Hello!

If I haven’t made it abundantly clear before, I am not a mood reader – I like having a list and a plan and I hate making decisions, so of all the silly little categories that make up my monthly TBR (because just having a TBR without categories would be so not-Virgo of me) there is only one that I have any part in choosing and that’s the book club I have with my sibling, who is a mood reader, so I very much follow their lead and offer recommendations where necessary.

Some people like their TBR prompt jars, some people don’t like planning at all, I have my categories, my spinner and my TBR jar.

If you’ve read any of my posts you’ll know I love a ramble, so I’ll jump into the books or this post will be longer than a dissertation 😂

Wedding Book Club: The Silence of the Lambs – Thomas Harris

TL;DR – when my husband and I got married we asked our guests to gift us a copy of their favourite book so we’d have a little library of our favourite people’s favourite books. In an endeavour to read them all, I ‘set up’ a book club (my husband doesn’t join in) and I’m trying to read them all, so I have the remaining titles in a spinner which randomly chooses which one I’ll read each month.

I’m quite scared of this one, which is reasonable I think because it’s most commonly associated with a horror film. The genres on Storygraph as listed as crime, horror and thriller – I have been enjoying my thriller books more recently and I’m not adverse to crime, though it’s definitely not a genre I know a lot about but horror? According to the books I’ve logged as read on Storygraph, only 3 have been classified as horror and I think this further certifies that I know nothing about the genre because I only would have described one of them that way.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the wedding library on a number of occasions and I’m ready to be surprised again – I’ll almost certainly audiobook this one so if you know of a particular narrator who you like, please let me know!

Sibling Book Club: Eve of Man – Giovanna and Tom Fletcher

My sibling is currently reading ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ by Suzanne Collins so they wanted something a little lower stakes to line up for next month, so I suggested this book because whilst it’s dystopian and technically the stakes are quite high, it’s definitely lighter.

I’ve read this before so this is a reread for me but I loved this book when I first read it in 2019, I preordered the second book when it came out in 2020 and I’ve been waiting on the book to finish the trilogy ever since. I have somewhat accepted that it will never come and it will remain unfinished as the author’s are clearly prioritising other projects, but a tiny part of me lives in hope.

I’m not sure how I’ll feel about this YA book nearly six years down the line – I’m older, I’m much further removed from being a 16 year old main character and I’ve read a lot more books since then so I’m not sure I’ll rate the writing as highly, but I’m open minded and hoping I enjoy it as much as I did the first time.

New Release: Great Big Beautiful World – Emily Henry

Like every other romance fan on the internet, of course I’ve preordered Emily Henry’s new book. I just had to double check the release date and for some reason I convinced myself it’s the beginning of the month, but it’s actually the 22nd, so optimistically my brain says that I’ll have finished every other book on my TBR in the first three weeks of the month and I can finish the month with this one (unlikely).

Honestly, I don’t really know anything about this – I’m pretty sure it’s about two writers competing for the same opportunity to write someone’s memoire, but I don’t know and I’m happy to go in blind. I love reading books about books and bookish people and writers and publishers and librarians and I loved when Emily Henry did it in ‘Beach Read’ so I have no doubt I’ll love this too.

I’ve seen a few reviews describing it as more literary fiction than romance, but I’m ready to find out for myself.

New Release: Fearless – Lauren Roberts

I should have listed these the other way around really, as this comes out on the 8th, but I’m looking forward to finishing off the Powerless trilogy (and getting a series off my ‘currently reading’ list!). But there is a caveat…

Continue a Series: Reckless – Lauren Roberts

I haven’t read the second book in the series, so I need to read that before I dive into the conclusion to the trilogy.

I think the general consensus on this book is that it wasn’t as good as Powerless and was predominantly disappointing, but I think knowing that going in and having very low expectations should help keep my responses manageable and then hopefully Fearless will be a positive note to end the series on!

Powerless wasn’t a groundbreaking read for me – it felt so much like the Hunger Games that it made me feel nostalgic whilst reading a book I’d never read before – but it was the pinnacle of just having fun while reading! Paedyn is very ‘pick me’, Kai is your typical brooding, grumpy hero and every other character feels as stereotypical and ruthless as every other dystopian fantasy book that was popular in the 2010s, but those were what formed the foundations that became my tastes in reading now.

So do I think this series will become a six star favourite? No, but will I have fun? Yes, absolutely.

25 in 2025: How Not To Travel The World – Lauren Juliff

The way I chose my 2025 TBR was by picking titles out of my unread TBR jar. I then had a smaller jar, so I put the 25 titles in there and I thought it would be an easy way to continue to honour the TBR jar that came before… (did that sound pretentious enough?). I like how randomly it means I’m reading the books, it means I don’t end up reading through all the ones I’m excited about first and being left with a bunch that I’m not looking forward to reading as much and, as I said before, I hate making decisions so I’ll take any opportunity to remove that element from my reading.

This book is one that I have absolutely no recollection buying, but I’m very glad to have just one contemporary romance that I hope will be easy, cheesy and not soul destroying. I think it’ll probably be a bit cringe and I don’t tend to handle that very well, but I need an easy book to balance all the other genres on my TBR for this month!

Then last but not least…

25 in 2025: The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

A book I am both excited and terrified of – I liked Circe, but it’s one that’s grown on me, I found the writing style a bit difficult to comprehend (the audiobook really helped with this) but the story of the Greek Witch has definitely grown fonder since I read it. Mostly helped by my obsession with EPIC the Musical, where Circe is a character (and I take great joy in reminding my husband that assuming Madeline Miller’s story is accurate to the original mythology, she actually slept with Odysseus, they had a child together and then his son, Telemachus, finds her island, meets his half-brother and falls in love with the same woman as his father – she goes from father to son, and that changes the story of the musical quite considerably).

Sorry, I like talking about EPIC.

Anyway – Achilles isn’t in EPIC as far as I’m aware, but what I know of this story is that it’s gay and sad – I’m definitely getting the audiobook of this one, but I am nervous about my comprehension capabilities and also for my emotional state. I don’t tend to cry at books, but I’m happy to be proved wrong.

And those are the seven books I’m hoping to read in April! At this point in March, I’m still optimistic I might be able to squeeze in the last couple of books from my TBR but it definitely hasn’t been as successful as February where I read 10 books and my entire monthly TBR (in the shortest month of the year? Make it make sense). I did get a cat though and she has improved my sleep schedule, so even though I’m reading less I suppose it’s probably for the best that I can no longer stay up till 2am binge reading.

I can’t believe we’re already at the end of the first quarter – I feel like I’m a little behind in everything. But Storygraph says I’m 4 books ahead on my reading goal so I’ll take that.

Thank you so much for reading!

Sophie xx