April 2023 Wrap Up

April was an interesting month.

Work has continued to be what it is, which is not real great right now. It's frustrating to basically have your dream job and have other people ruining that for you. Kevin has also been dealing with some very tough things at work, so basically work has put a lot of stress on us and altered our lives some. Hopefully some of it will be resolved soon.

But there have been good things in April. I still speak with many of my friends regularly. We are preparing for an elopement for a good friend of mine, which is exciting and fun. Kevin and I are still planning to go on a big trip at the end of May. And the end of this month was marked by a long weekend trip with a couple of my girlfriends to New Orleans.

I didn't get as many books read this month as I would have liked. Partially due to me continuing to listen to Boyfriend Material on a loop (it is comforting, I don't know what to say) and partially due to me re-reading/re-listening to the Raven Cycle books. It felt like cheating to count them again. But I did read a couple of books so here are some quick reviews.

Title: All the Crooked Saints

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Narrator: Thom Rivera

 

Synopsis/Thoughts: I think I have reviewed this book before, but this book is about miracles. The Soria family performs miracles on pilgrims that visit them. But the miracle works by bringing out the darkness within the pilgrim which the pilgrim must conquer without interference from the Soria family members. I loved this book when I first read it many years ago, but did not remember it well. It was nice to revisit. I think it is an interesting idea and I very much enjoyed it.

 

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars

 

 

Title: Outbreaks and Epidemics

Author: Meera Senthilingham

Narrator: Deirdra Whelan

Synopsis/Thoughts: This was an overview of various viral infections and epidemics. Most of it was not new information to me, but I enjoyed reading and reviewing some virus information.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 stars

Title: Sweet and Bitter Magic

Author: Adrienne Tooley

 

Synopsis: A witch cursed to never feel love and exiled from her home

teams up with a secret magical Source to end a plague started by a dark witch. Tamsin is a very powerful witch who cannot feel love or joy and was cast out of her home by the Coven after committing a magical crime. Meanwhile, Wren is hiding the fact that she is a magical Source who should have been training with the Coven as soon as she realized what she was. And a dark witch is destroying the land. When Wren's father falls ill, she approaches Tamsin and they agree to try to end the plague together.

Thoughts: It took me a little bit to get into this book, but I actually enjoyed it. It was a nice read and I liked the characters and the story.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Favorite book read this month: All the Crooked Saints

Least favorite book read this month: None. Sweet and Bitter Magic got the lowest rating, but it was a good book.

 

I have now read 36 books towards my goal of 75 books. 

Sorry for the late post. My trip at the end of April into May and then another trip right after May started put me behind. I can't promise for next month, either, since we will be in Morocco into June. But I can combine May and June into one if I need to.

In the meantime, I am working on some other posts and thank you for reading!