Tag: Leigh Bardugo

Sunday Summary – 4th July 2021

Posted on by

Good evening everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary post. This is my first in a couple of weeks because my sister was finally able to come and visit us back home for the first time in 16 months due to the pandemic. She went home last Sunday, however as I had been spending the week with her and the rest of my family, I didn’t get anything done in the way of reading at all! I didn’t feel that warranted a Sunday summary update, both for me in terms of writing it and also for you reading it. However, I’m back now and I have plenty to share with you from this week!

This week has been back to normal, and so I’ve shared two posts with you so far. My first post went live on Wednesday and I shared my 2021 Half-Year Review, looking at my current reading progress as well as my goals for the next six months. Then on Friday, I shared my next Shelf Control post. This week’s featured book is one I am looking forward to trying. It’s been on my list for quite some time and it has a unique premise.

 

Books Read

In my 2021 Half Year Review post, I told you that I was setting myself a goal of getting back into reading a bit more regularly. You’ll probably know that I haven’t set myself any particular reading goals this year. That’s because I wanted to give myself a bit of a break and some breathing space to catch up with some books on my TBR, but without burning out. Last year was a very busy year for me and I felt like the break was needed. However, having enjoyed the last six months I feel it’s now time to start building the frequency I pick up reading back up.

This week has been no exception; there is no time like the present after all. At the beginning of the week, I finished reading Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. I didn’t have very long left at all (around about an hour’s worth of reading time if I remember correctly) and I enjoyed concluding this book. Having watched the series, I knew how it ended. It didn’t impact my enjoyment at all and I will be continuing the series.

I also picked up reading for a second time this week today. This morning I started to read Clarissa by Karl Drinkwater and already I am over halfway through this short story. It’s part of the ‘Lost Tales of Solace’ series and I’m taking part in a blog tour for this book later this month. For the most part, I’m not signing up for too many tours this year. However, having read a couple of other short stories in this series already, and also having been given copies of the main series in exchange for honest reviews (to follow), I was interested in featuring this particular author again. I am a huge fan of this series so far. My kindle reading time says I only have around 40 minutes of reading left to finish this book. I’m hoping to do that within the next day or so.

In addition to reading, I’ve also made a lot of progress listening to A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin this week. If memory serves as to where I was up to, I think I’ve listened to around 4 to 5 hours this week alone! I haven’t made that much progress for quite a while. I’ve taken to listening to it whilst working on a jumper I’m knitting at the moment; the pattern is quite straightforward right now so I can focus on both at the same time. As of the time of writing this Sunday Summary update, I only have around seven hours of the audiobook left. With the end in sight, I’m hoping to keep up progress and that I can get to the end shortly.

 

Books Discovered

I received a recommendation in the last couple of days from one of my friends at work. Her sister is quite an avid reader from what I have gathered, and she recommended to my friend a book called the Lido by Libby Page. I quite liked the sound of the book and I have looked into it on Goodreads. I’m interested in giving it a go. I think it’s a bit more lighthearted and contemporary than I would necessarily go for, but given that my friend’s sister doesn’t recommend books very often, and my friend takes note when she does… so do I, because I trust her opinion entirely!

 

Coming Up…

I really like this week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme, Which is Reasons I Love Reading. I’m fairly sure I can come up with more than ten, so I think I have plenty to share with you in this post!

When I planned to do a half-year review last week, I didn’t really cross my mind that I hadn’t done a monthly wrap up for June yet. I’m also going to make good on that error this week!

I will also be sharing a First Lines Friday post at the end of this working week and then last, but not least, I’ll round off the week with another Sunday summary update post.

That is plenty to look forward to over the next coming week! That’s all from me for today however, so have a great week and I look forward to seeing you in the next one!

Attachment.pngAttachment_1.png

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Sunday Summary – 20th June 2021

Posted on by

Good evening everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary post. I hope you’ve had a very good week, as I have! I also have a week off work to look forward to, so I am a very happy bunny right now. Not only that, but my sister is on island visiting for the first time in 16 months – nothing can pop my happy bubble right now!

My first blog post of the week was a Top Ten Tuesday post; the subject of that post is all about my Summer 2021 TBR. As I am taking a bit more of a relaxed pace with reading this year, that top ten list was the books that I will be picking my Summer TBR from, rather than my reading the whole list, if that makes sense.

Then, yesterday I took part in a blog tour for The Five Things by Beth Merwood. For the tour I shared an extract from the book. If you haven’t checked that out already I would really appreciate if you could go and do so!

 

Books Read

I picked up and read some of Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo earlier this week, but I confess I haven’t picked it up since. When I drafted last week’s Sunday Summary post I mentally set myself a goal to finish this one this week. That hasn’t come to pass, however I am now 80% through the book and the remaining 20% will only take me around an hour to finish (according to my kindle reading time). Depending on when I pack up to go to bed tonight, I might take this with me and try to finish it. If not I certainly intend to finish it early next week!

 

Books Discovered

When it comes to my TBR, no news is good news! I haven’t added anything new this week!

 

Coming Up…

With my sister being over for the next week, I’m actually going to take a short break from blogging, with the exception of next week’s Sunday Summary post. Thankfully I’m all caught up with blog tours for the moment, so That all worked out nicely. I will be back though for next week’s Sunday Summary and then as usual the following week!

I’ll see you in the next one!

Attachment.pngAttachment_1.png

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Sunday Summary – 13th June 2021

Posted on by

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary regular update post. I hope you have had a wonderful week whatever you have been doing! In addition to blogging, I have spent mine reading, knitting and even enjoying some of the new features in the recent Minecraft update.

My first blog post of the week was a book review of Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. I find that I am getting more and more into science-fiction novels, and this one certainly didn’t disappoint! I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of the book as well. If you haven’t checked out that review already, please find a handy link above.

Yesterday I took part in a blog tour for Preacher Boy by Gwyn GB. Mine was one of the last stops on the tour and my feature post was a promo of the book, together with links from some of my favourite reviews from other bloggers taking part in the tour. I would really appreciate if you go and check out that post as well!

 

Books Read

This week I have been making more progress with Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. As of last week’s Sunday Summary update post, I was 25% through the book. Whilst I thought that was okay progress, it certainly wasn’t groundbreaking. This week is pretty similar, given that I’ve only really picked this up one night this week. However, I am now at 60%, so I’ll take that as a win because I’ve read more than last week! I’m really enjoying this book and whilst it’s a lot faster paced than the TV series, I still think it’s really good.

I have also enjoyed listening to a couple more chapters of A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin this week. Sometimes when I’m knitting I like to listen to music or have something easy to watch on TV. However, this week, I’ve enjoyed picking up this audiobook instead. The part of the pattern I’m working on now is very easy and so I can focus my concentration on the audiobook a lot more. And if you know George R. R. Martin, you know that’s required… if I had to describe the series, the words ‘easy listening’ would not be uttered!

 

Books Discovered

This week I have an addition to my TBR – a book I added today, in fact. Having talked about and reviewed This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay, my mum has picked up the book. We were talking about this today when I went round to visit and my dad told me about a similar book he has on his kindle. Much like This is Going to Hurt, the chapters in Blood, Sweat and Tea are short and sweet. Instead of a hospital ward, they feature the ‘adventures’ of paramedics in the ambulance service.

 

Coming Up…

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday post is all about books on our Summer 2021 TBR. Whilst my reading list is significantly shorter than last year, and certainly not concrete, I’ll be using this post to take a look at the books I will likely be choosing my Summer 2021 TBR from.

On Saturday I am taking part in another blog tour… and my last one currently scheduled. The blog tour is for The Five Things by Beth Merwood and as part of the tour, I will be sharing an extract of the book with you. I really hope you can stop by and take a look at that one.

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

Attachment.pngAttachment_1.png

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Sunday Summary – 6th June 2021

Posted on by

Good evening everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary post. If you are new to my blog, this is a weekly post in which I share my reading progress for the week, as well as the blog posts I have shared, any books I have added to my TBR and what I plan on sharing over the next week.

I have shared a couple of blog posts with you this week. My first post of the week was my Monthly Wrap-Up for May. I cannot believe we are in June already! This year is absolutely flying by –  much like last year! If you want to check out the books I read and the posts I shared last month, that will definitely be of interest to you.

Later in the week I featured a really fun book that I’m looking forward to picking up in my First Lines Friday post. It’s by one of my favourite authors of all time and may be of particular interest to fantasy fans. I hope you can go and check that out as well if you haven’t already.

 

Books Read

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update, I had 50 pages left of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As I alluded to in that post, I did go on to finish that book last Sunday after my update went live. I really really enjoyed the book! I’m loving the re-read of the series and I will definitely picking up the next instalment before too long.

On Monday I started reading Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Having read her Six of Crows duology and enjoyed every minute of it, I recently took the plunge and watched the Netflix series based on her books. I had already decided that I wanted to pick up the series having enjoyed Six of Crows, but watching this reinforced my desire to do this and that is why I’m picking it up now!

Now I know a lot of you are probably going to despair that I watched the series before I read the book, but in my experience this can be an advantage. When it comes down to it, you have to trade off the perk of inventing a character in your own mind’s eye versus the inevitable book-was-better-than-the-film struggle. In my eyes, I would rather have my interpretation of a character tainted by a film but my overall experience of both the book and the TV series being better for experiencing them in that order. By reading the book second, it builds upon and improves the film rather than the film detracting from the book.

I will admit that I haven’t spent a lot of time reading this week. I’ve been starting a new knitting project and I must admit I’ve gotten a bit wrapped up in it. But I still worked my way through 25%. It’s not a huge amount but I will definitely be picking this up more over the next week. Here’s a pic of the project, in case you are interested: – 

 

Books Discovered

It’s a quiet one here again this week with no new additions to my TBR.

 

Coming Up…

I will be starting next week by sharing a book review with you. The particular book I will be featuring is a science-fiction novel that I went on to enjoy last year. The book is called Sleeping Giants and is written by Sylvain Neuvel. I hope you can join me for that post!

My second blog post of the week will be a blog tour for Preacher Boy by Gwyn G. B. I’m taking part in the blog tour and promoting the book – I really hope you can come along on Saturday and check that out! To stop my blogging schedule from getting too cluttered, I will be postponing my usual Friday feature until next week.

As always, I’ll be rounding off the week with a Sunday Summary post.

That’s it for today’s Sunday Summary update. What are you reading?

Attachment.pngAttachment_1.png

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Audiobook Review: Crooked Kingdom – Leigh Bardugo

Posted on by

Hi guys and welcome to today’s review of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. Crooked Kingdom is the second book of the Six of Crows duology. If you haven’t yet read my thoughts on the first book, Six of Crows, you can find a link to that here!

And now without further adieu, here are my thoughts on the second instalment of the series!

 

Crooked Kingdom – Leigh Bardugo

Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo | Goodreads

Welcome to the world of the Grisha.

Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets – a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world. 

 

My Thoughts…

Crooked Kingdom is one of the best audiobooks I have listened to, to date. A charismatic cast accentuates brilliantly-written characters, who together attempted one of the most daring and epic heists of all time in Six of Crows and won. Life should be cosy in this sequel, with all their newfound riches, and yet they find themselves back in the deep end almost immediately. The result? Another exciting, action-packed fantasy novel full of betrayal, backstabbing, and the usual shenanigans we can expect from Kaz and his crew.

I listened to Six of Crows back in 2019, finishing the audiobook in September. I then moved on to Crooked Kingdom reasonably quickly. I’m not a big listener of audiobooks, however, completing crooked kingdom within six months of listening to the first audiobook is quite speedy for me. It’s not my main way of reading! I enjoyed the first book so much that I wanted to jump into this sequel and experience the action and adventure I knew I could expect, and I wasn’t disappointed!

As in the first book, I enjoyed the narrative being broken down into chapters narrated by different characters. This gives variety to the story and provides different perspectives at different times to add depth to the narrative. Each character has their own distinctive personality, quirks and traits. Some are definitely better (as individuals) than others but this is also something else I enjoyed. More often than not, fantasy novels are littered with altruistic characters. So, to come across some more devious, nefarious or just downright out for themselves is a refreshing change. Many of the characters have developed since the first instalment of this series. Some who have grown on me most include Kaz, Mattias and Nina. Each character has their flaws, but this makes them all the more relatable to us as listeners.

The dynamic between sets of characters adds intrigue to an already tense situation. They have already pulled off the impossible and yet further trouble looms; rising tensions and conflict between them threaten to jeopardise their lives.

You know me, I am a huge fan of magic systems within fantasy novels, and Crooked Kingdom did not disappoint in this respect either. Crooked Kingdom is my second read by Leigh Bardugo, and I sense that there is a whole range of novels also set in the same universe as this book. Despite not having read these, I didn’t find it made any difference to my understanding of the universe and the magic systems involved in this series. If anything, it has made me want to pick these up all the more!

I really enjoyed listening to this duology, and I have high expectations about reading other books by Leigh Bardugo. Sometimes that can be a risk if the books don’t live up to expectation, however, from my experience of the six of crows trilogy I don’t think I have any reason to doubt her writing style and the stories not working for me. This is why it is good to listen to recommendations and try new authors. These are the first two books I have read/listened to by this author and I am very grateful to have had the chance to read other reviews before taking the plunge. I hope others can find my review useful and please, if you have not read these books already, you won’t regret it!

 

 

signature

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Audiobook Review: Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo

Posted on by

Today I am sharing an audiobook review for Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I listened to this audiobook last year and finished it in September. It’s been a little while since I finished this, however, I have listened to its sequel Crooked Kingdom more recently.

I really enjoyed listening to Six of Crows and today’s post is all about sharing what I loved about it! Before that though, here are the details of the book: –

 

Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo

Goodreads – Six of Crows

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

 

Purchase Links – Amazon UK     Amazon US     Waterstones

 

My Thoughts

My favourite thing about this particular book, and series, is the depth and detail of the world that has been created. Whilst I have only listened to this duology from Leigh Bardugo, my understanding is that it ties in with another series she has written (The Shadow and Bone series). It really shows in the detail. Those that read my reviews regularly will know that I talk about the setting and history of a novel a lot. It’s a big factor on whether I enjoy fantasy stories such as these or not. It worked really well for me, and I think I will be reading or listening to her other series based on what I have enjoyed listening to already.

As I listened to the audiobook version of Six of Crows, I got the benefit of a variety of narrators to add to the overall diversity in characterisation. I really liked that the story was split into several perspectives, but not so many that it becomes difficult to understand who our perspective is narrated by and what is going on. Each perspective is distinct, unique and adds to the storyline.

The daring, impossible criminal heist element of the storyline really drew me in and I’m glad I picked up Six of Crows. This was the first book I have read by Leigh Bardugo and I’ll be reading more of her books based on this one. It’s nail-biting and exciting. I agree with some of the reviews offering criticism about how events play out – it does seem a little unrealistic given the circumstances. However, I didn’t really think about it at the time – it was still enjoyable all the same!

Have you read or listened to Six of Crows? What do you think of it?

 

signature

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

 

***Please note this post contains affiliate links, meaning that I will earn a small commission on purchases made through them. If you like what you read and are interested in purchasing a copy of the book(s) featured in this post, please consider using these links and supporting a book blogger!

Thank you!***

Sunday Summary – 29th March 2020

Posted on by

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?

 

 

signature

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Sunday Summary – 22nd March 2020

Posted on by

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?

 

 

signature

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Sunday Summary – 15th March 2020

Posted on by

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?

 

 

signature

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Sunday Summary – 8th March 2020

Posted on by

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?

 

 

signature

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads