April and O.W.L’s Wrap up

We have finished the O.W.L exams for another year! I am Very proud of my house for winning the house cup again! And for everyone for reading 12,641 books and over 4 million pages!

I had an amazing reading month myself. I always find the magical readathons so motivating and the community is fantastically supportive. While I didn’t stick rigourously to my TBR I did manage to complete all 12 prompts passing all my exams. This means I can undertake the N.E.W.Ts for the Alchemy career if I want to! It’s also one book more that I managed to complete during last year! All in all I had an awesome month and it makes me feel better about taking it easy in May while I move house.

WRAP-UP STATS

BOOKS: 14

PAGES: 4,403

(Page count includes Audiobook page numbers)

I am still slowly working my way through and savouring every second of The Priory of the Orange Tree. I am loving it, and will hopefully finish it in May. I have not included those pages above but will include them what I have finished.

GENRES:

It was a mostly fantasy filled month, though a good mix of sub-genres, from urban fantasy, historical fantasy, magical realism etc. I loved having the graphic novels there to turn to when I just wanted a quick read. I might have to increase my collection and look into what my library has in stock to keep a few in my TBR. two out of the 3 graphic novels I read were Fantasy , while the third was contemporary. The short story collections were also fantasy based.

AUDIENCE:

I am still trying to maintain the 50/50 split and I am happy that I managed to keep this month reasonably close. I expected that I would be drawn more towards YA in a readathon month as I find them quicker to get through. But I am happy about the number of General Audience books I finished over the readathon.

FORMAT:

RATINGS:

5 STARS: 4

4.5 STARS: 1

4 STARS: 4

3.5 STARS: 4

3 Stars: 1

WHAT I READ For the O.W.Ls –

CHARMS – AGE LINE: READ A BOOK MARKETED AS GENERAL AUDIANCE/ADULT

Breaking the Lore
Andy Redsmith

4 Stars

This was one of 3 Arcs I read over the month and I really enjoyed it. Filled with bad puns and witty banter it was a perfect start to the readathon for me. I have a full review here.

ANCIENT RUNES – A RETELLING

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings
Various
Editied by Ellen Oh and Elise Chapman

3.5 STARS

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings is a short story collection full of retellings of East and South Asian mythology and Folklore. It is always difficult to review short story collections

ARITMANCY – A WORK WRITTEN BY MORE THAN ONE creator

Shades of Magic Vol 1: The Steel Prince
V.E. Schwab, Andrea Olimpieri  

4 STARS

I wasn’t really settling into my original choice for this prompt and decided it just wasn’t the book for me at that moment in time therefore when my copy of this finally landed at my door I had pick it up. I felt this was enjoyable but had some real pacing issues compared to other spin off comic series I have read. I will be continuing with the volumes in hopes the full story arc pulls together.

DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS – REDUCTO: READ A BOOK BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER R

The Raven’s Tale
Cat Winters

4.5 STARS

My second ARC of the month was this reimagining of the teenage life of Edgar Allen Poe. It was a facinating concept that was exicuted in such a fantastic way. it was deliciously dark and lyrical. Check out my full review.

POTIONS – NEXT INGREDIENT: READ A SEQUEL

Ruin and Rising
Leigh Bardugo

4 Stars

I really enjoyed the closing off of this series. While there were bits and pieces that made me groan, I was still swept away with it all. I just enjoyed this series as a whole and this was a fitting ending to it. I will hopefully have my review up shortly.

TRANSFIGURATION – SPRAYED EDGES OR A RED COVER

3.5 Stars

The Vanishing Stair
Maureen Johnson

This is another change from my original TBR. I just wasnt in the mood for my original pick so I picked up The Vanishing Stair instead. I adored Truly Devious and while this wasn’t as tantalising as the first book in the series it was still really enjoyable and set up some curious aspects for the third book.

ASTRONOMY – WITH THE WORD STAR IN THE TITLE

Stars Above
Marissa Meyer

4 Stars

Again A short story collection is hard to rate but this one was really fun. I love the Lunar chronicles and this was a great way to revisit all the characters. We learn a little more about their back stories, fill in little gaps in the original stories and that last story just hit me in the feels in such a lovely way.

CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES – A LAND ANIMAL ON THE COVER

• 

• 

CharmCaster and Soulbinder
Sebastien De Castell

5 Stars for both

I read both of these this month as part of my Countdown to Queenslayer re-read. I adore this series and as they are re-reads for me a flew through them and I am more that excited for Queenslayer (I am anxiously awaiting my pre-order). I have spoiler filled Thoughts on Re-reading for both Charmcaster and Souldbinder. I counted these as land animal due to the presence of my precious little murder floof the squirrel cat Reichis (if you haven’t read this series you have to as I guarantee you will love this sassy little ball of rage)

DIVINATION – SET IN THE FUTURE

Only Human
Sylvian Neuvel

3.5 Stars

This is the last ARC I had for this month. It was to promote the paperback release here in the UK. I have really enjoyed this series. While, I was left in two minds about the overall ending, and I was wanting more, overall I think I enjoyed this more than some others. I have a full review here.

HERBOLOGY – PLANTS ON THE COVER

3 Stars

Gilded Wolves 
Roshani Chokshi

I was so intrigued by this, but it kind of missed the mark overall. I am intending to write a full review but I feel this was aged down to be YA. It made the teenage characters seem alot older than they were and the ending was just bizarre. But if I read this as the characters being experienced 20 somethings the story started to make more sense and I enjoyed it overall.

HISTORY OF MAGIC – PUBLISHED OVER TEN YEARS AGO

3.5 Stars

Peril at End House
Agatha Christie

There is nothing like a bit of Agatha Christie to get the pages turning during a readathon. This was a solid little Poirot mystery. Not one of the best I have read but still a great page turner, with Christie’s usual sharp twists and great final reveal!

MUGGLE STUDIES – A CONTEMPORTARY

Giant Days Vol#3
John Allison et al.

5 Stars

I don’t read a lot of contemporary but Giant Days is a huge exception for me. I love this graphic novel series. It reminds me so much of my undergrad. I knew a lot of people like these characters and it is very reflective of the British Uni experience. It makes me smile so much and I adore that.

Bonus read –

Mouse Guard – Fall 1152
David Peterson

A medieval Fantasy graphic novel based on a Mouse Society! It is filled with violence and betrayal and war. I would say if you grew up reading the Redwall series by Brian Jacques you will enjoy this. Note this is marketed as a mature graphic novel and despite being about cute mice it covers dark topics and is not suitable for younger audiences.

---

What a great month! What was your favourite read of the month? Did you manage to pass all the O.W.Ls you were hoping to? Will you be participating in the N.E.W.Ts?

I would love to chat all things bookish with you! You can comment down below or find me on Twitter or Goodreads!

Happy Reading!