Book of the Month Unboxing- March and April

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So a fun thing happened today. I sat down to write a new blog post only to discover that not only had I forgotten to write my Book of the Month Unboxing post for April…but I never wrote one for March either. What in the world is wrong with me? So today you are going to get a two for one…a Blog Post BOGO if you will. So, senior moment aside, how is your April going so far? Any exciting books? I have had a good month so far and am so excited to share my Book of the Month BOXES with you! So…let’s see what books I snagged for March and April!

Book of the Month April Choices

I am going to start with April because we are currently IN April and I am really excited to share these books with you! My box has just arrived and the 5 books are swoon worthy. Thank you to everyone who has used my referral link to join BOTM…I appreciate so much. If you haven’t checked out BOTM you can snag your first month for $5 with my link! My April choices feature a couple of Contemporary Romance novels, a Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, and, of course, a Thriller.

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

I have to start with Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez because it is one of my most anticipated reads of Spring 2024. I had crossed my fingers and hoped that this would be one of the choices…and when I saw her sitting there in all of her summery glory I was ecstatic. Immediate add to cart! I love Abby’s writing…her characters, her dialogue, the heart, the humor…she has it all!

Goodreads Synopsis

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.

Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

All We Were Promised by Ashton Lattimore

It has been a while since I have chosen a Historical Fiction from BOTM. I have been a thriller and Rom-Com phase of life but I have definitely been missing Historical Fiction. This is a book that I am not familiar with but the synopsis sounded so intriguing…and I loved the cover…so here we are!

Goodreads Synopsis

A housemaid with a dangerous family secret conspires with a wealthy young abolitionist to help an enslaved girl escape, in volatile pre-Civil War Philadelphia.

The rebel . . . the socialite . . . and the fugitive. Together, they will risk everything for one another in this “beguiling story of friendship, deception, and women crossing boundaries in the name of freedom” (Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends).

Philadelphia, 1837. After Charlotte escaped from the crumbling White Oaks plantation down South, she’d expected freedom to feel different from her former life as an enslaved housemaid. After all, Philadelphia is supposed to be the birthplace of American liberty. Instead, she’s locked away playing servant to her white-passing father, as they both attempt to hide their identities from slavecatchers who would destroy their new lives.

Longing to break away, Charlotte befriends Nell, a budding abolitionist from one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest Black families. Just as Charlotte starts to envision a future, a familiar face from her past reappears: Evie, her friend from White Oaks, has been brought to the city by the plantation mistress, and she’s desperate to escape. But as Charlotte and Nell conspire to rescue her, in a city engulfed by race riots and attacks on abolitionists, they soon discover that fighting for Evie’s freedom may cost them their own.

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

Another book that I hadn’t seen anything about in the Bookstagram Universe! The plot is so fantastic…you can read more about it below. I have seen rave reviews about How to End a Love Story over on Goodreads, so I am eager to dive into this one!

Goodreads Synopsis

Two writers with a complicated history end up working on the same TV show… Can they write themselves a new ending? A sexy and emotional enemies-to-lovers romance guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and give you a book hangover from brilliant new voice Yulin Kuang

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.

Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers’ room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except…

Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can’t pass up.

Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.

When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet… the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.

A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke

Magical Realism is my sweet, lovely, cozy, security blanket of a genre of choice. If I had to pick one genre of books to read forever and ever, it would be Magical Realism. A Short Walk Through a Wide World is not only a gorgeous book…but it sounds mesmerizing. So looking forward to this one!

Goodreads Synopsis

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets Life of Pi in this dazzlingly epic debut that charts the incredible, adventurous life of one woman as she journeys the globe trying to outrun a mysterious curse that will destroy her if she stops moving.

Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death.

When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than a few days nor return to a place where she’s already been.

From the scorched dunes of the Calashino Sand Sea to the snow-packed peaks of the Himalayas; from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard, to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry as she learns what it takes to survive and ultimately, to truly live. But the longer Aubry wanders and the more desperate she is to share her life with others, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s…

Fiercely independent and hopeful, yet full of longing, Aubry Tourvel is an unforgettable character fighting her way through a world of wonders to find a place she can call home. A spellbinding and inspiring story about discovering meaning in a life that seems otherwise impossible, A Short Walk Through a Wide World reminds us that it’s not the destination, but rather the journey—no matter how long it lasts—that makes us who we are.

