Today’s post covers the second half of the books I read in April 2024. I shared what I read in the first half of the month here. I shared my five star reads here. The Amazon links to the books I’ve read are affiliate links and if you use them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. If you’ve read any of these books or are interested in them, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Title: The Phoenix Bride
Author: Natasha Siegel
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Dell, 3/12/24
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
This historical romance takes place in the 1660s and is about Cecilia, whose husband died from the plague. Her grief leads to physical symptoms and her sister asks David, a Portuguese Jewish doctor, to help her feel better.
“It is 1666, one year after plague has devastated England. Young widow Cecilia Thorowgood is a prisoner, trapped and isolated within her older sister’s cavernous London townhouse. At the mercy of a legion of doctors trying to cure her grief with their impatient scalpels, Cecilia shows no sign of improvement. Soon, her sister makes a decision born of desperation: She hires a new physician, someone known for more unusual methods. But he is a foreigner. A Jew. And despite his attempts to save Cecilia, he knows he cannot quell the storm of sorrow that rages inside her. There is no easy cure for melancholy. David Mendes fled Portugal to seek a new life in London, where he could practice his faith openly and leave the past behind. Still reeling from the loss of his beloved friend and struggling with his religion and his past, David is free and safe in this foreign land but incapable of happiness. The security he has found in London threatens to disappear when he meets Cecilia, and he finds himself torn between his duty to medicine and the beating of his own heart. He is the only one who can see her pain; the glimmers of light she emits, even in her gloom, are enough to make him believe once more in love. Facing seemingly insurmountable challenges, David and Cecilia must endure prejudice, heartbreak, and calamity before they can be together. The Great Fire is coming—and with the city in flames around them, love has never felt so impossible.”
It was really interesting to read about David’s family history as Conversos who fled the Spanish Inquisition and later had to flee Portugal as well. David is also dealing with the loss of a close friend due to the plague and he and Cecilia find themselves attracted to one another. Cecilia is meant to marry someone else, so aside from David’s Judaism, there are many barriers in the way for the couple. Although interesting, this book did read a bit slow for me in parts.
Title: The Atlas of Us
Author: Kristin Dwyer
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Harper Teen, 1/9/24
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
I enjoyed The Atlas Of Us a lot. It is about a girl named Atlas who recently lost her father and is dealing with grief.
“Atlas has lost her way. In a last-ditch effort to pull her life together, she’s working on a community service program rehabbing trails in the Western Sierras. The only plus is that the days are so exhausting that Atlas might just be tired enough to forget that this was one of her dad’s favorite places in the world. Before cancer stole him from her life, that is. Using real names is forbidden on the trail. So Atlas becomes Maps, and with her team—Books, Sugar, Junior, and King—she heads into the wilderness. As she sheds the lies she’s built up as walls to protect herself, she realizes that four strangers might know her better than anyone has before. And with the end of the trail racing to meet them, Maps is left counting down the days until she returns to her old life—without her new family, and without King, who’s become more than just a friend.”
The look at her struggle with the loss was done very well. Atlas joins a hike to fix up trails in the Sierras, a place her father was active prior to his illness. She is put into a group with other teens. Atlas, who goes by Maps on the trail, falls for one of the teen leaders, who goes by King. Their romance was sweet but I would have liked to learn more about him and the other teens as well.
Title: Billy Joel
Author: Fred Schruers
Genre: Non Fiction – Biography
Publisher: Crown, 10/28/14
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
This biography covers the Piano Man’s life from his paternal grandparents’ escape of the Nazis to about 2015, chronicling his successes as well as the difficult times he faced throughout his life.
