I read ten books again in April for a total of 3935 pages. All of them were four and five star books! I started the month with Zero Cool by John Lange (pen name for Michael Crichton). I gave it four stars. I always enjoy Crichton books. After that I read One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus. I gave it five stars. I think I actually liked it better than the first book and can’t wait for the third to come out later this year. Then I read Dead Line by RJ Patterson. I gave it four stars. This one had a few minor plot holes and was absolutely not even remotely possible, but still good.

My next book was The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas. I gave it five stars. It was my real life book club book of the month (and then I was too sick to actually go discuss it). I wasn’t initially thrilled with the choice. It’s historical fiction which can be iffy AND it’s 770 pages long. Turned out to be an excellent book though. After that I read Quackery by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen. I gave it four stars. The humor in this one was perfect. Then I read Darling Girl by Liz Michalski. I gave it five stars. This one was a very unique take on the Peter Pan story and I loved it.

After that I read Xamnesia by Lizzie Harwood. I gave it four stars. It was an interesting story about her time working for ultrarich people in the Middle East. Then I read Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond. I gave it four stars. It was fascinating, packed full of information but still easily readable. My next book was Verity by Colleen Hoover. I gave it four stars. That author should write more psychological thrillers. She did an amazing job with this one. My final book of the month was From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon. I gave it five stars. It was just a really cute story with a perfect ending.

My favorite book of the month: Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

My least favorite book of the month: Dead Line by RJ Patterson

Number of 5 Star Books: 4
Number of 4 Star Books: 6
Number of 3 Star Books: 0
Number of 2 Star Books: 0
Number of 1 Star Books: 0

50/100 books read for my goal of the year – halfway there!

All the books on my previous TBRs have been read so I created May’s from scratch. I put on the next Harry Potter book and the next Throne of Glass book. Then I added four books for my BINGO board (one of them is also a Book of the Month book) and a book for the Alphabet Soup challenge I’ve been working on for over a year. I added a book from the Literati list I’m working through. And, finally, I added two books from my read soon file, a dystopian book since I really like them, and one more book that sounded interesting in order to bring my list up to an even dozen.

I read ten mostly excellent books in March totaling 3726 pages. I started out the month with a reread of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling. I gave it four stars. It’s my least favorite Harry Potter book. My next book was The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I gave it five stars. It was another reread. I’ve loved that book since I first read it in the fourth grade. It was published less than a month after I was born. Then I read Murder on the Hill by Kennedy Chase. I gave it three stars. Like most cozy mysteries I’ve read it was just meh.

Next I read Live Wire by Kelly Ripa. I gave it five stars. I laughed so much reading that book. So relatable and so funny. After that I read Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas. I gave it four stars. The Throne of Glass series is finally getting good. Then I read Blood, Bullet, and Bones by Bridget Heos. I gave it five stars. It was an excellent overview of the history of forensic science. My next book was The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan. I gave it five stars. It was such a sweet book with a perfect ending.

After that I read Twelfth by Janet Key. I gave it five stars. It was a fun middle grade book with a Shakespearean mystery at the center. Then I read You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar. I gave it five stars. It was so funny even though the stories they were telling weren’t really funny at all. My final book was Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I gave it four stars. It was yet another reread and I do think I enjoyed it more this time than the first time I read it.

My favorite book of the month: The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan

My least favorite book of the month: Murder on the Hill by Kennedy Chase

Number of 5 Star Books: 6
Number of 4 Star Books: 3
Number of 3 Star Books: 1
Number of 2 Star Books: 0
Number of 1 Star Books: 0

40/100 books read for my goal of the year

April is my birth month so, as I do every year, I don’t have a TBR list. April is for all mood reads all month long!

I read fifteen books again in February, this time for a total of 4342 pages. This month was heavy on Shatter Me series, which I finished earlier this week, and so heavy on the five star books since I gave all but one of the eleven books in that series five stars. I also finally finished LitHub 2020 Giant BINGO (101 books). Only took me a few extra years, but I got it done. The first book I finished last month was Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. That was the second regular book in the Shatter Me series. After that I read Fracture Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it four stars. That was the second novella in the Shatter Me series. It’s the only book of the eleven I gave less than five stars to.

My next book was Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. That was the third regular book in the Shatter Me series and what was originally intended to be the last book. She went back a few years later and added three more books and three more novellas (I’m glad she did). After that I finished reading Skink: No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen to the boys for their bedtime story. I gave it five stars. It was just a silly, fun book. Then I read A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga. I gave it five stars. It was a fun middle grade book I got from the Owlcrate Black Friday sale.

Next I went back to the Shatter Me series and read Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. It was nice getting back to those characters and their story with the fourth regular book of the series. Glad I didn’t have to wait years like people who started reading Shatter Me when it first came out! After that I read Shadow Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. That was the fourth novella in the Shatter Me series and since it was from Kenji’s point of view, of course I loved it. My next book was Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I gave it three stars. That was my real life book club book for February. It was a good book, but it was very predictable and came to a very sudden end (continued in the next book in the series that I may or may not read at some point).

After that I read Aries by Gemma James. I gave it two stars. It was really only part of a longer story and an example of Stockholm Syndrome glorifying sex slavery. It was well written, but impossible to get past the plot and the fact the author was presenting it as a good, positive relationship. Next I read Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. That was the fifth regular book in the Shatter Me series. Then I read Reveal Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. That was the fifth novella in the Shatter Me series. Another one written from Kenji’s point of view so of course it was excellent.

My next book was Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. I gave it five stars. The writing was very engaging and the statistics and stories were fascinating. The work the author has done to get innocent people off death row and to help guilty people get more reasonable sentences is incredible. I read that book for my online banned books discussion group. After that I read Imagine Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. That was the final regular book in the Shatter Me series. I had no idea how the author would wrap things up in the last 20%, but she did it absolutely perfectly. Then I read Sisters of the Snake by Sarena and Sasha Nanua. I gave it four stars. It was a little show to get started, but then got amazing. That was another Owlcrate book I got at the Black Friday sale. My final book of February was Believe Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. That was the fifth novella of the Shatter Me series, though it was really more the length of a short novel. That was truly an incredibly written series with amazing characters.

My favorite book of the month: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi (that was really tough to pick just one!)

My least favorite book of the month: Aries by Gemma James

Number of 5 Star Books: 11
Number of 4 Star Books: 2
Number of 3 Star Books: 1
Number of 2 Star Books: 1
Number of 1 Star Books: 0

30/100 books read for my goal of the year

Out of the twenty books on my February TBR I finished thirteen and am in the middle of reading five more leaving just Darling Girl and One of Us is Next to roll over to my March TBR. For book clubs, I added The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle (real life book club pick for March), The Robe (real life book club pick for April, but it’s super long so I figure I’d better get it started this month), and Eleanor & Park (a re-read, for The Grim Readers on-line book club). I added Twelfth and Dead Line for my 2023 BINGO board and Quackery, Verity, Xamnesia, You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacy, and Zero Cool to finish off my A to Z Titles game board that I started last year. That equals a reasonably doable even dozen (maybe… Spring Break takes up a week of March and there’s a lot less time to read when the kids are not in school so we’ll see).

I read fifteen books in January for a total of 5024 pages. I started off the month by finishing reading Rise Up From the Embers by Sara Raasch and Kristen Simmons to the boys for their bedtime story. I gave it four stars. It was a good conclusion to the duology. It took forever to finish reading it because I was in the car accident and then got sick and couldn’t read aloud for a couple months. After that I read Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas. I gave it five stars. I have a love/hate relationship with the Throne of Glass series. This book came firmly down on the love side. Next I read Pandora Gets Jealous by Carolyn Hennesy. I gave it five stars. It was quite a cute take on the Pandora’s Box myth. I won’t be continuing with the series, though. Maybe in a few years to read it to the little kids when they are a bit older.

My next book was The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I gave it five stars. That’s the most thought-provoking book I’ve read in a long time. After that I read Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales. I gave it two stars. That book had so many things wrong with it. The writing was just not that good. Then I read The Bitter Taste of Betrayal by CeeCee James. I gave it four stars. It was a well written cozy mystery, but the big reveal came pretty much out of left field and I didn’t really like that.

After that I read One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus. I gave it five stars, again. It was a re-read because I chose it for our January book club book. I read it about nine months ago and I really think it was even better the second time knowing what was going to happen. Next I finished reading The Book of Mormon which of course is five stars. I read one chapter a day and it took me about 2/3 of a year to complete it. Then I read Looking for Alaska by John Green. I gave it five stars, again, as well. It was another re-read because it was the online banned books book club pick for January. It had been almost nine years since I last read it so there was a lot I had forgotten. I always enjoy John Green’s books.

My next book was Happy Doomsday by David Sosnowski. I gave it three stars. It started out so good, but then the last quarter it just kind of got lost. It was really too bad since it had such great potential. Then I read Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. I’ve been meaning to read it for years and finally did because I was invited to do a Buddy Read of the series and I can’t figure out what took me so long. I should’ve known it would be amazing since the author is the wife of Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine author) who was the roommate of John Green in college and truly any book by an author in John Green’s orbit is an excellent one. The writing style was so unique and beautiful I could barely put it down. After that I read Madly, Deeply by Alan Rickman. I gave it five stars. I already loved Alan Rickman and now I love him even more because he was a bullet journaler. The book is an edited version of his bullet journal.

My next book was Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton. I gave it five stars. That book is a Harry Potter fan’s dream. So much Potter awesomeness from the guy who played Draco. After that I read An American Princess by Annejet van der Zijl and translated by Michele Hutchison. I gave it four stars. It’s a very engaging biography about a very fascinating woman who literally became a princess (for a while at least). My final book of the month was Destroy Me by Tahereh Mafi. I gave it five stars. This book is a novella in the Shatter Me series. I’m truly looking forward to finishing that series over the next few weeks. Such good books so far.

This was my best reading month in a long time with lots of hits, mostly five star ones, and only a couple misses. I also read way more books than I normally do. It was just a great reading month all around!

My favorite book of the month: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

My least favorite book of the month: Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales

Number of 5 Star Books: 10
Number of 4 Star Books: 3
Number of 3 Star Books: 1
Number of 2 Star Books: 1
Number of 1 Star Books: 0

15/100 books read for my goal of the year

I read half the books on my January TBR, so that left Sisters of the Snake, Aries, Murder on the Hill, Darling Girl, Live Wire, and Goblet of Fire to roll over to February. I added the next Throne of Glass book, Queen of Shadows, to my list as well as The Westing Game (which has been requested as the boys’ next bedtime story) and One of Us Is Next and A Rover’s Story. I added Just Mercy since it’s my online book club’s February pick and Cinder because it’s my in person book club book this month. That brought me up to twelve books, same as I had on my January TBR. And then, because I’ve fallen in love with the Shatter Me series, I added the other eight of those books. And, honestly, those are probably going to be the ones I read first. No chance I’ll get all twenty books read, but I should be able to get through a good chunk of them during the month of February.

I read 11 books in December. Ten were regular books for a total of 3,167 pages. The eleventh book was a graphic novel. My first book of the month was The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton. I gave it five stars. I apparently read it once before, about a decade or so ago, but I didn’t remember it at all. My second book was The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I gave it three stars. I read it for an on-line banned/challenged book group. Reading this book I learned that Jodi Picoult is the Colleen Hoover of the 90s.

After that I read 1789: Twelve Authors Explore a Year of Revolution, Rebellion, and Change. I gave it five stars. It was quite fascinating reading the essays about a variety of things that happened that one single year that changed the course of history. Next I read The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. I gave it four stars. It was quite enjoyable, especially since I do like the fake dating trope.

My next book was Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan. I gave it five stars. I groaned when I discovered my book group book was historical fiction about CS Lewis and the Narnia series so it was a pleasant surprise that I enjoyed it so much. Then I read Lost and Found by Amy Shojai. I gave it three stars. It was a debut book for the author (at least her debut writing fiction… she had previously written quite a lot of non-fiction) and it showed. After that I read Maus by Art Spiegelman. I gave it four stars. It was the graphic novel I read. I like Holocaust survivor stories and it was quite interesting reading on in comic book form.

Then I read Banana Peels on the Tracks by Jason Lockwood. I gave it two stars. The condescension and superiority that oozed from the author made it a bit of an unpleasant read. After that I read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. I gave it two stars. How this book got made into a movie I will never know. There was no character development and the main character was incredibly unlikable. My next book was Marriage Can Be Murder by Susan Santangelo. I gave it three stars. It was a generic mediocre cozy mystery. I finished the month off with a bang when I read my second favorite book of the year, Like a Sister by Kellye Garret. I gave it five stars. Twists, turns, an end I didn’t see coming plus humor just when needed to diffuse the tension. Just what I needed after such a so-so reading month.

My favorite book of the month: Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett

My least favorite book of the month: Banana Peels on the Tracks by Jason Lockwood

Number of 5 Star Books: 4
Number of 4 Star Books: 2
Number of 3 Star Books: 3
Number of 2 Star Books: 2
Number of 1 Star Books: 0

116/100 books read for my goal of the year (plus 4 graphic novels)

I read a lot of the books on my December TBR so I only rolled over seven books to my January TBR. Then I added One of Us is Lying (reread for my in-person book club), Looking for Alaska (another reread, this one for my on-line book club), and Sisters of the Snake, Darling Girl, and Live Wire for my 2023 Grim Readers BINGO board. My January TBR is a very doable even dozen.