What Mrs Hallow Read This Quarter [April - June]

6 months?! Halfway through 2020?! Whaaaattt?! Considering the worldwide situation and having been at home since the end of February, it really feels like the year is completely flying. Talking of said lockdown I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that as social recluses and bookworms, it was great to have even more time to read haha!
Come check out what I managed to tick off the never-ending TBR pile in April, May and June!

April

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A book that Mr H picked up for me from a charity shop back in January ended up being my favourite read of the month. As we've mentioned before, we do judge books by their covers usually and this wasn't exactly an appealing cover to me. However, being set in Edinburgh and about the paranormal, I knew I would like it!

The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I stumbled upon the audiobook versions of the Pooh books on Youtube and thought I'd add them to my 'to listen to' list. If you saw my previous quarterly reading roundup, you'll have seen I listened to 'Winnie the Pooh' at the start of March. Obviously they are classics and even listening as a 29-year-old, they really hold up.

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I think I also listened to this one! We have all the books in hardcopy and I read the first two, but as we had been busy doing lots of work in the garden so with Audible having their free books during lockdown I thought why not kill two birds with one stone! Both Mr H and I love this series so obviously, it was good.

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another series I had started, The Inheritance Cycle. I read Eragon back in 2019, so was excited to get around to the second book, which I actually enjoyed more so than the first! Hopefully I can squeeze Brisingr in soon...

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So you see the first book at the top of this post? I enjoyed it so much that ordered the sequel and read it in the same month haha! This one was set in the Paris Catacombs so although I don't have direct experience of the area it was still something that has been an interest of mine and I loved the plot surrounding it.

The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Following the trend of starting multiple series, I'm slowly working my way through the

May

The Too-Clever Fox by Leigh Bardugo

⭐️

As we have Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse on our bookcase and this was free to listen to on Audible Stories I thought I'd give it a go. The reviews on Goodreads were amazing and it was said that it had nothing to do with the trilogy so you could read it without having read those, but my goodness! It has fully put me off wanting to actually read the Grishaverse trilogy! I hated it. Not my thing at all.

The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love following a 1-star rating with a 5-star rating and I am adoring middle-grade fantasy right now. There was a good mix of whimsical fun, childhood magic and tear-jerking pulling of the heartstrings. This story appealed to me in particular because even now I have a ridiculous attachment and feeling of sympathy for certain inanimate objects (this isn't a rare thing! Google it!) and have since early childhood.

Tales of Terror from the Black Ship by Chris Priestley

⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was alright. Hence the average score star wise. It seemed a little pointless during the reading process...I'm not the biggest fan of lots of short stories in one book. But the ending definitely bumped this up a star.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

⭐️⭐️⭐️

So looking back to December last year when I read the first book in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials series, I have no idea how I gave it 3 stars...it should have been 2 maximum. I hadn't been looking forward to picking up The Subtle Knife because I really didn't enjoy Northern Lights and it is so hyped, but thankfully it was a little better than it's predecessor.

Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Novelization by A.C.H. Smith

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was super excited to eventually get around to reading this. Like many people around my age, Labyrinth the movie has a special place in my heart and being the novelization of the movie this was sure to too. It was great, the addition of Jim Henson's notes and sketches at the end was a fan's dream, the only reason I knocked it down a star was because of a few scenes that seemed muddled compared to my knowledge of the movie and the very weird portrayal of Sarah and Jarad's relationship.

Cora and the Nurse Dragon by H.L. Burke

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm not sure how I found this, but I do know it was a free kindle ebook and it was about dragons so I snapped it up. It was a different approach to other things I've read involving dragons and although parts were sad it brought up an important point that can be translated to other animals and the exploration they face due to humans. Oh and a lovely ending.

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mentioned within The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders, I ended up adding this to my wishlist and ordering a secondhand copy from eBay. It wasn't what I was expecting, but having already read things by George MacDonald and being a fan of children's books from the late 1800s and early 1900s I still really enjoyed it.

June

A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fantastic! Another middle-grade fantasy, this was full of magic, adventure and love.
The sisters' relationship, the magical items, the time periods, just the overall atmosphere it was one of my favourite reads of the year so far.

The Scent of Magic by Cliff McNish

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Still making my way through series' I finally got a copy of The Scent of Magic in the cover I wanted!
I've just checked and apparently I rated the first book, The Doomspell, 5 stars and I was about to say I think I enjoyed this one more than that...I guess I didn't! haha

The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Originally Mr H and I thought there were 3 books in the Artemis Fowl series. Apparently not! We have both now read the first three though and I think for now we'll leave it there. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, I just don't think I can commit to 10 more when there is so much on our bookshelves.

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The last time I read anything by E Nesbit was April 2018 so I really enjoyed getting into the Psammead Trilogy. Due to the age of these stories, written in the early 1900s some language used can be shocking and I don't agree with it even if I do love Nesbit's stories on a whole.

A Sprinkle of Sorcery by Michelle Harrison

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thankfully I already owned the sequel of A Pinch of Magic! I don't know if there are going to be any more but I'll certainly be keeping an eye on Michelle Harrison because I love, love, love her writing. 

 18 total, 3 of which were audiobooks and 1 that was an ebook, averaging out at 6 per month! I'm now sitting on 31 finished books this year by the halfway mark. That means if I carry on the way I'm going I'll hopefully manage to finish over 60 books! That is 24 more than my initial goal and I'm actually really proud of how well both Mr H and I are doing at not only buying and collecting books...but actually reading them too!

To see what I read in the previous quarter, click here.