April Wrap-Up & Best of the Bunch

Posted May 1, 2017 by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction in Best of the Bunch, Monthly Recap / 40 Comments

My Goings On in April:

  • Things around here have been pretty up and down when it comes to that curveball that I mentioned last month. Just when I’ll think we’re moving along swimmingly, things will go south. Have I ever mentioned that parenting a teenager is hard? Parenting a teenager is very hard. (Actually, I take that back—all parenting is just really freaking hard.)
  • Our homeschool co-op year is just about over, giving me a little bit more free time, which is good because …
  • I have a new editing project that I’ve been working on. 🙂
  • I also went to a Strange the Dreamer event and met Lainie Taylor.
  • The kids started a new swimming season and we just had our first meet yesterday.

On Instragram:

Most Popular Posts:

Other Features & Discussions:

Why Everything I’ve Ever Told You About Book Blogging Is Wrong (and Also Right). Let’s Discuss.
March Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway
Laini Taylor’s Strange The Dreamer Event Recap
Graphs Make Me Happy! Let’s Discuss.

My 2017 Reading Progress:

I changed my Goodreads goal to 200 since I’ve been reading a lot this year. I’m still 11 ahead—of course, as soon as I do that, I’ll probably start reading way less. Oh well, we shall see!

 

April 2017 Reviews

  • The Pain Eater by Beth Goobie | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • Just Another Girl by Elizabeth Eulberg | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • Dream Magic by Joshua Khan | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • Ignite by Danielle Rogland | Review | Rating: 3.5/5
  • Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray | Review | Rating: 5/5

  • Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • Library Wars by Kiiro Yumi | Review | Rating: 5/5
  • Love*Com by Aya Nakahara | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba | Review | Rating: 4/5

April Best of the Bunch:

(Best of the Bunch is hosted over at Cocoon of Books. We link up our favorite reads of the month!)

This month, my favorite was Defy the Stars (though Letters to the Lost was a close second!). I was just blown away by this first installment of Claudia Gray’s newest series, and I can’t wait to read more!


2017 Reading Challenges Progress:

Status: 11/41 Discussions Posted

I only posted two discussions this month.

Why Everything I’ve Ever Told You About Book Blogging Is Wrong (and Also Right)
Graphs Make Me Happy!
Two (Free) Tools that Have Transformed My Replying and Commenting Back
Is There Such a Thing as a “Quick Post”?
My Haphazard Reading Habits.
Watching Bloggers Come and Go.
A Book Blogger’s Guide to Acronyms, Terms and Slang
Am I the Only One Without an OTP? 
Why Does Technology Scare Me So?

Special Niche Genres
Seeing the Book Blogging World Through Rose-Colored Glasses

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts at Midnight


Status: 22/50 Books Read
I reviewed five fantasies this month (again, a few are more paranormal or sci-fi dystopian, but I’m counting them since it looks like the people who run the challenge count these types of books).

As of yet, I haven’t read any of Alexa and Rachel’s favorites that I’ve planned to read:  Throne of Glass, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Six of Crows, The Winner’s Curse, Graceling. I’m keeping their pictures here, so I don’t forget about them!

 

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Hello, Chelly & Alexa Loves Books


ShelfLove-Challenge-2016

Status: 8/21-30 Books
Only one book from off my shelf this month, but I realized I forgot to count one from last month:

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Chapter Break & Second Run Reviews


Status: 5/5-10 Books 

I decided not to count these toward my finished series count, but I did finish two manga series this month (the other two series I actually finished in 2016 but didn’t review until now), so I thought I’d mention them …

Here are some of the other series I’m hoping to finish this year (as a reminder to myself):

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Somewhere Only We Know & Words Fueled by Love


Status: 36/61-100 books read

Here are the ones I read this month:

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – (un)Conventional Book Views &  Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! 


Status: 5/15-20 Books Listened To

I listened to some this month, but I haven’t reviewed them yet.

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Hot Listens & Caffeinated Book Reviewer


 

Status: 42/76 Possible Gameboard Spaces

If you’re interested in which books I read for each category or in seeing a bigger version of the updated gameboard, then go to my 2017 Bookopoly Progress page. The image above has been updated to reflect my newest reads. (I used 6 of the books I read for the challenge this month.)

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Broc’s Bookcase


Wrap-Up Round-Up!

Don’t forget to link your February wrap-up posts up to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up! And check out the giveaway, which will be posted here on Feed Your Fiction Addiction on the 8th!

2016-Monthly-Wrap-Up-Round-Up320

 

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40 responses to “April Wrap-Up & Best of the Bunch

  1. Wow, I am very jealous of your progress with your challenges. I can only aspire to be that successful. I obviously need to pick up my pace. You’ve read some good books last month, though. Hopefully May will be as good.

  2. My son is 22 and my daughter is 20. I feel your pain on raising teens. Being a mom is often a thankless job, but believe me when I tell you, your reward will be when you realize that you raised decent adults. 🙂
    Happy May!

  3. That’s great you have a new editing project, and I’m still so jealous you met Laini Taylor. 🙂 I’m sorry things have still been a bit rough. Parenting IS hard – I don’t envy the hard moments parents go through, despite wanting kids at some point.

    -Lauren

    • It’s definitely all worth it, but I do think parenting is a lot harder than I expected it to be when I started out. Every kid is so different and just when you think you’re starting to figure things out, there’s some new curveball thrown your way!

  4. Yup parenting is INCREDIBLY hard. So I believe you when you say parenting teenagers is FREAKING hard. But,, hey! 11 books ahead, You are a reading beast like me [I’m a much much smaller beats but a beast nonetheless :)] I hope you read Winter soon IS SO GOOD!!! perfect ending to the series. My review is coming up next week 😉

  5. I just have two dogs, and parenting them can sometimes be hard. Especially when one wants to poop in her sister’s room all the time. And the stealing of the chewies. Oh, my lanta! I ohpe it gets better. It does get better. 🙂

    Congrats on your great reading month! April was also my best month.

  6. I’ve never upped my GoodReads challenge goal even though I’ve been tempted in the past. I’ve always worried that I was being too cocky and as soon as I upped the number something would happen and my reading would come to a screeching halt. LOL I just finished Letters to the Lost and really loved it. Declan absolutely broke my heart. Such a great book.

  7. Great progress with your books! I’ve been meaning to change my Goodreads challenge as well but I think I’m going to hold off for now. Your dog from your Instagram picture IS SO ADORABLE!!!
    Best of luck with May 🙂

    • Awww, thanks for the compliment on my pup! I’ve been thinking it would be fun to feature my dogs more in my Bookstagram pics, but she’s such a crazy scaredy cat that she backed away every time I tried to put the book near her. (Apparently, books are scarier than we realize!). She finally rolled over in submission and I threw the book in and got a quick shot! 🙂

  8. Parenting teenagers can be so very hard. My baby is 16 but I wasn’t sure that me and my oldest would ever make it out of her teens. Great reading stats this month. I still haven’t read Defy the Stars but I have a copy and can’t wait to get to it. Have a great May.

  9. Jen

    Parenting kids is SO hard! I can’t even fathom having to parent a teenager, ack. I’m struggling today with a 4 year old who has a fever and doesn’t know how to talk without constantly crying and whining. 0_0 The joys of parenthood lol!!
    I’m so happy to see that you enjoyed Letters to the Lost! I adored that book too. ♥ Here’s hoping May is wonderful to you and your family! 🙂

  10. danielle hammelef

    I think you dog is so precious! Mine loves belly rubs. I love the cover for Defy the Stars and can’t wait to read it too if you loved it so much. I enjoy meeting authors and going to their signing events. I Your April Fool’s post was so much fun, and I wondered right away from the June 31st ending date clue. I didn’t see any other blog posts like this one.

  11. Fiza

    I still need to read Defy the Stars but I’m planning on it soon, reading all the reviews and seeing the high ratings it is getting makes me very curious 🙂

  12. Oh wow! I would LOVE to meet Laini Taylor! What is she like?
    Parenting is difficult, but luckily there are more positives even if we loose sight of them sometimes. I chuckle at my former naïve self who thought once the babies grew up it would get easier. Take care – you are not alone.

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