January Wrap-Up

Dare I even say it?! Well, I guess I’ll just have to get it out: January was actually a pretty good reading month for me!  I know, right?! OMG! Who would have thought I’d say that about the start of the new year?! I certainly wouldn’t. *lol* But it is the way it is and I read 5 books I enjoyed immensely. Okay, not all of them, but most of them! There was only one 3 paws read and that’s because I always read Becky Albertalli’s books even though they are kinda hit-and-miss for me. XD I never know how I’ll come out of it at the end.

As for the life stuff: 2023 already started pretty bad on the health front. I mean I was ill the entire Christmas holidays and went ill into 2023. After two weeks and when work started again we actually thought we’d be over it but then my hubby relapsed and was ill for another two weeks. Thankfully my kid and I were already immune against the virus because we had it too during the holidays. So there was that at least. Still, I had to keep things running while my hubby was out of commission so to speak and it wasn’t easy. *sighs*

Plus another one of my courses ended and I had to get the paper work done to apply for the next and last one while still studying for the current one. They give a maximum of 7 days to finish one course and to start with the next one and this time is always so stressful because you have to finish the former course while applying and getting everything on track for the next one. And if you want to do the exam you’re already in the next course but still need to finish the old one and for a time both overlap and it’s really all just one huge stressful mess. *lol* Kinda glad this was the last time I needed to apply for a new course but also sad that my educational sabbatical will be over in 5 months. =(

Anyway! Let’s talk about the nice things of life instead and focus on my reading statistics for January!

Books read: 5 (5 books & 0 webcomic, I did pretty well in January as it seems? Guess it helps to have a library deadline for books you absolutely want to read. *lol*)

Pages read: 1.909 (I’m pretty sure that’s a strong start into the new year. XD)

Average rating: 4,3 (I had two 5 paws reads and one 4,5 paws read so this month was pretty amazing! )

Books that were on my reading list: 3 ( 1 from 2020, 1 from 2021 and 1 from 2022. I’m amazed about the fact I actually read 3 books from my TBRs!)

January Reads:

       

   

The Silvered Serpents: ,5

I knew this book was going to hurt and that’s why I procrastinated and never was in the right mood to pick it up. But at the end of the year I finally wanted to finish it because it had been on my „currently reading“ on Goodreads since March 2022 and I wanted a clean slate for 2023. So I didn’t quite manage to finish it in the old year but it was the first book I finished in 2023 and it was as painful as I thought it would be! Maybe even more so! T_T I swear every time I read a couple of chapters this book killed me. Laila and Severin were the death of me and Hypnos and Enrique weren’t any better. Like uff!! Add to that all the other things that happen and you’re on an emotional rollercoaster that hurts. Big time. Still, this was great and I loved every second of it. XD I can’t wait to read „The Bronzed Beasts“!

Kate in Waiting:

As I already said at the beginning of my Wrap-Up Becky Albertalli’s books are always a hit-and-miss for me. I never know if I’ll love them or if I’ll dislike them so I pick them up and hope for the best while I keep in mind that there is always the possibility that it won’t work for me. I guess in some ways „Kate in Waiting“ worked better for me than some of her other books, yet at the same time it wasn’t as amazing as „Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda“. Maybe it’s a case of „It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.“ (Yes, shamelessly quoted Taylor Swift here!! *lol* ) I dunno! All I know is that I was through it very fast, that it was enjoyable to read but that it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. If you want to read my full review you just have to follow the link above. 😉

The Hidden Oracle: 

I absolutely loved this book!!! And I adore Apollo as a narrator! He’s so funny but he’s also in so much pain and I loved to see that other side of him. I think he already changed a lot in the first book and I can’t wait how much more he’s going to change during the entire „The Trials of Apollo“ series! I loved how he cared about his children and knew them all by name and how he started to defy his father Zeus. Meg and him had a great friendship arc and I lived and breathed for his interactions with Percy. *lol* Plus we got to see a lot of Will and Nico in this one and I hope this trend will continue in the other books! I need my Solangelo!!! XD

This Savage Song:

„This Savage Song“ has been on my TBR for a very long time. I think I put it on my 2020 TBR list but never got around to reading it. I always borrowed it from my library and then was forced to give it back unread, so this time around I decided to read it even though I just had one week to do so. Well, turns out I didn’t even need 7 days. I was done after 5. *lol* This was AMAZING!!! Capital letters! I never thought I’d get so obsessed with this series but OMG! I loved and adored the two MCs and the world building was excellent! Also after the halfway mark the book picked up pace and I couldn’t put it down anymore. It felt like watching one of those super fast paced action movies and it was awesome! Can’t wait to read the second one!

Darius the Great Is Not Okay:

This book was such an interesting and fascinating read! I think I’d definitely call it a coming-of-age story but it also has a very educational aspect because you learn so much about Iran and Persian culture while you read it. I loved that! It’s always so interesting for me to hear about other cultures and the way Adib Khorram explained things was very perspicuous. Plus he tackled a lot of topics like bullying, depression and father-son-troubles. Definitely a book I can recommend.

This said: How was your January? Did you read many books? Were you ill during the holidays or were you lucky enough to enjoy them? =) Which kind of books did you read last month and can you recommend me any? Also did you already read the ones I read and if „yes“ did you enjoy them? What’s been going on in your life?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

November Wrap-Up

Who am I even? It seems like my reading slump is finally over and I managed to read another 6 books in November. Admittedly two of them were mangas and one was a short poetry book, but the other 3 books were pretty huge so I actually managed to read the most pages I read in a month this year. I’m genuinely surprised I read so much. *lol* I think if I keep it up like that the last quarter of the year will become the best one of 2022. And this even though I was so ill at the beginning of November.

No kidding. I got the worst cold ever and I was knocked out cold for an entire week and it didn’t only take me about 3 more weeks to feel halfway healthy and normal again but I also got exhausted pretty fast. To be honest, I’m still coughing at night and in the morning so whatever I had, it was a bitch and kicked my butt big time. XD Let’s hope I’ll arrive at a 100% soon. So far it’s been a struggle, but well, this also had the benefit that I got a lot of reading done once I felt a little bit better. I guess the fact that two of the books I read were the best books of 2022 helped with being able to finish them fast too. I was and still am OBSESSED! But more to that later on. 😉

Since I was ill for so long I had troubles to keep my BookTube channel running and I had a lot of catching up to do with my studies as well. I’m currently trying to work through all the chapters I should have read already and hopefully I’ll be able to get ahead of my studies again. I really just want to have Christmas holidays without having to think about anything so I’m trying my best to fight through the content of my curriculum. This said I’ll head to my monthly wrap up now!

Books read: 6 (6 books & 0 webcomic, Okay, I never thought I’d be able to read 6 books but I did?!)

Pages read: 2.317 (I really thought I’d have a low page count because of the mangas and poetry book but guess the other three 500+ pages books balanced it out? *lol*)

Average rating: 4,08 (I read two 5 paws books in November and both turned out to be my faves of 2022! What a reading month!)

Books that were on my reading list: 3 ( 1 from 2020, 0 from 2021 and 2 from 2022. All three books I read were on my reading lists so that’s great! 😀 )

November Reads:

       

       

Black Butler:

This was the first volume in the series and I don’t know how I feel about it. I mean it was interesting enough to read, but it didn’t really sweep me off my feet?! If that makes sense? I’m kinda undecided if I want to continue with the series tbh. Right now I’ll just leave it at this volume and see if the mood to pick up volume two will ever hit me. *lol*

Wolfsong:

ADASFDKASDLFJASDFKAJSDFL! I absolutely loved and adored this book and its characters! I AM OBSESSED with the Green Creek pack and I honestly just want to be a part of this amazing queer werewolf bunch! XD Like this was so, so, damn good! By now I read three T.J. Klune books and this one. Boy, this one was the best and I loved it so much! Joe and Ox are everything and I don’t have enough words to talk about this amazing book here! I’ll have to write a proper review asap! For now I can definitely say that this is one of the rare books I’d throw at people to read! I mean: READ IT!!! 😛

Death Note – Vol.4:

I’ll never get tired of admiring Tsugumi Ohba for what he’s doing with this manga! Like wow! I have no idea how the writer manages to keep the suspense up like this! And I’m in awe of the intelligence it needs to write a manga and characters like Light and L. This is such a complex manga series and every time I think it’s not possible to make it even more interesting Tsugumi Ohba throws me for a loop. I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on volume 5!

Autobiography of Red: ,5

It’s rare for me to read poetry books (and this even though I love poetry and write it myself, go figure. *lol*) but this one came highly recommended by one of my fave BookTubers and his friend who happens to be a literature professor. So I had to give it a try and I really liked it. Don’t let the rating fool you! XD I just couldn’t give it more paws because the ending left me wanting more so yeah. 3,5 paws it is. If you want to read my full review and all my thoughts you can do it here!

The King’s Men:

I’m fine. I’m fine. I mean it. AFASKDFLADFJALDFJASLDFJL! THIS BOOK CAUSED ME TO DIE A MILLION DEATHS AND I’M NOT MAD ABOUT IT! I would have loved to read even more and if Nora would decide to write a fourth book I’d buy it faster than you could say: „Oh!“ I love my Foxes and I adore Andreil! Those two killed me and I… I … I have no words how much I love them! ❤ I fell down the fanart and fanfic rabbit hole so hard you have no idea. I still didn’t hit the bottom though and I hope I never will. I am OBSESSED! So obsessed that I even took multiple tests to find out which AFTG character I am and if you wondered: I’m Neil. Every single time. *LOL* But I love my baby Neil so I’m happy with that! XD

The Final Empire:

It took me 10 months to pick up this book for real because I never was in the right mood to tackle epic fantasy. But I finally got in the right mood in November and I’m glad I finally read „The Final Empire“. I can see why so many people love Brandon Sanderson and I’m very curious about all his other books now. I hope it won’t take me as long to pick up „The Well of Ascension“ as it took me to pick up the first book, but you never know. The world was definitely unique and the magic system was complex and superb. Still can’t believe the book ended like that, though.

This said: How was your November and how is your December going? Do you have to study a lot too? I hope you weren’t as ill as I was and had a better time. Did you read any of the books I read last month and if yes, did you enjoy them? How many books did you read it November? Were they any good? And are you arleady stressed about Christmas or is it actually the quiet time of the year it’s supposed to be?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

October Wrap-Up

Okay, stress reading is A THING! *lol* It’s official now because even though I had so many things to do in October I somehow still managed to read 6 books! Which is more than I managed to read all year. I mean the most I was able to read in a month was 5 books in September so a whopping six in October is amazing! XD I’m kind of behind on my reviews now though so I’m sorry if all you got last month were a lot of reviews on my blog. I needed to do some serious catching up to all the reviews that have been waiting to be written and I hope you’ll forgive me for my blog being less varied for a while. It will get better again, I promise. 😉

As for other things that happened this month: I already said that stress reading is a thing so yes, studying kept me busy again and I finally wrote my final assignment so that I can get my diploma in addition to my already existing certificate. 😀 This took me a little while and since we were all ill again at the beginning of October it was quite a tough time to write it. Anyway I managed and now I’m still waiting for my grading. Fingers crossed I’ll get a good grade. Well, and to top it all off I already started with my next course at the beginning of October too so I had double the stress because I needed to keep up with the new one while finishing the old one. Fun times. ;-P

But hey, it worked out fine in the end and I read so much more than I read before because I was stress reading. *lol* I think I was very lucky with my book choices as well because I enjoyed so many of those books and to host #Rainboween made this even more enjoyable! I loved to host #Rainboween and to read all the spooky LGBTQIA+ books so be prepared that I’ll host another round of it next year as well. It will become an annual thing and I just love that! ❤ Anyway, enough of my month, let’s go for the bookish summary!

Books read: 6 (6 books & 0 webcomic, I can’t believe I actually read 6 books! O_o)

Pages read: 1.780 (Even though some of those books were pretty short it seems like the page count is big though?)

Average rating: 4,00 (It was such a good reading month! XD)

Books that were on my reading list: 0 ( 0 from 2020, 0 from 2021 and 1 from 2022. And I’m back to being a mood reader. Haha! But honestly after this amazing reading month I can’t even regret it.)

October Reads:

          

       

Blackout: ,5

This was such a nice collection of short stories and I really enjoyed to read a different one every night. It were six stories in total and all focused on a blackout in NY City during a hot summer night. What I really liked was that this was own-voices (all black authors) and that there were even two stories that featured LGBTQIA+ representations. Plus all the stories were connected to each other and this was nice. =) If you want to read my full review you can do it here!

All Systems Red:

I wanted to read All Systems Red for ages and I finally did! I was supposed to read this book in September but oh well, as plans go I didn’t manage to get to it and then decided to read it in October instead. *lol* And I have no regrets. This might have been a typical sci-fi scenario story but the POV was definitely unique and I’m looking forward to read more of the „Murderbot Diaries“. 😉

Lore & Lust: ,5

I absolutely loved this book!!! This story was exactly what I needed! A m/m vampire story with two amazing characters that become friends and then fall in love. Their mutual trust, their slow burn and especially their consent(!!!) made this such an amazing experience! I love Nino and Haru and I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in this series.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky:

It was so good to be back in Monty’s and Percy’s world and I loved to get a glimpse at their life together after the first book ended. They are both still adorable and Monty is still a mess but ahh what a sweet mess they are together. *lol* I think after I read this it’s finally time to pick up the third and last book of this series. I can’t wait to get to know their little brother. My full review about this book can be found here!

Legendary:

This was fun! XD After reading „Caraval“ I wanted to know who Legend is and well, I guess it’s no spoiler to say that you’ll find out if you read this book. 😉 I mean it’s named „Legendary“ for a reason, right? This said, I found myself enjoying Tella’s story more than Scarletts because Tella is a little reckless demon and I kinda liked that about her. *lol* Also the two love interests in here were amazing and I was intrigued by both of them, though admittedely I liked one of them more. ;-P

Into the Drowning Deep:

Oh boy! I so rarely read horror but I wanted to read this because it’s about sirens in the Mariana Trench and the dark deep always fascinated me. I even wanted to become a marine biologist when I was a teen but in the end didn’t become one because of my asthma and well, I live in a landlocked region. *lol* Anyway! This book was great and exactly the right mixture of gory, creepy and fascinating. I loved to read about the scientists when they spoke about life in the sea and the mermaids or rather sirens were at least as creepy as they were fascinating. Loved this, but I gotta say: I never want to meet one of those sirens.. Ever. XD

This said: How was your October? Was it a great reading month for you too? (I swear it was legit the best one I had in about a year!) Which spooky books did you read for Halloween month and did we have some in common? Did you take part in my #Rainboween Readathon? And if yes, which spooky LGBTQIA+ books did you read? Any recs for me? Also are you studying too and if yes, what are you studying?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe! ❤

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

September Wrap-Up

Okay, so September was different?! *lol* I dunno what happened but I think I read more in September than I read all year and to me this comes as a surprise because I honestly didn’t think I’d get any reading done this month. Or well, at least I prepared not to get a lot of reading done and picked super short books for my TBR. Which is hilarious because I didn’t finish reading any of the short books in September but actually managed to finish all the long ones that have been on my „currently reading“ for ages! XD

And this despite me being super busy! I studied a lot in September and finished the first course of my educational sabbatical. Yet I somehow still read more than I read all year? What is that evil sorcery? *lol* My only explanation for this is that there actually exists something like stress reading? I guess the more I’m stressed the more I need to find some sort of balance? So lots of stress equals lots of reading in my free time?! We’ll just roll with this explanation and take it! ;-P

This said September felt like an extremely short month and for me it was over before it even began? I mean we’re in October already and I’m like: Where did September even go? I suppose it was me being extremely stressed by my own studying, my kid starting school and lots of other life things that just happend. Honestly 30 days?! Where did they go? This month was over in the blink of an eye and before I continue to wonder I’ll just go for my monthly wrap up instead!

Books read: 5 (5 books & 0 webcomic, I actually didn’t plan to read any long books in September, but then I did? Stress relief reading, it’s a thing. ;-P )

Pages read: 1.803 (Who am I even? I haven’t read that much all year. *lol*)

Average rating: 4,30 (It was a great reading month, indeed! 😀 )

Books that were on my reading list: 0 ( 0 from 2020, 2 from 2021 and 2 from 2022, Okay. Once again who am I? 4 out of 5 books were actually on my TBR?! O_o)

September Reads:

        

   

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: ,5

I absolutely loved this book! Honestly, this was such a long anticipated read and all the raving reviews just made me even more curious about Addie LaRue. After reading it I can say: For me it was totally worth the hype! I adored the writing style and the plot and characters were amazing! Henry was my precious boy and no matter how much I wanted to dislike Luc, I just couldn’t bring myself to do so. He was fascinating. Also Addie! She was such an interesting MC and I loved to follow her through the centuries. I’m a sucker for stories like that! ❤

Nick and Charlie:

I found this in my library and just couldn’t resist to borrow it! I mean I’m a huge „Heartstopper“ fan and I loved every single book of Alice Oseman I ever read so I just had to know how Nick and Charlie’s story continued. Little did I know that this short story would turn out to be such a rollercoaster! *lol* I was happy, I was sad, I was frustrated and angsty, I was hopeful, cosy and depressed. Jeez! I felt so many emotions reading this it’s not normal. 159 pages that packed quite a punch! XD

Rebel:

Just in case you didn’t know that already: Daniel „Day“ Altan Wing owns my body, heart and soul!! I love this man so damn much you have no idea!!! So to read this felt like coming back home! ❤ I loved to see an older Day! He grew into such an amazing man (Not that he wasn’t before. He was always amazing!) and to get to know this new and older version of him was awesome! Also I really liked to find out more about his brother. The Wing brothers are quite something and I’d honestly love to meet them in real life. Haha! I enjoyd this so much!!!

Legendborn:

This book was such a surprise! I mean lots of people told me that it’s amazing but woah I had no idea how awesome it would actually turn out to be! This was: WOW!!! I loved that Tracy Deonn tackled so many different and difficult topics (racism, LGBTQIA+ reps, grief, etc.) in this book and she involved them so well! This story was everything and Selwyn Kane is my new book bf! ❤ I love his character and honestly I just want to see more of him in the next book. Bree was a super amazing MC as well and I can’t wait to pick up book two!

Verity:

All I can say to this book is that it was a mindf*ck! Every warning I ever got regarding this book turned out to be true. It’s just a shame that everyone always warns you about the trigger warnings but no one actually names them in their reviews. I’ll definitely rectify that with my review and I’ll mark them as spoilers so that it’s your choice if you want to go in blind or not. Gotta be honest here, as a parent it would have been really nice to know about some of the tw! This said the book was really good. Dark, disturbing, sickening but good. Hence my rating of 4 paws. It was good but I won’t ever read it again. XD

This said: How was your September? Did it turn out to be an unexpectedly good month for you too? Did you read any of the books I read last month? And if yes did you enjoy them? Was September busy for you too?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

August Wrap-Up

So today is September 14th and it’s only now that I finally manage to get up my monthly wrap-up post for August. *lol* What can I say? Life’s been busy! XD My summer this year was wild. Haha! So many weddings and birthday parties I’m honestly kinda glad that the next bigger part will be in November and that I’ll be able to spend a couple of weekends at home again. Not gonna complain, though! I mean after two years of Covid it was really nice to see so many relatives and friends for the first time after such a long time. 😀

Also fun fact: Every time when I did a vlive on my BookTube channel for my #Klunealong there was a wedding on the day before so I was always totally tired from the night before. *lol* The vlives and the Klunealong itself were a lot of fun though, and I really wouldn’t have wanted to miss this! Not gonna lie, it was quite a lot of work as well and another reason why my August was so busy. To organize a readalong isn’t half as easy as it looks or sounds like. ;-P

Aside from that I had to organize a lot of things in August too. For one I had to take a closer look at what I’m going to study next after my first exam is finished at the beginning of October and secondly my kid started with school as well, which caused me to run around trying to get everything the teacher needed for a good school start. The bottom line: School is expensive and to get all the things you need is exhausting and stressful. After going to 4 different stores and still not getting what I wanted I actually even resorted to order some things from the internet. *lol*

And before I go into even more detail about school stuff let’s just jump into another topic. Namely my monthly wrap-up! XD

Books read: 4 (4 books & 0 webcomic, I think that’s not all too bad considering all those books were pretty long and had 300+ pages)

Pages read: 1.661 (Kinda happy with the amount of pages this time around. )

Average rating: 4,25 (Thankfully August was a way better reading month than July and I enjoyed all of the books I read. 😀 )

Books that were on my reading list: 3 ( 0 from 2020, 2 from 2021 and 1 from 2022. Wow, 3 of the four books I read were actually from my TBR lists?! Who am I?! XD )

August Reads:

        

One Last Stop: ,5

Okay, this book was really, really good and I enjoyed it a lot! I loved the found family trope so much and I absolutely adored all of the characters! In short I had a great time reading „One Last Stop“! The writing style in this one was definitely less jarring than in RWARB and it was easy to page through it and to take part in guessing what happened to Jane. The only reason this gets 4,5 paws instead of 5 is that it didn’t blow me away as much as RWARB did. *lol* Also if you have problems with too much PDA you should be careful with picking up this book! A full review will follow soon! 😉

The Kingdom of Back: ,5

Marie Lu’s take on Mozart was super interesting. When I found this book in the library I just couldn’t resist to borrow it. I mean I never heard of this before and then it’s some sort of Mozart retelling? Colour me intrigued! As someone from Austria – the country of Mozart – the temptation was just too much. XD This read like a fairy tale and some sort of bad nightmare and I was here for it. It’s definitely more in the direction of middle grade though and sometimes it was a little bit confusing. If you like things like that you should be fine though. My full review will hopefully be up rather sooner than later.

The Extraordinaries:

This was my second TJ Klune book and I read it during my #Klunealong! And let me tell you this: This book was hilarious!!! I loved „The Extraordinaries“ so much and it definitely managed to have that fine balance when a story hits you in the feels while also causing you to laugh out loud.  I swear Klune is becoming one of my fave authors pretty fast and I can’t wait to dive into more of his books. ❤

All the Light We Cannot See:

This book has been on my TBR for ages and I finally managed to pick it up and to finish it after doing so. I think I started with this in April but then other books had a higher priority and I kinda left it on my „currently reading“. Also it’s a sad book and I had to be in the right mood for it. This said, I eventually picked it up again and … well liked it. I dunno if that’s the right word. It’s a very sad and depressing topic so „enjoy“ and „like“ don’t feel like the proper words. It was a good story and it had me engaged. Maybe we can put it like that. XD It took me a while to get used to the writing style though because I’m just so used to YA books that historical fiction was quite a challenge after such a long time. *lol*

This said: How was your August? Did you read many books? Which book was your favourite and which book was a disappointment? Did you already read the books I mentioned and if „yes“ did you enjoy them? Were you busy during summer too? Are you at school and if yes, did the new semester start good for you?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

May Wrap-Up

May was another month that went by so quickly I didn’t even notice it was over… until it was over. *lol* Seriously for some reason I actually thought I could make it to 5 books this month only to realize that it was already May 31st! XD There were so many things that kept me busy in May it’s actually a miracle I managed to read those 4 books. For one I worked until the last day of May and even had to hand over everything I worked on until then so my successor could take over. In addition to that I also had to try to get my educational sabbatical on track. Which took a lot of time as well. Not to mention my family and normal life stuff.

So yeah, May was another pretty busy month and I really hope that June will be a relaxed month now because honestly, before I start anew I really need a break to recharge my batteries. Those last 2 years were extremely draining and it showed in my blog presence and on goodreads. I used to read 6 – 8 books a month (and this with work and my family etc.) and those last couple of months I only manged to read half of my usual amount. I really needed that change badly and I hope everything will work out. Please cross your fingers for me. XD

The couple of books I DID read in May were fantastic though and I’m so glad I finally managed to read „The Fever King“!!! But before I start to rave about all the books I read I’ll just head over to my monthly wrap up statistics and take it from there! 😉

Books read: 4 (4 books & 0 webcomic, considering I was so busy this was actually a lot?)

Pages read: 1.555 (I guess that’s about my average page count so I’m fine with it.)

Average rating: 4,38 (I really enjoyed all those books, but „The Fever King“ was my fave!! ❤ )

Books that were on my reading list: 0 ( 0 from 2019, 1 from 2021 and 0 from 2022. There are so many books of my TBR on my „currently reading“ so I’m sure the next wrap up will be more successful!)

May Reads:

       

Waking Gods:

I really wanted to continue with this series and when I found the second book in my library I just couldn’t resist. „Waking Gods“ was another great read and by now I can say that Sylvain Neuvel always surprises me! I swear this series has a lot of plot twists I never saw coming. Very curious about the third and last book!

The Blood of Olympus: ,5

I read the final book of „The Heroes of Olympus“ and now I’m sad! T_T I didn’t want this series to end but at the same time I wanted to know what happens next so #bookwormdilemma *lol* I really enjoyed this book so much though! The friendship in this were everything and even though it was more serious than all the other books I kinda loved it for that?! I’ll always love the golden trio (Percy, Nico and Leo) because they are just amazing! <333 I suppose my next Uncle Rick series will be „The Trials of Apollo“? XD

The Map to You:

I actually got that one as an ARC from NetGalley and I was very surprised I got approved for this. *lol* „The Map to You“ was a really good f/f story and I loved the easy banter between the two MCs Sasha and Kinsey! 😉 Their flirting was so much fun and the fact that they were friends before they became lovers was the icing on the cake. At least for me it was. XD This book tackled way more serious topics than I thought it would though, so consider yourself warned, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows! ;-P I’ll write my full review about it soon!

