April 2021 Reading Wrap-Up

It wasn’t a great month. Reviews are linked. 

4 Stars:

The Vanishing Half

Written by Brit Bennett

Published by Riverhead Books

It’s amazing how well each character is this novel is fully realized, considering the shorter page count. Brit Bennet proves to be a master story teller, weaving together numerous plot lines with ease. 

Full review HERE.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

Wilderlore: The Accidental Apprentice

Written by Amanda Foody

Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books

(4.5*) An excellent middle grade fantasy full of anthropomorphic glory, magical forests, found family, and a quest of inner strength and courage. This is a great set up for what will be a fun series. 

Full review HERE.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

A Master of Djinn

Written by P. Djeli Clark

Published by Tordotcom

A really solid, unique steampunk fantasy with slapstick humour, queer rep, and strong female characters … but read one of the mini 70 page prequels (available for free online) before diving in, otherwise you will spend a lot of time confused and trying to catch up. 

Full review HERE.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

3 Stars:

Good Company

Written by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

Published by Ecco Press

There’s only so much wealthy white whining one can take. When you have every opportunity it’s hard to feel empathy for these over privileged, egocentric characters. This obviously won’t stop Good Company from being book club fodder. 

Full review HERE.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

The Midnight Library

Written by Matt Haig

Published by Viking

It was fine. I can see it’s popularity here, but I still much prefer The Humans, that dealt with similar themes in a less wallowing way. 

Full review HERE.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

A Clock of Stars: The Shadow Moth

Written by Francesca Gibbons

Published by HarperCollins

(3.5) A middle grade that read like a good-ole classic, but launches so quickly into the action and fails to develop characters or setting which lead to a very whiplash experience. Short, choppy chapters broke the flow BUT this may be a selling point to a reluctant middle grade reader … which is, after all, the intended target market.

Winter’s Orbit

Written by Everina Maxwell

Published by Tor Books

A romantic space opera with heavy political drama, unfortunately the political drama massively outweighed the romance, that was supposed to be more central to this story. Well written. 

Full review HERE.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

2 Stars:

Good Eggs

Written by Rebecca Hardiman

Published by Atria Books

Aiming for quirky and loveable but fell upon cringey and smarmy, this Irish family based drama was brought down by a massively dislikable male character. 

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

The Beautiful Ones

Written by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Published by Tor Books

Playing out like a B-rated, made-for-tv soap opera with flat, unlikeable, underdeveloped characters, The Beautiful Ones really just showed me how much Silvia’s talents have grown.

Full review HERE.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

The Four Winds

Written by Kristin Hannah

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Nope. Just absolutely no. The most heavy-handed, over-the-top piece of author manipulation I’ve ever read. If you want to wallow and just be sad, sad, sad, then go forth. 

Full review HERE.

You can find it here: Bookshop.org

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