April Book Reviews, Part 2

I’ve finished my second 5 books for April. Let’s dig into them a little more.

Statistics

Age Category: 3 YA, 2 A

A bit YA heavy this time. Strange how these things happen.

Author’s Gender: 4 F, 1 M

Genres: 2 Mystery/Thriller, 1 each Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror

Horror? YAY! I need to read more horror.

Indie Authors: 2 Yes, 3 No

Pretty close to half/half (as close as you can get with only 5 books, anyway).

Total Pages Read: 1,454

Average Pages per Book: 290

This is a little low for my average compared to last year. I’ve said that a few times in 2020, which likely means my average may be dropping.

Ratings: 2, 3, 4, 4, 5

Not a bad group of books! This time around we only saw one problematic (2 star) and the rest were good!

Publication Dates: 2016, 2017, 2019, 2019, 2020

My trend of keeping with books that wouldn’t be old enough to enter kindergarten continues, I guess.

Book Notes That Didn’t Make the Video

The Gilded Wolves

This book wasn’t even on my radar until very recently. Basically, I was approved for the ARC of the sequel so I had to rush out and find the first book in the series so I can give my best and most informed opinion of book 2.
This was a library copy.
Grab yourself a copy here.

Donn’s Hill

This was a review request. Typically when I take on a review request that has a sequel, I only agree to review the first book. This helps me (in the event that I don’t love it) and it helps the author (because if I do love it I’ll often purchase the second book). In this case, Caryn Larrinaga was kind enough to send me both books through the mail. So the second one is all cued up and ready!
There is an ADORABLE cat in this one who really made me want a cat. This is a problem only because literally half of the people who live in my house are allergic to cats.
Support indie authors and grab yourself a copy of this one here.

The Safest Lies

This was the oldest title on my TBR before the month started. I added this one to my TBR in December of 2017 after reading (and enjoying) a different book by the same author. I didn’t read much about the book before adding it to the TBR, honestly. I just knew it was a pretty highly rated (at the time) mystery/thriller and I’d enjoyed her previous book. Seemed like a good idea to add it!
You’ll hear me say (in the video) that I read this one in one day. That’s true. I actually read it in less than six hours. Yes, there were other things I should’ve been doing. But I just couldn’t walk away from this one.
Grab yourself a copy here.

Panic

This is a companion short story to Tom Leveen’s novel, Sick, which I rated 5 stars because it’s amazing. If you haven’t read that … you totally should.
This had absolutely no influence on my rating, but it’s fun to mention. The high school described in this book (and in Sick) reminds me so much of the junior high school I attended that it’s shocking.
Grab yourself a copy of this book here or of Sick (the full book this is a companion to) here.

The Jane Austen Society

This was an eARC I was approved to read through NetGalley. The book is coming out in May.
This is definitely an unpopular literary opinion … but I’m not the biggest Jane Austen fan. This author almost seemed to be using a similar writing style to Austen in addition to being about fans of the books. Meaning this book may have been more literary than I like.
Preorder yourself a copy of the book here.

The Video