April Reads

Happy May 1st! Another month is behind us and that means it’s time for my monthly book re-cap! I haven’t counted yet, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t come close to outdoing my March total of 14 books. April has just been so darn busy!

But let’s see what I did get read…

fyi – all book links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through any of these links I’ll earn a couple pennies.

Clockwork Princess

I started off the month by finishing off The Infernal Devices trilogy. I enjoyed this series and read it pretty quickly, but I think The Mortal Instruments was still my favourite of the two series. I enjoy historical fiction and the world of Shadowhunters so definitely like this, but the epilogue gave me a MAJOR eye-roll alert. Like major. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Eleanor & Park

This was a really quick read for me, but a super enjoyable one. It covers some less than cheery topics, but I think was a really well-written view into the lives of teenagers. I since have had a brief conversation with Rainbow Rowell (the writer) on Twitter (I still can’t believe that this is something you can even do. When I was a kid/teen, the idea of having a conversation with a writer about their book would have blown my mind) about this book ending up on banned books lists in some libraries and was shocked. As I mentioned, there are some dark topics, some language and “content” (for lack of a better term) but I would have never considered it to be one that needed to be considered. In fact, I would be more likely to put it on the “recommended reading” lists.

Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles #2)

Yup, I’m still totally into Cinder and her crew. This book expands the world established in Cinder and introduces new characters, this time named Scarlett and Wolf (I’ll let you figure out what fairy tale their story resembles 😉 ). I’m still sticking with the audio books for this series because I’m still in love with the reader. She is so good at different voices and accents she really helps bring the story alive. I’m currently almost finished book 3 in the series so you can expect to see more instalments in next month’s post.

Matched

I had such high hopes for this series. The premise was interesting and it sounded like it would be such a good story. In a society where if you choose to marry, your “match” is chosen for you, main character Cassia is matched with her best friend only to then find another boy’s face (one she also knows) when she inserts the file on her match they gave her at the ceremony. Now she is conflicted, who is truly her match? Sure it’s full of teenage emotional drama but I thought it would be good.

I was bored to death. The characters never fully interested me and by the end I was just glad it was over. This is the first in a series, and while it’s unlike me to abandon a series without finishing it – I just don’t care.

Scrappy Little Nobody

I got this one for Christmas and have enjoyed celebrity books in the past, and well the title had intrigued me. I gave the book 4 stars on good reads, but I think 3.5 is more accurate. Call me a square, but I get so bored of listening to stories from celebrities about getting high or doing drugs. That was certainly not the majority of the book, but I would have enjoyed it so much more without those sections. Anna is an interesting girl and one whom I have more respect for now having read the book, but she is no Mindy Kaling in my book (I loved her first book).

The Low-Fodmap Solution: Put an End to Ibs Symptoms and Abdominal Pain

I’ve still been battling the old IBS flare-up this month, though I think (fingers crossed) it has finally settled own and I’ve started eating some raw vegetables again. This was a title sent to me by Robert Rose Publishing, and it came just at the right time. A low FOD-MAP diet isn’t new to me, but it’s always interesting and helpful to expand upon your knowledge, especially when it comes to improving your health.If you are an IBS sufferer it’s a definite title to pick up, as it is packed with great info, recipes and access to a support group.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

I mean how could I not want to read this? I’ve seen it on bookshelves a number of times over the years and finally picked up a copy to read. The beginning is heartbreaking, but once you get past the first few moments they find nearly frozen baby Dewey it gets considerably better. I did find the book a bit too focused on the town and the writer’s life, though I realise that was done to help put perspective on how much Dewey meant to both her and the town, but I found some of the side stories too long and boring. In fact, I skipped a bunch of them -oops.

And while I’m marking this as “read” in all honesty I didn’t finish the book. As soon as I got to the part where Dewey was going to have to be put down I couldn’t read anymore. The wound is still too fresh from losing Ollie and Pekoe last year. I couldn’t live through it in book form.

Anyone who is interested in small town life and animals would enjoy this book. Dewey is definitely a character and reminded me a fair amount of another ginger kitty I knew.

The Hypnotist’s Love Story

I wasn’t sure I’d like this book right from the start. The name alone put me off for some reason, and I don’t really know why. It was a quick read and overall I enjoyed but it certainly wouldn’t rank in my top 3 Liane Moriarty titles.  I thought she did a great job of portraying a stalker in that part of the storyline (though that seems very weird to write out), I think because she made her seem human. Creepy, but not threatening, if you know what I mean? Definitely, a thought provoking book and might make for an interesting read if you really like getting into the heads of the characters in a book.

The Bone Witch

I stumbled upon this one day when searching overdrive for the Halifax library and was intrigued and checked it out.  I’m not sure if it is because I read it during a week when I was super busy or not, but I never really got into this one. I don’t have any reason why I didn’t love it, it just felt a little blah to me. But like I say, perhaps I just had too much going on to really get invested in it.

The Circle

I wanted to read this book for months and was super excited to finally get my hands on it. Basically, The Circle is a company who develops software to organize and keep all your files and your entire life digital and “easier”. The book follows Mae, a new employee of The Circle and how she interacts with the other employees and how The Circle comes to change her life. I’m not going to give away any more than that, but I will give you the trailer to the movie below (which got terrible reviews, unfortunately) which will probably make the premise more understandable than my ramblings:

I found this really, really interesting and found the story very compelling. At the end of the book, I definitely felt it was a great book, but I’m not sure I liked it. Even though I’m unsure of whether or not I “liked” it, I still think it’s worth a read, it parallels so much of what we are living now – but to heightened state – and can really make you think.

175 Best Small-Batch Baking Recipes: Treats for 1 or 2

This is another Robert Rose Publishing title that they sent me and I’m in love with it! So often we want a little sweet treat but don’t want to make a whole batch of something. Cutting a cookie recipe in half, for example, isn’t so tough, but when you want only 6 cookies it becomes more of a challenge. Not with this cookbook! They did all the hard work testing and perfecting the recipes for us so we can make anything from cookies to cupcakes, to squares, to a mini lemon loaf (which I’m planning to make this afternoon) without any extra math! If you like fresh homemade treats but don’t want to have to eat a full batch, definitely check out this book. I make these biscotti from the cookbook last week and they were amazing!

yum!

That’s it for this month – a total of 11 books. Not too shabby! Now for this month’s picks:

What to check out:

I’m going with The Circle on this one. It really brought up a lot of good questions – especially for our younger generation who have grown up in an online world.

What to skip:

Definitely Matched. That is all. ha!

Disclosure: The two titled provided by Robert Rose Publishing were given to me free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All other titles were either purchased by me, given to me as a gift by my husband, or borrowed from the library. This post contains affiliate links.