Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West -
This is a YA contemporary romance, from one of my favourite authors, and exactly what I needed to pick up. This follows a girl who compiles a list of goals to complete over the summer in order to improve her art enough to be accepted to show her work in the local museum, and enlists the help of her best friend, who she has had an unrequited crush on for some time. This had so many of the components I adore in this type of book - the beach setting, trying to complete a list, great friendships, friends-to-lovers - it was just my ideal book. I loved our main characters and their friendship. They had an amazing relationship, filled with such fun banter that made their connection so apparent. I also liked the friendships outwith our main characters, particularly the new friendships Abby develops throughout the book. I thought the family dynamic was really interesting, seeing how Abby and her family were dealing with, or struggling to deal with, her mother's anxiety, and enjoyed having an involved family in the story. The art aspect of the story wasn't something I was initially interested in but I found the completion of the items on the list and seeing how that evolved into artwork quite fascinating. Overall, I just really loved this story. It was light enough to make it a quick read, but did have some more serious points, and the romance was one of my favourites from Kasie West. My only tiny issues with it was some of the drama that lead to the conflict was a bit much for me, but I do need to remember that these characters are teenagers and I need to cut them some slack.
Rating: 4.5/5
Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd -
My non-fiction read of the month was, of course, another medical memoir. This is the memoir of a forensic pathologist, which is something I definitely haven't read before. Many of my doctor friends had recommended this to me so, while I wasn't so sure about it before, I decided to pick it up and see what the fuss was about. Reading about death is not something I choose to do all that often and I had my reservations that this would be too upsetting or gruesome for me, but I didn't find that at all. I found the way this book was written was both medical/informative enough that it was more fascinating than gruesome, and though there were a few stories that did pull on my heart strings somewhat, I was not particularly upset but the subject matter. However, it should be noted that all of the stories mentioned were told with the greatest of respect and sensitivity, which I thought to be very important. Despite my reservations, I found this to be a very interesting book and I gained so much knowledge and insight into a profession I knew very little about. I was especially interested in reading about Dr Richard Shepherd's involvement in some more high profile cases. I did find it slow in some places and was a little bored at parts, but I read the majority of this 400 page book in a day so that says quite a bit.
Rating: 3.5/5
Eve Of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher -
This was a reread as the second book in the series was released in April, and I could remember very little about this first book. This is a YA dystopian which follows Eve, the first girl born in 50 years, who has lived her whole life separated from the outside world and, after a chance meeting with a boy her age, begins to question everything she thought she knew about her life and the outside world. This concept is interesting and the execution is fine, but I wouldn't say this is anything all that special. The story is fine and the world, the technology used within the world in particular, is interesting, but the characters are dull and the majority of the book is pretty slow. My thoughts on reread are the same at they were initially - interesting idea with a lot of potential but average book overall.
Rating: 3/5
The Eve Illusion by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher -
I picked up the second book in the series immediately following my reread of the first book, which picks up directly after book one left off. My thoughts on the second book are much the same as the first. The plot was fine, if a little slow, but included a lot of torture and death, which made for a much darker storyline. I enjoyed the characters a bit more in the second book, as they showed a bit of development, and liked seeing some of the relationships develop more. The books in this series are not bad but, like I said about the first book, they are just nothing all that special in my opinion. I will probably pick up the final book in the trilogy when it comes out to see how the story concludes.
Rating: 3/5
What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick -
I have had this book sitting on my shelves since 2016 and for some unknown reason I decided to pick it up in April. This is another YA contemporary romance following a girl who lives on a small island and is trying to come to terms with some of her past mistakes. I typically love summer romances set on small beach islands, so this seemed like my kind of book. However, this was almost 500 pages of nothing. I was so bored throughout this entire book as very little actually happened. I liked the romance, they were sweet together and it was nice seeing them work out their history, but that did not need so many pages. Most of the subplot I found to be boring and unnecessary and I didn't get the small beachy island vibes I love so much. It was fine but I was left quite disappointed.
Rating: 3/5
Those are all the books I read in April. Mostly pretty average reads for this month so hopefully I can pick up some books I will enjoy more in May. I have found myself giving out a lot of 3 star ratings, as I mentioned in my March wrap up, so I think I maybe need to change up my reading a bit.
What stand out book would you recommend to get me out of this 3-star giving slump?
Sophie :)
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