Category: sunday summary

Sunday Summary – 26th April 2020

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Hey everyone! You know what time it is – time for another Sunday Summary post! Another week has absolutely flown by!

I decided this time last week that I wanted to draft up two reviews this week. With that in mind, I started the week with an audiobook review for Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I have recently listened to the sequel, Crooked Kingdom, so I figured now was the right time to get my thoughts together on the first book. My second review of the week was for Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I adored this book when I read it in October last year – so much so, I binge-read the rest of the trilogy before the end of the year! I cannot recommend the books enough, I honestly can’t!

On Friday I shared another First Lines Friday post. This week I decided to change things up and featured a book that is still on my TBR at the moment. I really like the sound of this historical fiction novel and have read other similar ones by other authors. I’m sure it’ll be just as good as the others I have read.

 

Books Read

This week has been a bit of a weird one. I left off last week’s Sunday Summary post haveing just started Boom Time by Michelle Lowe. I continued with this one for a little while, but I wasn’t really feeling it. It’s not that I’m not enjoying it, I just think I need a break from the genre. I’ve read a few fantasy novels back-to-back lately and so a change was welcome!

With that in mind, I decided to pick up The Women’s Room by Marilyn French. It was definitely the right decision to switch as I am getting on quite well with that. I’m currently 26% through this one, which is about 130 pages.

Some of you may be thinking that this is nowhere near the reading pace I set myself, and you’re right. My stall in reading has partly been down to choice, and in other ways by necessity. I tend to read a lot during the evenings, but this week I decided to set that aside most of my reading time on Monday-Thursday evening in favour of watching the Rocky films on ITV4. I like them, but I don’t think I have ever watched them in full. I really wanted to and figured its okay to take a little break from the regular routine here and there. Now I have watched them, except number 5. I have it on good authority (my mum) that one isn’t as good as the rest and so I didn’t watch this one. I read on Friday night.

I also haven’t had a lot of time to read this weekend. My postponed house move is back on and due to take place shortly, so I’ve spent the weekend packing up and getting ready for it!

 

Books Discovered

I think it’s safe to say I’ve been a little too busy to be book browsing this week! Nothing to add here!

 

Coming Up…

I’m scaling back my posts this week so that I have some time on my hands to carry on packing, but also to try draft up some posts to keep my blog ticking over during my house move. It’s not going to happen overnight and it’ll take me a good while to get sorted on the other side, so I might still end up taking a brief break from blogging. I’m talking a week, two tops.

We’re not there yet though, so let’s talk about what I am sharing next week! I won’t be sharing a post for a few days at the beginning of next week, so my first post will be going live on Thursday. I am taking part in a blog tour for Magical Intelligence by M. K. Wiseman. You may recall I read this earlier on in the month. I’m glad I did now! I’d hate to be trying to rush reading it now.

Then, as usual, I’ll be rounding up the week with another Sunday Summary post. I’m not sure how much reading I’ll get done next week… but I’ll do my best!

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary update. What are you reading?

 

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Sunday Summary – 19th April 2020

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I feel really good about today’s Sunday Summary post and the updates I have for you all this week. I hope you have all had a good one?

I began the week with a fun Top Ten Tuesday post. I don’t know about you, but in light of the current situation, I find myself thinking a lot about the books I could dive into to forget all the madness. If you do but are looking for some inspiration on what to pick up, then my top ten books for a little escapism might be of interest to you. Even if you already know your books of choice, you’re welcome to come and have a nosy at my recommendations too!

On Friday I shared another Shelf Control post. It’s unusual of me to have a collection of short stories on the TBR – I tend to read longer novels. There are a few exceptions to the rule, however. I received a beautiful copy of this week’s book from my aunt for my birthday three years ago.

 

Books Read

My main read over the course of this week has been The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson. I did briefly start this last week to change up what I was reading midweek. I had read the first few chapters, taking me to 13%. As expected, I loved this book! I’ve really enjoyed reading the 2nd era Mistborn books over the last few months. I just have to wait for the last one, due out next year!

I’ve also made a start on my next read, Boom Time by Michelle Lowe. The intro is quite wacky, so I’m interested to see where the rest of the book goes. If it lives up to the blurb, I think it’ll be a good one!

In addition to physical reads, I’ve also made further progress with Moon Over Soho this week. I’ve slowed down a little compared to the progress I have been making in the last couple of weeks, but I’ve still managed to listen to about half of this. That takes me to about 75% of the way through, so fingers crossed I’ll have this finished shortly.

 

Books Discovered

As with last week’s Sunday Summary post, I’ve been very good again! I’ve been keeping myself distracted with the books I have and finishing my crochet project, so there are no new books on the TBR this week. Here’s my finished crochet baby blanket, which I am really proud of! My friend really liked it and it’s had a lot of love on Instagram as well, which is a bonus!

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About 5 years ago I taught myself how to crochet 🧶 using online resources (YouTube etc). I haven’t picked it up in a long while, but I decided it would be a great way to pass the time during isolation. My friend has also had a baby very recently, so I wanted to make a gift for her little one 👶🏼 . This is the end result! I found the pattern online (Daisy Farm Crafts) and I love it! I’m really happy with how it’s turned out! . What hobbies are getting you through social distancing at the moment? . #bookworm #bookblogger #happy #books #bookaddict #amreading #asongoficeandfire #georgerrmartin #adancewithdragons #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #booksofinsta #booklove #daisyfarmcrafts #crochet #crafting #blanket

A post shared by Rebecca @ Reviewsfeed (@reviewsfeed) on

 

Coming Up…

I want to try and work on some of the reviews I have outstanding next week. With that in mind, I am planning on posting my thoughts on two books. The first is going to be an audiobook review for Six of Crows by Leight Bardugo. I listened to this a little while ago now, however, the book and characters are still fresh in my mind from listening to the second part of the duology recently.

The second review of the week will be for the start of a series I devoured last year. I was a fan of Laini Taylor’s even before reading her Daughter of Smoke and Bone series. Now, I am even more so! You can find out why in that review!

This Friday I’ll be sharing another First Lines Friday post. The past few posts have featured books that I read some time ago, so this week I’m changing it up. I’ll feature a book that is currently on my TBR instead (and probably torment myself over how good it is and subsequently want to read it). That’s the life of a reader… what can I say?

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post! I hope you have enjoyed catching up with me! What are you currently reading?

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 12th April 2020

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Hey guys and welcome back to this week’s Sunday Summary post! Yes, I’m back to normal scheduling this week! How have you been? What have you been doing to entertain yourselves in these strange times? In normal circumstances, I would have been spending the day with my parents. I do every Sunday generally, but I would have spent today with them especially as it’s my dad’s birthday! I am gutted that I couldn’t get to spend the day with him (and my mum) to celebrate, but I did see them briefly to drop off some birthday presents and a takeaway of his choice since we couldn’t go out!

What have I been up to earlier in the week? Well, aside from working from home, I’ve been reading, continuing with my baby blanket crochet project and blogging of course! My first blog post of the week was a review of Circe by Madeline Miller. I actually enjoyed sharing my mixed feelings about the book… and found that I am not the only one that felt the same way about it!

On Friday I shared the opening lines to a book and series I started years ago. I also discovered that book 4 of the series is due out next year, so I might just have to re-read the first three books. It’s been a LONG time since I picked these up. I’m going to need a refresh.

 

Books Read

In last week’s Sunday Summary post, I shared that my current read was Magical Intelligence by M. K. Wiseman. This has been the case most of the week. It’s not the smallest book – 426 pages according to Goodreads, and I had just started it that day last week. I could have read it faster, but I’ll hold my hands up and admit that I didn’t. I’m finding staying at home has made me quite restless and it’s affecting my attention span. That’s where the crocheting has come in handy really – it’s a break and change of activity!

For a break, I did also start reading The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson one night this week. I managed 13% of this one before falling asleep – so a respectable start! Since I have started it, this is the book I’ll be continuing on with next. I’ve loved reading The Alloy of Law and Shadows of Self in the past couple of months, so I’m hoping I might find some improved concentration on this one!

If not, it’s not the end of the world. As I said, I’ve also been working on my baby blanket. Just because I am crocheting though, it doesn’t mean I’m not consuming books too! This week I managed to finish Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London and I’m about a quarter of the way through the sequel, Moon Over Soho. I’m so glad I chose to ‘read’ these as audiobooks! The narrator really brings all the characters to life.

 

Books Discovered

I have absolutely nothing to report here this week – I haven’t even so much as added a book to the TBR!
It’s a rare occasion, so let’s enjoy it while it lasts!

 

Coming Up…

I want to write something fun next week, so I’m lining up a Top Ten Tuesday post to fit the bill. A lot of people read as a form of escapism… I certainly do! So, I’ve decided my Top Ten Tuesday post is going to be recommendations for anyone looking for escapism in these uncertain (and unpleasant) times.

On Friday it’s the turn of my Shelf Control regular feature. This week’s featured ‘book’ is actually the first edition of a large collection of stories. These stories aren’t necessarily as we know them today; however, a lot of modern stories will have their roots with these early translations. I’m not giving you any more clues than that – it’s a big one as it is!

As always, my trusty update Sunday Summary post will round up the week!

Now that’s this week round up complete, I’m off to make myself another cuppa and crack on with my reading! What have you been reading this week?

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 5th April 2020

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Good evening readers and welcome back to my weekly update post, Sunday Summary. I hope you have all been able to make the most of the weekend in? I’ve been spending mine cleaning, doing washing, reading, listening to audiobooks and working more on my crochet baby blanket project!

It’s been a busy week too, not just the weekend. I had quite a few posts lined up, so I’ve spent a lot of time working on blog content as well! My first blog post of the week was a review for a book I read at the beginning of the year. I received a copy of These Are Not the Trinity Papers from the author Vale Zalecki and it was finally time to put my thoughts together into a review.

The next post I had lined up was my reading list for April. I can’t believe we are a quarter of the way through the year already… but here we are! In that post, I took the opportunity to review my challenges, as well as set myself an ambitious reading list. I don’t even have to make excuses to stay in to read at the moment… it’s great!

Friday’s Shelf Control post featured a historical fiction novel that I am keen to read. It is part of my Beat the Backlist challenge, so I’ll be reading it a little later in the year with any luck! It’s a completely new period of history to me, although I am hoping from the sound of it that it is reminiscent in tone to the likes of Bernard Conwell’s Saxon Stories (The Last Kingdom) series.

And finally, on Sunday I shared my blog tour review of iRemember by S. V. Bekvalac. Fans of science fiction and/or dystopian fiction should really check out this review (and the book)! I think you’ll really enjoy it. You may have noticed that this Sunday Summary is coming to you a little late – well, this is why!

 

Books Read

Picking up from where I left off in last week’s Sunday Summary post, I did finish The God Game as promised. I blitzed the last part of the book before I went to bed and I am glad I did! It felt good to finish it after having a bit of a slow week otherwise.

The next book I picked up was iRemember, in anticipation of the blog tour I have just taken part in. I spent most of the week reading this and finished reading it on Saturday, just in time to start drafting my review. I really enjoyed the book, but I have been quite distracted and found myself picking it up and putting it down a lot. Not a fault of the book at all – I think it’s cabin fever! As much as I joke about not having to make excuses to stay in and read… I do miss going out.

I started my next read quite late on today and I’ll be reading it before going to bed tonight. Since I am taking part in a blog tour for Magical Intelligence later on this month, I wanted to get prepared. So, I’m reading it nice and early. I’ve only read the first couple of chapters so far, but I’m already hooked on the storyline and can’t wait to see what happens next!

Now normally I report a small amount of progress with the latest audiobook I am listening to, but that’s not the case at all this week! I only typically listen to a couple of hours or so a week, but I have really excelled this week! It’s in part because I am working from home and have been doing some fairly basic and repetitive tasks. I’ve also found them good to listen to when working on my crochet project too – they help pass the time.

This week, I listened to John Scalzi’s Head On in its entirety and around two-thirds of Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. That’s over 15 hours of audio!

 

 

Books Discovered

I read a great review this week for an interesting sounding thriller, due to be published next month. Dear Child’s synopsis caught my eye, and Drew’s review over on The Tattooed Book Geek was so good that I decided to pre-order a Kindle copy. It’s not out until next month, but hey, it’s not like I don’t have plenty of books to keep me occupied in the meantime…

 

Coming Up…

I want to start next week by reviewing a book that I read on holiday in October last year. Doesn’t that feel a long time ago? I doubt there will be any holidays in the near future too, sadly. Anyway, Circe was one of the first books I picked up on the week-long trip. I’ve seen lots of reviews on the book and I’m looking forward to sharing my opinion of it too!

This week I’ll be sharing a First Lines Friday post. I don’t normally have a particular book in mind so early on. However, there is a particular book I read years ago that I loved and want to share with you all now. I hope you’ll enjoy the introduction as much as I did!

Next week my Sunday Summary post will be coming to you on the prescribed day. It’s just as I was taking part in a blog tour this week that it’s a little late.

That’s all for now folks! Enjoy the rest of the week, stay safe, and most importantly… keep reading! Just kidding, stay in and stay safe friends!

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 29th March 2020

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Today’s Sunday Summary comes at the end of a very weird week. In less than seven days I have gone from going to work as normal to working from home; as an island, we have gone from quarantining all arrivals as a precaution to closing our borders and all residents under lockdown. It’s the right thing to do, but it is unsettling, to say the least!

I had scaled back my blogging this week in anticipation of moving house, but that has now been put off until everything settles down. I have no idea when that is, but I’m hoping it isn’t too long. So, aside from today’s Sunday Summary post, I have only shared one other post this week. On Wednesday I shared my review of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. I had no idea what I was going to make of this book since it’s out of my comfort zone completely! I really enjoyed it though, even if it did make me cry!

 

Books Read

Picking up from last week, I am still reading The God Game by Danny Tobey. I’ve progressed nicely from the 70 odd pages I had already read and I am now just shy of 360 pages in. My aim is to finish this book tonight after this post goes live.

I’ve also been thinking about Good Omens, which I haven’t really revisited. After putting this down to prioritise blog tours, I really struggled to pick this up again. I’ve been mulling it over and I have decided to DNF it. I wasn’t enjoying it so much that I looked forward to reading it, and I can’t get back into it. My Beat the Backlist Challenge isn’t going so well at the moment – I’ve DNF’d 2/5 books I’ve picked up!

I’m a little disappointed I haven’t read more this week, but I understand why I haven’t as well. My routine has all been up in the air and it’s thrown me off. As moving date was initially pulled right forward to this Friday I spent Monday furiously packing the essentials I had been leaving until last. However, on Tuesday it was postponed and I spent Tuesday night unpacking again.

There is better news about listening to my Crooked Kingdom audiobook though – I finished this today! I normally listen to audiobooks in the car when I’m driving, but since I haven’t been commuting I was worried that progress on Crooked Kingdom would stall. I have found a way to make this work though! Something else I have taken up (again) this week to keep myself occupied is crochet. I’m making a baby blanket for my friend’s little one, who is due to make her appearance anytime soon! I’ve found listening to audiobooks whilst doing this really easy! If you want a sneak peek of the blanket, check out my Instagram page!

 

Books Discovered

I stumbled across an advert on Facebook for a locally based author on Saturday night, and so I started looking at a few of his books. I wasn’t sure if the advertised book was quite for me, however, I found The Seaside Detective Agency. The sound of this light-hearted mystery is perfect right now, especially with everything so sombre going on. Characters who are ‘bumbling idiots with the best intentions’ are what I need right now. I believe it’s set in my home town too, so I am interested to see how it’s portrayed!

If the novel were less satirical and more realistic, the PI’s in this would be brilliant. They’d know what was going on with you before you did yourself. Everyone knows the skeet* in Peel.

*Skeet is a Manx term, meaning gossip.

 

Coming Up…

My blogging schedule will be back to its usual self next week.

My first planned post of the week is a review of These Are Not the Trinity Papers by Vale Zalecki. I was kindly given a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review at the end of last year. I finished reading this at the beginning of February, so it’s time to put my thoughts together and share them with you.

Next up will be my reading list for April. With only my last couple of blog tours left to do, I have a lot of flexibility with what I can read. I have more time too, so I am hoping to squeeze a good few books in.

On Friday I’ll be sharing the next book in my Shelf Control series. This week’s book features a historical fiction novel set in a new time period for me to explore. It also has an unusual main character! I’m not telling you any more than that – such a tease I know…

On Sunday I am taking part in a blog tour so you can expect a review from me on that day. You can check out the details of the book in my reading list post. Don’t fret though, my Sunday Summary post will be published first thing on Monday morning, so you’ll be able to catch my weekly update post then.

That’s all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post! How has your week been? What have you been reading?

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 22nd March 2020

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Hey guys and welcome back to another Sunday Summary post! I hope you are all well in this crazy world we are living in right now. Since you hear about it absolutely everywhere else though, let’s not talk about it and instead distract ourselves with talk about all the fabulous books we can!

So, what have I been up to this week? My first post of the week was published on Tuesday. It had been about three months since I last shared a Top Ten Tuesday post, so I was long overdue one. In this week’s post, I shared my top ten reasons I love being a book blogger.

On Wednesday caught up with a book review for one of my favourite books in 2019. Regular readers will know just how much of a fan I am for Margaret Atwood and The Handmaid’s Tale. I really enjoyed revisiting and reviewing the sequel, The Testaments.

This week’s First Lines Friday post featured another of my favourite books. Sticking with my previous theme of sharing books I read pre-blog, I shared the introduction to a book I read for the first time as a teenager.

 

Books Read

In last week’s Sunday Summary update I was reading Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson and about a quarter of the way through the book. I really enjoy reading Brandon Sanderson’s books, so it’s hardly surprising that I managed to finish this one on Friday this week. It picks up from The Alloy of Law nicely, and since that was also a recent read I got into it straight away!

After Shadows of Self, I picked up my ARC copy of The God Game by Danny Tobey. I’m just about 70 pages into the book at the moment and the story is coming into its own. I’m intrigued to see what this ‘game’ is and how the book progresses. So far it has been a nice and easy read.

And now onto the audiobook section. So, I still haven’t finished Crooked Kingdom yet, but I will VERY SOON! I have three hours and thirty minutes left, so I only have an hour more to listen to than I would get through normally in the week! I will finish it next week – I promise!

 

Books Discovered

I’ve been really good this week and there are no additions to share. The sad news is, my local regular bookstore haunt is closing tomorrow until further notice. I’ll just have to make do with the hundred or so physical books I own already…
I wish I was joking. I counted them recently – it’s a ridiculous number. Am I ashamed? Absolutely not!

 

Coming Up…

Things are probably going to seem a little quiet here for the next few weeks or so. I am going to keep posting as much as time allows, but I do have some other commitments that are going to take up some of my time.
With that in mind, I am cutting down my blogging schedule to a couple of posts a week. I’ll post my Sunday Summary updates as usual.

Midweek, I want to share another book review. I have plenty to get through! This week I am going to be sharing a review of a book that I borrowed from the library last year. I borrowed it rather than getting my own copy as I didn’t know what I was going to make of it at all. It was a little out of my comfort zone, but I am glad I read it. I wanted to read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes as it touches on the sensitive subject of euthanasia. I didn’t expect to fall in love with it as I did!

That’s everything to look forward to next week and all from me in today’s Sunday Summary! What have you been reading?

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 15th March 2020

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Today’s Sunday Summary post is coming to you a little late since I was taking part in a blog tour yesterday. I hope you had a good weekend!

This week has brought to you a couple of blog tours. The first of those, a review of Helene by Karl Drinkwater, was shared on Monday. Helene is a short story that ties into this Lost Solace series. I really enjoyed the book, and writing that post. I also got some great feedback from the author, who has also asked me to review two further books of his off the back of it!

After my post on Monday I took a few days “off” so to speak (I had some personal stuff to catch up with!), and shared my next post on Friday. This week’s Shelf Control post featured a contemporary novel that I wouldn’t typically describe as my cup of tea. That said, I do really love the sound of the book based on the synopsis and I am always open to trying something new.

Lastly, I shared my blog tour review of Tooth and Blade by Julian Barr on Sunday. This book is really unique in that it combines Norse mythology and fantasy together with a strong female protagonist trying to find her way in a world where she doesn’t fit in.

 

Books Read

My priority of the week was reading Tooth and Blade by Julian Barr since yesterday was my blog tour date. I actually read this book in a couple of days. These three novellas combined total around 288 pages, but honestly, it was so easy to read that they flew by! The story is unlike anything I have read before as well, so I was keen to see how events played out. If you want to read more about it, my link to my review is above.

After a great start to the week, I hit a slump midweek. After reading Tooth and Blade I picked up Good Omens again. All my blog tour reading is done at this point, so I was free to go back to it. I’ve struggled to get back into it though. I’ve picked it up three or four times this week, but I’ve not been able to stick with it. I distract myself with other things or my attention would wander. I don’t know why I’m not getting back into it, but there we are. I’ve read about 10% this week. That’s 50 pages, but it doesn’t feel like much of an achievement, to be honest. I’ll keep trying, but I’m going to take a short break from it.

After an unsuccessful attempt at returning to Good Omens, I decided to move on to the next book on my TBR. After reading The Alloy of Law recently I wanted to continue catching up with this series. Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson is proving more successful in terms of reading. I only started this on Saturday night and as of writing this post, I’m already 25% through it. I reckon I can squeeze in another hour of reading before bed tonight. By the time this post goes live, I should be about 40% through, or close to.

I’ve chipped another couple of hours or so off my audiobook Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. The plot is really coming together now, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the gang get themselves out of the trouble they’ve landed in!

 

Books Discovered

 

I’ve been pretty good this week, as I’ve been busy reading, trying to read or catching up with some other stuff I’ve had to do!

 

Coming Up…

Now that all my blog tours are done for the month, I plan to share some reviews I need to catch up with. Before that though, it’s been a long time since I wrote a Top Ten Tuesday post. This week, taking into account my blog’s 3 year anniversary is coming up next month, I want to share my top ten reasons I love being a book blogger!

On Thursday I’m sharing a review for a book I was dying to get my hands on last year. Little did I know that my copy of the book was going to be special! Yes, I am talking about The Testaments by Margaret Atwood. If I was intolerably excited before collecting my pre-ordered copy that day, I would have been worse that afternoon! It’s been five months or so since I read the book, so I can’t wait to finally set my thoughts down about it.

On Friday it’s the turn of a First Lines Friday post. I enjoyed featuring a book I read prior to starting my blog in my last First Lines Friday post, so I am going to try and do the same thing again.

Last, but certainly not least, next week’s Sunday Summary post will be coming to you on schedule.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s belated Sunday Summary post. Have you read any of these books?

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 8th March 2020

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Drafting my Sunday Summary post can only mean it’s Sunday evening again friends! Where does the weekend go? It seems only five minutes ago that I was here typing up last week’s post. I hope you had a good week (and weekend) since then.

The week began with me putting together my reading list for March. I have one carryover from February since I only just started it at the end of last month. Given this week’s progress already though, I’m optimistic for a good month. I had to defer one book I wanted to read this month to make up for being behind, but I might just get around to it if I can keep it up!

On Wednesday I took part in a blog tour for Lady Edith’s Lonely Heart by Audrey Harrison, a romantic historical fiction novel. Although slightly different from my typical read, I really enjoyed promoting the book as part of the tour. I am sure I have readers that this would appeal to.

My First Lines Friday post was really fun to write. It’s not very often that I feature books that I read in my teenage or pre-blog years. It was something I was thinking about when writing last week’s Sunday Summary. So, I decided I would make a conscious effort to feature one such book in this post. The one I have featured is one of my favourites by far and I am still awaiting the next book in the series. Maybe one day it’ll be published!

I also shared another blog tour post yesterday for Songbird by Karen Heehan. This particular tour post was a review and I hope I did my feelings for the book justice. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but in fact, was so much better for it! I really enjoyed it! Songbird strikes the perfect balance of historical fiction and character-led narrative.

 

Books Read

I briefly started this week where I left off with Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I did manage a little night-time reading before bed on Sunday as planned.

Come Monday evening though, I decided I needed to put it aside and start reading Songbird ahead of the blog tour. That’s how I spent most of the week as well. I finished Songbird on Friday night and started drafting my post right away. It was good in a way, as it was all fresh in my mind!

I’ve had quite a busy weekend as I was doing the usual housework Saturday afternoon and I was out last night. That said, I still managed to read around 60% of a short story, Helene yesterday and I finished it this morning. I have a very imminent blog tour for that as well, so this had also been read in good time! I say this every time I read one, but I forget how great short stories are! They’re great for little breaks between other reads or to enjoy another genre for a change. I really like science-fiction too, so I got into this straight away!

I’ve continued listening to Crooked Kingdom this week. I only tend to get through about two and a half hours of audiobook a week. Occasionally I can listen to more, depending on what else I am doing. I still have a few hours of this left to go, but since I’m getting closer to the conclusion I might pick up the pace.

 

Books Discovered

Technically there shouldn’t be anything to report here this week! However, I’ve just realised I forgot to mention an addition to my TBR a couple of weeks ago.

Having read a great review for The Black Coats by Colleen Oates, I decided to add it to my list to read.

 

Coming Up…

Next week’s line-up gets started early, as I am taking part in a blog tour tomorrow. I’m going to be reviewing my read of Helene by Karl Drinkwater, so if you like short stories, science fiction novels (or both!) I think you’ll enjoy my thoughts on this book!

I want to use this week to catch up with a few personal things, so my next blog post won’t be going live until Friday. It’s the turn of my Shelf Control feature post. This week’s featured novel is a contemporary fiction novel, not something I would say I read regularly. All I’ll say is that I think I’ll really enjoy this book as it has a very sentimental nature to it, and I’m very much like that personally. I hope that’s a sufficient tease to get you to check out that post!

My usual Sunday Summary post is being delayed a day in light of the fact that I have a second blog tour post this week. On Sunday I will be reviewing Tooth & Blade by Julian Barr. As of yet, I haven’t started reading this book, but that’s tonight’s plan if I get my second post of the night drafted up in good time!

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s Sunday Summary post! Have you read any of the books featured?

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 1st March 2020

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Good evening everyone! I hope you have all had a lovely weekend. It’s Sunday night again, so it’s time for me to write this week’s Sunday Summary post!

So, what have I been up to this week? Well, my first post of the week was published early on Monday. I took part in the blog tour for Unborn by Rachel McLean and enjoyed both reading and sharing my thoughts on the book.

On Wednesday I shared my second review of the week. In an effort to catch up with reviewing some of the books I read last year, I finally shared my review of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. If you like murder mysteries with a twist then I definitely recommend you check this one out!

Friday’s Shelf Control post featured the first book of a series I want to get into soon. It’s on my Beat the Backlist challenge for this year, so I don’t think I’ll be too long in getting stuck into this book. I’ve read another series by this author, but I read and loved that a long time ago – probably when I was a teenager.

 

Books Read

I’ve spent most of this week reading City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. It actually took me a little longer to read than I anticipated in last week’s Sunday Summary post – it’s a reasonably long book. I did spend my evenings on other things than just reading too, but that’s fine. I still managed to finish it last night.

It’s almost barely worth mentioning, but I did pick up Good Omens very briefly after City of Stairs. I’ve not even finished the first chapter yet, so I’m hardly far with it at all. I’ll be picking it up again before bed tonight though, so fingers crossed there’s more progress made with that tonight.

I’m still really enjoying Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo as well. I didn’t listen to as much of this as I normally do. As you may know, I tend to listen to it in the car on the way home from work. A couple of days this week I just really fancied listening to music instead, so I did. I have just less than 9 and a half hours to go to reach the conclusion, so I still have plenty to enjoy!

 

Books Discovered

Nothing too wild to note here, compared to my recent book splurges thankfully. I have added the sequel to City of Stairs to my TBR. The synopsis of City of Blades sounds really intriguing. I had no idea how the series was going to continue given how City of Stairs ended, so I can’t wait to find out what comes next in this instalment…

I’ve also added a non-fiction book to the list as well this week. It is currently Non-Fiction Book of the Month at Waterstones, which is how I came across it. I don’t read much non-fiction but this does pique my interest.

 

Coming Up…

It’s March already, so I’ll be starting the week by sharing this month’s reading list. I have a couple of books for blog tours, a couple of Beat the Backlist entries, as well as a re-read and an ARC from a publisher to read. I hope you can check out that post and find out exactly what I am reading.

Midweek I am taking part in a blog tour and sharing a promo post. For personal reasons, I am winding down on blog tours in the short-term, but I do still have a few more scheduled.

On Friday I plan to share another First Lines Friday post. I really enjoy writing these, even if finding a really good introduction tempts me to stray from my planned reading list! It’s also a great way to feature books that I read in my pre-blog days too, which I might try to do this week.

That’s today’s Sunday Summary post wrapped up! What have you been reading this week? Have you read any of the books featured? If so, let me know what you think!

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 23rd February 2020

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Good evening everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary post! I hope you have had a good week, just as I have? I had a pretty good week and a great weekend with family, as my sister came to visit. We’ve enjoyed a nice long weekend together, but it’s back to reality tomorrow!

Before we get into the goings-on of next week, let’s recap this one! I shared a couple of book reviews this week: The War Within by Stephen Donaldson was shared on Tuesday and The Girl from the Workhouse by Lynn Johnson on Friday.

The War Within was an ARC I received from Gollancz last year in exchange for a review. It was good to catch up with this so I am up-to-date with the series! My second review of the week was shared in conjunction with the tour Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources. If you haven’t read either of my reviews yet, I hope you find the links to them useful.

 

Books Read

I picked up where I left off in last week’s Sunday Summary post in reading Unborn by Rachel McLean. By the end of least week I had already read over half of this, so it didn’t take too long to finish the book. I really enjoy dystopian fiction and the subject matter is one that I feel pretty passionate about. If you want to know my thoughts on this book, my tour post is being published tomorrow (24th February).

My next (and current) read is one I am picking up for my Beat the Backlist challenge! City of Stairs has been on my reading list since January 2015, so just over 5 years. Mad, right? It’s definitely overdue reading and I am really enjoying it so far! I’m hoping to have time to pick this up again tonight before bed, but it really depends how quickly I get all my blogging done this evening. I can’t see this taking me long to read.

In addition to the above, I have also been listening to more of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. My usual car share buddy has been skiing this week, so I’ve effectively been able to listen to twice as much of the audiobook as I normally do. I’m about a third of the way through now and I’m excited about the schemes being cooked up by Kaz and the crew.

 

Books Discovered

I decided to spend some of my birthday vouchers this week and I had fun doing it too! I had a good look around my local Waterstones. Finally, I decided to use them to buy the rest of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. I already had the first three books, so I treated myself to the other four to complete the set. I was always going to read them, so why not?

The remainder of the vouchers will go towards a paperback set of Jay Kristoff’s Nevernight Chronicles once the third book of the trilogy, Darkdawn, is out in June.

 

Coming Up…

Next week’s blogging schedule starts early. Tomorrow, in fact. MY first post of the week is my review of Rachel McLean’s Unborn for the current blog tour with Rachel’s Random Resources. I have lots to say about both the book and the topic it covers, so I hope you can tune in for that!

On Wednesday I’ll be sharing another book review. I have quite a few to get through! I’ve decided the next book on the list is The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I read this book in August last year and it’s unlike anything I have read before. I enjoyed the format of the book, as well as the mystery.

On Friday I’ll be back to my regular feature posts. I took last week off to take part in a blog tour, but this week I’m back with a Shelf Control post. This week’s post is about a book written by an author whose books I have read before. I gather from reviews that it has a slightly different vibe to those I have picked up previously. That said, I really enjoy the genre and his writing style, so I don’t think it’ll matter one little bit!

As always, I’ll be rounding off the week with a Sunday Summary post and we can talk about my bookish adventures all over again!

Have you read any of the books discussed in my post? What have you been reading this week? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time,

 

 

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