The following post includes affiliate links. More details here.  As you’re doing your Amazon shopping, we’d be ever so grateful if you’d use our affiliate link to do so as it helps pay the bills around here!

Ashley IN MEDIAS RES

• Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian
• 30-Day Stay: A Real Estate Investor’s Guide to Mastering the Medium-Term Rental by Zeona McIntyre and Sarah Weaver

Nikki IN MEDIAS RES

• Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian

Ashley FIN

• Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
• Diabetic Cookbook and Meal Plan for the Newly Diagnosed: A 4-Week Introductory Guide to Manage Type 2 Diabetes by Lori Zanini
• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
• Barbarian’s Touch (Ice Planet Barbarians #7) by Ruby Dixon
• We are the Light by Matthew Quick
• Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski
• Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life by Jim Kwik

Nikki FIN

• A Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks (Montague Siblings #3) by Mackenzi Lee
• King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
• Barbarian’s Touch (Ice Planet Barbarians #7) by Ruby Dixon
• We are the Light by Matthew Quick
• The Venus and the Viscount (Second Chance Manor #4) by Scarlett Scott
• Winter Takes All (Cowboys of Moss Creek) by Janice Whiteaker
• Barbarian’s Mate (Ice Planet Barbarians #6) by Ruby Dixon

Darling readers, if a month feels like doubling down on comfort reads, April Showers feels like it, and that is definitely what I did.  I read our list of titles, the last of which was reminiscent of visiting old friends, and then I went hard for my last couple of weeks of Kindle Unlimited before our pause, and picked up with another visit to old friends with A Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks (Montague Siblings #3) by Mackenzi Lee.  It is no secret that we adore a YA book around here, especially if it is full of snark and modern sensibilities and found family and that is most definitely what each title in Mackenzi Lee’s Montague Siblings series is.  Each has all of that and some serious issues to tackle too, with this one being mental health.  Let me also add trigger warnings for a couple of things that happen off the page but are mentioned and central to the relationship of the siblings, which include abuse of a child, who is an adult in the series, and suicide of a parent whose story is central to the plot of this book.  Even with the serious nature of the content, this was a really fun hang, getting to spend more time with Monty, Felicity, Percy, Sim, and more, and getting to know Adrian.  Sometimes I just really want to pour into a fun hang of a title that has enough seriousness to feel realish, but also leaves me with warm fuzzies at the end, and this was it!  It’s also a great series to include on your June reading plan with the LGBTQIA+ themes that are prevalent in the first two titles.  

I also want to give a permission slip here.  If any of you are like me and arrive at the end of a month and realize you / I have not fulfilled your / my reading goals, please give yourself permission to start again the next month.  Doubling up is well and good, if that serves you well, and not necessary for most goals.  I do not have a nonfiction title in the list above.  Oops.  I could listen to one in the next few days (and have done so before), but I’m not planning to do that.  I’m behind on my beloved podcasts and just don’t want to push in what already feels like a busy, hectic time.  Instead, I’m going to continue attempting to make progress towards my backlog of podcasts and purposefully select a nonfiction title to put on my reading list for May, and perhaps a second I’m interested in if the mood strikes.  Until then, I’m working on my in-progress book and getting back on a good rhythm with books to review here and the titles I’m reading purely because I want to (which will be including Rule of Wolves very soon).  Reading is a hobby, as is this blog, and my goals are ideals, not shoulds.  Permission is hereby granted to begin again any time it meets your needs, and grace is encouraged towards priorities that shifted.  

What have you read this month that has hit the spot?

~Nikki 

To be quite honest, darling readers, I can not believe that it’s been another month of book reading and reviewing. I can’t wrap my head around the part that the end of April is upon us and I get to reflect on what I have read for the past month. Per usual, my list involves less titles than I really wanted to read. But that whole life getting in the way of hobbies is the perpetual problem.

I was thrilled at a rush to read as many titles as possible by the time my Kindle Unlimited ended on April 18th. We need comfort reads and titles we don’t post about here on the blog to keep a balance over this hobby and I’ve not been disappointed with the plethora of romance series that KU provides for my enjoyment. This month only included another installment of the Ice Planet Barbarians Series by Ruby Dixon and two non-fiction titles that I had checked out to read during this session of Kindle Unlimited. I did feel a need to finish those up before KU ended and I was proud of that. I am still finishing up a title I started reading back in December, and I’m over 60% through, but I keep putting it down (it’s digital so maybe ignoring its presence on my Kindle is a better description) to read other titles that have deadlines or just keep my interest more. I wanted to have it finished by the end of the month but I don’t know if that will happen yet or not. Here’s to keeping my fingers crossed for that accomplishment over the weekend. I, like Nikki, have had to have some grace over my reading life in the past few months as work has become busier so that life has gotten out of routine.

There’s been a temporary addition of bodies into my household lately, as Adam found a litter of kittens at his work. We took 3 out of the 4 home, are currently down to two, and these 3 week olds are still being bottle fed. It’s a busy time making sure that they’re taken care of and I’m not a big fan of the every four hour feeding schedule. And, no, I don’t do the night time feeds, they chill for the 8 hours I am asleep. They’re cute. Anyone want some girl kittens?

What routine do you fall back on in your daily life that keeps your reading life steady? Mine is usually coffee and reading in the morning, but with kittens…ha. Haha. ha.

~Ashley

PLEASE SUPPORT US WHEN YOU SHOP BY FIRST CLICKING ON THE IMAGES BELOW: