As a somewhat addicted reader, I often wish I could sack off all of my responsibilities and spend all my time reading, but like every daydreamer I have a small list of idyllic reading scenarios that in an ideal world I’d love to spend my time doing.
Unfortunately, I have to do things like laundry and groceries and keeping myself alive.
But for the sake of actually keeping my dreams alive, here are some of my daydream reading scenarios that I have every hope I will be able to fulfil someday!
1 – audiobooks and colouring
Yes, this is very simple and if I just allotted a couple of hours at the weekend I could probably do this but I haven’t yet so it remains a daydream.
It’s as simple as that – I have lots of colouring books, I definitely don’t make enough time to use them and having an audiobook on whilst colouring some pretty patterns sounds like such a lovely way to really prioritise some me time!
It’s one of those self care tasks that really prioritises things that are good for your soul – there’s no way I could frame this as productivity, it’s just for me and I definitely need more of that kind of self care in my life!
Now just to choose between my mandala patterns colouring book, my Bluey colouring book or my animals humping colouring book (a wonderful gift we received when we got married!).
2 – reading retreat!
I would love to go on a UK holiday in one of these iconic locations – I’ve seen ads for being able to stay in a library, book themed hotels, or even just somewhere with beautiful architecture or pretty views. But I want to go to these places and do literally nothing but reading. Maybe take a break for some nice food, maybe a little walk to actually get some steps in but I want to spend all my time reading in a comfy chair somewhere beautiful.
Maybe I would take a series to binge in one go, maybe I would attempt to read my entire monthly tbr in one go, maybe I pick a few books from my tbr jar – I don’t know, but to go on a holiday with intent to do nothing but reading would be incredible.
(same applies for a writing retreat tbh, maybe I’d actually finish writing my next novel lol)
3 – reading in the sun
Okay, now this one sounds very simple but I have pretty specific conditions to which I can comfortably sit outside to read for an extended period of time – it needs to be warm enough to not need a jacket, but not warm enough that I feel like I’m boiling in my own sweat. It would be lovely if there’s a little breeze, but not too much that I start to get cold. I need a really comfortable seat where I can fidget (because my body is not wired to sit still without aching), ideally there’d be a nice ambience of birds and wind in the trees!
It sounds lovely, but a difficult balance to strike!
And I’m desperate for one of those garden egg chairs. I would love to cocoon with my book. If I get one I may never leave it though.
But for now, I suppose I’ll have to stick with reading audiobooks while I’m driving and co-reading my physical book in bed!
Do let me know what your dream reading scenario would look like! I may add it to my list!
Another month, another TBR! Although I didn’t read all of my April TBR, I did manage to read 4 (and a half) of the 9 books on the list and I read 7 books total! Seven!
That is above average reading for me and I’m really happy with it! After the slump that was March, I completely rediscovered my love for reading in April and I’m absolutely riding that wave. Seven books; two audiobooks, five physical books (four of which were co-read with the audiobook) and an average rating of 3.43 stars – I’m chuffed to bits.
I actually got put in ‘Spotify jail’ (a fabulous phrase I heard on YouTube for when you run out of listening hours for audiobooks on Spotify) for the first time and now I actually have no idea which book I’m going to listen next on there because I don’t want to be in the scenario where I run out of listening hours with ONE CHAPTER left on my book again.
But new month, new list and May is my shortest TBR so far so I’m undeservingly optimistic that this will be the first month this year I actually finish my monthly TBR! Plus, I’ve given myself a new reward incentive on top of my current book buying ban (which I’ve already come up with a work around lol).
So for my book club this month, my husband chose The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which I really should have read because I have it in my personal collection as well as receiving a copy as a wedding gift, but this is the incentive I needed to actually read it. I’ve also used an Audible credit on the audiobook (read by the author, which is fun!) so I’m really looking forward to co-reading that in May!
Then I’m back on track with my goal of reading a Famous Five book every month, so in the fifth month of the year I will be reading the fifth book in the series Five Go Off In A Caravan by Enid Blyton. Because I was in Spotify jail, I read the previous instalment just with my eyes and I think I’m going to try and do that again with this one, because my Spotify listening hours can be much better allocated, for sure.
Then for my two books off my 24 in 2024 list this month, I used one of those spinners to remove the element of choice because I’m awful at making decisions! So the two books the spinner chose were Sixteen Souls by Rosie Talbot (I also own the sequel/prequel/? 12 Bones which may suddenly become much more of a priority…) and Radio Silence by Alice Oseman which I’m also really excited about! I can’t imagine I’ll be able to listen to both of those with my Spotify hours, but we’ll see which one I read first and what I can manage to listen to before I’m back in Spotify jail!
Then for my subscription boxes, the Illumicrate book for this month is To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X Chang, which I have heard really mixed reviews on so I’m trying to go in open minded, but I am dubious (I’m so in two minds about cancelling Illumicrate but I just love the bookish merch too much! Such a terrible reason to still be subscribed 😂) .
Then my Afterlight romance book for this month is The Prospects by K. T. Hoffman, which is a baseball romance! Sports romances can be a bit hit or miss for me (pun intended haha), but this edition is stunning and I’m a sucker for pretty things so I’ll read it anyway!
And last, but by no means least, the pre-order that’s being released this month is Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne which, honestly, I pre-ordered because the Waterstones special edition is stunning but then the plot also sounds great too so I didn’t just by a book that I’m not even going to like I promise!
That’s the whole list! Seven books is my shortest tbr this year and having just read seven books in a month I’m feeling so good! I’m excited about all of these books, I’m excited about the audiobooks I’m listening to, I’m still so excited about reading and that momentum has lasted over a month so I’m still riding the wave!
And my new reward incentive to go alongside my book buying ban, is that if I finish reading every book on my tbr I’m allowed to buy ONE new book (not go on a shopping spree). I feel like that’s a good compromise, because if I’ve managed to read seven books from my planned tbr (plus whatever audiobooks I finish on the side), then one new book is a nice reward.
Granted, I have found a work around to my book buying ban because I was visiting my home town where I grew up at the weekend and I had to pop in to their little indie bookstore because I love indie bookstores and I really wanted to support the shop! So I told myself that if I’m buying a book that doesn’t add to my tbr then I’m allowed to buy books… I bought a stunning edition of the Hobbit and I’m so happy about it! Yes, it’s my third copy of the Hobbit but I really enjoyed it and I’m pretending that it’s not completely unnecessary. I also am hoping to buy copies of the Lord of the Rings trilogy soon but there’s so many editions that I’m mildly overwhelmed by it, so I’m not rushing that decision!
So that’s my tbr – seven books that I’m really excited about. I’m writing this on the 6th and I’ve just finished my last book from April so I’ve got 26 days (including today) to read my tbr, which equates to just short of four days per book but I definitely won’t be putting that pressure on myself. I’m going to start with my book club book, The Kite Runner and I’ll be posting updates on my Instagram and TikTok accounts if you’d like more frequent updates on what I’m reading!
We’re a few days ahead of the end of the month and the optimistic part of my brain wants to say I may finish another book before the end of the month, but the much more realistic part of my brain knows I almost certainly won’t, so posting my April wrap up a few days early definitely won’t do any harm!
Having had a very slow reading month in March with a surge towards the end of the month, I went into April with a new spring in my reading step and it worked for me – although in terms of my monthly tbr, it doesn’t look particularly successful as I only managed three of the nine books on the list, in total I managed to finish SIX books, which is the most I’ve managed to read this year so far!
I’m feeling absolutely stoked about it, so let’s jump right in to the mini reviews!
A Touch of Chaos – Scarlett St Clair
I finally finished the Hades x Persephone series by Scarlett St Clair! Not only did the series finish with, what I think, is the best book in the series but it is also my first 5 star book of the year! I have to add, if I was the kind of reviewer who gave half or quarter ratings, this would realistically be more of a 4.5, maybe 4.75 because I did really enjoy it but it didn’t quite give me the 5 star feeling, but I gave it 5 stars anyway because there wasn’t really anything I didn’t like! Each of the characters had shown real progression and growth throughout the series, I loved the more political aspects of the war of the gods as well as the ongoing romance storyline between our titular characters and even though it was 600 pages long, the pacing didn’t feel slow or drawn out at all. The audiobook narrators weren’t my favourite, but the story itself was really good and I have since added the other two trilogies to my Amazon wishlist because I’d love to own the whole series physically. This was a brilliant way to start the month, even if it was finishing a book on my March tbr rather than my April one!
The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
Another one from my March tbr (but I added it to be April tbr because it was both the March book club pick and it’s on my 24 in 2024 list, so winning all round!) but an unexpected 4 star rating from me! I always assumed that Tolkien’s writing style was very flowery and poetic, falling into that literary category that usually means I just can’t comprehend what’s going on and I don’t enjoy my time reading. But what I’d managed to completely forget is that this is actually a children’s story, I think officially categorised for middle grade readers! The narrative style was so much more accessible than I thought it would be and the audiobook narrated by Andy Serkis (the actor of Gollum in the films) was hands down, no question the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to. Finally reading this book gave me the confidence to want to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, especially as Andy Serkis has also done audiobooks for them! The real question is to decide which of the many beautiful editions of the books I actually want to get…
The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
It took me over three months, but I finally finished this 28 hour audiobook! For a book so long (and considering I listened to it so sporadically), it could have felt very disjointed and complex, but the story was told so lyrically and effectively, that every time I pressed play I was right back where I left off, remembering all the names I needed to remember and the point of the story.
In the end I rated this 4 stars as well – I really enjoyed the story, the storytelling style felt so authentic and classic and the fantasy elements were so well written you could tell me this was a historical true story and I’d believe it. I just didn’t quite get the 5 star vibes – whether it’s because the main character is a teenage boy for most of the book (in the past timeline, he’s older in the present timeline but the story is predominantly looking back at the past) or because I just didn’t quite feel attached enough to any of the characters to feel truly invested, but I have a feeling that will come in book 2 and knowing that there is no book 3 and this series will potentially remain forever unfinished makes me nervous!
However, the sequel ‘The Wise Man’s Fear’ is a 42 hour audiobook so I did decide to have a little break before diving into that.
Famous Five: Five Run Away Together – Enid Blyton
There’s a real chance that I might get bored of this series faster than anticipated – I rated this one 2 stars. I was hoping for a bit of light relief after finishing a seven book series and a 28 hour epic fantasy, and the very English children’s story from the 40s with the very proper audiobook narrator could have been that, but I have to say I found the children kind of irritating in this one. I know the Stick family were set up to be the bad guys from the off, but the Famous Five bully their son Edgar mostly for having spots and they’re rude to Mrs Stick, who’s working as the family’s cook, mostly because they seem to think they’re better than her and it really irritated me. I appreciate that I’m taking this children’s story too seriously and when I was a child, I probably would have been all for it, but with a modern perspective I didn’t like their attitudes and I’d much rather read about children that were nice to everyone regardless of what they look like or what their job is!
It’s probably not a good sign that I started referring to them as ‘stuck up little brats’ when I’ve got seven more books to read, but we’ll just have to see how it goes!
To Love Jason Thorn – Ella Maise
The lovely little palette cleanser audiobook I wanted to read after I finished The Name of the Wind – I knew it would be a three star romance (it actually inspired this other blog post I wrote this month!) and it was included in the Audible Plus catalogue as well as being a book on my physical tbr, so it was ticking boxes all round!
What I didn’t expect was to listen to the entire book in 5 days…
Granted, it was more circumstantial than obsession – I had a two hour drive home from my mum’s house where I listened to the first 25%, I had my weekly drive to a from my ballet class to listen to a little bit more, and then I was struck with a migraine so painful I could do nothing but lay in bed and try to ignore how much pain I was in, so whilst I couldn’t look at my phone, I turned on my audiobook and listened to over six hours to finish To Love Jason Thorn just five days after I started it.
It was exactly what I wanted – an easy, cheesy, palette cleanser romance with unbelievable characters in an unbelievable scenario doing absolutely ridiculous things. The main male character gave me the ick on multiple occasions, it helped me conclude that I don’t particularly like friends-to-lovers romances (because they’re already in love with each other most of the time and I love reading about the fall) and it reminded me just how ridiculous every celebrity romance book I’ve ever read is.
But I kind of ate it up for those reasons too…
It was a no brain power book and exactly what I wanted – a perfect three star romance.
The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
Having missed reading my March book club book in it’s assigned month, I wasn’t taking any chances with the April pick! It took me a lot longer to read than anticipated – this is quite a heavy sci-fi book and without the audiobook, I definitely would have been overwhelmed by a lot of the names, but it’s possibly the first time that I’ve thought I may have struggled with the audiobook if I didn’t have the physical book to co-read as well, for the same reason – there’s a lot of complex names in this story!
I think a big part of the reason I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have is that it’s the second book in The Culture series, so there was this big entity that felt totally foreign to me because I was missing a whole book’s worth of context and I can’t really criticise the book for that.
Gurgeh as a character was fascinating and it was definitely a heavier sci-fi book than I’ve ever read before, but I think given the full context I could have enjoyed it even more. I have added the first book in the series to my never ending ‘To Read’ pile on Storygraph, but there’s honestly no telling as and when I’ll get round to it!
So even though I didn’t get round to reading all of my tbr this month, I’m really proud of how much I did read! Making my way through four physical books, finishing an audiobook I’ve been listening to for literal months and binging a contemporary romance in just a few days? That’s a success in my books for sure!
Please do tell me about what you’re reading at the moment and how you’re getting on with your reading goal if you have one!
Last week I finished listening to an audiobook that I started on January 9th – it took me three months to listen to ‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss and even though I really enjoyed it, it was 28 hours long and the sequel is 42 hours long and I needed a little break before I jump into that.
So I was browsing the Audible Plus catalogue (because I don’t have anything in my current library that is also on my physical tbr and I am on the physical tbr grind) and I found a couple of titles by Ella Maise! I felt myself being really excited to read a contemporary romance as I feel like I haven’t read one for ages (it was February but it was one I hated so it feels like longer) so I decided to listen to ‘To Love Jason Thorn’.
I started listening to it on a 2 hour drive home from my mum’s house and in that two hours, I already knew I’d be rating this book three stars – there were cringy moments, the main male character gave me the ick a couple of times and it was friends to lovers (which I have since realised isn’t my favourite), the whole premise is that he’s an actor and she’s an author and he’s going to be in the movie adaptation so it’s super unrealistic anyways.
But that’s exactly what I wanted! I don’t want to be super emotionally invested in the characters – obviously I want to like them or I won’t enjoy the story, but I don’t want them to make my chest ache because I love them so much. I want it to be predictable, I want the male main character to be ridiculously unrealistic and clearly written by a woman, I want an easy cheesy romance!
And I ended up finishing ‘To Love Jason Thorn’ in five days. I’ve not listened to an audiobook that quickly since I was commuting two hours a day. Granted, I had a migraine and listening to an audiobook was the only thing I could do and I listened to six hours of this book in one day but I felt myself being drawn to it – I was choosing to listen to my audiobook in bed rather than my literary sci fi; I didn’t necessarily care about the story but I felt addicted to it.
It’s the equivalent of trash reality TV – the characters aren’t like real people, the world they live in is not a real world (‘reality’ TV is such a stupid name) but for some reason you can’t stop watching it.
And that’s okay!
I know some readers hate 3 star books because generally it’s the most indifferent rating – not ‘bad’ enough to give it a low rating, not engaging enough to give it a higher rating, super average – but I love them because they’re so easy, they’re palette cleansers, they’re not going to make my chest ache with emotional tension, I can binge listen and it doesn’t matter too much if I don’t remember all the details cos they’re not that complicated. Especially having just finished a long fantasy, a nice, quick, easy, cheese romance is precisely what I wanted and needed and it fulfilled the brief.
