Emma Reads Books: April Preview

Hello Interwebs,

I know I'm almost a week into April at this point but I was waiting for Read with Jenna and Reese's Book Club to announce the book picks for April to finish this and Reese's Book Club pick wasn't announced until today. But without further ado here's what I intend to read in April, the book club picks for this month, and books I'm excited about that are releasing this month.

First up are the books I'm currently reading and may or may not finish in April. Two are audiobooks I've been working on for a while, one is an ebook and the fourth is a hard copy book.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama (2020). This is the audiobook version of former President Obama's memoir. I started this on November 30, 2020 and haven't really been listening to it despite enjoying it. So I'm going to keep working on it and eventually I will finish this.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (2020). This is another book I've been listening to as an audiobook (I also own it as a hardcover and an ebook). It's an adult urban fantasy about a young woman named Addie LaRue who makes a deal with the "darkness" so she'll live forever but no one will remember her. It's a good book but it was starting to feel heavy so I put it aside at like 50% completed. I started it on February 7th and I will try to finish this soon.
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas (2021). This is the most recently book in the ACOTAR series, this one focusing on Cassian and Nesta. I'm about 25% of the way done with this and I started it on March 29th so I should finish this easily in the first week or two of April.
Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson (2021). This is a thriller and the April title for The Book Troop book club. It's about a woman on her honeymoon who is being stalked by the man she had an affair with during her bachelorette party trip. I'm only about 25 pages into this book and I'm liking it so far. I started this book on April 4th.

When I wrote the first draft of this post I was also in the process of reading Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour. I started reading it around the first of April and read the first hundred pages or so, which was roughly a quarter of the book. I didn't dislike the book but I wasn't in a good place to read it if that makes sense. I won't get into too much detail about what I liked/didn't like about it but the part I was in the middle of when I DNF'd was the hell week of training at the start up that's mentioned in the back of book synopsis and although I knew and was prepared for it to be abusive I realized as I got into it that I was just not in the right kind of mindset to be reading about it. So I DNF'd it and I intend to pick it up later when I'm in a better headspace.

Next I have the other ten books that I am wanting to read in the month of April. I am 100% aware that this is crazy considering that I average about 6 books a month but here we are. (5 of these happened when I went to return Black Buck and pick up a hold at the library yesterday). So here's what I'm wanting to read in April.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo (2019). This is the first book in the King of Scars duology from Bardugo's Grishaverse. This duology follows Nikolai who is the King of Ravka and his trauma after the Ravkan civil war.
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo (2021). This is the second book in the King of Scars duology that just released at the end of March.
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Pennen. This is a historical fiction told both in the present day and in the late 1700s where a woman runs a secret apothecary where women can come for poisons to liberate them from the men who wrong them. This was my March Book of the Month selection.
The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow (2020). This is a historical fiction, classics retelling about the middle Bennet sister, Mary, from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen reimagining her as the heroine of her own Jane Austen-esque story.
The Bookwanderers by Anna James (2018). This is a middle grade fantasy following a young girl who lives with her grandparents above the bookstore they own. Then classic book characters start wandering out of their books and into the real world where they help her find out what really happened to her mom. This is the Darling Desi patreon buddy read for April.
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman (2015). This is a novella about a boy and his grandfather learning to say goodbye and how to let go.
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman (2013). This is about a young girl whose grandmother has died and left behind a series of letters apologizing to people she's wronged. The letters lead the girl on an adventure to fulfill her eccentric grandmother's last requests.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn (1989). This is a story about a carnival family who have set out to breed their own sideshow's worth of human oddities and follows their adventures as they take their show across the rural US.
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict (2019). This is by the same author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie which I loved when I read it back in February. This one is a fictional novel about scientist and actress Hedy Lamarr.
The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor (2021). This is another thriller and is actually the May pick for The Book Troop. It's more of a horror/thriller about a father and daughter who move to this town where 500 years before they burned a bunch of Protestant martyrs. Upon arrival he's gifted an exorcism kit with a warning. As they settle into the twon and get to know the inhabitants they end up being brought into the mystery of the city. My hold came in MUCH earlier than I anticipated but I have three weeks to read this so I'll read it towards the end of April to be ready for May.

So those are the books I'm hoping to read in April. I currently follow along with four book clubs, two celebrity ones, one on YouTube, and one on patreon. These are the selections for April. I'm definitely doing The Book Troop and the Darling Desi books but may not do the Read with Jenna or Reese's Book Club ones until later.

The Book Troop: Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson (2021). Thriller.
Darling Desi buddy read: The Bookwanderers by Anna James (2018). Middle Grade Fantasy.
Read with Jenna: Good Company by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (2021). Adult Contemporary.
Reese's Book Club: Northern Spy by Flynn Berry (2021). Thriller.