Vol.1, Issue 3 // A monthly recap of everything we’ve read, watched, played, and listened to

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Woohoo April! From seeing Drew and Ellie Holcomb live in Napa (!!!) to Sawyer’s first tball game to dogwalking and babysitting and a park date with cousins during Spring Break to revisions for my flash fiction story and the cats’ dental appointments (no extractions this year!)—what an adventure!

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• The Secret Zoo (The Secret Zoo #1) by Bryan Chick // I borrowed this from Azzie! I’ve been intrigued by the cover and the blurb for so long!
• Seashells and Other Souvenirs by Racel Lawrence (June 2025) // I read an ARC of this (advanced reader copy). It’s delightful! It’s has love and family and summer beach vacation. You’ll laugh, cry, and root for this large cast of characters. I loved it all so much! I read it so fast. I’m going to try read it again before it releases. This book will definitely be a reference for me when I return to drafting my Contemporary YA novel.
• where darkness dwells (song of the solas #1) by Andrea Renae // Finally it has been read! A writing friend gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday and I decided to finally use it to go towards this book and the sequel. It’s beautiful. Andrea’s writing is magical and the story—oh my gosh, the story! I love reading how authors put religious/faith systems into their novels (The Legacy of Orïsha series comes to mind!) and this book is amazing! This book may also serve as I write my own novel and want to incorporate more fully faith into the story.
• there bleeds the light (song of the solas #2) by Andrea Renae // I loved this book. I’m so glad I finally read these. The relationship between Amyrah and Belwyn was handled so beautifully. And the faith theme—hope and struggling with hope and faith *chef’s kiss* Andrea Renae wrote it all so beautifully. And now the familiar ache and anticipation as I join the longtime fans for book three.

*Thoughts about these books will also appear in the Spring Reads post coming end-ish of May!

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• Fruit’s Basket (2019) // I finished this. Way too fast. It may be my favorite anime ever, at least in the Slice of Life genre. But it’s also so much deeper than a contemporary story. I loved all of it. Thankfully Ant hasn’t finished it, and I can still watch episodes with him once he finishes Sword Art Online. Tohru Honda is one of the best characters ever created. I may watch it again after Ant finishes it.
• Sword Art Online (2012) // Ant finished this over the last weekend of the month! He gives it three stars due to there being a lot of unnecessary things. He liked the first season the best and the gun game season was a fun one.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) // We are still trekking our way through this and enjoying the one liners.
• Fruit’s Basket: Prelude (2022) // I watched this after finishing the finale of the anime series. The initial half hour of the movie was a compilation of events throughout the anime, and I didn’t realize that, but I think it made more sense as I watched it. I love backstory and the backstory of Tohru’s parents was great! I think it could’ve been longer. I’m glad they included that final scene!
• The Emoji Movie (2017) // Ant’s pick for movie night! I thought the setting of the movie—in the phone!—was clever. I really enjoyed Gene and his parents.
• The Iron Giant (1999) // I haven’t seen this in forever, but a friend’s fiancé loves it; it’s his favorite movie. And then a few weeks later a writing friend of mine mentioned they were going to watch it for family movie night, so I took it as a sign to borrow it from the library. It’s a good one!
• Meet the Parents (2000) // Ant’s pick for movie night! I had never seen this before and Ant hadn’t seen it in many years. It was a stressful movie with so many things going wrong haha but it was funny too.
• Pride and Prejudice (1995) // I borrowed it from the library to watch it for the first time! I loved it! I watched disc 2 on a Saturday morning with nowhere to go and it was raining and just so cozy. I did appreciate the length of the movie because the events in the novel actually span like a year or so and in this adaptation, I could feel time passing. I love the costumes and the houses, the countryside, Pemberly of course, the actor who played Mr. Bingley was so good! Ah, what a great movie.
• Hadestown: Teen Edition // A local high school put this on as their Spring Musical and it was beautiful. I’m so glad I went. The actress who played Eurydice was cast so well; her voice reminded me of the actress who played her on the North American Tour when it came to Sacramento in September 2023. I don’t know if this a typical option for high schools, but I’m so proud of Colfax High Drama Department for taking this on. *applause*
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) // We watched this the final Sunday of the month because Ant wasn’t feeling good and was bored. I suggested a comfort movie and to Disney+ we went! His choices were Wreck-It-Ralph and somethin else I don’t remember and Episode IV (which I didn’t realize was a comfort movie of his). I was soooo biased and wanted to watch Star Wars, but we Chwazied it and Star Wars won—woohoo! It’s so good too. (P.S. The Chwazi app is an app that helps you choose whatever you want to do; Ant and I use it for so much! Find it here for Andriod phones and here for iPhones.)

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Music

• I really want to include songs that I’ve discovered thanks to my Release Radar, so I figured it would be easier to make a “new discoveries” playlist:

• The playlist of Drew and Ellie Holcomb and their band and crew Small Time coming to Napa

• Medicine by Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors

Podcasts

I actually listened to a podcast episode for the first time in forever! It was a conversation between Mike Rowe and Nathan Fillion, from Mike Rowe’s podcast called The Way I Heard It. It was fascinating and so funny. Listen to it here on Spotify or watch it here on YouTube.

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• Wordle // Woohoo! I’m on a roll! Solved my 119th puzzle with puzzle 1,411. I don’t remember what the word was.
• Waffle // Streak is 34 with puzzle 1,196!
• Roll Player // My first time playing this game. It was a math-heavy game, but it’s a great one!
• Dead of Winter // Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!” This is great one!
• Space Alert // We tried hahaha
• Ticket to Ride: Märklin // A different spin on the Germany map.
• Fox in the Forest // This is a fun trick-taking game! Ant and I played this in a Starbucks in Napa while we ate out sandwiches and waited for the Drew and Ellie Holcomb concert. I think it was my best game, in that I understood the tricks.

We also played ito and Just One at the Thursday Night Game Nights we attend. I played Seeds for the Birds and Alphabet Crossing with a mini bff I babysat over Spring Break 🙂

• Disney Dreamlight Valley // Our second game for the YouTube Channel! Our first “Kiddie Pool” video! It’s a complete 180 from Dark Souls 1 with bright colors and no monsters, but it’s been fun! Episodes uploaded this month:

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And there we have it! A month’s worth of stories and games in various forms. Your turn!

• What did you read, play, listen to, or watch in April?
• Is there something else you enjoy that you do more regularly than one my latelies? Did you knit, bake, sew, or hike something this month?

Feel free to share to the extent that you’re comfortable 🙂 I’d love to hear from you!

Happy April, my friends! “It’s gonna be May!”