April Wrap Up!

April was a bit of a slow reading month for me. I was a bit busy the first couple weeks but I still managed to read 13 books! Here they are, along with some other highlights from April!

• A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab – ★★★★★
  I love V.E. Schwab and she’s definitely one of my favourite authors. Though I did like ADSOM a little bit more than its sequel, I still loved AGOS and I am so excited for A Conjuring of Light!
• Maybe Not (Maybe #1.5) by Colleen Hoover – ★★★★☆
  This was such a nice addition to Maybe Someday, which I read a year ago. After all the fantasy I’d been reading I decided to pick this one up as a short break. It was sweet and super steamy and I really enjoyed seeing Bridgette and Warren and their story.
• Shadow and Bone (Grisha #1) by Leigh Bardugo -★★★★☆
  I rather enjoyed this first novel. I didn’t love it but I liked it. You can see my full review here.
• Siege and Storm (Grisha #2) by Leigh Bardugo – ★★★★☆
  For a sequel, this was a pretty good book. I enjoyed it but I was expecting it to be better. You can see my full review here.
• Ruin and Rising (Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo – ★★★★☆
  This was disappointing if I’m being honest. I thought it was a really anticlimactic conclusion to something that had been building up for more than two books and it just let me down though I didn’t hate it. You can see my full review here.
• Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo – ★★★★★
  This book was absolutely amazing and 1000000x  better than the Grisha trilogy. I loved it from the very first page and it’s already earned a spot on my 2016 Favourites. I love the characters and the world and the plot and just everything about this book! It definitely deserves the hype! You can see my full review here.
• Made You Up by Francesca Zappia – ★★★★★
  After so much fantasy, I wanted some contemporary and decided to pick this up and oh boy was it good! I absolutely adored this novel and it, too, has earned a spot on my 2016 Favourites. It dealt with mental illness so well and the writing was so good and I loved the characters and just everything about this book! Look out for my review!
• When We Collided by Emery Lord – ★★★★☆
  I read this for Dewey’s 24hr Read-a-thon and I managed to finish it with time to spare. I had a bit of a love-hate relationship with most of this book. My feelings were so mixed but the ending made up for it in my opinion. It was a bit of a letdown though. I’d been expecting a cute summery read featuring mental illness and I did get that but the characters were so annoying. Look out for my review!
• Poison Study (Study #1) by Maria V. Snyder – ★★★★☆
  This month I participated in a Goodreads challenge called ‘Pick it For Me’ and this was the book my partner picked. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. This author and series has so much hype that I wasn’t sure I was going to like it but I really did! I enjoyed pretty much everything about this book and I’m looking forward to picking up the sequel.
• Denton Little’s Deathdate by Lance Rubin – ★★★☆☆
  After all my 4 and 5 star reads, there was bound to be a disappointing book in my future and this was it. I was expecting something witty and funny but this was just stupid in my opinion. I didn’t hate it but I was pretty meh about it. I couldn’t tel if it was meant to be contemporary or paranormal or what. It just wasn’t that enjoyable for me.
• What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler – ★★★★★
  *Trigger warning for rape* This book was amazing. I got through this in 4 hours because I just couldn’t put it down. It was hard hitting and sad and just gave me so many feelings! The writing was great as were the characters and the plot and situations of this novel were so well executed. I highly, highly, highly recommend you read this because it is so serious and it could potentially start a conversation so many people aren’t willing to have.
• Solitaire by Alice Oseman – ★★★☆☆
  Another disappointing book. I was honestly so confused and annoyed while I read this. The main character was so pessimistic and negative and I just couldn’t tell if it was because that’s just how she was or because she was dealing with mental illness. That wasn’t made clear until the end, but honestly I thought about not finishing this so many times. Michael Holden was the character that saved this book for me and bumped my rating up from 2 to 3 stars.
• Fairest by Marissa Meyer – ★★★★☆
  I am so sad to be done with the Lunar Chronicles and the whole Lunar world. I loved seeing Levana’s backstory and finding out the things that made her so cold and cruel. It was such a good addition to this series and I just don’t want to say good bye to these characters!

Usually there would be a book haul in this bit but since I was on a book buying ban in April, I’ll be doing a larger collective haul at the end or in the middle of May. So here are some of my April highlights and favourites instead!

Joel CreaseyOne of my favourite parts of this month was seeing Joel Creasey. Throughout March and April, the Melbourne Interntional Comedy Festival was on my friend and I jumped at the chance to see Joel. We same him at last year’s festival and he was hilarious then and he’s still hilarious now! After Joel, we went to Galactic Circus, an arcade at Crown Casino, since we drove into the city and didn’t have to worry about missing our train!

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The Colour Run Night

The next weekend I was back in Melbourne for another Colour Run. Since 2014, my friend and I do the Colour Run at Felmington Racecourse and this year’s early one was at night. For those of you who don’t know, the Colour Run is a 5KM course with colour stations along the way where people basically throw coloured powder on you and it’s great. It’s all followed by an awesome finishing festival full of dancing and colour throws. Though I didn’t enjoy this Colour Run as much as the day one, and I definitely did not enjoy feeling like a chalk stick, I still had such a fantastic time!

 

Hamilton

Once again, I spent my month listening to and being obsessed with Hamilton. It is literally taking over my life and I am officially complete HAMILTRASH. Let me know in the comments if you’re Hamiltrash and what your favourite song is! Mine is currently ‘Hurricane’ though it’s always changing.

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There you have it, my April Wrap Up! How many books did you read? Let me know in the comments! And keep an eye out for my upcoming haul!