April 2020 Wrap Up & Life Update

Well….. I’m back! I’m not quite back to myself 100% but I’m getting there and I’ll take it! April was so hard. It was hard for basically everyone in the world so I know I’m not alone. I struggled with my mental health in ways I wasn’t prepared for.

At first, when I heard that we had to stay at home unless for groceries I was like YES! This is pure heaven! I hate people and I love staying at home so this is going to be the best! I planned on taking full advantage of the reduced work hours and not going anywhere…….. that didn’t happen. I ended up not knowing what day it was, sleeping 2-3 hours a night (and waking up constantly), losing ALL motivation, and missing what little socialization I actually had before. Most of all – I missed my parents. I wanted so bad to just hug them. I would see them from the porch but I couldn’t HUG them. That was the worst. And then there was balancing working from home, homeschooling, cooking 5 fucking meals a day, and constantly having my family around me at all times. I’m not complaining, really. I grew up as an only child who is introverted so alone time is when I recharge. That’s not happening during isolation…… it all collided together to this perfect storm of “what the fuckery” and I couldn’t cope.

So I took hiatus for two weeks and did nothing. When I say nothing, I mean nothing! I didn’t watch tv or movies, I didn’t read a single book (or even turn a page for that matter), and I attempted to get my sleep back on schedule. Oh….. but I did play Animal Crossing…. like a metric shit ton of Animal Crossing! It was my saving grace in a time of  uncertainty. It gave me something to mindlessly do that was brightly coloured, non stressed, and relaxing. I found that it actually gave me a purpose to wake up in the morning because I had something new to look forward to!

Those two weeks were just what I needed. I slowly felt like I was coming back to myself! My sleep schedule is a little better (though not by much), I have a little more energy and motivation, and I’ve started reading again! So what has this whole isolation thing has taught me? Listen to my body. Rest when I need to. It’s ok to say no and put myself first. Don’t push it because it’s not really necessary or worth it. And, most of all, I don’t need to work my ass off every single day to get things done! Not making any promises BUT I feel like I’m on the right path to being my normal self again…… as normal as that could ever be lol!

That’s enough of my blabbering, you’re here for the books! Spoiler alert – there weren’t many in April lol. I started the month off strong by reading 5 books in 10 days! And then….. nothing. lol. A few of these I still need to review (coming soon) so there won’t be links for all of them. Here are the 5 books I read in April:

BEARD SCIENCE by Penny Reid – 5 stars – click for full review
GAH! A book all about my favourite Winston brother, Cletus….. yes please! This one was more about taking things slow and learning to love yourself before you love someone else and I loved that for this book. As always, I enjoyed seeing the previous main characters and how they were doing, but I was so happy that Cletus was finally the star of the show!

HOUSE OF EARTH AND BLOOD by Sarah J Maas – 4 stars – click for full review
I had a very hate love relationship with this book. Out of all of her books, this was the hardest for me to get into. We were thrown into the story without ceremony or explanation and it was damned confusing! So many characters, species, houses, politics…. it was all too much! It took me quite a long time before I kept it all straight! But that ending – holy shit! That was one of the longest, action packed, exciting and explosive endings I think I’ve ever read! Now that the set up is over and after the way she left things, book 2 has promise to be epic!

A DEAD DJINN IN CAIRO by P. Djeli Clark – 5 stars – click for full review
This is the first time I’ve read a stand alone short story outside of an anthology and all I have to say is that it was WAY too short! I loved the writing style, the setting, the characters, the plot – I wanted so much more and didn’t want it to end! I wish that this was a full length novel because I would devour it!

THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB by Lyssa Kay Adams – 3 stars – review coming soon
I wanted so bad to love this but it was just MEH. I needed a book about a book club for the pop sugar challenge and this looked adorable! Who doesn’t want a bunch of strong, powerful, and successful men being a part of a book club that reads romance novels to save their relationships?? Sounds great right? It didn’t live up to my expectations. It was ok but not at all what I was hoping for. Review will be posted soon to explain more.

THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah – 4.5 stars –  Review coming soon
I’ve had this book on my shelf for years but never felt like the time was right to read it. This is one of the most hyped up historical fiction novels out there and I wanted to give it all of my heart and soul. This book was so wonderful. Heartbreaking in every way, this book went straight to my soul and made it weep with sadness and anger. Even weeks after reading it, I keep remembering characters and situations and it would pull up all those emotions all over again. The ending wasn’t what I hoped for though and I’ll explain more in the review coming soon!

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and adjusting to this new normal way of life. I also hope that you’ve been able to use this isolation time to your advantage and get lots of reading done! What was your favourite read in April?? Mine was probably Beard Science followed closely by The Nightingale 🙂

Until next time, happy reading!