I just woke up one Tuesday and my depressive episode was over. THANK FUCK. I’m feeling much more back to normal and I can actually read again!!! Honestly, I think the worst parts of my episodes are that I don’t enjoy reading during them. ANYWAY. Yay for feeling better!

ARCs Received

I was approved for The Dollmakers on my birthday, which was an EPIC birthday gift, and all of my arcs this month have spots on my Unmissable SFF of 2024 list! Which is another way of saying that I am RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED FOR ALL OF THEM! Maybe most especially Long Live Evil; I’ve been a Sarah Rees Brennan fan since her very first book, and this isn’t just her return to writing non-ip fiction, but her Adult debut! I already know I’m going to love it.

Read

18 books finished this month – much better than February, though still not back to what I’d consider my norm. But there were so many stunning reads this month! Feast Makers was the perfect conclusion to my favourite queer witch trilogy, and though it took me a minute, once I clicked with Projections I couldn’t put it down! Many Drops Make a Stream was an indie book I took a chance on, and adored; I think it’s my favourite take on shapeshifters EVER.

I reviewed both March’s End and Someone You Can Build a Nest In – the latter, in particular, was MOST EXCELLENT – but I’m kicking myself for taking so long to read The Memory Librarian, because yes, it is exactly as mindblowingly good as everyone has always said it was! If you haven’t gotten to it yet, you really, REALLY need to!

A Sweet Sting of Salt is an arc I nearly DNFed, but I’m so glad I didn’t – despite being very low-magic, it was wonderful. And it was nice to reread Birth of the Firebringer, aka book one in the Watership Down-for-unicorns trilogy.

To the best of my knowledge, 11% of this month’s books had BIPOC authors. Though they were both anthologies with multiple BIPOC authors, for what that’s worth.

Reviewed

I did not write NEARLY as many reviews as I meant to this month – do I ever? – but I’m pretty happy about how the reviews for Feast Makers and Someone You Can Build a Nest In turned out.

DNF-ed

A lot of DNFs this month, including lots that were on my most anticipated list for the year. Sigh. But that’s how it goes sometimes! (Although I should note that I DNFed The Dead Take the A Train because I couldn’t handle the gore, not because it’s a bad book!)

ARCs Outstanding

Many, many arcs. I’m making a decent dent in READING them; it’s sitting down and writing up my thoughts that’s proving difficult.

Unmissable SFF Updates

More new books and covers added to my Unmissable SFF of 2024 list! And I did remove two books from the list this month, but only because both have been pushed back and won’t be out until next year. They’re two of my most anticipated books, they definitely weren’t cut because I don’t care about them anymore!

This brings us to a total of 94 Unmissable books!

How did my predictions/anticipated reads for March go? Uh, not well! Of the nine books I declared Unmissable for my birthday month;

• One was a five-star read (The Feast Makers)
• One was fine but I didn’t love it (The Woods All Black)
• One I ended up really unhappy with (The Floating Hotel)
• Four were DNFs (A Botanical Daughter, The Mars House, Song of the Huntress, and The Emperor and the Endless Palace)
• Two I didn’t even get to! (Welcome to Forever and The Truth of the Aleke)

One (and a half?) out of nine is pretty terrible! My predictive skills for March were not-great, clearly! Fingers crossed I do better with April.

Misc

This month marks the conclusion of r/Fantasy’s annual book bingo, and I juuust managed to hit my last couple of bingo squares before the cut-off!

I intend to make a full post with my bingo reads (and very belatedly finish the post I started writing for the 2022 bingo!) but no promises on WHEN I’ll manage it.

I do encourage people to check out the bingo (2024’s prompt list will be going live tomorrow) especially if you want something to nudge you into reading outside of your comfort zones. There’s a few on this year’s card I definitely wouldn’t have picked up – or that I would have DNFed – if they hadn’t been for bingo squares!

Danielle Trussoni has announced in her newsletter that she is writing a continuation of her Angelology series – but only for her newsletter readers, so go subscribe if you’re interested. It’s not clear if this third instalment is going to be a short story or novella (which would be my guess, if it’s something she isn’t going to be sharing elsewhere) or the full novel we were all expecting to close out the trilogy. I’m hoping for a serialised novel, but I won’t hold my breath. Sigh. I really loved Angelology when it first came out, so whatever form this new instalment takes, I hope it’s great!

Also I made a (very simple) sparkly gif to celebrate the release of august clarke’s Feast Makers, and I regret nothing!

Looking Forward

Even without including books I have arcs of (though I’m VERY invested in reading the final versions of some of them!) April is still full of releases I’m excited for! Sequels, debuts, and new books from authors I already know I adore – I predict an excellent (and very packed) reading month!

May we all have an amazing April!