March was a very busy month for me! I changed jobs a bit, nothing too drastic but still stressful, so my work life has been crazy. It has meant I haven't had a lot of time to dedicate to this blog, but thankfully I have been in such a reading mood so still managed to get some books read. I read 8 books again in March, so I seem to be pretty consistent each month, and enjoyed most of them. I ended up having exactly the same ratings as February; a five star, a two star, and the rest split evenly between three and four stars. I also continued with a couple of series I started at the beginning of the year. I really enjoyed my reading month in March.
Southern Storms by Brittainy C Cherry -
I fell in love with Brittainy C Cherry in February, when I read my first of her books, so I obviously picked up another one in March. Southern Storms follows a woman who flees an abusive marriage and moves to a small town, where she finds herself drawn to the town's mysterious loner. As expected, I loved this. It is heartbreaking at times, which I have come to expect from this author, but is also a really sweet romance. I loved both our main characters and the great grumpy-sunshine dynamic they had. I'm a sucker for a bad boy and a hero who hates everyone but the heroine, which was done so well here. Both our main characters horrible things, so a lot of trigger warnings here including abuse, loss of a loved one, loss of a child, child abuse and anxiety, but the way they help each other through their situations is great and really demonstrates how much these characters care for each other. I adored this book and can't wait to read more from Brittainy C Cherry.
Rating: 5/5
Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone -
I have been trying to pick up some of the books that I have physically owned for way too many years, and this one had been on my shelf since 2014. This is a YA time travel romance, following a girl in 1995 Chicago and a boy from 2012 San Francisco who has travelled back in time. The two become close, which obviously makes for a very difficult relationship. Time travel romances are not something I have ever been interested in, I think is one I picked up because it was popular at the tim, so I had low expectations going in to this. I knew I probably wasn't going to love it, but I did enjoy it more than I thought I would. It was boring at times and didn't grab my interest, but I enjoyed it enough while I was reading it. I wasn't completely sold on the relationship. It was very much instalove and I don't think the author did enough to convince me of a connection between the two characters for me to be invested in the relationship and feel for their struggles. I did quite like the ending, though.
Rating: 3/5
Settling The Score by RS Grey -
I have seen a lot of hype surrounding RS Grey's books so decided to give her a go. I love the Olympics, so this sports romance set at the 2016 Rio Olympics sounded like my perfect book. It follows a US female soccer star going to her first Olympics, who is excited to see if the rumours of a sex-crazed athletes village are true, and a British swimmer who is also royalty, who develop a connection despite his complicated personal life. I started off really loving this, everything about it was exactly what I wanted to be reading. However, it ended up getting really disappointing. I think I would have loved this if it was as simple as a sports romance set at the Olympics, but all of the royal stuff and his complicated situation just annoyed me. The fact that Andie had dedicated her life to her sport and was getting her big shot at the Olympics but seemed to forget about that fact the second she met Freddie made me so angry. This book also had a bit of the jealous ex trope, which is probably my least favourite trope, which just annoyed me even more. I want to give the sequel a go, hopefully that will be the Olympics book I have been waiting for.
Rating: 2/5
Always Only You by Chloe Liese -
This is the second book in the Bergman Brother's series that I started back in January. This one follows Ren, a professional hockey player who is an absolute sweetheart, and Frankie, the social media manager for the team. This is the perfect slow burn, grumpy/sunshine romance and I loved it. Our main characters are so complete opposites, but understand each other so well and really bring out the best in each other. Ren is just the sweetest and he adores Frankie, and has done since he met her, but she has always been off limits as staff and players are not allowed to date. Frankie has spent much of her life feeling like a burden. She is on the autism spectrum and has rheumatoid arthritis, so often feels like she is problem for someone to look after, rather than a person to be loved. I loved both of them individually, but once they are forced together and start to really develop a relationship I just couldn't get enough. It was also great to see the Bergman family again as the family dynamic was one of my favourite aspects of the first book. I can't wait to carry on with this series and get the rest of the family's stories.
Rating: 4/5
Don't Look Back by Jennifer L Armentrout -
This is another one that I picked up because I have owned it for so long. This is a YA mystery about a girl who turns up a few days after going missing, with no memories of what happened or of much of her life. When she discovers that her best friend is still missing, she is determined to get her memories back to help find her. I was surprised that I enjoyed this one as much as I did. It usually takes a lot for me to enjoy a YA mystery, especially is the mystery part is pretty obvious. I could see everything coming and guessed the person responsible very early on, but there was enough to the story that I wasn't bothered by that. I enjoyed the main character, in particular her struggle with coming to terms with who she was before and how to not be that same person. She didn't annoy me and didn't make too many stupid decisions, which is always a bonus. I also enjoyed her love interest and how their relationship developed. It wasn't perfect but it was a pleasant surprise and I had a good time reading it.
Rating: 4/5
What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam -
I wanted to try something completely different for my non-fiction book this month so picked this one at random on Scribd. The audiobook turned out to only be about 40 minutes long so I can't say I really took much from this one. It's basically a self-help book about making the most of your mornings and shares how some successful people use their mornings. It was fine, it was interesting enough, but I didn't really take anything away from it. It is mostly aimed at parents with 9-5 jobs, so as a single shift worker it wasn't really relevant to me. It might help someone but I was obviously not the target audience.
Rating: 3/5
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn -
This is the second book in the Bridgertons series, the book series that inspired the Netflix show. I started this series back in January after watching the show and finally continued to the second book in March. I enjoyed this book even more than the first book, and was happy to see this book didn't have any scenes quite as problematic as we had in the first book. Book two follows Anthony, the oldest Bridgerton sibling, as he sets out to find a wife. However, as he is sure he will die early just like his father did, he is determined not to marry for love. I absolutely loved the enemies to lovers romance between Anthony and Kate, they were just completely perfect. They had great banter and a clear connection from their first interaction. I also loved getting to see the rest of the Bridgerton family again. I adore the family dynamic and the scenes with Anthony and his siblings are some of my favourites. I'm so excited to carry on with this series.
Rating: 4/5
Good Girl by Piper Lawson -
I got this one for free on Kindle a while ago and then picked it up on a whim at the end of March. This is a rockstar romance following Haley who applies for a college internship with a record company and ends up on tour with a heartthrob rockstar after her first day. He is very private and comes across as a bit of an ass, but of course is secretly lovely and shows his softer side to the random girl he has just met. It's very predictable with a lot of drama, but it was a fun read. This is the first book in a series that is essentially one book told over three parts and this part ends on a cliffhanger. I'm not that interested to find out where the story goes, so probably won't pick up the next book.
Rating: 3/5
Those are the 8 books I read in March. I had a few real hits, some pleasant surprises and a couple of disappointments, but overall it was a good reading month. I didn't get as much read as I wanted to with being so busy, but I'm really hoping things will slow down soon and I'll get more time to read.
What was the best book you read in March?
Sophie :)
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