March has come to an end. I have no idea where the time went, but here we are getting ready for April. This wasn’t my best reading month, and I seem to recall that last March I read almost thirty books. So this month wasn’t quite that, but considering I took a lengthy vacation where I visited one of my best friends in the world and had minimal time to read, I did pretty good. This month I read 20 books, and I will say on the whole that it was filled with some really good reads. My lowest rated book was two stars, and I had several five star reads. Without further ado, let’s just get into the breakdown of what I read in March.
- Wolf-Speaker by Tamora Pierce
Rating: 5 stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: This is another one in my re-read of Tamora Pierce’s Tortall series. I love Daine so much. The idea of speaking to animals and being able to shapeshift is one that I’ve always liked. I’m definitely a little envious of her powers. I listened to the audiobook here, and it was really good. The narrator was really good. On the whole a great continuation of the series and I highly recommend it.
- Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Rating: 5 stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of this one. I like John Green, and think he’s a good writer but this had been sitting on my shelf for so long that I just wasn’t sure what I would think. However, I loved it. It was a really intriguing plot and I loved the main character. She was very relatable and evoked a lot of empathy in me. This book made me cry a lot, and that’s something that’s quite admirable in a book. I’m one of those weird people who like it when my book makes me cry. I can’t say I know much about if the anxiety representation, but it felt really realistic to me. I really liked the way all of the threads came together in the conclusion, and just the way that it ended felt really realistic.
- The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill
Rating: 4 stars
Format: Physical Copy (Graphic Novel)
Review: This was super cute and a really original concept. I’m not sure I would have picked it up if it hadn’t been in my Owl Crate, but I still really enjoyed it and recommend it if you’re looking for a cute graphic novel.
- Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
Rating: 5 stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: I originally picked up Strange the Dreamer because of a recommendation from my school librarian last year, a while after it came out. I liked it, but I wasn’t crazy about it like other people are. I checked out the audiobook of Muse of Nightmares on a whim from my library’s collection of audiobooks (I was surprised it was free) and I was super impressed. I loved the story and the characters even more than the first. The story in this one was more interesting to me, and I really loved the extra knowledge we got of the mythology in the world. I feel like I’m explaining this very poorly, but just know I was obsessed with this audiobook and didn’t want to stop listening to it.
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Rating: 4 stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: I read this with my English 12 class. I always like reading about the Danish prince. I think the kids had a fun time reading about him as well.
- The Wicked King by Holly Black
Rating: 5 stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: This was a buddy read with my friend Cheyenne. We buddy read the first one, so it was necessary to buddy read the second one. Like with Muse of Nightmares, I liked this book so much more than the first. There were way more twists and turns and not knowing who to trust, and I had a really hard time putting it down when it came to the deadlines we had set for ourselves. We did this buddy so much more quickly than our last one, because we both just needed to know what happened. And that ending!! It was killer. I can’t wait for the next one.
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Rating: 4 stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: I read Macbeth with my English 11 class. So this was a re-read and again I had fun. I love the plays I read with my classes and Macbeth will always have a special place in my heart because of the fact I taught it on my second practicum and it was the first Shakespearean play I ever taught. It’s fun to see my kids read it and get into it.
- Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Rating: 4 stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: Dark Matter was a very strange book. It’s very science based, which is not normally my kind of thing, but I had heard about it from a booktuber and was definitely somewhat intrigued by it. This book kept me guessing and kept throwing me through loops. There were certain aspects of this book that truly creeped me out, but on the whole it didn’t blow me away, which is why I only gave it a four.
- The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin
Rating: 5 stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: I saw this book mentioned by a booktuber I really like, and even though contemporary isn’t normally my thing, once it was mentioned that it was a Henry VIII re-telling set in a high school, and I was completely sold. I loved, loved, loved this book. It’s definitely one of my favourites of the year so far. The teens felt really real, and I loved the way this book celebrated female friendships. The main character was sassy and fun, and I loved the way it made me empathise with the characters and really feel for them. I had a lot of strong emotions as I read it, and when a book makes you feel things, that’s always good.
- The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
Rating: 4 stars
Format: eBook
Review: I love Rick Riordan and after I read all the Percy Jackson books, I knew I wanted to dive into the Magnus Chase books. It took me awhile because I got rather distracted by the rest of my TBR, but this book was so worth the wait. Magnus is a great character, and it was cool to read about the Norse mythology because it’s not something I’ve really explored. I loved this book. It made me giggle, and it also had me rooting quite a bit for Magnus. This was a really easy read, so if you’re looking for something fun and quick, this is for you.
- The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan
Rating: 4 stars
Format: eBook
Review: After I finished The Sword of Summer, I had to read the next one. I really needed to know what was going to happen to Magnus. It was a really interesting sequel, and I had a lot of the same feelings as I did for the first one.
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Rating: 3 stars
Format: Audiobook
Review: One of my resolutions this year was to read more classics, and so that was why I picked up the audiobook of Little Women. Well. I didn’t pick it up, I listened to the audiobook. This is a surprisingly long audiobook, and it wasn’t really my favourite thing. I am glad that I read it, and I loved all the girls, but I just wasn’t super keen on the story as it played out. I understand that it’s a product of its era, but for where I am now in my life, I just don’t agree with it.
- The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan
Rating: 5 stars
Format: eBook
Review: Of course, after reading the other two, I had to read the final book in the series. It helped that this one also worked for a few prompts in the End Game Readathon that Kari and I are hosting. So this was my first read for the readathon, and it really brought me a great start to the readathon. This was such a good book. As far as I am aware, it’s the conclusion to the series and for me, it was perfect. I loved the characters, the events, the endings and all of it. It was just what I wanted to happen. I highly recommend it.
- Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Rating: 4 stars
Format: eBook
Review: This was my second read for the End Game Readathon. I went into it not knowing a lot about it, but it fit the last few prompts I hadn’t attributed to any books yet for the readathon. I will admit I initially was reminded of Red Queen because I read that first, but I will say that I liked Red Rising more. The plot was unique and I quickly got quite attached to the characters. It wasn’t my favourite things ever but I really liked how Pierce Brown wrote the book, and I am definitely going to be continuing on with the series.
- Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies (Pottermore Presents, #1) by JK Rowling
Rating: 3 stars
Format: eBook
Review: After I finished Red Rising, I couldn’t read anything else on my TBR because they were all also for the OWLs Readathon and that didn’t start til April 1st. However, I had many flights left and also a couple of days before April. So I decided to read some novellas I had on my kobo. This was the first of them. I liked it, but it was basically just Pottermore in a book form and I’m pretty sure I’d already read all the information included.
- Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists (Pottermore Presents, #2) by JK Rowling
Rating: 3 stars
Format: eBook
Review: Can I just refer you to the previous review? Again, I liked it but I felt like I had already read this because I used to read Pottermore a lot, back before it changed.
- Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide (Pottermore, #3) by JK Rowling
Rating: 3 stars
Format: eBook
Review: See above.
- The Lost Sisters by Holly Black
Rating: 4 stars
Format: eBook
Review: I was really excited to find out that there was a novella that Holly Black had written in between The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King. I was even more intrigued to find out that it was from Taryn’s point of view during the events of The Cruel Prince. Taryn is not my favourite character. In fact I kind of hate her, but she’s intriguing as a character and I wanted to read more. I wasn’t disappointed by this novella at all. Taryn is still the worst and this just further proved that.
- The Collectors by Philip Pullman
Rating: 2 stars
Format: eBook
Review: This was a novella set in the His Dark Materials universe, and I don’t know if it was the time that I read it or what, but I just really, really didn’t like it. It lacked the magic of the series and I didn’t really care about the characters or really know what was going on. I just didn’t care.
- The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco
Rating: 4 stars
Format: Physical Copy
Review: My final finished book of the month was my buddy read with Kari. It took us a really long time to read this, which was definitely my fault because I was travelling and had a weird irregular schedule. This book totally fell in the pattern of me loving the sequel slightly more than the first. This book was way more eventful and I just really wanted to know what was going to happen. The ending was good, and on the whole I was super pleased with it. The characters are all fantastic and I love the way that the story is told. Chupeco tells the story of the main character, Tea, through two timelines and it is a really cool device to make you want to eagerly read and find out what’s going to happen. I need to read the next one, but I have to wait for the paperback to come out.
And that’s everything I read in March. What did you read? Did you read any of the same things? Let me know in the comments.
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