Sure, there are lots of books that I rate 3 stars that don’t feel like this – the ones that I was hoping for more from and didn’t like enough to give 4 stars, the ones that could have been really good but had aspects that made me feel icky, the ones that I liked some aspects but other aspects were really overcomplicated (Legendborn…?). But I feel like ‘super average contemporary romance’ is a sub-genre within itself and I’m here for it.
There’s a time and a place for more complex romance books that touch on more difficult topics and have characters that I feel really emotionally attached to, but there’s also a time and a place for the 3 star easy cheesy romance!
Please let me know what you think – what do you turn to for a palette cleanser? Do you like a 3 star romance as much as I do?
After a very mixed reading month in March, going from spending three weeks finishing ‘A Game of Retribution’ to reading 50% of ‘A Game of Gods’ in one day, I’m going into April with a renewed sense of capability in my ability to read! I’ve stopped being stubborn about reading without the support of an audiobook and I’m ready to be more consistent and finish more books this month!
This month was meant to be when my TBR got significantly shorter – usually, the way I make my TBRs is I have a bunch of categories that I wanted to be able to meet within my TBR, such as my monthly book club pick, some of my 24 in 2024 books and making the most of my subscription services which included Kindle Unlimited and Audible.
Last month I decided that I would no longer include KU and Audible on the list for the sake of it – reading from KU was just taking time away from reading my physical TBR and it just felt forced. I don’t read fast enough to justify having KU so I’ve officially cancelled that subscription now. With Audible, I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m relying heavily on audiobooks for co-reading at the moment so I have no doubt that I’m making the most of that subscription! So theoretically, this has taken four books off my monthly TBR list…
But April appears to be a popular month for new releases as I’ve got three pre-orders coming in this month! So overall, including a couple of books I should have read in March, my TBR for April is 9 books long, so not shorter in any way, shape or form! But I am more optimistic – having (nearly) finished over 1500 pages of the Hades x Persephone saga by Scarlett St Clair, I think I’m ready for anything!
First up, for my little solo book club I’m reading The Player of Games by Iain M Banks – the premise sounds pretty cool and it’s giving my sci-fi, Ready Player One vibes. Plus, it’s not too long which is the general priority of the books I choose for this month honestly!
Then, for my little book club subsidiary side project challenge of reading one book from my Famous Five box set by Enid Blyton each month, I’ve got my March read to catch up on Famous Five: Five Run Away Together and then my April read Five Go To Smuggler’s Top – these books are usually refreshing and nice palette cleansers between my other reads so I’m looking forward to getting caught up on these this month.
In my intention of reading two of my 24 in 2024 list each month (mostly unsuccessfully so far), I’m going to be reading The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and The Fine Print by Lauren Asher this month. ‘The Hobbit’ is also the book my husband choose as our March book club pick, so reading it also helps me catch up on the book I absolutely should have read last month, but the fact this book ticks two boxes also makes my little virgo heart very happy.
And for another subscription I’m trying to make sure I make the most of (though I haven’t read any of my 2024 Illumicrate books yet… oops), my March Afterlight subscription arrived just this morning, so I will be reading The Kiss Countdown by Etta Easton this month! The one thing this tbr is mostly lacking is romance books so I am really looking forward to reading this space aesthetic contemporary romance about fake dating an astronaut!
The three new releases that I preordered this month are The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson, which was released on April 2nd so I do already have my copy of this one. I loved the first two books in the ‘A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder’ series but I really didn’t enjoy the third one, so I’m a bit dubious about Holly Jackson now but I was sucked in by a pretty special edition and all the content creators I’ve seen who have been reading ARCs of this book have been absolutely obsessed with it. I know I love a YA mystery so I’m letting myself be dubiously excited!
Next, releasing on April 17th, is But Everyone Feels This Way by Paige Layle – a non-fiction book from an autism advocate who actually helped me realise that I may be autistic and start my own journey to diagnosis! I’m a big fan of Paige’s content and I’m really intrigued to see how her narrative style translates to the page.
And last, but by no means least, on April 23rd Funny Story by Emily Henry is coming out – this is another one that I’ve seen so many good reviews of from people who’ve received ARCs and I’m really stoked to read my second Emily Henry book! I somehow deluded myself into thinking I’m a huge Emily Henry fan when I’ve only ever read one of her books before – I loved ‘Beach Read’, but I’m looking forward to figuring out whether I like this author generally or if I just liked the one book.
And that’s all 9 books I’m going to try and read this month! All whilst I’ve just finished off ‘A Touch of Chaos’ by Scarlett St Clair… With some quick maths, I have 26 days to read 9 books… That’s just short of 3 days per book, which might be a bit ambitious. I could do more maths to figure out the actual number of pages I need to read per day, but I could also spend that time reading so I’ll stick with that rough estimate!
As always, let me know what you’ve been reading and whether you’ve read any of the books on my April TBR!
I really thought I’d be able to slowly increase how much I’m reading this year, but so far it’s been downhill in terms of numbers of books!
In January I read 5 books, in February I managed 4 (though some of my wrap ups said 5 cos I was really optimistic) and in March I’ve only managed to read 3 books! Granted, when I look at the number of pages read, I’ve read nearly as much as I read in January but obviously longer books, but the main reason my number of finished books is lower is due to my own stubbornness and I’m wholly aware of it.
According to Storygraph I’m one book behind on my reading goal, so definitely going to not be as stubborn in April! Either way, here are the three books I finished in March:
Revolution – Jennifer Donnelly (paperback + audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was my February book club pick that I was desperate to try and finish before the end of the month, but I didn’t quite make it and it squeaked onto my March wrap up instead – I loved this book I really did. The narrative style felt like the kind of literary YA I loved in John Green when I was a teenager which made it feel really nostalgic. It was released in 2010 so I reckon it was a contemporary release at the time, and I don’t know if it’s because I was also a teenager in 2010 but it was a YA book I could really empathise with, which I haven’t felt like in a very long time (I’m definitely getting too old for YA).
The historical aspects of the book being told in diary entries was done really well and listening to this with the audiobook as well really enhanced the experience – so much of this story is set in Paris and the historical elements are about French characters, so to hear them read in a French accent was so much more immersive than the British accent my own internal voice would have given them!
The only reason it wasn’t a 5 star read for me is that the resolution just felt a little bit too far fetched – the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I wanted it to be and what I expected to happen didn’t happen at all. It was really close, if I did half and quarter ratings it would definitely be a high 4 star, but just not quite over the 5 star line for me unfortunately.
A Game of Retribution – Scarlett St Clair (ebook + the last 30% of the audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I didn’t want to use all my Spotify listening hours in one go at the beginning of the month, so I wanted to prove to myself that I can still read a book without co-reading with the audiobook and what followed was three weeks of stubbornly trying to rely on my own brain, falling asleep after 6 pages which only led to the story feeling disjointed and making me take three weeks to finish this book.
I meant it when I said I was being stubborn.
Otherwise, this book was just fine for me? It’s the second book in a partner trilogy which tells the story from the male main characters perspective and I really didn’t think that it added anything – Hades is a very open and honest character so all the scenes with him and Persephone felt very repetitive, as I’d already read them from Persephone’s perspective. The additional plot points of what Hades was doing when he wasn’t with Persephone were really intriguing, building towards a very engaging political Greek fantasy, but that could have been a novella or a short novel on it’s own – it didn’t need to be over 450 pages.
And the last thing that made this story very average was just the amount of smut – I’m not object to it, I love when it adds to the plot and it feels relevant and enhances the characters relationship, but that absolutely wasn’t happening in this book. They’d be mid conversation and suddenly it was happening again – it felt totally nonsensical and desensitised me to their relationship as characters; I think it made me care about the relationship less which is definitely not how I wanted to feel!
Honestly I was just glad to be finally done with it – one step closer to finishing the series!
A Game of Gods – Scarlett St Clair (ebook + audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
And finally, onto the last book in the Hades trilogy! Much of my opinions remained the same in regard to the repetitive nature of the scenes with Persephone, but this one definitely had more plot and political elements as the overarching plot of the series continued to grow and there were more and more references to Greek stories that I’m vaguely familiar with.
This book made me want to read the Odyssey, and I think that says plenty.
Even though I don’t think this book needed to be 568 pages, I did enjoy this one much more – there was still excessive smut scenes, but there was much more plot and it was a much more exciting read. It probably helped that I had gone away for the weekend piggybacking off my husband’s work trip and I read about 50% of this book in one day between different coffee shops in Canterbury and it was really lovely.
I’m currently reading A Touch of Chaos, the conclusion to the entire Hades x Persephone saga by Scarlett St Clair and I’m both excited to read it and to be done with this damn series. I’m also still reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss as an audiobook (it’s been nearly three months now), but I also managed to find a second hand physical copy of this book for £2 in a charity shop so I’m thinking I may coread the last 20% just to finally get it done!
I didn’t get round to reading either of my March book club books – The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein or the third book in the Famous Five series, so I will be trying to read two book club books and two Famous Five books in April, alongside having three new release pre-orders coming in and my March Afterlight book to read too – maybe a few more reading days coffee shop hopping are required!
Other than the slog of finishing A Game of Retribution, I feel like I’ve found my stride with reading again and I’m looking forward to having a more productive reading month in April! I definitely need something a bit lighter after all these fantasies.
Please let me know what you’ve been reading this month and how you’re doing with your reading goals if you have any!
I like to think of myself as a fairly generous reviewer when it comes to books – I go in open minded, I very rarely don’t finish books (which may not be a good thing, tbh) and I do generally enjoy most of the books I read, but I don’t seem to be having much luck with the books I’ve read this year so far!
I’ve read 10 books so far – which Storygraph is very passive aggressively reminding me is two books behind schedule to hit my reading goal – and having just looked at my stats from last year, I had three five-star reads in the first ten books I read in 2023!
I do have an ongoing theory that the more a person reads, one of two things will happen – it’s harder to give out higher ratings because stories may start to become repetitive or predictable, or finding books to read becomes more difficult because you get to know your own tastes better and know which books you’re not likely to enjoy. I don’t think I’m at this stage yet, I think I’ve just been particularly unlucky with the books I’ve been reading so far this year.
This has it’s own benefits in a way as it means my pile of books to give away or donate is getting bigger and slowly but surely my tbr is (just about) going down, but it’s also not really incentivising me to read, y’know?
The book I’m reading at the moment – A Game of Retribution by Scarlett St Clair – is the second book in a companion trilogy that I knew pretty much from the beginning I would rate 3 stars; I didn’t love book 1, but it’s one of those where I’ve read the original trilogy and there was a dual perspective conclusion to both trilogies that I’d preordered and I wanted to make sure I was up to date on everything before that sequel came out.
But the sequel is now out and my copy has arrived, but I’m still on book 2 of this series. There’s a bunch of reasons for this – one is I was determined to read it without coreading with the audiobook to prove to myself I still can (which I can, but right now I’m kinda burnt out and sleepy and denying myself the support of an audiobook was just me being stubborn), two is that because I was being so stubborn about reading it just with my eyes, I was reading it in very small chunks which made it harder to feel any connection to the characters or story at all and thirdly, this book is way longer than it needs to be. I know it’s ‘trendy’ for books to be long at the moment, especially on Kindle Unlimited where (I think?) authors get paid based on how many pages are read, but 465 pages for a story which is the same story told from another perspective? Absolutely unnecessary.
With all that said, a 3 star rating is still a mostly enjoyable read for me – there are things that annoy me about this book but there are plenty of things I enjoy too, particularly that it’s a Greek story retelling, bloody love me some Greek mythology.
And this is what I’m trying to remind myself of – it’s not all about ‘finding the 5 star book’ or ‘the perfect read’ – at the end of the day, if I’m (mostly) reading books I enjoy, then that’s alright. Even if I read books I don’t enjoy, I clear a little bit of room on my shelves which I definitely count as a win too!
Am I a little bit worried I won’t find a book I like enough to give 5 stars for the whole year? A little bit, yes, but also – it’s only March. We’re not even 25% through the year yet so there’s plenty of time!
Basically, I need to chill!
I’m working on being more present and taking things a bit more slowly in all aspects of my life and it applies to reading too – I still look forward to snuggling into bed with my Kindle or setting off on a long drive with my audiobook and when I don’t feel that excitement anymore is when I get to be a little bit concerned.
That said, I’d love to hear the books you’ve rated 5 stars so far this year or any 5 star recommendations you have! I definitely don’t need to make my TBR any longer but if there’s any that I already own I may boost them up the list!
Now, as someone who regularly doesn’t read all the books on her monthly tbr’s and has a physical tbr that’s leaning a little too close to 500 (and I’m very aware of it), having yet another kind of ‘tbr’ or pile of books that make me feel a little bit guilty about not reading more seems like a silly idea, right?
Yes, it absolutely does.
(and ‘reading more’ is a silly concept – I can’t read faster than I already am and I read every night before bed, without making reading my full time job I’ve not got the hours to ‘read more’ and I imagine many other readers feel the same, so here’s your reminder that you’re doing great and all reading is valid!)
And yet I still have a pile of ‘priority’ books just in case I find myself with a finished tbr and days in the month to spare! I am very aware of how unlikely it is I will be able to get to these books, but either way I still like the idea of having a smaller pool of books to choose from if I do finish my monthly tbr. I am still really excited to read all of these and I think having this little priority tbr maintains that excitement!
The list is currently sitting at about 8 books (plus a few monthly tbr books that I didn’t manage to read!) and sits in a cart alongside my 24 in 2024 list of books that I also don’t have enough time to read, but without further ado here are my 8 priority TBR books!
I picked up this book on a whim when browsing the Waterstones in Liverpool on Boxing Day – I don’t often peruse the non-fiction shelves but I had time and I always love seeing if there are any good books on autism and this one immediately gripped me! Originally written in Swedish by journalist Clara Tornvall, reading about how autistic women have often been overlooked is something that sounds really interesting to me so as I sit idly by as I approach my third year on the waiting list for a diagnosis, I might as well engage with some literature on the way my own brain works!
I know I’m so late to this hype and, ironically, what’s really incentivising me to actually read this book is the clips of the AppleTV show I keep seeing on TikTok! I think Brie Larson plays Elizabeth Zott brilliantly and I haven’t even read the source material yet! I have the beautiful special edition with the periodic table sprayed edges and if that’s not enough to actually make me read this book, I honestly don’t know what is!
The most recently instalment in the Alex Rider franchise that I ‘finished’ last year – I really enjoyed reading this series at the end of 2022 into the beginning of 2023 and I rated the book before this one 5 stars, so I’m really intrigued as to how Nightshade as an enemy entity will return to cause more havoc for our teenage spy. This might be one to take on holiday if I get to have one of those this year!
I did enjoy starting The Folk of the Air trilogy last year, enough to buy the rest of the trilogy, but clearly not quite enough to read them immediately! I think what it is, is that I put a lot of pressure on myself to read an unrealistic amount of books in December and I burnt out so the books that I was reading in that period have been burned by association and unfortunately that includes The Cruel Prince. I will finish it… at some stage. These ones aren’t too long either so that’s even more of an incentive.
This anthology of novellas is the only thing standing between me and being able to say I’ve read Ali Hazelwood’s entire backlist. I know I’m going to like them, I think I’ll be able to read it quickly because it is three novellas and I know I love Ali’s writing style so why I haven’t read it yet is a real mystery. Maybe this is a winter one, I think one of the novellas has something to do with snow so perhaps I need to put it on a seasonal tbr!
I feel like I have a fake adoration for Emily Henry because I loved Beach Read, I own all of her books and I’ve pre-ordered Funny Story, her next release… but I have only read one of her books? It doesn’t make sense and putting this one of her titles on my priority TBR feels like a step in the right direction to rectify that!
Oh, TJR. One of TikTok’s favourites. And I still haven’t read a single word she’s ever written. I know I want this book to be my first TJR and I’ve also heard that it’s one that absolutely must be read as an audiobook so whilst I do own it physically, I also have the audiobook so I’ll definitely be co-reading this one (hopefully sooner rather than later!).
And those are the 8 that have made it on to my list!
Then there’s two that were leftover from my February TBR – my January Afterlight book At First Spite by Olivia Dade and the January Illumicrate book Voyage of the Damned by Frances White, so that takes it to a round 10!
Technically, I consider everything on my physical tbr a priority because the mission to reduce the number of unread books in my house is never-ending, but these are all ones that I still get really excited about at the thought of reading them so I think that’s a good sign!
Thank you for taking time out of your reading to read my ramblings,
I decided last month that I wanted to make my monthly tbr for March slightly differently, but I’ve still ended up with a 9 book tbr… things will be different in April I swear!
The whole point of making a monthly tbr for me was to ensure I was reading my book club picks and making the most of my subscriptions, which at the time were Audible, Kindle Unlimited, Illumicrate and every other month, Afterlight. Now I have all of those, Afterlight is monthly and I want to read 2 of my 24 in 2024 list every month.
And for someone who reads 4-6 books a month, these tbr’s were getting out of hand!
So going forward, I’m not including Audible and KU on my tbr list, because I’m not worried about how much I’m using Audible and reading on KU felt forced so I might cancel it for the moment so I can prioritise my physical tbr. I’m still in two minds about whether I cancel Illumicrate and I still have a bunch of pre-orders that I will also be putting on my tbr, but I think all round it feels a little more balanced!
But, for this month, there’s two KU books I want to read in preparation for a new release that comes out in a few days so next month is when I’ll see the real impact of these changes!
With that said, let’s jump into the 9 books that are on my tbr for March!
A Game of Retribution / A Game of Gods – Scarlett St Clair
In preparation for the final book coming out this month, I need to finish the last two books of the Hades trilogy. I’ve just looked it up and A Game of Retribution has 465 pages and A Game of Gods has 587 pages so I’m definitely not going to be able to finish them before the next book comes out on the 12th, but I’m going to try my best! Honestly, I haven’t been enjoying this side of the trilogy compared to the Persephone side as much, but I wanted to be fully prepared for…
A Touch of Chaos – Scarlett St Clair
The new release that I’ve preordered that I’ve got over 1000 pages to read to be ready for! This one is going to be a dual perspective conclusion to the saga and I’m really looking forward to it! This series is probably going to take up most of my March reading and I’m not gutted about it. Gimme gimme gimme some Greek romance!
The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkein
My husband’s choice for our book club this month is this absolute classic that is also on my 24 in 2024 list, so it’s a double win! I’m genuinely a bit nervous about this because I’ve watched all the films, I’ve seen the film ‘Tolkein’ and I’m a big fan, but I’m not sure how I’m going to like the narrative style – I think it’s going to be a bit literary fantasy and I’m not sure I’m going to vibe with it, I don’t know if I have that much brain power! But I’m going to give it my best go and it is shorter than I thought it was so that’s always a win.
Famous Five: Five Run Away Together – Enid Blyton
The next instalment in attempting to read the 10-book-box set we got as a wedding gift, the third book in the Famous Five series – Fine Run Away Together! So far, they’ve been nice palette cleanser books between the other books on my tbr and I’m actually finding myself looking forward to them! I don’t know if I’m going to be able to differentiate my reviews for them, that’s going to start getting repetitive, but I’m still enjoying them so that’s the main thing!
The Fine Print – Lauren Asher
This is one of the ones from my 24 in 2024 list and honestly, I picked it because the one and only book from that list that I’ve read so far this year was The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams, which is the first in my list (alphabetically by authors surname) so I’m just following that pattern. The Hobbit somewhat negates that pattern, but I’m pretty sure it’s the last one alphabetically so maybe I’ll just keep picking titles from each end of the alphabet till I meet in the middle.
I’ve heard a lot about the Dreamland Billionaires series and I’m looking forward to a contemporary romance and hope I like it more than I liked The Cheat Sheet 🤞
Legends and Lattes – Travis Baldree
And the next alphabetically on my 24 in 2024 list is another fantasy book, but a low stakes one and one of my first cosy fantasies I believe! I’m trying to manage my expectations because I think I could really love this one, but I don’t want to be disappointed by it! Honestly, as long as I don’t hate it I’ll be happy.
This is one where I’ve very deliberately not bought the sequel because I want to make sure I actually l like it before committing to the series and for that, I’m really proud of myself.
Fangirl Down – Tessa Bailey
I read my first Tessa Bailey book before Christmas and I found it oddly refreshing to read a silly romance book from an author that didn’t take herself or the genre too seriously – I knew this was going to be the Afterlight February book when they announced the theme as ‘Who’s Your Caddy’, so I was really excited to receive this book in my subscription box and I can’t wait to read it!
To Cage A God – Elizabeth May
This book from Illumicrate however, I am less excited about. This book was announced as February’s book several months ago and for me that spoils the surprise of the Illumicrate box, on top of the fact it’s not a book I would have picked up of my own accord and as it’s a title from Illumicrate’s own publishing house, Daphne Press, it feels a little bit like they’re shoving their own title down our throats. I’m pretty sure this is another sign that perhaps I need to cancel my Illumicrate subscription cos it’s not for me, but I do own this book so I will endeavour to read it!
And that’s all 9! Considering the most pages I’ve read in one sitting this week is 43 (and the least is 3), March has definitely got off to a slower start, but I’m hoping once I finish the Hades x Persephone series I’ll feel a bit more motivated!
Thank you for taking time out of your book to read my blog, it’s much appreciated ❤️
Another month has flown by and I’m desperately trying not to have a crisis about how fast the year is going and how ‘little’ I feel like I’ve achieved in that time, but I have read a few more books so it’s time for another monthly wrap up!
Five On A Treasure Island – Enid Blyton (paperback)
I started off the month by reading a book from my January tbr but it was kind of part of my book club so I really needed to prioritise it. Having just finished reading ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ by Robin Stevens, a middle grade murder mystery, I was way more open minded about reading a children’s book and I did enjoy this! The way I’ve been describing it is that I thought the writing was good, I liked the characters and I enjoyed it as much as an adult can enjoy a children’s book that they don’t have any nostalgic attachment too – it was nice, I’m not put off reading the whole series, but it’s not my favourite thing I’ve ever read. A nice 3 star read!
Bride – Ali Hazelwood (paperback + audiobook)
I was so excited when I found a physical copy of this book two days before it was officially released! I really enjoyed it and I loved the signature Ali Hazelwood style and the only reason I needed the audiobook support for this physical read is cos I’ve been quite burnt out this month so every time I tried to read before bed, I managed approximately 8 pages and I didn’t want to spend the next month on this book, so as the book was on Spotify I made the most of the 15 hours of listening I get with my premium subscription and having the audiobook meant I could make it through about 50 pages and it really enhanced the experience for me.
The story was really fun, it may have reignited a paranormal era I haven’t been in since my Twilight phase aged 14. There were moments where Misery felt a bit immature and the ‘enemies’ aspect of the enemies to lovers felt a bit forced cos there was lots of really romantic moments and then Misery would go ‘but he must despise me because I’m a Vampyre and he’s a Were and Weres hate Vampyres’ and I was like dude, he literally just told you how pretty you are stop being dumb. Otherwise it would have been 5 stars, but I did have a really good time!
The Cheat Sheet – Sarah Adams (paperback + audiobook)
I knew I should have DNF-ed this book from Page 4. I wish I was exaggerating but I was actually vlogging it at the time. The narrative style was so immature, it was dual perspective and they both had narrative styles that made them sound approximately 13, but they were meant to be about 23? They were already in love with each other from Page 1, on Page 18 the male main character talked about how ‘he just wanted to close the gap and kiss her’ and I seriously wondered what the next 300 pages were about.
Nothing. They were about nothing.
Spoilers ahead!
The whole premise is that they have to pretend to date for 3 weeks leading up to the superbowl, except that timeline gets forgotten somewhere along the line and by the end of the ‘3 weeks’ the male main character surprises the female main character with a wedding and they get married. It was super unrealistic anyway and then that happened. I honestly think 2 stars was a generous rating.
Five Go Adventuring Again – Enid Blyton (paperback + audiobook)
To be honest, I was still super burnt out when I started reading this book and I was already fretting about how I was going to listen to another audiobook on Spotify when I only had 8 hours of listening left, but The Famous Five books are anywhere from 3-5 hours so I could quite easily have the audiobook support whilst I read the paperback and it made my low-energy-burnout-brain read more than 4 pages at a time! And because it was a book written in the 1940s, the audiobook narrator was a very prim and proper voice actress and it was quite wholesome to listen to.
The second book in the Famous Five series maintained it’s 3 star standard – there were parts of this that I didn’t enjoy as much as the first one, but generally it was fine, I like the writing and the mystery/adventure elements were still quite fun!
Revolution – Jennifer Donnelly (paperback + audiobook)
So I didn’t quite finish this one in February, so I will be doing a full review of this book in my March wrap up but I wanted to include it here because it was my February book club pick and it’s the first month since I started my little solo book club in January 2023 that I haven’t managed to finish the book within the month (and I’m kind of annoyed about it tbh) but I tried my best!
It’s a book that is definitely enhanced by reading with the audiobook – the historical elements of the book are told from the perspective of an 18th century French girl during the Revolution (title drop!) and hearing that read in an authentic French accent is so much more immersive than the British voice I’d be reading in my own head! Thoroughly recommend the audiobook and/or co-reading, it’s fast becoming my favourite way to read.
I’m really enjoying it so far – the narrative style is really lovely to read, the dual timeline is really well done and I’m hyped to find out how it all ends. I’ve got just short of 30% left to read as of writing and I’m excited about it.
So four books in total for the month! I filmed my TikTok and YouTube wrap ups before the month officially ended so I optimistically said I had read five books in the hope I’d finish Revolution, but here on the blog you get the inside scope on what I really managed to read in February!
As always, let me know if you’ve read any of these books and your thoughts, or what you’re currently reading!
sophie counts clouds 