Hello there, readers! My April recap is going up pretty late. Sorry about that. The first week of May I was traveling, and this week I’ve been catching up on all the things I missed while I was gone. Now I’m finally getting a chance to sit down and write this post to tell you about what I read in April. Here we go…
I didn’t have to go anywhere in April, and I’m fully recovered from my eye issue. So, I only listened to one ebook this month. That was A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas, the second book in her Charlotte Holmes series. This series is so good. Seriously. If you like Sherlock Holmes retellings (or re-imaginings) you really need to check this out. I probably said the same thing last month, but it’s still true. The third book comes out in October, so go and get caught up. I’m not kidding. I think I like this better even than BBC Sherlock, and that’s saying something.
Just as I was finishing that audiobook, two romance books that I’ve been excited to read and have been hearing excellent things about came off hold. So I dove into those two books next.
I read A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole first. It’s delightful. If you like movies like The Prince and Me, or you’re really into this upcoming royal wedding, you really need to read this book. It’s so good. The heroine is a science geek, and it’s not just a character gimmick. She actually gets to solve plot problems with science. The hero is charming and adorable. And he does a pretty good grovel after he messes things up (repeatedly).
After that, I devoured Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai. I have to say that I was highly skeptical going in because the entire plot revolves around these two characters being in a (contemporary) “Romeo and Juliet” sort of situation where they absolutely cannot be together. I didn’t think there was any (modern) scenario where that would be believable enough to hold up an entire novel-length plot, but I can safely say I was wrong. There’s a lot of heat in this one, in addition to the forbidden love thing. So, if that’s your jam, don’t miss this book.
Finally, I convinced my local (and new-to-me) sci-fi book club to read Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly. The easiest way for me to attempt to explain this would be that it’s like a queer John le Carré novel. I think you could make the argument for this being sci-fi or fantasy, depending on how you define genres. There’s real-world physics (read: no magic), but it’s set in a completely imagined secondary world. So if you like your SFF on the “light” side and you also like very political spy novels (like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), definitely pick this up. Also, do it fast because it’s a finalist for the Nebula award (winners announced later this month) and the second book comes out on Tuesday, 15 May!
Overall, it was a great reading month for me. I consider all four of these to be five star reads. And May is off to a great start as well. I’ve already finished two highly enjoyable books this month, and I’m in the middle two more. One of the books I’m currently reading is another Nebula finalist (Six Wakes). I’d hoped to read at least four of the seven novel finalists before the awards were announced, but I don’t think I’m going to get the fourth book (Jade City) read in time. We’ll see…Stay tuned and find out in a few weeks when my May recap post goes up.
Until then, happy reading! And happy birthday month to me! 🙂
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