Who has two thumbs, is still unemployed, but has moved out of the familial home into a completely new city, and the only thing she has managed to do so far is sign up for the library? It’s me, I’m her.
Spring was an emotional rollercoaster of a time. It was exhausting both physically and mentally. Job hunting, interviews, my body feeling like a bloated sack that doesn’t want to play ball, strangers being mean, and just all in all being tired most days.
It was also fun. I crafted more, gamed a bit on the side, rewatched Game of Thrones (this was questionable, hardly relaxing and I feel like I blanked out a lot of the gory bits, but it was ‘fun’ rewatching knowing how it end and after watching both other series from the same universe).
As the first line suggests, I have also moved out into a flat with my partner in a completely new place and it’s scary, in a this is all new territory kind of way, but also exciting. But enough of that, we all know why we are here. My current reads!
I don’t want ANYONE to point out that in my last recap for winter, I was currently reading Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman, and I am still reading it now. I HAVE BEEN STRESSED.
The Raven Scholar and Wool are my current audiobook listens – I have heard a lot from friend’s that The Raven Scholar is amazing, so I’m really excited to get into it.
I also recently acquired Margo’s Got Money Troubles at a steal for 2.99 when grocery shopping, and have heard great things about it.
During Spring we managed to read a total of 30 books. Take a moment. I too am proud of myself. I’d like to say it’s mainly due to 1, being unemployed, 2, being depressed, and 3, participating in a readathon during April and it getting me excited to build a TBR and commit to it.
For this recap I will pretty much list the books by month and if I have anything of note to mention, I will pop it in.
We read some amazing books in March, including 2 ARCs, 1 non-fiction book, AND finishing our first Stephen King book.
- Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
- Funny Story by Emily Henry
- Paper Girls, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
- Carrie by Stephen King
- Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
- Wed or Alive by Portia MacIntosh (ARC)
- Why We Love (and Hate) Twilight: The Highs and Lows of the Twilight Saga by Sarah Elizabeth Gallagher
- Upward Bound by Woody Brown (ARC)
- Hot for Slayer by Ali Hazelwood
- Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood
Wild Dark Shore and Funny Story were definitely the highlights of my month. I am not the best person for reading a book when it is released, so I am always apprehensive of books that have exploded in popularity in the bookish space because I have been burned before. The Fine Print, The Baby Dragon Café, The Ministry of Time, God of Ruin, ICEBREAKER – to name a few, I am looking at you. Please Note, I am very good at buying books when they are released, but actually sitting down and reading them within 30 days of their release is unheard of for me. Both books were great reads and I think about them often.
I’ll also add that Why We Love (and Hate) Twilight was such an insightful book. As I said in my initial review, Twilight is a franchise that is close to my heart (not to be cringe) but I cultivated friendships over it, I loved the books, I loved the films to the point I religiously rewatch them annually. BUT I can look at it in hindsight with a critical lens and understand its problematic areas whilst having these fond memories.
We had some minor disappointments as well. Carrie was very middle of the road for me. It’s not a particularly long book but it felt like it dragged a lot and I was just wandering through the story without really caring(?). I will be reading more from his story collection for sure, and my friend confirms that a lot of his other books are a lot better, so fingers crossed I find my groove. I also wasn’t in love with Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. I wanted to love that book more than I did, but it too dragged around the midpoint – I very much had to push myself to finish it. I will say, the exploration of family dynamics and sisterly relationships in a time of grief was very well done.
April was the month of Magical Readathon hosted by Book Roast on YouTube – I will link to the announcement video for the Spring semester so you can get an idea on what it’s about, 🐈⬛🍂 Start of the Magical Readathon Spring Equinox 2026 Liveshow🥳 📜💜.TL:DR is you create a character, choose your Calling and sort into a Guild. Each calling has set subjects and each semester they announce a series of prompts in line with these subjects.
My character is Aeloria and she is an earthling wildling. My calling is Master of Elements and I sorted into the Order of the Crescent. There is a lot more for your character including Conduits, Guild Legacies, traits and specialties, but I won’t yap about it here in great detail.
Below were the subjects, Spring semester prompts and books I chose for each one,
| Subject | Prompt | Chosen Book |
|---|---|---|
| Elemental Studies | Temperature Controls – Temperature word in the title | Cold Hearted by Heather Guerre |
| Shapeshifting | Volume Modification – Flip a coin, heads – <400 pages, tails – >400 pages | We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor |
| Animal Studies | Shadow Wolves – Wolves in cover, title or content | Fated to the Wolf Prince by April L. Moon |
| Astronomy | Galactic Outskirts – Book from your top shelf or top of TBR | Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang |
| Conjuration | Inspiration Boosts – First enticing book you see on social media | First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison |
| Restoration | Restorative Adoration – Ask for 5 (5 star) titles, pick one | The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston |
| Extra – Guild Pick | – | Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett |
Of all the books I read for the readathon, We Are Legion (We Are Bob) and First-Time Caller, were my favourites. Whilst We Are Legion (We Are Bob) had me chuckling endlessly, First-Time Caller had me swooning and literally kicking my feet with joy. Both Fantastic reads and super excited to read the books that follow them (be it genuine series, or interconnected universe series).
As well as the above books I also finished the following in April,
- Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
- Paper Girls, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan
- Paper Girls, Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan
- An Alchemist’s Vow by Helen Scheuerer
- Paper Girls, Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan
Grateful to finally have finished the main duology for the Letters of Enchantment Series by Rebecca Ross – having read Divine Rivals way back in 2024, I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy or remember the majority of the plot going into Ruthless Vows, but it pretty much carried on in the manner I expected it to.
May, was the month of graphic novels/manga for me. I finished a series and started what I can only say is my new favourite manga series.
- Paper Girls, Volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughan
- Paper Girls, Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughan
- Hirayasumi Volume 1 by Keigo Shinzo
- Hirayasumi Volume 2 by Keigo Shinzo
- Hirayasumi Volume 3 by Keigo Shinzo
- Clara & the Devil, Volume 1 by Olivie Blake and Little Chmura
- Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
- Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Paper Girls is a series I’ve had on my radar for a while. I impulse bought the first volume when it came out around my 20th birthday. I then proceed to put off reading it for 10 years, for no other reason than I genuinely forgot, BUT we finally did it. The series as a whole was interesting, bit slow to really start hitting the mark for me, but volumes 5 and 6 really stood out and tied the series up great. Plus the art style is amazing.
Hirayasumi on the other hand completely blindsided me. I picked up the first 3 volumes on a whim when out for a belated birthday book shopping trip with a friend. I was itching to get back into reading manga and I stumbled across the first volume in Gosh! Comics (shoutout to Gosh! btw, for being the first shop we went into, I spent an obscene amount but got some absolutely fabulous pieces of work. Also the employee who served us was extremely delightful). The artwork on the cover originally caught my eye, and then the plot sold me on buying it. I then impulsively bought volumes 2 and 3 from Waterstones as they had them in stock and I took that personally as a sign. This manga is genuinely so delightful to read. I burned through the first 3 volumes in an evening. The slice of life nature of this book, the characters we follow, and the vibes in general really lend itself to being a relatable, easy-going read. The first volume also had me crying real tears and I refuse to elaborate further.
I also continued my EmHen journey picking up Book Lovers and without babbling on for hours, I really loved this book. I’m not sure why I chose 2026 as the year I progressively work through her back catalogue, but I can confidently say, I am yet to be disappointed.
I’ll wrap this post up as it is pretty long. My next post shouldn’t be to long of a wait as I wanted to share my tentative HRYCED 3.0 TBR. HRCYED stands for Hardest Reading Challenge You’ll Ever Do and it was created by Qwordy on YouTube – here is the announcement video for 3.0 The Hardest Reading Challenge You’ll Ever Do Round 3 0 Full Announcement with Prompts and More!!!. I spent my entire weekend curating a potential TBR mainly consisting of books I own, or books I can borrow from the library. Needless to say, I’m excited.
Have a wonderful week ahead!
Love.
Eliza x
elizalilysmiles 