My April 2021 reads and reviews

Let me start by happily yelling BACK ON TRACK PEOPLE!! 😀

April has been a good reading month for me. It started of really slow, like…. reeeally slow. The first book I read took me about two weeks to complete. But if you have read my March reviews, you might remember that I discovered my reads were slow because the pace of the books were slow. Apparently I adjust my reading speed to the pace of the book.

When I learned that Deweys 24 hour Readathon was soon to be starting (seriously, I only found out two days before) I went to my theStorygraph TBR and filtered on fast-paced. And I couldn’t stop reading anymore… I read about 1 book a day for a couple of days. My reading slump was over! Hurray!

It was my first time participating Deweys. I figured it would be a good motivator when I needed it, but in the end I felt I hardly participated the online activities because I was reading so much. Thanks to our time difference with the US, most of the time of the readathon was during the night. Maybe the Reverse Readathon will fit better.

I did like the challenge though, and noticed there will be another readathon done at the end of May. Something that’s really up my alley if you remember last years Startonyourshelfathon. The dotheThingaThon is a week long and focuses on the goals you have set for yourself at the beginning of the year. Inspired by this idea I went back to my 2021 TBR and made a shortlist of books to read for the dotheThingaThon. The shortlist turned out to be 8 books, and I also added my current TBR from the library… well… long story a bit shorter, I’m making it the entire month, because a week is too short! 😉

So let’s get to it! What did I read this April?

25. The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale (Dutch, library, 3.5 stars)
I was stuck for a while reading this one. Besides the part were Robert Coombes killed his mother, there isn’t much remarkable about him. And that is only about one-third of the story. The part after he gets sentenced could be a bit dry from time to time but I did appreciate how Summerscale intertwined information about his family, friends and surroundings during the course of his life. It is clear that she wrote a thorough piece and all if the information is stitched together seemlessness. Or maybe I’m just thinking this because I never read other true crime biographies before?

26. Wolfhunter river by Rachel Caine (Dutch, library, 4.5 stars)
After the last one I was wondering how Rachel Caine could write another good one in this series, but WOW! She did! The beginning was a bit slow and some bits were a bit repetitive (as you get with series explaining a bit of the past), many hints were dropped but I couldn’t stitch it together at first. There is always so much happening in these novels, it amazes me that they are not double in size. And it works, it works really really well.

In Wolfhunter River we follow a couple of stories. Of course the one about the family, but it also sidetracks with a more personal story from Sam. And if that isn’t disruptive enough, a woman calls out of the blue asking for help. This woman dies and Gwen and Lanny try to rescue her daughter, while Connor gets interested in the history of the town and the disappearing women around there. Oh, and a little girl is kidnapped too. Without going into detail here, there are several life threatening moments, a lot of emotions, some betrayals and so many twists and turns.

27. the Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (English, ebook, 3.75 stars)
I’ve read many recommendations about the Silent Patient and was intrigued by the blurb. The story however felt much darker and something felt a bit off… A psychotherapist becoming invested in his patient is one thing, but the way he conducted his investigations felt like something more was happening I didn’t know yet. This story wasn’t about the patient. This story was about him. His own past, his own present and his own wishes. How the Silent Patient fitted in was cleverly hidden until the end of the story. Well done Alex Michaelides!

28. In the tall grass by Stephen King and Joe Hill (English, ebook, 4 stars)
Mysterious short horror story, only about 60 pages, which reads like a writing exercise gone well. I love that Stephen King publishes these sort of things, as I believe it gives hope to any new writer out there.

29. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett (English, print, 4.5 stars)
I absolutely love the Phantom of the Opera, I have all 5 movies, the musical and of course the original Leroux story. I wasn’t sure if I would love this adaptation, but I just HAD to read it. Luckily I did! I loved it! Even though this is right in the middle of the Witches-series from DiscWorld and I probably missed some background story somewhere, Maskerade was absolutely amazing. The way Nanny and Granny went about like they were two Miss Marple’s was very entertaining. I should probably add some more exclamation marks. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! 😉

30. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (English, ebook, 4 stars)
This one is about a woman on a cruise she needs to write a piece on for a magazine. She meets a young woman in the room next to her, but she never sees here again and after hearing a splash in the night believes she was murdered. Of course she starts investigating, and gets her own life threatened in the process. The story can sometimes be a bit repetitive and in the end I could guess how things would turn out but still a very good read!

31. Winnie-the-pooh by A.A. Milne (Dutch, print, 5 stars)
As a kid I was a huge fan of everything Pooh but this was actually the first time reading it. My edition was from the sixties, so a bit old-fashioned in language and it included all of the pretty drawings. A true classic! And it was just as lovely as I remember the cartoon movies to be. A good way to start the day with a smile!

32. Joyland by Stephen King (English, ebook, 5 stars)
Stephen King is very good in making a story start late and spending at least half of the book on introductions. This story is no exception, except that it has a bit of a different ring to it as it is really pleasing to read and you are not even wondering when the story will be starting. And when it does, it’s actually a bit sad to know you are getting to the end and will be missing these wonderful characters. I fully admit this story made me cry and it was hard to lay down and not just read it in one go. Even with trying not to read it too quickly, I finished within one day.

33. still reading

34. 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie (English, ebook, 4.5 stars)
Another Miss Marple story, in this one she truly takes the stage! I had a good couple of laughs from it. She makes everything sound so simple even the detectives were thrown off guard. Hilarious! Probably not something to say about a murder story, but it was.

And that was it! These were my April reads. Have you read any of these too? What did you think about them? Do you have a recommendation for something similar? Or is there anything you would like to know? Ask me in the comments!