April Wrap-up 2023

Hello readers, welcome to my April Wrap-up!

This month I feel I did mediocre, reading only 5 books. I got my reading challenge from 15/60 to 20/60 and managed to stay on track despite slipping in and out of reading slumps all month. Oops! This month I read a few different books than I am used to, 4/5 of them being ARCs, and I didn't have a bad read at all.

The Golden Enclaves: Naomi Novik

The Golden Enclaves is the last novel in the scholomance, written by Naomi Novik. In this book we follow the main character Galadriel as she navigates her new life out of school. She is sent on quests by her old classmates to kill murderous monsters using her magic, but overall struggles with grief for her boyfriend Orion. The Scholomance is a gruesome- but magical- fantasy, dark-academia for mature teens and young adults.

I don't know if I can really include this one in my April wrap-up, as I did start this book in March, (and planned to finish it in march) but ended up completing it in April after a reading slump. I ended up rating The Golden Enclaves 3/5 stars, as I did enjoy the last book in The Scholomance series, but it just dragged a lot for me which is why it got 3 stars.

Socially Previewed: Matthew Newell

Socially Previewed is a science fiction novel written by Matthew Newell, where we learn of the main character, Lewis, as he develops a power of 'social media premonition', seeing posts up to 24 hours before they are posted. Throughout the story Lewis becomes a sort-of superhero, arriving at crime-scenes and accidents before they happen and saving civilians. After weeks of using, what Lewis calls, the QTS posts begin to appear days and weeks away from posting revealing a problem much worse than he had before, now it is Lewis's chance to solve it.

Socially Previewed was the first ARC I acquired, and I was so excited to read it. I ended up rating this book a 4/5 stars, because I thought the story was captivating and unique and was definitely my style.

Bitten by Time: Lara Bronson

Bitten by Time, a paranormal, time-travel and historical fiction written by Lara Bronson, is set in medieval Romania. The main character, Petra, time-travels from current day to medieval time, when using a spell she found in an antique book. Petra has to live her life as a mute maid, whilst she thinks of a plan to go back to her time period. During this time she encounters a knight, who discovers her secret, and falls in love with him, but as she begins to settle in, she is threatened to disappear forever.

I gave this book a 3.5/5 stars, as the story was good and captivating, but I felt occasionally Petra's character was dry. I am excited to read the next installment of The Vampire Genesis Chronicles (and have been gifted an ARC), which comes out this month, and hope to see the characters grow.

The Winds of Morning: Gifford MacShane

In The Winds of Morning- a beautiful love story, inspired by the Great Famine- we meet Molly, a girl struggling to find food for her and her sick brothers after her mother and father died. Molly meets a man names John Patrick Donovan, who becomes her husband to save her from her fate. Molly, her brothers and JP travel across Ireland in search of a better life, meeting problems and misfortunes along the way. The Winds of Morning is a novella and 0.5 in the 3.5 part series, the Donovan Family Saga.

I rated tis book a 4/5 stars, as I feel a lot of research went into this story and it was written really well. The book shows a lot about the lives that people in history had to go through and is quite emotional and educational.

Counting Stars: Braelyn Wilson

Counting stars is a beautiful romance, written by Braelyn Wilson as her first novel! We meet Brantley Thornton, a depressed teenager who plans to end her life on the fourth anniversary of her mother death. We get insights into Brantley's life, hearing of her abusive, alcoholic father, her ex best friend and the missing piece of her heart, her mother. Just as Brantley has decided her fate, a positive and bubbly boy, Caspian Marks, moves across the road from her and tries to stop her plans.

I rated this book an honest 5/5 stars, as I was thoroughly impressed in the writing, characters and dialogue and the plot is full and though out. There is a lot of content that could be distressing to certain readers, but overall this book is perfect to fill you with happiness, anger and a whole flood of tears.

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I have written individual reviews for each of these books which you can view on the review page or click the individual images at the beginning of this post. If you have read any of these books, or plan too, please feel free to discuss in the comments, give this post a like and join my subscription and book group and if you would like to follow me on socials, my Instagram, Goodreads and Twitter links are at the top of this page.

Thank you so much for reading my April wrap-up, although it is a tiny bit late, I hope you enjoyed and join me again throughout the month and again for my May wrap-up!