Okay. So this month officially "launches" my attempt at some monthly reading wrap-ups where I look back at the past month and make some lists--cause we all know how much I love my lists!
I have formatted and re-formatted this post until I liked the way it looks. I sometimes tend to get a little obsessive about the strangest things.
April was a really good month in a lot of ways. Aside from completing my April books for the 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge, I also managed to read two books for this year's TBR Pile Challenge (granted, one of those books was part of both challenges). This month I started a total of six series, one of which I finished (Morgan's Mercenaries: Love and Glory), and one that I put a small dent in (Bulletcathers), and one where I have only read the first book (Dept 6 Hired Guns). I finished one series I'd been reading this year (Deadly), and finally tackled Marie Lu's Legend trilogy, of which I still need to finish the big concluding third book, Champion when I can get a hold of it.
In a strange way, I have managed to tackle all of the books I set on my April reading list with the exception of Champion--which has been bumped to my May reading list due to library availability. And so then I had to make use of my Book Roulette (for probably the first time since I created a new Book Roulette system--color coordinated post-its in a jar), and got myself White Heat (read via Scribd book service platform).
I'd say I've made a lot of progress considering the chaos that is Real Life--busy, busy work schedule just makes for little time for reading and blogging... which means I snatch those moments right before I go to sleep or when I'm waiting around for other things to happen. Which probably means I've gotten less sleep this past month than I should have.
Anyway...
Books Read
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
Kill Me Twice by Roxanne St. Claire
Thrill Me To Death by Roxanne St. Claire
You Can Count On Me by Roxanne St. Claire - novella (I'll Be Home For Christmas ant.)
Legend by Marie Lu
Take Me Tonight by Roxanne St. Claire
Reason to Believe by Roxanne St. Claire - novella (What You Can't See anthology)
A Question of Honor by Lindsay McKenna
No Surrender by Lindsay McKenna
Life Before Legend by Marie Lu - two short stories
77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
Investigating the Hottie by Juli Alexander
The Moonlit Mind by Dean Koontz
Prodigy by Marie Lu
Deadly Lies by Cynthia Eden
Return of a Hero by Lindsay McKenna
Dawn of Valor by Lindsay McKenna
Freefall by Jill Sorenson
White Heat by Brenda Novak
Killjoy by Julie Garwood
Reading Wrap Up
20 total books were read in April, three of which were technically short stories/novellas. Dean Koontz's The Moonlit Mind is categorized as a novella, but it felt long enough to be a book on it's own anyway, even if not his usual book length.
My favorite reads in April were plenty. The School for Good and Evil was a surprisingly pleasant enjoyment with its strange, nonsensical, laugh-out-loud humor and its clever parodying of classic fairy tale tropes. Legend was un-put-down-able (as was Prodigy) even if both books border on typical YA dystopian formulas. I DO look forward to finishing off the trilogy though. Deadly Lies was the most enjoyable and emotionally intense of the Deadly series and despite the disconnecting imbalance between romance and suspense, the overall story was very riveting.
Jill Sorenson's Freefall was intense and gritty, with excellent attention to all the gory details and a consistently forward-moving progression. There were moments of "yeah, this doesn't really make any logical sense, but whatevs, THIS BOOK IS EXCITING!", because I found the story very enjoyable nonetheless. Julie Garwood's third Buchanan-Renard book, Killjoy, was surprisingly fun and enjoyable, probably my favorite of the series so far based solely on how the book itself was presented.
Finally, Investigating the Hottie was a cute, short-length story for a very, very young target audience requiring an immense will for suspension of disbelief, but I still enjoyed it on a "Turn off your brain and just enjoy" type of way.
I was slightly disappointed by Roxanne St. Claire's Bulletcatchers series--while the first book, Kill Me Twice was exciting and enjoyable, rest of the books following (so far) have been a bit hard to enjoy due to certain elements that trigger my rolly eyes.
Lindsay McKenna's first four Morgan's Mercenaries books came to me unexpectedly when the library e-book catalog picked up my requested recommendations faster than I'd ever had happen before... Unfortunately, I just didn't seem to be able to enjoy them too much--possibly the old-timey romance with very old-fashioned ideals and thinking with characters deliberately trying to be forward thinking and failing at it didn't really work out for me very well. Also, everyone was so hysterical and dramatic, but I suppose that was how old-timey romances were written.
While I read a lot of books this month, my Real Life obligations didn't leave much time to review every one of them--not that I had planned to do so. However, I would like to write a short review for Freefall and for Killjoy, but that decision is still up in the air. I may or may not write a series review for Brenda Novak's Dept 6 Hired Guns trilogy; although, since her book formulas are pretty much standard, I don't think I'll have much to say. White Heat actually turned out to be one of my more preferred Brenda Novak books read so far, though, so we'll see.
Reviews & Notable Posts
- Reviews
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
Kill Me Twice by Roxanne St. Claire
Thrill Me To Death by Roxanne St. Claire
You Can Count On Me by Roxanne St. Claire
Take Me Tonight by Roxanne St. Claire
Reason to Believe by Roxanne St. Claire
Investigating the Hottie by Juli Alexander
- Top Ten Tuesdays
4/7/2015: Top Ten Characters You'd Like to Check In With
4/14/2015: Top Ten Inspiring Quotes from Books
4/21/2015: Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors (top 20 or narrowed genre optional)
4/28/2015: Top Ten Books Which Feature Characters Who ________
- Other Posts
"In Which Stiefvater Draws a Tarot Deck"
Currently Reading
Coming Up Next (tentative scheduling)
- Tentative TBR for This Month
- Tentatively Planned Posts/Reviews
Review: Killjoy by Julie Garwood
Review: Freefall by Jill Sorenson
Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer
Review: The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise
Review: Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis
Review: Champion by Marie Lu
Review: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
-- May Top Ten Tuesdays --
5/5/2015: Top Ten Books I Will Probably Never Read
5/12/2015: Ten Authors I REALLY Want to Meet
5/19/2015: Top Ten Tuesday Freebie
5/26/2015: Ten Books I Plan To Have In My Beach Back This Summer - OR - Ten Books I Think Make Great Beach Reads
Book Haul / TBR Additions
- Amazon Kindle Deals (free)
Obviously I'm building my Reading List for next year's Mount TBR Challenge...
- Amazon Kindle Deals (discounted)
- Used Book Buys
- Checked Out From the Library
Reading Challenge Updates
Original 2015 Reading Challenge Post
-
General Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge -- GR list/shelf
BookLikes Reading Challenge -- BL list/shelf
My Goal: 150 books
Progress: 64/150 books read
- Outdo Yourself Challenge
Hosted by Book Vixen
My Goal: Getting My Heart Rate Up: read 1 - 5 more books
(I read 154 books for this challenge in 2014 / My goal will be 155 - 159 books in 2015.)
My Progress: 56/155
See Also: 2015 Outdo Yourself Challenge shelf for list of books
- Romantic Suspense Challenge
-- CHALLENGE COMPLETED -- 4/9/2015
Hosted by Book Vixen
My Goal: SWAT: read 21+ romantic suspense novels
My Progress: 29/21
See Also: 2015 Romantic Suspense Challenge shelf for list of books
- Men in Uniform Challenge
-- CHALLENGE COMPLETED -- 3/17/2015
Hosted by Book Vixen
My Goal: Chief: read 16+ men in uniform novels
My Progress: 26/16
-- 16 books read -- COMPLETED -- 3/17/2015
See: 2015 Men in Uniform Challenge shelf for book list
See: 2015 Men in Uniform Challenge post for detailed list
- 2015 TBR Pile Challenge
Hosted by Roof Beam Reader
My 2015 TBR Pile Challenge Summary Post
My Progress: 6/12
See Also: BookLikes shelf / Goodreads shelf
- 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge
Hosted by Because Reading & Fantasy Is More Fun
My 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge Summary Post
My Goal: Reading Level 5: 48 books (4 books/month), 4 Extra Credits, 1 Pass
My Progress: 16/48 (No Extra Credits or Passes used)
See Also: BookLikes shelf / Goodreads shelf
- Mount TBR Reading Challenge
Hosted by My Reader's Block
My Goal: Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR pile/s
My Progress: 18/48
See: 2015 Mount TBR Challenge shelf for book list
- The Series That Never Ends Challenge
Hosted by Delighted Reader
My 2015 The Series That Never Ends Challenge Summary Post
My Goal: Surviving the Book Tsunami -- 5 - 9 books
My Progress: 8/9 books
-- 0/3 chosen series completed
See: 2015 Series Never Ends Challenge shelf for book list
Final Thoughts
Aside from the general challenges, my Reading Assignment Challenge, and the TBR Pile Challenge, I've made little progress with my other two, more specific challenges, Mount TBR and The Series That Never ends. There were a lot of library check-outs this month as well as the use of Scribd. Only two of the books I read qualified for Mount TBR; the other books I read that are owned were bought this year. And because of certain reading list decisions I made, I didn't even touch any of the pre-chosen books for The Series Never Ends Challenge.
We're not quite at half-point yet, so I still have hope that I can fulfill all of my challenges.
There were several 2015 books I've been pushing back on my reading list... for reasons... which doesn't make me happy, but circumstances and situations require tough decisions, right? =P
I DO, however, have plans to read a few 2015 releases this month though. At the very least, there's already an auto-read being published this month that I will definitely get into.
Previous Wrap-Ups
Reading Wrap Up: 2015 So Far (Jan., Feb., Mar.)
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