April Wrap-Up 2019

Photo Credit

April has ended so now it's time to reflect on my month! I will list my book reviews, other blog posts, movies, tv shows, life updates, music, and plans for the next month. I will of course link any reviews and anything non-bookish (which means I don't have a review) I will write a few sentences of my general thoughts! This is the year I plan on reading books I either on my shelves or on my kindle that I really need to get to. I also need to tackle finishing a lot of series I have started in the past.

Let's jump in!

Book Reviews

My Hero Academia Volumes 4-6 by Kohei Horikoshi

Movies Watched

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes - This was an amazing anime movie and I want to re-watch it forever and ever honestly. The art is gorgeous, the story is so much fun, and it's been nice to see my favorite characters all together in such a new environment. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase - If you're a fan of Nancy Drew, I cannot recommend this one enough. Sophia Lillis is an amazing Nancy, I haven't seen the new IT movie yet but she plays young Beverly. I hope she is casted in more things in the future because I absolutely loved her. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Legally Blonde - This was a fun movie I watched with my mom. I hadn't seen it in a while so while she visited for a few days we watched a few movies and this was one of them. I forgot how much I genuinely love this movie. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Legally Blonde 2 - This is another one we watched, but I hadn't seen it before now. I didn't like it as much as the first but for a sequel it wasn't half bad. ⭐⭐⭐
Room - This is a movie I knew my mom would like, but it wasn't one she'd watch on her own. It's an emotional roller coaster but she ended up really loving it. It's an amazing adaptation of the book and it deserved the awards it received. Brie Larson is a goddess and Jacob Tremblay is an amazing actor. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Beautiful Creatures - This movie isn't a good adaptation, but the casting is so perfect (for me at least) and it's just a fun movie. I think my love for Alden Ehrenreich (who was a fantastic Han Solo by the way) and his chemistry with Alice Englert just makes the movie for me. Plus its beautiful to look at aesthetically. It's exactly how I pictured it when I read the series. I am happy my mom loved it and I cannot wait to get her the books. ⭐⭐⭐.5
It Takes Two  - This a childhood favorite of mine, so I loved re-watching it with my mom. I used to watch it so much with her as a kid that while watching it this last time we were both saying the lines as they happened. It is a movie that means a lot to me because of how often I would watch it with her, so I am a bit biased, but I think it's a good movie even without my bias. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

TV Shows (Finished) 

[Hulu] Adventure Time - We finally finished this master peice and honestly I miss it already. I think it was a fantastic ending to such an amazing show. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Netflix] Santa Clara Diet - I binge watched all three seasons with my mom on a whim and honestly it was amazing. Of course, mid season three it was announced that show was cancelled. And of course again, it ended on a cliff hanger. So that sucks. But it was still an amazing show. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Netflix] The Dragon Prince - I loved this season so much and I am dying for a season three!! It has been announced that it'll be out mid-July so I am excited to see where the story goes next. The characters are so cute and the art is perfect. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Netflix] Castlevania - This was a very dark show to watch after watching something as pure as The Dragon Prince, but it was amazing. Season one is a lot of build up, and then season two is where most of the action and adventure come in and I think both were really well done. It helped the audience sympathize and empathize with the characters, even some of the "villains". I also loved Trevor, Alucard, and Sypha's growing friendships. They are bickering fools and I love them. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
[CrunchyRoll] Yuri On Ice - Out of everything we have watched this month, this may have been my favorite thing. It was absolutely perfect and I totally understand why everyone has been talking about it for the last couple years. I want to cry thinking about it and I cannot wait for the movie and hopefully the third season. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Hulu] Tokyo Ghoul  - This show had a lot of ups and downs, season one was amazing, season two was a bit rocky, and the first half of season three was my favorite. Ii fell in love with our characters so much, Ken Kaneki is my child and I will forever protect him. For a show about cannibalism there's a lot of theme surrounding compassion, love, and hope and it's really beautiful. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Currently Watching

[Netflix] Voltron  - We aren't too far into this, but I am loving it. I love the characters and the plot, but at the moment I am not as addicted so I am not dying to keep watching. I do plan on to keep watching till the end though.
[CrunchyRoll] Free! Iwatobi -  I am watching this one crunchyroll, and a lot of the time when I'm watching something I will blog or practice calligraphy or something. But I cannot do that when it's in Japanese and I have to read the subtitles so it's taken me a while to get through this but I am loving it. I love the characters so much and although I never thought I'd love anime shows centered around sports, Yuri on Ice and this has proven me wrong.
[Netflix] Ouran High School Host Club - I am rewatching this with Matt because both of us wanted to get a refresher since it's been so long and I am loving it all over again. It's incredibly hilarious, super weird, and overall cute.
[Hulu] Sailor Moon (Season 3)  - Hulu got the dubs for this season of Sailor  Moon so we are continuing our re-watch. I have fallen in love with Haruka, a.k.a. Sailor Uranus, and she may be my favorite character. I know it's always been Usagi (Moon) and Mako (Jupiter) but Haruka is perfect.

Movie Trailers That Have Me Pumped 

[Trailer] Lion  King - This looks so damn cute oh my god. The lions look so pretty!  I know it's not really live action, but it looks it in a weird non-real way. Which makes no sense, but I am not sure how to explain it. It's like looking at beautiful art, and I am really excited. I hope  I am able to see it in theaters because I know it'll be stunning to watch on the big screen. I am not ready to cry at the part though. I wonder if they'll ever do Lion King 2, which is the better Lion King movie in my opinion.
[Trailer] Star Wars - I am so excited for this. I love the new Star Wars movies so much. From the actors that star in the movies to the characters and the story. I love it all so much. Rey is my girl.

Music 

[Album] When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish - I really love some of the songs on this album (bad guy, xanny, you should see me in a crown, all the good girls go to hell, my strange addiction, bury a friend) but the slower ones, I am just not really into. I am typically not into really slow melonchaly music to start off. However, I acknowledge that they're beautiful. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Single] Me! by Taylor Swift feat. Brendon Urie - I really love the catchiness of this song. It's a great song to bop to and just enjoy dancing to. However, I hate the lyrics. I know they're supposed to be cheesy and fun but they're a bit too juvenile for me. I really don't like them, especially knowing the kind of poetic lyrics Taylor is capable of. She's done fun cheesy songs in the past (the most recent one that comes to mind is Gorgeous) without them sounding like sayings you'd see on a minion meme on FaceBook or on a Forever 21 shirt. However, I think the video is a lot of fun. ⭐⭐.5
[Single] Cute Without You by Emma Blackery - I've been waiting for the release of this song for so long because it's one of my favorites of hers. I think the boppy fun energy it has makes it such a fun song to listen to and I am really happy she released it as a single. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Random Favorites 

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen - I have been using these since February, but I didn't feel comfortable recommending them until I used them more. I really love them and I plan on using the hard tipped one for my wedding invites and table place cards. I've been practicing for months, which has been hours and hours and I've improved significantly. I am going to keep improving until I have to use all my hard work for the wedding. And I'll definitely be using these pens. So if you want to start calligraphy, I recommend the two pack where there is one hard tipped pen and one soft tipped pen because they were so helpful in learning, at least for me.

DNFed 

Cowboy Bebop - I am not sure if it's because I wasn't interested in the moment or maybe it wasn't for me but I just couldn't get into this one. Maybe in the future I'll try again.

Life Updates 

This month has been a rough one in terms of reading, but I think I needed (and honestly, still may need) a break from constant reading. For some reason I cannot seem to focus on reading at all, and it's been making it hard for me to feel motivated to pick up books. I've been reading manga because they're quick and easy and I am hoping it may help jump start my motivation to read. But for now, I am just listening to my instincts and not forcing myself to read.

However, I think the lack of motivation to read has made me feel a bit guilty, and it's also made me avoid blogging all together, something I want to work to fix. I mean, starting now, which is about a week into May so I'm not exactly doing a great job since I typically have my monthly wrap ups posted the first couple days of the month.

I recently got a new part time job that currently I'm on a bit of a probation period, so I want to do well not only because I enjoy the work but I want to keep the job. Which means less time reading and more time focusing on the work. It's been a while since I've had a job, part time or otherwise, and so I am figuring out the balance of working with reading. I have been watching things more than reading because I do it with my fiancé (and my mom, who visited for about a week at the end of April) when he's home.

Wedding planning is becoming more prevalent. Our invites go out soon, I tried on my wedding dress for the first time in April, my bridal party has already started plans of my bridal shower/bachelorette party, and we only have like less than 160 days until the wedding. I cannot believe it's happening, and I think that will be another thing added onto my plate but it's something I'm absolutely loving. I love planning and seeing everything come to light. In May I have another dress fitting and a meeting with the venue so fingers crossed those go well.

Overall, I am not planning on setting up a TBR this month like I have been in 2019. Things are still rocky and I just want to pick up whatever feels right in the moment. I have a few more My Hero Academia mangas to read before they're due to the library and then I'd like to try to read an actual novel. Something I know I'll like so it's an easy transition back into reading. I've missed it.

How was your month of April? What was your favorite book or movie of the month?


Thanks for reading!