Hello!

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!

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx