) and still trying to make time for reading and blogging... but I am nothing if not stubborn and determined (to my detriment, perhaps), so we're going to keep trying to keep up, haha. Hopefully in a couple months things will calm down again--fingers crossed, at least. :)
In reading news, I read more than I expected! I finally decided to start catching back up on the Wayward Children series, so you'll see that reflected below with books #8-10, and I also managed a re-read of The Magicians by Lev Grossman because I've just been so curious to see how I feel about it now, since I first read it over a decade ago (I can't be that old!) and I want to finally finish the trilogy, and I think many of my opinions are the same, but maybe some are different. I don't think I read any five star books in March, but April is already looking promising, so I'm not going to hold too much weight to that, haha. I also managed to get more reviews up, and I'm hoping to maintain that momentum in April. :) Now I just need to catch up on everyone else's blogs!
# books read: 13
(I feel like this is really more like 11 since I just had a little bit left to finish, but the total count is 13, so for accurate tracking, I'm leaving it there.)
Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC
Thoughts: This was overall a quite disappointing read. My review is already up, so be sure to take a look if you want to know more of my thoughts.
Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC
Thoughts: This was an interesting one and I generally had fun with it. Reminds me a bit of the 'urban fantasy male protagonist' style a la Dresden Files or The Fetch Phillips Archives (though I much prefer the latter).
Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC
Thoughts: This was a very solid 'dark' academia book (I put dark in single quotes because I'm not really sure I'd consider it that, but it seems to be the catchall these days) that didn't 'wow' me, but also wasn't a bad book at all. My review for this one is also up!
Source: Library | Format: Ebook
Thoughts: I've been meaning to catch up on this series since, well, since whenever this book came out! I'm glad to finally be all caught up, but I definitely find this series incredibly hit or miss for me these days. This one was very interesting, and I liked exploring the shop and story with Antsy.
Source: Library | Format: Ebook
Thoughts: This one was a bit hit or miss for me in parts, I found the pacing a bit off.
Source: Library | Format: Audiobook
Thoughts: I wanted to like this one more than I did. The story was interesting, but I just wasn't connecting with it for some reason.
Source: NetGalley | Format: eARC
Thoughts: My review for this one is also already up. I enjoyed some aspects of it, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting/hoping for and had some things I didn't love. Still, I think many will enjoy this one.
Source: Owned | Format: Hardcover
Thoughts: Oh boy was this an interesting re-read! I remembered that I didn't love Quentin, but couldn't remember why... until we got far enough into the book that I was like "ah, yes, there we are. Quentin does still suck." Still, I actually think this book is brilliant in its own right. It feels so purposefully frustrating and odd and familiar yet unfamiliar and I find that so compelling. I still completely understand why it's so divisive and why I probably never made it past the second book when I first read them, but it also feels so... important, to me? Like it feels like an important part of fantasy culture and history and development in weird ways that I won't get into here, but perhaps I'm just reading too much into it. Regardless, we are on to the next one!
Source: NetGalley | Format: eARC
Thoughts: This was a fascinating nonfiction read about the history of bird populations in America and I definitely recommend it! My review for this is already up, too.
Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC
Thoughts: Oh man, this book was... something. My review will be up this month to line up with its release. It was so promising yet also so... odd. It started off mostly strong, but then took some turns. I have a lot of thoughts!
Source: Owned | Format: Hardcover
Thoughts: Finally got to continue this series and I'm still just so unsure of it sometimes, haha. Half of me absolutely loves it and I'm captivated by how dark it seems, but then half of me feels like some things are just not quite right. But regardless, I love the imagination in this series and will likely continue because I can't say no to a fascinating world and premise.
Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC
Thoughts: This is another one of those that started off well, but then I think I just got a bit bored?
Source: NetGalley | Format: eARC
Thoughts: To my immense disappointment, I just did not connect with this book very much. I really wanted to love it, but something just wasn't working for me. Don't you hate it when you want to love a book and don't? (And especially when everyone else seems to have had such a fun time with it!)
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