Skulduggery Pleasant: Month 2

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I'm back with my 2nd update on how my Skulduggery Pleasant re-read is going! 

I'll be honest. Not as pleasant a start as Month 1, but I have made a good amount of progress within the last week, so hopefully I can keep that momentum going in May! 

I hope you enjoy reading about the progress I've made! 

5. Mortal Coil 

Pages: 572

Reading days: 20th March- 31st March 

Considering this was in the high 500s, I was pretty happy with how quickly I progressed with this. A lot happens at the end of this, that pushes the story along, and it will always be one of my favourites in the series. Reading this book through for the first time, I felt like it had one of the biggest shock twists so far. I still feel like that today, several years later. Even a couple of books down, the characters are still reeling from the repercussions that Mortal Coil presents. 

6. Death Bringer

Pages: 603

Reading days: 1st April- 7th April 

I sure flew through this one! 603 pages, 7 days! 

A very minor character/ quartet of characters become centre stage in this one, not to mention the mysterious Darquesse is a bit more centre too. As you can see, there's a Death Bringer, brought forward by none other than the Necromancers, whose meant to stop the passage of life and death, and bring about a new existence. So there's a new potential Death Bringer, Melancholia. She's the new threat for Valkyrie and Skulduggery, because they're trying to stop her. It's basically a whole load of chaos, a lot of deaths, a lot of last minute saves. It's bedlam basically. 

Personally, after Mortal Coil, this feels like a bit of a drop. I committed to this early because I wanted to get to the next book, Kingdom of the Wicked, and although a lot does happen a lot, I usually get to a point in this one where I want it to be over. That did happen, but I still enjoyed it enough to give it a five stars. 

7. Kingdom of the Wicked

Pages: 607

Reading days: 9th April- 28th April 

Truly, I don't know what happened here. In Kingdom of the Wicked, a whole bunch of mortals develop magic. A sorcerer, who has been in a magically induced coma for a couple of decades, gifts these mortals magic in their dreams, and then they start running riot. Aside from that, Valkyrie gets shunted to a different dimension, where the world's most violent murderer is still alive. I usually really enjoy this book. But for some reason I never found the time to sit down and have a long haul of reading. 

I finished it, that's the main thing. And the fact that I'm now behind on my Goodreads goal may well be the motivation I need to catch up. 

Which brings me to my current read. 

7.5. Tanith Low in the Maleficent Seven 

Pages: 288 

Reading days: 29th April- now. 

Currently on page 112.

I started this yesterday (I will be reading the extras, of course. This is the re-read to end all re-reads after all.) The fact that I started it yesterday, got 30 pages in, and then read to page 112 today? I'm definitely trying to make up for lost time by speed reading through this. 

Funny enough, I've only read this the once, that I can recall, and I don't remember liking it all that much. But this read through? I'm loving every page. It's basically a race between the good guys and bad guys to retrieve the god-killer weapons before Darquesse attempts to destroy most of the world. What's better than that? Oh yeah, one of my favourite characters of all time is the protagonist- Tanith Low. 

Overall 

Total page count from 23/03- 30/04: 1857

Average page count a day: 48 pages a day, rounded up. Not bad. 

Same as last month, I am still really enjoying this read through of Skulduggery Pleasant. Next book is Last Stand of Dead Men, which is pretty self explanatory. 

Okay! That is everything I have for you all today! I hope you enjoyed reading about my progress, and feel free to comment below, literally anything! 

See you all soon! 

Byeeee! 

-Abi xxxx

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, by V.E. Schwab

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And I was pretty surprised, when thinking of my next post, was a review. But then, isn't it the perfect time? 

After all, I did finish a book two days ago. A book I've been, slowly but surely, getting through for the past three months. 

Which was the perfect way to devour it all gradually, at my own pace. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. 

Title: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil 

Author: V.E. Schwab

Genre: Horror

Status: Standalone

Release date: 10/6/2025

Pages: 533

Blurb: "Three young women, their bodies

planted in the same soil, 

their roots tangling like roots. 

One grows high, 

and one grows deep, 

and one of them grows wild. 

And all of them grow teeth."

My Thoughts

Genuinely, didn't even realise it was a vampire book until the first character, Sabine, started draining people's blood. In hindsight, definitely should of realised, but when it's V.E. Schwab, and the only indicator is that the only common indicator is that they have teeth, it could literally be anything. They could have been cannibals for all I knew. 

Admittedly, it was at this point, maybe 100 pages in, that I realised I wasn't motivated enough to finish it before the end of February. 

So since then, I've been listening to the audiobook whilst doing RFID at work (shop is closed, so I can), and since then, I found myself drawn to it. Don't get me wrong, it was never going to take time away from my Skulduggery Pleasant re-read, but when that time rolled around again, I found I was a lot more invested and interested in the story. 

Now. Where do I begin? There's the characters, the world building, the romance, how accurate the time period was. Even though I knew this was a twisted horror story, I absolutely loved reading about the time period. The hardships of each of these women: Sabine, in 1532 Santa Domingo de la Calzada, never seeing her family again after being whisked away by her decades-older husband, trapped until she produced a son. 

Lottie, in 1827 London,  pursued by a violent ex. Even crossing an ocean cannot keep the stream of death away from her. 

Alice. 2019. Completely alone in Boston, with a newborn urge to drink blood after a one night stand. Cannot go forward, cannot go back to the past, when the stink of grief nearly overwhelms her. 

All three characters are amazingly written. You can always tell which POV you're reading from, and whether it's past or present. 

All of them amazing in their own right. There was a time in this book, when I found I wanted to read from each character, more than the others. Even if you asked me now, which was my favourite to read from, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I felt the frustration of each of them, Sabine in her trapped marriage; Lottie, in her desperation to finally be free; and Alice, in her confusion as for how her life had suddenly been cut short. 

As usual, V.E. Schwab's writing was spot on. She wound a seamless tale of love, passion, obsession, anguish and sensuality. The romances and relationships that entered throughout gave the story a reason, a reason as for why these characters acted the way they did. It was the motivation behind the madness. 

This book felt like a lot of my guilty pleasure themes all rolled into one book. I love period books about a young woman figuring out her worth when married off. I loved books about sibling rivalries- that feeling of never quite catching up to an older sibling, of constantly being in their shadow. And then there was Lottie's part, which I can honestly say I've never read anything like it. 

Of course, this book was more than just the three main characters. There were friends, mentors that had some really touching, heartbreaking moments that make me want to give them the biggest squeeze. Is it safe to say my heart broke for the undead? I'd say yes, yes it is. 

Overall, the only critique I have of this book is that the pacing was a bit slow in one part, but once I got over that part, accepted where the story was going, I got sucked in, and gained momentum until the very end. 

If you like gothic, horror stories with lesbian vampires at the centre, then this is the book for you. I was in the entirely wrong mindset for this book when I first started it, because I'd just finished a gushy romance, but if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have become quite so engrossed over a long period of time. And for that, I am eternally grateful (I gave this book 5 stars). 

It doesn't have to be Halloween to read a gothic horror novel. Especially a V.E. Schwab one. 

Okay! Those are all of my thought on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil! I hope you enjoyed it, and as always, feel free to comment what your thoughts were on the book/ my review! 

Genuinely, I didn't plan on writing this review, but this review idea came into my head and refused to let me forget about it. 

Okay, that is all that I have for you today- hopefully I'll be back at the end of the money, for the Skulduggery Pleasant update, but don't hold your breath on that. 

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

Byeeeeee! 

-Abi xxxxxx

Boston Marathon UK 2026- I MADE SUB 4!

 Hey guys, this is Abi here, 

And if you've somehow gone straight past the title onto this post- I ran Boston Marathon in Lincolnshire on Sunday, and I achieved my goal- A SUB 4 MARATHON! 

A sub 4 marathon meant a lot to me, as it was one of the goals I was hoping to achieve this year. 

I'll be displaying all the in-depth thoughts for all of you that are lucky enough to being close to running a marathon soon, and for the rest of you, so you can laugh at those of us that choose to torture ourselves for a distance! 

Not quite sure how I'm going to structure this, but I'll just see how I go. 

First off, the initial details:

Distance: 26.22 miles (watch measured as 26.30)

Location: Boston, Lincolshire UK

Average pace: 8:56 minutes

Moving time: 3:54:56 (official time was 3:54:48)

Average HR: 167bpm

~Best Efforts: (Based on Strava)~

5km/3.1 miles: 26:26 (8:30/mile)

10km/6.22 miles: 53:07 (8:33/mile)

15km/9.3 miles: 1:19:43 (8:33/mile)

10 miles: 1:25:32 (8:33/mile)

20km/12.44 miles: 1:46:40 (8:35/mile)

Half marathon/21.095km/13.1 miles: 1:52:43 (8:36/mile)

30km/18.64miles: 2:43:48 (8:47/mile)

Marathon/ 42. 195km/26.219 miles: 3:54:14 (8:56/mile)

~Goals~

Going into this, I had an A, B and C goal. As you do when attempting a new distance, or even a new route. 

Those goals were: 

A goal: Aim for a time that Runna predicted, which was 3 hours 40 minutes- 3 hours 48 minutes. Knew that was pretty unlikely, but I was planning on staying conservative, and try for 8:35/mile pace (which equates to 3:45:00 marathon time). 

B goal: Sub 4 marathon. The time everybody hopes to achieve for their first marathon if they've been training for it. I knew that, if I stuck to the plan, and stayed at 8:35/mile pace for the first half, then I was likely to achieve this (so long as nothing completely untoward threw me off). 

C goal: Just finish. That is always the C goal. Just finish. Don't give up, and don't pass out. 

~Preparation~ 

Drinking water: Making sure I was as hydrated as possible, going into race day. I had a couple of extra water bottles the day before, and one extra on the friday. Those that know me know that I'm absolutely terrible at continously drinking water throughout the day, so managing extra beforehand was frankly a miracle. 

Carb-loading. I took extra care with this- on friday, as well as my usual pot noodle, apple, twix and crisps, had a tuna pasta as well. Saturday, I had a beef stew and veg from my favourite cafe in King's Lynn, before travelling to Boston (all the veg- making sure I had all the carbs that were available to me). 

Low fiber. Aware that veggies are high in fiber, for dinner on Saturday, I deliberately went with a plain chicken wrap with lettuce, so as not to come into trouble on Sunday morning. 

Sunday morning: I woke up at 6. Race started at 8. Nutrition was apple porridge and a banana. This is what I'm used to on race day, whether it be 10 miles, a half or otherwise. 

Couple of toilet trips later, and we were off! 8am on the dot. 

~The Race~

Miles 1-10: I was feeling fresh. I was taking gels every 35 minutes, knowing full well that if I didn't, I'd regret it later. The wind was a bit of a surprise, especially the strength of it. I'd dealt with wind in training, so I wasn't too phased by it, but I knew that it might be a problem later (Boston marathon covers a lot of open fields, with no cover whatsoever). Nothing I could do about it, so I pressed on. 

Note: Started to feel an ache in my left hip. That did not go away until the end. Got gradually worse. 

Halfway: I hit halfway at 1:53:ish, and even then, I knew that the wind was going to be the BIG ISSUE for this race. Three quarters of this race is exposed to the elements, as it's all very much open fields. You turn a corner, and you're running straight into head wind. Having seen the splits I was hitting, I had made a conscious effort to slow down. That wind was sapping the strength from my legs, and every other runner I spoke to whilst on the course. I also knew at this point that I was not going to be getting my A goal, that I'd set out beforehand, so I focused all of my energy in beating the 9:09 pace I needed for Sub 4. 

Mile 14-15: Was definitely starting to feel it. My hip was starting to hurt, and I was getting frequent cramp in my right foot, from overuse, and was causing me to slow down for several minutes. The wind wasn't lessening, and was the main reason for the fatigue I was starting to feel. 

Mile 17-18: Low point. The wind wasn't showing any signs of slowing, or lessening, the cramp in my foot had come back once more, and there was still over 10K to go. Mile 18 is survival mode, the point where you hit the wall, and you have the choice of giving up on a time and just getting through it, or gritting your teeth and try to stick to something, anything, to get you through those last miles. These miles are the reason you taper, the reason you carb load, the reason you try nothing new on race day. 

Due to the gels I'd been having every 35 minutes, I hadn't hit the wall. For those that don't know, the wall is that time between 18-21 miles when you run out of glucogen stores in the liver and muscles (which you get from carbohydrates). I don't believe I did hit the wall at any point, due to good preparation and tapering. But of course, there was a lot of wear and tear at this point, because I'd ran so many miles. 

20 miles landmark: 2:56 and some seconds. By this point, I was feeling the second wind I'd been promised I would feel (this was fleeting, by the way- the second wind left and returned over time). At this point, I knew that, unless something absolutely fucking horrible happened (like twisting my ankle) that I was going to get Sub 4. I was checking my watch every five minutes at this point, to see what I could achieve. From this point until the finish, I was just telling myself, just get to 22 milles. Now, just get to 22.22. 4 miles left. 

22 miles- At this point, it was helpful to know how much time I had left, if I wanted to get Sub 4. Now, this was just an assurance for me personally, to know, but I was still trying to get as close as I could to 9:09 average. Looking at my mile splits afterwards, I was definitely slower than 9:09 pace, but thankfully, that first half had given me some wiggle room for those horrendous final miles, out in the cold, engulfed in the relentless wind. (Please do think that this is a sensible thing to do, it's probably the least sensible thing you can do in a marathon, trying to bank time.) 

I had an extra gel in my pocket, for if I needed it. One rule I stuck to, when on my long runs for this marathon, was to always have an extra gel if I needed it. So with 5 miles to go, I took my second to last gel, with the promise that, after I had ran 5K, I would have the final gel, with 2 miles to go. It was that, along with the time that I was making up. I think I had about 42 minutes left, with 4 miles to go, and thinking, how many times have I ran 4 miles in 42 minutes, and the ending of the wind, that was enough encouragement for me. 

Finishing: Reaching the town, getting away from all of the open fields, and the gusts of wind that came with it was the biggest relief I'd felt in ages. With less than 2 miles to go, last gel taken, with more than 20 minutes to go for Sub 4, I knew I just had to get there. More spectators, more encouragement, more noise, was almost overwhelming. I didn't need any of it though, surprisingly. I was focused though, I was calm. I was ready to be done. The only question left though, would I manage the distance with more than 5 minutes to go? You can imagine what I was feeling when my watch buzzed at marathon distance before I crossed the finish line, by quite a bit. 

I forgot about that when I saw Jordan, at the finish line, looking proud and emotional. Then my Mum and brother as well. 

Did I manage sub 3:55:00? You can bet your ass I did. Official time: 3:54:48. 

I've never felt so elated after a race than when that time came through. 

So, what's next, you ask? My next race isn't until September, in a similar place to this one. I'll be doing the Mablethorpe 10K on 13th September. But until that, I want to help Jordan get back up to scratch with his running. I'm determined to get him back to doing sub 24 at the 5K before September, and maybe a halfway decent time at the 10K as well. 

So, if you're a runner, taking on a marathon soon, or even a half, here's my advice: 

1. Take more gels than you think you need, just in case. 

2. Same goes for water. I had water at every station. You're going to feel crap enough as it is, without a headache and stomach ache on top of it. 

3. Talk to people. The race you're doing is the victory lap for all of the training you've just put yourself through, when you were tired and run down, and wanted to quit. Talking to people, admitting you're both hurting, helps. I've never got through a race longer than a 10K without talking to someone during it. 

4. Be proud. How many people do what you're doing, how many people can tackle 26.2 miles, or even 13.1 miles? Less than 1% in the entire human population have completed a marathon. Take pride in your achievement, and shout about it, as hard as you can. Because it's bloody difficult. 

5. NOTHING NEW ON RACE DAY.

Okay! That is my account of Boston Marathon, in Lincolnshire, which I completed last Sunday. I'm sure I'll think of more to say once I've posted this, but for now, I think that's it. I know it's a fair bit different from what I usually post on here, but since it's all I can think about at the moment, I thought it might be beneficial for myself, and anybody else that's considering a half, or marathon in the near future. 

Right! That is all I have for you all today, but I will see you all soon! (Feel free to comment). 

Byeeeee! 

-Abi xxxx