I’ve finished my last books for April and read a few to start May off right. Let’s dig into them a little more.
Statistics
Age Category: 3 YA, 2 A
I was in a young adult mood this time around, apparently.
Author’s Gender: 4 F, 1 M
Yup, again.
Genres: 2 Fantasy, 1 Science Fiction, 2 Mystery/Thriller
No contemporary. Wow, wonder when the last time that happened was.
Indie Authors: 3 Y, 2 N
Pretty close to even, considering it’s an odd number of books.
Total Pages Read: 1,654
Average Pages per Book: 330
Not bad.
Ratings: 3, 4, 4, 5, 5
Great crop of books!
Publication Dates: 2006, 2019, 2019, 2020, 2020
Apparently 2006 now counts as backlist for my reading. Weird.
Book Notes That Didn’t Make the Video
The Awakening
- This was one of the books that I received in my Indie Book Box subscription before that company closed their doors. I love the books I got through this service and I seriously wish it was still open. If you happen to know about a company who delivers monthly independently published (and vetted) books, let me know in the comments!
- As someone who regularly is bothered by honeycomb style images (trypophobia is the official term although I’m not sure mine is bad enough to warrant a label) the cover was a little tough for me. The part of me who wanted to understand what I was seeing was at war with the part of me that got a stomach ache every time I tried to look more closely at it.
- Support indie authors and grab yourself a copy here.
Empire
- I listened to this one as an audiobook which I borrowed from my library.
- Audiobooks are my go-to source for books when I’m driving or waiting in my car. I do a LOT of those things when my kids are in school. It turns out I don’t have nearly as much time to do that when the kids are schooling at home. Boo. This is only my second audiobook for April.
- Grab yourself a copy here.
Last Memoria
- This one was a review request that is also an advanced reader copy. The book is actually hitting shelves TODAY. I had an electronic copy.
- I don’t dig into reviews of the book before I agree to review it. I read the synopsis and any information the author wants to provide me. In this case, the synopsis really worried me. It sounded an awful lot like the same premise as a book I previously hadn’t liked too much (I mentioned that in the video). I will say this … this book is what that book was TRYING to be. This book is well written, conceptually well developed, and a great study in human morality.
- Support indie authors and preorder your copy here.
Donn’s Shadow
- This one really met two goals this month. It scored the shield for Recommended based on my recent 5 star rating of its predecessor, Donn’s Hill. But it also is a review request. I was working from a paperback copy the author sent me in exchange for an honest review.
- I don’t say this often, but this book may have been better than the first book in the series. I seriously hope there’s a third book coming and I cannot wait to grab a copy.
- Support indie authors and get yourself a copy of this one (or the previous one) here.
One of Us is Next by Karen McManus
- I listened to this one as an audiobook from my local library. It wasn’t on the official TBR. In fact, it wasn’t even one of the 400 plus books on my Goodreads TBR (which I pride myself on keeping accurate). I loved the first book. I somehow didn’t realize the sequel had come out. So thank you, library, for noticing that I missed this one and letting me know it was available.
- I previously rated One of Us is Lying 4 stars for being a solid mystery/thriller.
- Grab yourself a copy of this one here.
The Video
Watch the full reviews right here. You can even subscribe to the YouTube channel to help show your love and support. Thanks for being here!
