Book Review Round-Up (#26)

Welcome to my Book Review Round-Up (#26)! Last month was a bit of a wash for me. I was dealing with a lot of grief in my personal life, which affected my downtime. I focused on hobbies other than reading because I needed to think through the pain.

Grief is a crazy emotion to process through. I’ll be fine and then, well, the opposite. It was crippling at times. I will say I lost two wonderful souls and I’m also working through two big transitions. Those are hard to work through, as they’re my decision.

So, for the books this month, reading anything romantic was out for me. I just couldn’t believe it and I was uninterested in trying to push my way through them. Instead, I picked up three mystery/suspense novels.

Table of Contents

Book Review Round-Up (#26)

Despite having a tough personal month, the books I snagged were all great. Great as in, nothing was less than 3 stars. I was talking to my friend, Shanna, about this. She’s a firm believer that the majority of books are 3 stars. Anything above is superb and anything below is subpar (and anything 1 star is a DNF).

She’s been a book blogger for over 10 years so I truly believe this is an accurate rating system.

Let’s get into my goals breakdown.

Listen to 4 audiobooks a month
- I listened to 3 books this month.
Try different book genres
- I explored a few different categories last month.
  - Cozy cheesy (literally) murder mystery
  - Magical Mystery
  - Contemporary mafia thriller (#2 in a series!)
  - Murder thriller romance ARC
Books with POC as the MC (main character) 👩🏻👩🏼👩🏽‍🦳👩🏽👩🏾
- 0 out of the 4 books. 🤦‍♀️ #fail
- Aka 0% of the books.

In the Middle of Hickory Lane by Heather Webber

_{Format: Audiobook | Goodreads Review | Amazon | Bookshop.org}

This book was wonderful. I suppose I shouldn’t be as surprised as I am, as this is my second Heather Webber novel. The first was Midnight at the Blackbird Café.

This one was touched by everything I adore. Magic, gardening, baking, friendships, new love, and family.

The mystery of Bee was just the icing on the cake. I love a good mystery and having two cousins with love interests? Yes, ma’am.

This is a book for everyone looking for something sweet and a lovely little small town you’ll fall for. I can’t wait to pick up another one of this author’s books.

Identity by Nora Roberts

Format: eBook | Goodreads Review | Amazon (pre-order) | ~~Bookshop.org~~

This was my first murder thriller ARC and I’m delighted it’s a Nora Roberts book. Honestly, no one makes me fall in love with characters like Nora. I just adore every ounce of thought and research she does to plug into the personalities.

Identity is about a woman who experiences a tragedy and literally gets her identity stolen. She goes through a lot of grief, as she’s also lost her best friend in the process. This story is all about leaving all of your hopes, dreams, and happiness behind and pushing yourself to survive. It’s humbling and exudes kindness.

I won’t lie, this was hard to read before bed because the “bad guy” is terrifying. Nora made him into the worst human ever and you get his POV baked into random chapters. That was stressful but it’s great for a park read in the middle of the day!

Cheddar off Dead by Korina Moss

_{Format: Audiobook | Goodreads Review | Amazon | Bookshop.org}

As someone who’s got a dairy intolerance… I was nothing but envious reading this book. Hahah! My friend, Shanna, convinced me to pick up this cozy mystery from her review. She’s what I would call a cheese enthusiast and I adore her for it.

This darling book took me to wine country CA. The main character owns a small business cheese shop where the local business reviewer is murdered right in front of her cheesery! Dum Dum Dum!!!!

Guys, this novel is so cute. It’s part of a series and I’m invested enough to carry on to the next one. I loved the characters that work in her shop. The older ex-high school drama teacher might be my favorite one. She’s so fun and brought a lot of light to the story.

Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano

_{Format: Audiobook | Goodreads Review | Amazon | Bookshop.org}

I hate to say this. I really do, because I adored the first in this series. However, this one fell flat for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very basic 3 stars still. I enjoyed it!

It just didn’t make me roll on the ground laughing like that first one did. The first was so witty and cunning that I recommended it to many friends and family. Though this one was still fun and eventful, it just wasn’t the same energy. Which is unfortunate but I heard the third novel is good.

Debating if I pick it up still but I think I’ll put it on hold from the library and depending on when I get it and my mood, maybe I’ll pick it up. As of right now though, I don’t have a desire to scavenge for it.

Thank you so much for reading last month’s Book Review Round-Up (#26)! I’m in the market for book recommendations for Spring so if you have an all-time favorite, please drop a comment below. 💕