Quarterly Recap: April-June

It’s the beginning of July. I can’t believe I already had to write that sentence, but here we are. And because it’s the seventh month of 2024, it means it’s time for another quarterly recap, where I take a look back at the blog post from the past three months as well as a brief look at what’s coming up. As always I’m starting with reviews.

April, May, and June Reviews...

• What Fire Brings by Rachel Howzell Hall
• The Manicurist's Daughter by Susan Lieu
• The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
• The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo
• Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages by Frances and Joseph Gies

Other April, May, and June Blog Posts....

• I Watched Marry My Husband (2024)
• Short Stories I Read in May
• What I've Been Listening To + Upcoming Albums
• Short Stories I Read In April
• I Listened to What Now by Brittany Howard
• I Listened to Found Heaven by Conan Gray
• Quarterly Recap: January-March
• I Listened to World Wide Whack by Tierra Whack
• I Listened to Act ii: Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé
• What I've Been Listening To (April)

Looking ahead this month, I have a couple of music related posts as well as reviews for some books releasing this month. So keep an eye out for that content.

Up next, I have a good selection of ARCs to read, including one of my most anticipated releases of the year from one of my favorite authors.

And in terms of gaming, the last Nintendo Direct brought some surprises and slightly expanded the list of games I’m looking forward to in the last half of 2024. Tales of the Shire (the Lord of the Rings farming sim), and The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, the new 2D game set in Hyrule, where you get to play as Zelda, according to the trailer.

Quarterly Recap: January-March

I feel like this year is flying by, because it’s already time for the first quarterly recap of 2021. I’m going to go over the reviews and other post that have appeared on the blog between January and March, before taking a look at what’s coming up. Before I do, I want to take a little time out of this post to say a couple of words about the blog.

This past month, Our Thoughts Precisely had its 8th blogiversary on March 15, 2021, and it honestly doesn’t feel like that long—but we did the math and it checks out. I just wanted to say thank you to the readers who have stopped by to read our posts and have left blog comments!

Okay, on to the recap.

January Reviews:

• Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert
• Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

February Reviews:

• We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
• The Case Study of Vanitas vol. 6 by Jun Mochizuki
• Karma Moon: Ghost Hunter by Melissa Savage

March Reviews:

• Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley
• Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
• To The Greatest Heights by Vanessa O'Brien

January Other Posts:

• Short Stories I Read in December
• Happy New Years! It's 2021!
• We're Back + Books and Albums We're Looking Forward To

February Other Posts:

• Short Stories I Read In January
• I Listened to Coping Mechanisms by Tayla Parx

March Other Posts:

• Favorite Recipe: Blueberry Pie + Blogiversary
• I Listened to III by Banks
• Short Stories I Read in February 

Looking ahead, I have no set plans right now, but I do have a couple of reviews I’ve been sitting on for a while. The dates for those are coming up, and I’m excited to share them. In May, the review for Jelly by Clare Rees will be on the blog on the eighteenth. On June 16th, I have a review for The Heartbeat of Trees by Peter Wohlleben translated by Jane Billinghurst. I adored this book. It was a fascinating look at trees, and I want to eventually do some further reading on the subject. And finally, last and certainly not least, I’m going to talk about The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales in July. Not going to lie, this is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve picked up so far this year, and I can’t wait to finally talk more in-depth about it.

Quarterly Recap: July-September

It’s time for another Quarterly Recap. I’m going to skip a long intro and jump right into reviews for July, August, and September....

July Reviews:

• Flatland
• Art Deco 

August Reviews:

• Seafire
• Ready Player One (2018 Movie)
• Star-Touched Stories

September Reviews:

• The Lost Carousel of Provence
• Hitting the Books
• Farming and the Food Supply; Undercover Operations; & American Art Deco

Note: weekly meme labels (Music Monday & The Friday 56 + Book Beginnings) can be found on the Extras page.

Other July Posts:

• Sketchbook
• Watercolor Places #1
• Quarterly recap April-June
• I Made a Sketchbook
• Watercolor Places #2

Other August Posts:

• The Cookie Book Tag
• Watercolor Places #3

Other September Posts:

• Cover reveal & excerpt: Blastaway by Melissa Landers

I want to do more art/random type posts again. I kept up with them in July and August. However, for the past month, I’ve experienced some creative burnout and couldn’t figure out what I wanted to write or read for a few weeks—and the things I did create were ones I didn’t want to share on the blog. Luckily, October is one of my favorite months, and I have a couple of different posts planned. And if all goes well, they should appear sometime this month or in November.

Upcoming posts that are already scheduled....

On Friday, I’m going to post my thoughts about Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. Later, I have reviews for Mem by Bethany C. Morrow and The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory. I also have a spotlight post coming up that I’m excited to share.

Quarterly Recap: April-June

It's hard to believe that 2016 is more than halfway over, and its already time for another quarterly recap. These past three months have been pretty good, but June was definitely a slower month. Anyway, I'm going to get on with it, starting with reviews for the month of April, May, and of course, June...

April Reviews:

• Batman V Superman
• The Illustrated Compendium of Animal Facts
• Flora Segunda
• The Wide-Awake Princess

May Reviews:

• Oleah Chronicles: Justice
• Founding Myths:Stories that Hide Our Patriotic Past
• The Darkest Part of the Forest
• The Body At the Tower
• Dead is a State of Mind
• Brain Freeze Journal

June Reviews:

• Need
• From the Notebooks of a Middle School princess
• Rain: A Natural and Cultural History
• Royal Wedding Disaster

Other April Posts:

• Musing Mondays: What I'm Reading This Week
• Release Day Blitz for The Glittering Court
• Thursday Tracks #1
• January-March Quarterly Recap 
• Release Day Blitz for The Rose & the Dagger 

Other May Posts:

• Random Weekly Questions
• It's All Historical
• What I'm Reading

Other June Posts:

• Recent Nonfiction Favorites
• Weekend Tidbits #7
• Random Weekly Questions
• Release Day & Giveaway: Eternal Sacrifice by Stacey O'Neale

I've had a moderately productive three months (plus my co-blogger dropped in with a new review). The majority of the books I picked up were either just okay or extremely good. So, I hope that that trend continues (fingers-crossed, that it stays that way; I hope I didn't just jinx myself).  Anyway, I also want to go back and read more of the older books I might have missed. I've had a ot of fun with that so far.