The Fever King:

Okay, this book!! This book knocked it out of the park for me! I wanted to read „The Fever King“ for ages and never really got to it but damn did I miss out! You know the kind of book that has you sort of spellbound? Yep, „The Fever King“ was this kind of book! For the couple of days it took me to read it, I was totally obsessed with the book and constantly found myself thinking about Dara and Noam. I really loved this one to bits and pieces and I can’t wait to read the second one. I’m afraid it will be super dark but ahhh I need to know!!! T_T

This said: How was your May? Did you read a lot of books and if yes which ones did you read? Was there a favourite among them? Did you read any of the books I read last months and if yes, did you enjoy them? What have you been up to in May and is your life as busy as mine?! (I genuinely hope it’s not because my schedule always feels extremely packed. *lol*)

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

April Wrap-Up

April was… busy! Honestly if I already thought that I didn’t read a lot in February the same could be said about April. Of course I had my reasons for not reading all too much and now that it’s official I can also write it in here and don’t have to beat about the bush like I did in my last wrap up. I don’t know if you guys follow my BookTube Channel as well but if you did you already heard about my life updates. If not you’ll read it now. 😉

After working for many years at the same company I decided to go on an educational sabbatical for a year. There were plenty of reasons that caused me to rethink my current work life and over those last couple of months it became more and more clear that it couldn’t go on like that. I wasn’t happy anymore and I was constantly stressed which took a toll on my health and caused my private life to suffer as well. So I kinda pulled the rip cord and decided to go for an educational sabbatical instead. I’m really looking forward to go back to studying and I’m sure that this year is exactly what I need right now. I want to broaden my horizon and do something I really want to do! I’ll take all my energy to set up a second line of business and I hope it will help me to go down a different career path. 😉

I mean I’m too young to spend even more years in a job I don’t like. I’ll have to work at least 30 years more until I can retire (if I ever retire *lol*) and that’s way too long to do a job that’s not my cup of tea. XD So yeah, to initiate all those changes took a lot of time and energy and then my hubby ended up having Covid which cost me another 10 days of quarantine in which I had to do everything. I’m vaccinated thrice so I basically had to do everything from buying groceries to getting rid of the trash, cooking and taking care of my kid etc. It was… busy. *lol*. So yep, that was my April and I guess no one is surprised that I didn’t get a lot of reading done. Haha! On this happy note let’s jump right into my wrap up, shall we?!

Books read: 3 (3 books & 0 webcomic, I won’t even say anything about the fact that I only read 3 books. >_<)

Pages read: 1.085 (This is actually more pages than I thought I would have read. XD)

Average rating: 4,17 (I rarely had months in which my ratings varied so much)

Books that were on my reading list: 0 ( 0 from 2019, 0 from 2020 and 1 from 2021. One of those 3 books was actually from my TBR so yay! I’ll take my victories where I can get them. *lol*)

April Reads:

       

Pet:

This book was a real surprise and I don’t know how to describe it. I think it kind of reminded me of „A Monster Calls“. I mean it tackled serious topics but with the help of a monster that made it easier to address them?! Anyway! I really enjoyed this book and even though I was so busy it kept me engaged and I wanted to know what would happen next so that’s definitely a good thing. If you want to read my full review you can do it: here!

Gideon the Ninth: ,5

I enjoyed the book but it was so confusing? *lol* There were so many different names which made it hard to get into the story and sometimes I didn’t really get what the author wanted to tell the reader? Despite all that I ended up enjoying the book though and gave it 3,5 paws rounded up to 4 stars on goodreads. I wrote a long and more elaborate review about „Gideon the Ninth“ on my blog so if you want to read it just follow the link!

Sometime After Midnight:

I felt like I needed to read something fluffy and nice to get back into reading and when I picked this book up I totally didn’t expect to end up loving it so much, but boy this book!!!! AHADKFASLKDFSADF! I loved this story so much! And not because of the romance but because of the music aspect which was quite the surprise! This was amazing and if you love music and the chemistry between two musicians you should definitely pick it up! I’ll write a full review on this hidden and unkown gem once I have more time so be prepared to hear more about it! ❤

This said: How was your April? Was it a great reading month for you and if yes how many books did you manage to read? (Hopefully way more than I did. *lol*) What was your favourite book last month and did you read any of the books I read? Have you ever gone on an educational sabbatical and if yes what did you study?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

March Wrap-Up

Considering everything that happened in March I’m actually surprised I managed to read 5 books? *lol* Okay one of them was a manga, two were rather short and the last one I read for about a year but finally finished in March so I guess when you break it down to the basics… I didn’t really read THAT much. XD But we’ll just roll with this and say I did splendidly in March! ;-P

Anyway! March was a very intense month for me because at the begining of the month there happened something that forced me to rethink my current life situation and what I actually want from my life. To stop in your usual tracks and to actually and actively think about what you want is never easy and it’s always easier to just let things run the way they always did. So yeah, to realize I had fallen into a pattern and to actually break out of it took a lot of energy from me. But the only person who can change something about your life situation is yourself so I had to do it.

Okay, enough of being cryptic. XD I’m sorry I can’t be more precise but this story needs to be told on another day. Maybe in my next wrap-up. 😉 For now I’ll just let it stand the way it is and focus on the good things of last month. Like for instance spring! It finally came and I already spent one or two afternoons at my parents garden house. =) I swear it’s so nice to be out and to feel the sun on your skin. *lol* And because I’m ARMY and you all know it, I’ve to say that I’m so glad Hobi and JK recovered from Covid and are healthy again! ❤

So on that happy note let’s jump right into my monthly Wrap Up, shall we?! 😉

Books read: 5 (5 books & 1 webcomic, Let’s just say I did fine?! Okay? Okay! ;-P )

Pages read: 1.940 („Sorcery of Thorns“ and „A Court of Silver Flames“ certainly added to that pages count.)

Average rating: 4,20 (So many of those books were 4 paws so I’m not surprised about the high rating)

Books that were on my reading list: 2 ( 0 from 2019, 1 from 2021 and 1 from 2022. I finally managed to read two books from my TBR and considering I only read 5 books last month this is an achievement. XD)

March Reads:

          

     

White Fox:

This book was so nice to read and I loved that it was told from the POV of Dilah the fox. =) You don’t read books about foxes all too often. XD Also this was a typical middle grade book with super beautiful illustrations by Viola Wang and they definitely added to my enjoyment. I guess my favourite character was Ankel, the weasel, because he was such a great character and never hesitated to stand up for his friends. This was sometimes very sad but still lovely!

Sorcery of Thorns:

„Sorcery of Thorns“ is a five paws read and it’s a five paws read! Like it’s one of those books that got five paws from me but would have deserved even more?! You know what I mean, right?! *lol* I loved this book so much and I actually mourn the fact that it’s just a standalone and not an entire series. T_T The characters in this were everything! I absolutely loved them all! Elisabeth and Nathaniel were great but the secret star of the book is definitely Silas! ❤ Gosh I love him so much!!! AKDFASJDFSAKDFJAS I need a second book about Silas! *dies* Oh, and the world building was excellent too. *dies again*

Blue Flag:

All I can say about „Blue Flag“ is that it was super cute and that I can’t wait to read the other volumes. Futaba kind of reminded me of Tohru from „Fruits Basket“ and Taichi was annoyed by her clumsiness but still liked her so there’s that. *lol* Very curious how the entire thing with Taichi is going to work out, not to mention Futaba’s bestie. I’m ready to find out how this complicated love quadrangle will unfold. XD

Almond:

I read „Almond“ as a buddy read with my BookTube friend Katja as one of the book prompts for the #Koreadathon2022! =) We chose it for the challenge: „Read a book recommended by a Korean celebrity“ because RM as well as SUGA from BTS read it during their show „In the Soop“! It was a really thought-provoking and interesting book and I enjoyed it a lot. I still have to write my review about it though so yeah, it will find it’s way on my blog sooner or later. 😉

A Court of Silver Flames:

I can’t believe it took Jello, Kaitlyn and me an entire year to buddy read this book but it did?! WOW! We started to read this on April 3rd 2021 and finished it on March 27th 2022. *loool* Oh boy, I think this was the longest buddy read ever. XD We probably broke a world record with that. Haha! Anyway, I enjoyed the book a lot and I really liked Nesta’s character ARC and how Sarah tackled all those important topics. For my taste there was a little bit too much smut (I KNOW!! V. too much smut, are you kidding me?! There can never be enough! Who are you?! *lol*) and too little of the actual plot. Don’t get me wrong, I love smut, but in this case I really would have liked to get more of the plotline and world building hence the four paws instead of five. I’ll make sure to write a very elaborate and long review about this book so please keep your eyes peeled for it.

This said: How was your March? Was it a good reading month? Did you read any of the books I spoke about in my wrap up? =) And if you read ACOSF, how long did it take you to read this monster of a book? (Hopefully not as long as it took us to finish it. *lol*) Did you take part in the Koreadathon as well and if yes, which books did you read?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

February Wrap-Up

February was probably the fastest month in all history of fast months. *lol* I swear it was over before it even began. XD Maybe it was because I was way too busy with everything going on. Work, my family, my besties birthday, my own birthday and everything else kept me from reading and in the end I realized that I only managed to read 4 books?! I kinda miss the times I was able to read 6 – 8 books a month but as it seems 4 – 5 books a month is my new reality. >_<

So after two months in 2022 the quintessence is: Still too much stress, still too many things keeping me occupied and still not enough time to deal with everything. *lol* If anyone could sent me a time turner I’d really appreciate it. ;-P Also my allergies have been acting up again and even though my asthma got way better than it was before (thank you therapy 😀 ) the constant onslaught of pollen and everything that blooms in spring is still taking its toll on my body. So yeah, I’m kinda suffering from constant exhaustion and the fact that I’m typing this with a massive headache isn’t helping.

Let’s hope once all the pollen are gone I will be able to enjoy spring! Because quite honestly I can’t wait for warm weather and to be outside again. Winter has been way too long again. And this even though the months passed by quickly. I guess I’m just tired of the cold. *lol* Anyway enough talk about the weather let’s talk about books! ❤

Books read: 4 (4 books & 1 webcomic, I won’t talk about „Chakho“ though because I already spoke about it last month)

Pages read: 1.593 (It was so bad I didn’t even manage to read 1.000 pages. *lol*)

Average rating: 3,88 (I guess „The Cousins“ is responsible for that. XD)

Books that were on my reading list: 0 ( 0 from 2019, 0 from 2020 and 1 from 2022. I can’t help being a mood reader, but I’m getting better! )

February Reads:

       

The House of Hades: ,5

This was probably the darkest of Uncle Rick’s books so far! But I really enjoyed it and if possible the characters grew even more on me! I love my three golden boys and Percy, Leo and Nico will always be my faves! As for the girls: Hazel and Annabeth for the win! Those two rock! <333 I’m very curious how book 5 will end because right now the situation looks really dire! If our heroes survive this they definitely deserve a vacation. XD

The Ocean at the End of the Lane:

This was such a strange book but also a good one?! The more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that it was actually pretty good. For me The Ocean at the End of the Lane  felt like an old fairy tale and I’m pretty sure this was part of what Neil Gaiman aimed for. The perspective of a young boy who sees the adult world through children’s eyes only added to that impression and even though the book was creepy and gross at times I still enjoyed it.

The Cousins:

So this was a three paws read because it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t really good either. There were a couple of plot twists I saw from miles away and the characters felt way too similar to those of in „One of Us is Lying“. I mean the book was nice to read but it wasn’t something I will remember for long and I know for fact that Mc Manus wrote better books than this one. So yeah. Fingers crossed her next book will be better again. =)

The Gilded Ones:

I only finished this recently and I already know „The Gilded Ones“ will be difficult to review. The first about 40 – 50% of the book reminded me of a lot of other YA books I read over the years and then I got over the 50% mark and suddenly the book picked up pace and got its own voice so umm yeah. I dunno where that leaves me but I’ll make sure to write a proper review to dive a little bit deeper into my reasoning for 3,5 paws which I ultimately rounded up to 4.

How was your February? Was it too short too? Did you read more books than I did and if yes, which books did you read? Did you read any of the books I spoke about in my wrap up? =) Am I the only one who suffers from allergies?! (I can’t be the only one, right?! *lol*) How come all the books I read last month started with „The“?! And are you looking forward to summer too?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

January Wrap-Up

I can’t believe I’m typing this in February! Where did January go? The first month of the year passed by so quickly and if this is any indication of how 2022 is going to be then the year will be over in the blink of an eye. *lol* January… well January was actually a pretty tough month. Work-wise because Covid hit us full force and there were days I was basically the last person picking up the phone at work because all my co-workers were either ill, got Covid, or their family members had it and they had to be in quarantine.

I swear Omicron is spreading like nobody’s business over here and the goverment seems to be sick and tired of making rules almost no one wants to follow anymore. So I guess all we can do at this point is get vaccinated (which I did, thrice!) and hope that our immune system will be able to withstand the onslaught. This said I was knocked out for a couple of days as well because my kid got a mean stomach bug and after taking care of my kid for about a week I got it too. Fun times, I tell you. XD Is it just me or do all the other viruses get more aggressive as well? Anyway!

To add insult to injury I even had to pay attention to a healthy diet because apparently my gut isn’t working as it should. The joy of allergies, I tell you! *lol* So yeah, you can see my January was quite the interesting month. For some crazy reason I still managed to read which is a small wonder but I’ll take what I can get. XD And with this nice transition to books I’ll just jump right into my reading month! =)

Books read: 4 (4 books & 1 webcomic, Yes, you read right! A webcomic! And none other than the famous Chakho with BTS! ❤ )

Pages read: 1.961 (Page wise this was definitely a strong month. I feel like I cheated though because I read Now I Rise and Rule of Wolves mostly in December and only finished them in January.)

Average rating: 4,4 (Suanne’s book and Chakho made the difference! ;-P)

Books that were on my reading list: 0 ( 1 from 2019, 0 from 2020 and 0 from 2021. I’m so bad at following my TBR but hey, I finally finished another one of my 2019 books!)

January Reads:

       

   

Now I Rise:

This was already book two in „The Conqueror’s Saga“ and I enjoyed it once again. I absolutely love the characters in this book because their character arcs are so well done. This is definitely a character driven series and I live and breathe for it. Lada and Radu are amazing and even the side characters are great as well! (I want to marry Nazira and Cyprian both. *lol*) Yes, I’m greedy but I don’t care! If you know them you know what I’m talking about. ;-P If you want to read my full review you can do it here!

Rule of Wolves:

I can’t believe it took me months to finish this book but I was in a massive reading slump last year and only got out of it 2 weeks before the year was over. This said once I got back in the swing of things I really had a lot of fun reading this. The „King of Scars“ duology might not have been as good as „Six of Crows“ but I still enjoyed it and I got a huge dose of Nikolai and Zoya so that alone made me a really happy camper. ;-P

A Small Hotel:

I think I already mentioned it about a gazillion times but I love Suanne’s books and writing style and this was no exception to the rule. This book! I mean… THIS BOOK!!! It broke me in all the best ways and it mended my heart, just to break it once again. This was… such a rollercoaster of feelings and I laughed and cried and was angry and happy for the characters. Ahh.. If you’ve never heard of Suanne Laqueur you should check out her books! I’m serious. Yes, now, go look her up! ❤

Girls of Paper and Fire:

This book was super interesting because we have actual demons in it and they look like animals so I was damn curious about how this would work out. (Understatement of the century. *lol*) I know for many people this didn’t work but for me it actually worked?! I have no idea why I only gave this four paws, but it was more some sort of gut feeling thing this time around. I loved the slow burn f/f ship and the plot was intriguing enough but it didn’t quite qualify for the fifth paw. If you know what I mean?! No? Well, okay let’s just move on. *lol*

Chakho 7 Fates:

I only read the prologue and the first 3 episodes but I’m so ready to read more of „Chakho“! This webcomic is right up my alley and this not only because it’s with BTS but because the story is damn intriguing! The mere idea of Beom and 7 boys who fight them is great and as it seems they all have their own background stories and baggage. I can’t wait to read the next episode!!! Give it to me!

How was your January? Did you read many books and if yes, which books did you read? Did you already read the books I read last month? And did you enjoy them? Do you read webcomics as well or am I the only one? *lol* How is the Covid situation in your country? Are there many people getting ill too? How is your government/country handling Omicron?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox