Always Me

Happy Wednesday everyone and welcome to my fourth  2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge  update with mini reviews!   In April, I read 12 books for a total of 33 completed out of 50.  I'd say I'm doing pretty well so far.  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in April:  ❋   ❋  ❋   ❋ I've never read the original novel, but this graphic novel adaptation,  Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass: The Graphic Novel  by Meg Medina, Adapted and Illustrated by Mel Valentine Vargas  was gut wrenching. I was so mad and upset to see what Piddy was going through.  One day I may have to try the original novel. My review is also on  Goodreads  and  The StoryGraph . ❋   ❋  ❋   ❋ Memorials  by Richard Chizmar  isn't my favorite from this author, but I still love his style and the audiobook production is excellent. I feel like I should have read this for Halloween.  I don't want...

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing my fourth update and mini reviews for the  Read Around the World Challenge .  Of the 46 books for the 46 European countries on my original  tbr , I managed to complete 5 in April for a total of 17 completed so far.  You can check out my profile here on the challenge website  here .  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read this month: ❋   ❋  The Man Who Spoke Snakish  by Andrus Kivirakh  has an intriguing premise, but this historical fantasy never quite worked for me as well as I wished I did.  I don't know but I just felt like I was missing something with this one.  I wish that the female characters could have had more to do.  Maybe I need to know more about Estonian history to really appreciate this one? My review is also on  Goodreads  and  The StoryGraph . ❋   ❋  ❋ The Encyclopedia of the Dead  by Danilo Kis  is a fine coll...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my fourth update for my April progress on the year long  Beat The Backlist 2025  reading challenge, hosted by  Austine Decker .  You can see my original tbr  here .  In April, I completed 4 books for a total of 18 read so far out of 24 total books on my tbr.  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in April: ❋   ❋ House of Marionne  ( House of Marionne  #1)   by J. Elle  is one of those books where the premise sounds much better than the final product. It's like it mashes up several YA favorites, but doesn't wind up with what made those work so well. More often than not I found myself both confused and annoyed by the world-building, the one dimensional characters, and all of the terms/ events aren't explained to the reader. This book had plenty of potential, now if only it could have lived up to it. My review is also on Goodreads and The Stor...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books with the Word “[Insert Word Here]” in the Title, the word I'm featuring is Girl.  There just seem to be so many with girl in the title, so I'm featuring some of my favorites.  Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order by title: Almost American Girl by Robin Ha The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee The Girl From Everywhere ( The Girl From Everywhere #1) by Heidi Heilig The Girl From Felony Bay ( Felony Bay #1) by J.E. Thompson Girl In The Blue Coat by Monica Hesse The Girl With All The Gifts ( The Girl With All The Gifts #1) by M.R. Carey The Girl With Ghost Eyes ( The Daoshi Chronicles  #1) by M.R. Boroson The Girl With No Face ( The Daoshi Chronicles  #2) by M.R. Boroson Good Girl, Bad Blood ( A Good Girl's Guide To Murder #2) by Holly Jackson The Sinister Mystery Of The Mesmerizing Girl ( The Extraordinary ...

Happy Monday!  Today, I'm sharing my April update for my  12 Challenge 2025 .  This month I managed to complete 2 books for a total of 9 completed of the 12 books recommended to me.  I can't believe I've only got 3 books to go for this challenge.  Keep reading to see my thoughts on what I've read for this challenge in April: ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ I'm so glad  The Outcast Mage  ( The Shattered Lands  #1) by Annabel Campbell  was recommended to me because I really enjoyed this epic fantasy series opener. The world-building is my favorite aspect by far and I especially appreciated that the author just throws you right into it all. I'll definitely be back for more in the future.  I think this has the potential to become a new favorite series.  If you like Andrea Stewart, you might want to give Annabel Campbell a chance. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Chain-Gang All-Stars  by ...

          Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url.  Welcome back again!  Today, I'm featuring three of my favorites from Liz Carroll 's album Lost in the Loop.  I love her music and I was listening to this album released in 2000 for the first time earlier this month.  Give a listen to The Silver Spear/ The Earl's Chair/ The Musical Priest , The Golden Legs/ The Flogg...

Happy Sunday everyone!  I hope everyone's been doing well this month.  I've now completed 8 total tasks for  Book Riot's 2025 Read Harder Challenge .  The two tasks I completed in April required me to read a   nonfiction book about nature or the environment  and to read a  book about immigration or refugees (originally I was hoping to complete the prompt to read literary fiction by a BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled author. but the book I was planning on reading for it still hasn't come in from the hold I've had on it at my library).    I selected  The Twenty-One: The True Story of the Youth Who Sued the U.S. Government Over Climate Change  by Elizabeth Rusch  and  Sisters of the War: Two Remarkable True Stories of Survival and Hope in Syria  by Rania Abouzeid  respectively.   Read on to see my mini reviews and my plans for next month: ❋   ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋   The Twenty-One: The...

    On Friday's I take part in two weekly link ups - The Friday 56, currently hosted by  Anne @ My Head Is Full of Books , and Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader .  For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.  Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Beat The Backlist 2025  books,  The Twelve  ( The Passage  #2) by Justin Cronin .  I really liked book one and I've been putting this off for too long. Beginning: From the Writings of the First Reco...

  Happy Thursday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my wrap up and mini reviews for my Spring Equinox 2025 classes at Orilium  for the   Magical Readathon , hosted by  G. @ Book Roast .  I've followed the  Novice Path , completed the  Traveller's Key , have  Geared Up , completed the  Spring Equinox 2022  and  August Equinox 2022 , visited  Old Favour Pass in 2022 , completed the  Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Aeldia 2023 , completed the  Spring Equinox 2023  and  Autumn Equinox 2023 , and visited  Old Favour Pass in 2023 .  I completed the  Spring Equinox 2024 ,  Autumn Equinox 2024 ,  Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Aeldia 2024 , and  Old Favour Pass 2024 .  I'm currently working my way through  Choose Your Own Adventure: Year In Aeldia 2025, The Boardgame .  Anyway, as usual, this Spring Equinox semester ran all of April and I kept studying for...