March Wrap Up

March has been a weird month for me. Not going to lie I’m really happy this month is over. It means I’m one step closer to graduation! Despite this being such a weird month I did have the ability to read a lot of books (Thank you Spring Break!!!). I also read what will probably become one of my favorite books of all time!

Winter– I finally finished this series! It took me a while to get through this book and finish. Partly because life was happening and I just didn’t have the ability to sit and focus on a book for long periods of time. I listened to this book on audiobook and it made it more fun to me so I highly recommend the audiobooks for this series. I thought this book was good but pretty average. I struggled to fall in love with the characters in this series the way everyone else has. The exception to this is Cress and Carswell Thorne, I really loved their characters. I think my problem with this series is that after everything it still feels too surface level for me to really love these stories and these books. Overall I enjoyed my experience and would recommend reading this series if you are looking for a really wholesome, sweet, space opera.

Stalking Jack the Ripper – I had a lot of fun reading this and it really helped me to escape some difficult events that I experienced this month. It was predictable but I still loved it. I enjoyed Audrey Rose and Thomas Cresswell and I can’t wait to see more of their banter in the next book!

Red Queen – I picked this book up because I need a book I could use to escape from the world for a bit and dive into a fantasy story. This was really great for that. It was fun, exciting and cliche, but I find most YA is like that. I enjoyed the characters and I liked that this had a dystopian element to the story. I feel like we’ve gotten too far away from dystopian stories! Many people love to hate on this series so I’m nervous about reading the next book. But I’m excited that I have a fun new series to explore!

The Grey Wolf Throne – To be completely honest, I didn’t love this book. I had a really hard time getting invested in the characters like I did with the other two books. I picked this up and started it a few times and then ended up putting it down because I kept getting bored. Eventually I decided to listen to this on audiobook. I struggled to follow the narrator and the way the narrator voiced Raisa did not match up with what I imagined they were like in my head so I struggled to get fully invested in the world. I am still excited to see what happens in the next book and I’m curious about who Raisa will end up at the end.

The Widows of Malabar Hill – This book was great! I grew up reading Nancy Drew novels and this was my return to the historical fiction amateur sleuth story I’ve been waiting for! This book helped to get me to read more historical fiction this month and I’m really excited about that! This book was different from a lot of other mystery novels because it’s set in Bombay and follows a female lawyer as she works to help women who are observing Purdah and solve the mystery of who killed their household agent. I loved that this discussed so many important women’s issues. It truly deals with what it means to be a woman who lives in Bombay in the 1920s and the main character Perveen Mistry is an excellent main character. This book won’t be for everyone because it moves at a slow pace and is more character driven but I really think it deserves more attention.

A Curious Beginning – This book is a ton of fun! I will warn you if you don’t like really cheesy romance tropes you won’t like this book. I laughed so much while reading this book, and most of my laughter stemmed from how blunt and honest the main character Veronica Speedwell is. Veronica is not afraid to say what’s on her mind at any moment, it does not matter if what she has to say is entirely inappropriate and not necessary to the story, she will say it and she will be proud. There were a few moments that made me uncomfortable but overall this book was fun to read and I can’t wait to read the next book.

The Princess and the Fangirl – If you are a fan of anything and you enjoy talking about everything you are a fan of you will love this book. Having spent the last few years in many fandoms mentioned in this book I felt well represented. This is the second book in the “Once Upon a Con” duology and I posted my review earlier this month. I was lucky and got a copy of this book as an ARC on NetGalley. This series will always hold a special place in my heart because it is the first book I reviewed on this blog and the first book in the series, Geekerella, is the first ARC I ever read.

Waiting for Tom Hanks – For a long time I stopped reading any sort of romance or romantic comedy. I just stopped believing in any any sort of storyline that revolved solely around romance. I was the exact opposite of the character in this book who is obsessed with romantic comedies. I had a lot of fun reading this book and it made me want to pick up a more in the romantic comedy genre. My only issue with the book was that I felt the instant hatred Annie had of the main love interest came out of nowhere and I didn’t really understand why it was there other than to have the “hate to love” trope. Other than that it was really sweet and I recommend it for fans of “When Harry Met Sally”

The Girl he Used to Know – This book was a punch in the gut. I went into this book expecting a really sweet, lovely, possibly cute contemporary and found a really great contemporary romance with a heck of an ending. I recommend reading this book and then coming back and discussing more about it with me. I’m so all over the place with this book! It took me a week to fully process my thoughts over this one because of the way the book ended. If you want to know more about my in depth thought and to see a short little blurb explaining what the story is about, please feel free to check out my review.

Shades of Milk and Honey – I’m slowly becoming on of Mary Robinette Kowal’s biggest fans. I love the way she handles historical fiction. This is the first book in Kowal’s “Glamourist History” series. This book is basically Jane Austen with magic. I liked the depth of the characters and I’m excited to learn more about the world the characters live in. This was an easy, quick with a world that will be fun to return to again and again.

Daisy Jones and the Six – I loved this book! I will probably post a review/gush of this book pretty soon because there are so many things I loved about this book. I was not sure what to expect walking into this book because I’ve never read anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid before but now I’m probably going to go and read everything she’s ever written because this was great! I’ve been wanting to read something by Reid for a while and I’m happy I picked this up because this was the 70s rock and roll historical fiction book I’ve been wanting for a while. I’ve had this weird obsession with 70s music lately so this appeared at the perfect moment and I felt even more inclined to pick it up. This book does not shy away from difficult topics, including alcoholism, drug addiction, and abuse so if those are triggering topics for you I don’t recommend you pick this up. The format may throw a lot of people off as well but I enjoyed reading the book as well as listening to the audiobook. But seriously this book is great! I wish this band were real just so I could continue to obsess over the music when I was done reading the book. Also, Amazon bought the rights and ordered a 13 episode series for this book and I can’t wait!!!!!!

Park Avenue Summer – I really wanted to love this book. The premise was so interesting but there were so many times it fell short for me. I like the idea of following a young single woman as she discovers New York in the 60s but I really struggled to relate to the character. Plus, half the book was spent following a relationship that was clearly going to end badly. Overall it was somewhat lackluster and had a lot of scandalous moments for the sake of being scandalous.

The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo – This book was pretty incredible! I was not sure what to expect going into this book because I know everybody who has been reading it has loved it. Evelyn is not a likeable main character. From the beginning of the book I struggled with Evelyn. At the end of the book I can tell you that I still don’t like her but I respect her. There were moments that were really difficult to read and really uncomfortable but the overall storytelling was incredible. The way Reid built the narrative of the story and was able to make the reader disappear completely into the golden age of Hollywood was amazing. I’ve grown up watching and reading about a lot of Hollywood Icons but have never seen Hollywood shown in this way. Reid show how difficult and dangerous the business of being Hollywood star is for someone who does not match the wholesome, straight, white narrative the Hollywood studios wanted stars to project. If you choose to pick this book up prepare to be emotionally exhausted when you put this book down. I read this book in 24 hours and it was a whirlwind experience.

My favorite book I read this month was definitely Daisy Jones and the Six with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo coming in at a close second place. To be honest the minute I finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo I went and bought two more Taylor Jenkins Reid books because I’m such a fan of her writing now. I’m also really interested in exploring more about the culture in the late 60s, and early 70s if anyone has any recommendations feel free to leave a comment down below.