Reading Round-Up: May 2020

Great news everyone....I have steady internet now! 

For the past several months I've had internet issues. I've had it drop out on me while I've been working on posts and I've had days where I don't even have access to internet. All that is now behind me, because finally steady internet has arrived. That means I can get back to being consistent and not just dropping off without meaning to. I really want to grow this blog, and the first step, is posting consistently. Finally, I should be able to do that. 

An entire month has gone by, so once again it is time to catch you up on what exactly I read last month. I'm hoping to finally get back to writing steady reviews, so cross your fingers for me!

In May 2020, this is what I read: 

The List: 

• Pete's Dragon: The Lost Years by Elizabeth Rudnick
• Halo #2: The Flood by William C. Dietz
• Heroes of Olympus #2: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
• The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan
• A Whole New World (Twisted Tales #1) by Liz Braswell
• Heroes of Olympus #3: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
• Heroes of Olympus #4: The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
• Blockade Billy by Stephen King
• The Never Girls #1: In a Blink by Kiki Thorpe
• The Never Girls #2: The Space Between by Kiki Thorpe
• Heroes of Olympus #5: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin
• The Trials of Apollo #1: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
• The Trials of Apollo #2: The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan

Pete's Dragon: The Lost Years is a children's chapter book that serves as a sort of prequel to the Pete's Dragon remake from 2016. Anyone who knows me knows how much I enjoy Disney things. I enjoyed both Pete's Dragon films and I was really excited to read this book, but I found a lot of disappointment with it. We'll talk more about this one later. 

Halo #2: The Flood is a Halo novel that takes place after The Fall of Reach. In this book, Master Chief and Cortana find themselves learning about what a "Halo" is and what their purpose was. We learn more about how the halo came about, but also about some dark secrets hiding within the planet they're on, right underneath their feet. This one had more gruesome action than Fall of Reach did, and while I was super interested in learning about the flood as a "species", I had quite a bit of disappointment with this one too. It's fun, but Fall of Reach is definitely my go to right now. 

The Son of Neptune is the sequel to The Lost Hero which I finished re-reading in April. This book chronicles what happened to Percy Jackson while Jason was at Camp Half Blood. Percy makes some new friends, goes on a new quest, and ultimately starts his path towards another world ending prophecy. This was where I last left off on the series back when I was in high school, so I was excited to jump back in and find out what happened to all the characters I loved back then. 

The Demigod Diaries is another collection of short stories by Rick Riordan, featuring our favorite demigod heroes. It is similar to The Demigod Files that I talked about in the previous Reading Round-Up. More bonus features, more adventures, but this time, there is also a very interesting story that was written by Rick Riordan's son. That story includes some information on facets of the story that are now so commonplace that we don't really question how they work anymore...but Haley Riordan knew we needed more info and he delivered it for us. 

A Whole New World is the first book in the Twisted Tale series, which takes classic Disney stories and changes one very important detail, that changes the ENTIRE story from what we know it to be. I've seen this book online a lot and have been wanting to read it, but I had to wait until my local library renewed its license for it. This book focuses on Aladdin, and the question of WHAT IF Aladdin was not the first person to rub the lamp and release the Genie? What if Jafar had succeeded from the beginning? Let me tell you, this book really twists the story and gets a bit dark at times, but we will talk about it in a later review. 

The Mark of Athena is the third book in the Heroes of Olympus series.  This is the first book where Percy is reunited with his friends and the new main heroes band together to start trying to save the world from the next looming prophecy. The seven have joined forces. We can talk more about it later...so as to avoid any spoilers. 

The House of Hades is the fourth book in the Heroes of Olympus series, following right after The Mark of Athena. More adventures, more craziness, and a lot more I won't talk about so as to avoid spoilers in this post. 

Blockade Billy is a novella by Stephen King. It is the first work by King that I have ever read and my gosh, do I have some opinions about it. It combines horror with baseball, so being a baseball fan, I thought I might enjoy it. 

In a Blink is the first book in a series called The Never Girls. Four girls find themselves in Neverland, but specifically in Pixie Hollow. This is another Disney series (surprise, surprise), and its full of favorite fairies from the Tinkerbell movies and various book series that have come out with Pixie Hollow branding. 

The Space Between is the sequel to In a Blink and it picks up where the last book left off. This series is predominantly just super cute, short chapter books that focus on fairies and friendship. They're fun, adorable, and very quick to read. 

The Blood of Olympus is the fifth and FINAL book in the Heroes of Olympus series. This is where the series culminates so that is as much as I will say about it....for now. 

Northanger Abbey is the first novel that Jane Austen wrote, even though it was not her first published book. This book focuses on Catherine Morland. She vacations in Bath, makes friends, develops a crush, and has conflicts with it all. Catherine loves to read Gothic novels (novels of the kind that are partially frowned upon at the time), and she gets the chance to explore a setting similar to one she woud find in the pages of her books...but it doesn't work out in the way she likes. Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors of all time, and I had yet to read this one. Only one complete novel left to go! 

The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a classic novel that follows a lady in the 1890s who is unsatisfied in her marriage and life. She wants more for herself, but the social norms of the time won't seem to allow her to have more, and therein lies her struggle throughout the novel. 

The Hidden Oracle is the first book of The Trials of Apollo series, also by Rick Riordan. After the events of The Blood of Olympus, Apollo is punished and forced into inhabiting a mortal body and identity. Now he has to go on a quest of his own, with new faces, but in the same world as the Percy Jackson books that came before. 

The Dark Prophecy is the sequel to The Hidden Oracle, and picks up where it left off. Apollo is still Lester Papadopoulos and trouble is still brewing. Won't get too into the plot here because there are so many other Riordan books in this post and to talk about most of them, I have to do full reviews just in case anyone wants to avoid spoilers from one book and series to the next. 

This concludes the Reading Round-Up for May. There will be another Round-Up once we come to the end of June, and now, since I have internet, we can get back to doing full reviews! See you real soon!