What I Read in April!

Hello all! Hope you are all well and keeping safe. I am back with another what I read this month post! In April I read a grand total of 12 books and I can’t quite believe it. I started out April in a massive reading slump but on the 10th it was like something in my brain clicked and I flew through 12 books. The 12 books I’ve read have a variety of ratings for me and I have a lot of thoughts I want to share. I’m going to do mini reviews for a couple, mention others and declare my love for a couple. Here is what I read in April.

Hold Back the Tide by Melinda Salisbury

“Everyone knows what happened to Alva’s mother, all those years ago. But when dark forces begin to stir in Ormscaula, Alva has to face a very different future – and question everything she thought she knew about her past…”

What a book! Thank you Melinda Salisbury for pulling me right out of my reading slump with this extraordinary book. I loved it a lot and even fell out of the chair I was reading it in shock at one point. I wrote a full review of this, which you can find here.

★★★★★

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First Day of My Life by Lisa Williamson

“Three friends, a stolen baby and a tangled web of lies. Everything is about to change. First Day of my Life is not what you expect, and it’s not who you suspect either. A baby has been stolen. But there are three sides to this story – three people bonded by friendship and torn apart by the unpredictability of life. Frankie, Jojo and Ram. It is a reminder to us all that every day has the potential to be the first day of the rest of your life.”

Sometimes books appear in your life and they take over it. I picked this book up one morning and within pages it was all I could think about. I read it at every chance I got and finished it at 2am one morning. It is a binge-worthy book that tackles important topics amazingly. I cannot wait for this one to be out in the world. I’ll be writing a full review of this soon!

★★★★★

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Destination Anywhere by Sarah Barnard

“Sometimes you have to leave your life behind to find your place in the world. . .

After five years at secondary school spent bullied and alone, Peyton King starts sixth form college determined that things will be different. Whatever happens, she will make friends at any cost.

When she finds the friends she’s always dreamed of, including an actual boyfriend, she’s happier than she’s ever been.

But when they let her down in the worst way, Peyton is left no better off than when she started. Now Peyton knows the only chance she has of finding happiness is to look for it somewhere else. With nothing but her sketchpad and a backpack, she buys a one-way ticket and gets on a plane. . .”

I was reading this as Sara Barnard announced that the release date has been pushed back until 2021 and it made me sad. This book is wonderful and it deserves all the love in the world when it is released. I will be writing a review for it and posting it soon but I will also post it again closer to release day!

★★★★

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Camp by L.C Rosen

“Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It’s where he met his best friends. It’s where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it’s where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim – who’s only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists.

This year, though, it’s going to be different. Randy has reinvented himself as ‘Del’ – buff, masculine, and on the market. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish, and his unicorn bedsheets, he’s determined to get Hudson to fall for him.

But as he and Hudson grow closer, Randy has to ask himself how much is he willing to change for love. And is it really love anyway, if Hudson doesn’t know who he truly is?”

Lev has a way with words. He writes about important topics beautifully and writes queer books we all need to read. This one destroys toxic masculinity and femme shaming and it is wonderful. I’ll be writing a full review very soon!

★★★★

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Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

“Frances Janvier spends most of her time studying.

Everyone knows Aled Last as that quiet boy who gets straight As.

You probably think that they are going to fall in love or something. Since he is a boy and she is a girl.

They don’t. They make a podcast.

In a world determined to shut them up, knock them down, and set them on a cookie cutter life path, Frances and Aled struggle to find their voices over the course of one life-changing year. Will they have the courage to show everyone who they really are? Or will they be met with radio silence?”

I love Alice Oseman’s book more than words can say. I co-read this one with Sophie and Sarah of The Little Contemporary Corner and Jaz from Travels in Fiction. We all adored it and couldn’t get enough of the story. I can’t believe it took me this long to get round to reading it though. Full review coming soon!

★★★★★

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An Unauthorised Fan Treatise by Lauren James

“Gottie is a fangirl for Loch & Ness, a TV show about paranormal detectives. She’s convinced that two of the male actors are secretly dating, and she’ll stop at nothing to prove it. When her online investigations accidentally uncover far more than she expects, she becomes complicit in secrets beyond just a romantic conspiracy theory.

An internet thriller told in a ‘true crime’ style recollection of events, the novel includes social media extracts such as modern Tumblr posts and early-noughties LiveJournal blog entries.”

Technically I’ve been reading this one since October. It is a serialised novel where a chapter has been released each week since last year. I loved it so much, it is genius and I am definitely going to be writing a review on it and my experience reading it very soon.

★★★★★

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Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

“In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.

Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.”

I started this book on a whim a few nights ago and less than 24 hours later I had finished it. I got wrapped up in this story, I cried and I escaped the real world for a while whilst reading this. If you haven’t read this already, I highly highly recommend it!

★★★★★

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Snapshot Books!

Here are 5 of the books I read and the ratings I gave them. I am going to be writing full reviews for a couple of these, others I enjoyed and will leave it at that and one I didn’t enjoy a lot and don’t really want to discuss further!

• The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta – ★★★★
• Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker – ★★★★
• Blood Moon by Lucy Cuthew – ★★★★
• We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan – ★★
• 10 Things I Can See from Here by Carrie Mac – ★★★★

 

There you have it, everything I read in April! What have you read in April and what are you looking forward to reading in May? Let me know in the comments!