books Here are the 17 books I read in April. I had a few I enjoyed and a handful that were just ok. I can’t believe I finished so many books this month. Things usually slow down in May-August with busy schedules and the summer.

Check out my various pages for ⭐️ ratings of these books:

I hope you find something that looks interesting to you. Below are a few notes on the books this month.

Total books for the year: 62

  1. 🎧📖 Ferris by Kate DiCamillo - This middle grade book was a fast read. DiCamillo made some very fun, entertaining and lovable characters. I think the younger sister was my favorite. A cute story you could easily read with your kids. I absolutely love the cover art for the paperback that was released on 4/1/25. 😍
  2. 🎧 Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan - I thought it was a cute story overall. A woman finding herself after a divorce. I enjoyed the second half or 2/3 best. I felt like the beginning was a little slow. But the happy ending was nice and it was written in a believable manner. Nothing seemed to overly far-fetched. A nice feel-good book that would be a nice beach read.
  3. 🎧 This Song Is (Not) For You by Laura Nowlin - This one was ok. I was a little surprised by the ending, but also not? I felt like it was a little too YA for my liking and the characters kind of bugged me.
  4. 🎧 Dust by Hugh Howey - This was the final book in this series. I liked it, but I truly enjoy the show of this series more than I enjoyed the books. And that isn’t something I say very often. I think some of the timeline changes were a little harder to follow in the book. Overall, though, a good dystopian series.
  5. 🎧📱📖 There Is A Door In The Darkness by Kristin Cashore - I love a book that takes place during COVID and this had a magical touch, too. Some reviews complained about the politics of the book, but I liked having the characters feeling fear at a second term (as we are seeing now). It was a little slow at first, but overall, I enjoyed it.
  6. 📱📖👩‍👧‍👦 Pax by Sara Pennypacker - I wanted to love this one. I read it with my 4th grader and the story was cute being that it was told from a person and fox’s points of view. My biggest complaint was that I felt like the author tried too hard to use “big” words. Some of the sentences didn’t flow very well and almost made them hard to read out loud. It made the book feel a bit disconnected.
  7. 🎧📱 The Three Lives Of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan - This one was unique and a fun read. It was a love story and not, a story of finding yourself, and also not really. It was facing your past and avoiding it while trying to move on. It was complicated and simple and I really liked it.
  8. 🎧 Lights Out by Navessa Allen - A friend told me I had to read this and I think during it I asked her WTF she made me read. Ha! The MFC was hilarious and a strong character. I loved her. The overall premise of the story makes you wonder what made someone write a story like this. Overall, if you can’t handle things that might make you a bit uncomfortable, this one might not be for you. But I thought it was entertaining.
  9. 🎧 A Love Song For Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams - This one was really good. There were some touches of magic and history and some fun twists. I thought it was a beautiful read and a very special love story.
  10. 🎧📱 Bea Mullins Takes A Shot by Emily Deibert - This was a fun middle grade hockey story I came across. It was sweet, heartwarming and full of fun. Bea learns about friendships and her first crush (a girl in the team) and it was so well done! I loved it!
  11. 🎧 Weyward by Emilia Hart - This is another one I really wanted to love, but it just didn’t do it for me. I thought the ending pulled things together well, but I was kind of bored overall. I think the premise was good and that’s what made me exited, but I didn’t conned t with the story the way I hoped I would.
  12. 🎧📖👩‍👧‍👦 Just Keep Walking by Erin Soderberg Downing - My 6th grader and I read this for her middle school book club. We both liked the book, but after the book club meeting, meeting the author (who is a local MN author), and hearing her tell us all about the story from her perspective, we both walked out loving it so much! I think she’s going to come next year for another meeting and I’m so excited to chat with her about another one of her books!
  13. 🎧 Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong - This was a book I had been wanting to read for a while. It was a true and honest representation of how Asian Americans are treated and was very eye opening to hear her perspective. Very well done.
  14. 🎧 Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Nolmberg - Eh. Another one I was hoping I would enjoy and just couldn’t get into it. I knew this would have a cliffhanger being the first book in a series, but I don’t think I’ll be reading the others. I did really like the quirky house, it made me giggle many times.
  15. 🎧📱 Away by Megan E. Freeman - Ooof. I LOVED the first book in this series (Alone) and was so excited for this to come out. This one felt really disconnected for me and I wish the sequel would have taken a different perspective. I will still recommend the heck out of the first book, but this one could be skipped in my opinion.
  16. 🎧 Annie Bot by Sierra Greer - What a weird little book. I was drawn to this cover at a bookstore and was very intrigued by the synopsis. The premise was so good, but I didn’t love the characters. I wanted to love Annie, but I think the author could have done so much more with her. I understand the idea was how little women were thought of, but I think a huge opportunity was missed to just go bonkers with the ending of this one. So I guess, I really wanted it to be a bit more twisted and not so simply straightforward.
  17. 🎧 Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry - Loved this one! I was just engrossed in this story and loved all the little scenes by the various main characters together. There was a bit of mystery and a twist that wasn’t terribly surprising, but made me really happy all the same.

– Book Key –
🎧 - Audiobook
📖 - paperback/hardcover
📱 - ebook
👩‍👧‍👦 - read with kids

Andi

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