My Goings On in April:
- I posted a tongue-in-cheek April Fools’ post all about why I was planning to ban books in my household and give away all of my children’s books. Some of you thought I had truly gone insane! (I actually added April Fools’ to the title on April 2nd so that people wouldn’t be too confused.)
- I finished editing Baited by Ali Parker and started editing The Light by Kate Thomas and Burn by Allie Juliette Mousseau. Plus, I proofread the first of Zoe Reid’s serials and I did a critique for another promising new author!
- I made a fool of myself at a Neal Shusterman author event
- Our homeschool co-op finished up their school year (it ends a bit earlier than the regular year) and my acting and musical theater classes had their final performances. The kids did a great job! My kids also performed violin (my son played Super Mario music – he was over the moon with happiness) and piano, so that was fun too. I love that we’re a musical family!
- We had an IEP meeting for our youngest son (who’s in the special ed program at the public school) and they did some additional auditory testing – we discovered that he has some auditory memory and processing issues, so I’ve been trying to learn a little bit about auditory processing disorder. He’s had a great year at school this year and has been making some real progress, and this might give us clues about how to help him even more!
Most Popular Posts:
As usual the discussion challenge link-up took the top spot this month – I love that this challenge has been so successful!! Here are some other popular April posts:
That Book You Wanted to Love – Let’s Discuss!
Why I’m (Maybe) Changing Some of My Ratings – Let’s Discuss!
Review of Cress by Marissa Meyer
Other Features & Discussions:
Why We’ve Banned Books in Our Household (April Fools’)
Richelle Mead Book Signing Event Recap
What I Did Instead of Changing My Ratings – Let’s Discuss!
Do You Use Affiliate Links – Let’s Discuss!
My Favorite April Discussions on Other Blogs:
I have been doing SO much discussing lately with the discussion challenge! I knew us book bloggers have a lot to say, and you guys have been proving me right! These are just a few of my favorite discussions from April.
Charlie over at Girl of 1000 Wonders asks about Etiquette When Responding to (JERK!) Authors.
Tessa over at Crazy for YA talks about Exploring the Faults in YA Using #VeryRealisticYA.
Terri at Alexia’s Books and Such talks about blogger envy in her post: Jealous Much? Why yes, yes I am.
Shannon over at It Starts at Midnight talks about that book everyone else loves in So You’re a Black Sheep: How to Deal.
CurlyGeek over at The Book Stop talks about How authors get paid for different book formats.
Best of the Bunch used to be a book blog hop hosted over at Always Lost in Stories on the last day of each month, but it seems that Sally’s stopped blogging, so this hop is now pretty much defunct. I’m still mulling over starting up my own month-end hop – I just need to mull it over before the last day of the month. Soon. Very soon.. Anyway, for now I’m just continuing Best of the Bunch, where we can look back over the books we have read over this past month and give a Best of the Bunch award to our favorite book of that month.
April 2015 Reviews
Still reading and reviewing less than I used to, but I’m okay with it (mostly.) At least I reviewed more than last month’s pitiful total! LOTS of the books I reviewed this month were fantastic, though!
- Watch the Sky by Kirsten Hubbard | Review | Rating: 4/5
- Released by S.J. Pajonas | Review | Rating: 4/5
- The Secret Diamond Sisters by Michelle Madow | Review | Rating: 4/5
- Scarlet by Marissa Meyer| Review | Rating: 5/5
- None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio | Review | Rating: 5/5
- Reunited by S.J. Pajonas | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
- The Maze Runner by James Dashner | Review | Rating: 4/5
- The Ark by Laura Liddell Nolen | Review | Rating: 4/5
- Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman | Review | Rating: 3.5/5
- Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby | Review | Rating: 5/5
- Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
- Cress by Marissa Meyer| Review | Rating: 5/5
- Paradise City by C.J. Duggan| Review | Rating: 4/5
And April’s Best of the Bunch winner is:
None of the Above is one of those books that really made me think differently and opened my eyes to something new. That’s why I consider it a must-read! I read so many fantastic books this month, but this one really stands out!
What if everything you knew about yourself changed in an instant?
When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen, it seems like another piece of her ideal life has fallen into place. She’s a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college and she’s madly in love with her boyfriend. In fact, she’s decided that she’s ready to take things to the next level with him.
But Kristin’s first time isn’t the perfect moment she’s planned—something is very wrong. A visit to the doctor reveals the truth: Kristin is intersex, which means that though she outwardly looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention boy “parts.”
Dealing with her body is difficult enough, but when her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school, Kristin’s entire identity is thrown into question. As her world unravels, can she come to terms with her new self?
Yay for None of the Above – I absolutely loved that book too. It looks like you had an amazing reading month – hopefully May will be as good for you as April seemed to have been. 🙂
Glad that you loved it too!!! I really did have fantastic luck with books in April. Keeping my fingers crossed that May is just as good!
You had an amazeballs month for books! I love The Lunar Chronicles! A few of the others I want to read too! Happy May reading!
Yes – I don’t know what took me so long to jump onboard with The Lunar Chronicles, but I’m definitely hooked now!!
Rocking month! It was a great month to re-read The Lunar Chronicles!
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
This was actually my first time reading The Lunar Chronicles – I know, I’m way behind the rest of the world!
I’m hearing lots of buzz about None of the Above – can’t wait to drop by the library tomorrow and pick that one up! 🙂
Hope you managed to get it! It’s an amazing book!
Looks like you had a great month! I’m not reading as much as I used to either, but slowly working my way back into the groove. Thank you for including me in your list of favorite discussion posts! You’re so sweet! Here’s to a great May!
You’re welcome for including you in my list, but it looks like I’ve been calling you by the wrong name! I thought your name was actually Alexia – so sorry!! 🙂