Saturday, April 3, 2021

March 2021 Wrap Up

Sorry this post is a bit late. On the evening of the 31st we had to put our rattie, Zeus, to sleep. He had been struggling for a while and it seemed like it was the right thing to do. But it made for a very rough, sad night. I miss him so much. 

Better late than never though. Lets move on.

March is over. It feels more like spring now. It went by so quickly I feel like I hardy got to catch my breath.

I haven't been reading a whole lot lately. Partially, not much has held my interest. But I also spend WAAAAY more time doing wedding planning research and such. Lurking on Facebook wedding groups looking for good advice. Scanning Etsy and Pinterest for ideas and fun things. All that good stuff.

On the plus side, some wedding things are falling into place! We have a date and a venue! We still have lots to do, but it's nice to make progress. In the future, I hope to do a couple of blog posts about my adventures in case they might help someone else. And just to share some of the fun. It can be stressful (and I am sure I will have my share of stress) but I am mostly happy and excited. Especially since the venue was booked, that was stressing me out.

But here are the (few) books I finished this month. All of them audiobooks...

Title: Tristan Strong Destroys the World
Author: Kwame Mbalia
Narrator: Amir Abdullah
 
Synopsis: Tristan is trying to adjust to regular life after his adventures in Alke. But when his grandmother is kidnapped, he has to return to Alke to save her. He reunites with his friends and meets new friends in his search. And saving all of Alke might be the only way for Tristan to save everyone he cares about.
 
Thoughts: I really enjoyed this one. I feel like Gum Baby annoyed me in the first book, but I mostly found her hilarious in this one. It was fun to meet new characters and see some old favorites.
 
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 
 

Title: Piranesi
Author: Susanna Clarke
Narrator: Chiwetel Ejiofor
 
Synopsis: Piranesi lives in a very unique house, which he studies relentlessly. There are infinite rooms and corridors, and some cannot be reached because they are in ruins or under water. No one understands the house like Piranesi does. His studies aid the Other who lives somewhere in the house and occasionally meets with Piranesi. When a new, mysterious person enters the house, Piranesi is warned away, but ends up discovering much more about himself and about the house than he could have imagined.
 
Thoughts: This was a book club read. I feel like it took a while for me to get what was going on, though there were a couple of things that I guessed along the way. It was really interesting and I enjoyed reading about the house.
 
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
 
 
Title: A Love Hate Thing
Author: Whitney D. Grandison
Narrator: Adenrele Ojo and Barrie Buckner
 
Synopsis: Trice has just gone through some trauma and lost his whole family. So he is forced to move into the house of old family friends. Reuniting with his childhood friend and crush in his posh new life finally makes him feel again. Nandy has mixed feelings about having her first crush and childhood friend back in her meant-to-be-perfect life.
 
Thoughts: Let me say that there were some parts that I thought were good in about the first half of the book or so. I even cried when we got Trice's backstory. But I feel like the book was at least twice as long as it should have been. I just could not wait for it to finish and it felt like it dragged on forever. Hence the low rating.
 
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
 
 
Title: Boyfriend Material
Author: Alexis Hall
Narrator: Joe Jameson
 
Synopsis: Luc has to clean up his image fast or risk losing his job. He needs to be seen with a nice, normal, appropriate boyfriend. Enter Oliver, a serious, ethical barrister with a squeaky clean record. The two enter an agreement to be fake boyfriends as it will be mutually beneficial. And then real love happens.
 
Thoughts: I have a confession: I think I love the fake dating trope. I have only read one other in my recollection, but I also loved that one. So basically I loved this book. It broke my heart a couple of times and put it all back together again. I felt like I couldn't get enough.
 
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars
 
 
Least favorite book read this month: A Love Hate Thing
Favorite book read this month: Lots of good ones, but I have to say Boyfriend Material
 
I have read 12 books towards my goal of 75. I am about 6 books behind schedule... And I am thinking that I may need to reduce my goal to compensate for all the time I am spending doing wedding things.

And side note: send me all your fake dating book recs! I want more!