trying to find my productivity | april 2020

by - 8:00 AM

We've done it! A full month in quarantine and I haven't gone completely insane yet. April has been a serious testament to my procrastination levels, but I somehow still managed to get most (keyword there) of my work done. I've been really enjoying getting to interact with the bookish community more on social media and I'm trying to stay on top of things, but I can feel myself getting a bit overwhelmed. Regardless, I am very excited for all the fun bookish things that are happening in May, so we're keeping a positive attitude!
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ruthless gods by emily a duncan - 3.5 stars
all the blood and all the questionable decisions
I was so excited for this book and coming out of it, I'm a bit stumped on how to feel. Did it have all the dark gore I loved in Wicked Saints? Yes. Did it have all the moral ambiguity that made me question everything? Yes. Did it further the complexity of the characters I grew to love? Um...not quite. This book had so many great components, but unfortunately the characters fell a bit flat to me. (I still love Malachiaz even though I know he's absolutely horrible...sue me.) 

the queen of nothing by holly black - 3.5 stars
giant snakes and faerie battles
For a book that so many people were widely disappointed by, I was pleasantly surprised. It doesn't stand quite up to par with The Wicked King in my opinion, but it was still enjoyable. The story was wrapped up, albeit a bit rushed, and the characters were able to reach an end goal of some sorts. I'm not as obsessed with Jude and Cardan as everyone else is, but they definitely win an award from being a couple I despised to one that I do enjoy.

butterface by avery flynn - 2 stars
rom-com without the com?
Admittedly I was a little disappointed by this read. I was expecting all the feels from the synopsis and that didn't quite happen. I think my biggest gripe with this book was how it had the potential to address society's harsh standards on women's appearance but unfortunately, it ended up being very superficial. I could also have gone into this book with the wrong expectations, but alas this wasn't for me.

all the light we cannot see by anthony doerr - 5 stars
ocean waves and radio waves
I adore this book. It honestly reminds me of finding an old trunk in the attic and going through old diaries, letters, and photographs. Oddly specific, but the writing style and story just made me feel so nostalgic and I loved reading the "snapshots" of Marie-Laure and Werner's life. It's honestly such a beautiful and precious story.

my dark vanessa by kate elizabeth russell - 4 stars
the truth can be haunting and painful
Oof, this was so difficult to read. I'm still struggling on how to formulate my thoughts, but essentially this book was difficult but necessary. It deals with the sexual assault of a minor, a student-teacher relationship, and the undeniably raw emotional scars that come from that. Honestly a worth-while read, but definitely not for everyone.

the falconer by elizabeth may - 3 stars
vendettas and killing evil faeries
After finishing My Dark Vanessa, I honestly needed something quick and easy because my mind was struggling and this did it for me. It wasn't the most fantastic read, but it kept me engaged throughout and for that I'm thankful. I think I'll probably keep this series on standby for when I need something quick because I am still interested to see how the story plays out despite this first book feeling very mediocre to me.

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I am also going to be participating in two readathons in May. There's the #asianreadathon hosted by readwithcindy which I wasn't able to participate in last year due to school. However, now that we're all at home and I don't have any real finals (yay student teaching semester), I'll actually have time to read. I have yet to set an official TBR because I have about 500 books I want to read from the masterlist so I'll narrow it down eventually. 

The second is Bout of Books which is one of my favorite readathons to participate in. It's a super chill readathon with daily challenges, but no official reading prompts. Again, no set TBR yet, but I do want to push myself to participate in all the daily challenges. I did participate in the previous round and would update a post every day so the goal this time is to do the same. 

Not gonna lie, I'm slightly overwhelmed with how many books I want to read. I think my mind is mentally panicking that halfway through the month, I'll be officially graduating from college and therefore I have literally nothing to do (but the ever-increasing potential tbr list is still very intimidating).

Let me know your plans for May - we've survived April, we can do another month of 2020!

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8 Comments

  1. Ahh I've heard amazing things about All The Light We Cannot See, I'm so happy you loved it so much :)
    I hope May will be kind to you, take care! <3

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    1. It's a beautiful read - 10/10 would recommend! Thank you for your kind comment, I hope May will be fantastic for you as well! :)

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  2. I read Ruthless Saints last month and while I enjoyed it better than Wicked Saints, the characters went downhill for me 😬 I'm happy that you loved All the Lights We Cannot See, it's such a beautiful and haunting book!

    Tasya // The Literary Huntress

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    1. I didn't know how to rate Ruthless Saints for a while because I'm such a character-driven reader...hoping that book 3 will just blow everything out of the water! I absolutely adore All the Light We Cannot See, I literally can't stop thinking about it!!

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  3. Good luck for BOB this week :)

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  4. I also thought All The Light We Cannot See was an amazing book

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