March Wrap-Up: A Month of Reading Adventures

As I sit here reflecting on my reading journey for the month of March, I am pleased to say that I have managed to read five books, which is a significant accomplishment considering I had been struggling with a reading slump for eight days. The first book I completed this month was Windwitch by Susan Dennard, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This is the second Witchlands novel and continues on from the first book, exploring themes of female friendship, magic, and romance. One of the main characters, a Truthwitch named Aeduan, can sense if people are telling lies, while another character, a Threadwitch named Iseult, has the ability to see how everything is connected in the world.

I personally loved the second book more than the first one, as it expanded on the politics of the world and grew the problem into a larger scale. The stakes were definitely raised in this book, making it even more engaging. I also appreciated how the relationship stakes were increased, allowing us to see characters interact in new ways. One of my favorite aspects of this book was the ship between Adeuan and Iseult - their chemistry is undeniable, and I found myself rooting for them from the start.

The next book on my list was Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, a YA contemporary novel that tells the story of Maddy, a girl who has been confined to her house due to a rare allergic condition. She has always lived in her own world, but everything changes when some neighbors move in and she forms a friendship with one of them, Olly. This book is a heartwarming exploration of coming-of-age themes, as Maddy navigates the complexities of life and learns to accept herself and those around her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, praising its sharp, unexpected twists and turns. I particularly loved Maddy's character, who is strong-willed, level-headed, and relatable. Her relationships with Olly and her mother are beautifully portrayed, making this a delightful read from start to finish. The supporting cast of characters is equally impressive, adding depth and richness to the story.

The next book on my reading list was The Valiant by Lesley Livingston, a YA historical fiction novel that explores themes of combat, female friendship, and Roman politics. Fallon, the protagonist, is a Celtic princess who vows to get her revenge against Caesar after he takes over her lands and kills her sister. When she's captured by slavers, Fallon is sold to an all-female gladiator school, where she must fight for her life.

I was immediately drawn into Fallon's world, loving her strength, courage, and determination. The training sequences in this book were some of the most exciting I've read recently, and I found myself cheering on Fallon as she grew more powerful. The female friendship between Fallon and Elke is another highlight, showcasing a deep bond that is both heartwarming and inspiring. The Roman politics woven throughout the story are also noteworthy, adding depth and complexity to the narrative.

Finally, there was The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks, which gave me a book hangover that I'm still struggling with. This is the fourth book in his Lightbringer series, and while it's my least favorite in the series (which sounds terrible, but trust me, the entire series is amazing), this book sets up the concluding novel beautifully. The plot twists are relentless, with each turn more surprising than the last.

Brent Weeks is a master of building tension and suspense, making every page a thrilling ride. I found myself questioning everything as the story unfolded, eager to see how it would all come together in the end. While this book was my least favorite in the series, it's still an incredible read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

Overall, March has been a great month for reading, with each book offering something unique and engaging. Whether you're a fan of fantasy, romance, historical fiction, or just a good story, there's something here for everyone.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHey guys, it's Regan, and today I'm here to do my March wrap-upNow, for the month of March, I read a total of five books,which I'm actually pretty pleased with, especially becauseI got — I have been in a reading slump for the past eight days. Basically, one of the books I readthis month gave me the worst book hangover, that I feel like I'm almost out of nowgoing into the month of April, which is good. But, man. That book.Which I will talk about in this video, obviously.But without further ado, let's just go ahead and jump right in.So the first book I completed this month was Windwitch by Susan Dennard.This is the second Witchlands novel that has been releasedIt continues on, on the first book, which is full of female friendshipfemale magic, and female kick-butt-ery, plus some really great romantic threadsObviously, this follows two best friends, who live in a world where there are a variety of different witcheswho have different types of powers. One of our main characters is a Truthwitchwho can tell if people are telling a lie. She's very rare and very sought after.And the other witch is a Threadwitch, and she can kind of see how everythingand everyone is connected through the world. It's very good.I personally loved the second one. I even think more than the first oneI felt like it expanded much more on the politics of this world, and really grewthe problem into a much larger scale. I feel like the stakes were definitely raised in this book.I also appreciated how the relationship stakes were increased in this book.We really got to see characters interact much more in this, and I really, reallyliked it. I don't want to spoil anything, obviously, but I just really felt like this wasa great continuation on in this series. I'm really excited to see where Susan Dennardtakes this. I'm also really excited to see her future books. This is just such a fantastic seriesand oh my God, there's a ship in here that I am just obsessed with.Basically Adeuan and Iseult — Iseult, Iseult, I don't know how to say her name butforever. I love them. Could just read their perspective forever. They have the funniestum, basically they both are like emotionless, and yet they have a lot of emotions right nowthat they don't know what to do with. But they're still emotionless, soseeing them react and try to communicate is probably my favorite thing in the entire world'cause they infuriate each other, and I love it so much.Next book I read this month was Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.This is a YA contemporary novel. This follows the main character Maddy, who literallyhas been in her house her entire life, because she is allergic to everything.Literally everything. And so far, she's been very comfortable with that,she lives in her own world with her mother, her nurse Carla, she reads books every day.But then one day some neighbors move in, and she kind of forms this friendshipthat leads to something more with the neighbor boy.In this novel, we follow Maddy, as she kind of comes to age and realizeswhat she has in her life and is confronted with a lot of emotional and psychological problemsin terms of facing one's fears, but also accepting and becoming comfortablewith the direction you want to take your life in.I did really enjoy this book. It looks some really sharp, unexpected turns, I will say.Really loved Maddy, and I really loved the dialogue and the relationshipshe and Olly had. I also really loved seeing her strong relationship with her motheras well as her nurse, Carla. Maddy was just such a wonderful character to readfrom. I really thought she was pretty level-headed. I mean, obviously she's a teenagerand she lives a very difficult life, but I still felt like she was such a positive personwhich I couldn't have anything but respect for because I don't think I would be anything like herif I was in her situation. I think she was incredibly mature, and I also just reallyappreciated just kind of following her through this story.This book also has just doodles and illustrations in it, it's a super fast readBut I thought those illustrations were super cute and added to Maddy'spersonality. I felt like they really just added a whole other character level.I really liked this book, I ended up giving it a four out of five starsI really want to read more Nicola Yoon, The Sun is Also a Star, because I hear that's evenbetter than this. So I'm excited to have this. I'm also excited to see the movieof this when it comes out soon, so, yeah.The next book I read is the Perusetopia book club pick of the month for the month of Marchand this month we are working with Penguin Random House, and that book isThe Valiant by Lesley Livingston. I have a full non-spoiler review of this which I will leavelinked down below. But this is a YA historical fiction with a hint of fantasyfollowing our main character Fallon, who grew up in Britannia, part of —and she is a Celtic princess. In her childhood, Caesar comes, takes over her landsand kills her sister. From that day, she vows to get her revengeHowever, when she's older, she's captured by slavers and sold to an all-femalegladiator school, where she has to fight to the death for Caesar. This bookis all about combat, for one thing. Fallon is so cool, she's so powerfuland I honestly love reading training sequences and just seeing characters who are alreadypowerful get more powerful. It's one of my favorite things, I could read trainingsequences all day. But also what I loved about this book, it has an amazing femalefriendship between Fallon and another character, Elke. They're both so bad Aand I also felt like there was a really great undercurrent of Roman politicsthroughout this entire story, and it also had a hint of romance, which Ienjoy. Ultimately, I did want a little more combat, which, I just really loved it so much.I ended up giving this a 3.5 out of five stars, again if you want more in-depth thoughts;go check out my review, but I really really liked this andI'm excited for the live show that's coming up to talk more about it.The next book I read totally gave me a book hangover, and I'm stillstruggling with it, I'm pretty sure I will get over it soon, but, man...and that book is The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks. This is the fourth book to theLightbringer series by Brent Weeks. Oh my God, this series is just so goodThis is actually my least favorite book in the series, which sounds bad buthonestly this series is just that amazing. This is a novel that I would definitely sayis setting up for the concluding novel, kind of moving characters, moving plot linesin a way that everything can be wrapped up in, like, an explosion in the last bookwhich I know is just going to be absolutely amazing. That being said, this bookhad plot twists on plot twists. I don't know how Brent Weeks does it, honestlyI feel like every book, he ups the ante and ups the stakes. He's like,\"You thought you had it figured out, and you thought it was crazy last book, butwait a minute, 'cause here we go again!\" It's just insane, and I like some of thetwists that this story took. I thought it was really interesting, and like I said,the last book is going to be just so freaking good. I've talked about this book seriesa lot on my channel. If you're not familiar with it, basically it's a high fantasymulti-perspective novel that's centered around a magic system that uses lightBasically, there's the spectrum of light, and the more colors in that spectrum you canuse, the more powerful you are. However, you also die more quickly.The more you use your magic, the more quickly you are to die.It's an amazing book. I don't even understand the politics. Like, the politicsand the maneuvering, and the conversations, and the characters — it's just crazyLike, oh my God. You secretly like the bad guys, because you just, you have so much respectfor them, because it — they're — it's just insane what they maneuver to doAnd same with the good guys. I'm just — it's crazy. I love this series, it's so good.Please read it. I promise you'd like it. I would be shocked if you didn't.And the last book I read this month I ended up DNFing, I'm not gonna lie, butI got pretty far into it, so I'm gonna count it, and I'm gonna talk about itAnd that is The Headmistress of Rosemere by Sarah E. Ladd. I reallythought I felt like reading some romantic historical fiction, after all of that intensefantasy that I read earlier, before this book, but ultimately, I don't know.This book was alright. It basically follows Patience — yeah, her name is Patienceand honestly, that was part of the thing I just couldn't get over. I was like\"Really, her name has to be Patience?\" Like, it's too sickly sweet for me.But basically, she runs an all-female boarding school. Her father passed away,her mother is dealing with a lot of depression, and her brother ran off to Londonso she's kind of in charge, which is very obviously rare for the time period, I think this is likethe 1700s. The landlord of this school is a young, dashing, mysterious young man whohas a lot of gambling debts, so basically he's trying to figure out how to pay that offand then they fall in love and blah blah blah blah blah. It's just really —People said, and on the front it says \"If you're a fan of Jane Austen and Jane Eyre, you will love this\"and maybe I'll try to give it a reread. I just don't think I was in the mood for itbecause it was just, it just felt too much. It was like a little too try-hard for me, likeeverything was too — like, I just felt like there was always like sweeping violin musicand dramatic gasps like every page. Also, her name was Patience. I did not have thepatience for this. I was like, \"Really, girl's name gotta be Patience?\" Jane Eyre was not patient.Anyway, um — yeah, it was alright. I just couldn't read it, though.I'm dramatic. I'm gonna try to reread this later, but I DNF'ed. I think it gave it liketwo stars. I'll maybe try this again. Let me know if you've read this, I reallygot like most of the way through, though. But if you read anything by Sarah E. Ladd and youliked it, let me know. I will give it a retry.Alrighty, guys, that is everything I read in the month of March. Let me know down belowsome books you've read recently that you really enjoyed, as I would loveto know. And I will see you soon with another video soon. Goodbye!\n"