I went into this audiobook blind, having barely read the synopsis, and I was actually surprised at how much I liked it. The beginning was slow, but the plot needed to be laid out. There are a lot of characters and I like that the book took the time to go through each one in a non tedious way. The middle picked up and it really made me enjoy the book. I also ended up being okay with the narrator, even though I wasn’t a fan of all of the voices he chose to use for some of the characters (the main police detective is supposed to be from England and there wasn’t a real British-y accent).
Thank you to Netgalley, Peter Nichols and Celadon for allowing me to listen to this ALC.
Good morning! These are the books that I “stacked” onto my shelves, virtual and/or physical, for the entire month of April:
The Vacation Rental is my Amazon’s First Reads choices for April. Cut & Thirst is a short story bonus available to First Reads members.
Since I am not having much luck with books this month, I decided to borrow some short stories from Amazon, free with my Prime membership. (I had listened to the first book last year that’s why it is crossed out in the graphic above)
Most of these were sent to me because I am apart of the SMP Influencer Program. The last few I requested through Netgalley and was approved. My ratio TANKED this month!
I was sent these titles from Novel Suspects Insiders Club as Netgalley ebooks.
I absolutely LOVE using my library for all my books and audiobook needs. I do not have a lot of money to blow on a hobby, so I found a good way to support my community, my library and my reading habit! The library has a ton of resources and I always check there first for audiobooks I want to listen to, or for books I want to read. Libby is my friend and I have multiple library branches hooked up to my account for maximum borrowing.
I am also doing two library challenges for this year, so I thought it’d be fun to post monthly updates about my library stats.
Borrowed five audiobooks through Libby (DNFed three of them).
I also borrowed five hardcover books in three separate trips to my local branch (I am returning one unread and plan to read the other four in May).
Total Saved In 2024 While Using The Library: $608.49
I found this meme on It’s All About Books blog, so thanks to them for sharing it! It’s becoming a favorite of mine (as I am doing a lot of place challenges (states, countries, etc). *I will not include fictional or dystopian places in this monthly post*
So, here are the places “I’ve traveled to” this month.
USA Illinois (three times), Nevada, New Mexico, New York (twice), Rhode Island
The three W’s are: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you plan to read next?
I borrowed the hardcover copy of Tress of The Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson from my library, to buddy read with the Fantasy Sickos Fable group (which I found through Michael Kist’s BookTok page).
I wanted to finish up this month with a Netgalley. This one came out last month and I’m just getting around to listening to it now. I enjoyed another book by Carola Lovering so that was why I requested it.
I was totally invested in the beginning of this book! The beginning is definitely creepy and thriller genre vibes. But as the story went on, I felt a little bit of each characters inner monologue was repetitive throughout the middle of the story, so I did some skim reading there. I was fine with the ending, it all wrapped up nicely. Overall I liked the book, it was a good read. Three stars!
I listened to books 2 through six of this Amazon Original Stories series. I actually liked all of these!
My genre tastes are all over the place… the life of a mood reader apparently LOL! My ARCs have gotten out of control thanks to Novel Suspects Insiders Club and the SMP Influencers Program!
The Sunday Salon, hosted by Readerbuzz, is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week plus it’s a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.
Okay so I don’t know WHAT my problem is this year, but I am DNFing books like it’s going out of style! This year I have DNFed 13 books… THIRTEEN! The books were either stupid characters who grated on my nerves or it didn’t hold my interest enough to want to get to the end of the story.
I HAVE been consistently reading, so that is a plus. I am taking some random advice I saw on TikTok and for every heavy/thriller book I read I am going to read a lighter book… so I don’t burn out or get into a reading slump. My overall reading this year has been just alright…. no great five star reads, and not many four reads. I think it’s because I was reading books for CHALLENGES and not FOR MYSELF.
I have been keeping up with my Netgalley’s really well, but then Novel Suspects and SMP Influencers sent me a ton of ARCs so now my percentage has tanked. I am also gung-ho on using my library for the books I want to read (and that will never change) but then a lot of my library holds were available via Libby… thank goodness they made the “borrow at a later date” part or I would of been up a creek without a paddle haha!
With the possible banning of Tiktok, I have been trying to post more on my Instagram page. And I am using the Stories more lol! Follow me there if you haven’t already.
The three W’s are: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you plan to read next?
I borrowed the hardcover copy of Tress of The Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson from my library, to buddy read with the Fantasy Sickos Fable group (which I found through Michael Kist’s BookTok page).
I need a book cover with water on it for a challenge I am doing in April, and this is a book from my owned backlog. The beginning of the story has been interesting so far!
I am listening to this one for a book discussion at the end of the month for a Facebook group I am in. I am mostly going in blind to this one, so wish me luck!
I had requested this audiobook through Libby awhile back. The other day it was available to me to borrow. I binged the crap out of this one over the weekend! The one main character grated on my nerves about how she acted throughout the entire story, because it was to keep the twist of the plot a mystery for as long as possible, so I rated this one 3.5 stars on Storygraph because of that.
My genre tastes are all over the place… the life of a mood reader apparently LOL! These are all ARCs I want to get to this month, or at least ASAP. I’m actually doing a good job keeping up with my Netgalley backlog and TBR shelf.
My go to quick read/listen author is Kiersten Modglin. Lately I feel like her books have been hit or miss with me, but this one was absolutely a HIT! I really enjoyed this domestic thriller! It was eerie and kept you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I liked that the book was a quick listen as well. It make the urgency of the plot feel like it was a matter of life and death… because it was! I absolutely loved each narrator. They all made their part of the book all the more enjoyable!
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this ALC.
The Sunday Salon, hosted by Readerbuzz, is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week plus it’s a great way to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.
The week before we were on Spring Break, so this week was full of working hard at work, and extra curricular school activities. I did hang out with my bestie Thursday night so that’s always a good time!
I’ve been consistently reading, so that is a plus. I am taking some random advice I saw on TikTok and for every heavy/thriller book I read I am going to read a lighter book… so I don’t burn out or get into a reading slump. My overall reading this year has been just alright…. no great five star reads, and not many four reads. I think it’s because I was reading books for CHALLENGES and not FOR MYSELF.
I am still sticking to this April plan: focus on Netgalley ARCs and other ARCs I’ve received, the physical books I borrowed from the library, and my specific TBR list I made a Google sheet for #nerdalert
I have been keeping up with my Netgalley’s really well, but then Novel Suspects and SMP Influencers sent me a ton of ARCs so now my percentage has tanked. I am also gung-ho on using my library for the books I want to read (and that will never change) but then a lot of my library holds were available via Libby… thank goodness they made the “borrow at a later date” part or I would of been up a creek without a paddle haha!
With the possible banning of Tiktok, I have been trying to post more on my Instagram page. Follow me there if you haven’t already.
The three W’s are: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you plan to read next?
It was a busy week last week and I kept falling asleep the minute I jumped into bed, instead of reading. I am not far into the book as of the writing up of this post.
I was absolutely sucked in to the beginning of this story. The first chapter was so tense and heartbreaking at the same time! Then as the story goes on, it started to get boring and I didn’t care for the characters. The multiple POV didn’t bother me, it was needed for the story to work. I just felt the story took longer to develop than necessary and it wasn’t keeping my interest towards the end. I ended up rating this three stars on Storygraph.
Another Kiersten Modglin audiobook on Netgalley. Another great listen! KMod is my go to girl and I normally like all of her books! This book is multiple POV and I really liked the third narrator’s POV.
My genre tastes are all over the place… the life of a mood reader apparently LOL!!!!! These are all ARCs I want to get to this month, or at least ASAP.
Melissa The Reading Nerd Blog 