This is a little silly, but my favorite day of every month is the last one, because I sit down and set my TBR list for the following month. Do most people hyper-organize their reading like that? Probably not, but here we are.
I read 10 books in March, which is less than I had hoped to read, but two of the books were quite large and one of them was a long audiobook – so, I'm calling it a win.
[ my march tbr + february recap ]
This month there was only one day all month where I didn't read at all. For all of you who might post below and ask me how I read so much, a big part of it has to do with making time to read every. single. day. I read at night before I go to bed, I even block that hour off on my calendar. I also always have a book in my purse or on my phone's Kindle or Nook apps as well as an audiobook loaded to my Audible app, so I am never without a story.
What I read in March
• FALLING KINGDOMS by Morgan Rhodes. ⭐️⭐️ This was not my favorite. It was OK, not bad, but not good. FALLING KINGDOMS is the first in a fantasy series I have been really wanted to read, and even though I didn't enjoy this one – things were very scattered, and the pacing was off, and the characters were absurd at some points and totally dull at others – I'll keep pushing so I can read the later books, which are supposed to be far better.
• THE YOUNG QUEENS by Kendare Blake. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I was destined to not like this very much because it was a novella, not a novel, in a series I've been reading and I am always so agitated by novellas – I think it's very much a money grab by an author to sell more books, less of an artistic / creative choice.
• REBEL SPRING by Morgan Rhodes. ⭐️⭐️ Like I said, the sequel to the book above was much better than FALLING KINGDOMS, so I'm glad I didn't drop the series after the first book totally stunk. The pacing was better here, and the characters had matured some.
• THE GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE by Mackenzi Lee. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was so fun. I still struggled with the length – I complained about how long it was and someone swore it was worth it, but I don't know that it was. But I loved Monty and Percy, and will always be glad I read it.
• TO KILL A KINGDOM by Alexandra Christo. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This Little Mermaid retelling was SO. GOOD. Ah. Addicting. So many things were not really resolved, but I'm more than fine with that because the storytelling was just that good.
• THE TRAITOR'S GAME by Jennifer A. Nielsen. ⭐️⭐️ Meh. I listened to this as an audiobook, and it was not very good, although not flat out bad. I struggled with the narrators but also felt like the plot was totally unremarkable.
• NICE TRY, JANE SINNER by Lianne Oelke. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It came as such a surprise to me that I loved this book as much as I did. It was so funny, earnest and at some points, really sad, but I felt like Jane Sinner was relatable in a lot of ways and a great character to root for. I loved it.
• DAUGHTER OF THE SIREN QUEEN by Tricia Lavenseller. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The first book in this series wasn't great, so I don't really know why I decided to read the sequel, but I'm glad I did. It was much better. I also pushed myself to get past the sometimes juvenile writing and the overdescriptive prose to enjoy the siren-heavy plot, which was so much fun.
• CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by Tomi Adeyemi. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ You should read this book. Period.
• OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES by Abbi Waxman. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was my Book of the Month book for March and I held off reading it until the end of the month, although I don't really know why. It was so good, even though I don't really like contemporary fiction usually. Not as much as fantasy, at least. But it was so enjoyable! Read it!
What I'm reading in April
On to the next batch! I want to read 12 books in April – not sure why I've decided to up the stakes for myself, but it probably has something to do with eight of the books on my April TBR being new releases / books I have to buy. *sigh*
Note: if you don't read fantasy as a genre, scroll to the bottom of the list for the contemporary books I have on my list this month. Fantasy is my primary and preferred genre – I am writing a YA fantasy novel, so I consume a lot of fantasy novels myself as a result – but I do read the occasional contemporary fiction novel, too!
• ASH PRINCESS by Laura Sebastian. Oh, my lanta, am I excited for this one. This comes out at the very end of April so I probably won't actually be able to read it, but the concept is so different and sounds so, so, so good. Not to mention the cover is gorgeous.
• THE FATES DIVIDE by Veronica Roth. I am torn about the first book in this series, CARVE THE MARK, but I want to give Roth another chance with the sequel because 1) the story does have promise and 2) I loved DIVERGENT so much.
• LOVE & WAR by Melissa de la Cruz. Hamilton fans, hello! This is the second book in a YA historical fiction series about Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler. In the first book, they're falling in love and then they get married; in this book, the war is coming to an end. SO excited for this one.
• RESTORE ME by Tahereh Mafi. So, a fun fact about me: I am always too afraid to read new books in a series that I am in love with, because I am scared that something bad will happen to one of my favorite characters, or that my ship will sink, or who knows. So, I was most excited to read this book in March... but too afraid to actually get past the first 20 or so pages. Typical. (I blame Veronica Roth for the fear that my main character will die.)
• HERO AT THE FALL by Alwyn Hamilton. This is the last book in a series I read in January and February and totally fell in love with. (Actually, I am now questioning if this is the last book or not. I thought it was. Hmm.) It's such a fun fantasy series that I totally recommend – and it's not too overwhelming.
• THE QUEENS OF INNIS LEAR by Tessa Graton. This is one of the books my book club chose to talk about this month (I'm in a YA book club on Facebook, it's awesome!!!) and the premise and cover intrigued me, and reminded me of THREE DARK CROWNS.
• THE CITY OF BRASS by S. A. Chakraborty. I'll be honest – this has been on my TBR all year so far. And I haven't had much luck with actually reading it. But it's another book chosen for my book club this month so I'm going to give it a try.
• GATHERING DARKNESS by Morgan Rhodes. This is book #3 in the FALLING KINGDOMS series and since book #2 was so much better than book #1, I have high hopes for this one.
• ACE OF SHADES by Amanda Foody. This has been on my TBR for months. It doesn't sound like it's fantasy, actually, just a historical fiction, so I'm excited to check this out.
• LEAH ON THE OFFBEAT by Becky Albertalli. Eeeeeek back to the world of Simon. *praise hands*
• THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas. I have put this one off for too long. I have heard so much amazing (and surely worthwhile) praise for this, and it is still on the YA bestseller's list. Time to read it!
• ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman. I started this on Monday afternoon and wasn't loving it at first – it wasn't what I expected – but I usually love contemporary novels framed like this one, so we'll see.
• TYLER JOHNSON WAS HERE by Jay Coles. This is another book club read that I knew I needed and wanted to read the minute I heard about it. I am giving myself quite a big challenge here to read DEAR MARTIN, THE HATE U GIVE and TYLER JOHNSON WAS HERE all in one month, but it is so important and I recommend y'all give at least one of these a try, too.
• DEAR MARTIN by Nic Stone. I finished this on Sunday afternoon – it's very short, although emotionally difficult – and would recommend it to anyone. So good, but CW: A young black man is shot and killed by an off-duty cop.
• FAR FROM THE TREE by Robin Benway. I started this back in November when I took a flight but I miraculously put it down and never picked it back up again? I am trying to make room for both new books and old books this month, so I am going to try reading this again. I enjoyed it a lot so I'm not sure why I got distracted!
• BIG MAGIC by Elizabeth Gilbert. This is my audiobook for the month, and I am feeling so inspired already – and very grateful for my creativity.
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What are you reading this month?
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