Tag: epic fantasy

Sunday Summary – 1st May 2022

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Hello and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update. As always, I’m back at the end of the week to update you on the books I’ve been reading and the blog posts I’ve been sharing. I also have a TBR addition to let you know about, as well as what’s coming up on my blog next week!

Firstly, let’s go through what I’ve been sharing on my blog. I decided to take part in a Contradictions Book Tag at the beginning of this week. In that post, I shared various books I have read that don’t necessarily live up to my usual reading habits. For example, one of the questions is to name a book I enjoyed from the genre I don’t normally read, and so on. I had great fun with this post, because it gave me the opportunity to talk about books in a slightly different way. It has both positives and negatives, so I trust it will make a fun read for everybody!

On Friday I shared a First Lines Friday feature. As the posts I’ve written over the last month haven’t featured a challenge, I decided to bring this back for this week’s post. This week’s challenge was to feature a book that I read before I started my blog. Admittedly I have done this one before, but there are plenty of books I could choose from. I’m really happy with the feature I went with. If you want to find out which book I chose, you could find a link to the post above to take a look for yourself!

 

Books Read

In last week’s Sunday Summary update post, I had around 80 pages left of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman to read. My plan was to read and finish that book last Sunday night, and I’m pleased to say I did! I really enjoyed how this story ended and it was refreshing to read something relatively lighthearted! I’ll definitely go on to continue with his books, because this was a really fun one to read!

In last week’s update I also shared that I had started Ravencry by Ed McDonald. I had started this on a whim as I fancied a change from The Thursday Murder Club, so I made this my ‘bedtime reading’ book. As I finished The Thursday Murder Club nice and quickly, Ravencry became my current read in earnest and it’s the book I’ve been reading for most of the week. I actually finished this one last night, and I loved it as much as I did the first time I read it! These books never fail to impress in their epicness, the range of characters, and the overall entertainment value from them. As I’m sure you’ve gathered, I absolutely love these, and I’m glad I’ve gone back to them to enjoy them all over again!

Speaking of which, the next book on my reading list for the week is Crowfall, the third and final instalment in The Raven’s Mark trilogy. As I only finished Ravencry last night, I’m only about 30 pages into Crowfall at the moment. However, being in full swing having just read Ravencry, I’m hoping that this isn’t going to take long to read at all. I distinctly remember devouring this the last time I read it, so I have every confidence it will be the exact same this time round!

 

Books Discovered

Having heard fabulous reviews for an indie book on the Currently Reading podcast, (something I have gotten into listening to recently), I have added Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots to my TBR this week.

I love the sound of this book because it’s completely different from books I would typically read. I’m not ‘into’ superheroes, but I do enjoy an element of it now and then. In fact, my first read of the year, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, had an element of it in; the main characters in that book write comic books about superheroes. I enjoyed this particular aspect in the book because it’s not something I read a lot of. I’m hoping I think the same of Hench.

The story is a little bit different though. From what I have gathered from the discussion Meredith and Kaytee had on the Currently Reading podcast, the main character is somebody whose life has been negatively impacted by a superhero… and even despite her injures, she is deemed one of the lucky ones. Anna is living proof that not all of their deeds are for the good of all, and she makes it her mission to exact revenge. She takes up employment for the worst kind of villiains that can be expected in any superhero story. She is just a data cruncher, a small cog in a very big machine, but knowing how to use the data against them and to her advantage, she becomes a force to be reckoned with in her own right.

 

Coming Up…

Somehow it is the first week of May next week. Whilst that’s a good thing because it means it’s a lovely long bank holiday weekend, it means that time is absolutely flying by! Needless to say, it’s time for me to share my Monthly Wrap-Up for April 2022. I’m looking forward to sharing the books I’ve been reading over the course of the month with you, and provide an update on where I am up to with my Goodreads challenge!

Naturally, the next matter on the agenda is to share what I’m planning on reading throughout the month of May. I have some really good books on this month’s list, and I can’t wait to share it with you!

I’m fairly sure you know what’s coming next. I’ll be back this time next week with another Sunday Summary update for you all! Until then, I hope you enjoy this lovely bank holiday weekend and have a great week ahead!

 

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Sunday Summary – 24th April 2022

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Good evening everyone! I’m back with today’s Sunday Summary update to conclude another busy week. As always, I trust you’ve had a good one?

