My April 2025 Reads – A Book Review

Photo by Blaz Photo on Unsplash

Hmmm… April. Let’s see. Thinking back on it, I never remember what it is that I did, because it always kind of goes by in a blur. But after reviewing what I did last month, a month with only 30 days in it, it seems I managed to cram in a lot!

I went to this thing early in the month called International Night at my daughter’s school. It’s an event where families are free to celebrate their heritage by sharing their traditions and delicacies with everyone. Families brought all kinds of yummy dishes for us to enjoy. Jamaican, Indian, Chinese. All kinds of food were represented. It was really nice. Plus, there was a dance performance at the end to celebrate some of the students’ Asian heritage.

April also brought us Spring Break! We didn’t do much, but one of the days that week, my sister and I took the kids to the aquarium and to the Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta. We’ve been to both already, but those are probably our favorite kid-friendly places to visit in the Atlanta area, so we find ourselves going quite a bit. Coca-Cola never disappoints when you get to the end, and you’re able to sample sodas and flavored water from around the world. So much fun!

Also, my daughter interviewed for and got a summer volunteer gig working in our county’s summer camp program. Her first job! So exciting!

Harold started flag football for the first time. But I think we can both agree, we like baseball much better. I can’t believe the baseball season is almost over. This Saturday is their championship game. Go team! Plus, Harold got selected to play for an all-star team this summer. Guess who’s gonna be super busy this summer! Me!

Easter was celebrated at my house, and I cooked a mean red velvet cake that the fam just couldn’t get enough of. And that cream cheese frosting I made? Woo! Decadent, but oh so worth it.

My sisters and I went to see a dope The Cure cover band. They were so good and played all the hits. I got really excited when they played their song from the film The Crow. The original, not that unnecessary remake they did late last year.

It’s always cool to look back and see where I was in the writing of my 2nd novel last month. By March, I had finished 21 chapters. Now, I’ve finished 27 and am working on Chapter 28! This is my vampire coming-of-age story, which I plan to either traditionally publish or self-publish. Depends on how literary agent querying goes.

As always, if you’re interested in reading my first novel, The Secrets We Keep, it’s available to read here. This book has cheating themes and plenty of spice for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Now, for my reading recap! I only read 3 books in the month of April. But that’s because 2 of them were mammoths to get through. Let’s get into the reviews! 🙂

After Life by Gayle Forman

I read the hard copy from my library. This one jumped around a lot in timeline and was also told from many, many different characters’ perspectives, but it wasn’t too hard to follow. I didn’t love the back-and-forth of it that much, but we did stay with Amber’s story after every jump back in time or jump in the character’s point of view. For instance, right after a jump, you would continue on with Amber in the present, the girl who died and came back.

Her existence was a mystery throughout because she didn’t feel physical things, she didn’t need to eat, didn’t need to sleep, didn’t need to go to the bathroom, and she didn’t feel pain, so there were some supernatural elements explored there.

We got to see her parents and how they met, which was super sweet and romantic.

This book talked about miracles a lot, and about life. It had a solid villain, which I won’t spoil here. But we learn a lot about her boyfriend, her best friend, and everyone whose lives she touched with her death.

The mystery continued on throughout, trying to figure out who was responsible for her death. And when we find out, it’s kind of sad. I cried a little, which I never do.

It wasn’t my favorite story, but I feel like everybody can relate to it because death is a part of life, and it makes you reflect on things. No one in this story was perfect, not even our heroine. Amber was a bad friend at times and mean to her sister, but we still rooted for her. Her imperfections made her more human.

It touched on forgiveness, cheating, and the drama that comes from that.

At times, it was a little slow, but I still wanted to know what was happening. I didn’t particularly like this author’s style of writing, but it was a good read overall that makes you think, and makes you feel. A simple story with a little surprise thrown in there at the end.

4/5 stars

Children of Fallen Gods: Book 2 of The War of Lost Hearts series by Carissa Broadbent

You can check out my review for Book 1 here. I listened to this on audible. It took a long time for me to get though. I think it was 600+ pages. I stopped caring about this world. There was too much war, and a big backstory dump about Nura’s past.

Tisanna and Max started getting boring to me. There was a huge reveal about Aefe. That was the best part. I liked Aefe and Cadwan’s relationship. They were interesting.

It was just so long and about war, and big fantasy stuff, which I’m finding isn’t my favorite genre. I’m just not sure this one was for me. I was never excited to listen to it.

2.5/5 stars

Mother of Dawn and Death: Book 3 of The War of Lost Hearts series by Carissa Broadbent

I also listened to this on audible. I almost stopped with Book 2, but decided to press on because people on TikTok and Amazon rated the conclusion to this story very highly. Alas, it was wah, wah, wah for me.

I realized I do not like the amnesia trope. It’s like we had to go through the horrors of Max’s past all over again, unnecessarily. I didn’t understand the purpose of it, and it was kind of irritating me. Why did Tisanna have to pretend that Max wasn’t the love of her life? What purpose did that serve?

I still enjoyed Aefe and Cadwan and how their relationship blossomed. Their story is really what I tuned in for. Aefe’s life was tragic. The only one who loved her and understood her was Cadwan. I don’t want to give the ending away, but it was sad.

I enjoyed how Tisanna and Max’s story got wrapped up. I still really did not like any of the war talk about peace and treaties.

Nobody was completely free of tragedy. Tisanna’s and Max’s past was always gonna be there, haunting them. It was really a story of survival and what your life looks like on the other side of that.

Overall, I felt it was bloated and too long (it was over 700 pages). And it’s not the kind of 700 pages where I’m enthralled the whole time.

When it comes down to it, I was never excited to read it, and I wouldn’t read the series again. The series was well written, but I’m kinda glad it’s over.

Book 1 was the best one in my humble opinion.

2/5 stars

Thank you for reading!