April Whispers // A Month For Myself, Disappointing Books Everywhere but NEW!! BOOKSHELF!!

I literally didn’t know April even STARTED but here we are in May!

I feel like I say this a lot, but I’m serious April came and went before I even acknowledged it existed! We went from April fools to now me enjoying my 3 day weekend because of Bank Holiday. Overall, April was a good month but there was a lot of dips in it which made me go crazy near the end of the month so??

Without further ado, the recap!

I read 8 books! Considering I had school, WOW, I’m so impressed with myself! I didn’t enjoy half of them and 2 of them were Bardugo Re-reads because near the end of April, I felt a slump coming along. I’m not sure If I’m in it still but my motivation to read is SLOWLY slipping away which is like,,,, scary. But hopefully I get excited about books soon!!

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody ★★★★★  // I MEAN OF COURSE I LOVED IT!! Levi is iconic, Enne is precious and I love everyone even the villains!! THE QUEEN DID EVERYTHING RIGHT. [review to come]

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake ★★☆ ☆☆ // Literally everyone on Goodreads LOVED this book but I just didn’t feel anything and I did not get it at ALL. So ha. I’m REALLY disappointed to be honest (may disowned me) [read my review here]

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo ★☆☆☆☆ // I NEVER thought I’d rate a bardugo book less than 4 stars but here we are. I LOVED SHADOW AND BONE but the sequel was so boring. [read my rant review here]

Saints and Misifts by S.K Ali // No rating for this one but know that this one is between a 3 and 2 stars. ANOTHER DISAPPOINTMENT!!! I was SO excited for this book and the muslim rep but the whole book felt SO POINTLESS. Hmph. [review to come]

A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood ★★★★☆ // Maybe books are just better with no expectations?! Because I think I’m one of the first to read this on Goodreads and I enjoyed it so much!! Finally, a book I liked. [review here]

Daughter of The Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller ★★☆ ☆☆ // This was really FUN to read but it bugged me so much at the same time, and literally the main focus of the book was a romance. Someone get me out of here. [review here]

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo ★★★★☆ // Okay after the disappointing sequel and my slump, I re-read this book which I like HARDLY DO but the first book is so good how was the second one so disappointing?? [review here]

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo ★★★★★ // 1 STAR!!! SO DISAPPOINTING!! I HATED IT. If You believed that for one second, who are you? My third Bardugo Book of the month and I love it even more than the first time I have no idea how that is even possible. Also my favourite crow might be Nina but *MIGHT* [review to come]

I received 8 books this month! Which shows for every book I read, I get another one and this is the perfect recipe for a disaster TBR!

YES, I DO HAVE TWO COPIES OF ACE OF SHADES DON’T JUDGE ME, I’M JUST HERE TRYING SUPPORT MY FAVE AUTHOR. But most exciting book mail? Probably these two + Monday’s Not Coming!!

Blogging has BEEN AMAZING FOR ME!! Ever since I’ve decided to be more chilled back, I’ve felt so much more happier when I do post (even if it is only 2 times per month) and I have felt less pressure! I do wish I blog hopped more and had a chance to reply to months old comments but we’ll get there.

BLOGS

I did like 0 blog hopping this month so I have like no posts SORRY NOT SORRY.

• Marie talks about validation as a book blogger and how the frick you review a book
• Cait talks about reasons she loves siblings in books and how to annoy a book blogger
• That’s it
• That IS LITERALLY IT. I used to have so many posts here but now I literally have four WHYY.

NEWS

MUSE OF NIGHTMARES UK COVER REVEAL!!!

I do prefer the US cover I must admit

ITS BEAUTIFUL OMFG I NEED IT HOLY CRAP https://t.co/IJZVkZzWcQ pic.twitter.com/B4A4J7RaJT

— ilsa of paper & fire – on hiatus (@WhisperOfInk) February 14, 2018

KING OF SCARS COVER REAL — ewww

It’s literally so tacky and I hate it!! Everyone else loves but to me, it LOOKS SO UGLY.

