Though there are still a few days left in April, I decided to complete my monthly book blog wrap-up sooner rather than later. Consider this a meager effort to clear out my draft queue. I only read two of the books on my April TBR, but who really cares? I did more mood reading and I won’t apologize for it! Now, let’s get started with this wrap-up!
Book Reviews
I posted five reviews in April. From earliest to latest they are:
- Spare by Prince Harry
- The Cleaving by Juliet McKenna
- The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart
- Gilded Cage by Dani Wyatt
- Funny Feelings by Tarah DeWitt
I also participated in some book memes, which you can find in my April 2023 archive.
Blog Statistics
Every month I share some statistics from Google Analytics because I think it helps put expectations into perspective for other micro-bloggers like me who are out there.
My top five posts for unique (not total) page views as of April 26 are:
- Book Review: To Snap A Silver Stem by Sarah A. Parker: 113 views
- Book Review: Spare by Prince Harry: 88 views
- ARC Book Review Etiquette: 79 views
- Anticipated Second Quarter Book Releases: 65 views
- Book Review: To Bleed A Crystal Bloom by Sarah A. Parker: 58 views
It seems my review of TO SNAP A SILVER STEM is still getting a decent number if views with respect to organic searches.
Surprisingly, I hit another personal record of monthly visitors and views. This year is rocking!
I added one more blog follower, bringing my total up to 138!
#BeatTheBacklog
I checked one book off my Goodreads TBR backlog: LAB GIRL by Hope Jahren. Everything else was mood reads or ARCs. So, still not doing so great with physical backlist reads.
NetGalley
Although I posted reviews for two ARCs this month, one was in ebook format, the other was a paperback. So I only got “credit” for the former, which kept my feedback ratio at 79% despite receiving an approval from Tor.
Other Bookish Items
I finished 9.5 books this month:
- SHE PERSISTED: MARIA TALLCHIEF by Christine Day (children’s book)
- THE CLEAVING by Juliet E. McKenna
- FUNNY FEELINGS by Tarah DeWitt
- LAB GIRL by Hope Jahren
- THE BONE SHARD WAR by Andrea Stewart
- THE CO-OP by Tarah DeWitt
- THIS WILL ALL BE OVER SOON: A MEMOIR by Cecily Strong (audiobook)
- A COURT OF FROST AND STARLIGHT by Sarah J. Maas
- THE UNSEELIE PRINCE by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
- A COURT OF MIST AND FURY by Sarah J. Maas (GraphicAudio, part 1)
I rounded up another On My Radar list of posts I enjoyed around the book blogosphere.
There was some book drama regarding whether not reviewing an ARC is theft. So I penned a discussion post about how I view ARC book review etiquette.
My ACOTAR buddy read with Chris is still going strong. This month we finished A COURT OF FROST AND STARLIGHT. Reading these books is such a comfort.
I re-vamped the comment section on my blog. Long story short, everything is more complicated when self hosting through WordPress.org. Hopefully now WordPress.com users can log in once and not have to fill out your commenter details every time you comment. If it doesn’t work, please let me know!
Non-Bookish Items
I celebrated my birthday earlier in April. Thank you all so much for the well wishes! If I didn’t respond to you personally on Twitter, I apologize. But know I saw your comment. 🙂
The DMV (District-Maryland-Virginia) area had extremely high pollen counts this month. Apparently it was basically as bad as 2010. I spent most of the month with a headache, fatigue, watery eyes, and feeling light I had minor heartburn (except it was really irritation from pollen). Soooo I’m looking forward to the trees finishing up their business.
I had moderate success with my workout-related non-bookish goal. There was one week where I did nothing because I felt not great due to the pollen. But the week prior to that I ran on the treadmill a few times and felt pretty good. We also painted another couple of rooms in our house (family room + guest bathroom).
How was your April? Spill the tea!
Looks like you had a really good month! I live in a house with stairs now, so I consider that to be my exercise, lol.
Ha, I have stairs, too! But I try to do something extra a few times a week. I’ll try to be more consistent in May.
Congrats on an awesome April! Have a marvellous May!
Thanks, you too!
Love seeing everything you’ve gotten up to in April! 🙂 You’re so right about the pollen being absurd in the DMV. I’m in Central VA and I literally went out twice over the weekend and couldn’t breathe until Wednesday haha. Immediately ordered allergy medicine and I’m hoping it helps! Also, as far as I can tell, these comments work great! Are you using WPDiscuz? I was thinking of getting it for my own blog to see if people with WP Reader can more easily interact with my blog.
The pollen has just been so awful this year. Only over the past few years have I started to be affected by it here. This year was especially noticeable. 🙁 I was taking storebrand Zyrtec, but either the pollen counts were just too high and it didn’t help much or I need to try a different kind of allergy meds.
Yep, I installed WPDiscuz! I’m hoping it helps with the commenting part. It was fairly easy to set up. I say give it a shot…if you don’t like it you can always uninstall it!
You’re doing a better job with your reading goals than I am. I’m looking forward to reading “The Bone Shard War.”
Ha, thanks for the encouragement! I’m sure you’re doing just great…it’s tough to keep up with everything while working full time, so don’t be too hard on yourself! And I hope you enjoy THE BONE SHARD WAR!
You had such a great April! I cannot believe we only have one ACOTAR book left. I’m looking forward to it. Although, I’m not sure how I feel about Nesta being the main character. She’s probably my least favorite character of the bunch, but I’m hoping her being centered means we also get plenty of Cassian.
Thanks! I’m pretty pleased with my April. And yea, wow, just one more book left and it’s the chonkiest of them all! I can’t wait to see your reactions for this one because I admit I’m still not sure how I feel about Nesta. You’ll understand her better but…yea. Hehe.