“Exhibiting unparalleled intimate knowledge, Schruers chronicles Joel’s rise to the top of the charts, from his working-class origins in Levittown and early days spent in boxing rings and sweaty clubs to his monumental success in the seventies and eighties. He also explores Joel’s creative transformation in the nineties, his dream performance with Paul McCartney at Shea Stadium in 2008, and beyond. Along the way, Schruers reveals the stories behind all the key events and relationships—including Joel’s high-profile marriages and legal battles—that defined his path to stardom and inspired his signature songs, such as ‘Piano Man,’ ‘Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,’ ‘New York State of Mind,’ and ‘She’s Always a Woman.’ Throughout, he captures the spirit of a restless artist determined to break through by sharing, in his deeply personal lyrics, the dreams and heartbreaks of suburban American life. Comprehensive, vibrantly written, and filled with Joel’s memories and reflections—as well as those of the family, friends, and band members who have formed his inner circle, including Christie Brinkley, Alexa Ray Joel, Jon Small, and Steve Cohen—this is the definitive account of a beloved rock star’s epic American journey.”
I enjoyed learning more about my favorite singer, especially about some of the inspirations behind his songs. I am able to reminisce about some of the news I remember hearing about him, his concert tours, the albums, etc. I grew up listening to Billy Joel and I love sharing his music with my kids now!
Title: Finding Margaret Fuller
Author: Allison Pataki
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books, 3/19/24
Source: Publisher and Audio Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 3.5 Stars, rounded up to 4 Stars
I started this book in print but switched over to audio pretty quickly. This book was a shout out to so many literary names we likely learned about from the transcendentalist period, plus the woman who was likely left off of our list – Margaret Fuller. The book tells her story as she meets and becomes friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathanial Hawthorne – she may have even been his influence for The Scarlet Letter. She was a trailblazer of feminism and was the first woman news correspondent sent to Europe.
“Young, brazen, beautiful, and unapologetically brilliant, Margaret Fuller accepts an invitation from Ralph Waldo Emerson, the celebrated Sage of Concord, to meet his coterie of enlightened friends. There she becomes “the radiant genius and fiery heart” of the Transcendentalists, a role model to a young Louisa May Alcott, an inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne and the scandalous Scarlet Letter, a friend to Henry David Thoreau as he ventures out to Walden Pond . . . and a muse to Emerson. But Margaret craves more than poetry and interpersonal drama, and her restless soul needs new challenges and adventures. And so she charts a singular course against a backdrop of dizzying historical drama: From Boston, where she hosts a salon for students like Elizabeth Cady Stanton; to the editorial meetings of The Dial magazine, where she hones her pen as its co-founder; to Harvard’s library, where she is the first woman permitted entry; to the gritty New York streets where she spars with Edgar Allan Poe and reports on Frederick Douglass. Margaret defies conventions time and again as an activist for women and an advocate for humanity, earning admirers and critics alike. When the legendary editor Horace Greeley offers her an assignment in Europe, Margaret again makes history as the first female foreign news correspondent, mingling with luminaries like Frédéric Chopin, William Wordsworth, George Sand and more. But it is in Rome that she finds a world of passion, romance, and revolution, taking a Roman count as a lover—and sparking an international scandal. Evolving yet again into the roles of mother and countess, Margaret enters the fight for Italy’s unification.”
I found the book long and slow, but it was interesting to learn about the lives of many of the writers I learned about in English Literature class!
Title: Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All
Author: Chanel Miller
Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary
Publisher: Philomel Books, 4/17/24
Source: Storygram Book Tours
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
I hope you all know the name Chanel Miller – the author of must read memoir Know My Name. Now she has written a “fun, funny, and poignant story of friendship and community starring Magnolia Wu, a ten-year-old sock detective bent on returning all the lonely only socks left behind in her parents’ NYC laundromat.”
“Down at the bottom of the tall buildings of New York City, Magnolia Wu sits inside her parents’ laundromat. She has pinned every lost sock from the laundromat onto a bulletin board, in hopes that customers will return to retrieve them. But no one seems to have noticed. In fact, barely anyone has noticed Magnolia at all. What she doesn’t know is that this is about to be her most exciting summer yet. When Iris, a new friend from California arrives, they set off across the city to solve the mystery of each missing sock, asking questions in subways and delis and plant stores and pizzerias, meeting people and uncovering the unimaginable. With each new encounter, Magnolia learns that when you’re bold enough to head into the unknown, things start falling into place.”
This falls on the younger side of middle grade reading and is very cute. Magnolia and her new friend Iris set out to return lost socks by figuring out which laundromat customer owns each one. They meet friends and get to know their community along the way. Magnolia realizes how many people appreciate her parents and gets closer to her mom herself. It does include anti Asian racism.
Title: Happy Medium
Author: Sarah Adler
Genre: Rom Com
Publisher: Berkley, 4/30/24
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
I loved Mrs Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler so I was excited for her new book! Happy Medium is about Gretchen, who makes her living as a fake spirit medium. She doesn’t see herself as doing the wrong thing because she makes sure her clients leave her better off than they started. One of her clients asks her to help Charlie because the farm he is trying to sell appears to be haunted. When she gets there, she finds not only an attractive young man, but a very real ghost! Everett is stuck at the farm and if Charlie leaves, he too will be cursed to death and to stay at the farm as a ghost.
“Fake spirit medium Gretchen Acorn is happy to help when her best (read: wealthiest) client hires her to investigate the unexplained phenomena preventing the sale of her bridge partner’s struggling goat farm. Gretchen may be a fraud, but she’d like to think she’s a beneficent one. So if ‘cleansing’ the property will help a nice old man finally retire and put some much-needed cash in her pockets at the same time, who’s she to say no? Of course, it turns out said bridge partner isn’t the kindly AARP member Gretchen imagined—Charlie Waybill is young, hot as hell, and extremely unconvinced that Gretchen can communicate with the dead. (Which, fair.) Except, to her surprise, Gretchen finds herself face-to-face with Everett: the very real, very chatty ghost that’s been wreaking havoc during every open house. And he wants her to help ensure Charlie avoids the same family curse that’s had Everett haunting Gilded Creek since the 1920s. Now, Gretchen has one month to convince Charlie he can’t sell the property. Unfortunately, hard work and honesty seem to be the way to win over the stubborn farmer—not exactly Gretchen’s strengths. But trust isn’t the only thing growing between them, and the risk of losing Charlie to the spirit realm looms over Gretchen almost as annoyingly as Everett himself. To save the goat farm, its friendly phantom, and the man she’s beginning to love, Gretchen will need to pull off the greatest con of her life: being fully, genuinely herself.”
Everett was a great character and imagining Gretchen talking to him when no one else could see him was very entertaining. Gretchen and Charlie start out as somewhat enemies and grow to like each other. Did I mention there are goats?
Title: The Last Boyfriends Rules For Revenge
Author: Matthew Hubbard
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 4/30/24
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 3.5 Stars, rounded up to 4 Stars
For some reason I was very bothered that this title doesn’t have an apostrophe after The Last Boyfriends, as the rules for revenge belong to them. I was told maybe that is just the name of the rules, but it still bothered me! This book is about Ezra and his two best friends. They are all dumped by their boyfriends and come up with ways to get revenge. The story is inspired by The First Wives Club.
“Ezra Hayes has always felt like a background character compared to BFFs Lucas and Finley. He would do anything to be seen as a romantic lead, even if it means keeping his boyfriend, Presley, a secret. But when he discovers that Presley is a lying cheater, and his best friends are having boy problems of their own, they want revenge. Their plans to get even involve sabotaging the largest party of the year, entering a drag competition, and even having Ezra run against his ex for Winter Formal King. Then the school district starts to actively censor queer voices with their Watch What You Say initiative. Taking to TikTok to vent frustrations, Ezra begins ‘The Last Boyfriends Student Rebellion.’ Between ex-boyfriend drama and navigating viral TikTok fame, Ezra realizes this rebellion is about something more important than revenge. It’s a battle cry to fight back against outdated opinions and redefine what it means to be queer in small town Alabama.”
I liked how the group took on the “watch what you say” initiative and came up with their own slogan, “we are here.”
Title: Puppy Brain
Author: Kerry Nichols
Genre: Non Fiction
Publisher: Celadon, 4/30/24
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
If you were going to purchase a puppy from an ethical breeder, the one described here would be the best you could ask for. Kerry Nichols explains how she raises her Golden puppies from birth to 8 weeks, providing them with as much exposure to the world as possible while they remain with their mom. She then goes on to detail bringing home your puppy and how to socialize and train him going forward.
“Do you want to learn how to help your dog feel safe? Do you dream of owning a dog who enjoys meeting new people and exploring new places? Kerry Nichols, founder of Nicholberry Goldens, brings readers into the whelping box and onto the frontlines of a puppy’s developmental journey with her trademark clarity and wit. With guidance about everything from crate training to spaying and neutering, Puppy Brain distills the latest insights and breakthroughs from canine research into practical, actionable, evidence-based guidance. Through years of research into brain development and the use of intentional rearing protocols that focus on honoring a puppy’s choices and needs, Kerry has developed an approach that results in a harmonious, fulfilling relationship with our dogs rather than one steeped in rote obedience. Puppy Brain will reshape the way you think about your dog and show you how to meet your dog’s most basic needs.”
I found this book easy to read and understand and can see why the author’s Instagram account is so popular! I did find some of the intense instruction to be overwhelming and once again make me doubt whether I do want a puppy one day!
Title: Cancelled
Author: Farrah Penn
Genre: YA Contemporary
Publisher: Viking Books For Young Readers, 3/19/24
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
When a viral video is assumed to be Brynn, she is seen in a new light by her classmates and is ultimately “cancelled.” Brynn fights back and tries to address the misogyny and double standards forced upon girls in her high school.
“Not to brag, but Brynn Whittaker is basically killing her senior year. She’s got the looks, the grades, and a thriving ‘flirt coach’ business that will help pay for her ultimate dream school: Stanford University. But when a highly incriminating video goes viral after the first rager of the year, Brynn finds herself at the center of a school-wide scandal of catastrophic proportions. She knows she’s not the girl in the video hooking up with her former best friend’s boyfriend (While wearing a banana costume, no less. Hey, points for style), but adding that to her reputation of being a serial dater, she quickly starts losing friends and customers. On top of that, the scorn she receives exposes the culture of misogyny that is rampant at her school . . . and Brynn and her three best friends are determined to take down all the haters. But as she gets closer to identifying the person in the video that got her cancelled, Brynn must decide—is exposing the girl worth losing everything she’s worked so hard for?”
I really liked Brynn’s friend group in this book and the romance she develops along the way. I think this book would be enjoyed by most high school aged girls.
Title: The Ritual Effect
Author: Michael Norton
Genre: Non Fiction
Publisher: Scribner, 4/9/24
Source: Dart Frogg PR
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
The Ritual Effect was an interesting look at how rituals can define our lives. It showed what rituals are and various rituals that people have in their lives, from religious and cultural rituals to those with family and individual rituals used to create meaning.
“Our lives are filled with repetitive tasks meant to keep us on track—what we come to know as habits. Over time, these routines (for example, brushing your teeth or putting on your right sock first) tend to be performed automatically. But when we’re more mindful about these actions—when we focus on the precise way they are performed—they can instead become rituals. Shifting from a ‘habitual’ mindset to a ‘ritual’ mindset can convert ordinary acts from black and white to technicolor. Think of the way you savor a certain beverage, the care you take with a particular outfit that gets worn only on special occasions, the unique way that your family gathers around the table during holidays, or the secret language you enjoy with your significant other. To some, these behaviors may seem quirky, but because rituals matter so deeply to us on a personal level, they imbue our lives with purpose and meaning. Drawing on a decade of original research, Norton shows that rituals play a role in healing communities experiencing a great loss, marking life’s major transitions, driving a stadium of sports fans to ecstasy, and helping us rise to challenges and realize opportunities.”
I found the beginning of the book quite interesting and the middle to be slower. I appreciated how many times Jewish rituals were mentioned, as we tend to have rituals for all life events!
There you have it, the rest of my April reading! This post included 10 of the books I read in April. 9 of these books were in print and 1 was audio. Genres included historical romance, contemporary, biography, historical fiction, rom com, and non fiction. 1 was middle grade, 3 were YA, and 6 were adult reads.
Have you read any of these books or do you want to? What have you been reading lately?
