My Wonderful Reading Year April 2021- The Journey Continues!

I know we are not where we wanted to be at the beginning of 2021, but I believe my love of reading contributed to the little bit of sanity and hope I managed to hold onto in 2020.

So I have decided to be kind to myself this year and not place too much pressure on myself to meet set reading targets or publish a certain number of reviews.

As much as I can, I’m going to make 2021 about reading for the simple joy of it. I won’t stop doing blog tours, because I love how they challenge me and at least keep me focused reading when life is stressful and I am so distracted. But I will be doing less and reading more of the books on my to be read pile and gaining some more balance back in my reading world.

So here we are in 2021 and what follows are the books that I read in April 2021.

The first book I finished in April is the astonishingly beautiful and moving Together by Luke Adam Hawker. It is a book of our times and a testament to our shared experiences during the pandemic.

Following this I read the deeply moving and thought provoking The Source by Sarah Sultoon.

Then there was a very welcome return to the wondaful Detective Kubu in Facets of Death by Michael Stanley. Dark, thrilling, but also with a lighter side, because I love Detective Kubu so much.

I needed something lighter as my next read so I turned to The Garden Of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman. I had read and loved the Bookish Life of Nina Hill by the same author when I was a shadow judge on The Comedy Women in Print Prize in 2020 and so saw this novel as soon after. it is superb and I like how she deals with difficult subjects and yet it feels joyous to read.

Moving on, my next read was Vera Kelly is not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht! I loved the first so much after reading it as part of the blog tour that I immediately put the second in the series on pre-order, because I had loved it so much. I am delighted to say, this is a wonderful as the first in the series.

Next I read a book by one of my favourite authors, Cartes Postales From Greece by Victoria Hislop. Not my favourite book of hers, enjoyable, but it didn’t work for me as I expected.

Resourceful Living by Lisa Dawson is a perfectly pitched guide to how you can revamp your home using items you already own, vintage buys and mixing them all up with a few key modern pieces. I am not very good at visualizing how a room can look and this has really helped me understand how I can mix my personal tastes with functionality.

I received Witten in Bone. Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind by Sue Black from a lovely and thoughtful friend and it is utterly fascinating. Within its pages Professor Dame Sue Black details how the bones we leave behind can act as witnesses to the lives we led.

I was then very lucky to be offered My Daddies by Gareth Peter and Garry Parsons for review. This delightful children’s book has one central message, families in whatever shape and form they come in are formed by love. It is an important message and this book will help young children understand.

Next up is the delightful Mrs Narwhal’s Diary by S J Norbury. Funny, moving and poignant, I loved it.

The bookclub read for April was The Hiding Game by Naomi Wood. Mixed bag for me, I enjoyed it, but not as much as I expected to.

Then came Kjell Ola Dahl’s superb The Assistant.

Well April was a fantastic reading month and I hope May will be to.