April Books Ranked!

A Court of Mist and Fury

A Court of Wings and Ruin

Heart of Iron

Annihilation

Geekerella

The Heart’s Invisible Furies

Shiver

Wonder Woman: Warbringer

Wires and Nerve

The Lost World

Daughter of the Siren Queen

Fairest

Every Last Lie

My April Read Books Rating! The one at the top is my highest rated, and the one at the bottom is my lowest. My ratings might be a bit surprising, considering I have some serious heart eyes for Wonder Woman, or because I gave the first ACOTAR book such a low rating. So lemme explain these a bit:

First, I’ll start with “Every Last Lie” by Mary Kubica. Although this is by no means a crappy book, I really only read it because I won it and because I had nothing else to read during a hair appointment. That being said, many aspects of it had me on the edge of my seat. However, I’ve read better thrillers and I thought the ending was cliche and kind of tired.

Fairest was not at all what I expected. It wasn’t really a real novel, obviously, so there was less of a narrative arc, and more just backstory. That’s really the reason it can’t be rated higher. I did genuinely enjoy this one. 

DotSQ might be an upset as well--don’t get me wrong. I love Tricia Levenseller. I think

she’s a talented storyteller and a great person who I now consider a friend. However, this book just didn’t stack up when compared with some of the other stuff I read this month. It’s hard to beat high fae sex, okay? This novel, while fun, felt rushed (and I know there was explanation for that, but that’s not an excuse), and seemed a little more forced. This didn't stop me from reading it in practically one sitting though, so it's nothing to scoff at.

The Lost World. Crichton isn’t known for his incredible writing, but I will say, I can’t turn down a good dinosaur thriller. This one had me excited, and I always love the philosophical aspects of his approach to science. But like I said, occasionally the writing isn’t up to snuff for me.

Wires and Nerve is the first graphic novel I’ve ever read, and I thought it was absolutely delightful. I’ll read anything Marissa Meyer does, and I loved revisiting the characters here. However, it wasn’t really anything all that original, but it was really fun.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer. Okay, mixed feelings about this one. I love WW with my pathetic fangirl heart, and Leigh Bardugo is my queen. But, like some of her books, I felt it took me a while to get into this one. Of course, once I got into it, I was hooked on the story. She’s an excellent character writer, but it never detracts from her excellent skill with story.

Shiver. This was a reread for me, which is a rarity. But I needed some Maggie Stiefvater in my life, and I needed it immediately. I do love this book, but I’m aware that it has serious flaws. It’s one of her earlier books, and it has this Twilighty feel to it, but in my opinion the much healthier relationship helps a lot. Plus she writes characters like no one else.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies was a hard one to rate. On the one hand, the first two hundred pages or so, minus the first fifty about Cyril’s mother, were so boring and strange I couldn’t quite get through them. I wanted to gag a little at the mind of a seven year old or fifteen year old on sex. No thanks. I don’t mind when characters have sex. But I don’t want to read pages of descriptions of that being all he thinks of. Nonetheless, the story picked up quite a bit around page 250, and I found myself absolutely enamored with Cyril and his life. I even cried at the end.

Geekerella appeals so hard to the fangirl in me. I could read sweet, adorable geek girl books any day. Ashley Poston’s writing improved in Heart of Iron, but I think it’s easier to forgive a book it’s so-so writing when the writing is still compulsively readable.

Annihilation was a mind-bending sci-fi thriller that took me to a very strange and contemplative place. I love love loved this book, and it kind of blew my mind and stretched my brain. I think fans of Poe and science fiction will love this, so if that’s your thing, read it. If not, the prose style might get tedious. It did a little bit for me.

Heart of Iron. Be still my history nerd heart. Heart of Iron combines Anastasia with space, and it works so well for me. I love the stars and the planets, and I love royal mysteries. Like I said, this is better than Poston’s Geekerella in terms of writing, although it took me about fifty pages to decide I liked this one. Once I got hooked though I was in for the long haul. Can’t wait for the sequel.

ACOWAR. Although this might be other people’s favorite of the books, I think I got a little bit stressed during certain scenes. I don’t enjoy books about war, so that might be why I had a hard time with some of the scenes here. But that was maybe my only complaint, except that I wanted so much more. Also though, that Suriel scene is burned into my brain and heart and I cried like a baby.

ACOMAF takes the cake here, friends. I loved every moment of this epic, epic romance. I expected so much less, honestly. I loved the Feyre Rhys fun, the sex, the love, the romance, the adventure. I love this book not only because it drastically changed my opinion about Sarah J. Maas, but because it felt so real. The slow-bloom of romance is something I die for. I loved meeting the characters, seeing Feyre’s inner strength, and going on this adventure with characters I now love so much.

There you have it, friends. I can’t wait to do this again next month!

The First Time

The first time I kissed him I could feel the future on my tongue. The salt in his mouth was how desire should taste. I knew that from that moment on we would be connected. Technically, this was not our first kiss. It was just the first kiss that felt like more than just a simple kiss. Our real first kiss had been on my doorstep after we packed all my things into boxes until five in the morning. He grasped my shoulders and quickly pressed his lips against mine, forgetting to pucker his own and leaving as quickly as he came. It was a perfect moment. Our height difference made it comical. I wouldn’t have minded someone else seeing us though.

                The first time we kissed, in a real way, we were sitting on my couch, discussing ‘us’. He asked me to date him and only him, and we ended the deal with a kiss. A hot, clumsy, inexperienced kiss. His limited capability in the area of kissing was charming, instead of a turn-off, which was unusual. My vast numbers of kissed men made his two kisses before me seem sad and sweet. My own personal motto seemed to always be that the only way to get over someone is to kiss any and every person who walks into my path. Unfortunately this only resulted in the worst of the worst experiences—ones that frequently ended with my stumbling walk into my apartment at five am.

                The first time he put his hand on my back and unsteadily brought our faces closer together, I learned how it felt to be cherished. Hands that held me like I was going to fall apart before his eyes—no one had ever held me that way. Generally, the fleeting moments in my love life were devoid of the love factor, and full of muffled breaths and sobs into my pillow. But his hands—they were so much bigger than mine that I looked like a child holding the hands of her father—held me like I was precious. For once, I felt beautiful, and important.

                The first time he held me in his arms as we fell asleep, I stopped having nightmares. Miraculously. For the first time in my twenty years of nightmares, I woke up when I wanted to, instead of at three am, or four am, or five, depending on when my nightmare occurred. He was my safe place.