Total counts: 1 audio/8 physical; 8 fiction/1 nonfiction. And a trip to France!

Completed in April:

1. The Prince and the Dressmaker (hardcover, fiction). This book was just PERFECT. I want to buy a copy for everyone I know. A++ would recommend.
2. The Republic of Thieves (hardcover, fiction). I didn’t enjoy this as much as the first two in the series, but it it was still a heck of a romp.
3. Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz (hardcover, nonfiction). Delightfully written, with a lot of good info. This is definitly a contender for my favorite non-fiction reads in 2018.
4. A Scot in the Dark (audio, fiction). Book two in this series, and I definitely didn’t enjoy it as much as the first – partially, I think, because the sisters from the first book seemed like an afterthought, and partially because the male lead was so caught up his own shit that I wanted to smack him. Constantly. Here’s hoping that book three is better.
5. The Lion’s Lady (paperback, fiction). The latest in my continuing adventures of re-reading romance novels I loved in the 90s. This was one of my favorites then and I can see why. Rawr.
6. Ella Minnow Pea (paperback, fiction). This was a book club read for me, and definitely not something I’d have picked up myself. To sum up, authoritarian government strips the rights of its citizens, who write letters to each other about it. *shiver*
7. Peter Darling (paperback, fiction). Oh my goodness. A trans take on Peter Pan by a trans author. Equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking, in all the best ways. A++ would recommend.
8. Macbeth (hardcover, fiction). I have never met Nordic Noir that I enjoyed, and this was really no exception. It was an interesting take on Macbeth for sure – gritty, modern, etc., and the worldbuilding was good – I constantly felt damp and short of breath from the perceived environment – but even getting past my dislike of the genre, this adaptation was lacking, in particular the ending that felt way too over the top. I pushed through to finish because it ticked a few challenge boxes for me, but that’s the best I can say about it.
9. Space Opera (hardcover, fiction). The first I heard of this book, it was described as “Hitchhiker’s Guide meets Eurovision” – a blurb I would have completed discounted had the author not been the amazing Cat Valente. It is indeed HHG meets Eurovision, wrapped around a deep look at what our humanity costs us – and how we can make that better. A++ would recommend.

A shorter list than I’d have liked, but I spent my 40th birthday romping around Disneyland Paris, which is a definite win!

Image by schnuffel via Morguefile.