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

Last but certainly not least is Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda. I always have to add a thriller to the box. Maybe I am just trying to balance out all of the sweetness from the Magical Realism and Rom-Com’s… but I LOVE LOVE a Thriller.

Goodreads Synopsis

The new thrilling novel from Megan Miranda, the instant New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls, The Last to Vanish, and The Only Survivors.

When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

Book of the Month March Choices

I will try to keep this part short and sweet since it isn’t even March anymore…but…my March Book of the Month box was SO good and SO huge. I was able to get a few free books with my free credits (again, huge huge thank you to everyone who has joined BOTM using my referral link…appreciate you so much) ANNND since I am a BOTM BFF I was able to get a free Book of the Year pick! So…the box was thiiiiick! Let’s just jump right in!

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

This was my Book of the Year pick since I had read all of the other nominees! I am so excited to read this book because I have heard nothing but amazing things. From what I have heard…if you like thrillers you are going to want to check this book out!

Goodreads Synopsis

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

Happily Never After by Lynn Painter

I had to choose this book. I have been obsessing over Rom-Com’s lately and this one had such a fun premise! The characters are wedding objectors…they get hired by a bride or groom who doesn’t want to go through with their wedding. This was SUCH a good book. I loved it!

Goodreads Synopsis

Two love sceptics agree to work together as professional wedding disruptors. But fate has more romantic plans in mind for them . . .

When Sophie finds out right before getting married that she’s been cheated on (again!) it’s time for drastic action. Instead of calling the wedding off, she hires a gorgeous stranger – Max – to interrupt the ceremony and confront her fiancé. It’s hardly the wedding she’d planned. But Sophie enjoys taking revenge. So, when Max asks if she’ll work with him to help others expose their cheating partners, Sophie agrees. When they’re hired by a man who’s marrying the girl that once broke Max’s heart, Sophie expects Max to revel in the job. But instead, he seems to be wrestling with his feelings for his ex. And worse than that, Sophie is jealous …

Murder Road by Simone St.James

Holy Moly did I LOVE this book. Simone St.James is the master of the twisty and ghosty thrillers and this was no exception. I loved the pacing, the mystery, the overall spooky factor. It was all there. If you love a thriller with some ghostly elements definitely give this a read. I think I still loved The Broken Girls more but this was definitely great!

Goodreads Synopsis

A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey

This book has been on my TBR for so long.The reviews are excellent! I am hoping to get this one read in April once I finish my review books!

Goodreads Synopsis

A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one woman’s messy search for joy and meaning in the wake of an unexpected breakup, from comedian, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter Monica Heisey

Maggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days, but at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.

Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4 am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.

The Clockmakers Daughter by Kate Morton

I am so excited for this book. It is thicker than a lot of the books I typically go for but it sounds absolutely amazing. I have heard incredible things about not only this book but about Kate Morton’s writing in general. I just got a copy of her book Homecoming and I am looking forward to reading that once as well.

Goodreads Synopsis

My real name, no one remembers. The truth about that summer, no one else knows.

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor on the banks of the Upper Thames. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins.

Over one hundred and fifty years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items: a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist’s sketchbook containing the drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river.

Why does Birchwood Manor feel so familiar to Elodie? And who is the beautiful woman in the photograph? Will she ever give up her secrets?

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

I know absolutely ZERO about this book. It wasn’t on my radar at all until it popped up on BOTM’s website. I am loving the fact that this book is set in the 80’s and 90’s! I am old and that is when I grew up…so I know it will be nostalgic! Hoping to get to this one soon because I have heard really great things!

Goodreads Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Xochitl Gonzalez delivers a mesmerizing novel about a first-generation Ivy League student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death

1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten—certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by privileged students whose futures are already paved out for them, Raquel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret.

But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita’s story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist.

Moving back and forth through time and told from the perspectives of both women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.

Happy Reading!

I hope you all have an awesome reading month! There are so many amazing new releases coming out this month! Stay tuned for a couple of reviews coming in the next few days!!