March Wrap Up (2024)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm back with my wrap up for the month! 

(I genuinely thought this was going to be a one book wrap up at one point, but thankfully that's not the case!)

I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to comment what books you all picked up at the bottom!

1. Love Ya, Babe, by Chris Higgins

I re-read this as a spur of the moment decision, when I wanted a quick read (after it felt like I wasn't getting anywhere with The Alfoxden and Grasmere Journals). Chris Higgins' books have always felt like books I can return to for a quick, engaging read that discusses important issues (especially for teenagers). 

Sometimes my Chris Higgins' book choice can be completely random, but honestly, it usually just tends to be the one that I feel like reading at the time. 

Love Ya, Babe is about Gabby, whose finding it hard to deal with her embarrasing mother Posy, and look after her brothers, as well as trying to figure out her feelings for her crush, Si, who also happens to be the subject of her best friend's feelings. All of this is chaotic enough, but when Gabby's older-than-average mother announces that she is pregnant, her life truly begins to spiral out of control. Can Gabby sort out her life in time for the new arrival? 

Love Ya, Babe deals with financial issues, identity issues, new family arrives, postpartum depression, growing up, breakups, and that's just to name a few! 

It was lovely to pick up an old favourite, and I definitely feel like I got my mojo back after speeding through this! 

2. The Alfoxden and Grasmere Journals, by Dorothy Wordsworth

I finished it! Two down, one to go! 

I might have said in my TBR that I hoped to fly through this. Yeah, I was kind of eating my words when I failed to finish this in a week. Instead, it took me the best part of the month. 

I still enjoyed it, quite a lot. I liked how the entries got longer and more detailed as I went on. I enjoyed the staccato one liners as much as the paragraphs about Dorothy's life with her brother and his late wife. It truly was a simple, nourishing and fulfilling life Dorothy led with her brother and it was wonderful to have an account of everything they got up to. 

3,4,5,6,7. Heartstopper Vol. 1-5 , by Alice Oseman 

After reading The Alfoxden and Grasmere Journals, I always planned to start The Burning God, the last book in The Poppy War trilogy. But I knew that if I persisted with it, I'd be pushing myself into a reading slump. So, I picked up the first book I thought of. 

Heartstopper. I'd had the fifth volume for three months, since Christmas, and I still hadn't picked it up. 

Never one to do things by half, I picked the first volume up and marathoned the entire series. 

Honestly, it was just what I needed, to fall in love with these wonderful characters and their love stories, all over again. Of course I loved the fifth volume, but I can feel Alice Oseman steering the story towards an emotional final volume, and I'm not ready for it (don't even know when it's out, does anyone else)? 

(Let me know in the comments if you do.) 

Okay! Those are all the books I finished in the month of March! I hope you enjoyed reading about them and, as always, feel free to comment what you got up to this month! 

I hope you have a wonderful evening, day or morning, wherever you are in the world, and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxxx

Anticipated Releases (April-June 2024)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm here with my anticipated releases for the next three months! (I love how consistent I'm being this month :) )

I have no idea at this point how many there will be, so I best get to it! 

I hope you enjoy reading my list. 

April Releases

1. No Going Back, by Patrick Floss-Scott

Release date: 2/4/24

No Going Back is about Antonio- a young man that is on the verge of getting early release from the youth detention centre he's been residing in for the past year and a half- for a crime he didn't directly commit. Once out, he's determined to make it up to the people he hurt the most. The terms of his release are clear: Antonia can't have any contact with this father, and he can't miss his appointment with his parole officer on Monday morning- but Antonio is determined- not just to commit to his education and to his sobriety program, but to start a new life. 

This sounds like an extremely interesting, emotional read about righting wrongs in your life after a blow in your life, and I am here for it. It's set over just a couple of days, so I'm expecting it to be fast paced, and a quick read. 

2. The Harrowing, by Kristen Kiesling & Rye Hickman

Release date: 16/4/24

This sounds awesome. The Harrowing is a graphic novel about Rowan, a psychic teen that hunts potential killers. 

Drugged, kidnapped and transported to a school called Rosewood, after intense dreams of murders make Rowan ask her dad for advice, Rowan starts to understand what Rosewood is: a training centre for teens with special abilities who are known as Harrows. 

Harrows can view the actions of would-be murders before the commit crimes (like Minority Report, but more psychic and less technology) and Rowan begins to believe in their mission; after all, she lost her mother to a random act of voilence two years previously. Until a vision shows her maybe-friend-maybe-something-more Lucas, and Rowan starts to question things. Returning home, she sets out to discover what will lead to these events, and save Lucas at all costs. 

This sounds creepy, but awesome. Also, LOOK AT THAT COVER. That would look absolutely gorgeous on my bookshelf. 

