Month In Review: April 2019

Well March has come and gone and I don’t have much to show for it. I kinda slacked off this month. Well…that isn’t really fair. I was busy all month, just busy doing other things. In the end I didn’t do nearly as much reading and blogging as I’d planned. Which is OK I suppose, only now my whole reading schedule is thrown off and I need to rework it. That’s just how it goes sometimes.

Here’s a quick overview of what I’d planned to read and review in March:

• Seven Blades In Black, by Sam Sykes (I was actually reading this as February ended and March began)
• Legends of The Exiles, by Jesse Teller
• SWORLD: The Chronicles of Malick, by William Harris
• Up To The Throne, by T.A. Frost
• Holy Sister, by Mark Lawrence

Here’s what I actually read:

• Seven Blades In Black (reviewed this one)
• Legends of The Exiles (didn’t review this one yet)

So what happened? Well I’ll tell you…

The 5th Grade Field Trip To Washington D.C.

Yep…the second week of April me and my youngest kid went to D.C. This was my third D.C. field trip in four years. We left at like 6:00 AM Wednesday morning and didn’t get home until about midnight that Saturday night. I had great time with the kid but it blew the whole week in terms of reading and blogging. I’d hoped to get some good reading in on the bus ride but…nope. And each night we weren’t getting back to the room until after 9:00 PM and then up again for breakfast at 6:00 AM. I was wore out. I did take my Kindle and I read a little bit on the ride home…but just a little bit. I slept a lot.

For the rest of the month my days and nights were filled with work, ballet practices, and little league baseball practices and games. Lately I haven’t been getting to sit in my chair until at least 10:00 PM. I don’t begrudge the time with the kids at all, in fact I love spending these hours with them, but it does impact my reading and blogging. I’m OK with it though. I just should have planned better knowing this was all coming.

I’d hoped to get a review in last weekend but other things happened. We went to see Avengers: Endgame on Friday night/Saturday morning at 2:50 AM (yes AM it was crazy). We got out at dawn and went home to nap a bit before baseball later in the day. At some point that day our plumbing went out. We couldn’t flush, bathe, or use a sink anywhere in the house. After some problems with our initial plumber we finally got it all fixed Sunday afternoon just in time to make it to baseball again. That basically wrecked my whole weekend plans for blogging. Oh well…it is what it is.

So what DID I manage to accomplish this month? Well not a whole lot, but here you go…

Book Reviews

I managed one review in April. One. Sigh. But it was for a book I REALLY enjoyed…

My one review for the month was for Seven Blades In Black, by Sam Sykes. This was the first book from Sam Sykes I’d ever read and I loved it. Seven Blades In Black is the dark, gritty, sarcastic, epic, guns, swords, and sorcery revenge story you’ve been wanting, even if you didn’t know it.

Sykes delivers a fast paced thrilling read that is both brutal and poignant. He does so with humor, vulgarity, and all kinds of stabb-stabby and shooty-shooty. It’s a narrative of vengeance, revelation, and confession drawn out over time that explores the depths of the protagonist’s soul and the harsh existence of her life. It’s a story about love, friendship, and betrayal; whether it’s individuals the characters are close to, or the powers and entities that control their lives, all of which is very personal. It’s a tale of purpose in life, bargains struck, and allegiances owed and whether they be kept or lost. It’s an account of a morally ambiguous heroine; what created her, what drives her, and what she still lives for. Throughout it all you’ll be kept on the edge of your seat as Sykes teases you with little morsels of background here, and big meaty chunks of detail there right up until the end when you see whether vengeance was served.

I gave Seven Blades In Black 4.5 Stars. You can read the full review here.

Other Posts

I really only had two other posts for the month, both of which were about my reading and blogging goals for the year.

In the first I talked about the possibility of another Self-Published Fantasy Month here on the blog. Yep, I’m thinking of devoting September to nothing but Self-Pub fantasy once again. Interested in joining me? Read the post here and let me know.

After that I talked about reading more Star Wars! Check out the post here.

I really want to get caught up on all the new Star Wars books that have been published since The Force Awakens came out. I’ve read some, but I need to read more. The only problem is figuring out a time in my reading schedule to fit them all in. We’ll see how it goes.

Well, that’s about it. Like I said I didn’t get much done this month. We’ll see how May goes. Ballet is about to end and baseball goes through the end of the month. I’m pretty sure the problem is work. I mean if I didn’t have to work I could read and write all day. I need to figure out a way to fund that short of winning the lottery. Until then I’ll just keep on with what I’m doing and just know I’m a little behind.

I’ll get a post up soon with my goals (heavily adjusted) for May. The in-laws are coming into town this weekend but I still hope to get that review for Legends of The Exiles finished. Cross your fingers.