The O.W.Ls are over for another year! its always so bitter sweet. It s so much fun reading all the books and joining in all the chat but we have August and the N.E.W.Ts to prep for now. This round I managed to finish all 12 O.W.Ls which is awesome. It means I can actually attempt the Alchemist career in August.
It was a little bit of a bitter sweet month in reading terms. First, I really didn’t stick to my set out TBR. I found my mood changing quite a lot throughout the month and ended up just switching it all up to try and match my mood, and That is OK. If you are not in the mood for a book it is OK to not force your way through it. It is OK to be easy on yourself. Especially in the current “interesting” times we are all living through. I still managed to make a big dent in my TBR of both ARCs and Physical reads which is really great.
Secondly, A few of the books I did read were some of the worst books I have read this year. I have been so lucky to have a very positive reading year but that had to break at some point. It was just disappointing to read both of them back to back.
On the other hand I did get to finish off a couple of amazing series early in the month and they really did give me that great satisfying end of series vibe. I also discovered a new to me author, I will be definitely devouring more from them, and ticked off a good few ARC reviews that had been haunting my Netgalley account.
Overall, April was another awesome reading month.
WRAP-UP STATS
BOOKS: 14
PAGES: 4421
(Page count includes Audiobook page numbers)
It does seem interesting that 14 books a month seems to be some kind of limit for me. This is the third month this year I have read 14 books!
RATINGS:
5 STARS: 4
4.5 STARS: 2
4 STARS: 2
3.5 STARS: 2
3 STARS: 2
2 Stars: 2
Book of the Month
This was such a hard choice this month as there are two books with the same E.S.C.A.P.E score. One is the final in a series from one of my favourite authors the other was a new to me author that has the potential to become a new favourite, with another of her books going straight on my May TBR. I decided why not give both the accolade this month.
The Last Emperox
John Scalzi
O.W.L: Divination
I adored the end of this series. Salczi is one of my favourite authors, I enjoy his sense of humour, the pacing of his books and his characters. This was no different It just gave me that satisfying great end to a series smile. I have a full spoiler free review HERE
The Woman in Cabin 10
Ruth Ware
O.W.L: Muggle Studies
This was a last min replacement as the eARC I was going to read was pushed back to August. I conducted a poll on twitter and this won. It was a bit of an impulse purchase as it dropped to 99p on kindle. I devoured it! It was such a fun and well paced read. I will have my review up shortly.
WHAT I READ –
Queen of Hearts
Colleen Oakes
O.W.L: Ancient Runes
I have had this series on my shelves for a while now and I am really glad I decided to pick it up. it was a nice first read of the month with a fun and interesting twist to the Wonderland story. I still have yet to catch up on my reivews but I will have one up for this soon (I hope).
Summer Frost
Blake Crouch
O.W.L: Potions
A quick and fun read for my Potions Owl. I have been working my way through this short story collection and it is a lot of fun. I hadn’t read Blake Crouch before and this was a really interesting little story so I might have to pick up more.
The King of Crows
Libba Bray
O.W.L: Care of Magical Creatures
This was another one of those books that just wrapped up a series in a great way that left such an awesome and satisfying feeling. I have a full review for this book HERE
I am really glad I picked it up, but i did find myself missing the characters once i was finished. I think this will be a series i will have to revisit.
Ghosted in LA
Sina Grace
Not for the O.W.Ls
The art was gorgeous, the colour palette was lovely however the storyline was a little bland. I have a mini review for this graphic novel.
Ayoade on Top
Richard Ayoade
O.W.L: Arithmancy
I am so glad I picked this one up. It was really what I needed. I ended up picking up the Audio for this and it is probably the best way to read it. It is read by Ayoade himself and if just filled with all the humour you would expect. I am still to write up my review for this one, but I should have a mini review up in the next few weeks.
Wilder Girls
Rory Power
O.W.L: Defence against the Dark Arts
Oh this one wasn’t for me. I just really didn’t enjoy it, there were a lot of large plot holes and elements that just didn’t hold my interest. I have a full review with my thoughts here!
Murder on the Mews
Agatha Christie
O.W.L: Herbology
The first of my exchanges I wanted something lighter than my original pick of Middlegame. This is a series of 4 short stories all involving Poirot. I always enjoy a good Poirot mystery and the short stories are so well crafted. A mini review will make its way when I catch up.
Equal Rites
Terry Prachett
O.W.L: History of Magic
Again another substitution on my quests for a more jovial TBR. I love Pratchett’s very special brand of silly and humour. While I haven’t read many in the discworld series my husband is a fan and we have recently started collecting the Gollancz collectors library hardbacks and I couldn’t resist picking it up. This is another one on my Review soon list.
Harrow Lake
Kat Ellis
Not for OWLs. The Write Reads Blog Tour
I read this as part of the Write Reads Blog tour which I was so excited to be apart of. Unfortunately I Struggled to find any good points in this book. I really tried to make an effort to rate it well but two stars was as high as I could drag it up. I decided not to post my review just yet as it will need a lot of spoilers and discussion but this was one of the worst representations of mental health and PTSD I have ever read. For a YA that is disturbing. I will post my review closer to the release data in July.
Giant Days Vol 5
John Allison
O.W.L: Charms
Another switch around. Again of on the hunt for more light hearted make me laugh kinds of reads. Giant Day’s Never fails on that front. I love all the characters, I love the antics they get up to and the nostalgia of it all (for me at least). Another on my To- review list.
Goldilocks
Laura Lam
O.W.L: Astronomy
I loved this, the first half was science perfect dystopia with kick-ass women in space, the second half was a great thrillery mystery. The twists were perfectly timed and it kept you turning the pages. the only let down was the somewhat convenient ending. I really enjoyed reading it. I have a full review for it HERE.
The Dragon Republic
R. F. Kuang
O.W.L. : Transfiguration
This was my mad dash to the finish line book. I switched it from Charms to transfiguration as it fit better than the book I had originally picked for Transfiguration. As I somewhat rushed to finish this I am still not fully sure how I rate it. I need to think about it a bit more but I think I enjoyed this more than the Poppy war. I will hopefully settle on an ESCAPE score for this soon and write my full review.
So that is my April and my Owls Wrap up! did you participate in the O.W.Ls? How did you do? How did your month of reading go? What was your book of the month?
I would love to chat all things bookish with you! You can comment down below or find me on Twitter or Goodreads!
Happy Reading!
Fi's Bibliofiles 
You did great! I love the books you picked for your OWLs, all the ones I didn’t already have on the list are now on the TBR aha, it’s a shame about those two MEH ones but hopefully May will be great! It’s funny that you stay at 14 books each month, I’m curious to see how many you read in May!
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