3. Funny Story, by Emily Henry 

Release date: 23/4/24

Yet another Emily Henry book. Never mind that I have two already on my shelf, still unread. As far as it stands, I will continue to put her books on these, because I know I'll get to them eventually. 

Blurb: Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story: how they met (on a blustery day), how they fell in love (over an errant hat), and how he moved back to his hometown, so they could start their lives together, right up until the moment when he realised that he was actually in love with Daphne's best mate, Petra. 

After this, Daphne is left, stranded, in a job as a librarian (which barely pays the bills) and the only person that could possibly understand her predicament is Petra's ex, Miles Nowak, who is the polar opposite of closed off Daphne (even her colleagues think she's either in witness protection or working for the FBI. 

After a meeting to drown their sorrows, Miles and Daphne formulate a plan, to pretend they had a throwaway summer romance, constructed entirely from photographs. 

It's fine, especially when there's exactly no chance of Daphne actually falling for Miles, right?

Altogether simple premise, but promises to be a fun and entertaining read. 

May Releases 

1. The Ballad of Darcy and Russell, by Morgan Matson

Release date: 7/5/24

24 hour book about a couple meeting by chance. 

Darcy has always believed in love at first sight- she's been waiting her whole life for it, but now- her car broken down, on the way home from a festival, phone dead, out of cash, and leaving for college the next day, she thinks the day couldn't possibly get any worse. 

But then she meets Russell, cute, funny, and kind Russell. As they walk and talk, the two connect, and Darcy is able to put aside her fears and doubts as she focuses on Russell. 

Over the course of their fateful night, Darcy and Russell find they can talk and share things with the other they never thought possible. But is it really possible to fall in love in a day? Before they part, they know that their lives have been irreparably changed- and Darcy and Russell will have to decide if it's worth saying hello when they know they're destined to say goodbye. 

It's a Morgan Matson book. Of course it's going on here. Seems like the perfect summer read. 

June Releases

1. The Breakup Artists, by Adriana Mather

Release date: 4/6/24

August and Valentine run a business called Summer Love, Inc. They hire themselves out to concerned parents to break up their kids' relationships, by any means necessary. August believes that they're doing it so that the kids have to chance to be in a healthy relationship down the line. Valentine agrees to prove a point: that there is no such thing as true love. He blames his sister's manipulative boyfriend for her death, and thinks the whole falling in love thing is ridiculous, at any age. 

But then August meets Ella, who suddenly turns every thought he's ever had about love on it's head- when he realises he's fallen for her. The problem is, she's their new case, which means that everything he's told her about him- is a lie- even his name. 

This sounds like a book with some serious issues in it, but with a light-hearted tone. It certainly never sounds like anything I've read before. Looking forward to it. 

2. Daydream (Maple Hills #3), by Hannah Grace

Release date: 4/6/24

I saw this on the release list, I added it. It's that simple. 

All I needed to know was that the protagonist is Henry. 

Didn't even read the rest of it. 

It looks like it's a tutor scenario romance with the love interest, Halle, trying to write her own book, so I'm all in. 

Just need to read the second book in the series first. 

3. Crashing Into You, by Rocky Callen

Release date: 25/6/24

Leti has always dreamed of being the most famous female street racer: her brother taught her to drive faster than anyone, and nobody is ever able to catch her. 

But while she's at home in the car, she feels out of place at her school, in the stifling halls of Philmore Academy. Her only release is the class she takes with quiet, distant Jacob, a boy on the autism spectrum. When she invites him out for a drive, disaster strikes during a rice- and Leti swears to give up driving. 

But will she really give it up? Especially since it might be the only thing that saves Jacob?

The description reads that this book is perfect for fans of Atypical, and fast and furious. While I've never seen fast and furious, I have seen Herbie, and of course, Atypical is a favourite. Never read a book about car racing, so I reckon this'll be quiet interesting. 

Okay! Those are all the books I'm anticipating in the next few months! Feel free to comment some of yours in the comments- I can't wait to see what they are! 

I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx

The Seven Sisters' Series Pt. 2

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And even though it's been a while since I've finished this series, I still want to post this, as I still have a fair few thoughts. 

I know a lot of you won't want to read this, because you haven't read the books, but those that do, I hope you enjoy this. 

The Moon Sister

The Moon Sister- From the past four books, a lot of the time, the POV that I was anticipating the most, was the ancestor. Surprisingly, it was the opposite with The Moon Sister. 

In the fifth book in the series, we follow Tiggy, who spends her days experiencing the raw beauty of the Scottish Highlands, taking care of the wildcats that roam in the exhibit. But when the sanctuary is forced to close, she takes a position of a wildlife consultant in the isolated estate of doctor and laird, Charlie Kinnaird. When she takes this whirldwind position that will be changing her life for the forseeable future, she has no idea how much it'll help her to understand her past. At the estate she meets Chilly, a gypsy that fleed Spain no less than seventy years ago. He tells her that not only does Tiggy possess the gift that has lived in her family for generations, but that he know her grandmother. With this he begins to tell Tiggy the tale of her origin. 

Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy hearing about the lifestyle of the flamenco dancers, which is what Lucia (her grandmother) was- it was wondering to read about the events that took place in the 1950s in Spain, I just didn't particularly love Tiggy's grandmother a huge amount. Tiggy's POV, bringing the estate back to working order, and getting the animals to interact, protecting the wildlife, as well as reading about her relationships with the new characters that were introduced, were where I enjoyed the book the most. Tiggy was one of my favourite sisters to read about, with her intelligence, her curiousity, her kindness, and her instinct were enough to fall in love with her character every time I picked the book up. 

The Sun Sister

Electra's book is very different from the others. She faces challenges none of the others ever have a possibility of encountering. A lot of this is because she is a figure in the public eye- she's a global supermodel- known to most people in the world- which can bring about a certain amount of pressure. She feels very much like she could fit in today's world, with everyone obsessed with social media, and being noticed, where it's really easy to become addicted to bad habits, (if you've read the book you'll know what I'm talking about), and because of that, it's very easy to relate to her as a character. 

If anything, the fact that she's easy to relate to almost makes you want to root for her recovery, and for her to use her platform to make a difference. 

From the amount of that I've talked about Electra, you can probably tell how much I enjoyed her POV. 

I haven't even mentioned her ancestor, Cecily either. With her, it isn't actually the case of Tiggy's ancestor- I really like reading about Cecily. I did like reading Electra's POV more, but I'm not taking away from Cecily, for sure. 

Cecily wants a life of exploring, a life of adventure and learning- not a life of being married to a rich husband. So when the chance to escape to Africa with her godmother arrives, she grasps it with two hands. Cecily's story covers several decades, and takes her to africa, to marrying in unusual circumstances, to even more unexpected circumstances. This happens in all of them, and I've been surprised and overjoyed at the events that take place, but I found myself becoming sad during this one. 

(Because I knew this would be the last time I read a book in this series that was set in this manner), but still, I was eager and excited to see what happens next. 

I won't say that this one was my favourite, they all won me over in different ways. But this honestly felt like the end of the series. 

The Missing Sister

And then I picked up this one. I'd sneaked a peak at some of the feelings that some of my fellow readers were expressing over this book, and although I don't think their thoughts coloured my own, I shouldn't have been surprised to find that my review mirrored theirs. 

In The Missing Sister, all six sisters come together and try, each in their own individual way of trying to contact the seventh and final sister- based on a piece of jewellery that Georg has been trying to find since before Maia was adopted that he believes was the seventh sister. 

I'm not saying this book was unnecessary, but I wish it had played out differently.  I enjoyed Mary Kate's parts, as she told the story of her past and found out things about herself, but after following these sisters for six books, I just feel like their parts could have been better. 

Atlas

Such a great end to the series. It didn't matter that this was a co-written book between Lucinda Riley and her son Harry, the ending was perfect. Finally, we got to find out how Pa Salt came to meet all of the girls' ancestors, and why he decided to adopt them. 

I also loved reading about him as a young boy, going from homeless, penniless, to the man determined to make a life for himself and his girlfriend. He was such a wonderful character to read about, like all of the sisters before him. All in all, I'm glad I managed to get through The Missing Sister so I had the pleasure of meeting Pa Salt as more than just a father & a mentor to the sister. 

Thankyou Lucinda Riley, for writing such a wonderful series, that had me gripped from beginning to end. It's been a pleasure. Rest in peace. 

Okay! So that is my review of the second part of the Seven Sisters series. 

I hope you enjoyed it, (and if you stuck with it through to the end), thankyou. 

I hope you have a wonderful evening and I'll see you all soon (hopefully for my anticipared releases for the next three months). 

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxxxx

February Wrap Up & March TBR (2024)

 Hey guys, this is Abi here,

And I can finally find the time to post! 

Sorting house took priority of course, but I can't tell you how much I missed doing this! 

So happy to be back! 

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy my February Wrap Up & March TBR (2024)!

~February Wrap Up (2024)~

I ACTUALLY READ EVERYTHING I SET OUT TO READ THIS MONTH! 

I genuinely can't remeber the last time that happened. 

I read: 

1. The Poppy War (The Poppy War #1), by R.F. Kuang

After I failed to finish this for the end of January, I gave myself the kick up the butt that I needed, so I could finish this quickly. I am absolutely amazed at how well this book was written, and how much happens in it. Rin goes from being a lowly girl, about to be married off, to getting into Sinnegard, the most elite school in the country, to a valued member of a crazy powerful clan. I of course, can't really share what happens more than that, but I'm so glad I finally managed to finish this book and make a dent on what promises to be a phenomenal series. 

2. Good for a girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World, by Lauren Fleshman 

After struggling with The Poppy War, I really needed a change of pace. And because all my books were still in a million boxes, my choices were limited. Thus, I turned to audiobooks. 

Despite having had The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks on my audible shelf for about 3 years, I knew I didn't want to start reading a book from a series (planning a full series re-read soon, I promise) so I picked Good For A Girl up, full of intrigue. 

If you didn't know, Lauren Fleshman is a retired track athlete, coach, spokesperson, and now author of Good for a girl. This book discusses her journey from a child, dreaming of being an olympian, collegiate athlete, her struggles with eating disorders, the lack of research and courses for women's health in sport, amongst a whole load of other things that take place in the competitive enviroment that is track. 

So, if you're interested in that sort of thing, I would definitely give this a read. 

3. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, by Matthew Perry 

I don't know what to say about this. I feel I know Matthew a little better now, and I commemorate him on his candor, his honesty, when writing this memoir. 

Even writing this now, some of the things he said are swimming around my brain. 

I was not expecting this to be what it was. I knew he had a drug issue, but I had idea how extensive. 

Honestly, now that I've read this, I just want to give him a hug. 

If you're at all interested, come and get it, or read the audiobook, which is narrated by Matthew himself. 

4. Icebreaker (Maple Hills #1), Hannah Grace

I've been wanting to get to this for the longest time, and I'm so happy I finally got to it!   

This was just what I needed. There was plenty of sport, plenty of romance, hate to love romance, feminism, character development, and smut by the bucketload (maybe a tad too much for my liking, but that's just my preference). 

I loved both POV's, I never got bored, I was hooked from the get go, and I'm already thinking about when I'll be picking up book 2. 

If you don't know what this is about, it's about Anastasia and Nate, a figure skater that has her heart set on an olympic medal, and the captain of the Maple Hills hockey team. They're thrown together after a prank makes the team's ice rink unavailable- for the forseeable future. 

What exactly can go wrong? 

Extremely lovable, fleshed out characters and a funny, lighthearted (yet handles some serious subjects) and an engaging read. I loved it. 

5. The Dragon Repiblic (The Poppy War #2), by R.F. Kuang

The drive was most definitely there with this book. I did not want my reading progress with this to be the same as The Poppy War. I had 8 days to read a 650 page book and I was determined to finish in time for the end of february. 

I've always boded well with novels that have a clear goal, an endgame that they wanted to achieve, and this was no exception. 

In The Dragon Republic, Rin has one goal: to destroy the one person that brought about everything she held dear. But people and armies are manipulating her, her fellow soldiers look to her for guidance, and everybody has secrets. 

I don't know whether I enjoyed this more than the first book. What I do know is that I am ready for the third and final book. (But of course, not emotionally ready at all.) 

~March TBR (2024)~

1. The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals, by Dorothy Wordsworth 

I don't know why I decided to put this book forward as an option for my next read. All I knew was that I needed a change of pacing from The Dragon Republic, so as not to dive headlong into a reading slump with The Burning God. 

This definitely isn't my typical reading taste, much like with Lyrical Ballds, but I'm hoping a journal will be more acquited to my liking, especially as they've been written by Dorothy. 

2. I Invited Her In, by Adele Parks

Yes, it's on another TBR. 

I will get to it this month or I'm giving it back to my auntie. 

My mum has even recommended it this evening. 

3. Sheltering Rain, by JoJo Moyes

Since putting off I Invited Her In, I haven't really even thought about picking this up (got it at the same time). 

Reading the synopsis, this doesn't sound a lot like the type of JoJo Moyes book I'm used to reading. But that's not to say it isn't at all. I always love a story that revolves around family drama, and this one spans over several decades. It tells the story of of twenty-one-year-old Joy, as she unexpectantly falls in love with a handsome naval officer in Honk-Kong in the 1950s. They quickly wed, but she soon discovers that married life isn't quite what it seems. Fast forward to 1980, their daughter Kate mysteriously flees their home to find her grandparents. When she locates them, secrets that have remained hidden threaten to surface... 

Sheltering Rain sounds dark and intriguing, and based on how much I love JoJo Moyes' writing, I know I'm bound to love this. 

4. The Burning God (The Poppy War #3), by R.F. Kuang

The third and final book in The Poppy War series! I have no idea what I'm in for, but I'm so excited to see what happens! 

Honestly, I've seen mixed reviews (most love, but there are a few that felt let down). I have no doubt that I'm going to love this last book, but I'm so very nervous for the ending. If you've read this, let me know in the comments what you thought (but no spoilers please). 

I really hope I love this (and none of my favourite characters die). 

Okay! That is my February Wrap Up & March TBR (2024)! 

I hope my reading is as succesful this month as it was last month. 

As always, feel free to comment below what you all are planning on picking up this month! 

I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll see you all soon! 

Byeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxx