I did honestly forget this for most of April as I was focusing my reading elsewhere for the first half of the month and then somewhere else in the second half of the month, neither of which was focusing on the books I actually owned or the TBR I had for the month. But I did manage to get the prompts done!
Elemental Studies
Earth: Fruits – fruit on the cover
This book I picked up from Kindle Unlimited on a recommendation and it is definitely exactly what is advertised (romance between teacher and the parent of one of the kids he’s teaching). And while I vaguely remembering having positive feelings about this book, I was disappointed that the main issue stopping their relationship just ended up disappearing. Otherwise it was a lot of smut and a cute romance, and I did appreciate how Quincy was written even if the book went for the ‘evil ex’ trope.
Animal Studies
Racoon Studies – steal a book from someone else’s TBR
I have read parts of this book before when it was an online translation but I was glad to actually get to the book properly. The art was lovely, the translation was a little dubious (it missed out lines altogether sometimes), I loved the world-building and it did make me laugh several times. I am definitely going to continue with the series but maybe through the library.
Alchemy
Volume Magnification – All CAPTIALS book title
I finally getting into this series via audiobook and I’m having a great time. Flo and Emily’s relationship is delightful and I appreciate how they have different backgrounds but also different areas of expertise. In the first book we did get some ‘Lady/maid’ look at class dynamics (very relevant for the time period) but we didn’t get them as much here. But I enjoyed the mystery, the writing style was engaging and I did appreciate the nods to the time with the hand cranking of the car.
Restoration
Uncommon Antidotes – Books with 4+ average rating
I was interested in this Emily Henry book so I picked it up from the library when I saw it was available. This one is where Daphne gets dumped by her fiancé, Peter, for his childhood best friend, Petra. Since the house is only in his name and she moved to the town to be with him, she ends up moving in with Miles, the guy that Petra dumped to be with Peter. And I enjoyed this book! It was very sweet, I loved Daphne settling into the town and finding friendship and then romance with Miles. The banter was cute, I was rooting for them, but the actual story did start to drag on me a little. All the banter and the moments felt very story-like, so the characters were being directed on what to do by the author, rather than reacting like people did. This is where the characters need to be at rock bottom and this is where they need to have their realisation moment and here, have a quirky side cast of characters just so Daphne isn’t just staying in town for Miles. This wasn’t a bad book, but I am glad I got it out the library.
Lore
The Song of Ages – Musical term in title (song, note etc.)
I own a book by this author but I haven’t read it yet, instead picking up this book from the library. This is such a classic fantasy novel with person from the ordinary world going into the fantasy world and changing things up, having to deal with the problems that already exist. I had a good time with this novel, I liked the characters and the mystery, I loved the bravery of that ending and I always appreciate a main character who is interested in something and visibly shows it in the novel. It was also plot relevant but I love how Xue approached it.
**
Did anyone else take part in this readathon? How did you do?
