March Wrap Up

Hello Fellow Readers!

Today I am going to be telling you about the 11 books that I read in March! This has by far been the most successful reading month I've had this year. I participated in two read-a-thons: The Backlist read-a-thon and the Historical Romance read-a-thon. The Historical Romance read-a-thon was my favorite read-a-thon that I've ever participated in! I really enjoyed the books I read, as well as the prompts. It was just a great time! Check out that blog post if you want to hear more about it!

Here are some stats about my reading month. I think it's so cool to hear these about other people's reading, so I though I'd do it as well!

My star rating is as follows:

Five stars: 1

Four stars: 3

Three stars: 6

Two Stars: 1

One Star: 0

Genre's:

Mystery Thriller: 3

Romance: 7

Horror: 1

Pages Read: 3,599

Okay, let's get into the books!

1. The first book I finished this month was Regretting You by Colleen Hoover. I immediately bought this book when it came out, Colleen Hoover is an auto buy author. I don't care if she publishes her grocery list, I will buy it and read it! She is in my top 5 favorite

authors! If you don't know, this book follows 2 women a mother and a daughter. They have a strained relationship, and it is even further strained after the death of their husband/father and sister/aunt, at the beginning of the book. The two women learn a lot about themselves and their family members throughout the book, and grow and all of the that. This book deals a lot with grief, but also first loves, and family.

My thoughts:

This is by far my least favorite Colleen Hoover book to date. As soon as I started reading it, everything seemed very flat and average. I was very disappointed by this book. I didn't like the characters, I thought they were annoying. The main problem in this book could have been solved in one conversation, and it was, but it happened like 150 pages too late. I found this book to be very average, which is why I gave 3 stars. I really hope her next book has her CoHo magic!!

2. Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter is the next book I finished this

month. This book has been on my radar for a couple of months, so I am glad that I finally got a chance to read it. I got this book as an audio from my library, which is a questionable decision based on the content. I personally liked listening to the audiobook, but I know that it will not be for everyone. If you don't know, this book, again, follows two women. An estranged sister duo. The older sister is a recovering drug addict mother that hasn't talked to her family in like over 10 years. The younger sister is a trophy wife who is married to this freakishly rich guy who seems absolutely perfect on every level. The story follows these two sisters as they get back together to solve a very dangerous and creepy mystery surrounding the trophy wives husband. It appears that he is not what he seemed to be, and the horror unfold from there.

My thoughts:

This book is rough. When I say rough, I mean the subject matter is disturbing beyond anything that I have read. It doesn't really sound like it, from my description, and I don't want to spoil it, but it is bad. This author has literally constructed a book that has almost every trigger warning I've ever heard of. I think, because of the shocking subject matter, I found this book to be intriguing, and absolutely amazing. I found myself thinking about it constantly, I couldn't wait to get in my car and listen to it. I was being shocked time after time. Just when one horrible thing happens, something worse happens, and I couldn't believe it.

This book is a little more than it's shocks, though. The characters do drive some of the book. I found Clair's struggles in this book to be very believable. Lydia was also very believable, she was the more empathetic of the two sisters, in my opinion. I found both of their character arch's to be well done.

I have heard people mention the unnecessary racism in this book as being very problematic. As someone that lives in the south (this book takes place outside of Atlanta) I found that to be very believable. I know that some people think that author's have a duty to make things like racism or homophobia wrongs, right, but I don't think that that is necessarily realistic. Their are racist and homophobic people out their that never learn their thoughts and opinions are wrong. I know that a lot of people would like to see justice, especially from author's because they have such an influential platform, but if their book isn't like a commentary, or driven around that theme, then I don't know if it's in the books best interest. Just a thought, and I know that it is very controversial.

Overall, this was a great book in my mind. It is not for everyone, it is definitely very R rated subject matter, and is very explicit, but if you are into like true crime, I think it is worth picking up!

3. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren is the book that I

finished next. This is my second Christina Lauren book, after one of my favorite books of last year Roomies. This is also one of

their most popular books. If you don't know, this is a hate to love book about two people that are forced to go on an all expenses paid for honeymoon after their siblings get really bad food poisoning at their wedding reception. These two people absolutely hate each other, but don't want this dream honeymoon to go to waste. They decide to put up with each other for the length of the trip, and it being a romance, obviously they fall in love.

My thoughts:

I found this book to be a very average. I don't really like the trope hate to love, and this is a new discovery, outside of historical romance. I don't know why, but something about modern day hate to love is just not fun for me. Not much to say on this book, the characters were fine, the plot was predictable, it was just okay. I gave this book 3 stars.

4. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is the next book I finished this month. This is a book I read for the Backlist read-a-thon, along with the previously mentioned book. This was read for the prompt: read a book someone has recommended to you. My husband recommended this book to me years ago, and I read like half of it, and I could not finish. Fast forward a couple years, and I started it over, listened to the audiobook, and was able to finish it in a day. If you don't know, this is a dystopian/horror book that follows this man who is trying to survive in this new world after everyone turns into these like zombie vampire creatures.

My thoughts:

This is not the book for me. This is not my favorite genre, and it's definitely not my favorite concept. The first thing I told my husband, after I finished reading it was, "Vampires are supposed to be sexy!" The vampires in this book, are not sexy. Other than that, I don't have a lot to say on this book either. I can see why some people like it, but I really don't.

5. Two Past Midnight: Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King is the next book that I finished this month. This is a short story in a collection that my dad has been asking me to read for like over

a decade! I am ashamed to say that it took me that long to read it, especially because I really liked it. If you don't know, this book follows a writer who is recently divorced. One day, this strange man shows up at his door and accuses him of plagiarizing a book that he wrote. From their a series of weird, and Stephen King like events unfold.

My thoughts:

I thought this story was really well done. The pacing was great, the mood was very creepy. I listened to the audio book for this story. It had creepy music, and the narrator was fantastic! One thing that I don't think anyone can deny about Stephen King is his ability to write about people loosing their mind. It is subtle when it needs to be, the details are fantastic, and he paces it really well. This book in that sense reminds me of the only other Stephen King book that I've read The Long Walk. He writes those character going mad as well, very well. Like I said, I really enjoyed this book, and it was really nice to talk about it with my dad afterwards!

6. Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning is the next book I finished this month. This, as well as the next two books were

read for the Historical Romance read-a-thon. If you don't know, this book follows a girl in the 90's that gets sent back in time to like the 1500's in Scotland. She is married to a guy that she has never met, so that he can end a curse that is bestowed onto him, which follows the marriage of convenience trope that I adore!! A series of events happen, their is a little magic, and a little romance, and it was great!

My thoughts:

I loved this book! I loved the time period, I loved the relationship, I loved it! This book is very Karen Marie Moning, in that if I didn't know who the author was, she would be my first guess. She has a very distinct writing style, and characters. She writes very stubborn head strong leading ladies, secretive alpha male's, and a little bit of fairy magic. I liked this just as much as I like her other books, she is probably a new favorite author! I gave this book four stars!

7. Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas is the next book that I finished this month. This book is about a girl in 1800's England that moves her family to a new town after a series of tragedies that happened in their family. She meets a guy that no one approves of her liking,

and she doesn't even like him that much, but they fall in love anyway.

My thoughts:

I didn't really care for this book that much. The pacing was very slow, and it didn't feel like anything was happening for the majority of the story. I didn't really find the romance to be that convincing. The characters didn't seem like they had a lot of depth, either. They seemed very formulaic. I did like the commentary on class difference and race. I thought that was done convincingly, but overall this book was a little boring. I gave it 3 stars, but now that I think about it, it is more like 2.5.

8. Hearts Aflame by Johanna Lindsey is the next book that I finished this month. This was the buddy read for the read-a-thon. A lot of people were saying that this author is the like the mother of historical romance, she has written an ungodly amount of books. If you don't know, this book is about a viking women that stows

aboard her brothers merchant ship to go and find her true love and an adventure. Her brother has no intention of actually going to the merchant trade, instead he and a bunch of his friends decide to go viking, which is basically stealing, from a southern kingdom. Things obviously don't go to plan, and a bunch of bad things happen, that I don't want to say, because it might spoil the book. Oh, and their is a steamy romance in it.

My thoughts:

I'm not going to lie, I had very low expectations going into this book. I did not think I was going to like it, especially as much as I do. I've never read a book about vikings, or a historical romance book this old, so I had no idea what was going to happen. I freaking loved it! The characters, the plot, the romance, the pacing, it was all really good. The only downside, and this is why it is not a full 5 stars is the ending. The ending was rushed, and very easy. It just didn't live up to the rest of the book! I want to read more from this author, but I have no idea where to start, she has so many books! I also want to read more viking historical romance books. I loved this time period, I feel like I have read from a lot of different time periods, but this was so new. The religion was different, the culture was different, it was great! I highly recommend you check this book out, if you like historical romance!

9. The Good Girl by Mary Kubica is the next book that I finished this month. This is a thriller book set in a couple different time lines, following a couple of different people. It follows a mother, an

abductor, and a detective before and after a girl is abducted from a bar. You see how each character deals with the situation, and their feelings about the girl.

My thoughts:

I found this book to be a little confusing. You know from the beginning that the girl was saved, it seemed like an odd choice, but their are still some mysteries in this book. I didn't find any of them to be very thrilling, the last one was surprising, but I still didn't really love this book. The only thing I got from this book, and this is just a personal thing, is the insight on Stockholm Syndrome. I don't know if that is a spoiler, but that's the only thing I took away from this book. I didn't really understand it before, but I feel like I get it now a little better than I did before. This is a hard 3 star book for me.

10 and 11. Barbarian Lover and Barbarian Mine both by Ruby Dixon. This is a continuation in the Ice Planet Barbarian series. This is an alien romance book. These books are very explicit and heavy on the romance, and they are not for everyone. Their are very problematic elements in this book, that should not be taken serious. I just watched a video by Mina Reads on youtube, and she explains the series well, and gives hilarious commentary, if you want to check it out. My explanation is: the series follows a group of girls all the same age, but from different places that are abducted by aliens. They have been told that they are going to be

sold in an auction on a different planet. Before they can get to that planet, they crash land on this planet that is covered in snow and ice and are abandoned by the aliens. They have to figure out how to survive, and through a series of events they find these giant blue aliens (think Avatar) who are kind of barbarian like. They later find out that to survive on the planet they have to get a parasite in their body that will allow them to survive on the planet. This parasite tells them who they are to mate with. Each book, so far, follows a different human girl as she finds and falls in love with her barbarian mate.

My thoughts:

These two books are book 3 and 4 in the series. They follow 2 different girls and they fall for different barbarians. I liked both of these books the same, which is why I am including them together. The books in the series are so similar, and the characters are all similar, and it is just not that exciting anymore. I like this series, it is so different than anything I've read before, and even though the characters are the same, I still really like them. I like the relationships, and I like how they are discovering this planet, and the similarities and differences in the two races. This series is not going to be for everyone, and that's okay. I like it. I gave each of these books about 3.5/5 stars.

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Okay, that was my very long March Wrap up. I feel extremely accomplished to have read so much. I hope that you all enjoyed your month of reading. If I had to pick, I think my favorite book this month was Pretty Girls.

I can not stop thinking about it. I plan on reading another book by Karin Slaughter next month The Good Daughter I've heard really good things about it, so I'm hoping I will like it! Let me know what your favorite book was this month!

I hope that you all have a great rest of you day!

Happy reading!