Reading Round Up: April 1st -10th

Hi Friends! I had some good reading for my first round up of the month. I read some fun fantasy, got caught up on a series and read some highly anticipated books! Crowbones and The Bodyguard were my favorites but none of them were bad reads! If you have read any of these let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Crowbones by Anne Bishop – 5 Stars I think this one could be my favorite in the new series. We are following the characters we met in Lake Silence which is a human who runs a rustic lodging for the Others to go to and interact with humans. This one take place on essentially what is their Halloween and when a group of humans decide to play tricks on the Others things start to go very wrong. If you are looking for a unique urbanesque type fantasy series than I would highly recommend checking this one out.

Lake Silence by Anne Bishop – 4 Stars After reading Crowbones I realized I had never actually read Lake Silence which is the first book in the spinoff of The Other’s series (technically it’s book #6 but new story lines and location). Here we meet the human caretaker of The Jumble and all the inhabitants that visit her there as well as some of the people who reside in the town. We get to see snippets of previous characters in this one and thats always fun to me.

Wild Country by Anne Bishop – 4 Stars (Re-read) After reading Lake Silence I decided to go ahead and re-read the next book in the series. In this one we are in a new location where the other’s had wiped out all the humans and was ow trying to get the town up and running. We are following a human who is a new deputy to the town and her interactions with her Wolfgard partner who is the sheriff of the town. I think these books are so fun and the premise is unlike anything else I read and I just love them so much!

An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn – 5 Stars This is book 6 in the Veronica Speedwell mystery series and I think this is one of my favorites so far. In this one Veronica and Stoker are looking int the death of a female mountain climber. I am always fascinated by stories about mountain climbers and when they are about woman I am hooked! I would have liked more on mountaineering but I still loved this one. I also still love Veronica and Stoker’s relationship and their witty banter is A+.

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center – 5 Stars This ARC showed up one morning in my inbox and I immediately started reading it. Katherine Center is one of my favorite contemporary authors and I devour her books! Ever since reading How To Walk Away when it was a Book of the Month pick I have been hooked. This book follows Hannah who is going through a traumatic time and gets assigned a job guarding a famous Actor Jack Stapleton who has not been seen in public in about 2 years. At first Jack doesn’t believe he needs a bodyguard or that small 5 foot Hannah can do any guarding of a man his size. Both get proven wrong and Jack and Hannah end up spending lots of time together on his parents farm pretending to be a couple. Yup! You heard right, this is a fake dating only one bed trope book!! While I am not usually a fan of fake dating this one was so charming and with all of Katherine’s perfect writing. I feel like this book is more romance centered than some of her other books but it still had great character growth for both Hannah and Jack as they were both struggling with hard topics in their lives. I would check content warnings for this book as there are many talks on death and cancer as well as a few other topics. Thank you so much St. Martin’s Press for my #gifted copy of this book for review. If you are fan of her previous works than I recommend picking this one up as well when it comes out July 19th.

An Impossible Imposter by Deanna Raybourn – 4 Stars This is the latest in the Veronica Speedwell series and it just came out so now I have to wait forever to find out what happens this next because this books ending was so much!!! In this one Veronica is asked to go check the identity of man with whom she had met while traveling abroad and the person is an important figure in her past. I loved all history we got on Veronica in this one but the ending left me heartbroken and thats why I couldn’t give it a 5 star! Can’t wait to see what is next for Veronica and Stoker. Also I listen to this series on audio and the narrator is fantastic!

The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa – 4 Stars This book was one of my most anticipated of the year and it was somewhat of a let down. We have Solange who ends up crashing a wedding her cousins were organizing and through a weird turn of event she ends up fake dating the groom, Dean. This book took me about a week to read which is a really long time for me, I just didn’t want to pick it up after setting it down. The story was cute but I as I said earlier fake dating is not my favorite and I also didn’t see the connection between the two characters. I think I just had to high expectations after loving The Worst Best Man so much. Still a fun romance and worth picking up, just didn’t love it like I wanted to.

Spell The Month In Books – April

Hi friends! Hope everyone is doing well! For April’s spell the month I went with fantasy books and this covers different types. Some of these I have read and some are on my TBR! Hope you enjoy, let me know your thought below if you have read any of these!

A – Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hood – I read this pre 2012 and I gave it 3 stars, it is making its way around the book community right now and I am thinking I need to do a re-read on it.

P – A Psalm For The Wild Built by Becky Chambers – I am hoping to read this next week for the tordotcom readathon.

R – Red Rising by Pierce Brown – This one has been on my TBR for awhile now and I am hoping to get to it this summer.

I – The Immortal Who Loved Me by Lynsay Sands – This one is paranormal romance and I talk about this series all the time, I love them all!

L – Lover Awaken by JR Ward – Another paranormal romance series that I talk about but this one is probably my favorite of the series. But this one is intense and may have content warnings if you need them.

The Spring TBR Book Tag

Happy Tag Thursday!! I Found this one on Sara Letourneau’s blog while searching for a tag to do today and thought it looked fun.

1. What’s on your Spring TBR list? Crowbones, The Wedding Crasher, Ten Trends To Seduce Your Best Friend, Book Lovers, Something Wilder, Adult Assembly Required, Tear Down The Throne, Everything For You, Our Last Days in Barcelona

2. If someone asked you for a spring release recommendation, what would it be? Wedding Crasher, I just finished this one and it was really fun and cute.

3. Which two books coming out before summer are you eagerly awaiting? Everything For You and The Wedding Crasher

4. Which character would make a great Easter bunny? Im feeling Jen from The Winston Brother’s series would make a great Easter Bunny. She is always put together so cute and all her baked goods scream here leaving baskets of goodies for all the brothers!

5. What book makes you think of spring? Anything with flowers on the covers on a vacation. Any of Chanel Cleeton’s books set in Cuba will do as well.

6. Name a cover with flowers on it. See two of my favorites above!

7. Which two characters would you go on an Easter egg hunt with? Im going to go off script here and say the Bridgertons from the TV show, the way they play pall mall makes me think hunting for eggs would be a blast!

8. What is your favorite spring bookish activity? Reading while it rains!

9. Which book did you enjoy that has a spring-like cover?

10. Who is your favorite contemporary author? Im not sure I can pick one, I love Penny Reid, Chloe Liese, Helena Hunting and Jill Shalvis.

WWW Wednesday – 4/13

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived by Sam on Taking on a World of Words. All you have to do is answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

What are you currently reading?

  • Ten Trends to Seduce Your Best Friend by Penny Reid – Just came out and already started!!!
  • Not the Witch You Wed by April Asher – just started, it’s ok but I am finding some things very annoying.
  • Granny’s Got A Gun by Harper Lin – listening to this cozy on audio, about half way through.


What did you recently finish reading?

  • An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn – 5 Stars
  • The Bodyguard by Katherine Center – 5 Stars
  • An Impossible Imposter by Deanna Raybourn – 4 Stars
  • The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa – 4 Stars
  • By Any Other Name by Lauren Kate – 3 Stars

What do you think you’ll read next?

  • The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth – Need to get to the ARC.
  • Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop – backlist I want to get too.
  • A Lullaby for Witches by Hester Fox – Have the audio from my library.

What are you currently reading? Let me know in the comments below!

March Book Haul

Hi Friends! How is your April going? Mine is already so busy between birthdays and kids sports I don’t have much down time on the weekends! Hopefully I can get some good reading done during the week! Tell me about any books you have received or gained recently?

Book Boxes

  • The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley – Book of the Month
  • Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma – 4 Stars – Book of the Month
  • The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James – 4 Stars – Book of the Month
  • Not The Witch You Wed by April Asher – Unplugged Book Box

Bought For Myself

  • A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raebourn – 5 Stars
  • If You Ask Me by Libby Hubscher – 3 Stars
  • A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raebourn – 4 Stars
  • Life’s Too Short by Abby Jimenez – 4 Stars
  • Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
  • Crowbones by Anne Bishop – 5 Stars

Thrifted Books

  • Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev

From The Publisher

  • Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke – Hachette
  • The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz – Celadon

Reading Round Up: March 21st – 31st

Hi Friends! I read a ton of books for my last round up of March. I read 8 books and DNF’d 2. 5 of the 8 books were backlist titles for me and I am so happy to have read them. Still really behind on reviews so I am just giving my thoughts, let me know if you have any questions or comments on any of these books!

A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn – 4 Stars This was the fifth book in the Veronica Speedwell series and I think this one could be my least favorite in the series. I still enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars but I think it is the least memorable. Veronica and Stoker are tasked with helping the Royal family and this is during the height of the Ripper murders so this book dealt a lot with that. A bit darker in tone then the others as well.

Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews – 4 Stars I finally got to book 4 in this series or book 1 in the new part of this series. We started following the middle sister in this book and I still love Ilona Andrews writing, her books are always so well written and the world building is great! This is an urban fantasy/paranormal romance that follows a family as the deal with other magical houses and the politics that go with having magic. Highly recommend this series!

Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews – 4 Stars This is the next book in the series and I am now caught up for when the next one comes out later this year. We are still following the same sister in this one and I am curious as to where the next one will go.

Life’s Too Short by Abby Jimenez – 4 Stars After pretty much hating the authors first two books I was not going to pick this one up but I kept seeing so many good things about that I decided on a whim to get it. I am so glad I picked this one up. It still has her style of dealing with heavy topics but I liked how it was handled in this one, definitely check out content warnings for this one. The relationship between the two characters was so good and I could not put this one down! Highly recommend!

Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron – 4 Stars I am a sucker for a Jane Austen retelling and even though Emma is one of my least favorites I still enjoyed this one. Kamila is good at setting up her friends and throwing parties but not taken too seriously and this was a theme throughout the entire book. Loved seeing all the parallels and also the changes that were made. Not sure if I missed the Miss Bates character or not.

The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James – 5 Stars Simone St. James could be one of my top 5 favorite authors and her books rarely disappoint! This one follows a medium who can find lost things and is contacted by a man to look into the death of another medium when a seance goes wrong. I love how all of her older books take place in England just after WWI and deal with the paranormal. We also get a character from a previous book in this one and I always enjoy visiting past characters.

Silence For The Dead by Simone St. James – 5 Stars This book is one of my favorites, it is set in a house that is being used for a home for soldiers who are suffering from trauma from the war. I loved following the stories of the men who were living there and the nurses who took care of them. I also really liked the setting for this one an dit added a lot to the story.

Lost Among The Living by Simone St. James – 4 Stars This one was on track to probably be my favorite of her older books as I really liked the characters in this one. This one had the strongest romance in it and I lobed it. However, I was left wanting more info with part of the plot. I felt like the supernatural aspect wasn’t explained enough and it was just very vague but overall it was still great!

A Curse In Ash by Julie Zantopoulos – DNF I really wanted to like this one because I have been following the authors youtube channel for years! This one is a fantasy series that follows a witch who is working with the police while also dealing with fae politics. It was pretty easy to follow but I just felt everything felt very YA to me and I am just not enjoying books following characters in their teens or early twenties. I might try this one again at some point not sure yet.

The Shaadi Set-Up – DNF I got about 30% into this one and I just did not care at all! I was also annoyed that the main character is in a relationship and trying to make it work while having very mature thoughts about her ex who suddenly shows up in her life again. Not for me.

Reading Round Up – March 11th – 20th

Alright friends, I read a ton this month and was not keeping up on reviews so for the next two round ups I will just be giving thoughts and not so much on summery’s of the books! Let me know if you have any questions on anything I read this month!

The Maid by Nita Prose – 4 Stars This books was a fun easy mystery and I really enjoyed the audio for this one. Molly is a maid at a hotel and stumbles upon a murdered body in one of her rooms and because she is different she gets questioned for it. Molly was such a great character and I would love to read more books following her. This book is not perfect and there are some parts that hurt to read but if you go in knowing this I think people would really enjoy it.

Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma – 4 Stars I enjoyed this one, it was an enemies to lovers which I am a sucker for! It also had some fake dating thrown in as well.

If You Ask Me by Libby Hubscher – 3 Stars. After loving Meet Me In Paradise I was so excited to start this one but it fell flat for me. I wasn’t invested in the characters as single people or a couple and it felt very rushed to me. I would also say the romance in this is a small part of the story as it is mostly about the main character learning to adapt to changes in her life. Will still read what the author comes up with next.

Lease on Love by Falon Ballard – 4 Stars This one was a cute and also sad at times so I would check content warnings. One of the main characters suffered a loss and is still trying to deal with that. I really enjoyed the friendships and the relationships in this one. Excited to see what she writes next.

Made In Manhattan by Lauren Layne – 3 Stars Another one that fell kind of flat for me. This one was pitched as a switched My Fair Lady and I was so excited but the characters seemed so shallow to me and not flushed out well. It was really short, I think the audio was only like 6 hours!

Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur – DNF I was listening to this one on audio and it just wasn’t clicking with me. I will try the physical again at some point as I like the author’s writing style.

WWW Wednesday – 4/6

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived by Sam on Taking on a World of Words. All you have to do is answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

What are you currently reading?

  • The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa – Started yesterday and about 50 pages in
  • An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn – Started the audio last night


What did you recently finish reading?

  • Lost Among The Living by Simone St. James – 4 Stars
  • Crowbones by Anne Bishop – 5 Stars
  • Lake Silence by Anne Bishop – 4 Stars
  • Wild Country by Anne Bishop – 4 Stars (Re-read)

What do you think you’ll read next?

  • By Any Other Name by Lauren Kate – Have the audio checked out from my library.
  • An Impossible Imposter by Deanna Raybourn
  • The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth – Need to get to the ARC.

What are you currently reading? Let me know in the comments below!

Top 5 Tuesday: April 5th 2022

Hi Friends! I know it’s not Tuesday but I missed this one and I love doing this meme so here it is on a Thursday!

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Shanah @the Bionic Bookworm and is now being hosted by Meeghan @Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is Top 5 anticipated reads for Apr-Jun 2022.

  • The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon
  • Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
  • Adult Assembly Required by Abby Waxman
  • Everything For You by Chloe Liese
  • The House Across The Lake by Riley Sager

What are some books you are excited for that are coming out April-June 2022?

April (Maybe) TBR

Hi Friends! Here is my maybe TBR for April, I have been really into mood reading so I honestly don’t know what I am going to read this month!

For my back list books (which is any book I bought prior to January 1st 2022)

  • Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

ARC’s For March that I need to read.

  • The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
  • The Sign For Home by Blair Fell
  • This May End Badly by Samantha Markum

For Kayla’s Buzzword – This month’s buzzword is big or little.

  • I have no idea, I have been thinking on this and haven’t picked anything yet.

Readathons

Tordotcom-a-thon by Beautifully Bookish Bethany on Youtube – reading books from this publisher. There is a bingo board for this one!

  • Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
  • All Systems Red by Martha Wells
  • A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

Spring Fling-O-Ween Hosted by Gabby and Olivia over on youtube! There are three prompts for this but I am not sure what I am going to read yet. I just need to pick a horror/thriller that has pink or yellow on the cover and or a backlist!

Again these are all books that I would like to read soon but I know I probably won’t get to most of these. What are you reading this month? Are you participating in any fun reading challenges?