April Wrap-up / Life Updates

Well, it’s officially been forever since I last updated. I’m happy to say I’ve finally finished the course-work portion of my teacher training and only have to do my student teaching! It’s been completely exhausting and I finally feel like I can breathe again. Going forward, I should have a lot of more time (at least until the fall) to work on writing and this blog.

I got both doses of my Covid vaccine back in March and April and I’m looking forward to being able to travel again. I’ve been taking little day trips here and there and keeping close with friends in my Covid bubble, but I miss eating out and going to the movies and traveling.

I’m about three books behind on my Goodreads reading goal for 2021, but hopefully I’ll have more time for reading and find some good books to get lost in this month! Here’s what I managed to read in April:

Little Disasters – Sarah Vaughan I got this book as a Kindle book deal and I’ve been sort of in the mood for mystery/horror lately. This book was a relatively quick read. It’s an alternating POV book with narration by different mothers from the same birthing group. One mother’s baby suffers a traumatic skull injury and she’s lying about how it happened, but there’s more to the story. There’s a twist ending, which felt sort of out of left field, but otherwise I really thought this was a fairly solid read.

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Hollow – Krystal Sutherland This book! THIS. BOOK. So deliciously creepy! I’ve never read anything by Krystal Sutherland before, but I was blown away by her writing and definitely going to pick up other books by her. This is the story of three sisters who go missing on a family holiday in Scotland and come back…changed. Years later, after their father commits suicide and the two eldest girls leave home, the youngest sister is trying to connect the pieces of her past. What happened during the month she and her sisters went missing? This book will not be for everyone, but I loved all the elements of horror. Reminded me of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Morena-Garcia, another favorite.

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Genuine Fraud – E. Lockhart I’ve previously read We Were Liars by this author and I really enjoy the psychological thriller genre. This book jumps back and forth a lot in time, which can be disorienting. I really enjoyed the characters, but the book was a bit thin on the plot. I struggled between three and four stars because it was a really, fast, enjoyable read with a twist ending. Two orphan girls, one with nothing and the other with everything, become friends. Years later, wealthy Imogen has disappeared and Jules is traveling the world and living her life. But what happened to Imogen?

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Sheets – Brenna Thummler This book has been on my to-read list for a while and I finally took out an e-copy on Hoopla. I don’t know why I always seem to rate graphic novels highly. Maybe because I think the genre is so impressive and doing all the art and writing for a graphic novel must be a huge undertaking. This story follows a girl who feels invisible and a boy who is a ghost who cross paths at the girl’s family laundromat. I thought the story was really sweet and relatable and I really enjoyed the art style.

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Docile – K.M. Szpara This book had some really interesting implications – about generational debt and consent under capitalism, but there was also a lot of sexy scenes. Overall, I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of The Handmaid’s Tale, but the message was ultimately more hopeful at the end. The characters tried to overturn the flawed system and change their world for the better.

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The Midnight Library – Matt Haig You know when a book is recommended to you and you know you’ll love it, but you put it off for some bizarre reason? Well, I finally got around to reading The Midnight Library and predictably, I loved it. One of my friends and fellow teachers at school picked up a copy, so we buddy-read it. It’s about a woman who attempts suicide at a low point in her life. She has regrets about all the paths she didn’t take and all the choices she didn’t make that led to her to a dead-end life. While in limbo between life and death, she goes to The Midnight Library, a place where she is able to live out of all the paths she didn’t take. I predicted the ending fairly early on, but this was still a really enjoyable read. I really liked the idea that there is no perfect life, only perfect moments. And that even when the grass seems greener, every grass comes with its own problems. This book definitely really made me think and made me feel better about my regrets.

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It’s really been forever and I’ve missed my WordPress readers and friends. What’s going on in your life? What are you reading these days? What’s been your favorite book of 2021 so far? Did you get your Covid vaccine? Leave me a comment and…

Until next time,