MARCH READING WRAP UP!!

Hey everyone! Welcome back to another monthly wrap, and if you are new here, Hi! My name is Mia. This might be my last monthly wrap up for like, 2-3 months, maybe even more because my exams are almost here and there have been so many headlines about how different and tougher these exams are gonna be, which is just panic induction every second. Especially during the end of the month, announcements have been made about the final examination pattern and now all sorts of rumours are out there, about the syllabus. Sad life, basically. 

But in March, I read a total of 13 books. I haven't finished a "proper book" in past 10-ish days, so we are talking about the 18 days I did read only. Quite a big accomplishment to me. I haven't been able to read that much since the start of the year, but then mom left for like, 5 days to grandmother's and some of the books I read were binge fast. So let's just get into them. 

Rating System :

🌠Stars -

⭐ : Either dnf'd or wondering why bother finishing

⭐⭐ : Okay.. but whatever, do something about the plot holes

⭐⭐⭐ : Hm.. but I don't feel it

⭐⭐⭐⭐ : You gave me something good which could've been better

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ : Talk about my favorite

❣️ Hearts -

🖤 : Disappointed really.

💛 : Oh.. I read it? Yesterday? No impact.

💚 : Confused if I should lower the ratings

💙 : Happy got to read it.

💜: I looooved it but boy where did you miss??

❤️ : Giddy, Crying, Screaming. Don't talk to me rn pls

✨No hearts, No stars : HATED

✨ ❤️ heart, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars : ALL TIME FAVOURITE

Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austen

The first book I read this month, I saw this book in one of Kat's (paperbackdreams') book videos and she had recommended this as one of her 2021 favorite reads. The title made me think it could be about depression, and any book about depression which my favourite Booktuber recommended... I had to read it. I also finished it one day, made me cry at least three times and it was... feels. 

This book is about an anxious woman who is struggling with life. She is depressed and can't stop thinking about death and panicking about her life because she doesn't understand what's going on. The writing style of this book reminded me of Courtney Summer's. I read Courtney Summer's book, This Is Not A Test in January. And also, Alice Oseman's Solitaire except a little less plot. It was beautiful, and the writing was simple, easy to read. I could tell Emily Austen knows how it feels to be depressed and feeling disconnected to everything. It was overwhelming and sad. I do not have much to say about it, except that I think you should read it for the tears and understanding what goes on in the mind of a person who is going through depression and anxiety. I rated it 4 stars. ❤️ Heart. 

The Aurora Cycle by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Next, I started reading a series. I wasn't planning to read all of it consecutively but the first one blew me. Aurora Cycle is a YA sci-fi dystopian trilogy, following 6 main characters, 5 are a squad on mission and one girl who's been in space for the past 200 years, in cyro-sleep, and now she is awake and we further discover that she has achieved powers. But that's a secret. The squad was assigned a basic first mission which gets a lot complicated when things go disarray, and not long after, they are fugitives and on a run. Aurora (the girl out of time) is with them on their ship and it's thrilling action jammed journey of what happens and secrets and adventures. 

I loved the first book so much, the action and plot, everything. The characters were my best friends and the world my home. This could be my favourite book of the month if I don't count the re-reads. As soon as I finished that book, I jumped into the second, liked that a little less, and Dnf'd the third. But hey, that's just my opinion and I am critical. If you are a fan of books with a lot of action and fast page turners, this might be for you. I won't suggest you to read my reviews of the second or third book because by the time I am done reading those, I rant an unhealthy amount. So, there's that! Individual ratings were :

Aurora Rising : 4 stars. 💙 Heart.

Aurora Burning  : 2 stars. 🖤 Heart.

Aurora's End : No stars. No Heart. Dnf'd @32%

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

I love Alice Oseman. Radio Silence was the first book I read by her and it was 3 years ago. I decided to give it a re-read, mostly because I wanted to annotate it. This book is YA contemporary, Alice Oseman books generally talk about grey areas in life, things of importance, especially in teens being addressed, beautiful friendships and diverse characters from different sexualities, races and of genders. 

Radio Silence is about Frances, who knows what she wants to do in life, since she was born literally. She is a workaholic with minimial social life and she finds it hard to "be a teenager". She meets Aled, her neighbour who she never talked to, he's a nerdy guy with some secrets and he doesn't really talk to many people. Kinda spoiler, but there are trigger warnings, like mental illness, trauma, animal abuse. The main theme, as far as I think, is kids being given the choice to be who they want to be, do what they want to do, to be heard, and loved irrespective of their choices (unless they want to become serial killers of course). 

Alice Oseman is obviously one of my favorite authors ever! Her books always speak to me, they are an emotional journey and they always make me want to take a moment from life and think and love and be grateful. They are the warmest things, best friends you need during cold winters. Beautiful. I gave it 4 stars. 💜 Heart.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Uh, I am not surprised I don't remember shit about this book except that scene in movie where Leonardo DiCaprio is toasting champagne, while fireworks go off behind him in the background. I have been trying to increase the amount of classics I read, since last year, hasn't been working well, but this was the first of 2022. 

Eh... I didn't see the big deal around the hype for either the book or the movie. I thought the take-back to 80's was cool, I liked the knowledge about society back then, but that's about it. Nothing was memorable. The book was about a man, Gatsby, who wants back his first love who now is married, and she loves him too but she also loves her present husband and she has to choose one of them, she chooses her husband and so he (Gastby) involuntarily *spoiler alert* gets himself killed. And the narrator has a gay crush on Gatsby, but obviously they say "we are best friends". Come on! 

Anyway, it's only my opinion, to me, it was kind of disappointing but I also wasn't surprised. I didn't hate that one character who "we are supposed to" hate, and I didn't feel heartbroken for the person who gets himself killed for "love". I rated this 2 stars. 💛 Heart.

More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

Letters To Lost duology by Brigid Kemmerer was one of my favorite reads last year. I re-read the second book, simply because I love these characters and my copy wasn't annotated (shame!). Loved it as much as last time, 5 stars! ❤️ Heart. 

Brigid Kemmerer is another one of my all time favourite authors. Her contemporaries are life. They are a little bit more on the entertainment side at the same time addressing social situations. Alice Oseman books are more character driven whereas Brigid Kemmerer books have characters as well as plot. More Than We Can Tell is YA contemporary, with a romance subplot. Rev was emotionally and physically abused by his biological father as a child. He is still not completely over the traumatic experience now that it's been years since he has been adopted by another family and 18. Present day, his father, who abused him all those years, is trying to contact him. Dual povs. The other is of Emma, who had a normal childhood but her mother doesn't approve of her career/study choices. She wants to become a game designer like her father but her mother wants her to have a "more stable", "practical" sort of career and her parents' marriage isn't doing well, with her father always being so busy and her mother trying to control her life. These two meet by fate and let each other in on their secrets, romance happens, and lots of other stuff. 

There are trigger warnings. This book is so heartwarming and real. It talks about a lot of heavy topics like childhood abuse/trauma, cyber bullying, religion, sexism, PTSD, sexual abuse, women in work-field. At the same time it being light than one would think. Balance isn't as great but you fall in love with these characters and the friendships. I recommend this series to everyone!

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This is my third book by Taylor Jenkins Reid this year and, like, in general, third book I read by her, a live reading blog is coming for the previous two. I have thoughts about her writing and character building which I talk about in detail in that blog, so I will keep this one short. I like TJR, and I had high expectations from her, but she isn't serving so well. I mean, all three books I read, have been highly talked about recently on Bookstagram and, just the reader community, but I have problems. 

One True Loves has on one of the book tropes that I always enjoy reading, guilty pleasure kind of thing because throughout the book there comes at least one point where I am just annoyed with the main characters' indecisiveness and I wished TJR hit the iron where it needed to be hit for me to work, she missed. Emma fells in love with her highschool sweetheart and marries him in her twenties. They are both successful people, living their life to fullest, you know, trips and adventures, everything they dreamt, away from parents' expectations and then on their first anniversary, he dies in a plane crash. Years later she finds her happiness back, living a brand new life, different from everything she was with her ex husband and engaged to another man, when she recieves a call and it's her ex husband, alive. And she loved him, and she loves her fiancé and you have got a love triangle. 

I have read books with such theme before and they are at least entertaining that's why I even bother. However, I felt very much disconnected and bored and frustrated throughout reading this one and it just did not work for me. I really wanted to like it though, I tried my best. 1.5 stars. 💚 Heart.

Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman

I must say, I could've sold my soul to buy those physical copies, that's how much I knew I would love them. Unfortunately (and fortunately), I couldn't wait that long, I went ahead and read them online. 😬 Sometimes the hype is so lost on me that I wonder if everyone got extra pages in their books and I didn't, because there is no other explanation why they connect and love some characters so much and I feel... nothing. I am not a cold hearted bitch I swear! Maybe it's just the graphic novels which I finished in 2 hours tops per book, but I have read them before and I have fallen in love with them.. and this just... isn't it?? There's a lot of diversity, to the point where I feel it's kinda unrealistic because I live in India, a place rich in culture and religion and ethnicity, and in none of my classes or social groups have I encounter a friend group so diverse as this... It makes me happy, ok, but not enough to make me fall in love with everything about them.

Heartstopper is a 5 book series (5th releasing later this year) based on 2 characters from Alice Oseman's first book, Solitaire. It's a prequel to that. Nick and Charlie are the couple we follow, highschool sweethearts, they get attracted to each other. Nick discovers about his sexuality and Charlie and he get into a relationship and they go through different stages of intimacy throughout these books. Coming out to family and friends, discovering identities, sharing stuff about mental health, being best friends to each other. More than anything, these books are cute. I am really excited about the upcoming Netflix series, but I didn't love the comics as much as I thought I would. Just my opinion.

My individual ratings :

Heartstopper Volume One : 2 stars. 🖤 Heart.

Heartstopper Volume Two : 2.5 stars. 🖤 Heart.

Heartstopper Volume Three : 2.5 stars. 💛 Heart.

Heartstopper Volume Four : 4 stars. 💙 Heart.

For the past 12-ish days I have been trying to read The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue, haven't even read 400 pages yet. At this point I am reading it just for the sake of the sense of accomplishment I would feel when I flip the last page. But I am not liking this either.  

So, anyway, those are the books I read in the month of March. It was a nice month if I think just how many books I read, but we believe in quality over quantity so it wasn't that great either. But that's the most I will read in a while. Hopefully, I get into a university, get a hint about what's gonna be my future, it's just always too early for me to be thinking about that. Thank you everyone for reading my blog! I hope you had some great reads too! Put down what was your favourite book this month and I will see ya in the next one. Bye!!