April 2024 Wrap Up

April was a whirlwind for me! There were some high high and some low lows. I read some of my favourite books of the year this month but also found some disappointments! I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these in the comments.

I hate to say that Murder Road didn’t work for me because I adore Simone St. James. The Broken Girls and The Sun Down Motel are two of my favourite thrillers and I will never stop recommending them. I thought Murder Road was going to break me out of my thriller slump because the premise sounded amazing but, sadly, very little about it worked for me. I was excited when I first started the book because I was into it and I was intrigued to see where everything was going but then there is a shift in the story and I struggled to care. We actually spend very little time on this road so it wasn’t as creepy as it could have been! This is the first book I have read from her that didn’t have dual timelines and I missed it. I think that would have added to the horror elements and the suspense. Honestly, I didn’t care about April or her secrets probably because I saw the reveals from a million miles away. There we some twists but I am predicted them all. They were quite obvious! I only finished it because I was listening to the audiobook and it was easy to listen to while doing things around the house.

It makes me so sad that Happily Never After ended up not working for me because I absolutely loved the premise and I was having fun in the beginning. I could totally see this being made into a Netflix movie and I would eat it up, but, as a book, it didn’t quite hit for me. I was loving the first half and the idea of these two working together to object at weddings and the drama that comes from that. What failed for me was the romance. These two got together way too quickly for my taste and we lost a lot of the tension and banter. They were fighting their chemistry despite the fact that they were hooking up throughout the book. I found that so frustrating and it was hard for me to root for them!

I read The House Witch for the Black Hat Book Coven and I really should have loved this book. It is cozy fantasy and witchy- two of my favourite things! However, this is under 500 pages and took me over two weeks to read, which is unheard of for me. Something about the pacing made this feel like such a slog and I struggled to connect with any of the characters. Obviously, Kraken the cat was my favourite character because if you give me the cat’s POV of course I am going to love it! I also think that it is important to know that if you are like me and go into cozy fantasy for escapism, there are some content warnings I think you should be aware of and I was not prepared for. They are infertility, miscarriage, and flashbacks to domestic violence.

Gravebriar was actually the March book for the Black Hat Book Coven but I read it at the beginning of April! This started off so strong and I was loving Casey L. Bond’s descriptive writing and I could picture everything perfectly. I wish that writing continued throughout the book. I think that this could have been a series or a longer book because I needed more details! There is a circus setting but it is such a small part of the book and we didn’t get as much detail as I would have liked. The romance was also too instalove for me and I never felt invested.

Kennedy Ryan is one of my favourite authors and I always think she handles difficult topics really well but not even Kennedy Ryan can make me get behind the cheating trope. That is all!

The Inadequate Heir is the third book in the Bridge Kingdom series but the first book of a new duology within that series. It follows a new couple and the story runs parallel to the events of the first two books. It was interesting to get some different perspectives but there wasn’t as much tension because I knew where the story ended up. I also wasn’t as invested in this couple and I wish they had more banter and tension!

Tales from the Celestial Kingdom is a series of short stories set in the same world as the Celestial Kingdom duology! This is definitely a passion project for Sue Lynn Tan and her proceeds from the book are going to charity. If you didn’t get the closer that you needed at the end of that duology, I think you will be happy with the final story in this collection. I was just so happy to be back in this world!

I am realizing there is nothing I love more than a vacation romance and Out of Office gave me those vibes! I loved the dynamic between these two as they tried to take a holiday fling into the real world and the sacrifices and compromises that comes with that.

I am not a fan of the surprise pregnancy trope but it worked in Ready or Not and I think that we as the reader know what to expect going in. It is not the cause of a third act conflict or something, which was refreshing. It is also a sweet best friend’s brother romance! I will say that her best friend struggles with infertility, so that is a theme that is touched on.

I could not choose a favourite between Just for the Summer and Someone You Can Build a Nest In! Both will probably end up on my best books of the year list! I was nervous for Just for the Summer because I adore Abby Jimenez but Yours Truly was disappointing. I am happy to report that her newest release was a huge hit. As for Someone You Can Build a Nest In, I have never read anything quite like this and it is truly a gory love story and I ate it up!

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