Before we jump into what I’ve been up to this week, I have a fun little update to share with you. My blog has been on the Internet for five years! I’m just celebrating the anniversary and honestly, I can’t believe it! As someone who has lots of ideas but very rarely follows through with them, I’m proud of myself for having stuck with my blog. It’s a lot of time and effort, but I really love having this space to share my thoughts and feelings with you! Here’s to the next 5 years!

My first post of the week was a book review of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Having read and loved Six of Crows, I wanted to pick up this series. However, I expedited this after watching the Netflix series that amalgamated these two together. I wasn’t too keen on this, but that’s besides the point. It was great to dive into my opinions on why I enjoyed this first instalment to the series!

On Friday I shared my Shelf Control fortnightly feature. In this week‘s post, I shared details of the next book on my TBR – Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham. It sounds like a really interesting thriller novel and if I go on to enjoy this, it’s going to be the start of a fabulous series; it’s quite a long one. You can find out all my thoughts on this book, as well as details of the book itself in my Shelf Control post.

 

Books Read

In last week’s Sunday Summary update I was about a third of the way through The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. I am pleased to report a significant amount of progress this week!

I am really enjoying this mystery story. As the mystery and thriller genre goes, this is on the very lighthearted side of things. For the most part. There is a lot of humour in it, and I’m really enjoying this aspect! I will say there are a couple of chapters that really took me by surprise though. As I say, it’s very funny and lighthearted, but without spoilers, a tragic event in a couple of the later chapters really punched me in the gut – so much so made me cry. The fact that they were included in the way they were means that it had a greater impact. Thankfully I was able to mop up the tears and carry on!

I’m hoping to finish The Thursday Murder Club tonight after this post goes live. I am currently 80% of the way through the book, with just under 80 pages or so to go until the end.

I’ve also started reading a second book this week. I fancied a change from The Thursday Murder Club for some bedtime reading. Probably conscious that I have several books still on my TBR and not a lot of the month left in which to read them, I decided to pick up Ravencry by Ed McDonald. This is strictly bedtime reading for now, so that way I can make progress with both. I’m already around 80 pages into Ravencry, and having read Blackwing (the first book of the trilogy) recently as well it helps that I am following up in a timely manner! Although the events of this book occur four years after the first book, the context makes a lot more sense. Ravencry is proving a very easy read and once I’ve finished The Thursday Murder Club, I’ll be moving onto this one in earnest!

 

Books Discovered

I have absolutely no updates for you on the TBR front this week, other than to confirm that I haven’t added anything to it once again (thankfully!)

 

Coming Up…

I’ve seen a fun book tag post, in which the idea is to share bookish likes and dislikes that go against your norms. It’s called the Contradictions Book Tag, and I can’t wait to really dig into the different topics and share books that I’ve liked and ‘shouldn’t have’, and equally those that I wanted to and didn’t!

On Friday I will be sharing a First Lines Friday post. As I haven’t set myself a challenge for the last couple of iterations of this post, I will be setting myself a challenge for next week. My challenge, you ask? The featured book has to be one I read as a teenager, and pre-dates my blogging days. I have done this particular challenge before, but as I read so much when I was younger there’s still plenty of scope to feature something new and share the love for something that I haven’t shared as yet!

As always, I will be back this time next week with another Sunday Summary post, containing all my latest updates of books read etc.

I hope you can join me for these posts, but in the meantime I hope you have a fabulous week and I’ll see you around!

 

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Sunday Summary – 17th April 2022

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Good evening and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update. As always, I trust you’ve had a good week and are enjoying a nice, long Easter weekend?

I’ve been back to my usual blogging schedule this week. At the beginning of the week, I took part in a Top Ten Tuesday post. In that post, I featured books by new-to-me authors that I couldn’t wait to read. One of the books on that list is one that I have since picked up and so far I’m really enjoying it. If you want to find out what other books and authors are on my radar, you can take a look at that post using this link.

On Friday I shared my regular First Lines Friday feature. I had decided to leave the topic/theme for this week‘s post open, and I’m glad I did! When it came to choosing my feature for this week, it was nice to have a blank slate to go on. I decided to feature a book that is on my TBR and a copy is waiting on my bookshelves. It was nice to go and take a look at that particular book in more detail. I had picked up that book on a whim at the bookshop and bought it, so it was nice to share with you the introduction, because that’s what drew me in as well!

 

Books Read

As of last week’s Sunday Summary post, I had around 150 pages also left to read of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I said that I had planned to read the rest of this book within the next couple of days. I lied, friends. I decided to start making headway towards the finish line on Sunday night after sharing my post, but as with all great books, you just get sucked in. And sucked in I was! So much so, I finish reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at about 1am on Monday morning! Whoops (sorry not sorry!)

From there I moved swiftly onwards to start The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. This book was a recommendation to me by my sister’s boyfriend Chris, and he has even loaned me his copy so I can give it a read. And I’m really enjoying it so far! The chapters are really nice and short, so it’s very easy to pick up and put down as and when required. Not that you really want to. I’ve taken to reading this later in the evening, or even before bed, and it’s very difficult to put down!

I’m currently 138 pages into this particular book, which equates to just over a third of the way through. As this is such an easy read, I hope that I’ll be able to tell you I finished this next week. I know what magic saying that did to my reading progress last week, so will see if the result is the same (or at least similar…)

 

Books Discovered

I haven’t added anything new to the reading list this week. So, it’s a quiet section here, unlike last week!

 

Coming Up…

I am in the mood to share a review. I feel like it’s been a little while since I’ve shared a book review, or even an audiobook review, with you all. With that in mind I’ve been looking at my list of outstanding reviews and I have decided to share my thoughts on Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. I read this book having watched the Netflix series based upon it, and I enjoyed it! I had also recently read another duology by Leigh Bardugo and it was already on my list as a result of that! Keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested in my full thoughts on that book in the next few days.

I’ll be back on Friday, as usual, but this time we have a Shelf Control post. I’ll be looking back at the TBR and featuring the next book on my list. I enjoy these posts because it gives me the chance to talk about why I’m excited to read them! And, if worse comes to the worst and I decide I’m not that interested, it’s a good opportunity to whittle down the list.

And, you know what’s coming next. I will be back next Sunday for another Sunday Summary post, and I’ll be sharing all my latest updates with you once again.

Until then, have a great week, enjoy the rest of your Easter weekend and I’ll see you in my next post!

 

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Top Ten Tuesday – Authors I Haven’t Read, But Want To

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Today’s Top Ten Tuesday post topic is an interesting one, because it gives me the opportunity to feature some new books and new to me authors that I can’t wait to read! I have plenty of these on my TBR, and some of these are coming up very soon (cough cough The Thursday Murder Club).

As today’s list is a very simple one, I’m going to list below the books that I wish to feature. The reasoning behind all of these is pretty much the same – either the premise has really gripped me, I have read or heard rave reviews about the book in question or because I’m willing to push my boundaries and give something new a go. Perhaps it could be a combination of any of these three.

Anyway, I’m not going to bore you with a bit of blurb for each book, otherwise I’ll end up repeating myself quite a lot! So, without further ado, here is my list of top ten authors I haven’t read, but want to!

 

Richard Osman – The Thursday Murder Club

 

Julia Quinn – The Duke & I

 

Jeffrey Deaver – The Bone Collector

 

M. L. Rio – If We Were Villains 

 

Donna Tartt – The Secret History

The Secret History

 

Ransom Riggs – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

 

Antonio Iturbe – The Librarian of Auschwitz

 

Steve Cavanagh – The Defence

 

John Marrs – The Good Samaritan

 

Robin Hobb – Assassin’s Apprentice

 

So, those are my top ten authors I haven’t read, but want to! Have you read any of these books? Or have you now added any to your TBR? Let me know in the comments!

 

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Sunday Summary – 10th April 2022

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Good evening everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update post. As always, I trust you’ve had a good week?

It’s been a busy one here on Reviewsfeed, because my blogging schedule has included an extra post. I started off the week by sharing my Monthly Wrap-Up post for March 2022. Somehow, this year is absolutely flying by and given that we’re in the beginning of April, it’s a perfect time to talk about my reading progress over the last month. Whilst I didn’t get through all of my TBR, I am still happy with the books I managed to pick up and read in March. You can find out the full details in that post!

A bit later on this week I shared my Reading List for April 2022, another natural post to share at the beginning of a new month. A lot of the books featured are ones I didn’t get round to from my March 2022 TBR. There are a couple of new additions, however, so the post is still worth checking out! I have picked some mood reads for April based on some TV shows I’ve been watching, and one of those is an unlikely pick for me.

On Friday I post a regular feature, and this week it was the turn of a Shelf Control post. I enjoyed featuring this next book on my TBR in Friday’s post. It’s an exciting thriller novel with an interesting premise – what if the person on the end of a Samaritan phoneline wasn’t looking out for your best interests? What if they thrived off other people suffering worse than them? I really like the sound of this book, and although it deals with topics including mental health and such, I can’t wait to pick this up and read it for myself!

 

Books Read

I am pleased to say that I have made a significant amount of progress with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this week. As of my last Sunday Summary post I was just 250 pages into this final instalment to the series.

That was progress I had made over the last two weeks, and as of today’s post I have nearly read that much again! I’m just about 450 pages in now, and there is only 150ish left to go! With the end in sight, I can definitely see myself finishing this book in the next few days. I’ve enjoyed getting into this book more, with less distractions in terms of television time. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed watching some TV series for a change too. But, it’s also nice to get back into my reading!

I’ve also started something new this week. I found I had lost a little bit of motivation with audiobooks and listening to A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin, so I’ve started listening to another. Admittedly, I only started this yesterday and at present I’m five chapters in.

I purchased myself a copy of The Plague Charmer by Karen Maitland a good while ago now, and desirous for a change, I decided to give this a try! I’m enjoying the story at the moment, having gotten into it with very little knowledge of the story before starting it. The synopsis is relatively vague, but there’s just enough there to pique interest. I’m hoping that the change of scenery (so to speak) will help me get into the habit of listening to audiobooks a little bit more again.

 

Books Discovered

I have added one book to my TBR this week, and I appreciate it’s not going to be everybody’s cup of tea in terms of taste because it kind of relates to my work.

I have shared before that I work in an investment related role, and the particular book I have added to my list details the unveiling of one of the most high profile financial frauds in history. If you are in the investment industry or were unfortunate enough to have made certain bad investments, you’ll know the name Bernie Madoff. In essence, he defrauded billions of pounds out of people by purporting to invest their money in his funds in a way that yielded a very high value return. In reality, the money was going into his bank account. The fraud was discovered by Harry Markopolos, who proved that it was impossible for the funds to achieve the advertised returns and eventually prompted the investigation into his affairs that pulled the whole deception apart. 

I did say it wasn’t going to be everybody’s cup of tea, but as it relates to history that has impacted my day-to-day role (and I have some familiarity with what has happened before), I’d like to dive into this a bit deeper. Naturally, this had repercussions in terms of regulations for investments and it will be interesting to know what and how this prompted these changes.

 

Coming Up…

This week I am back to my usual blogging schedule.

I’ve decided this week to take part in this week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme, which is featuring authors that I want to read, but I haven’t read yet. Not only will this be a great way to share some upcoming reads I have with you, but also it’s an opportunity for me to get excited about them!

This upcoming Friday will be the turn of my First Lines Friday feature post. I quite enjoyed having free reign of subject in my last post, and so I’ve decided I’m not setting myself any particular challenges with regards to this week’s post.

And last, but not least, I’ll be back at the same time next week to share another Sunday Summary post for another update.

Until then, have a great one and I’ll see you in my next post!

 

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Monthly TBR – April 2022

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Hello everyone and welcome to my monthly TBR for April. I’m really excited to be sharing the books I plan to pick up within the next few weeks! 

I didn’t get through all of my reading list for March. I did set myself an ambitious list and so I’m neither surprised nor disappointed by this fact. I knew when I prepared the list it was very likely I was going to carry some forward through to April – so most of the books on this month’s list have already been shared on last month’s TBR! 

Let’s see what I’m going to be reading very soon!

 

Fixed Reads

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

I will be opening the month with my current read carried over from March, being Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling. I’m currently around halfway through this book and I’m excited to complete my reread of the series! I last read this book around nine years ago now, so I am keen to read this book again and experience it from a more mature perspective!

 

The Thursday Murder Club

I have been loaned a copy of The Thursday Murder Club by my sister’s boyfriend, Chris, to read. I didn’t quite get round to this one last month, but I still cannot wait to pick this up! I’ve heard great things about this book, in particular the characters and the humour!

 

Ravencry & Crowfall

I added Ravencry and Crowfall to my ‘mood read list’ last month, but since I didn’t get round to them I’ve decided I’m adding them to my fixed list for April! I have a couple of other ‘mood reads’ in mind that I’d like to pick up, and so the progression onto my fixed reading list felt natural!

Having recently re-read Blackwing, the first book in the series, I got really excited for the series again. So naturally, I wanted to read it all again as opposed to just the first book! I re-read Blackwing in just a matter of days, and I fully expect Ravencry and Crowfall to be much the same in terms of experience!

 

Mood Reads

The Duke & I

This addition to my TBR is experimental. I’m not sure if it’s a book I’m going to enjoy, however having recently enjoyed watching the second season of the Netflix TV show, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t.

If I do enjoy The Duke and I then I will continue with the book series. However, don’t expect me to suddenly start reading romance all the time; my enjoyment of these books, if indeed I do enjoy them, will be the exception instead of the rule.

What I can say, is having featured this book in a very recent First Lines Friday post, the introduction made a good impression on me! Let’s see how the rest of the book pans out, shall we?

 

The Bone Collector

I’ve also been watching the TV series, Lincoln Rhyme, on Now TV recently. I have a copy of The Bone Collector sat upstairs on my bookshelf, and now feels like the right time to pick this up for myself. I believe my sister has read at least some of this book and enjoyed it. I can’t wait to see how it compares!

 

As in previous months, my indicated mood reads are provisional and I might choose to pick up something else at the time! Last month I didn’t even get round to my mood reads, which is perfectly okay too. I feel like this reading list is a little bit less ambitious, though still plentiful enough to give myself a challenge!

Have you read any of the books on my TBR? What are you reading this month? Let me know in the comments or on social media!

 

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Monthly Wrap-Up – March 2022

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Hi everyone and welcome to today’s monthly wrap-up post for March 2022. I set myself an ambitious reading list in March, and whilst I didn’t get round to all of it I’m happy with my reading progress overall! I’ve read quite a few different books over the month, from varying genres as well! Let’s jump into what I’ve been reading: –

 

Books Read

Blackwing

Blackwing

At the beginning of the month I carried over Blackwing by Ed McDonald. This was a last minute swap out from another mood read I listed in February’s TBR. I had every intention of picking up One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest, but with the breakout of war in Ukraine this wasn’t really going to hit the spot for me. Instead, I wanted to fall back on a book that I knew I was going to love, and I’m glad I made the switch! It was exactly what I needed, and it didn’t take me long to finish this book.

 

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

I then decided to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest by Ken Kesey, and it ended up being my first DNF of 2022. I’ve got about 40% of the way through the book before I decided that enough was enough. I just couldn’t get into it in the way I hoped I would. I made the decision to stop reading this because I wasn’t enjoying it and I didn’t want it to sap my reading energy and drive me into a slump.

 

Keep You Safe

I promptly moved on and read Keep You Safe by Rona Halsall. I added this book to my TBR years ago, having found out that Rona is a local author. I really liked the sound of this book and I’m glad I finally picked it up! In fact, I wish I picked it up sooner! It came at just the moment I needed. I’ll admit that it was very strange to read a book set so close to home. I could picture the events of the book so vividly, because they took place in places I’ve lived and worked etc. It was so familiar and at the same time, a completely new experience for me! The plot line was fantastic! I really enjoyed picking this book up and I’ll definitely be reading more from Rona in future.

 

Lean In

The next book I picked up varied a lot from those I’d already picked up in March. My sister had recommended Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg to me, after having a copy recommended and given to her by a more senior female colleague. If you are not familiar, Sheryl Sandberg is the COO of Facebook and through this book, she talks about her experiences as a woman throughout her career, in particular with regards to her advancement into leadership.

I’m one of those people that Sheryl describes, in that before reading this book I wouldn’t have necessarily described myself as a feminist. However, people get tied down with the negative connotations of being called a feminist and are often frightened to use the word. I’m not just about championing women, as is so often erroneously ascribed to the word, but a champion of equality for both sexes. That is what being a feminist truly means. As Sheryl points out in her book, that means women being given opportunities to step up in the workplace… and men being given the opportunity to step up at home.

It was very different to the sort of book I would have picked up myself, but I’m glad I did. I have definitely taken away snippets of advice and it has given me food for thought both widely and also in terms of how I see myself in the workplace.

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

My last read of the month, and the book I’m carrying forward into April 2022 is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling. As of the end of the month, I was around a couple of hundred pages through this last instalment of the Harry Potter series. I’ve already made a good amount of progress in the first few days of April, and as of writing this post I’m around halfway through! I can’t wait to continue this re-read this month and to complete my re-read of the series at last!

 

There were a few books I didn’t get round to picking up in March, but I’m still happy with the reading progress I’ve made. Those books that I didn’t get round to reading will be carried forward into April. If you want to check out my full list of books on my April TBR, stay tuned and I will be sharing that post very soon…

What have you been reading this month? Have you got any good book recommendations? As always, I’d love to hear from you!

 

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Sunday Summary – 3rd April 2022

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Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary update this week! I hope it’s been a good one for you?

At the beginning of the week I had a little bit of fun sharing my Goodreads Book Tag post. I like these types of posts as they give me the opportunity to share a little bit about myself. In this case, I got to talk about the books I’ve been reading recently, my participation in a Goodreads book challenge this year and also how I rate books once I’ve read them. There is so much more included than this, and if you haven’t taken a look at that post already you can find a link above to do so.

Later in the week I shared a First Lines Friday post. I left the topic completely open this week, and I’ve ended up featuring a book that I am considering reading soon. Now I appreciate that doesn’t sound remarkable in the slightest; the interesting thing about this particular book is that it’s not generally my cup of tea. I don’t really read books from this genre at all. Of all the books I’ve read over the last five years, I think I could count on one hand the number of books that have a significant ‘romance’ element to be included in this genre!

 

Books Read

This week’s update is going to echo my last. In last week’s Sunday Summary post, I shared that I hoped to read a lot more of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My confession is that didn’t really come to pass. I have been reading the book though, and I am now about 250 pages through.

I don’t really watch much TV in general, however, having gotten into the habit with watching Lincoln Rhyme, I’ve moved on to start watching the second season of Bridgerton this week. And you’re probably going to say, hang on a minute Rebecca, that’s not your thing at all. Normally it isn’t! Don’t judge me, but something about the first season appealed to me when it was on originally and I wanted to keep up to date. My friends also watch it and I didn’t want spoilers!

So, reading progress has been a touch on the light side again this week. However, my plan is to read more of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this evening after this post goes live and now that I’ve caught up with Bridgerton, I should have more time for reading again!

 

Books Discovered

It’s a quiet one for this section this week.

I am deliberately holding off looking or buying anything new at the moment – I already have plenty enough reading to be getting on with with what I’ve got!

 

Coming Up…

I’m looking forward to my blogging schedule next week, as I will be sharing both a monthly wrap-up post for March, as well as my planned reading list for April. There will be a good few books on April‘s list that are carryovers from March. I set myself an ambitious list and I didn’t get round to it all! However, I am looking forward to carrying those over, as well as speculating on some mood reads I might be looking at very soon, provided I get through April’s set list!

And as always, I’ll be back at the same time next week to share another Sunday Summary post and catch you up on all the goings-on.

Until then, have a great one and I’ll see you in my next post!

 

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Sunday Summary – 27th March 2022

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Good evening and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update! I hope it’s been a good one?

I am pleased that I managed to pull my finger out and share my review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone this week. You may remember that I intended to share this post last week, however I struggled with drafting the post. If I’m honest I think I felt over-faced with reviewing such a large and popular book, but I put the effort in and I’m happy with the final result. I’m still not sure I’ve done it full justice, but I’ve done my best, and that’s all I can ask for!

Later in the week I shared a Shelf Control post. I didn’t massacre my reading list this week, unlike last time, and I really like the sound of this weeks featured book. I’m also pretty excited because it caught my mum‘s attention – this could be a series we both read and love!

 

Books Read

This week my reading progress has been okay, but also could be better. I’ve been reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I say progress has been okay as I haven’t read as much as previous weeks. In just a couple of nights I have read around 120 pages. It shouldn’t be sniffed at really, it’s still a reasonable amount of reading. 

I confess that a lot of my evening time this week has been spent binge-watching Lincoln Rhyme, The TV series (based on The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver) on Sky Witness. I watched the first episode of this ages ago, but I started watching it again this week and now I only have two episodes left. I’m probably going to watch those tonight too…

I’m going to be back on the reading next week and I’m sure I’m going to make a lot more progress with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

 

Books Discovered

It has now been several weeks since I added any books to my reading list. I’m still glad to see it’s back under 200 and I plan to keep it that way.

 

Coming Up…

At the beginning of this week I’m planning to share a fun post. It’s been a little while since I’ve shared a book tag post, and this week I am going to do the Goodreads Book Tag. This is one I haven’t completed before, and it looks like a fun post to share!

Friday is the turn of my regular First Lines Friday post. Last time I set myself a challenge to feature a book on this month’s TBR. I enjoyed the challenge last time, but I’ve decided for this week I’m going to keep it free of restrictions and choose a book at random.

And finally, this time next week I’ll be sharing another Sunday Summary update with you.

Until then, I hope you have a good week and I’ll see you in the next post!

 

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Sunday Summary – 20th March 2022

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Hello and welcome to my Sunday Summary update for this week! I hope it’s been a great one for you?

I originally intended to share a book with you at the beginning of this week for Harry Potter and the Philosopher‘s Stone by J. K. Rowling. And I started this post. However, I think I felt a little bit intimidated by the task. This is a fantastic book and series and I got stuck with how to begin. How do you even go about reviewing such a massive series? That’s something I’m going to have to figure out very quickly, because I still plan to share my review with you soon. Apologies it didn’t come when I said it was going to.

I did manage to draft and publish my First Lines Friday post this week. For that post, I set myself the challenge of featuring a book on this month’s TBR and I’m really happy with my choice. I picked up most of the books left on my TBR to gauge the opening lines and see which I thought was best/most interesting. For me, it was a clear winner! If you haven’t checked out that post yet you can do so with the link above, and let me know what you think of the introduction!

 

Books Read

I’m really happy with my reading progress since my last Sunday Summary update post. I had just over 130 pages remaining of Keep You Safe by Rona Halsall, and I said in my post that I was going to make a push this week to read it. The reality is, I started reading this book last Sunday after publishing my post and I finished reading the book at 12:15am that night! I could not put it down – the ending was brilliant and so engaging that going to bed before finishing this book was not an option! It’s an absolutely fantastic psychological thriller and I can’t wait to share my thoughts on the book with you – I cannot recommend it enough!

My next read of this week was a complete 180º – I picked up Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. This is a non-fiction novel written by Facebook‘s chief operating officer. It looks at women in the workplace and discusses female leadership in the corporate world, what limitations women have in advancing their careers (both internal and external factors) and offers advice on what women can do in order to empower themselves.

This was a recommendation by my sister, who in turn had the book recommended to her by one of her more senior work colleagues. Now, I wouldn’t describe myself as a particularly career driven person, but I am the kind of person who will take on responsibility and accountability in my job. I want to do the best I can, and likewise if I can make things better for other people I also want to do this. Work isn’t my whole life, but I want to do a good job and make a difference as well. Do you see what I mean?

Lean In was an interesting read because it’s not only focuses on limitations that women experience from other people (both men and women, you may be surprised to hear), but also the limitations they set themselves. It is all too easy to focus on the external factors, and very difficult to be introspective and acknowledge that women sometimes hold themselves back. For not shying away from this truth, I feel like Sheryl took a well-rounded approach to the subject and there are some pieces of advice in the book that I’d like to bear in mind going forward for myself.

Whilst I haven’t physically picked it up yet as of writing this post, I plan to start reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows immediately after this blog post goes live. And I’ll be making progress with this one over the next week. Whilst it’s a bit of a chunky book, I find these so easy to read so I don’t expect it will take me too long!

As in last week’s Sunday Summary update post, I am pleased to say that I’ve listened to another couple of chapters of A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. This is going to take a very long time to get through at this pace, so I’m going to try and make more of a habit of listening to audiobooks again. I confess I’ve fallen off the wagon a little bit here!

 

Books Discovered

There’s some happy dancing going on here this week, because once again there are no new books on my TBR. And, having read and taken a couple off the list this week, the list is going in the right direction!

For now anyway!

 

Coming Up…

I will share my review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone this week. I WILL share my review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher‘s Stone next week.

How many times do you think I have to say the sentence in order to commit? I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to get this ready for you as planned this week, so I’m determined to publish this post in the next few days to make up for it.

Friday is my scheduled spot for a Shelf Control post. Last time I did this fortnightly feature I cut five books off my TBR. Whilst I am certainly not planning a ‘massacre’ of that scale again, I do like that this feature gives me the opportunity to review and do this if I feel necessary. It’s also great because I love featuring books that are coming up on my list and I can get excited about them at the same time!

And finally, this time next week I’ll be sharing another Sunday summary post.

Until then, I hope you have a good week, wish you happy reading and I’ll see you in the next post!

 

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