Hi everybody, happy May and welcome to my April wrap up! I’m just gonna say it right now, my April has been consumed by a renewed obsession with The Hunger Games universe. After reading Sunrise on the Reaping, I re-read the original trilogy, I watched the Ballad movie for the first time and listened to the soundtrack. Oh, and spent a lot of time browsing social media for fanart and theories and connections and casting news for the Sunrise on the Reaping movie. So yeah, be warned when you go into this wrap up 🙂
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
MY FIRST FIVE-STAR READ OF THE YEAR! This was a brilliant and heartwrenching addition to the Hunger Games lore. It added so much and it makes you see so many things from the original story in a new light. Haymitch’s story broke my heart into a tiny million little pieces – I love him so much and he deserves all the love. Even if you know how it will end, you can’t help but fall in love with these characters and root for them. Sad but highly recommend.
Rating: 5 stars | Read full review
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (Re-Read)
After Sunrise on the Reaping, my Hunger Games obsession came back to life with a vengeance. I needed to re-read the original trilogy and see all the Haymitch-Katniss parallels myself. Still such a powerful series and still such a powerful message.
Overall Rating: 5 stars
Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgiss
I loved this fantasy romance so much, it was so cozy and whimsical! I did struggle a bit with the writing style (it felt a bit complicated to me, I had to look up a lot of words I was unfamiliar with and not that I mind learning new words (I’m not a native English speaker) but it did take me out of the story a bit) but overall I really loved reading this one. The main hero is just such a cinnamon roll and I loved that!
Rating: 4 stars
Reckless (Chestnut Springs #4) by Elsie Silver
The Chestnut Springs installment I was least looking forward to turned out to be one of my favorites! I knew this contained the accidental pregnancy after a one-night stand trope, which I usually don’t like. But Elsie Silver just wrote the exception as I adored Winter and Theo’s story!
Rating: 4,5 stars
Hopeless (Chestnut Springs #5) by Elsie Silver
On the other hand, the Chestnut Springs installment I was most looking forward to turned out to be one of my least favorites… I was really looking forward to Beau’s story as I loved his character and I had high hopes for this age gap / fake dating story. But I just couldn’t connect to the character of Bailey at all – she’s 22 but she sounded so childish and naive and I felt like there was no buildup at all to her relationship with Beau.
Rating: 3 stars
Top Ten Tuesday
Books You’d Be A Fool Not To Read (AKA My Faves)
Books with Springy Pink and Green Covers
My Unpopular Bookish Opinions
Books that Surprised Me (in a good or bad way)
Books with the Word “Dark” in the Title
WWW Wednesday
Can’t Wait Wednesday
The Things We Water by Mariana Zapata {Can’t Wait Wednesday}
I mean, other than the Hunger Games soundtrack, these were some of my favorite songs that brought the nostalgia:
Evanescence – Afterlife
Sum 41 – Radio Silence
You guessed it… I only wanted to watch Hunger Games stuff this month. So I decided to watch The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes for the first time. I never watched it because I honestly didn’t really enjoy the Ballad book. But after reading Sunrise on the Reaping, I listened to the Ballad soundtrack, and I LOVED all the songs sung by the character of Lucy Gray (they feature in THG and Sunrise too, so it’s all connected) and I decided to give the movie a try. And while I still don’t really care for the story as a whole because I just can’t enjoy Snow as a main character, I do think that it was a great adaptation with an amazing cast and a wonderful soundtrack.
April has been getting better. I had two weeks off from work, and the weather has been nice so that has helped me feel better too.
THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY THIS MONTH:
- Two weeks off!
- We had a weekend away with the family-in-law which was really nice.
- The weather was nice so we got a lot of gardening in and were able to plant some new flowers and plants.
THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:
- New book releases: The Things We Water, One Golden Summer and Rewind It Back.
- A yearly family dinner is planned.
- Hopefully, more nice weather!
How was your April? What did you read? What did you listen to and what did you watch? What are you looking forward to in May?
I honestly feel like everyone was in a bit of a Hunger Game obsession this month! It looks like you had a good reading month 🙂
Haha yes, I love that the whole world seemed obsessed again 🙂
I agree about the The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie. Wasn’t a fan of the book but I liked the movie well enough. Still gotta read Sunrise on the Reaping but my mood reading is out of control haha
Haha I hear you on the mood reading 🙂 But I hope you’ll enjoy Sunrise on the Reaping when you get to it!
Love a series deep dive! And I love that you had so much time off to enjoy it!
Yes, it was definitely perfect timing for such a deep dive 🙂
I like that you read for pure enjoyment, You’ll see me slowing down the book tours over time for this exact reason. Two weeks off is super nice. Have a wonderful May!
Yes, I love Book Tours but I don’t love when reading starts feeling more like an obligation than a hobby, so I almost don’t do any anymore myself. Hope you’ll have a wonderful May too!
I was so dissapointed by Ballads I really haven’t thought about giving Haymitch’s story a try.
So nice to hear you got some time off and were able to enjoy it.
I get that, I also didn’t love Ballads and almost didn’t pick up Sunrise on the Reaping because of it – but I’m really glad I did 🙂
Thank you, the time off was definitely enjoyable!
As soon as I finish my current stack of books, I’m going to reread The Hunger Games. I’m excited. I love those books more every time I reread them.
Yay, I hope you’ll love the reread! I agree about loving them more with every reread 🙂
I hadn’t heard about Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgiss but it sounds so fun!
It was a really fun cozy fantasy indeed! I’m looking forward to the next book set in this world 🙂