Well.....that was another unintended week long blogging break. When I said that sports season was going to be crazy I thought I was prepared. How wrong I was! It turns out that baseball (and even coach pitch softball) is much more intense when it comes to number of practices and length of time practicing. Basically what it comes down to is I have three kids in five separate activities which equals one day of the week with nothing going on. Sundays. How I love Sundays at this point! I cannot complain too much though as it is an absolute blast watching them all play. My kids are loving every minute of it and to be honest so am I. Even on the days when I get absolutely the bare minimum done around the house and fall into bed completely exhausted feel well worth it. Blogging has taken a pretty big hit though especially when it comes to commenting/visiting all of your own blogs. For that I am sorry and I will work on making more of an effort in the near future. Everything else will come with time and if my blog goes quiet here and there....well, then that is just what will have to happen. No worries, I have plenty of books to talk about for the times when I can sit down in front of a computer and blog.
April has been another solid month of reading for me so far as I've already finished four books. Not as good as last month but a good start so I am happy. I've got lots of books that I'm hoping to read in the upcoming weeks so just maybe April will see me finishing a lot of great books as well. Especially since next week is the 24 hour read-a-thon. I'm signed up to participate as a cheerleader as usual but I will try to fit some extra reading time in if I can. Lots of fun times ahead! Anyways, here are the books that I have finished so far in April:
The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths was just as good as the first book and I loved every page of it! There are so many great things about this series (and I'm only on book two) but really the main character Ruth Galloway is why I love these books so much. She is so completely different from your normal female lead character and I can't help but love her because of it. I already have the next book waiting on my kindle!
Black Wings by Christina Henry was an intense beginning to this new to me urban fantasy series. I'm so happy that I finally pulled this one off of my own shelves and read it. As I am very eager to see what happens next I will be continuing on with book two soon. Double yay for reading one of my own books!
A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton was deliciously unputdownable (which is a word in my book) and just as thrilling as I had hoped. Hands down this is a series that is not to be missed and I cannot even begin to express how much I love these books! This one will easily make my top reads list this year and I'm pretty sure that I have yet to rate one of her books less than five stars on Goodreads.
Running Fire by Lindsay McKenna is for an upcoming blog tour and I will actually be posting my thoughts on it on the 27th. This was a good read but not great for me as I just didn't quite connect like I had hoped. I'm still planning on reading more by this author in the future so not a bad read whatsoever but just good overall.
I'm now currently reading the following:
This is a rarity but I currently only have this book on the go and I am reading it on my kindle. I am participating in a blog tour for the final book in this series in a couple weeks so I decided to start at the beginning with this series. I'm definitely intrigued so far and eager to get back to reading! I don't have a print book on the go as I can't seem to decide which one to read next. So many choices and I can't seem to make a decision. Don't you hate when that happens??? LOL!
New Additions:
Sorry for the low quality pictures but I bet you can already tell that I am beyond thrilled with all of these. The top picture features review books that I received thanks to two wonderful publishers. I am 99% certain that my next print read will be one of these. And the second picture shows my contest win thanks to the lovely Lisa at Lisa Loves Literature. She also sent some other bookish swag that I couldn't help but adore. This is a bit late but I wanted to make sure and share my thanks! I've also received my own fair share of e-books but that is for another post as this one is getting long enough.
Plans for today include tackling my enormous piles of laundry. Also, hopefully lots of blog commenting and review writing in my future. These are my plans at least. As we will be having family over for part of the day and are planning on grilling out I'm not sure how much of this will actually happen. I will be by at some point this week though as I am really going to focus on blog visiting this week. Now I'm off to clean house and drink more coffee!
Happy Sunday and Happy Reading!!!
Ah, kids in sports, the memories. Enjoy these times. They are the best and the blog will always be here. Glad to know you are loving Ruth Galloway - such a character. I haven't read that latest Lacey book, but I suspect I will soon. I've loved the other books in the series. Have a good week!!
ReplyDeleteIsn't the Ruth Galloway series wonderful?! I'm ready for #3, as well. I guess I'll download the ebook from my library since they don't have it on audio. :(
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the hectic schedule....it is a sign that you are there, participating.
ReplyDeleteYour new books look great! I have I Was Here...hope to read it soon. Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.
Oh my goodness are you guys busy!! I know the day will come when the kids are in activities a few times a week and I'm not sure that I'm really looking forward to it. ;) I would totally cherish that Sunday quiet if I were you!
ReplyDeleteSad that I won't be participating in the readathon next week as it's Elle's birthday, but I hope you have a great time! I do hope to stop in a bit to do some cheering. :) Have a great week Sam!
Running Fire looks so good. I feel your pain. We had three and then my husband coached a few. Yep Sundays were a godsend. Between activities and homework we were going non-stop. Hang in there. When they are older, this is one of the first experiences you will miss.
ReplyDeleteOooh! I got Orient as well, my review will be up on April 28th. I Was Here looks really good, I have heard some great things about it. I am sorry for all the sports, my kids aren't interested, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteOh man, one kid with one sport each season is enough for me. I have Disclaimer too - hopefully it's a good read.
ReplyDeleteI remember those crazy days of getting three kids to their activities. Enjoy, the do go fast.
ReplyDeleteOooh I really want to read I Was Here and The Madman's Daughter, they both look SO good! Congrats on the win and the review books :) And um, you have more activities than children, and this scares me for the future. I'd hoped I'd get MORE time to blog and such as the kids got older but now... sheer terror ;) Hope you have a great week, and enjoy the new books!
ReplyDeleteShannon @ It Starts At Midnight
I still haven't read that hook by Sharon Bolton; I'm glad to hear it's on your top reads list.
ReplyDeleteHope you and your family have a great week!
You are very busy, Sam! I am impressed that you manage to carve out reading time. I hope your week ahead is terrific!
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of taking a blogging break this coming month. Maybe not the entire month, but perhaps a week or two. I've come close to having unexpected ones the last couple of weeks, with everything going on, but it's nothing like what you've been experiencing! Boy, have you been busy! I am glad it is a good kind of busy and that you and the kids are enjoying it. That makes it much more fun and worthwhile. :-)
ReplyDeleteSo many good books! I hope you have a great week, Samantha!
I hear you about having none of the time! For different reasons to you but I never seem to have the time I want for blogging. And my point is proven by the fact that I'm only catching up with Sunday Posts on a Friday!
ReplyDeleteSharon Bolton is an author I've always meant to try out as I love thrillers. So I'm excited by how much you loved it.
Hope you are having a good week :)
Holy moly, five different sprts to carry them to? How do you find time to breathe?! I feel like I have Black Wings sitting on my TBR shelf at home. I completely forgot about it and will totally be trying to fit it into my May reading schedule (but holy crap is may a busy week for reading!) and I so need to purchase a copy of Running Fire, because I have been ogling it for a while! So jelly of the new books you got this week. Can't wait to hear what you think of them!
ReplyDeleteSarah @ One Curvy Blogger