Tag: weekly review

Posted in Weekly Wrap-ups

Rest and Progress on Books

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So as many of you know I’ve got chronic illnesses. Mostly chronic migraine but breaking my leg at the beginning of the year didn’t help. Also vertigo is a pain. So I’ve spent most of the week just trying to rest, of course when my vertigo isn’t bad the upside of laying down all the time is it’s perfect for writing blog posts in advance and reading books.

So what am I reading? Quite a few things actually

1 The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by [Anne Ursu]

Summary

If no one notices Marya Lupu, is likely because of her brother, Luka. And that’s because of what everyone knows: that Luka is destined to become a sorcerer.

The Lupus might be from a small village far from the capital city of Illyria, but that doesn’t matter. Every young boy born in in the kingdom holds the potential for the rare ability to wield magic, to protect the country from the terrifying force known only as the Dread. 

For all the hopes the family has for Luka, no one has any for Marya, who can never seem to do anything right. But even so, no one is prepared for the day that the sorcerers finally arrive to test Luka for magical ability, and Marya makes a terrible mistake. Nor the day after, when the Lupus receive a letter from a place called Dragomir Academy—a mysterious school for wayward young girls. Girls like Marya.

Soon she is a hundred miles from home, in a strange and unfamiliar place, surrounded by girls she’s never met. Dragomir Academy promises Marya and her classmates a chance to make something of themselves in service to one of the country’s powerful sorcerers. But as they learn how to fit into a world with no place for them, they begin to discover things about the magic the men of their country wield, as well as the Dread itself—things that threaten the precarious balance upon which Illyria is built.

This a good book to read when when you rest lots of mystery, so you can get caught up in it. I’ve stayed up late with this book this week because it’s just interesting.

Amazon: The Troubled Girls of Dragonmir Academy

2) Vespertine

Vespertine by [Margaret Rogerson]

The dead of Loraille do not rest.

Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past.

When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.

As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. And when a hidden evil begins to surface, she discovers that facing this enemy might require her to betray everything she has been taught to believe—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.

This is great book for its humor as well as its high stakes quest. A great read read for when you need to rest up.

3) You’ve Reached Sam

You've Reached Sam: A Novel by [Dustin Thao]

Apparently this is super popular, I can see why, it’s good. But wowza the list of people waiting on the book.

Seventeen-year-old Julie has her future all planned out—move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city, spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail. And Sam picks up the phone.

What would you do if you had a second chance at goodbye?

Filled with a diverse cast of characters, the heartache of first love and loss, and the kind of friends that can get you through anything, plus a touch of magic, You’ve Reached Sam will make an instant connection with anyone looking for a big emotional romance of a read.

Amazon: You’ve Reached Sam

Those are my top three at the moment I’ve also been resting by playing Scarlet Nexus and blogging on here to keep busy while I’m not feeling well, I’m also getting ready for the holidays as I can and I hope to be able to bake some as I feel better. I’m also doing a Christmas Readathon you’ll hear more about next week.

Anyway that’s been my week how’s yours?

Posted in Weekly Wrap-ups

Success and Readathons

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I know I’ve talked about my issues with getting disability on here. The journey has been long and annoying but I’m finally at the point where I’m going to be getting money next month. I so glad I finally got a some success. I may stay with my parents for awhile to raise money for my eventual new house, or I may move out sooner, we’re looking to see what’s best for everyone.

I’ve been getting a chance to read more I’m enjoying new releases like You’ve Reached Sam and Luminous among other as well as reading many graphic novels and plenty of books for IndigAThon. So I’ve glad I’ve had success in my readathons.

I’ve been able to add some books to the Pokemon A Thon, Desert a Thon Royal Readathon and Indig A Thon. I may not hit my goal of 100 books this year but I think I’ll beat what I read last year and considering I broke my foot and was out of reading and blogging for a few months I consider that a success.

Anyway expect to see reviews for the books I’m reading for these readathons.

When I’m not reading I’ve been playing Scarlet Nexus, a game for the PS5 I’m not sure if I told you guys but I had some success on my birthday and scored the PS5, I wanted to get one early even though there aren’t many games out now because I expect there to be a TON of games coming out in 2022. I know I’m going to get the new Horizon Zero Dawn game. And I know DragonAge 4 is coming out at some point. I also want to buy Maiden of the Black Water. This is not including all the Switch games I need like the new Pokemon game in the new year.

In review I’m having lots of success as we head into the holiday season and hope to continue at this pace till the end of the year.

TGS 2020: Scarlet Nexus Has The Same Scenarist As Tales of Symphonia

Posted in Weekly Wrap-ups

Cooler Weather and Disability Worries

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I’m sorry I haven’t checked in regularly. I’ve been enjoying the cooler weather and trying to relax and enjoy fall. Because honestly my mind has been focused on the details of my disability claim. I found out I’m fully disabled in my state. Yay! Then have heard no details about what that means. Boo!

I know I’m getting some amount of money, maybe enough to buy a house which I’m really excited about. A place for my books and I can finally have my Instagram library. Hopefully the meeting I have this coming Monday will give me the details of the money I’m getting and let me know when I’m getting Medicaid, because my medical costs are a big issue for my family and if they were covered that would be a great burden off my parents.

Along with it getting cooler, I don’t think I really went in to detail of how my birthday went. I had a very good birthday on September 28th. I got the disability claim around then. A few of the things I got were a cape, for my D&D campaign which is going to start back up in November.

Several books, and most shockingly a PS5, I couldn’t believe it myself, but PlayStation kept sending me emails about purchasing one, and I had some money. So I manage to scrap through the line and get the digital addition. Right now I’ve got Scarlet Nexus, which I’m super bad at, so I’m going to have to look up tutorials to get through the tutorial, but it’s a cooler game than I was expecting and visually lovely because it’s a PS5 game. I also have Horizon Zero Dawn, which I’m playing in order to get ready for the sequel coming out in February. And DragonAge 3 because I love DragonAge.

I will say to check the PlayStation Store Tuesday or Wednesday around 5 if you’re looking to get one. That’s the only other time I seemed to have any luck.

Posted in monthly goals, Reviews

October Goals

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

October, one of my favorite months because there is a focus on all things spoopy and it feels like the start of the holiday season to me, I’m hoping to be more productive in October. Oh and hopefully read some good horror.

1) Try to get my reading up again.

I read 6 books last month, I read 13 the month before I’d like to get back in the over ten category. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to hit 100 for the year but I’d like to do more than I did last year which is 81. So I’ll try and get some solid reading done in October so I can get close to that goal.

2) Post twice a week.

October looks like it’s going to be busy so I’m not going to push myself to post as often as before. If I end up with more post per week I’m fine with that, but I’m not going to beat myself up about not posting everyday, especially with some of the stuff I’ve got going on in my life. Which I’ll talk about in my weekly wrapup tomorrow. The blog is a priority but it can’t be first priority in October.

3) Post more of my old reviews

I’ve been so focused on reading I’ve let a lot of reviews built up so that I have a backup of them. I want to fix that and get my opinions out there, especially since we all know a your mind can forgot the book after awhile.

4) Get metrics up on the website

This one I really don’t control, other than posting every day which I’m probably not going to do, but I want to see more traffic on the website so I’m going to try and follow other bloggers and get more followers as well.

Posted in Discussion, Updates

Disability Creative Block

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

Hey y’all I’m back. Sorry for the long break in posts. I’ve been working on disability. Getting disability in the US is a prolonged effort where you have to appeal many times and appear before a judge. I’ve appealed several times and am now on the state where I appeal before a judge. Let me tell you I’ve been studying the possible questions that could be asked for several weeks, practicing, and I was still very nervous. So as the date of the hearing came closer I just looked at posting here and I froze I was totally creatively blocked due to my disability hearing. Everything just came down to focusing on the hearing but thankfully I got past my hearing, I won’t know my results for a few weeks. But I’m just so glad it’s over and I can get back to focusing on the thing I like without the mind crushing stress I’ve been dealing with these past few week.

I haven’t been doing nothing though, I’ve managed to get a little reading done despite the stress. Most of these are for magical readathon.

Ghost Girl by [Ally Malinenko]

Summary

Zee Puckett loves ghost stories. She just never expected to be living one.

It all starts with a dark and stormy night. When the skies clear, everything is different. People are missing. There’s a creepy new principal who seems to know everyone’s darkest dreams. And Zee is seeing frightening things: large, scary dogs that talk and maybe even . . . a ghost.

When she tells her classmates, only her best friend Elijah believes her. Worse, mean girl Nellie gives Zee a cruel nickname: Ghost Girl.

But whatever the storm washed up isn’t going away. Everyone’s most selfish wishes start coming true in creepy ways.

To fight for what’s right, Zee will have to embrace what makes her different and what makes her Ghost Girl. And all three of them—Zee, Elijah, and Nellie—will have to work together if they want to give their ghost story a happy ending.

Amazon: Ghost Girl

Summary

All Ginny Anderson wants from her summer is to sleep in, attend a mystery writing workshop, and spend time with her best friend. But when Ginny’s father―a respected restoration expert in Chicago―surprises the family with a month-long trip to Michigan, everything changes. They aren’t staying in a hotel like most families would. No, they’re staying in a mansion. A twenty-six room, century-old building surrounded by dense forest. Woodmoor Manor.

But unfortunately, the mansion has more problems than a little peeling wallpaper. Locals claim the surrounding woods are inhabited by mutated creatures with glowing eyes. And some say campers routinely disappear in the woods, never to be seen again.

As terrifying as it sounds, Ginny can’t shake the feeling that there’s something darker . . . another story she hasn’t been told. When the creaky floors and shadowy corners of the mansion seem to take on a life of their own, Ginny uncovers the wildest mystery of all: There’s more than one legend roaming Saugatuck, Michigan, and they definitely aren’t after campers.

Amazon: What Lives in The Woods

The Smashed Man of Dread End by [J.W. Ocker]

Summary

Noe Wiley couldn’t be more excited to move. After the slumber party sleepwalking incident of last year, she’s ready to make some new friends.

But Noe didn’t expect the sullen, strange girls who live on her new street. And she certainly didn’t expect the strange warning they give her—to stay out of her basement, no matter what.

Noe’s not going to let these girls boss her around. She’ll go in her own basement whenever she wants.

So she does. And there he is.

And now there’s no going back.

Amazon: The Smashed Man of Dread End

The Brave by [James Bird]

Summary

Collin can’t help himself—he has a unique disability that finds him counting every letter spoken to him. It’s a quirk that makes him a prime target for bullies, and a continual frustration to the adults around him, including his father.

When Collin asked to leave yet another school, his dad decides to send him to live in Minnesota with the mother he’s never met. She is Ojibwe, and lives on a reservation. Collin arrives in Duluth with his loyal dog, Seven, and quickly finds his mom and his new home to be warm, welcoming, and accepting of his condition.

Collin’s quirk is matched by that of his neighbor, Orenda, a girl who lives mostly in her treehouse and believes she is turning into a butterfly. With Orenda’s help, Collin works hard to overcome his challenges. His real test comes when he must step up for his new friend and trust his new family.

Amazon: The Brave

So that’s what I’ve been reading, reviews should be up soon, now that I’m not so worried I can’t even look at the screen. I look forward to having fun with my reading challenges and getting back to things I enjoy.

Posted in Orillium Readathon, Weekly Wrap-ups

Reading A Lot this Week-All of the Books

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I’ve found myself just reading more daily with my two readathons, I rolled, Humans, New and Cute for my Bookaplaton rolls so I’m read and am reading Ghost Girl, The Smashed Man of Dread End and Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating. For Magical Readathon I’m working on Fellowship of the Ring on the principle of getting the toughest book out of the way first, if other books come up the match my Bookaplaton prompts that are also on my Magical Readathon List I’m going to double up and try and maximize my reading as best I can.

What have I been doing when I haven’t been reading. I’ve been trying to post as you can see I’ve put up either reading or writing stuff every day. I’m also going to try and go back and do the reviews for the books I’ve been reading, for example all the stuff in August but that I’ve gotten behind on. I also plan to get back to posting new releases every Monday when there is enough content and all the other things I was doing for the blog before I kind of blinked out and took a bit of a hiatus due to my health.

I’m also using the blog as a bit of a distraction, I have a disability hearing on the 15th and that decides whether or not I’m considered disabled and can get the money to move out on my own, it’s causing me major stress so I’m just throwing myself into things I can control, like reading books. Or posting on the blog, maybe I’ll feel better after my hearing but they still have a month to tell me how I did so I think the blog might be a bit of a distraction for awhile.

I’m not sure I can focus due to stress levels but I also want to get back to writing, even if it’s just a little. I miss telling stories, and you only get better by telling the bad drafts first.

There is one good thing other good thing, it is starting to feel like fall here! One it took long enough, and two, that makes September the best month, and three that means it’s spoopy season! Lets be real though, it’s been spoopy season here since mid-July.

Posted in Weekly Wrap-ups

Quarantine Life Again: Trying to Meet Goals

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So while my state hasn’t issued a stay at home order (because they are not making good choices) and we have one of the highest COVID rates in the US. My family is back to mostly quarantine again except for a few key task. We’re going to get the booster when it’s time and I got my flu shot but until then we are just being extra careful.

I also have my disability hearing in a few weeks which makes things kind of stressful, because it determines whether or not I get a lot of social services. Ones that would help me pay for my medication, find a place to live that not with my parents, and other important things.

Well with this new quarantine I’ve been trying to keep busy, I’ve got several new games including Paper Mario: The Origami King and Cris Tales. I’m also still diligently working on Horizon Zero Dawn.

One goal I didn’t have a problem meeting this month was my reading goal, thanks to my readathons I think I’m going to end up with 12 or 13 books for the month. My best month yet this year.

I’ve also got great new readathons including @MagicalReadthn that I’m taking part of in September which will surely keep me up on my reading goals.

Now I haven’t done as good a job posting reviews, I’m going to try to remedy that I’ve just been so caught up in reading I kind of let posting reviews fall behind.

I’m also taking part in a medical research study that starts tomorrow as a way to make money to help pay for my medicine until my other services hopefully kick in. I think I’ll bring my Switch tomorrow because it’s supposed to be an hour and a half session.

What is everyone reading? I’m currently working on The Forgotten Girl.

Posted in Royal Readathon, Trope-ical Readathon

Efficient First Week

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So apparently this new month and these readathons have made me me more efficient when it comes to reading. I don’t know the last time I finished four books in a week. If I keep this up I may actually get back on track for my 100 books this year. I’m also finishing prompts for both my Readathons. For @RoyalReadathon I just finished my Olaf book, or book under 250 prompt with The Tea Dragon Tapestry. For my Mushu, or book with a dragon, I read The Dragon Egg Princess, and for my Chip book, which was a middle grade book, I read, The Sun will Come Out

For the Trope-ical Readathon those books filled in the book with fire on the cover prompt, the new kid in town prompt and since one of them was a graphic novel it didn’t count for prompts for that readathon. Overall, this week has been very efficient in terms of reading, I’ve finally found the rhythm I think I’ve been missing in my book slump lately so I’m going to try to keep that up that pace so I can get back on track to read my hundred books a year, basically I just need to keep an ebook in my hand all day every day for the rest of the year. Or maybe two, we’ll see how many I can hold lol.

The other thing I’ve been working on is building my character for D&D I’m playing with a DM from my rock camp and some new friends. I’m really enjoying to story building which makes me think I should get back to working on my novels. I also need to pay more attention to this blog, I’m way behind on reviews. Basically all the drama over the summer, I want to put in the re-view mirror and embrace fall as a growing season.

Here is to hoping next week manifests more of that goal.

Posted in Uncategorized

Last Part of Summer Wrapup

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So last month was the best month for me blog wise. I explained my reasons in the last post but I plan to make that better in this last part of the summer. I think I never do well in the summer posting because it’s my least favorite season. I live in a sub-tropical climate, so it hot, buggy and annoying and I’m already looking out for pumpkin related things. Also don’t get me started on waiting for Halloween. I may finally be getting a place of my own and I’m basically going to fill it with witchy decorations.

Keep me in your thoughts though because my getting a place of my own is totally not solid yet. I’m just really hoping everything falls into place the way it should.

So I was talking about my Rock Camp Fatigue in one of my earlier posts and it was indeed real and I think I’m just now not feeling tired. But one of the great things about rock camp is I got to see old friends and make some new ones which is great because a friend of a decade dumped me via text. However I’m trying not to be bitter and moving ahead with new friends and projects I hadn’t given time to because I was giving emotional energy to that friend. Hopefully I work on my novels some more in August and in the fall, and I’ve got a really exciting new adventure coming.

So one of my friends who we’ll call B, is a great DM for D&D adventures. I’ve been wanting to get in on one of her campaigns for like a year, well a spot finally opened up and I’m going to get to be a part of her campaign set in the Wildemount world created by the podcasters at Critical Role.

I already have a pretty good idea of what my character is going to be like, but I can’t wait to meet the rest of the group and see what they are planning. By the way this is an all woman D&D group which I’m extra excited about, since some of my experiences playing D&D with men have been less than stellar.

I’ve also got a new friend from camp called C, we are planning to go bowling at some point at this cool kinda upscale bowling place with TVs and food and the glow in the dark carpet. It also has an arcade so hopefully that will be fun as well.

Anyway I’m just thinking despite a few issues the future looks bright. And I can’t wait to start reading for my readathons August 1st.

Posted in Discussion, Path Or Pantheon, Recommendations, Wrapup

Rock Camp Fatigue: Blog Update

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

Rock Camp was wonderful and self affirming and seeing the youth and all my fellow volunteers was the highlight of the summer. Now it’s just waiting till fall. Seriously it’s the best thing in the summer, then I have to wait for the air to cool down and for it to be my birthday and spooky season. I have some friends with August birthdays and I’m excited for that, but seriously I don’t like summer even though summer has been really mild here.

I also learned a lesson, don’t try and do a readathon during July, don’t make high reading goals during July. I was too caught up with camp and setting myself up for failure. I think I’ll have much more luck with the readathon I’m planning for August. Though I really do hope Make Your Myth taker shows up again soon because I loved the challenges from Path or Pantheon they just came at a bad time life wise. I’d love to do something about reading for Rock Camp next year but I’m not sure what that would look like just yet. I did a workshop on tarot that went well. So I’m sure I could build something cool.

Anyway expect to see me slowly getting back in the flow of the blog. I did not mean to gone for so long but camp is literally my most important and rewarding volunteer activity all year so sometimes things have to take a backseat.

As for what I’m currently up to while recovering from Rock Camp, I’m playing lots of video games, I’m working my way through Horizon: Zero Dawn and I just got Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin because I needed something like Pokemon until the next Pokemon game came out.

I’m also reading The Companion by Katie Alender. It is very good for a late summer spooky book.