MARCH READS
March is officially my least favorite month. I feel like I was in hurricane of compounding griefs. I know that wasn’t quite March’s fault, but the arbitrary flip of the calendar feels freeing. I hope April brings less violence and more vaccinations.
Because it was a rough month, it was hard for me to read. You’ll notice that I wasn’t a huge fan of some of the books I read, but I want to include them in case they are good books that I simply didn’t connect with because I wasn’t in the right emotional space to engage with them. Sometimes that happens! Books are an escape, but sometimes the brain doesn’t have the capacity to take on a character’s turmoil in addition to its own.
With all that said, however, there are some real gems on this list. Some of these books brought me sunshine on days I desperately needed it, and I hope you add them to your TBR!
THE DUKE HEIST
by Erika Ridley
This was in The Ripped Bodice’s Read, Romance, Repeat subscription box. If you like Erica Ridley’s writing, this seems like the opening to a Wynchester siblings series you could really get into! This one didn’t quite work for me because I didn’t believe the historical elements; I couldn’t see this actually happening or being possible, but if you’re able to suspend your disbelief because you like the characters, it’s fun!
JULIET TAKES A BREATH
by Gabby Rivera
This is a delight. I was rooting for Juliet the whole way. This book captured my experience of Portland so perfectly, and the negotiation of queerness, vaginas, feminism, and intersectionality reminded me a little bit of my first days at Mills. (not a perfect comparison, and maybe I just miss Mills so I read it onto everything) My takeway from this: kiss who you want to kiss. Kiss all of the cute people you’re into. You deserve it.
PILGRIM BELL
by Kaveh Akbar
Pilgrim Bell doesn’t release until August 3rd, so I’m sorry to tease you with this. If you know me, you know that Kaveh Akbar is my favorite poet. Even when I have retreated deeply into myself to avoid the outside world, his words reach me. I love Calling a Wolf a Wolf, and now I love Pilgrim Bell. When it releases, join me. Join me in being a Kaveh Akbar fangirl.
ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN
by Talia Hibbert
I LOVE TALIA HIBBERT. As soon as I finished this, I couldn’t wait to reread it again, and again, and again. This is the third and final book in the Brown sisters series, and I feel so bittersweet about it ending. Thankfully, I hear Talia Hibbert is writing a spinoff series from one of the characters you meet in this book! In the meantime, I’ll read my way through her backlist. Eve is someone I’d love to be friends with and every page of this is so delightful and funny and wonderful.
IT’S BEEN A PLEASURE, NONI BLAKE
by Claire Christian
This book was hard for me to get into. It took me 150 pages to be semi-invested. I know it’s technically a romance, but it didn’t fit my genre expectations. It’s great when a book defies genre, but in this one, you don’t meet the love interest for hundreds of pages and there are so many bad sex scenes? Like intentionally not stellar experiences as part of character growth. I’ve had enough bad-to-mediocre sex myself; I don’t want to read about it. Personal reading preference! If you want to read a journey of seeking happiness and loving yourself, pick this one up.
THE HEIRESS HUNT
by Joanna Shupe
I’ve heard great things about Joanna Shupe and I will pick up her Uptown Girls series, which comes highly recommended. This one, part of The Fifth Avenue Rebels, I couldn’t get into. I like historicals, but this is an American historical and it feels gross to read about rich Americans — romance writers sometimes skirt over enslavement in a very off-putting way. I also didn’t like the way Harrison treated Maddie, and I didn’t feel like we got to see Maddie fall in love. Not my personal taste!
A LITTLE DEVIL IN AMERICA
by Hanif Abdurraqib
This is not a book I would have picked up on my own, and I vow to read more widely, because this book is AMAZING. You know I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, but this book is such a joy. To write about music, performance, and dance seems impossible; how does one capture movement on the page? But Hanif does it. This is a sensory experience. Rolling Stone read Merry Clayton some lines from “I Would Like to Give Merry Clayton Her Roses” and I WEPT reading this wholesome interaction. Gorgeous.
A few gems in here, and a few not-quite-right-for-me reads. I’m so grateful for books — they have always opened my perspective and given my mind somewhere to escape to. If any of these strike a chord with you, I hope they bring you refuge too.
If you want to continue the conversation, I love to talk about books, so hop over to the CONTACT tab if you’d like to discuss or recommend something!
