Literary Kitten

Oh, April. I had much higher hopes for you. The TBR was great; I went into the month with so much excitement. And then… it kind of came apart. I got busy and ended up taking a full week off of reading due to traveling. However, I still managed to finish 8 books in April, with half of those being from the original TBR. So, it could’ve gone worse!

Let’s break down my stats:

• Pages Read: ~3,175
• Average pages per book: ~397
• Average rating: 3.69 stars
• Genre Breakdown:

From my original April 2024 TBR, I read 4 out of 8 books. Pretty typical for me but I really wanted to read all of them because my interest in all of the books was so high! But, there will always be other months to read more books.

Here’s how I rank the 8 books I read in April 2024:

8. Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
• Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction
• Brief thoughts: good moments, ultimately dull, wasted potential, would’ve liked the story to focus more on the poisonings and the town dynamics

7. Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
• Genre: Horror, Literary Fiction
• Brief thoughts: interesting way of portraying familial trauma, could have been more horrific, took a bit too much time building towards the climax

6. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
• Genre: Mystery/thriller
• Brief thoughts: had too high of expectations, too long for what it is, enjoyed the mixed media aspect, unsatisfying ending

5. The Shining by Stephen King

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫(3.5)
• Genre: Horror
• Brief thoughts: a classic for a reason, engaging and addictive imagery, poignant, not typically my flavor of horror but still enjoyed the experience, hasn’t totally aged well (many slurs)

4. People We Meet on Vacation By Emily Henry

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫(3.5)
• Genre: Romance
• Brief thoughts: slightly forgettable compared to the other Henry novels I’ve read, I love the main character, adorable romance as always, Henry is a go-to romance author

3. Confessions by Kanae Minato

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Genre: Mystery/thriller
• Brief thoughts: couldn’t put this book down, all the perspectives were done well and had a unique voice, screamed at the ending pages, good pacing, a satisfying thriller

2. The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫(4.5)
• Genre: Romance
• Brief thoughts: Had a bit of trouble getting into it (hence the minus half star) but once I was in it, it was glorious. Magical, feels nostalgic, beautiful story, beautiful couple, my new favorite romance book, made me cry!

1. The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

• Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Genre: Mystery/thriller, YA
• Brief thoughts: this book HAS flaws don’t get me wrong, but by the end I just loved it so much. The characters were loveable. Holly Jackson just knows how to hook me in, she writes for me! I’m convinced! This isn’t A Good Girls Guide to Murder, but I think it can definitely compete. It’s a satisfying stand-alone with themes of seeking truth, mother and child love, and so much other good stuff. Give it a chance!

Well that’s what I read in April! I would consider April to be my least successful reading month so far this year, but I still had great experiences with these reads. Not every month will be filled to the brim with four and five stars; that’s okay.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for your support and for reading Literary Kitten today. Let me know down below if you have any book recommendations or if you’ve read any of these books!

As always, please follow me on Instagram and Goodreads to keep up with my reading in real time!

Here’s the summary of my April 2024 rankings: