March was a strange month – it started out as normal as could be, though we knew about the coronavirus, and then a few weeks into March, everything changed, and by the end of it, they had changed again with strict social distancing rules. Despite this, I got a lot of reading done. My stats are:
20 books read overall
11 read for the Australian Women Writers Challenge
8 for the Nerd Daily Challenge
1 for the Dymocks Reading Challenge
1 for the STFU Reading Challenge
1 for Book Bingo
1 for Books and Bites Bingo
Overall stats so far:
The Modern Mrs Darcy 9/12
AWW2020 -26/25
Book Bingo – 10/12
The Nerd Daily Challenge 40/52
Dymocks Reading Challenge 12/25
STFU Reading Society 5/12
Books and Bites Bingo 11/25
General Goal – 51/165
Most of these books have been reviewed on my blog.
March – 20
| Book | Author | Challenge |
| Esme’s Gift | Elizabeth Foster | AWW2020, Reading Challenge, The Nerd Daily, Dymocks Reading Challenge |
| Friday Barnes: Girl Detective | R.A. Spratt | AWW2020, Dymocks Reading Challenge, The Nerd Daily, Reading Challenge |
| The Last Firehawk: The Cloud Kingdom
|
Katrina Charman | The Nerd Daily, Reading Challenge |
| Christmas in Paris (Miss Lily 3.5)
|
Jackie French | Reading Challenge, AWW2020 |
| The Lost Future of Pepperharrow | Natasha Pulley | The Nerd Daily, Reading Challenge |
| The Paris Secret | Natasha Lester | The Nerd Daily, Reading Challenge, Book Bingo, AWW2020 |
| Museum Kittens: The Midnight Visitor | Holly Webb | The Nerd Daily, Reading Challenge |
| Firewatcher Chronicles: Phoenix | Kelly Gardiner | Reading Challenge, AWW2020, STFU Reading Challenge |
| The Lost Jewels | Kirsty Manning | The Nerd Daily, Reading Challenge, AWW2020 |
| The Girl She Was | Rebecca Freeborn | Reading Challenge, AWW2020, Books and Bites Bingo |
| Ninjago: Back in Action | Tracey West | Reading Challenge, |
| Layla and the Bots: Happy Paws | Vicky Fang | Reading Challenge |
| Friday Barnes: Under Suspicion | R.A. Spratt | Reading Challenge, AWW2020 |
| Daring Delly: Going for Gold
|
Matthew Dellavedova and Zanni Louise | Reading Challenge, |
| Aussie Kids: Meet Katie at the Beach
|
Rebecca Johnson and Lucia Masciullo | Reading Challenge, AWW2020 |
| Aussie Kids: Meet Eve in the Outback
|
Raewyn Caisley and Karen Blair | Reading Challenge, AWW2020 |
| The Besties Make A Splash | Felice Arena and Tom Jellett | Reading Challenge |
| Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | JK Rowling/Newt Scamander | Reading Challenge |
| Liberation
|
Imogen Kealey | The Nerd Daily, Reading Challenge |
| The Year the Maps Changed
|
Danielle Binks | Reading Challenge, AWW2020 |
Onto April and hopefully lots of reading during these trying times.
Title: Christmas in Paris (Miss Lily #3.5)
Violette’s story is mostly told in the latest Miss Lily novel yet hinted at here. She has certainly changed a lot since we last met her, and she is growing nicely as a character and will I feel become one who will be important in the later books and will help Sophie. However, Sophie is in the background of this story as Violette manages to pull together three miracles to bring Christmas to those who are not having a good time. Violette still has that spark she had when we first met her, yet she seems to have put it to good use for those who are now her family, and for what is to come in the next book. Whilst it might not set up for the main novels, each of these books will still add to the series for avid Miss Lily fans, and they are amongst some of the only eBooks I read – alongside any for work, as I find shorter works easier to read on screen than longer works. And let’s face it – it’s Jackie French and her books are always ones I will read, or even listen to if I had the chance. Thank you for these books Jackie, the Christmas ones and all your books. I’ve been a reader of them for over twenty years, since year seven when I first read Somewhere Around the Corner – and I still have my original copy.
Title: The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch
Title: With Love from Miss Lily
I was able to read this in one sitting, as it was short, and it provides a good link between the novels. The time jumps with each book work very well, and pick up just where they need to. What this Christmas story does is show the calm after the war, and the hope that leads into the next twenty years – all whilst ripples of unease filter through. It also shows the hope that the end of the war, and Christmas brings to those still waiting to get home, and the magic of Miss Lily’s kindness through what she sends to the hospital to see them through Christmas.
Title: A Very Murderous Christmas
In what is likely my final Check in for 2018 for the Australian Women Writers Challenge, I’m making my list a little longer as it did not make sense to make another post for one or two books, given I did this in blocks of fifteen – and am debating whether to do monthly, or blocks of ten for next year to increase my content output. Most books are already out, but the seventy-sixth book is only out in January, and based on challenge rules and discussions with a fellow participant, counts in both years – as the review goes up in 2019. This is one of my wrap up posts for the year – still to come, my overall challenge, my Australian Women Writer’s Challenge, my overall reading log and number books read over the past twelve months, and my wrap up post for book bingo, which in theory, should include the intro for next year and that means I need to pick a book to read for the first square I’ll be marking off on the fifth of January, 2019 for book bingo with Theresa and Amanda.
Title: Archibald, The Naughtiest Elf in the World Visits Santa
To begin, the square for a forgotten classic is taken up by a husband and wife writer and artist team – Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, who drew the pictures, and her husband, Grenbery Outhwaite, who wrote the text to the story 
Ending on a lighter note, a Christmas story has been chosen to fill the square labelled a book published more than ten years ago – 
Title: The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit
