I can’t believe it’s April already… The first full month of autumn and the weather has been playing up accordingly. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind for those suffocating 35+ºC days to be gone, but I really detest those cold winter months… Sigh. March was a great month though with a lot of positive personal things happening; the highlights being my birthday and the arrival of a new furry family member Lila. And yes, it’s the same one who is currently playing on my lap and trying to make it impossible for me to finish this post. xD

Bookish wise it was a great month and I managed to finish no less than fifteen books, most of them being ARCs as I’ve been trying to get rid of my huge backlog of those. Even reached an 85% Netgalley ratio again! 😀 I still have a pile of ARCs left, but I’m hoping to finish most of them by the end of April. Another great blogging achievement is that I’ve finally been able to get rid of my backlog of pending reviews and I’m going to try and keep it that way, because it’s without doubt a lot less stressful. I’ve been having lots of fun with my bookstagram account as well although I admit I went a little follow-crazy last month haha. Bookstagram is just so addicting with all those gorgeous bookish photos out there! Find the favorite photos of my own bookstagram account below.

As for the bookish numbers:

  • Number of books read in March: 15
  • Total number of books read this year: 50
  • Total number of pages read in March: 5.671
  • Total number of pages read this year: 17.052

March was a great month in general and I even managed to have TWO new 5 star ratings! That sure doesn’t happen often… Seven others were 4 stars or above and only four below three stars, so I’m not complaining. 😀

5 STARS: Absolutely and entirely mind blowing! I suggest you to pick up a copy now. 
Goodbye Days – by Jeff Zentner // A Conjuring Of Light – by V.E. Schwab

4.5 STARS: This one was almost perfect. Surely fantastic! 
I Found You – by Lisa Jewell // The Missing Ones – by Patricia Gibney // Last Breath – by Robert Bryndza

4 STARS: Wow, this was really good. Close to amazing!
Renegade Red – by Lauren Bird Horowitz // The Last Gods Of Indochine – by Samuel Ferrer // Silence Under Screams – by Collin Henderson // History Is All You Left Me –  by Adam Silvera

3.5 STARS: Great read. Really entertaining!
Bull – by David Elliott

3 STARS: It was a nice read, but not fantastic. 
The Invisible Library –  by Genevieve Cogman

2.5 STARS: I give this one the benefit of the doubt. Nothing too exciting. 
Rose Petal Graves – by Olivia Wildenstein // The Yellow Envelope – by Kim Dinan

2 STARS: It was ok. But mostly ‘meh’.
The Wanderers – by Meg Howrey // The First City –  by Joe Hart

A new year means new challenges… I ended up joining way more challenges than usual, but at least I’ve already made a lot of progress with most of them so far. I should really start working on both my Reading Through The Centuries and Beat The Backlist challenge again; maybe I should make May into a classics month?!

# CHALLENGES #

As for my other goals…I managed to both finish two series and reach a 85% Netgalley ratio in March, which I’m pretty happy about. I haven’t done much about the other goals though, but I’m hoping to read at least one classic and hopefully a Dutch/Spanish book in April. And I’m currently rereading The Perfect Stranger, so that’s one reread down!

# OTHER READING/BLOGGING GOALS #

  • Read at least 5 classics (rereads don’t count) 0/5
  • Complete at least 5 series (rereads don’t count) 2/5 (Shades Of Magic, The Dominion Trilogy)
  • Reread at least 3 books 0/3
  • Bring my physical TBR pile below 250 books 303/250
  • Read at least one book over 800 pages (maximum at 624 pages)
  • Read at least 2 books in Spanish 0/2
  • Read at least 1 book in Dutch 0/1
  • Join at least 5 challenges during the year
  • Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80% currently at 85%
  • Start a Twitter account and use it regularly
  • Reach 5km running! 2000m/5000m

Happy April and Happy Reading! 

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