Phew – May is here already and before life gets any crazier than it already is, I better post about the books that I read in April. I finished 7 books in April, and my total for the year is currently 34, so I am right on schedule to finish my 100 books for the year if I can keep it up! (fingers crossed!) Below are five of my favorites from the month:
Sarah E Ladd has been one of my favorite authors the last 4-5 years. In April I was trying to come out of a bad reading rut and really needed a good book that would suck me in. The Governess of Penwythe Hall was the perfect antidote! This sweet historical romance has a little mystery and adventure. I enjoyed that the plot had so many elements; loss of spouse, grief, children, betrayal, family issues. I would love to read more about some of the children’s stories in the future too! The book is clean and sweet, without seeming fluffy or predictable. Have you read any other books by Ladd? I highly recommend them! They are always a win!
Like I said, I hit a reading slump mid-March and I am embarrassed at how long it took me to finish The Midnight Heiress….not for content though, the fault is all my own. Sometimes life is just busy. But seriously, if you are in the mood for a fun Cinderella retelling (with a twist) and have an afternoon(or month in my case) you should read this. Plus it’s free on Kindle Unlimited, so you really have nothing to lose! Ashtyn Newbold and a couple of her friends have a whole series of these fun re-tellings called Once upon a Regency collection…so make sure to check them all out!
What an amazing story of strength and courage! Born Survivors is a true story of three women who were pregnant and gave birth while imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.
This hooked me and while I knew the ending, I couldn’t put this book down. I read it all today. It has tough, tough content, but tells their story of survival. “Their babies went on to have babies of their own and create a second and then a third generation, all of whom continue to live their lives to the full in defiance of Hitler’s plan to erase them from history and from memory.”…… “The more people who know about what happened, the less likely it is to happen again, I hope,’ she said. ‘This is a story which should teach people that it mustn’t happen again.”
I read Mary, Martha and Me a few years ago and picked it up to re-read as part of my Come, Follow Me study. I love this little book (it’s under 125 pages). I love studying about Mary and Martha. I love how just 5 verses of scripture can have such a huge impact. I think my favorite part is the point Olson makes in the end…. “None of us is either a Martha or a Mary. Fortunately mutually exclusive categories delineated by a few versus in scripture do not define any of us. We are each a marvelous, unique creation of God, seasoned by interaction with other remarkable people, including those in scripture, like Mary and Martha, we need one another and are blessed by our associations, but our purpose is not to become a replica of Mary, Martha or the “ideal” members of our ward.
Our purpose is to become like Jesus Christ.”
A friend loaned me Bellewether in March and I finally finished it in April. She is a huge Kearsley fan, I am kinda neutral, some are hit or miss or maybe it’s the mood I am in. I would give Belleweather 4 stars. I liked it. It was a good, I liked the story and I thought it was interesting to read about a different part of history that I hadn’t read much about before. (French and Indian war). It was just a little slow to me, and I was in the mood for a faster pace story. My same friend convinced me that I shouldn’t give up on Kearsley quite yet and that I should give her book The Firebird a try. Have you read any books by Susanna Kearsley? Which ones have you loved?
Did you read any amazing books in April that you want to share with me? I would love to hear your thoughts about any of these! Leave me a comment.
