I’m sorry I’ve been so absent for the last few months, but hopefully when you read about my August you’ll understand why!  While this whole year has been a bit manic (moving house + promotion), August was the busiest month so far: I got married, went on honeymoon and finished up at work ready to start a teacher training course in September. As a result, I’ve literally not even turned the PC on, let alone got any blogging done, but I did get a LOT of reading done – I tried to get ahead while I could before my course starts! I also took part in the NEWTs readathon and ended up with 3 Acceptables, 3 Exceeds Expectations and 3 Outstandings.

Reading

AtLA The Promise parts 2 & 3 | The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats & Piracy | Fairy Tail 1 | Sleeping Giants | Nyxia | Throttle Me | Catwoman | Never Fade | The Goddess Test | The Goddess Inheritance | Goddess Interrupted | Archie | Ten Thousand Skies Above You | Nyxia Unleashed | The Confessions | Into the Wild | The Poison Study Short Story Collection

Books read: 18
Pages read: Not yet calculated
Average pages per day: Not yet calculated
Average book length: Not yet calculated
Favourite: Sleeping Giants & Nyxia/Nyxia Unleashed

Watching

Ant-man & The Wasp – I enjoyed this, but wasn’t wowed by it. It’s watchable and enjoyable though, and I much preferred the antagonist in this to the first antman.
Pacific Rim: Uprising – A flight watch, this was enjoyable but pretty forgettable I thought!
Pitch Perfect 3 – By far the weakest of the three, this was just a bit ridiculous to be honest. I did enjoy the music though.
Rampage – You get exactly what you expect: fairly ridiculous but very easy watching, had some funny moments.
Solo – I enjoyed this SO MUCH MORE than I expected to, and funnier than I expected.

Avatar The Last Airbender (2×18, Season 3) – A re-watch with my husband who’s never seen it.  Just as fun the second time around.
The Legend of Korra (1 x1-3) – This is new to both of us but we’re enjoying it so far. I like Korra but I have to admit I miss all the characters we grew to love in AtLA.

Blogging

None!

NetGalley % change: +/- 1% (72%)

Challenge Updates

Beat the Backlist (46/48) (+15)

Finishing the Series (7/15)

Goodreads (94/100)

 

How was your August?

Reading

Authority | Acceptance | Beneath the Sugar Sky | Our Dark Duet | Belgarath the Sorcerer | Beneath the Surface | The End We Start From | The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue | Eat, Drink, Run | Working for Bigfoot | Leah on the Offbeat

Books read: 11 (the same as March)
Pages read: 3919 (475 more than March)
Average pages per day: 130 (11 more than March)
Average book length: 356 pages (43 more than March)
Favourite: This was an excellent reading month, I genuinely can’t pick a favourite! I especially loved Beneath the Surface, Eat, Drink, Run and Leah on the Offbeat though.

Watching

Peter Rabbit – I had pretty such low expectations for this but ended up being pleasantly surprised by how funny it was! Favourite moment was the unexpected Fort Minor song.
The Avengers: Infinity War – No explanation needed I think! Already booked to see it again next week.
Every Day – I enjoyed this, but if I didn’t have an unlimited card it would have definitely been a netflix watch.
Love, Simon – I absolutely loved this and thought it did a really good job of living up to the book.
The Fellowship of the Ring & The Two Towers – We’ve been rewatching these recently because we both love the, but it’s taking some time because we can normally only get in about an hour in an evening!

Grey’s Anatomy (14 x 14-18) – Still addicted, no change!
Nashville (5 x 3) – We’re watching this as a house and haven’t had much time free together, which is the only reason we haven’t watched all of the available episodes yet. Love this show.
Jessica Jones (2 x 9-13) – I thought this was okay, but overall season 2 just wasn’t as good as season 1.
Riverdale (1 x1-13, 2×1-20) – This is a new one to me, but I started it on a friend’s recommendation and have become pretty hooked, as you can tell from how much I watched this month!

Blogging

Reviews:


• [5 Apr] [Series Snapshot] The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan ★★★
• [5 Apr] The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan ★★★
• [5 Apr] The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan ★★★★
• [5 Apr] The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles, #3) by Rick Riordan ★★★
• [12 Apr] Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1) by Seanan McGuire ★★★★

Other posts:

• [2 Apr] Looking Ahead: April 2018
• [23 Apr] Q1 Reading

NetGalley % change: +/- 0% (73%)

Challenge Updates

Sci-fi vs Fantasy Bingo
Alien Invasion: Acceptance
Fantastic Beasts: Working for Bigfoot

Beat the Backlist (31/48)

Finishing the Series (7/15)
Annhilation
Wayward Children
This Savage Song
Creekwood

Goodreads (45/100)

 

How was your April?

Reading

Indexing | Deathnote #10 | Into the Drowning Deep | Harry Potter & The Cursed Child | Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine | A Thousand Perfect Notes | Indulgence in Death | Renegades | The Blood of Olympus | Other Minds

Books read: 11 (1 more than Februrary)
Pages read: 3444 (47 more than February)
Average pages per day: 111 (10 less than February)
Average book length: 313 pages (27 less than February)
Favourite: Every Heart a Doorway/Down Among the Sticks & Bones

Watching

Tomb Raider – I had pretty low expectations but this was just generally a fun adventure.
The Greatest Showman (again) – Yeah I know.  This is time number 3… But what can I say, I liked it!
Ready Player One – I’m actually seeing this tonight, so I can’t comment yet on whether I enjoyed it…

So apparently this month I watched ALL the TV…
Altered Carbon (1 x 7-10) – I didn’t love this – a bit bleak and gruesome for me, though I really liked the concept. Okay, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected.
Grey’s Anatomy (14 x 10-13) – I’ve been watching Grey’s for over a year, catching up, and now I’m finally up to date I’m hating having to wait each week!
Nashville (5 x 1-2) – LOVE. So gutted this is ending.
Jessica Jones (2 x 1-8) – I love Malcolm, Jess is just a bit of a bitch though. Enjoyable despite wanting to punch a lot of the characters at times.
Arrow (2 x 1-23 & 3 x 1-4) – Felicity is my favourite person ever. I mean I’m basically just sticking with it for her, and for the fact that eventually, somewhere in the DC universe, I know Tom Felton appears…. Hahaha no I am actually enjoying it, I’m just not as emotionally invested as I expected to be. I’m excited that I get to start watching some of the Flash now though!

Blogging

Reviews:


• [8 Mar] I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan ★★★★★

Other posts:

• [4 Mar] February Wrap-Up
• [10 Mar] The Greatest Showman, like P.T. Barnum’s circus, is a lie – and that’s okay
• [19 Mar] Spring Bloggiesta
• [20 Mar] #SeasonalSeries Readathon
• [22 Mar] An update on Scribd
• [31 Mar] March Wrap-Up

NetGalley % change: +/- 0% (73%)

Challenge Updates

Sci-fi vs Fantasy Bingo
Immortal: Suicide Club
Undead: Boy on the Bridge
Bite Me: Down Among the Sticks & Bones
Haunted: A Torch Against the Night

Beat the Backlist (23/48)

Finishing the Series (3/15)
The Girl with All The Gifts

Goodreads (33/100)

Personal Goals

Lost 1.5lbs (8/ ~42)

How was your March?

Reading

Indexing | Deathnote #10 | Into the Drowning Deep | Harry Potter & The Cursed Child | Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine | A Thousand Perfect Notes | Indulgence in Death | Renegades | The Blood of Olympus | Other Minds

Books read: 10
Pages read: 3397
Average pages per day: 121 (14 less than January)
Average book length: 340 pages (9 less than January)
Favourite: Into the Drowning Deep

Watching

Black Panther (twice)- I mean, the fact I saw it twice in one month probably tells you everything you need to know…
The Shape of Water – Honestly, this was a bit strange. Visually beautiful, but I just felt like it was trying really hard to be clever and forgot to actually think about plot and characters – super predictable.
The Greatest Showman (again) – This has seriously gone on to my list of favourite films ever.  I wanted to go to the sing-along but no one would go with me so I settled for seeing it again in the normal version!
The Maze Runner: Scorch trials (rewatch) – I was kind of underwhelmed by this but we’re thinking of going to see the third one and couldn’t remember anything, so since this was on Netflix we thought it was worth a rewatch.

Altered Carbon (1 x 1-6) – It took me so long to get into this but it has picked up so we’ll get to the end in the next few days. Bit gruesome for me but I am starting to enjoy it more.
Manhunt: Unabomber (1 x 8) – Fantastic acting and writing. A bit slow to start but completely addictive once you get started and caused some long, thoughtful discussions in my family at least.
Once Upon a Time (5 x 23 & 6 x 1) – Honestly, I’m still hoping it’ll get good again but I’ve just found myself watching other things (pretty much any other things) over this…
Grey’s Anatomy (14 x 9) – LOVE. I’m so glad this is back!
Steven Universe (1 x 1-4) – This has been recommended to me a few times, and since I’ve finished Avatar, I was looking for something with short episodes to put back on my watch list. It’s so far a bit strange but I’ve promised to stick with it a bit longer, because I’m assured it gets awesome.
Grand Tour (2 x 1-6) – This is one we’ve been watching in the evening, that everyone is happy enough to have on. It’s okay. Some funny bits, some eye-rolling bits.

Blogging

I’ve been entirely absent this month, I’m sorry! I went for a promotion at work so I’ve been pretty much overwhelmed with preparing for that. Hoping for a better March!

NetGalley % change: -1% (73%)

Challenge Updates

Sci-fi vs Fantasy Bingo
It’s the End of the World As We Know It: Into the Drowning Deep
Alternate Reality: Renegades
Portal: Indexing
Epic:  The Blood of Olympus

Beat the Backlist (13/48)

Finishing the Series (2/15)
Indexing

Goodreads (22/100)

Personal Goals

Lost 2.5lbs (6.5/ ~42)

How was your February?