Tag: wrap up

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 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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Sunday Summary – 13th March 2022

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Hello and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update! As always I hope you’ve had a good week whatever you have been up to?

My blogging week began on Tuesday with a Top Ten Tuesday post. In that post I featured books with my favourite book trope or theme. My chosen trope, as a big reader of fantasy books, was prophecies. Although this is very common in the genre I found that a lot of the books I’ve read are actually part of a series. So, although it feels like I’ve read a lot of them, I actually struggled to come up with 10 completely separate books/series for this post. I managed it though, and if you haven’t checked out that post already there’s a link here so you can go and take a look.

On Friday I shared a Shelf Control post. In this fortnightly series I take a look at the next book on my TBR and share some details of the book, as well as discuss why I want to read it. I was a bit brutal going through my list this week, because I ended up deleting five books off my TBR before I got to this week’s chosen feature. I’m not complaining, because I already have a lot of books on my list. If I’m not feeling it, there are plenty more out there and there is no sense in keeping them on the list!

 

Books Read

Reading progress has been a touch slower this week. I’ve been doing some other bits and pieces; I’m working on knitting a jumper at the moment and I feel like I’ve been stuck in a very similar spot for a while. So, I’ve been making the effort to try and knit at least three or four rows a day and I’m starting to see some reward from the effort! That might not sound like much, but when you’re knitting with sock weight yarn and you are a plus size girl, that’s a lot of stitches per round (360 – I checked).

I’ve also started some study for work. Along the same lines, I’ve been doing a little bit a day and because of this I’ve got myself through the first couple of chapters already. I’m really happy with my progress, so I’m going to be carrying on in much the same way.

Despite all these little extras I’m doing every day, I still managed to read about 100 pages of Keep You Safe by Rona Halsall. It’s a really interesting book and I’m liking where it’s going so far. The timeline flits between present day and the past, and the two seem to be paced quite well in that they tie together nicely.

I’m still not sure on who I’m rooting for in terms of the protagonist or the supposed antagonist. I say supposed to because I’m not sure I trust the perspective of Natalie, which is another thing I’m enjoying. I’m constantly second guessing her and trying to work out what the truth is. It’s one of those narratives where there are three sides of the story, hers, his and the truth. I can’t wait to carry on reading and unpick the rest of this story. The book is just about 330 pages long and I’m coming up to 200 now. I’m going to make a push and try and finish it next week!

I have also been listening to more of A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin this week, and I’ve got another couple of chapters under my belt.

Having considered my position this week, I’ve decided to DNF One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey. It’s just not doing it for me, and mentally I went into the beginning of this week wanting to try and pick this up again. However, I just can’t bring myself to do it,. It hasn’t drawn me in and I don’t want to spend my time trying to force myself through it. I read to enjoy myself and I’m not really enjoying this book. So, this is officially my first DNF of 2022.

 

Books Discovered

As I stated at the beginning of this post, my TBR has actually gone down this week! I’ve taken five books off the list and I haven’t added anything either, which is a miracle!

 

Coming Up…

This week I would like to share a book review with you. I am trying to make my way through my ongoing list of books to be reviewed and I’d like to chip away at this list. So, with that in mind, this week I am going to be reviewing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It’s saying something when you are starting to review a series that you’re just about to finish reading, and it’s seven books long!

Next week’s Friday feature will be a First Lines Friday post. For this post I am setting myself another challenge, and it’s one that I haven’t done before. For this post, I’m going to be featuring the opening lines of a book on this month’s TBR! My reading progress has been a little bit slow this week, so I’m hoping that preparing this post will psych me up and help me find the motivation to get to some of the later books on my list. We’re already nearly midway through March and I’m still only on my second book on my list!

Last, but not least, I’ll be back the same time next week for another Sunday Summary post!

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

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Sunday Summary – 6th March 2022

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Hello and welcome to my Sunday summary post!

It’s been a busy week here on the blog! I originally intended to share one post combining my monthly wrap-up for February and my TBR for March. However, when I started drafting that post I quickly realised that this format wasn’t really working for me. Whilst it does make sense to an extent, the post was becoming really long and I didn’t get the opportunity to include all the content I wanted. So, I decided to split these back out. So, my Monthly Wrap-up for February was posted on Tuesday and my Monthly TBR for March was shared on Thursday.

I also shared a First Lines Friday post to wrap-up the working week. In that post, I challenged myself to feature a book I’ve added to my TBR in the last three months. Let’s face it, I’ve added quite a few books in that time period and so I had plenty of scope to choose from. I’m really pleased with the book I selected and I hope you enjoyed the introduction as much as I did!

 

Books Read

When I left you in last week’s Sunday Summary post I was 60% through Blackwing by Ed McDonald. This was the book I picked up at the end of February, having swapped it from One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest.

I am glad I made the switch. I absolutely devoured reading Blackwing and the escapism fantasy books offer was exactly what I needed! I read this book in a matter of days and I’ve since decided that I’m going to continue with re-reading the trilogy.

Because I still want to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest, I added this to my March TBR and as of this post I am 40% through the book. I’m now doubly glad I made the switch last month because this book isn’t quite what I expected. In all honesty, I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s perfectly readable but at the same time it’s not grabbing me in the same way either. It’s just something I feel very neutral about.

I decided to pick up a second book this week to give myself a break from it. I have picked up the next book on my TBR, Keep You Safe by Rona Halsall. This is going a lot better! I am enjoying reading this one and I managed to read 75 pages in one sitting yesterday. I expected to go into this book fully rooting for the main character. However, protagonist Natalie is a lot more complex than the synopsis lets on and I’m not sure who I’m rooting for at this point! For anyone like me who loves characters with moral shades of grey, I think it’ll be a good one for you.

I haven’t given up on One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest just yet. I’m going to continue with this next week and see how I get on. However, if it doesn’t pick up soon then I think this might be my first DNF of the year. We’ll see.

In better news, I started listening to my audiobook of A Storm of Swords again this week! It’s been a few weeks since I last put this on, however I was in the mood and I’ve managed to work my way through a few more chapters! Progress is progress!

 

Books Discovered

No new additions to the TBR for the first time in a few weeks, which is good! I’ve added enough lately, so I’ll have to give it a break if I want to delude myself that I’ll catch up at some point.

Haha, funny right?

 

Coming Up…

Next week I’ll be going back to my regular three post schedule.

It’s been a little while since I shared a Top Ten Tuesday post, and I like the sound of this week’s topic. The topic is Books With Your Favorite Trope/Theme. There are a lot of themes or tropes that could be looked at as a part of this post, so content on the blogosphere is going to be quite varied. My favourite theme for this post is going to be based around my love of fantasy books, and feature books which contain prophecies! It’s a very common thing in fantasy and it’s one of the tropes I don’t hate even though it’s a bit overused.

On Friday it’s the turn of my regular Shelf Control post. I’ll be taking another look at my TBR and sharing with you the next book on my list. I’ll share some details of the book, go into some detail as to why I added it to my list and why I still want to read it now.

Last, but not least, I’ll be back the same time next week for another Sunday Summary update!

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

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Monthly Wrap-up – February 2022

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s monthly wrap-up for February. Up until just yesterday I was planning on combining this post with my March TBR (as I combined my wrap-up and TBR last month), however I feel like that post got a little long. I also didn’t have the full opportunity to say what I wanted, and so I’ve decided to experiment with splitting these out again. If you have a preferred format I’d love to know what your preference is.

 

Books Read

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I carried over two reads from the end of January – Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and The Original Folk and Fairytales of the Brothers Grimm. I continued reading Harry Potter at the very beginning of February until I finished the book on the 3rd February. This book was every bit as fantastic as I remember!  Whilst it is about 600 pages long, I didn’t feel like it take took me that long to get through. I love the tone of the books later on in the series. I enjoyed this even when I was a teenager, but the added complexity and darkness to it just appeals to me. 

 

Clockwork Magpies

My next read was Clockwork Magpies by Emma Whitehall. The publisher, Northodox Press, advertised advance reader copies of this book on Twitter in January. I fell in love with the cover and the concept straight away, and given that it was published on the 28th January, I wanted to pick this up, read and review it quite quickly whilst the launch was still fresh. I picked up Clockwork Magpies on the 3rd of February and finished it by the 7th. It was a brilliant read and the genre and length of the book made for a great palate-cleanser read. I have also shared my full review of the book already, so if you haven’t checked out that review yet you can find out my thoughts on Clockwork Magpies here!

 

Son of Mercia

I took part in a blog tour for Son of Mercia this month, and with that deadline fast approaching this was my next read of February. I picked this book up immediately after finishing Clockwork Magpies on the 7th, and I finished this on the 16th of the month. Reading progress was a little bit slower at the time as I had family over visiting. As a result, I was spending a lot of time with them and less time at home (aka reading) than usual. Given that I was reading this for a blog tour post on the 21st, I’ve already shared my thoughts on this historical fiction novel as well! If this is your cup of tea, in particular if you like Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom series, I recommend you take a look at my review here.

 

The Diary of a Young Girl

The last book I finished in full this month was The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, which I read between the 16th – 24th February. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that this particular book is her diary and documents her life living in hiding during the Second World War. It’s not the easiest subject to read, but I found it really interesting to see the dynamics between the individuals stuck in a very limited amount of space together. Reading this book was made slightly more difficult by the ongoing current events; I finished this book on Thursday last week, which is the day Russia first invaded Ukraine. I have a lot of interest in history revolving around war, particularly the Second World War or the Cold War, but it’s a lot harder to read when it’s not an abstract idea and it’s playing out on the TV screen – it makes you realise it’s real.

 

Blackwing

Blackwing

I decided to change my last mood read of the month. In light of current events I wanted something a lot lighter and I wanted to guarantee picking up something I loved. I needed that pick-me-up and I decided to read Blackwing by Ed McDonald. This is exactly why I allow myself time for mood reads now. I do still want to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which was my intended read initially, but the end of last week just wasn’t the right time for it. As I said, I wanted a pick-me-up and I’m glad I made the decision to swap it out. I’ve absolutely loved revisiting this first book of The Ravens Mark series and it’s been just what I needed – to immerse myself in abstract fantasy and gain a sense of escapism.

This is the main book I am reading and carrying over into the very beginning of March, but only just. As of the end of the month I had just less than 100 pages left to read; I read more of the book in my lunch hour today and expect to finish it tonight!

So, those were my reads for the month of February. What have you been reading? Have you got any good book recommendations? As always, I’d love to hear from you!

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Sunday Summary – 27th February 2022

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Good evening and welcome to my Sunday Summary post for this week! It’s been a bit of a strange one and there’s plenty of bad news going around, but I hope you’ve made the best of it?

My blogging schedule for this week started off very early, as I was taking part in the blog tour for Son of Mercia by MJ Porter on Monday. Because my sister has been over visiting, I ended up drafting this post last Sunday. It was a bit of a rush to squeeze in, but it’s just the way things fell. I managed to get that out in time for the tour and I’m really glad to have been able to take part!

Later in the week I shared the Shelf Control post that should have gone live last week, but didn’t go ahead due to illness. In writing this post I actually whittled a couple of books off my TBR; having spent some time looking into them for this post, I decided that there were reasons why I no longer want to pick them up. That’s not a bad thing because the list is ever expanding.

 

Books Read

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update post I was a quarter of the way through A Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. I have to say, given the current events of this week, that the timing of reading this book wasn’t the greatest. I actually finished reading this book on Thursday, the day events in Ukraine kicked off. But, it couldn’t be helped and I wasn’t going to let it stop me finishing this one. I know it sounds pretty obvious in hindsight, but it was strange how the diary just ended. I don’t know what I expected, but there you go. To mentally conclude reading the book I ended up doing some research on what happened to the Frank’s after they were discovered. Not the most pleasant reading either, but I’m glad I did. I learned from the experience at the very least!

My next mood read was pencilled in to be One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest, however when it came to it I decided I wanted something lighter. I wanted a book that I knew I was going to love and offered escapism from current events. Having recently gifted copies of The Raven’s Mark trilogy by Ed McDonald to my sister’s boyfriend for Christmas, I think this subconsciously influenced my decision-making. I decided to pick up Blackwing, the first book of the series, again on Friday and it was obviously the right choice. As of this update I am 270 pages in, which is just over 60% of the book. I’m glad I made the switch, and it goes to show that not treating my TBR too rigidly by having some time for mood reading is the right decision.

 

Books Discovered

It’s a good job that I took a couple of books off my TBR this week, because I’ve also added a couple!

I can’t remember where I discovered this, but I found out this week that the Netflix series of The Queen’s Gambit was actually based on a book. I had no idea before now! I really loved this series and so I decided to give the book a go as well!

In addition, I recently watched a video by Ashleigh at A Frolic Through Fiction on YouTube, in which she shared her favourite books of all time. In that list she talked about The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon, and it caught my attention. I’ve seen and heard of it before but I don’t know why I hadn’t added it to my TBR before now. That mistake has been duly rectified!

 

Coming Up…

Somehow it’s March next week. I have absolutely no idea where this year is going, but I feel like I say that all the time. Anyway, with the new month rolling in I will be sharing a brief wrap-up for the month of February, as well as sharing my TBR for March! I hope you can join me for that post!

I’ll be back again later in the week for a First Lines Friday post. I feel like setting myself a challenge this week, and so I’ve decided that my chosen feature will be from a book I’ve added to my TBR in the last three months. Everyone knows I’ve added plenty of books of late and it still leaves enough scope in terms of genre and content. I think this is the first time I’ve set this kind of challenge before, so be interesting to take a closer look at the books on my list and be able to feature one for you!

Then, as always, I’ll be back the same time next week for another Sunday Summary update!

Until then, I hope you have a good week, pick up some fabulous books, and I will see you in the next post!

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Sunday Summary – 20th February 2022

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Good evening everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday summary post!

My blogging schedule didn’t quite go to plan this week. I started off well with sharing a review of Clockwork Magpies by Emma Whitehall. I recently read this book and given that it is a new launch, I wanted to feature it on my blog whilst it was still a recent event!

Later in the week things fell off the wagon. I had fallen behind from scheduling posts in advance (at least in part) as my sister has been over visiting. As a result, my Shelf Control post wasn’t prepared or shared in advance and it wasn’t done on Friday due to illness. I’ve got a cold for the first time in about 3 years, and on Friday I was suffering particularly badly. After a rough night’s sleep the day before, I just didn’t have the energy to draft my post that night. Sorry guys!

Even now I am still not 100%. Normally I would dictate these posts to draft them, but I’m having to manually type them at the moment as I’m plagued by an awful cough and hoarse throat. Don’t worry, it’s not the dreaded C word (I’ve been testing throughout so as not to risk passing it to my family… and I’ve been keeping as much distance from them as possible even still), but I can assure you I’m looking forward to the day my body decides to purge this cold. It can’t come soon enough!

 

Books Read

My main reading focus this week has been to finish Son of Mercia by MJ Porter, for reasons that will become apparent later in this post. As of my last Sunday Summary update, I was 60% through the novel. I finished this with more than enough time to spare! It’s a great historical fiction read (especially if you already enjoy Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom series as I do) and I am sharing my thoughts on this book for a blog tour imminently.

Later in the week I started my first mood read of February’s TBR – The Diary of a Young Girl written by Anne Frank. I was able to read just under a quarter of this in just one sitting. It’s really easy to get into and I am glad I picked this up. The narrative is a lot easier to read than I was anticipating, and I’m looking forward to making further progress with this over the next week!

 

Books Discovered

Whilst my sister has been over visiting I confess that I walked into a couple of bookstores… but it was only from one that I made some purchases. Look at me and my discipline hey?! Haha!

I purchased a copy of a book already on my TBR (so not technically an addition) – Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It’s a classic that I’ve been looking forward to reading for some time, and I’m sure it’s the kind of book I’ll appreciate in paperback!

I also treated myself to something not on my list – Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman. I was initially drawn to the book by the cover, but the synopsis christened it for me as a purchase. The synopsis is as intriguing and full of mystery as the novel purports to be, and I can’t wait to dive in! This was an impulse purchase, but I’m sure one I won’t regret!

 

Coming Up…

I have partly caught up with drafting some of my blog posts ahead of schedule, but mostly out of necessity. I am taking part in the blog tour for Son of Mercia tomorrow, and so I have spent this evening committing my review to a blog post. I just about managed to dictate this part, with no small amount of editing to rectify what my indistinguishable croaks should have been! This is all ready to go live tomorrow, so I hope you can take a look at that when it’s live!

Later in the week I’ll be back what should have been this week’s Shelf Control post. I’ll try and get it prepared nice and early to give myself some of that breathing space I lost back.

And finally, I’ll be rounding off next week with another Sunday Summary update with all my latest reading news.

Thanks for bearing with me this week! What have you been reading?

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