Books of the Month: March and April

A HUGE (belated) happy mother's day to all those awesome mums out there :D

My husband and my eldest son came home Saturday night (after being away for two weeks) so I enjoyed mother's day very much so. Also, got a book from Reuben and Carissa. CHECK IT BELOW

Me and my Mother's Day present :)

The new Laura Buzo (!!). Slightly poor quality shot, it's called: Holier Than Thou. Extremely brilliant and 100% crushworthy. Speaking of Laura Buzo ~ I know you all know just how much I LOVED her debut, GOOD OIL which has previously only been available in Australia. So I am THRILLED it has an international release, different cover and title. Even more thrilled it is available on netgalley! If you love Aussie YA and new adult fiction, you seriously can't go wrong :)

Laura Buzo's debut novel Good Oil, being published as Love and Other Perishable Items.

If you're a netgalley user ~ fingers crossed Random House approve you :)

Speaking of belated...So, here's this feature/meme I started. And, while I've muffed up the time of posting, I am still  sharing with you guys what I have been reading. Brace yourselves (haha). Actually, it won't take you long to see what I have been up to...

I am *nearly* ashamed of my reading count for the last two months.

Books I read in March

It Had To be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Contemporary romance and guilty pleasure read. Perfect for when I had no energy for reading, but still needed something to do at night. 


Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
YA historical. This one had a lot of hype and I think that raised my expectations too high. My review will be up tomorrow. 


Free Falling by Nicola Moriarty
Australian contemporary and all round brilliance. I loved this one, so much. SO MUCH. My favourite book of the year, so far. (on a side note, tried to buy this one for my mother in law for mother's day and went to every shop that sells books in Coffs and no one had it! A true travesty)


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
A reread before seeing the film. Good times. (The book, actually, the film was also fun even though I didn't necessarily think it was good ;))

Books I read in April

I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Oh, I so very much loved this. Truly my kind of contemporary. Gorgeous and compelling and touching and a tiny bit fairy-tale-esque. 100% recommended.


The Good Daughter by Honey Brown
Australian contemporary (adult) (Mini Review) My gosh, Honey Brown can write. I loved the feeling right from the first page of being in the hands of a gifted writer: words and sentiments so beautifully articulated, all my five senses were engaged in this novel due to Brown's talent in evoking, well, EVERYTHING.

From the outset I assumed I would love this: Kirsty Eagar lists it as her favourite Australian novel (oh! This had me running for it) It's won, like, a bazillion awards.

It's duel-y narrated by two high school students, one male, one female. Perfect for a YA-loving adult: an adult novel seen through teen protagonists. BRING IT ON.

I cannot fault the writing and delivery, which means my three stars are all about taste. Unfortunately this was a tad bleak, claustrophobic and harrowing for this girl who like a bit more sunshine and light in books. I needed to come up for air by the end, no doubt the authors intent. Whew. 

I Came To Say Good bye by Caroline Overington

Australian contemporary. I had been meaning to read this for a while, and it was oddly written but strangely compelling. The story has lingered but I still don't know if I really enjoyed it. Weird feeling :/ 

Audio

Incurable by John Marsden
Really loving the Ellie Chronicles on Audio. Very well narrated and i always love spending time with the tomorrow gang.


Tell me a Secret by Holly Cupala
The audio of this was truly brilliant. I saw this one recommended from April (Good Books and Good Wine) in a top ten audio list, so treated myself to it from Audible. As for the story itself, initially I loved it, but by the end, I was less enchanted. I think I found the last few months of the story a bit hard to buy? And somewhere along the line it lost it's charm. Odd, when that happens. not sure if my mood changed or if it was the book? Who knows?


So, it's been a quiet year for me so far, with more of a lean towards adult fiction than usual. So far, I've read three books this may (one Aussie YA, one Australian adult thriller and one YA dystopian), and I'll be chatting about them in a couple of weeks. I have also started a number of books and not finished them :/ Some I abandoned forever, others are on hold. 

See you guys around xo Nomes