It's time for another massive reading roundup. This one covers roughly three months of reading, or the spring season.
But before I get into the reviews, I want to do a quick check-in on how my 2025 reading lists are coming along. I am officially caught up on my One Woman Book Club reading, in that I'll be reading the June pick in June (I haven't actually started it yet, but soon). Here's an update on my seasonal lists:
- Winter Reading List - 5 of 10 books read. I have started Love and Ruin, The Stroke of Winter, and The Vine Witch, but not gotten very far in any of them.
- Spring Reading List - 2 of 10 books read. I know, I know. This one is pretty bad, but I have moved a few of these to the top of my queue.
- Summer Reading List - 1 out of 15 read. Not bad since I just put this list together.
I started making these reading lists as a way to organize my massive TBR and give myself a starting point. My TBR can be a little overwhelming, but these focused lists have really helped me to trim it down. That said, I tend to read things based on how I'm feeling in the moment, which means it usually takes me a bit to read everything on my reading lists.
Spring was really busy for me and pretty stressful if I'm being honest. Lots of things took a back seat while I focused on getting through the last leg of the gifted certification course I was taking, plus we had all the end-of-the-year school activities going on. However, looking through my Kindle history, I realize that I read more than I thought I did.
Author: Nadine Brandes
This was my book club pick for April and is hands down the best book I've read this year so far. It's a historical fiction book based on the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 featuring the most famous conspirator's son as the main character with a unique magical spin. I loved this book so much that I ended up going on a deep dive into the history of the actual event and conspirators. You can read my full review of the book here.
Author: Kristin Wright
This was my May book club pick, which I read at the very start of June. It is a mystery told in dual point of view between an attorney and her client. The attorney, Allison Barton, is trying to make a name for herself so that she can start her own practice. The client, Kira Grant, is the PTA president and has been accused of poisoning another parent at the fifth grade graduation celebration. This book wasn't bad, but it didn't live up to my expectations either. It's got a great twist, though. Read my full review here.
Author: Gordon Korman
This is absolutely a middle grades level book, but I love Gordon Korman and occasionally like to read books that my students would enjoy. That said, this book was very relatable for me as a former gifted kid. This is the story of a boy who is not gifted but through a series of unfortunate events finds himself enrolled at a gifted academy where he finds a place on the robotics team. Not only is it a learning experience for him but also for the actual gifted students who need a lesson or two in how to be kids.
Whispers Within the Moonlit Garden (Desperate Disguise book 3)
Author: Tessa Cole
This was a good continuation of the series I started at the beginning of the year, but it's not finished and the next book isn't coming out until next year! I'm so mad at myself for starting it without checking to see if it was complete. I'm invested in the story now and need to know what happens! Here's a really brief summary of the series plot: When Sage gets a premonition of her brother's death, she disguises herself as a boy and takes his place at the Black Tower where she gets a lot of unwanted attention, especially from the tower's fae commanders. To make matters worse, she keeps appearing in the fae garden, a feat that should be impossible considering she's human.
Author: Stacey Brutger
I remember enjoying this duet but not specific plot points. Rue can see and communicate with the dead, just like her mother whose own gift caused her to go crazy and ultimately led to her death, leaving Rue with her abusive father. Rue manages to escape with the help of her estranged and eccentric grandmother, but she can't escape her past or her powers. Thankfully, the guys who live next door can help.
Talk to Me and Don't Let Go (Switchboard duet)
Author: Heather Long
I really liked this duet. It was a bit reminiscent of Mia Smantz's Cardinal series while being nothing like it at all. I know, that's confusing, but they have kind of the same vibes in my opinion. Anyway, Patch went off the grid five years ago when she discovered her government employer wasn't actually the good guy. Now, she's a switchboard operator for now-so-legal clients. It's a system that works...until it doesn't and her old life comes to call. When she misses her call time with three of her best clients, they join forces to find her and eliminate the threat.
Author: B.M. Clemton
I'm not usually into monsters, but this series was really interesting, and I loved the FMC. Meyer can see monsters and has spent her entire life hiding from and fighting them. When an injured hunter shows up on her isolated doorway, her life changes forever. Not only is Meyer meant to defend the realm from monsters, she's also the key to stopping an ancient evil from fully rising and destroying everything.
Author: Tate James
Tate James is one of my favorite authors, but I've been actively avoiding this series. It's not my usual trope, but I love her writing style and her character development is always on point. The Guild is a mercenary organization that Danny was raised to be part of as a honey trap (hence the name of the first book). Now someone wants her dead, and they'll do just about anything to see that it happens. But Danny isn't so easy to kill, and she's got some powerful players on her side.
Author: Elizabeth Dear
I loved this series, even though I usually stay away from this particular trope. Saint Gabriel City is ruled by four families: the Spencers, Hargraves, Ferreros, and Knights. Or it was until the Knights were murdered by the other three. Seven years later, the daughter they thought they'd killed comes back and will stop at nothing to bring it all down. I really enjoyed Jolie as the FMC, and her found family was so great. One of my favorite characters, Frankie, was not a main character, and I wish he'd had more page time. I think there might be a novella about him, though.
Author: Mia Smantz
This is a sequel series to her Cardinal series that I mentioned earlier in this post, so I reread that before reading this one (and you absolutely have to have read it to understand this one). The Cardinal series is one of my favorites, but I think this book was better, and I can't wait to see how these characters continue to grow and develop. Just to give you an idea of what everything is about...Callie was kidnapped when she was 11 because of her exceptional computer hacking skills. Eventually she's rescued by a top secret government agency and works with them to bring down the man she was forced to do unspeakable things for. While they are successful in bringing him down, there are still loose ends at the end of the series, namely a serial killer who is obsessed with Callie, and that's what this book focuses on.
The Scarlet Witch (The Coven: Vampire Magic book 3)
Author: Chandelle LaVaun
Ahhh! This book was an amazing continuation of this long-running favorite series of mine, and I cannot wait for book four of this part of the story to come out later this year. Surprisingly, I did not reread the entire saga before diving into this one, but I have a feeling that I'll start back at the beginning before the next season. Okay, so in a nutshell, Lilith is trying to rise and it's up to the Coven and their allies to defeat her and save the world. The seasons so far have been about gathering all the players they need to be successful. This particular season, which focuses on Frankie and her soulmate Everest, is a bit on the spicy side (the Coven is growing up, y'all), but you can request a more PG version.
Author: Emma St. Clair & Emma Proctor
This was a quick little rom-com that was totally predictable but fun nonetheless. Eloise and her sisters inherit their grandmother's beach house on Oakley Island. Per her will, at least one of them must live in the house while it is being renovated to become a bed and breakfast. As the youngest sister who's just graduated and has no current job prospects, Eloise is elected to stay and oversea the project. No one, least of all Eloise herself, expects her to fall in love with island life...or the grumpy lawyer living just next door. There are two more books in this series focusing on the other two sisters, Merritt and Sadie.
Author: A.L. Rook
I have such mixed emotions about this series. On the one hand, I'm ready for it to be over because it feels like it's never-ending and overly drawn out (I really think that's just me being impatient, though). On the other hand, I love the story and the characters. The cliff-hanger in book four though! OMG. I need to know what happens ASAP. And there isn't even a placeholder for book 5 yet! Raegan has the power of destruction. She was taken as a child and raised on an island under the pretension of training to use her gift for the greater good. When she accidentally kills the sister of one of her best friends, she's abandoned by her friend group. Now she's on a mission to destroy the group that abused her and her once-upon-a-time friends are between her and her goal.
Veiled Spirits and Shadowed Spirits (Haunted Magic books 1-2)
Author: E.L. Finley
Another incomplete series. Why do I keep doing this to myself?! I like the storyline, but the FMC is a bit more emotional and self-sacrificing than I typically like. She's a bit infuriating to be honest. Her mates are what kept me reading...and then the introduction of some side characters that I was not expecting. Isabel has a forbidden type of magic that could result in not just her death but the death of anyone who knows about it. But the council who set that law is corrupt and have unleashed a veritable goddess of war that only Isabel has a hope of stopping.
Kingdom of Aramis duet (Kingdom series)
Author: Lexie Winston
I didn't know this duet was part of a bigger series...which hasn't been written yet. So while the duet is finished (kind of), the story itself is not. There are so many unanswered questions, and if the author continues with the duet format for the other kingdoms, there will be four more sets. This world is divided into four kingdoms: Aramis, Eryx, Shayla, and Tanith. Aramis, where this duet takes place, is the land of the shifters. To prevent fighting amongst the humans and supernaturals, the gods decreed that every 40 years a human would be selected king or queen and imbued with the magic they need to rule over their subjects. Colbie is the new shifter queen, a position she absolutely does not want but one for which she is perfect...because the gods have been plotting and nothing that's happening in any of the kingdoms has been left to chance.
Starlight Mates and Celestial Alphas (The Nexus series books 1-2)
Author: G. Bailey
It's been awhile since I've read anything new by this author, but she's been one of my favorites for awhile. I'm only two books in, and I haven't actually downloaded the third book yet, so I'm not sure if I'll finish this one anytime soon. It wasn't really what I was in the mood for at the moment, plus the series isn't finished yet so there's really no hurry. In an effort to protect them, Gwen rejected and has been actively hiding from her mates for years. But as is always the case with books like these, they find her and aren't letting her go anytime soon. There have been some vague allusions to Camelot but it's unclear how exactly that's going to play out.
Author: Tirzah Price
This is one of the books on my Summer Reading List. I fell in love with this author after reading Pride and Premeditation in 2022, which made my best books of the year list, so I had high hopes for this one...and Tirzah knocked it out of the park! I might actually have enjoyed this book more than the first. You might have guessed from the title, but this book is a retelling of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility as a murder mystery. Now, I've not actually read the original version so I can't say how closely the stories match, but I'm not sure that it even matters because the story was just that good. When the Dashwood sisters' father dies unexpectedly, his estate is left to their half brother and his awful wife, who waste no time in pushing the sisters and their mother out of their family home but not before the sisters discover that their father's death was no accident.
No comments:
Post a Comment