Sunday Summary – 7th April 2024
Good evening readers and welcome to another Sunday Summary update full of bookish news and going on from here! Make yourselves comfortable so we can dive in to this week’s update post.
As always, let’s recap the blog posts I have shared in the last week. My first post of the week was a blog tour post featuring Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater. I originally published my review of this book back in February. But when I saw the tour invite, I promised to revamp it and share it as part of the tour. It worked out nicely as the author gets more publicity, and I already had a good deal of content prepared to share.
I shared a second blog to post just a couple of days later – this one for Enemies of Mercia by M.J. Porter. This was a brand-new read and review obligation, so that was my priority for this week. I really enjoyed this sixth instalment to the Eagle of Mercia Chronicles. If you have been following my reviews of the series on my blog, you’ll be especially interested to check out this latest review!
I shared a further post on Saturday given that those tour obligations meant I couldn’t feature my regular monthly wrap-up at the beginning of this month. Instead, that went live on Saturday, and I had plenty to recap in terms of reading throughout March. If you want a summary of the books I picked up, that is the post to take a look at!
Books Read
Enemies of Mercia
The first priority I had this week was to finish my read of Enemies of Mercia by M.J. Porter. As you will see above, I had a spot on the blog tour organised for its publication, and I had the pleasure of kicking the tour off. Needless to say, it was important that I finish this read in time to share my full thoughts on the whole book.
I enjoyed Enemies of Mercia every bit as much as I expected I would. Having read five books in the series to date, I had high expectations for the characters and storyline. I wasn’t disappointed!
If you love historical fiction set during the time Vikings came to Britain, then check out this book. Whilst the main events of this storyline don’t feature Vikings too heavily, they have already had their influence on the setting and characters so far. They are more prevalent in earlier books of the series, so I recommend checking them out.
Naturally, if you want to find out more about this book, or get access to links to reviews of the early book in the series, check out that review post I shared on Thursday.
Empire of the Vampire
As a result of prioritising Enemies of Mercia, Empire of the Vampire took a backseat this week. I did pick the book up one evening before bed, but admittedly only read 25 pages!
So, as of this Sunday Summary post, that puts me at page 196. Now that all my immediate obligations are out of the way, Empire of the Vampire will be my main reading focus once again.
The Atlas Six
After sharing in last week’s Sunday Summary post that I was so close to the conclusion of this book, I made it my priority to finish this audio this week.
In fact, I finished this audiobook on Monday. As it happens, the audiobook version I was listening to has quite a bit of bonus content at the end, so I was even closer to the finish line than I thought in that post!
I really enjoyed the story overall, although I wouldn’t say it lives up to the hype it’s gotten in my opinion. I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure I will continue to read the rest of the series. I’ve enjoyed it as a standalone and I think it has some interesting ideas.
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before
After finishing The Atlas Six, I looked for my next audiobook to pick up. On a whim, I chose to listen to Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before.
Of late, I find non-fiction a lot easier to listen to than fiction. I find it easier to follow, and it has become my preferred method of reading this type of book. To try and pick up the pace with audiobooks a bit more, and to listen to something different, I deliberately chose a non-fiction this time.
As of this Sunday Summary post, I have listened to the first four chapters of the book, which is about an hour and 20 minutes of the audio. If you’re interested, that works out at about 15% progress.
Next week I’ll be spending several hours on Monday and Tuesday evening baking for a charity cake sale at work. That would be the perfect opportunity to make further progress as I won’t be able to conventionally sit down and read during that time.
Books Discovered
I picked up some book recommendations around the topic of Neurodiversity this week. It’s a topic that’s been discussed at work, and several staff (including myself) put forward recommendations of content on the subject.
Someone seconded my recommendation of Unmasked by Ellie Middleton, which was great! They also shared a couple of other books which I added to my reading list – Untypical and Dirty Laundry.
Coming Up…
My first blog post of next week will be my reading list for April. As I am sharing this list quite late, you’re already seeing some of the books I’ll feature show up in my reading. However, circumstantially I had blog tours come up at the beginning of the month which inevitably delayed my regular monthly posts. I am looking forward to sharing that list though and giving you some more detail on what books I plan to pick up shortly!
Later in the week I bring back my First Lines Friday regular feature post. It’s been a few weeks since I shared one of these, and I’m looking forward to bringing it back. They are a fun type of post to share. Depending on my choice of book, I get to feature a great book I love, or get excited for one coming up on my reading list! Stick around to find out which I share in Friday’s post.
I’ll wrap up next week with another Sunday Summary post just like this one. If I have as much reading progress to share with you, then I’ll be on the right track!
Until then, have a great week and happy reading!
