Happy April, friends 🌷 Spring is here, days are getting longer and, honestly, I couldn’t be happier about that. Let’s recap the past month, shall we?
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March has been kind of an eventful month, I’d say. It started off with a wonderful, wonderful week off work and a trip to Italy. We visited Milan and Venice, ate a whole lot of delicious Italian food and explored and it just felt so, so nice to get away from it all for a bit.
Otherwise, the month was filled with work, where, thankfully, things have been getting better. After endless months of terrible situations and mental health wreck, I feel like I got to the other side. I feel better, like I’m finding a bit of my confidence again and finding my place a bit more, so it’s been okay. Fingers crossed things continue down this road.
I’m really excited for April to finally be here! It means SPRING and you all know just how much I like it when spring comes around again 🌷
I also can’t WAIT to see my family again early this month, because let’s face it, living across country from them all isn’t really fun at all. My sister’s birthday is on April 16th and, well, I fought and sweated for her birthday present but I GOT IT and it’s super exciting and I am kind of proud I managed to get it, so. More on that soon, I guess 🥰🥰
Monthly Reading Wrap-Up
March has been an okay month overall, reading-wise. I had some disappointments, but also had fun with some of my reads, so, yay! I’m pretty happy that I managed to read 4 books again.
A THOUSAND MILES ☂️ I had my eye on this one for a while, now: ex-best friends and a road trip sounds like the perfect recipe for me! I had so much fun reading this one, loved the characters and their chemistry. Recommending it!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
GODDESS IN THE MACHINE ☂️ This book had been on my radar for a long, long time, now. I’m happy I finally read it, but also a bit sad by how disappointed I was. It was still very entertaining overall and I loved the whole concept behind it, but I found that it didn’t quite keep my attention at all times. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
THIS BOOK KILLS ☂️ This was such a fun YA mystery! I really loved the concept of the whole “I wrote a murder story and now it’s become real”, and loved the twists and turns. It reads a bit like a younger YA, but if you’re looking for something quick and entertaining, definitely recommending it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
THE CARTOGRAPHERS ☂️ I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved how it doesn’t shy away from exploring mental health and especially depression, but sometimes it felt a bit much to read, a bit overwhelming. Still recommending it if you can handle these kind of topics! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Book Discoveries of The Month
Two brand new books to share with you today! I feel like I haven’t added real YA contemporary books to my TBR for a while. Today, I have a bit of an adventure book and a thriller!
HELLFINDER ☂️ I love Paula Stokes’ YA contemporary books. This one sounds a bit different, as in, it’s more of an adventure book set in Iceland, with missing artifacts à la National Treasure. Honestly, this sounds super fun and lately, I’m all here to be entertained by my books, so… sounds great!
THE CHANGING MAN ☂️ This is about a teenager at a prestigious boarding school, trying to figure out the truth behind the school’s decades-old legend of the Changing Man. Sounds awesome!!
Goodreads challenge: 12/50 books
I’m still on track with my reading challenge, so I’m happy!
Apparently, I crossed the 15k words this February and now I’m at 29k words…so, it turns out I wrote like, almost 15k this past month as well! I’m pretty proud of this progress and happy to see just how motivated I was to work on my story this March. And shout out to the best friend ever, Kat, for these little writing sprints!
I’m still far from being done, as I expect this WIP to be like, 70k words, but well. Progress, right? I’m hoping that motivation and inspiration will still be with me this month and that I can finish this first draft before the summer.
I’m not really participating in Camp NaNo officially, as I know I can’t commit to writing every single day. I do hope to use the enthusiasm that comes around this season to make progress, though. Fingers crossed!
I might be in a bit of a blogging slump.
This feels really weird to write, and even more for you to read, I guess, given the fact that I still managed to post quite regularly this past few months. That being said, I haven’t felt my usual blogging frenzy for weeks, now. I still get some ideas (like that Blind date with a book that came a bit randomly, for instance), but I find them rare and sometimes, I just… my brain’s empty.
I also don’t take time to blog hop just as much, and I feel really bad about it.
I think I might be focusing more on more on other things in my life. Like writing, for instance. I’m having so much fun and so much determination with this, lately, that everything else just goes out the window.
Anyway, I feel like I sound really dramatic. I don’t know what April will look like, blogging wise. I probably won’t post 2 times a week, as I was used to doing for the past few years. I guess I’ll post whenever inspiration strikes!
That being said, I am forever grateful for all of you still here reading my blog, no matter whether or not I post. I just can’t thank you enough! 🥺🥺
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On the blog this month: book reviews
On the blog this month: blogging, books & more
I wrote another book recommendations post! I don’t know why, but I wanted to pair books with seasons, so… I ended up sharing YA Books to read based on your favorite season!
The idea of the month! Honestly, I am pretty happy with how this random idea of a Blind date with an underrated YA book turned out. And it seems like you enjoyed it, so THANK YOU! I might turn this into a series, who knows!
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On instagram
I haven’t shared too much this past month on instagram, either. Inspiration hasn’t quite been there, and I still don’t really know how I fit in there, either. I also know I haven’t taken time to brainstorm and share more things, either, because I’ve been busy with other things. Life, I guess.
You can follow my instagram account here!
I’m still very much not present on your blogs and I’m sorry. I still saved a couple blog posts I enjoyed & look forward to reading, so here goes. As always, feel free to share yours in comments. 💛
- My friend Kat wrote about the Lovelight series and I can’t wait to read these books!
- Sophie talks about creating characters and basically how it’s just chaos and I found this super interesting!
- I loved reading Sam’s discussion post on things that make her go hmmmm with books. SO fun!
- An excellent, hyped review of one of my favorite books, Keep my Heart in San Francisco, is up on 24hYAbookblog and I LOVE IT.
How was your March? Anything great happened this past month? What were your favorite reads?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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Happy April! Italy is beautiful, glad you enjoyed it ♥️
Thank you so much! Hope you’re having a lovely month <3
I know what Nyx’ birthday present will be and I AM SO HYPED for her to find out! You’re an amazing sister and friend!!
Really, the shout out should be to yourself. You’ve been so consistent with working on your WIP and I’m so proud of you for that. Also, huge thanks for making me more motivated at work on it as well. You’re the best! <3
Thank you so much Kat 🥺🥺 this means so much! and always here for more writing sprints, hope we can do more of these soon! 🥺
Looks like you had good reading month. I hope you get out of blogging slump soon. Wish you amazing April.
Thank you so much! I hope April has been kind to you so far! <3
It sounds like you had a pretty good month! Travelling looks so fun! I actually booked a trip to the US this past month for May and I’m super excited about it, something to look forward to! 😄
I hope you have an amazing April! 💞
Ahhhh really, that’s so exciting!!! Where exactly are you going? I hope you’re having a wonderful month so far! <3
I’m going to Washington D.C.! I can’t wait!!
Thank you, my month has been pretty good, despite taking my back out 😅. I hope your month has been good so far!
AH YAY this is so exciting!! I can’t wait to hear all about it <3 <3
Aw yay! Thank you! 💜
Woo congrats on writing so much! It’s so great to make such progress!
As far as a blogging slump goes, I feel ya there. It’s really hard to juggle all the things. I just post when I feel like it. So far, since returning from my hiatus, it’s been about twice per week, but I know that it won’t last lol
Thank you so much!! <3 You're so right. It's so hard to juggle with everything and I guess we just need to prioritize what feels best for us! <3 I hope you're having a lovely April so far!
i get so happy seeing all of your travel updates, marie! i’m glad that the change of seasons is making your mood lighter as well <3 and it is so wonderful that you've been feeling more inspired and motivated by writing instead of blogging! the most important thing is thing is that you have fun with what you spend your time on <3 happy april!!
thank you so, so much <3 you're so right, I feel content with the way my time's spent lately, even if I'm a bit sad to leave blogging hanging a bit more. thank you!! I hope April will be kind to you <3
Happy April! How was Italy? The photo looks beautiful! Happy Birthday to your sister, Nyx! What did you end up getting her. Congrats on feeling better mentally & getting so much writing done! Sending you so much love in April, hopefully you get out of this blogging slump soon xx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
Thank you so much, love! Italy was wonderful, I just love it so much! <3 I hope that April has been really kind to you so far, sending you lots of love!! <3 <3
So exciting that you got to take a trip to Italy!! I really need to go again, as I loved when I visited Florence ages ago 💕
I’ve been considering putting A Thousand Miles on my list, as it sounded interesting, so I’m very glad that you enjoyed it so much 🥰 I hadn’t heard of The Changing Man, but it sounds so intriguing, I’ll have to add it to my list!
Ahh yay Florence is absolutely wonderful! I hope you’ll get the chance to go to Italy again <3
Thank you so much, Caro! I hope april has been kind to you so far <3