April Preview

 Hello Interwebs!

So we're a few days into April and it's time for a new TBR that I may or may not stick to but that's beside the point. I had a good reading month in March that I'm hoping to continue on into April but I've been in the mood for light and fluffy so this month we'll be doing mostly romance, except for my readathon at the end of the month but more about that after the regular TBR. 

First up the two books I'm currently working on. I'm currently about halfway through an audiobook and about a third of the way into a physical book that I'll keep working on during the month. 

• House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas (Crescent City #1): this is the first book in Maas's adult urban fantasy series following Bryce, a half-fae girl, and Hunt, a disgraced angel, as they work on trying to solve a series of murders being committed by a demon. I'm about halfway through the audiobook right now and I'm finding it very enjoyable. 
  
  
  
• Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester: this is a horror/thriller novel told in two timelines-mother Caroline in 2004 and daughter Lila in 2019 as they deal with the horrific deaths of young girls and women perpetrated by a mysterious entity known as the Cur. I'm about a third of the way into the book so far and it's a pretty slow burn, unreliable narrator kind of story. So far it's okay but not the best thing I've read recently. 
  
  
  

Then there's my book club picks, all of which I have copies of now but I'm not sure what if any I will be reading. 

• I Am I Am I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell: this is the April pick for Cheryl Strayed's Wild Reads club on Literati. This is a memoir about the near-death experiences that shaped the author's life. It sounds interesting and it's fairly short so it should be doable, especially following along with the suggested timeline of 4ish chapters a week. 
  
  
  
• Nine Lives by Peter Swanson: this is The Book Troop pick for April. It's a thriller that involves a list of names on a sheet of paper which is dismissed as junk mail until bad things begin happening to the people on the list. An FBI agent whose name is on the list begins to try to figure out what the people on the list have in common and who is behind it. It sounds interesting so this might also be a possibility for the month of April. 
  
  
  
• All Her Little Secrets by Manda M Morris: this is the Literally Dead book club pick for April. This is also a thriller which follows Ellice, a coorporate attorney in midtown Atlanta who finds her boss (and casual partner) dead with a gunshot wound to the head and then walks away like nothing happened. Ellice has a bunch of secrets and is trying to keep her past and present separate even though they're trying to collide and drag her back down. This also sounds fairly interesting but I dunno. 
  
  
  

And then I have my normal TBR which consists of almost all romance novels of various types. 

• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: This is a romance novel a Ph.D. candidate Olive and professor Adam who begin a fake dating relationship which becomes more. This is a very, very hot book all over right now so I'm looking forward to reading it.  
  
  
  
• Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (The Brown Sisters #1): this follows Chloe Brown who is a chronically ill geek who has come up with directives to help herself get a life and enlists rebel Red Morgan to help her in her mission to rebel. Also a very well regarded book that I've been meaning to read. 
  
  
  
• One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston: this is a female-female romance following August who is a waitress in New York when she meets another girl on the train Jane, who is displaced from her own time in the 1970s and needs August's help. This sounds super cute and is by the same author as Red, White, and Royal Blue which I also loved. 
  
  
  
• Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (Bridgerton #4): this is the fourth Bridgerton novel following the third Bridgerton sibling, Collin, and his friends to lovers relationship with Penelope Featherington. With the new season of the Netflix show coming out I want to get back into this world. 
  
  
  
• It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey (Bellinger Sisters #1): this is a romance following Piper who is sent to Washington by her stepfather after getting into trouble and sea captain Brendan. This is a grumpy sunshine romance that is supposed to have major Schitt's Creek vibes which is one of my favorite shows. 
  
  
  
• The Fine Print by Lauren Asher (Dreamland Billionaire #1): this is about Rowan who owns a company that is basically Disney and Zahra who works for him. She submits a proposal criticizing the most expensive ride at the park and is hired. They begin a workplace romance. This book is all over TikTok and Instagram and everything right now and I'm excited to give it a shot. 
  
  
  
• Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake (Bright Falls #1): this is also a female-female romance about Delilah Green, a photographer who returns to her home town to photograph her estranged stepsister's wedding and then meets her stepsister's bestfriend Claire, a single mother who runs a bookstore and they bond over the wedding preparations.  
  
  
  
• Isn't It Bromantic by Lyssa Kay Adams (The Bromance Book Club #4): this is the fourth book in the Bromance Book Club series which follows a group of Nashville elite men who form a romance book club to teach themselves how to get women. This follows the Russian and his wife, their marriage of convenience, and the romance novel he's writing while attempting to win her over. 
  
  
  
• Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarians #1): this is the first book in a sci-fi romance series that follows a group of human women who are abducted by aliens and are surviving (and being seduced) by a group of alien barbarians of this ice planet. I've heard this series is pretty much pure smut but once again TikTok made me do it. 
  
  
  
• Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace (You Are Your Own Fairytale #1): this is the first book in a poetry trilogy by my favorite poet, Amanda Lovelace, which was completed in March. 
  
  
  
• Shine Your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace (You Are Your Own Fairytale #2) 
  
  
  
• Unlock Your Storybook Heart by Amanda Lovelace (You Are Your Own Fairytale #3) 
  
  
  
• House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas (Crescent City #2): the second Crescent City book which just came out in February and which I have on audio and plan to listen to when I finish the first one. 
  
  
  

Finally during the month of April GabbyReads and OliviaReadsALatte are hosting the Spring Fling-o-ween readathon at the end of the month. It is the last weekend of April from April 27-30th. There are three prompts which includes two bookish ones and once again I'm planning to participate, in fact, I bought a t-shirt for it from the official merch shop. Which is so, so, so cute. I love the ghostface with his little flower crown. I got this version of the tshirt in blue but I might be getting it in yellow as well. 

The three prompts are:

1. Read a book with pink or yellow on the cover
2. Read a backlist thriller or horror book
3. Make a fall-themed drink or pastry to bring Halloween to Spring

For this readathon I'm going to try to read two books. I have one book that I'll try to get to for sure for the first prompt and I have four options for the second book prompt. 

• Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins: this is a new thriller that came out in January and I'm using for the pink or yellow on the cover. This follows a couple who are hired to sail a group of women out to a remote island when they encounter another boat at the island and then one person goes missing, another turns up dead, and secrets come to light. 
  
  
  
• Everything That's Underneath by Kristi DeMeester: this is a debut story collection about all the dark places that people avoid. This is a choice for the backlist horror. 
  
  
  
• Joyland by Stephen King: also an option for the backlist horror/thriller. This takes place in a North Carolina amusement park in the 1970s where a college student working as a carny confronts a legacy of murder and the fate of a dying child. 
  
  
  
• Zombie Bake-Off by Stephen Graham Jones: also an option for the backlist horror/thriller. This is about an annual bake-off in Lubbock, Texas which has pitted soccer moms against pro-wrestlers. Then infected donuts turn the pro-wrestlers into zombies and all hell breaks loose. 
  
  
  
• Zombie Sharks with Metal Teeth by Stephen Graham Jones: the final option for the backlist horror/thriller book. This is a short story collection which includes the titular story about zombie sharks. So yeah that's all I need to know. 
  
  
  

So that's everything I might read in the month of April. We'll see how it all goes but so far I'm pretty excited about everything going on. Hope your month is good so far and there's plenty of sunshine for your month. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle