Another month has come and gone! I’m not going to lie, I felt like I was slipping into a small book rut after how many audiobooks I listened to in March, but I think I read books that challenged me more and were above my comfort level for reading. This caused me to get through the books slower than I usually do, but I am glad I challenged myself to read and listen to different types of books and expand my knowledge.
This month I read a mix of new books and backlist books, which I try to do as much as I can when I don’t have an overwhelming pile of Book of the Month books. However, I know next month is going to be heavy on new releases because May is a big month for contemporary romance publishing. The new release will include Emily Henry’s newest book! I read a few different genres this month. It was another audiobook heavy month, too. I find myself drawn to audiobook more these days because they are so convenient to listen to while driving around town, on trips, just when cleaning around the house.
Here are the seven books I read in April!
Lunar Love – Lauren Kung Jessen
This was such a cute and different type of contemporary romance. This is Lauren Kung Jessen’s debut novel, and it was one of my picks for the month of January with Book of the Month. I’m so glad I added it to my “to read” pile! It’s an enemies to lovers trope with a huge focus on zodiac sign matchmaking. Olivia is taking over the family business of compatibility matchmaking through zodiac signs and working on bringing it to the 21st Century. Meanwhile, Bennet is the CEO of a new matchmaking app where the zodiac sign has an impact on matches but isn’t the main focus of compatibility for matchmaking.
I loved the diversity of this novel. Being as Lauren Kung Jessen is mixed-race Chinese-American, she wrote both Olivia and Bennet in the same culture and highlighted how difficult it is for them to feel like they belong to either culture. I loved this one because the banter between them was entertaining and Liv has a chaotic perfectionist energy that’s prominent throughout the whole book. The couple has an “opposites attract” chemistry that was fun to watch the connection and chemistry build.
I read this as a hardback copy from BOTM.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Measure – Nikki Erlick
What would you do with your life if you knew how long you had to live? The Measure gives you a glimpse into what could happen. One day everyone wakes up to a box at their front door that contains a string. The length of the string represents how long each person has left to live their life. Chaos erupts from the population and a division is created between short stringers and long stringers. The book follows a group of people as they begin to navigate the new normal of their life and how they come to accept the lengths of their strings.
As this story is told through multiple POV, there were a lot of characters introduced at the beginning of the book which made it hard to keep up with what was going on in each of the storylines. I didn’t really start to understand what was really going on and start enjoying the book until 75% of the way through. However, the last 25% had me hooked and even feeling emotional about the ending. I listened to this in audiobook format, so that may be to blame for my confusion about what was going on and where I was in the story. The timeline jumps were also confusing for me. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more in physical book form, but I did enjoy this story and was glad to finally read it after seeing it all over book recommendations on social media.
I listened to this book on Hoopla as an audiobook through my local library.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5
The Love Wager – Lynn Painter
This book had me laughing from the first chapter! Hallie is trying to get her life together complete with a new apartment, new haircut, and new outlook on life. She decides to try online dating and finds none other than Jack, the guy she had a one night stand with who was a groomsman at a wedding Hallie had bartended. They decide to partner up and be each others wingman for dates, but they both keep striking out. They decide to make a wager over who can find love first, while also deciding to be fake dates to a wedding. As the line between friendship and romance begins to blur, they start to wonder why they decided to stay only friends in the first place.
I listened to this one as an audiobook and it had me laughing the entire time. The narrators did an excellent job of absorbing me in the story. It was almost like the couple themselves was telling me the story. This is my first Lynn Painter novel. It is apparently the second book in a series but seemed like a stand alone story to me. Painter filled the book with tons of references to movies, TV shows, and musicians that were perfection for the story. After previously struggling through The Measure, The Love Wager was the perfect book I needed to get back into a rhythm of reading and listening to books.
I listened to this book on Hoopla as an audiobook through my local library.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
All The Dangerous Things – Stacy Willingham
This is the second book written by Stacy Willingham, and may I say the better of the two. There was no sophomore slump for Willingham when she created another killer psychological thriller complete with an unreliable narrator. Isabelle Drake has been searching for answers for the past year after her son went missing during the night. The only issue for her is that she hasn’t fully slept in that past year and doesn’t see it changing until she finds either her son or answers. In order to try to find out what happened, she agrees to be interviewed by a podcaster until he begins to show interest in her past…the one she’s been trying to run away from.
I was so invested in this book that I read it in basically two sittings and stayed up late to finish it, which I haven’t done in a while. The journey Willingham took us on was crazy and had plot twists throughout the entire story. The element of sleep walking and the potential dangers of it was an interesting thriller element that I haven’t read before and I really enjoyed it. As you begin to question the narrator’s innocence in all that has happened, you begin to see her question herself too. This story is told in two timelines: the present and Isabelle’s childhood. The story of her relationship with her husband is sprinkled in. There were four big plot twists towards the end of the book and all four had my mind blown away from what the truth was and what was happening.
TW: child abuse, suicide, and adultery
I read this book as a hardback print from BOTM.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Mad Honey – Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Mad Honey follows Olivia and Lily, who both know what it’s like to have a do-over in life. Olivia started her life over in her hometown after leaving her husband in Boston after discovering his darker side. Lily is needing a fresh start in Adams for her senior year of high school. Their paths cross when Olivia’s son Asher begins dating and falling in love with Lily. Everything is going great until Olivia gets a phone call one day that Lily has died and Asher is being held for questioning by the police. Olivia is certain that Asher is innocent, but as information begins to be revealed and Asher begins showing signs of being similar to his father, Olivia begins to question his innocence.
I listened to this as an audiobook and it was a story I won’t forget anytime soon. Before I get further into this review there are a few trigger warnings for this book: transphobia, bullying, murder, suicide attempt, domestic abuse. Written in a dual POV and timeline with Olivia’s narrative being told in the present and Lily’s in the past, you’re taken on a journey of trying to figure out what actually happened to Lily for her death to be considered a homicide. There were so many twists throughout the entire story, but the ending felt too open ended for me. It was almost like they were leaving it open for a potential sequel. I did listen to the authors notes at the end of the book. I highly recommend doing the same as they talk about the journey of partnering up for this story and how it all unfolded.
I listened to this book on Libby as an audiobook through my local library.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Stone Cold Fox – Rachel Koller Croft
Bea grew up with a mother who used her for cons and was always moving around the country finding the next con. Deciding to get away from that life, Bea has her sights set on marrying the extremely rich, yet dull bachelor, Collin Case, to settle down and then disappear. The only snag to her plan is his best friend Gale. Bea doesn’t see her as a threat, but the more they go against each other and the closer Gale gets to discovering Bea’s truth, the darker the path becomes.
This book was very different from anything I had read, as it told in the point of view of the anti-hero. Immersed in the old money world of New York City and the New England area, you see the story trope of old money vs. new money with the new money trying to fit in with the generations of extreme wealth. The book has a very linear timeline with flashbacks throughout it to show what Bea’s life was growing up. It separates the flashbacks into sections divided by the men her mom conned. I was hooked from the start and flew through the last third of the book trying to figure out if Bea’s secrets are ever revealed. The only downside to this book for me was the epilogue because it was a little weird. It only jumped a few days ahead of the ending instead of a longer period of time.
I read this as an e-book through the Libby through my local library.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
November 9 – Colleen Hoover
Fallon meets Ben on the day she’s supposed to move across the country. They decide to spend the rest of the day together and form a bond that they want to keep up. Ben also feels inspired to use their story for his novel. The couple meets up every year on the same day that they met, and we are taken away on a journey of two people growing up and closer. Eventually, Fallon begins to question whether Ben actually likes her or if he is just wanting to use her for his book.
Everyone has hyped this book up so much and a few “book-stagramers” and “book-tokers” have said that this is their favorite book by Colleen Hoover. I was very excited to read this when I saw it was available as an audiobook (with no wait) from the library. The story is told from the POV of both Fallon and Ben, with the two perspectives alternating each chapter. The journey begins when the two main characters are nineteen years old. In my opinion, the beginning of this book was dragged out. Hoover spends a lot of time in the first year of Ben and Fallon’s meeting setting everything up. As I began to get into the story, I was still trying to figure out where the story was going up until the fourth year of the two meeting. There is a plot twist that is revealed during the fourth year that I personally didn’t agree with. After that, I couldn’t find myself liking one of the two characters anymore. The more that was revealed in the rest of the story, the more I didn’t want them to end up together. This just wasn’t the Colleen Hoover book for me, but maybe it was because my expectations were too high.
I listened to this book on Libby as an audiobook through my local library.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5
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