Welcome! I’m back from being MIA and it’s time to talk about the books I’ve read in that time. I was posting in January but i never got to posting my Wrap Up. So this is everything I’ve read January through to April! Let’s jump straight in!
January
Starting off the year I read The Blackhouse on audiobook. This was a decent adult mystery but nothing that blew my mind. I ended up rating it 3 stars.
On a better note The Ones We Burn got 4.5 stars! This is a YA Fantasy with a heap of LGBT+ & POC rep. This was everything I was hoping this book to be.
We are going slightly back down hill on this one… I know there is so much hype for Babel but for me it was a 3.5 stars. By no means a bad review but this book definitely didn’t blow me away like I was expecting because of the hype.
Then we have Clown in the Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives which was a solid 4 stars. While I had some issues with book 1 it was still a good time reading it and this one was the same case.
Another 4 star read was The Final Strife. This one is an Adult Fantasy and another with some amazing LGBT+ & POC rep! While it didn’t absolutely blow me away I would still definitely recommend checking it out.
I had no idea what to expect from The Book Eaters and while it started out solid it overall left me a little underwhelmed. Especially as it’s labeled at Adult Fantasy Horror. Fantasy? Yes. Horror? Underwhelming. It does have some LGBT+ rep though, so points for that. I rated it 3 stars.
Next we have The Drift which is an Adult Horror/Thriller. While it was a solid mystery I honestly didn’t find it that thrilling or scary. It was full of twists and turns but a little lackluster. I ended up giving this one 3.5 stars.
The next 5 are all the same series and they are books 1 – 5 of Wynd. Wynd is a YA Fantasy Graphic Novel series that features some LGBT+ rep. I had a fun time reading these and rated them all 4 stars.
See comments above.
If you’ve been following me for a while then these last two for Jan and some of the ones for thge other months may be a bit shocking for you… Yes. I was reading romance! Who am I? Yes I gave the romance genre a go. While I still don’t think it was be a fave I don’t avoid it as much as a I used to. It’s still predictable, it’s still cringy at times but it can be a fun time.
Now to the actual books, Her Royal Highness is a YA Romance and while it was fine it didn’t blow me away. I did enjoy the bisexual rep and the plot was interesting enough I ended up rating it 3.5 stars.
Lastly for January I read Red, White & Royal Blue. Which is another LGBT+ Romance though this one is more NA to Adult realm. I did enjoy this one a little bit more than Her Royal Highness and ended up rating it 4 stars.
February
I finally caved and read Daisy Jones & the Six and honestly I’m glad I did. Usually when I cave and read something that’s surrounded by hype I’m left underwhelmed. I was actually pleasantly surprised by this one and it got a 4.5 stars from me.
Her Dying Day I picked up on a whim when I saw it pop up on Scribd one day and I really liked the cover. I’m happy I picked it up though was it was a solid 4 star Mystery.
Then we have another one that’s been pretty hyped up that I was a little hesitant about. Again, I am glad I did. I really enjoyed the LGBT+ rep in Written in the Stars and it was a fun romance. Another 4 stars!
Over my Dead Body was such a good YA LGBT+ Fantasy Graphic Novel! I was really sad when I realised this was a standalone because I would definitely read more in this world!
Another hyped book and another 3 stars. Gild was fine but definitely didn’t blow me away. The plot was interested enough but just a little lacking. I was intrigued enough to continue to the next book. But…. I ended up DNFing book 2.
Lastly for February is Levius/est Vol. 1 which is a sci-fi Graphic Novel. This one was very interesting and I actually went and ordered Vol 2 – 5 straight away and they finally arrived last week and I plan on reading them during BOTWathon this week! I ended up rating it 4 stars but I’m hoping that continues to increase with future books as my main issue was lack of information. It is a graphic novel though and it is short, so it’s understandable. I just want more!
March
Firstly, this is around the time my mental health was doing the worst and I picked up I don’t know how many books and nothing caught my attention. So I decided to dive into romance/smut fully and just see what it was like. Nothing was capturing my attention so if I didn’t like it then it wouldn’t really matter anyway. They did end up capturing my attention and I enjoyed all 5 I read. Though, as soon as my mental health started getting better in April, I lost interest in books in this genre again…
Firstly for March was Icebreaker which soo many people on BookTok were hyping up. And I will admit I get it. I rated it 4 stars but had a good time reading it. I will still always be a plot person and the plot is usually the bit that gets the least love in a romance book.
Tessa Bailey was another one I saw a lot of hype for on BookTok and decided to give it a go. Follow I enjoyed a little more with 4.5 stars but now as I’m wiritng this I’m realising I remember absolutely nothing about this book. Icebreakers there is a few scenes I can remember but this is completely blank for me. So I have no idea what I enjoyed but I enjoyed it at the time…
Then we have the first 3 books in the The Bonds that Tie series. This is an adult Fantasy series and I enjoyed it a fair bit. I rated Broken Bonds & Savage Bonds 4 stars and Blood Bonds 4.5 stars. This series had the smut (though not as much as I was expecting based on how people were talking) plus the plot I’m usually missing from romance books. I may continue the series eventually but I was part way through book 4 when my mental health was improving and all I wanted to read was my go to genres of mystery & fantasy.
April
Like I said above I was craving my normal mystery & fantasy books when I was coming out of that bit of a slump, so it was finally time to pick up Nine Liars and finish it. I read the first 50 or so pages back in Feb but that’s when my mental health was going down hill. I, of course absolutely adored this book! I love the Truly Devious series so much so I just had to give this my first 5 stars of the year.
Then I decided to stay on the mystery train and started on the Miss Marple series. I have read and loved majority of the Hercule Poirot series but had never read a Marple book. I really enjoyed reading these. I gave both The Murder at the Vicarage & The Body in the Library 4.5 stars.
The Moving Finger, while still really good is my lowest rated Miss Marple book at 4 stars. Unfortunately someone has to be at the bottom.
The Killing Code is the other book I started before the slump and din’t finish until after. This one I actually started 9th of January and didn’t finish until 20th of April… Got there in the end. This was another 5 stars too! I absolutely loved this story. It’s an LGBT+ Historical Murder Mystery set during WWII. That description alone sounds amazing and the book lived up to that.
Next we have a fun middle grade fantasy adventure graphic novel. I rated Lightfall: The Girl & The Galdurian 4.5 stars and I had to go order book 2 as soon as I finished it!
The last Miss Marple book I read in April was A Murder is Announced. I would have continued but the rest aren’t available on Scribd! I rated this one 4.5 stars, the same as book 1 & 2.
And finally for this wrap up and for April we have Radium Girls. This is a historical non-fiction graphic novel based on the Radium Girls. If you don’t know who the Radium Girls are then I suggested giving the graphic novel a read or checking out Bailey Sarin’s episode of Dark History about them on YouTube or wherever Podcasts are available. That’s where I originally learned about the Radium Girls and I love Bailey’s story telling! So recommend checking it out. It goes into a lot more detail than the graphic novel does. I rated the graphic novel 5 stars!
Well that is it for this super long wrap up! Hopefully I’ll be back onto regularly posting soon and you’ll only have to deal with one months worth of books at a time!
Let me know what your favourite read from Jan – Apr was in the comments.
Dusk Angel Reads 