April 2025 Reading Round Up
2025 GoodReads Reading Challenge: 21 Books Completed Out Of Goal of 52 (40%)
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Finished Reads & Listens in total:-
This month, I am introducing six 🩵 reviews, as some books are so good that five 💜 are just not enough.
A few 5 💜 reads and another book to add to my favourites of 2025 list.
I have a hard time staying off Netgalley and not requesting more ARCs. If I told you how many books I have to read and how many I have requested you wouldn't believe me. There are so many fantastic books coming out this year that I can’t resist. Thank goodness for the ability to renew. I am slowly but surely getting through them and having so much fun.
I had a great reading month in April. I ended up with two 🩵 books this month. One, Viper in the Nest by Georgina Clarke, is the third in a series of books I love, and this was fantastic. I also had a fantastic ARC; 5 💜 just wasn't enough.
I didn't have any books that were less than 4 💜 in April, so this was truly a fantastic reading month. I can't wait to see what May brings, as I will finally read a book I have been putting off for a few months. Read below about my goals for May to find out which book.
I'm also doing so well with my Goodreads Reading Challenge. I'm three books ahead of schedule now, which is new for me. I have been trying to catch up in past years, and now I'm ahead of the game. It just shows that I have upped my reading game in 2025.
My Rating: 💜 💜 💜 💜
This was such a fun and exciting book to read. It had more twists and turns than a country road. I'm not always a fan of multiple POVs but in this case, I enjoyed it as it was done so well. The characters are well developed and although there were plenty of times I wanted to slap them, they are very relatable. There are also some giggles throughout the book, which adds to the heart-pounding action and drama. I never knew where this book was going to take me from one page to the next, and I loved going along for the ride.
My Rating: 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A lot more than I thought I would, to be honest. It's a bit of a mix - a funny supernatural murder mystery. It has an outstanding premise - what happens when Death takes a holiday in London? Or sabbatical, in her words. I loved that Death is female, and reading about her exploits, learning how to be a human and how to exist in the human world was funny and endearing. When she realises that there are Unplanned Deaths happening, meaning outside the Plan she adheres to, she starts to investigate, with the help of her will they/wont't they friend Marco and her sister Life, placing herself and her loved ones in great danger. She even adopts a little dog that she frees from a horrible environment, and quickly falls in love with her while realising the wonderfulness that are dogs.
My emotions were all over the place while reading this book. It was funny, intriguing, dramatic, mysterious, devastating and heart-wrenching, all inside 384 pages. I can't wait to read more from this author.
My Rating: 🩵 🩵 🩵 🩵 🩵 🩵
This seems to be my year of reading the retelling of well known fairy tales. In January I read Spellbound, written by Georgia Leighton, which is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
Bitter Greens is a beautiful, heartbreaking retelling of Rapunzel.
This is a fairy tale retelling done beautifully. It has everything within its pages - death, revenge, love, magic, history, murder, multiple time periods - the list could go on and on. I remember reading Rapunzel when I was little; this book is that story, and so much more.
I loved immersing myself in the lives of Charlotte Rose, Selena, and Margherita. These three women are complex, interesting characters, and I was along for the ride with each of their storylines. We travel through Vienna, Paris, France and Italy in these tales and it was fantastic to read about their lives during some of the most turbulent times in the history of these countries.
This book is about three women who are living in massively difficult situations and times when women were treated with disrespect and cruelty, and they are forced to survive in the best ways they can.
If you love fairy tales and historical fiction, this book is for you. This is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2025.
My Rating: 💜 💜 💜 💜
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, although I almost stopped reading it at the 25% point. I had a hard time liking the two main characters - Anna and Elijah. Anna is very passive and will go along with anything her husband Elijah says, and he is very controlling. He is a huge tech guy and has pretty much the entire house running with apps, much to Anna's chagrin. I didn't think I wanted to continue with the story of these two characters, but there was a mystery included in this story and my curiosity won out and I decided to continue. I am so glad that I did. This turned into a whirlwind of a book, and I ended up really liking Anna by the end of the book.
What first intrigued me about this book with the premise surrounding Anna and Elijah - what would happen if you and your spouse could have constant access to each others every thought, especially when you have secrets you want to keep hidden? Would it bring you together, or drive you apart? All of this can be realised by simply getting a chip implanted behind your ear. Given that Anna isn't nearly as keen to have the chip implanted as Elijah, there is animosity there, especially when Anna has side effects to the chip.
Carys build the tension and drama throughout the book, right up to the explosive conclusion. The last 25% of the book was absolutely riveting, and I couldn't put it down.
Although the book started on a low note for me, I thoroughly loved this book. It was a page turner that had my heart racing with each page. Highly recommend this book, but if you also find it challenging at the start just keep reading. You will be so glad you did.
My Rating: 🩵 🩵 🩵 🩵 🩵 🩵
Georgina Clarke has done it again. This is the third book in the Lizzie Hardwicke series of books, and it's my favourite.
Lizzie is such a fantastic and strong protagonist that I love reading these stories. She takes you on an amazing trip through 1700s London and the life of a harlot in those times. She is constantly facing danger, both in her work with Will Davenport for the magistrate but also in her home/work life, especially in this book where there is a new, dangerous addition to Berwick Street.
The characters are so well fleshed out, especially Lizzie, that they take you along on a ride that is so difficult to put down. There are twists and turns throughout the book that make the outcome even more shocking. Georgina Clarke has a beautiful way of writing a book, especially a piece of historical fiction like this, which makes her books impossible to resist.
My Rating: 💜 💜 💜 💜
I love the Bridget Jones movies starring Renee Zellweger and read the first book in the series around the time the movie came out, but with the new movie released, I thought I’d like to go through the book series and fancied the audiobooks. I am trying to get into audiobooks more, and this is one of my first steps. I have discovered how fantastic it is to knit or crochet while listening to an audiobook. I’m able to enjoy two of my great loves at the same time. All win!
This was a wonderful introduction to the world of Bridget Jones, or a re-introduction. It is read by Imogen Church, who does a fabulous job with the characters and ensures they all have their own voice. I love the voice she uses for Bridget’s Mother.
As someone who remembers the movie better than the book, it’s lovely to listen to more of the stories that didn’t feature in the movie. One section in particular - the blue soup- I was so happy to find was original to the book as this was one of my favourite scenes in the movie.
My Rating: 💜 💜 💜 💜
This is the second book in the Bridget Jones series, and it's also a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. Imogen Church has done another wonderful job of reading the book. Her series of voices really make the audiobook more enjoyable and fun to listen to. It's been a while since I watched the movie, but this seems to be quite different. There are some characters I definitely don't remember, but they definitely add to the book. A welcome addition to the series.
Goal for May 2025
As well as reading more of my ever-growing ARC books, there are some books and audiobooks that I have started and not finished, so I want to get them finished.
I have two more audiobooks to listen to in the Bridget Jones series, so I would like to finish both. Lots of knitting and crocheting to do in May.
As I alluded to in my April recap above, I am finally going to start reading Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. I have read and loved all the other books in the Hunger Games series, so I have no doubt I'll love this one. I got a copy of it a few weeks ago from Libby and renewed it twice, so I'm now on my last renewal. I could return it and borrow it again, but I think I have put it off enough. I need to dive in and get reading. Because it's such a massive book release I saw a lot of reactions online that showed people in tears by the end of the book, and that made me a bit nervous. But now, it's time. Come back next month to read my review.
So that's my list for April. What are you reading at the moment?