April 2024 Reading Roundup – A Book Review

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April was crazy busy for me. I’ve been writing my novel like crazy, posting updates once a week. Writing a novel is such a time-consuming process, but a rewarding one. When I’m flowing, magic happens. I don’t know how else to describe it. I just write and hours pass and I blink and suddenly I’ve written 450 pages. It’s insane. I write night and day, weekends, all of it. Whenever I have a free moment, I write. I take this laptop with me everywhere. Click here if you’d like to check out my novel. It’s up to 27 chapters now. I plan to have it done by mid-June if all goes well.

Now you might be wondering, if I’ve been writing so much, when does the reading happen? Well, I read while walking around my living room (gotta get exercise somehow) and I listen to books while doing dishes, laundry and other mundane tasks around the house. That’s how I read nine books this past month, which is good for me. That’s roughly 2 books a week! That’s not nothing. Anyway, hope you enjoy this review and if you happen to pick up any of these, let me know what you thought.

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

I read the physical copy from my library. This took a long time for me to get into. I liked that even as I was guessing who Mr. Smith was, I was still wrong. There were lots of twists in here. To be honest, I wanted more love/romance between Ryan and Evie, but that’s just me. I’m a sucker for romance.

Mr Smith was an asshole. I want to reread it knowing what I know now and see if the guy who ended up being Mr. Smith seemed like he could actually be Mr. Smith. I’ll watch the movie or TV show when it comes out. It was still slow moving for me.

The back and forth in time was annoying. It would get good with what was going on in the present, and then go backwards to give you another piece of the puzzle. It just lost momentum for me. I’d say check it out if you’re in the mood for a thriller.

3/5 stars

Two is a Lie (Book 2 of the Tangled Lies series) by Pam Godwin

I listened to this on audible. You can check out my review for the first book in the series, One is a Promise, here.

It was hard to read at times. Everyone was so tortured with their arrangement. Especially Trace. He knew she got intimate with Cole and waited for her to tell him. I felt his pain. Felt everyone’s pain. Cole was a bit selfish, thinking he was the one and getting intimate with her first. Trace and Cole fighting over her in the backyard was super realistic. Cole putting the ring on her finger while she slept? Such an alpha male move.

So much tension between the three main characters and so much heartache. I loved it.

5/5 stars

Three is War (Book 3 of the Tangled Lies series) by Pam Godwin

I listened to this on audible. I went into this knowing how it would end and it still broke me. Everything happened heartbreakingly and perfectly. The threesome that ended up hurting everyone? Trace only going along with it because he knew Cole wanted to sleep with her after they were all dancing at the club? Her making decisions based on logic, rather than what was in her heart? The man who chose to bow out gracefully? What a ride!

So much pain. So much tension. It really was war between them. Them trying to one up each other. Making these rules that they could do what the other did with her. I’m glad she chose who she chose. He was perfect. Not that the other wasn’t, but he had flaws. So good!

5/5 stars

The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

I listened to this one through my library’s audiobook system. I picked this one up because I wanted to give this author another chance. Since I wasn’t impressed with their much hyped book Love and Other Words, I thought maybe this one would be better. But….it was okay.

Felicity and Connor. It was interesting that it was enemies to lovers and also forbidden love because of the work relationship thing. I loved reading about them falling in love, but as the story went on, it was just like, get them back together already! Like what are we doing?

I was surprised by Connor’s confession, but Felicity’s response to it and then his response to her response was eye roll inducing. They both clearly wanted to be together. This is what irks me about some romance novels. There needs to conflict. I get that. But the problem this author created was so wishy-washy, it didn’t make sense to me. I might be done with this author.

2/5 stars

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben

I checked this ebook out through my library. I didn’t like the author’s writing style. However, I didn’t guess anything right. Some fucked up shit went down in this book. I knew David would be exonerated, so it was just the journey to get there. It was good that he knew some grey area thugs who could take care of getting justice for him since the system failed him.

This was a sad story and you really wanted David to clear his name.

I enjoyed the prison scenes, the brutality of them. And the action-packed prison escape was good. But still, I wanted more. I enjoyed Sarah and Max’s, the detectives, dynamic. They had an interesting way of communicating.

What the villain did and who he turned out to be wasn’t like an OMG situation for me. It was kinda like, oh, that guy. *Shrug*.

3/5 stars

Losers: Part 1 by Harley LaRoux

I listened to this on audible. There was sooo much sex. But I knew that going in. Much of it was pornographic. I thought I had read some erotic novels before. But no. This one took it up a notch and then some.

I enjoyed all the characters. They were all unique individuals. My favorite was probably Lucas, the violent, rough around the edges one. I liked him still being skeptical of Jessica’s love for the group. Lots of freaky deaky sex. The group sex was always rough and shocking. I liked it better when it was one on one.

I’m eager to read book 2 to see the love come through. We got a taste of it here, but it was only declared between Lucas and Manson.

I liked that Jason was still mind blown by the fact that Jessica liked him. And the funny boy, Vince, I want to go deeper into his story. And what’s coming with Manson’s dad? Vince likes tying people up, Jason likes vibrator toys and Jessica is down for it all. I wonder when the safe word will be uttered. Read it. They definitely take you for a ride.

4/5 stars

Losers: Part 2 by Harley LaRoux

The safe word came between Manson and Lucas. He didn’t want Manson to be gentle with him and treat him special. It was a beautiful scene. We got to know the characters more. They all fell in love with each other and expressed their love so beautifully. They each had their moments with Jessica, which was nice. Glad they kicked the crap out of the villain guy. He deserved it.

The ending was just okay for me. They built up this suspense and action with the villains, and then when it became clear what they wanted, I was like, that’s it? And the author added this cat thing at the end for Lucas to soften him up. It was over the top for me. I can’t really talk about much else without giving stuff away. But overall, I liked the story. Still lots and lots of sex. All the time.

4/5 stars

Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan

If you read my blog, then you know I’ve just discovered Kennedy Ryan and love her work. You can check out my reviews of the books of hers I’ve read so far here and here.

This one disappointed me. I found it boring. I didn’t like all the therapy. Overall, I didn’t enjoy it and the sex wasn’t fun. It wasn’t fresh and new, even when they got back together. Maybe the best sex scene was in the car during the birthday party, that was kinda fun. But overall it was boring and predictable and sad.

This was not her best work. Also, I think Yasmen should’ve had sex with the white guy. The white guy kind of felt like an afterthought. If they had gotten together, we could’ve dealt with the emotions behind that. Maybe her regretting it, which could’ve added more drama to it. But that was a missed opportunity unfortunately. This is hard for me to say, since I love this author so much. But I wouldn’t read this one again and I wouldn’t recommend.

1.5/5 stars

A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole

I listened to this on audible. Rune loved Poppy so intensely, he made her his whole world. He was completely obsessed with her. I found it weird that they kissed at 8. I wondered why she ghosted him. And then when I found out why, I was like oh. This is a cancer story. I almost DNF’d. Some people like to read sad stories, but I read more to be uplifted, entertained or thrilled. I don’t necessarily want to cry.

It was repetitive and not very well written. If I had to hear “Poppymin” or “And my heart almost burst” or “Forever always” one more time? Ugh! It was okay. Also, I just wasn’t the target audience. Wouldn’t read it again. Hearing the thing about boy kisses from her dying grandma when she was five I think was weird. The story was too simple. It was supposed to be sad, but I didn’t cry. It was tedious to get through. Wouldn’t recommend.

1.5/5 stars

Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed reading and are feeling a little generous, consider buying me coffee here.