April TBR

Happy April everyone! I hope you are all keeping safe and well in these unprecedented times and managing to make the most of the isolation by reading all the books!

Today it's time for yet another TBR and as you may or may not know April is the month of the O.W.Ls Magical Readathon. I took part in this for the first time last year and loved it so I'm looking forward to it again this year. Along with this readathon I'm still planning on taking part in my usual month challenges and such and will structure my TBR as normal. 

Without further ado lets see what I'm hoping to read in the month of April. 

As usual I'm splitting my TBR up into the following sections...

• TBR and Beyond yearly challenge prompts (I will be choosing two of these a month)
• TBR and Beyond monthly challenge 
• Any readathons I'm planning on taking part in, for this month it will be the O.W.Ls Magical Readathon
• Review copies I have to read
• Any library books or books from my existing TBR I'm planning on reading

So here's what I plan to read in April. 

Yearly Challenge Prompts

My two challenge prompts for this month are...

• A book written in the 1990s or a classic from the 1990s - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Illustrated Edition by J.K. Rowling
• A book without a person on the cover or a book with a POC on the cover - The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman 

TBR and Beyonds Monthly Challenge

The aim of this challenge is a little bit like pairs. You choose up to two cards and read a book that matches the prompts or complete the activity on the card. You can pair cards up however you want book prompt and book prompt, activity and activity or one of each. I'm hoping to complete several pairs this month with the books I'm already planning on reading. 

O.W.Ls Magical Readathon

I have chosen the career Trader of Magical Tomes and for this I need to read four books completing the following prompts...

• Ancient Runes A heart on the cover or in the title - The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven
• Charms A white cover - One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
• History of Magic A book featuring witches or wizards - I have lots so I'm planning to mood read this one.
• Transfiguration A book/series that includes shapeshifters - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Other (Library/Existing TBR Books)

• Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (re-read)

I'd love to hear about what's on your April TBR.

March TBR

I didn't manage to get a TBR post up for February however, I did post a picture on my Twitter and I'm pleased to say that I managed to complete this TBR so that's 2/2 so far. 

March's TBR is going to be a little more free as I have a few books to read and I'm not sure which prompts they will fit into for my monthly challenge so any extras will depend on this (this should make more sense in a moment). 

As before I'm splitting my TBR up into the following four sections...

• TBR and Beyond yearly challenge prompts (I will be choosing two of these a month)
• TBR and Beyond monthly challenge 
• Any readathons I'm planning on taking part in
• Review copies I have to read
• Any library books or books from my existing TBR I'm planning on reading

So here's what I plan to read in March so far.

Yearly Challenge Prompts

My two challenge prompts for this month are...

• A book with time travel or parallel universes - Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence 
• A book from the Rick Riorden imprint or the Salaam Reads imprint - Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

TBR and Beyonds Monthly Challenge

This is where I need to wait to see if any of the other books on my TBR fit into any of these prompts. The aim of this challenge is to choose a chain and read a book to match each prompt on the chain. Which chain I choose will depend on if any of my other reads fit into any of the prompts (I hope that makes sense). If you would like to know which chain I choose in the end I always update my reading progress on my Twitter. 

Review Copies 

• Recoil by J.T Nicholas

Other (Library/Existing TBR Books)

• Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (Exsiting TBR/Reread)

Lets hope I can keep up my momentum from February and read all the books in March. 

What are you planning on reading in March? Let me know. 

January TBR

In 2020 I'm hoping to go back to posting monthly TBRs so I can share with you my reading plans for the month and to try and keep me a bit more accountable for my reading. I don't plan on making really strict TBRs as I do find that can put me in a slump sometimes however, I will be sharing with you the challenges I plan on taking part in each month and any ideas for books I would like to read. 

I plan on splitting these TBRs into sections. I will talk about each of the following sections. 

• TBR and Beyond yearly challenge prompts (I will be choosing two of these a month)
• TBR and Beyond monthly challenge 
• Any readathons I'm planning on taking part in
• Review copies I have to read
• Any library books or books from my TBR I'm planning on reading

So without further ado lets dive into my January TBR. 

Yearly Challenge Prompts

My two challenge prompts for this month are

• A book with a ghost author or an indie author - Wolf Light by Yaba Badoe
• A book where people travel by train or by car - Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (Illustrated Edition) by J.K. Rowling 

TBR and Beyonds Monthly Challenge 

My rolls were

• Free Space
• Next in Series - Collision by Victor Dixen 
• LGBTQ+
• Winter
• Free Space
• 2019 Book
• Magic - Wolf Light by Yaba Badoe

Review Copies 

• Wolf Light by Yaba Badoe
• Queen in Hiding by Sarah Kozloff
• Fate of the Fallen by Kel Kade

Other (Library/Exisiting TBR Books)

• Collision by Victor Dixen (Library Book)

I'll probably only manage to get to 4/5 of these ones but hopefully this will give me a bit of a choice which will stop me getting slumpy. 

What books do you have on your TBR of January? Let me know. 

Book Series I've DNFed

Following on from my post last week where I talked to you about all of the book series I'm in the middle of I thought I would share with you the book series I've decided to DNF. 

Putting together last weeks post made me realise just how many series I've started and that I need to be a bit more select with which ones I continue with and, because of that you'll notice some quite recent reads in this list. 

It's not as long as last weeks list but there's still a few here to talk about. 

The Beckoning Shadow by Katharyn Blair

I read this one last month and I thought it was just okay, nothing special. The ending of this first book was quite conclusive too so I don't feel like I'm missing out on too much but not carrying on. 

The Empty Gods by Breanna Teintze

I enjoyed this one and in my review I said I would pick up other things by this author but carrying on with this series is not high on my priority list. Especially as we don't have any info about subsequent books. 

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Another one that was just okay. I enjoyed the first book and thought it was fun but I'm satisfied with that for now, but I will say I love these covers. 

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy 

I actually really enjoyed this one, it was very close to a 5 star read however, the pacing was really off. I won't be picking the next on up when it comes out because of this but, if reviews say this has been fixed then I might consider giving book two a go. 

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Lee

I was quite disappointed of with this one. I was really looking forward to it because I love anything based around mythology but I was just left wanting more.

Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh

This one was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed the setting and the time period but I struggled to relate to the characters. It was also quite a forgettable read, I can't really remember what happens. 

Grey Land by Peadar O'Guilin 

I enjoyed this story but I didn't find it as scary as everyone seemed to. Again another one that was what I wanted at the time but that I'm not invested enough with to continue.

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller

Another that I enjoyed when I read it but it also had some issues. The story jumped around a lot in this one and I wasn't a fan of the romance. It was a couple of years ago now that I read this one and I can't remember what happened and I didn't love it enough to re-read.

The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands

I thought this one was fun, I enjoyed it when I read it and I fully intended to continue. I did get the 2nd book from the library and start it but for some reason never finished and I lost the motivation to continue with this one unfortunately. 

So there's definitely not as many here as there was in my last post. Maybe I'll have another cull of my series in a couple of months and see if there are any more I want to DNF as this has felt quite refreshing and has definitely taken some of the pressure off of my TBR. 

Do you read series? Are there any here you would convince me to carry on with?

Book Series I Need to Finish

I love a good series however, I'm not good at keeping up with reading series. I hate having to wait for the next books in series so, if I don't own the next book or if it's a new release I tend to put it off. 

That being said I have started several series this year and last that I want to continue with so I thought I would share them with you here. Several of these series have more books than those listed in this post, I have only listed books that have a released title so please bear in mind some series may be longer. Buckle up its going to be a long ride!

Adult Series

Relics by Tim Lebbon

                                                  read

Impossible Times by Mark Lawrence 

                                         read                 read

Emaneska by Ben Galley

                                read

The Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff

                                            read

A Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons 

                                                            read

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

                                read                 read               read

          

The Bone Collector by Fiona Cummins

                                           read

Young Adult Series

Even the Darkest Stars by Heather Fawcett

                                                             read

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney

                                            read

The Folk of the Air by Holly Black

                               read                  read

Phobos by Victor Dixen

                                read                 read

Everless by Sara Holland

                                           read

The Montague Siblings by Mackenzi Lee

                                            read

Cursebreakers by Brigid Kemmerer

                                           read

Mirage by Somaiya Daud

read

Empirium by Claire Legrand 

                                           read

The Lady Janies By Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Medows

                                            read

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

                                                             read

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

                                read

Middle Grade Series

Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend

                               read

The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riorden

                              read                 read

Wow! That's a lot of series. Doing this has made me realise I really need to step up my game when it comes to reading series as I know a lot of these have books out that I haven't read or are even completed. Maybe I'll do a series month towards the end of the year. 

Have you read any of these that you would recommend? Let me know which ones I should get to first.