April Wrap-up!

 

It's May 3, and I am writing my April wrap-up! Whaaaaaat? I tried something new this month and created a TBR list, and I am excited to share how well I stuck with it (still blogging into the void, but all writing is worthwhile writing, in my mind). It was edited a couple of times late in the month as I noticed Libby due dates approaching, but for the most part, I stuck pretty close to my goals, and I got all my April NetGalley releases read and reviewed before their release dates! I have been gifted more advanced copies this year from NetGalley than I ever have since becoming a member in 2019, and I also have gotten one some publisher mailing lists, which means I have gotten some books sent to me that I did not request on NetGalley, which is really fun for me. Some of them are not books that I would normally choose to read, and it has been hard for me to decide whether I should just accept and download everything or be a little more choosey and just download the ones I am really convinced I want to read. So far, I am going the latter route because my goal is to read and review all the books I download from NetGalley this year, and I really want to reach that goal. 

Anyway, my TBR list for April (and the challenges/lists/locations they came from and my star rating) are as follows:

• The Griffin Sisters' Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner - NetGalley (5 stars)
• The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Green - Libby (3 stars)
• Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams - Spotify audiobook (3 stars)
• Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune - 2025 Book Bingo (5 stars)
• This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan - GR Community Favorites Challenge (5 stars)
• The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah - GR Community Favorites Challenge (4 stars)
• Summer Light on Nantucket by Nancy Thayer - NetGalley (4 stars)
• The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick (5 stars)
• Summer in a Bottle by Annie Rains - NetGalley (4 stars)
• The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella - 25 in '25 Challenge (5 stars)
• Saltwater by Katy Hays - Libby (4 stars)
• What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama - Libby (5 stars)
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly - GR Community Favorites Challenge, Libby audio (4 stars)
• A Certain Kind of Starlight by Heather Webber - 25 in '25 Challenge - (4 stars)
• Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang - NetGalley (4 stars)
• Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand - 25 in '25 Challenge (5 stars)
• The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell - Libby (4 stars)
• Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak - Kindle Unlimited (This is the only book I didn't finish...I started it on 4/30 and am still reading.)

Astute readers will notice that I read 17 books in the month of April. HOWEVER. I was on vacation from work for two weeks of the month, and the first three books on that list were books I began reading/listening to in March. Still, it was a great month of reading for me! And I think the TBR list was a success! It helped me read all the books I needed to from NetGalley and also reminded me that I had some challenges that I have "committed" to (I am only competing against myself, so if I don't complete them, it's fine.), and I added some books from each of them to the list. I also pay for Kindle Unlimited each month, and I have a lot of books downloaded to my Kindle from KU and on my broader TBR list from KU, but somehow other books always get in the way. I would like to be more intentional about reading some of their offerings, so this gives me a great way to fit those in. 

Now, let's talk about the big hits for the month! I am not a fantasy reader, but one of my book bingo squares had me reading a fantasy book, so since I didn't want to have to deal with a lot of world building, I decided to go cozy fantasy and chose TJ Klune's Under the Whispering Door. I had heard that this was a good introduction to fantasy and was not hard to follow, and I have to say that I just loved it so much. It was just so sweet and magical and uplifting, and after I shared with one of the book clubs I am in on Facebook how much I loved it, someone recommended I try Under the Cerulean Sea on audio, so I used an Audible credit to purchase that. I have not dived into it yet, but once I am done with my current podcast (I am deep into the Karen Read trial right now.), I am going to start it up. I also really loved The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick. I knew Marie Bostwick mostly from her Cobbled Court Quilt series, which I read many years ago (the first was published in 2008), so when I saw her familiar name on NetGalley, I requested her new book! This was very different from that series, but reading it was such an amazing experience. It was a celebration of women's friendship at a time when feminism was really in its infancy in the American household, and I learned a lot about an era I had not really read much about. A final favorite for the month was What You Are Looking For Is in the Library. These translations of Japanese novels have become popular thanks to TikTok, and I decided that I wanted to check one out. I would describe this book as gentle. It was just a lovely experience to read. 

The thought of adding up the number of pages and listening hours for the month makes me want to poke my eyes out, so I am going to spare everyone that. I guess I can share the misses for the month. I only had one major miss, and that was an audiobook that I probably would have liked if I had read it myself. I have been enjoying the When in Rome series by Sarah Adams, so when I saw Beg, Borrow, or Steal, which is the third installment, available on Spotify Premium, I decided to make it my pick for the month. Well, I am sure that all audiobooks listeners know that the performers can make or break an audiobook for a person, and both the male and female narrators for this book were just...not good for me. I stuck it through to the end because I was invested in the actual storylines, but I was definitely kind of hate-listening by the time I was halfway through. The male reader sounded like he was trying to use an exaggerated Prince Charming voice, and the female reader's over-acting was just...cringe. Katherine Green's The Lake of Lost Girls was also only a three-star read for me, and I think that is just because I wasn't excited to read it...and I can't for the life of me remember why. It did take me a full six days to read, and I read other books in between, so something about it was not holding my attention. 

I think I will end this with my current TBR list for May so that whenever I post my May wrap-up, I can see how well I stuck with it. Without further ado, here is my current plan for the month of May! Sadly, I don't have two weeks of vacation to work with this month...

• Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell - Libby
• The Forgotten by David Baldacci - Libby
• Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma - Libby
• A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian - Libby
• Friends with Benefits by Marisa Kanter - NetGalley (finished this tonight - 5 stars!)
• Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein - NetGalley 
• Mansion Beach by Meg Mitchell Moore - NetGalley
• Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts - NetGalley
• Tracking Justice by L.T. Ryan - Kindle Unlimited
• The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods - Kindle Unlimited
• The Chamber by Will Dean - 25 in '25
• The Hotel by Pamela Kelley - 25 in '25
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach - 2025 Book Bingo
• Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes du Mez or No More Tears by Gardiner Harris - 2025 Book Bingo
• First Time Caller by BK Borison - 2025 Book Bingo

Alright, I think that's all the words I can wring out of these fingers tonight! Happy reading!