Very excited to share the title for Book 2 of THE SHADOW GAME series, the sequel to #AceOfShades! I've had this title in my head for years, during which I never thought this book would be published. This is a very special day! ❤ pic.twitter.com/Ukh5bOI9as

— Amanda Foody (@AmandaFoody) May 3, 2018

Ace of Shades Book 2 is CALLED KING OF FOOLS!! I love the title and I’m guessing the cover is going to be blue??! WHO KNOWS AT THIS POINT AND WHO CARES. (screaming!!)

• Have you heard of Camp Nano? Me neither. I did start it but I feel like I did mostly because of peer pressure and my friends screaming at me to do it?? I really did want to edit this month but I’m taking it at my own pace.
• I’m procrastinating and a lot of that is to do with Twitter and a little bit of Instagram so I decided to just take a break. I still hop on every two days and give myself 5 mins to catch up on whatever is going on, because It’s hard to cut it off completely. Instagram is super easy to stay away from because I wasn’t even that into it anyways??
• My twitter hiatus is giving me HUGE amounts of time to do stuff I love (POEMS). I’ve been writing a lot of poetry and honestly, writing is such an amazing outlet for me. I get to express all these emotions inside me and I love it so incredibly much. There is no way to describe how refreshing it feels to write.
• I got into the finals of A HUGE WRITING COMPETITION IN THE UK! Over 100,000 people enter each year and I got into the finals of just 50 people. I can’t wait to go the award ceremony (in June) because there are going to be FAMOUS PEEPS. I’m not sure I’ll win because I’ve seen my competition and some of the stories are…wow.
• Like there was this one about anxiety and it was described amazingly and I kinda want that one to win more than my own?? Which is weird because I’m normally SO competitive and always want to win so…
• I got nominated SO MANY TIMES for the Annual Book Blogger Awards and I was going to link everyone who nominated me but there’s actually so many but just so you know if you nominated me thank you and if you didn’t, thanks for reading my blog!!
• The weather has been CRAZY. And not in the best way. We had a wonderful heat wave where I was eating ice cream and walking home from school. And then it got super cold and gloomy AND WE’RE LIKE 5 YEARS INTO SPRING WHY IS THE WEATHER SO HORRIBLE?!?!
• I re-read Six Of Crows and gosh, I loved it. I truly appreciated everything Bardugo did in this book. It was beautiful. I love Nina so much, NO BODY UNDERSTANDS. And while I love Kaz, I connect with Nina on like A PERSONAL LEVEL. I also teared up at the end which is weird because it wasn’t even sad compared to Crooked Kingdom. I’m still debating whether to read CK though. SOC was a highlight of my month! I found so much comfort and entertainment in the story. And I love Nina and Matthias so much MY HEART HURTS.
• Towards the end of the month, I was listening to some great music as I wrote and I just felt so good about myself you know?? Especially when i was stressed, I let myself just let it all out. I never used to let myself watch youtube endlessly but I just let all my standards ago and give some time for me? Which was great.
• I got a new bookshelf!! As well as a new desk and cupboard BUT ITS SO PRETTY I LOVE IT!!! All my books…FIT!! AH SCREAMING!!
• 
• ISNT IT PRETTY AHJGDJAGHAGHASGHFASGAF I FINALLY HAVE A REAL BOOKSHELFFFFFF.
• I also got kinda ill in the middle of the month and then felt really crappy near the end of the month so yeah :((

{goals from last month}

• Be in more control of my life! ❌✔
• Have fun and relax ✔✔
• Don’t let school drain you!✔
• Do homeworks on time .❌❌
• EAT FOOD ✔❌
• Read 3 physical ARCs ✔
• UPDATE NETGALLEY REVIEWS ✔
• Request some ARCs from publishers ❌

{goals for may}

• Do homework on time!!
• Read Not The Girls You Are Looking For and Leah on The OffBeat
• CHARGE YOUR KINDLE
• Read 3 physical ARCs
• Edit some of my book?
• Survive school exams and revise
• Request some ARCs dont be lazy
• Keep on top of everything
• Don’t get overwhelmed
• Try not to get anxious and nervous about something

What are some of your favourite songs right now? How was April for you? Is May going to be an exciting month for you? have you done exams or are you about to start them? What was the highlight of this month? What was your favourite recent read? Do you love my bookshelves? LET ME KNOW!!