What Lucy Read: April 2020

April was definitely a strange month which led to me getting a lot of reading done. I read a total of 31 books which amounted to 8314 pages read and 38 hours listened. It’s no surprise considering i’m currently furloughed from work and don’t have much else to occupy my time, and reading is always a favourite hobby of mine, but i’m definitely happy with how much I got read although i’m even more so with how much I enjoyed the books I read.

I read seven 5 star books this past month, the first of which was The Sandman – my first read of the month and a total win! I read both this one and Stalker, which are the fourth and fifth books in Lars Kepler’s bestselling Joona Linna series and these were my favourites of the series so far. This is such a wonderful crime series that follows one of my favourite fictional detectives and I can’t wait to get to the next one in the series.

Next up was Unbelievable – a true crime, non-fiction novel that is the basis of the Netflix limited series. Unbelievable is a book that was hard to read times as what happens to Marie is so incredibly maddening and disappointing. This book was so well-written and you could tell how much work the authors put into their research of not only Marie’s case but also rape cases in general and how they’re handled. A must read!

Girl Gone Viral is the follow up to The Right Swipe – a romance I adored last year – so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one and it didn’t disappoint. Alisha Rai is an author I only discovered last year and she’s quickly becoming one of my favourites. This one has great mental health rep, as well as a diverse cast of characters and a beautiful, realistic friends-to-lovers romance which makes it an easy recommendation for anyone after a romance novel with a bit more depth.

My next 5 star book came from an author who is always a 5 star read for me and that’s Talia Hibbert. Mating the Huntress is a paranormal romance novella that had me laughing and swooning. This novella has two of my favourite MC’s; Luke is a werewolf who is adorably socially awkward whilst Chastity is an intelligent and self-assured woman who just wants to prove herself to her family but her time spent with Luke never ends up going quite as planned. This one might only be novella length but it’s definitely not lacking in any way.

Cujo by Stephen King is a book I think we’ve all heard of – a horror novel following a rabid dog – and whilst I enjoy King’s novels this one was not one I had the highest hopes for as the synopsis didn’t hold too much appeal for me, but I was so wrong. This was a gripping, terrifying and deeply saddening novel that I found myself utterly enthralled by, and whilst part of me was eager to find out how it all ended another part of me was desperate not to find out. I’m surprised this doesn’t seem to be a more popular of King’s books as it was a definite win for me, and is one I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Black Summer is the follow up to The Puppet Show and the second book following detective Washington Poe. I was so taken by the first book in the series because of how wonderful the characters are, and Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw yet again make for a formidable team in this one! These books truly make for a sensational, page-turning and thrilling read – an absolute must read for any crime/thriller fans.

Here’s hoping my May reads may be anywhere near as good!

What Lucy Read: March 2020

It’s been a year since i’ve uploaded on this blog but I keep thinking about giving it another try and finally figured now is the perfect time seeing as i’m going to be having a fair bit of spare time going forward so here I am with my March wrap-up.

March has been a crazy month for all of us. I went in to this month with a reading slump so during the first three weeks of the month I only managed to read three books but then with my work hours being cut and eventually closing i’ve found myself with a lot of time spare to get some reading done. This all means i’ve ended the month pretty positively when it comes to my reading; I read a total of 16 books during March, with 5606 pages being read and 15 hours spent listening.

Top reads of the month:

Just Mercy was one of the books I read this month, and this one was a definite 5 star! In 2018 I read ‘The Sun Does Shine’ by Anthony Ray Hinton which is a book chronicling his years spent on death row before finally being found innocent and released – a truly incredible read – and in that book Bryan Stevenson is mentioned as he played such a pivotal role in Anthony’s release so I brought this book straight after finishing that one. I did have plans to read it sooner but you know what it’s like the TBR gets so big that books continue to be pushed back, however, i’m so glad I did finally get around to this one. This is truly a must-read novel about the part race and wealth play within the criminal justice system; hard to read at times but important and eye-opening always.

The Legacy is another book i’ve been wanting to get to for a while now and i’m so glad I finally did. There’s no other way to put it other than that this was the perfect crime novel for me, everything about it just worked so well for me; the characters, the writing and the plot. This is only the first book in a series so it’s left me supremely excited to see what else is to come, and also just to check out more from this author as she’s still a relatively new-to-me author. Check out my full review on Goodreads.

THe One is the second book i’ve read by John Marrs and after finishing it I have a feeling that he may turn out to be a favourite author of mine. After reading ‘The Passengers’ last year I was impressed with how he blended the sci-fi elements in with the real world aspects of his novel and that’s an element I definitely respect again here. This novel had just the right amount of sci-fi elements that it felt unique and impressive but not too much that it alienated non sci-fi readers (aka me). This was a fun, fast-paced thriller that I found myself unable to get enough of.

The Fire Witness is the 3rd book in the popular Joona Linna series by Swedish crime writing duo Lars Kepler. In January I finally decided to pick up the first book – The Hypnotist – in this series after having heard wonderful things about it nonstop and immediately found myself hooked. The books in this series are long but I find myself flying through them as their so fascinating. This one was definitely my favourite of the ones i’ve read so far, and I loved it so much that i’ve already picked up the next book – The Sandman – as my first read of April.

Have you read any of the above? What was your favourite read of March? Let me know!

What Lucy Read: March 2019

March has been an amazing reading month for me. I read a total of 32 books, the most books I think i’ve ever read in one month! It was also great in that I loved pretty much everything I read, 24 of the books I read I rated 4 stars or above. I think part of the reason I managed to read so many was due to the fact that it was such a romance heavy month for me, I always tend to romance quicker that I do other genres. While i’m super happy with the books I read I am hoping in the coming month i’ll be able to fit in more thrillers, as I didn’t read many at all this month and still have far too many on my TBR.