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I’m still on my reading roll and it makes me so happy. I finally have all of my books together in one place on matching bookshelves (I may do a bookshelf tour post soon) and I love it.
It was a mixed month of good and bad but I did find a few books that may be all-time favorites now: Sadie and Life As We Knew It.
I finished a series I should have finished a long time ago (A Good Girls Guide to Murder) and found a new love for post-apocalyptic books (also post coming soon.)
It was a good reading month and I’m finally plowing through paperbacks again and I love it. I’m even reading a travel book now which I haven’t read in so long!
I know I’ve said it like five times already, but I’m so glad I’m back on my reading roll. Anyway, here is everything I read in April!
- If you want to listen to some of these, consider trying Audible! You can get your first month free (one free book) plus tons of others they have for free. Get that Audible deal here.
- If you’re on more of a budget, try Scribd! You can get your first month free there. You can read books and listen to audiobooks. It is unlimited (especially the reading) but if you listen to tons of new audiobooks you may be restricted after a few. I don’t listen to enough to confirm this, but I do use Scribd myself and like it a lot. Sign up for Scribd here!
- Shop my collection of bookish goodies on Etsy! These aren’t my shop items, but other shops I’ve curated into a book-themed collection. Shop my Etsy bookish goodies here!
- If you want to read more on your Kindle but don’t want to buy books, Kindle Unlimited is a wonderful option. It’s $9.99 a month but if you read a lot and like to read more than just new releases, it could be worth it. Get Kindle Unlimited here!
- Get $5 off of $25 from BookOutlet! This is a great place to find new books for pretty cheap. They also have sales quite a bit, so keep an eye out for those. I tend to check here for books I want if they’re more expensive other places. They don’t have everything but they do have a lot. Shop BookOutlet here!
- Thrift Books has become my go-to when I’m looking for a book and want it cheap. It’s great if you like buying used books. With this you can get a free book after spending $30!
- Shop my book lists here! You can find every book list I have on Bookshop.org (except my monthly round-ups) and I add everything I can but they occasionally won’t have some. I do occasionally add extras though. If any lists are empty, they’ll be filled in shortly! Shop my bookshop.org book lists here.
- Shopping internationally? Check out Book Depository!
Get Even
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Genre: YA thriller
Rating: 3/5
About the book: Bree, Olivia, Kitty, and Margot want everyone to think they have nothing in common. Everything about their lives is different but they do have one thing in common: they’re members of the Don’t Get Mad secret society where they get revenge on school bullies, mean girls, and tyrannical teachers.
They realize they’re not as secret as they thought when their latest target is found dead with a “DGM” card in his hands. Now someone wants revenge on them.
Final thoughts: The end of this was a little lame but I’ll probably read the sequel because I need to know what happens and it’s entertaining enough.
Changes in Latitudes
Author: Jen Malone
Genre: YA romance
Rating: 3/5
About the book: Cassie’s parents are getting divorced and all she wants is to get on some solid ground, so when her mom surprises her with the news of a four-month sailing trip from Oregon to Mexico with her and her brother Drew, Cassie is furious. And nervous.
She’s been trying to keep Drew sheltered from what Cassie knows about her mother’s role in their parent’s split, but in such close quarters, her anger may push past its tipping point.
Jonah is the flirtatious and gorgeous deckhand who she tries to keep at a distance, but the more time they spend together, the harder it is to fight the attraction
Final thoughts: This was cute but also Cassie was SO annoying. Ugh. So annoying. But it wasn’t bad enough to stop reading. I did mostly enjoy it.
Station Eleven
Author: Emily St. John Mandel
Genre: Post-apocalyptic
Rating: 3/5
About the book: Within weeks of Arthur Leander having a heart attack on stage, life as Kristen Raymonde knew if came to an end. She’ll never forget that night.
Twenty years later she moves between settlements with a small troupe of musicians and actors, The Traveling Symphony, who dedicated themselves to keeping the arts and humanity alive. But their band of artists is threatened by a violent prophet when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water
Final thoughts: This was a bummer to only give it 3/5. I’m giving the show a chance though! From GoodReads: **SPOILERS**
I enjoyed this enough but I also feel a little letdown?
I was hoping there would be more Jeevan, first of all. Second, I was hoping that Arthur’s backstory would pan out more than it did. I didn’t care about Arthur and all his wives at all. I might have more if we actually got more information at the end of everyone’s lives converging. Did Kirsten ever even find out who the prophet was!? The more I wrote this the more I want to change this to 3 stars. I just wish we got more about right after the flu and the years leading up to Year 20 instead of Arthur’s love life.
They Both Die At The End
Author: Adam Silvera
Genre: YA dystopian
Rating: 5/5
About the book: Death-Cast called Mateo and Rufus a litter after midnight. They are going to die today. They don’t know each other yet but are both looking to make a new friend on their End-day. Enter Last Friend, the app that introduced them and allowed them to live a lifetime in just one day.
Final thoughts: THIS WAS SO GOOD. I even cried. Not like, sobbing but it was so sad but so good. Read this.
They All Fall Down
Author: Roxanne St. Clare
Genre: YA thriller
Rating: 4/5
About the book: Thanks to the list, ten lives are transformed at Vienna High. Kenzie can’t believe she made the list of hottest girls at school but her average life becomes dazzling when she’s put at number five.
This year, though, if you’re on the list, you’re life doesn’t just change, it ends. Kenzie is determined to find out the deadly secret of the list before her number is up.
Final thoughts: I would suspend all disbelief going into this one but I enjoyed it. It was a fast and easy read that was a little different than a lot of the YA thrillers I’ve read.
As Good As Dead
Author: Holly Jackson
Genre: YA thriller
Rating: 5/5
About the book: No description here since this is the third and final book in the series and I don’t want to spoil anything. Start the series here.
Final thoughts: I love this. I understand why people may not but I liked it a lot. I will say, one thing that really bothered me is that it’s set in the US but everyone speaks like they’re in the UK because that’s where the author is from.
It really drove me nuts, actually, and that’s one of my book pet peeves. But other than that I love this series, it’s one of my favorites.
Sadie
Author: Courtney Summers
Genre: YA mystery
Rating: 5/5
About the book: Sadie’s life growing up in a small town, raising her little sister Mattie, hasn’t been easy, but she’s trying her best. But after Mattie is found dead and the investigation is botched, she hits the road determined to bring her sister justice.
West McCray is a radio personality who overhears Sadie’s story in a gas station while working on a story about forgotten towns in America. He becomes obsessed and starts a podcast and tracks Sadie’s journey to try and figure out what happened to her before it’s too late.
Final thoughts: This was so gooooood! This is the book that officially got me out of my reading slump and I read it in one day. I was up until almost 2 reading it. I also love the format, part podcast. That’s actually why I even read it. It’s heartbreaking but it’s so good.
The Betrothed
Author: Kiera Cass
Genre: YA romance
Rating: 2.5/5
About the book: Lady Hollis Brite is shocked but thrilled when King Jameson declares his love for her since she’s been vying for his attention all her life.
Soon she realizes being crowned queen may not be all she thought it was and when she falls in love with a commoner, she finds out her future isn’t the one she always wanted.
Final thoughts: This was.. not great. I won’t even read the second one, which is rare because I usually just need to know. I just read spoiler reviews on GoodReads and that was good enough. From GoodReads: 2.5 because it was a fast and easy read, and Valentina.
The Farm
Author: Joanne Ramos
Genre: Dystopian mystery?
Rating: 3/5
About the book: The Farm is nestled in the luscious Hudson Valley and offers every amenity you could imagine. The only catch is for nine months, you belong to them and can’t leave the ground while you carry the child of a wealthy client.
Jane is an immigrant from the Philippines, struggling as a single mother when she signs up for the host program at the farm. She is thrilled to be approved but now, pregnant and worried for her daughter’s safety at home, she becomes desperate to reconnect with her life outside, no matter the risks.
Final thoughts: I was so excited for this and had such high hopes for it but it was not what I thought it would be.
From GoodReads: This was just fine. A little disappointing. Like someone else said, if you’re expecting a handmaids tale baby farm, this isn’t it.
There was build-up to suspense but then nothing happens? Also, where does this even take place? I thought it was in New York and at one point Mae says she’s glad she didn’t have to commute the hour and a half from the city or something like that. And she proposes a west coast location the Jane calls Ate and Ate asks how California is? Or if she’s still in California?
And how old was Mae!? I thought she was just over 30, for sure under 35, because of her hoping the other person she worked with wouldn’t make the list then in the epilogue, 2.5 years later, she’s 40!?
She Is Me, Too
Author: T.M. Shivener
Genre: Psychologic thriller romance
Rating: 3/5
About the book: Winnifred hasn’t left the house since her mama passed two years ago so when she wakes up in the back of a cab in a town she doesn’t recognize, she is very alarmed. She’s been losing a lot of time lately and even worse, dead girls have been showing up every other week.
Winnie takes over when Winnifred has a hard time coping and with dead girls showing up more, Winnie is around more and she’s happy about that, not the dead girls but being around more.
Winnie becomes entangled with Thorn, the funeral home director, while Winnifred obsesses over the River Town Reaper’s identity.
Final thoughts: FaceBook made me read this. From GoodReads: This was entertaining and I read it pretty fast but it wasn’t that good. Good in a bad way? Bad in a good way? I wish the end was fleshed out a little more though because everything happens really fast. Also, I don’t remember if Thorn was ever described but I pictured him as Vlad from Sims 4 the whole time which made this better
The Mall
Author: Megan McCafferty
Genre: YA contemporary
Rating: 4/5
About the book: It’s 1991 and Cassie is psyched to spend the summer working at the mall before going off to college with her boyfriend in NYC in the fall.
The Plan is higher education and happily ever after. The reality is not quite that.
Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this one. It was fun and full of 80s nostalgia and while I may be a 90s kid (1992) I am a major sucker for this era of nostalgia. Literally, I have a Furby on my bookshelf and sooo many nostalgic earrings. I love it. This was fun and I would love to read more things like this.
Life As We Knew It
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Genre: YA post-apocalyptic
Rating: 5/5
About the book: Shock and awe turn to fear not long after the moon is hit by an asteroid and knocked closer to Earth. Miranda, her mother, and her two brothers do their best to prepare before they retreat to the unexpected safe haven of the sunroom where they weather the storms and day goodbye to life as they knew it.
Final thoughts: This was so good and so bleak and so good. I immediately ordered the other three books in the series and am on 3/4 right now. It’s dark but not too dark but still so bleak. That’s the best word for it.
Also, so many people complained about how the Christian character was displayed and that the tides wouldn’t make all of this happen but two things. One, it’s just one character, it’s not like she’s making it seem like every Christian is this way. They’re not. It’s fiction.
Second, the tides didn’t make earthquakes, storms, and volcanic eruptions happen, the moon did because it’s closer to Earth and is affecting gravity and oh, I don’t know, the TIDES? It’s the moon! Not the tides!
Anyway, I loved this.
This is Not the Jess Show
Author: Anna Carey
Genre: YA mystery dystopia
Rating: 4/5
About the book: All Jess wants is a drama-free Junior year but the drama just keeps finding her and her small town feels smaller every day. It also feels weirder every day then one day, a sleek black device with an apple on it falls out of her friend’s backpack, landing at Jess’s feet.
Final thoughts: I was hoping this would be more nostalgic than it was and it’s actually sort of a dystopian thriller which I did not think at all before reading it. I enjoyed it and I’ll read the next one but it wasn’t what I expected. Also, I’m so sad they changed the cover for this (it’s different than the one I have here.)
Have you read any of these? Which ones? What did you read in April?
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sadie is a masterpiece!!
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It was SO GOOD! I need more like that in my life
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