Wrap Up: April 2025

Oh wow, it’s the end of April already! What a month it has been! It’s been a little busy, so let’s dive right in!

This was not my best reading month, which makes sense given how busy the first two weeks of the month were, and then, honestly I was just really tired and was reading at a much slower pace than usual. However, I still got through 10 books and that’s a really solid number!

I got through some books on my physical TBR — How to Solve Your Own Murder, The Strawberry Patch Pancake House, Wild and Wrangled, Manslaughter Park, and The Wolves were all on my physical TBR, and considering I only read 10 books this month, half of them being from my physical TBR is pretty good! I am donating my copy of Manslaughter Park and Wild and Wrangled was purchased this month, but still, 5 books from my physical TBR down!

Both This Book Will Bury Me and How to Solve Your Own Murder were on my 25 in 2025 list, so that’s two more from that list read. I only finished one ARC this month, but that’s better than nothing! I’ve also started a series reread of The Hunger Games since it’s really the only thing I’ve been able to think about since reading Sunrise on the Reaping last month!

I didn’t have many blog posts this month because of how busy I was, and honestly, I was feeling a little burnt out! I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things next month, and let me know if there are any specific types of posts you’d like to see on the blog!

Books read this month:

1. This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead (4 stars)
2. How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin (4 stars)
3. The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore (3 stars)
4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (reread, 5 stars)
5. Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage (4.5 stars)
6. The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji (3.5 stars)
7. Manslaughter Park by Tirzah Price (3 stars)
8. What Dreams May Come by Christina Dodd (3 stars)
9. Thus With a Kiss I Die by Christina Dodd (ARC, 4 stars)
10. The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe (3.5 stars)

Blog posts and vlogs I loved this month:

• I highly trust Robin’s opinions, and I loved her review of The Devil She Knows by Alexandria Bellefleur; it made me even more excited to read Bellefleur’s next release. 
• Gavin from Gavin Reads It All’s Shelf Audit video was so fun to watch and definitely got me thinking about my bookshelves and the percentage of read to not read on each of them. Maybe one day I’ll do this for myself!
• I love video series where people read through their TBR and Megan’s first video in this series was so fun!
• Y’all, Helena was slaying with the blog posts this month! I loved her reviews of Everything’s Coming Up Rosie by Courtney Walsh, The Last Five Years on Broadway, and The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao and her Favorite Shakespeare Adaptations posts!
• I love any sort of insta or blog post or vlog where people are just like chatting about their life and what they’ve been up to lately, so I really liked Lila’s post on what she was up to in March

My posts this month:

• Quarter 1 Stats
• Tier Ranking Retellings, Reimaginings and Books Inspired by Shakespeare

What a busy month! The first week of the month saw the end of the musical theatre and acting/improv classes that I was teaching, so that was a lot and then the week after that was tech for the musical that I was directing/choreographing and performances that weekend, so the first two weeks of the month were insanely busy work weeks and I didn’t really have time to do much beyond work.

The classes ended on a positive note which was great because they definitely were not easy, but the kids did well and the parents enjoyed the performances, so that’s all that matters! The adaptation of The Wizard of Oz that I wrote for one of our programs performed this month and it was so cool to see a script that I wrote (even if much of it was directly pulled from the source material because it’s public domain) be performed. To hear audiences laugh, see the kids do so well, have parents tell me they liked the jokes I wrote in and our Executive Artistic Director, who I have great admiration and respect for (who is also a fantastic playwright), tell me that the show was good was an incredible feeling.

If you’ve ever been part of a tech week before, you know that it’s long and stressful and very rewarding. Personally, I love tech week, always have since I started performing, but it can be a lot and part of this tech was rough. Monday and Tuesday were particularly difficult and at the end of Tuesday night, I was worried about our show. But, I went into the Wednesday rehearsal with a much more positive attitude and something for everyone turned around and the rest of the week went very well, and the performances, particularly the first, was wonderful! The kids did amazing, and had great energy and performances in both shows, the parents and families loved the show and we had a little feature in the paper! It was a really great way to cap off the spring musical and I’m just proud of everything that we accomplished!

I took a week off of work after the show closed and got to rest up a bit and now we’re back to full on focus for our summer camps. They start in early June and there’s a lot of work to do, so that’s what I’ve been focusing all my work energy on.

April meant that I finally got to see my first touring show of the month! I bought tickets for my mom, sister and I to go see the tour of Six together and it was a blast! This was my 5th time seeing the show, my mom’s 2nd and my sister’s first and I think we all really enjoyed it. I also realized that for the last three years, Six is the first professional production I’ve seen to start the year. If I had a nickel for every time that happened I’d have 3 nickels which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice! I also ran into one of my college professors at the show which was wonderful because I haven’t seen her in years. 

We’re now a month into baseball season and my dad and I got to go to our first game of the season this month! We were able to go to the Brandon Crawford Celebration Day game and it was such a blast! I always love being at Giants games; aside from them being my favorite team, the vibes at the park are always great and it was a really lovely day in the city. It was really special to be there and be able to celebrate Brandon Crawford’s amazing career and see so many beloved Giants. And, it was amazing to watch the Giants win in a very exciting walk off fashion! 

I haven’t been consuming too much new media or anything this month. I think I was just so focused on work and then kinda burnt out and tired afterwards that my brain is having a hard time focusing on new things. I did rewatches of Parks and Rec and Derry Girls this month, and I’ve been keeping up with the new episodes of shows I’m currently watching, but no real new media was consumed in April. I’ve started a rewatch of You, starting with season 1. I never got around to watching season 4 and season 5 was just released so I figured now is the perfect time to finally catch up, but I remembered so little about the first 3 seasons, so I just went “I guess I’m starting from the beginning.” Also, I cannot stop watching this video of Penn Badgley doing the Spirit Tunnel at the Jennifer Hudson show. I’m honestly obsessed and have to watch it every time it comes up on any of my socials.

I cataloged and reorganized all my playbills this month and let me tell ya…that was an experience. It took 3.5 hours to short through over 200 playbills that I’ve accumulated over the years. Even though it took hours, I’m so glad I did it and the end result is super satisfying! However, I have this weird inkling that I have more playbills stashed away somewhere, and if so, I think I know where I’ll find them, so I’m avoiding that part of my storage until I feel ready to face the possibility of having more to organize and catalog 🤣

This month I was very obsessed with making homemade chicken quesadillas, so I made those a few times this month. I also tried a new pasta recipe that was alright, I would have to make some changes if I try it again, but I’m not writing it off completely. I made some of my favorite burrito bowls, and pizza this month as well. I didn’t do anything different with the pizza this time around, but oh my gosh it was extra good this time for some reason, but I’m not complaining!

Most nights I’m watching Giants baseball and then on the weekends I also have soccer games to watch, so I’ve been watching a lot of sports! I’m also continuing to listen to backlog episodes of the Two Girls, One Ghost podcast, that’s absolutely my obsession at the moment. My April Favorites playlist will not surprise anyone; it’s basically the same as it always is.

And there you have it! My April in a nutshell — it was a busy month but pretty good overall. I’d love to know how the month was for you, what you were reading, and what you’re hoping to read in May!

Until next time 💜