March Wrap Up: The Month I Realised I Needed a Break

Hi all!

So last week I announced a hiatus because I’ve been really busy with uni and work, and I am definitely still on my hiatus – I’ve only briefly returned so I can wrap up what I did on my blog for March. I’ll also be soon posting a wrap up for my mARCh Madness reading challenge, and a 3 month check in on my 2018 reading challenges.

Also, I hope you all noticed my new blog design!! I took me like two hours to do, but it’s so worth it because it’s so pretty!! I love the grey ombre as the background. I also added a review drop-down menu at the top of my blog – that took me days. Did you know I’ve reviewed 130 books?? I sure as hell didn’t. 😂

Books read

= 10 books, 2 short stories, 1 webcomic, 1 fanfic

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Books reviewed 

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman: This webcomic is currently on-going, but Alice Oseman – the creator – did say that the first book concludes at the end of chapter 2, and I’ve read way past that, so I’m adding this to my ‘Read’ shelf.

Heartstopper is the cutest webcomic I’ve ever read – it’s heartwarming, loving and tender and will make you believe in love.

★★★★★

Read my review.

The Left Hand of Calvus was a very interesting novel. While classified as a m/m romance, it doesn’t have much romance at all. I enjoyed the book all the same, and was highly impressed by the author’s historical research.

Definitely give this book a shot if you’re looking for something different.

★★★

Read my review.

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Book of the Month

In Other Lands was a gift from one of my best friends for my birthday last month, and I held off from reading it until March for my reading challenge. It’s one of the few books that took me a long time to finish and that was only because I wanted to savour the book. Oftentimes, I read a book in a day or two and sometimes the quick pace irks me because I feel like I rushed through the book, so I didn’t want to do that here. Instead, I really took my time and just adored it.

Everything about In Other Lands is just perfection: the characters, the writing, the story –EVERYTHING. While it doesn’t have an overreaching plot, the story is about a boy named Elliot who is sent over a magical wall to school in a magical land. He is put into the council training program – as opposed to the war training one – and befriends two other kids: Serene-Heart-In-The-Chaos-Of-Battle, an aristocratic elf, and Luke Sunborn, a human boy whose family is legendary in the otherlands. Elliot is a pacifist and quite an annoyance to be around, but he’s very sarcastic and he really tells it like it is. He’s also bisexual — so bonus points! The book basically follows Elliot from the age of 13 to 17, and the adventures he has with his friends in this magical land.

BUY IT. READ IT. DEMAND A SEQUEL. 

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Monthly disappointment

While I wasn’t overly disappointed, Autoboyography wasn’t what I was expecting. I think I had really high expectations for this novel and perhaps had my own preconceived notions about the book which weren’t lived up to. I will write a full review about this book, but I’ll mention a few things that irked me.

1. I don’t think the rep in this book was bisexual. It felt more like pansexual to me. Of course, these two sexualities are very often confused for one another, and I myself can be confused right now, but some of the things Tanner said to explain his sexuality where more what you would say to explain pansexuality: things like “it’s the person, not the gender that attracts me to a person.” I’m paraphrasing but he says something similar to this many times in the book.
2. I didn’t like what happened between Tanner and his female friend (who’s name I’ve forgotten – Aubrey? Auburn?). I won’t spoil it, but I was very upset.

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Book tag

I only participated in one book tag this month, but I was nominated for quite a few. I’ll definitely be getting to them once I return from my hiatus!

Click on the image above to check out the tag to see my answers and who I nominated in turn!

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Giveaway!

Don’t forget that I’m currently hosting a 500 follower giveaway for all my lovely followers! Please click on the image below to check out how to enter and the books the winner can choose from!

The giveaway closes APRIL 7, 12pm AEST. 

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Blog tours

This month I participated in three blog tours!

1. Blog Tour: Curved Horizon by Taylor Brooke
2. Release Blitz: Gilded Agony by K.A. Merikan
3. Retro Review Tour: The Left Hand of Calvus by Ann Gallagher

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ARCs I received 

Now that my reading challenge is over, I can start requesting ARCs again! Yay!

This month I received:

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Books purchased

Everyone seems to love these books, so I’m very excited to read them!

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Non-bookish stuff

So I’m still on my hiatus, which is probably going to go a little longer than I intended. A few days ago, I had an unexpected death in the family. It’s been hard, but my family and I are getting there. However, I’m also still at uni, which is stressing me out more than I thought it would. Basically, I’m a little ball of stress and anxiety at the moment, which is fun.

For something lighter, this month I binge-watched Nailed It! on Netflix and I highly recommend this show! If you want a comedic and crappy cooking show, this is for you!

How was your March? How many books did you read? Which was the best/worst? Let me know!