I don’t know about you, but April has come and gone so incredibly quickly.
For me, it was a great month though.
The sun is definitely shining and it is starting to feel like Summer, with temperatures ramping up to mid-high twenties. That does mean, I have tanned (burnt) but all in the spirit of a Summer glow.
This month I also got to see my parents, as they travelled 12 hours to visit me (long-distance families know the struggles). For that reason, I’ve had some much needed time away from work (yay), ate out at lots of great food spots (yay x2), and even got to play with some kangaroos (no, I don’t live in Australia).
How was your April?
As for my month in reading, stats-wise, we have finished with:
8 books total
0 books DNF’d
3080 pages
Average finish time: 3 days
Average rating: 3.8 stars
So here is complete roundup of everything I read in April.
The Baby Dragon Cafe - A.T. Qureshi
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 / 5
I started off the month with a fuzzy, warm romance.
Was this novel groundbreaking? No. But was it a quick read with beautiful writing and lovely characters? Absolutely.
The story centres on Saphira, who opens her dream café for humans and baby dragons alike. There, she meets Aiden, a grumpy but gorgeous local struggling to manage his unruly baby dragon. In need of extra money for café repairs, Saphira agrees to help, and what follows is a charming connection that grows from friendship into something more.
A.T. Qureshi has a beautiful way of crafting dialogue, using it to build relationships slowly and subtly. The way she writes feels so thoughtful and makes the characters feel real and their emotions genuine. I’m not sure whether that comes from drawing on her lived experiences or if she just has an ability to tap into feelings we can all relate to, but it works.
This Could Be Everything - Eva Rice
⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
This Could Be Everything is a story layered with complex themes and emotions. Grief, to hope, agoraphobia, and neurodivergence.
The novel follows February Kingdom, a 19-year-old grappling with the loss of both her parents and twin sister. Her trauma manifests as agoraphobia, and we meet her in her aunt’s bedroom, where she has cocooned herself in a carefully controlled world where listening to the Top 40 becomes a comfort ritual. That routine is disrupted however when an escaped canary finds its way into the house. Through returning it, she meets Theo, a local pet shop worker by day and music manager by night, and their budding friendship encourages her to step back into the outside world.
As you might expect from its themes, this is a deeply emotional and, at times, profound story. However, it’s not too heavy balancing this with warmth and humour, particularly through its many music and fashion references (February’s passion point) which helps to add a sense of personality to her character, rather than defining her by her trauma.
While I did enjoy the book, I found the writing occasionally overly descriptive, a style I personally struggle with which took me away from the story. I finished feeling satisfied but did think the same emotional impact could have been achieved in much less pages.
That said, it’s still well worth picking up if the synopsis speaks to you. The quality of the writing is strong, and the ending ultimately is worth the effort.
Daggermouth - H.M Wolfe
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this novel, but it definitely wasn’t the incredible read that I got.
Daggermouth is a brilliant dystopian fantasy that builds an immersive world filled with political tension, high stakes, and LOTS of drama. It reminds me of The Hunger Games meets Throne of Glass, yet still feels fresh, modern and unique.
The story is set in New Found Haven, a city divided into three rings. The Boundary, the outermost ring, is a neglected slum defined by poverty. Beyond that lies the Cardinal, an industrial middle ring of working-class citizens. At the centre is the Heart, home to the elite ruling class. The narrative follows Shadera, an assassin from the Boundary, who, after a mission gone wrong, is forced into an arranged union with Greyson Serel, the Heart’s executioner. What begins as a political marriage quickly becomes a story of betrayal, resistance, and uprising, climaxing in an explosive finale where multiple storylines collide.
Told through dual points of view chapters, the novel expands beyond Shadera and Greyson, offering us a much broader look at the world and its side-characters. I was completely hooked from beginning to end, and the pacing kept me invested throughout, most notably in the nail-biting final chapters.
That said, the book ends on a major cliffhanger. Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but with the sequel still a year away, it was a heartbreaking revelation.
Would I recommend this novel? Absolutely. Just be warned, part of me suggests waiting until the next book is out, to spare you the same painful anticipation I’m feeling now.
Atmosphere - Taylor Jenkins Reid
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
Tens, tens, tens across the board. This book is a masterpiece.
If you haven’t already seen, I wrote up my thoughts in a full review, characterizing this novel as a “a work of cosmic brilliance, rooted in history and science, and shining a light on a queer love story.”
I won’t repeat myself again here, but this book is worth your while. Highly recommend. Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again!
Unearthly - Cynthia Hand
⭐️⭐️.5 / 5
I’ve had a bit of trouble writing down my thoughts on this book. I did enjoy it overall, but I finished it feeling slightly indifferent, however I suspect that reaction come down to my own personal taste.
This is a YA paranormal romance that follows 16-year-old angel Clara as she tries to fulfill her life’s purpose. Through a series of visions, she sees a forest fire where she’s meant to save a local boy named Christian. But when the moment finally arrives, things aren’t as straightforward as they seemed, and Clara is forced to question whether she can, or should follow the path laid out for her.
The story itself is sweet, it’s very coming-of-age, and the writing is perfectly fine. However, it never fully pulled me in or made me feel deeply invested which is why I haven’t continued into its consequent sequels. That doesn’t make it a bad book by any means, I think subjectively it just didn’t resonate with me. My teen days are well and truly past.
Yesteryear - Caro Claire Burke
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
Next up was talk of the town, Yesteryear. Didn’t everyone read this book in April? Substack is leading me to think so.
Regardless, I dedicated a full post to this novel that you can check out below where I explored whether it was the story or the social commentary that has gripped the book community.
A solid 4-star read that is definitely worth your time!
The Bright Years - Sarah Damoff
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 / 5
The Bright Years was another highly anticipated read for me, and while I’m aware my opinion may be an outlier among the many five-star reviews, my experience was abit more mixed.
This is a multi-generational story told in three parts, each from a distinct point of view. The writing is truly majestic, Sarah Damoff, an author I wasn’t previously familiar with, has a beautiful ability to capture real feelings, portraying both love and heartbreak all at the same time.
That said, the emotional impact so many readers describe just didn’t fully happen for me. And after reflecting on the reasons why, I think its because of pacing. Things moved too quickly to give me time to care. An unfortunate casualty of needing to pass through multiple decades in one novel.
The frequent time jumps between chapters, the limited time spent getting to know Jet before shifting into her perspective, and sober ryan coming and going quicker than the wind, ultimately didn’t work for me. Because of that, I found myself feeling removed from the characters, and didn’t get to experience the heartbreak and the grief that the story was trying to convey.
Even so, I can absolutely see why this book resonates so deeply with others, the writing was great but it just didn’t quite land for me.
Loved One - Aisha Mulharrar
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/ 5
My final book of the month was Loved One by Aisha Muhlarrar—another popular pick across BookTok and Substack that I was really curious about.
This is a novel about grief. But despite the heavy subject matter, the novel didn’t feel too dark.
When Gabe, a well-known musician, unexpectedly passes away, his best friend and first love, Julia, sets out to collect his belongings from his most recent girlfriend Elizabeth. Whilst the two women initially see each other as rivals, their shared loss gradually brings them to a place of understanding and connection.
There were a few challenges I had with this book. One more personal, and others more objective.
On a subjective level, I found it difficult to relate to the way grief was portrayed in this novel. All of the characters in this story navigate their grief through remembrance. We get flashbacks, we get conversations reminiscing, we get inner monologues thinking of him. In my own experience, grief has looked quite different. I might be part of the 1% here, but when I have encountered grief it has often involved avoidance and emotional distance. Shutting out any thoughts of my loss to avoid tipping over the emotional edge. Because of that, I struggled to fully connect with the more memory-driven approach of navigating it within this story.
From a more objective standpoint, I also felt that we didn’t get to know Gabe well enough. While there are some early scenes of Julia and Gabe meeting in Barcelona, much of his presence in the story is filtered through others’ perspectives after his death. I understand that for a story about grief, its ultimately going to be told from the perspective of others but that distance made it harder for me to feel the emotional weight of his loss.
Finally, I kept waiting for a moment where everything would come together. A pin drop or an emotional peak but it never came. The novel is undoubtedly well written and thoughtfully constructed, but it wasn’t one I personally connected with.
So that’s it. All of my reads from April.
Have you checked out any of these books? If not, what did you pickup in April and more importantly, what do you recommend?
I am not a fantasy reader but the reviews have me intrigued. I will check them out. Great post, thank you for sharing.
I loved Atmosphere and just picked up Yesteryear! Excited to give it a whirl.