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Monday, May 11, 2026

Month in Review: April 2026


Wow, April was a blur! May is starting to blur as well (especially considering I meant to have this post up on May 2nd and somehow it's now going up on May 11th...), but I still want to make sure to have time reflect on April's reading, so here we are! 

In personal news... I've just been super busy so I don't really have that much to share, haha. Between the classes I'm taking and the new job, I just haven't had a lot of time to do much of anything, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm just holding out for June, now. Maybe I'll have something more fun to share then!

In reading news, I managed to read much more than I anticipated, which I'm really happy about. This included a couple books that I loved, such as The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances and The Caretaker, and I'm hoping that May brings some more great books with it. I'm very pleased that I was actually able to keep up with reviews in April and actually posted more than a small handful, so hooray for that! And as usual, I'm woefully behind on catching up with everyone else's blogs, but I'm planning to set aside some time this week to catch up, so I'm looking forward to that as well. :)

How was your April and what books have you been reading? How's the new year been? Any reading-related goals?  Let me know how your month was below and what you've been reading!
   

# books read: 13

The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer
Source: NetGalley | Format: eARC
Thoughts: I had such high hopes and so much excitement for this book... and it didn't disappoint at all! This is the best psychological horror and I can't wait for whatever Kliewer does next.

Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker
Source: NetGalley | Format: eARC
Thoughts: I really liked Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker so I was pretty excited for this release, but sadly it didn't quite work for me. The writing is still beautiful and it's not at all a bad book, it just wasn't really for me. 

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon
Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC
Thoughts: This was so lovely and made the Brave Little Toaster fan in me so happy. 

The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee
Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC
Thoughts: This was a really strong new sci-fi release from Lee. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I liked the Green Bone Saga series, but I think it's a solid new story nonetheless.

Steel Gods (The Great Silence #2) by Richard Swan
Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC
Thoughts: Maybe it was something about me or the timing of when I read this book, but I just really struggled with it. I might try to re-read it sometime, but for right now I found this to be a bit of a disappointment compared to how much I enjoyed the first book. But I'm really hoping it was just me and a re-read sometime will do it justice!

The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb by Garrett M. Graff
Source: Library  | Format: Audiobook
Thoughts: This was such a fascinating experience. I listened to the audiobook and was really impressed with all the narrative voices used to relay the different oral histories and quotes from different people, and I'd absolutely recommend this one!

We Had a Little Real Estate Problem by Kliph Nesteroff
Source: Library | Format: Audiobook
Thoughts: I learned so much from this book and think it's a very unexpectedly fascinating topic. If you don't know, this book is about the history of Native America comedy/comedians/Native Americans in comedy, and it's well worth the read. 

Siúil, a Rún: The Girl From the Other Side, Vol. 1 (The Girl from the Other Side #1) by Nagabe
Source: Library | Format: Ebook
Thoughts: I'd had my eye on this ever since I saw the cover in passing at a bookstore and I finally had a chance to check out a copy from my library. The illustrations are lovely and the story seems intriguing--I'm not sure exactly what to expect still, but I'm planning to continue the series to find out. 

The Magician King (The Magicians #2) by Lev Grossman
Source: Library | Format: Ebook
Thoughts: I continued with my re-read of this trilogy and I'm still so mixed. There are things that don't totally work, yet somehow it feels so strangely addictive. 

The Magician's Land (The Magicians #3) by Lev Grossman
Source: Library | Format: Ebook
Thoughts: And now I've finished my re-read of the trilogy! I still have so many mixed thoughts, but I'm really glad I decided to re-read these ones. 

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold (Wayward Children #11) by Seanan McGuire
Source: Library | Format: Audiobook
Thoughts: And with this one, I believe I am finally caught up with the Wayward Children series! I'll admit that this series just really isn't hitting for me the way it used, but I'm still curious enough to keep reading them, I guess, haha.

The Baker's Boy (Book of Words #1) by J.V. Jones
Source: Owned | Format: Paperback
Thoughts: It took me way too long to finish this, but I'm glad I did. I'm a huge fan of J.V. Jones' Sword of Shadows series and I wanted to give her other work a read. I didn't like this one anywhere close to as much as I love the Sword of Shadows series, but it was fun to see some of her earlier and to see how much her writing has evolved. 

West of Wicked by Nikki St. Crowe
Source: Publisher | Format: Physical ARC
Thoughts: This was a fun and unexpected read! I enjoyed what the author did with the Wizard of Oz inspiration and I am pretty curious to see where she takes this story next.



To-Be-Finished:

The Library After Dark by Ande Pliego
Honestly, this might be a full DNF, but I'm still in the process of deciding. There were a few lines I read that just completely took me out of the book, and although I'm not normally someone who's overly bothered by things like that, for some reason it just really didn't work for me. The writing in general just wasn't working for me, so I may end up fully passing on this one.
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