April is the beginning of the end (of the school year) for me and it signals all sorts of chaos and busy-ness both in my personal and professional (library) life. Somehow, I still managed to read 5 books this month although all 5 of them were definitely lighters/easier reads, personally. Let’s dive in!

the mystery guest

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose was my first read of the month and it came in at a solid 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

FROM AMAZON:

Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J. D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead—very dead—on the hotel’s tearoom floor.
 
When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. Suspects abound, and everyone wants to know: Who killed J. D. Grimthorpe? Was it Lily, the new Maid-in-Training? Or was it Serena, the author’s secretary? Could Mr. Preston, the hotel’s beloved doorman, be hiding something? And is Molly really as innocent as she seems?
 
As the high-profile death threatens the hotel’s pristine reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past, as long ago, she knew J. D. Grimthorpe. Molly begins to comb her memory for clues, revisiting her childhood and the mysterious Grimthorpe mansion where she and her dearly departed Gran once worked side by side. With the entire hotel under investigation, Molly must solve the mystery posthaste. Because if there’s one thing she knows for sure, it’s that secrets don’t stay buried forever.

Gosh, I just love the Molly the Maid books by Nita Prose. This is the sequel to the highly popular The Maid (which I ADORED). I loved everything about this book: the protagonist Molly reminds me so much of my oldest daughter E (I don’t think it’s ever explicitly said that Molly’s autistic but … she is 😂); the writing style is in that classic, mystery writing style that really reminds me of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie mysteries. It’s a simple, straight forward read that goes really quickly but sometimes you don’t need to over complicate something to make it really good. Sometimes simple story lines are the best! Reading this book gave me the same warm cozy feeling that watching a 90s rerun of Matlock used to give me (IYKYK) .. and if you haven’t read the first book I’d read that first before moving onto this one!

finlay donovan rolls the dice

Next up, I read Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano, which I gave 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

FROM AMAZON:

Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero are in sore need of a girls’ weekend away. They plan a trip to Atlantic City, but odds are—seeing as it’s actually a cover story to negotiate a deal with a dangerous loan shark, save Vero’s childhood crush Javi, and hunt down a stolen car—it won’t be all fun and games. When Finlay’s ex-husband Steven and her mother insist on tagging along too, Finlay and Vero suddenly have a few too many meddlesome passengers along for the ride.

Within hours of arriving in their seedy casino hotel, it becomes clear their rescue mission is going to be a bust. Javi’s kidnapper, Marco, refuses to negotiate, demanding payment in full in exchange for Javi’s life. But that’s not all—he insists on knowing the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike, who mysteriously disappeared. Unable to confess what really happened to Ike, Finlay and Vero are forced to come up with a new plan: sleuth out the location of Javi and the Aston Martin, then steal them both back.

But when they sneak into the loan shark’s suite to search for clues, they find more than they bargained for—Marco’s already dead. They don’t have a clue who murdered him, only that they themselves have a very convincing motive. Then four members of the police department unexpectedly show up in town, also looking for Ike—and after Finlay’s night with hot cop Nick at the police academy, he’s a little too eager to keep her close to his side.

If Finlay can juggle a jealous ex-husband, two precocious kids, her mother’s marital issues, a decomposing loan shark, and find Vero’s missing boyfriend, she might get out of Atlantic City in one piece. But will she fold under the pressure and come clean about the things she’s done, or be forced to double down?

I have such a love/hate relationship with this series. If you’re not already familiar, the Finlay Donovan series starts with the titular character struggling as a single mom who is a washed up novelist trying to find an idea for her next book. She desperately needs to write SOMETHING because she needs to financially provide for her family after her sleezy ex husband cheats on her and decides to shack up with his girlfriend instead. That’s the first book in the series and the subsequent books just keep following Finlay’s shenanigans. I love the tongue in cheek way Elle Cosimano writes her books. They all involve crimes (usually murder) that Finlay somehow inadvertently gets pulled in and oftentimes it’s a comedy of errors that brings her into the circumstances she finds herself in. There are tons of clever puns throughout and the plots are always really well thought out/minimal plot holes. My one annoyance is that every book ends with a huge cliffhanger, presumably to set up the next book. Which is fine! But I’d also just love to see the series end and see Finlay finally just get her happy ending, you know? I will say, I’ve noticed character development for all the characters over the 4 books so it’s not like no one ever evolves but as someone who loves stories to have full closure, I’d just love it if for once I could finish one of these books and just NOT have any lingering questions. 

tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin was our book club pick for this month so it’s not a read that I selected for myself. AND YET! I ended up giving this one 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

FROM AMAZON:

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom.

These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won’t protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

I loved this book so much. I loved this book even though it is not at all the type of book I would normally reach for. I loved this book even though I wanted more of an epilogue at the end to really give closure to all the characters (so maybe it’s more of a 4.8 than a full 5 ⭐️). I read this book in about 3 days time, over A’s bday weekend which was an insane weekend for me – just so you get a grasp of how much a hold this book had on me. It gave me the exact same feelings of longing, rooting for characters, and heartbreak that watching a great k-drama gives me. I didn’t think I’d love this book as much as I do but wow, what a pleasant surprise. 

just for the summer

I followed up Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow with a feel-good book that I’d knew I’d love because it was the newest release from one of my favorite authors. Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez ended up being a great 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me.

FROM AMAZON:

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work. 

Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

Gotta love an Abbby Jimenez book, right? I stayed up until midnight on a SCHOOL/WORK night to finish this book. It’s everything you want in an Abby Jimenez – funny, romantic, a little predictable (in a good way). I do think it’s the first AJ book to make me cry … the mental health/parents angle of it hit a little close to home for me. If you haven’t read her other books, I’d start with those as her books tend to circle the same realm of characters (with each book centering on a different side character who was loosely related to the main character of the previous book). Overall, a super enjoyable and fun read – I’d recommend picking it up for your summer break!

the women

And finally, the last book I read this month was one that was highly buzzed about by almost everyone around me – The Women by Kristin Hannah. I gave it 4.2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

FROM AMAZON:

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

I don’t think there’s any question that Kristin Hannah is an AMAZING author and storyteller. Was this my favorite book by her? No. I don’t think anything tops the way I felt when I read The Nightingale. But, this story was beautiful and I was so moved to read about the nurses who served overseas during the Vietnam War. I didn’t like how heavy and sad this book was, which I know is ironic given that it’s a war story (I mean, what else did I expect?). It did feel like the main character Frankie just couldn’t catch a break until probably the last 10 pages of the book; it was just tragedy after tragedy after tragedy which I didn’t love. But I also suppose that’s how she wanted us to feel? Because Vietnam was tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. So, I don’t know. This book was a fantastic read but it wasn’t my favorite. I liked it, it was better than the average “oh I liked it” book, but it wasn’t a 5 ⭐️ read for me.