April Review & May Preview

I cannot believe it’s already May – that means it’s just a few weeks from the official start of summer with Memorial Day, and only 2 weeks from my eldest child graduating high school! How are you doing with your reading goals? I set my annual goal at 104 books (2 books per week) and have finished 47 books – 13 ahead of schedule!

Let’s take a look back at what we read in April and plan ahead for May. Here’s the books that got 5 stars from me this month:

April Reads

In March, I read 15 books – 7 audiobooks and 8 print. The links below will take you to the reviews previously posted. Visit this list on the Bookshop page for links to purchase a copy of each yourself!

• 5 Stars
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factor, Roald Dahl
  • Cold Snap, Marc Cameron
  • Killing Jesus, Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard
  • When You Trap a Tiger, Tae Keller
• 4 Stars
  • Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
  • Killing England, Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard
  • Persuasion, Jane Austin
  • Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng
  • Spare, Prince Harry
  • The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season, Molly Fader
  • The Personal Librarian, Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray
• 3 Stars
  • Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, Curtis Chin
  • Honeymoon for One, Portia Macintosh
  • Migrations, Charlotte McConaghy
• 2 Stars
  • The Happiness Equation, Neil Pasricha

My favorite this month is a tie – Cold Snap and When You Trap A Tiger, which I loved for very different reasons. Cold Snap is the law enforcement thriller I didn’t know I needed – it really captured my attention, and I couldn’t put it down! When You Trap A Tiger was an emotional read for me – the family legacy and the loss of a grandparent really touched me. I am looking forward to reading more works by both authors soon!

May Reads

April was a very heavy reading month, but May will be a little lighter. With my daughter’s high school graduation and a slew of graduation events and parties, I won’t have nearly the amount of time to myself. I’m also reading The Complete Collection of Oz to my son out loud – it starts with the Wizard of Oz made famous by the movie and includes several more books. At over 1800 pages, plus the slower pace of reading out loud to a 7-year-old who likes to make a LOT of comments, this collection is going to take a good bit of time to read! I’m also going to do a better job of pacing myself. While I love reading so many books, I need to commit some additional time to other things, so I’m going to do my best to read only 1 or 2 extra books, instead of the 4 I added on last month! You can get your copy of the 11 books planned for May here:

• The Girlfriend Book Club – The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune
• Friends & Fiction Book Club – A Young Adult book by an author with your initials: The Complete Collection of Oz, L Frank Baum
• The Booklist Queen
  • With Dual Timelines: Swan Light, Phoebe Rowe
  • Dewey Decimal System 300’s: Communication for Change Management, Gifford Thomas
  • Mother-Daughter Story: Maame, Jessica George (this is also my Mother’s Day read!)
  • Empowering Read: Secrets of Six-Figure Women, Barbara Stanny
  • World War 1 Book: The Red Baron, Charles River Editors
• Additional reads this month
  • Cinco de Mayo: Carmelo, Sandra Cisneros
  • Memorial Day: The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane
  • Self Development: Fearless, Max Lucado
  • Autobiography: Movie Star: They Always Say They’re Single, Jessica Simpson

Do you have any good reads planned this month? Share them in the comments! I’m always looking for my next good book!