April 2023 Book Review

It's Gonna Be May!!! Texas weather is being wild y'all, so it's definitely springtime. School is winding down, the days are getting longer, it's s-l-o-w-l-y warming up, I'm giddy! So let's start off the first day of this glorious month talking about books!

I read 11 books this month making my total for 2023 48 books! I feel like this year has started off very slow in me finding winners, but I had some solid reads this month that I'm finally excited to share about!

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah [audiobook] - I had heard from multiple people that this book was super depressing. I wanted to read it because I almost always like Kristin Hannah's book, but hearing that made me hesitant, so I decided to listen to it ha. Julia Whelan was the narrator and she is AMAZING. But yes, this book is SO, so, So, sO depressing. It's about a family living in the Dust Bowl of Texas during the Depression. I would say it was good {well-written, characters I was rooting for}...but very hard to get through. 

A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams - This was fantastic! I ate it up! Beatriz Williams is a winner for me {although sometimes they are kind of slow for me}, but I enjoyed this from the very beginning. This follows Lily one summer at her family's beach house after she was jilted by the love of her life...who has since married her best friend. We go back and forth between that summer {in 1938} and her relationship with Nick 5 years before. I love the characters, there was just enough mystery to keep me guessing as to what was happening, I loved how it wrapped up. Very much a page turner that I loved!

Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey - I think Tessa Bailey is a 'I like her but don't love her' author. I LOVED It Happened One Summer that I read last May, and I think that story is the anomaly for me with Tessa. This had a lot of romance tropes - missed loves, grumpy/sunshine - and was cute, and I also enjoyed the mental health representation, but I didn't love it. Cute, not amazing.

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys - This was our Blog Friend Book Club selection for the month - it's a YA story about the Romanian revolution that happened in 1989. I knew nothing about the Romanian revolution and thought this was a good story - suspenseful for sure and kept me engaged. It for sure FELT YA, which isn't a bad thing, but is definitely a vibe.

Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson - I just said Tessa Bailey isn't a must read for me. BUT Jennifer Robson for sure is. I love how she creates characters that I can't help but love in hard circumstances where I want to see them win, and this was no exception. The Blue Lion Hotel is struggling with reservations but happens to be on the route for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and the owner, Edie, is hopeful this will help set them to rights. The story flips between Edie and 2 people living in the hotel. It was an adorable story, and I couldn't put it down!

The Love Wager by Lynn Painter - Cute, cute, cute! Lynn Painter is quickly becoming a must read for me. I read Mr. Wrong Number last year and thought it was fantastic, and this follows the main character from that story's brother and was equally as cute.

The Inheritance Games and The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes [audiobook] - One of my friends, Kathryn, lets me borrow her library account {THANK YOU!!!} and she was listening to this trilogy and thought I would enjoy it...and she was right! Avery is a teenage girl who just inherited $46.2 billion from a man she's never met, and she {with his 4 disinherited grandsons} try to figure out why. This is cute and light and fun! I really think Drew would enjoy this. There are lots of puzzles and clues to solve, a smidge of romance {think a couple of kisses}, and lots of twists and turns. I'm excited to read the 3rd book soon!

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Continuing the Little House series with Drew. I am enjoying watching Laura age and mature and see the changes in their family as they are finally settled in their forever home. My big complaint with this one is a SUPER racist chapter that was very tough to get through...but did lead to some good discussion with Drew. 

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell - Lisa Jewell is my favorite thriller author and this was the sequel to a book {The Family Upstairs} that I read a while back. This picked up right where that one left off and wrapped up the loose ends, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was a page turner that gave me some anxiety {in a good way}!

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez - Abby Jimenez is 5 for 5 with me for writing the most adorable, believable-ish, well-written, best banter-filled, cutest character-driven books! And I love that they always have a little some extra to add some substance {in this story it was heavily focused on one character's anxiety}. There were definitely some tropes {fake dating, enemies to lovers}, but it didn't feel as cheesy or forced as some other books I've read. I can't rave enough about this author or this book!

My reading of diverse authors took a hit in April, and I'm already working on that for May, but overall I had the best month of reading I've had so far this year.