03 May 2025 3 min read wrap up

April 2025 Wrap Up

We're just running through this year. Time is flying, and honestly, it hasn't been that much fun. But, time going on does mean it's time for another monthly wrap up, this time for April.

Reading

It was another rough month, but I did do some reading this month.

Fiction

Flux: A Cyberpunk Romance for Men by Earliestbird - This was a good book, much better than I thought it would be. It's very Yandere, but much better than the last one I read. It also has some excellent character growth. The plot outside the romance was a bit meh, but still enjoyable enough. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 stars.

The Black Sky: Makalang #2 by Michael Dalton - The second in this series wasn't as good as the first. The harem got way bigger and much harder to track, and honestly, there wasn't anything about this book that made it stick with me. I couldn't tell you many specifics about it right now. In my review of it in my reading app, I praised it for more plot than I expected. I'll have to trust that, since I honestly don't remember much about it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars.

Ready Player One by Earnest Cline - Reread. It is still just as good as I remember from way back when I read it three months ago.

Fanfiction

I read a lot of fanfiction this month, mostly rereads. Here's just a bit of what I read.

Darker Than Gray by TheBlackEarl - A Harry/Multi fic that isn't finished. Harry grows up in an orphanage, and is changed by it. Super ambitious, but not Slytherin Harry. It's okay. I'll probably read it again when/if it gets finished.

The Lost Summer by Belcris - A Harry goes on vacation story set post-war. Falls in love with a Veela with plenty of Weasley bashing. This was a reread.

Stay Dead Dammit by rightous malestrom - A Harry/Natasha Romanoff story that I've read many times. I really wish there was more Harry/Nat out there, but there's not.

Fighting Words by spritzthecat - A Josh/Donna West Wing fanfic. I like a lot of this author's work as he doesn't make Josh the fall guy for every little thing that goes wrong. This was also a reread.

Two Songs by Daniella Harwood - Season 6 Josh/Donna fix-it fic that is very fluffy. Not a reread, surprisingly.

The Ring by dna2000 - A Downton Abbey fic, featuring Mary/Matthew. Established relationships aren't usually my thing, I enjoy a bit of pre-relationship drama, but this was good. I don't remember reading it before, but it was on my favorites list, so I guess I had.

Under New Management by Perspex13 - My only Castle fic this month. A reread of a story by one of my favorite authors. Castle takes over Beckett's case and shows her how it's done.

There were several others, but those are the ones I wrote down.

Mobile Usage

Vivaldi - 27.7 hours. Mostly reading stuff. A lot of stuff on Ao3, more than I talked about above. And some stuff on Ficwad, which I hadn't visited in years.

Fanfic.net - 21.5 hours

TikTok - 22 hours. Still way too much. I think this is less than last month, but if it is, it's not by much. Given where I actually spend my time watching TikTok, it makes me realize I'm spending too much time on the can and laying awake at night.

Kindle - 10.6 hours. Not enough in this one. I should add the TikTok hours to my books, and my reading problems will go away.

Writing

I actually did do some writing this month. Not much, but I broke out one of my in progress Downton Abbey fics. This one is where Cora has her baby, and the entire family shuns Matthew. Well, everyone but Sybil. I love the Matthew/Sybil pairing, and one day I will publish this story.