March was a big reading month! I read a lot and while they were all GREAT reads, there also weren’t any true standouts for me this month. There was also a heavy emphasis on murder-ish books in March (which I’m NOT mad at all about but it was funny to notice when I looked back at the month overall). I loved everything I read but nothing landed on my all-time favorites list for 2024. Read on to see what I mean!

the covenant of water

The first book I read this month was a DOOZY – The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese: 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

FROM AMAZON:

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi—will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.

This was a 5 ⭐️ book but in the way that the Bible is a 5 ⭐️ book if you know how to read it & dedicate yourself to actually understanding it. This book is DENSE and beautifully written. It was sad and hurt my heart and head to read it. I read it more to challenge myself than out of genuine desire to read; after having finished it I don’t regret reading it but I don’t know that I can recommend it either. Finishing this book made me feel the same way I felt after reading Demon Copperhead. A little sad, empty, heavy, but satisfied because at the end of the day it was a beautiful story. Verghese is a masterful author and every page of this book was part of the storytelling journey he set the reader on. But once I finished I was definitely ready to go back to something fun and entertaining to read 😂

live your best lie

Next up was Live Your Best Lie by Jessie Weaver: solid 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

FROM AMAZON:

Sometimes the prettiest Instagram feeds mask the darkest, and bloodiest, secrets. Social media influencer Summer Cartwright leads a very charmed life: millions of followers, the hottest designer and vintage clothes at her fingertips, a newly minted book deal, the coolest friends, and, until recently, the hottest boyfriend at her über-elite prep school. Every moment of her life has been carefully planned and cultivated to complement her “imperfectly perfect” social media persona. She is truly #LivingHerBestLife. But when Summer goes missing during her annual Halloween party and then an unscheduled post appears on her feed stating that she’ll be dead within the next five minutes, those closest to Summer know something isn’t quite right—or on-brand. Grace, Summer’s camera-shy best friend; Adam, Summer’s gamer ex-boyfriend; Laney, Summer’s moody camp roommate; and Cora, an influencer wannabe, all decide to investigate. And when they come upon Summer’s lifeless body, they soon realize that no filter is strong enough to mask the lies we tell ourselves. 

This book was EXACTLY what I needed after the heaviness of The Covenant of Water. It was so delicious and addicting; I stayed up way too late to finish it because I just HAD to know how it ended. Take murder mystery mixed with Gossip Girl and a twist of Pretty Little Liars and that’s what this book is. My coworker recommended this book to me after a 4th grader asked us if we’d stock in our school library. Unfortunately it’s way too mature for an elementary school (it’s definitely YA/high school level) but this librarian definitely enjoyed reading it 😉

z

In the apparent spirit this month of reading books that I normally wouldn’t gravitate towards, the next book I read was Z by Therese Anne Fowler: 3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

FROM AMAZON:

When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the “ungettable” Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn’t wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. Her father is deeply unimpressed. But after Scott sells his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to Scribner’s, Zelda optimistically boards a train north, to marry him in the vestry of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and take the rest as it comes.

What comes, here at the dawn of the Jazz Age, is unimagined attention and success and celebrity that will make Scott and Zelda legends in their own time. Everyone wants to meet the dashing young author of the scandalous novel—and his witty, perhaps even more scandalous wife. Zelda bobs her hair, adopts daring new fashions, and revels in this wild new world. Each place they go becomes a playground: New York City, Long Island, Hollywood, Paris, and the French Riviera—where they join the endless party of the glamorous, sometimes doomed Lost Generation that includes Ernest Hemingway, Sara and Gerald Murphy, and Gertrude Stein.

Everything seems new and possible. Troubles, at first, seem to fade like morning mist. But not even Jay Gatsby’s parties go on forever. Who is Zelda, other than the wife of a famous—sometimes infamous—husband? How can she forge her own identity while fighting her demons and Scott’s, too?

I’ll preface this by saying this book was a book club read and therefore, in some ways, mandatory reading. This is not a book that I would have ever picked to read on my own, hence it is not a style that I ever enjoy. I will say this book, biographical fiction, is beautifully written. Therese Anne Fowler did an amazing job bringing both Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald to LIFE. But the book was sad and depressing, no real resolution at the end, and other than that she was married to F. Scott Fitzgerald, I’m not really sure she lived a life worth reading about. IF you enjoy biographical fiction as genre, however, or you are a big literary nerd/fan of the Fitzgeralds, I think you could enjoy this book way more than I did. 

the lovely war

I followed up Z with something that had been in my literal (physical) TBR pile for over a year. The Lovely War by Julie Berry landed at 4 full ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me.

FROM AMAZON:

They are Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette. A classical pianist from London, a British would-be architect-turned-soldier, a Harlem-born ragtime genius in the U.S. Army, and a Belgian orphan with a gorgeous voice and a devastating past. Their story, as told by goddess Aphrodite, who must spin the tale or face judgment on Mount Olympus, is filled with hope and heartbreak, prejudice and passion, and reveals that, though War is a formidable force, it’s no match for the transcendent power of Love.

(SLIGHT SPOILER IN THIS REVIEW!!) One of my best friends lent me her copy of this book over a year go, saying it was the best thing she’d read in awhile and that she finished it in one sitting. While I can’t say it was the best thing I’ve read recently, nor would I call it a new favorite, I did REALLY enjoy this book. What I loved: the Greek mythology twist (the story is told from the perspectives of different Olympian gods), the historical fiction, the (somewhat?) happy ending. What I didn’t love: the ending fell flat to me … it could have been HAPPIER and with more closure. I also didn’t looooove the way two of the characters who were so clearly in love were tortured because one or both acted stupid & noble and couldn’t just admit what they wanted. I understand that that’s probably the REALISTIC way to write these characters but it was a little annoying to me 😂 Like you’ve just survived war!! The one you love is here to help you recover!! You’re gonna push that person away?! No. So it got knocked off 1 ⭐️ for me because of that 😉 

murder your employer

From here on out, the rest of the books I read in March were ALL murder themed books LOL! I started with Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes: 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

FROM AMAZON:

Who hasn’t wondered for a split second what the world would be like if a person who is the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you’ve probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death. The campus of this “Poison Ivy League” college—its location unknown to even those who study there—is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate…and where one’s mandatory graduation thesis is getting away with the perfect murder of someone whose death will make the world a much better place to live.

This book was SUPER unique and clever. I LOVED the satirical tone that it carried throughout. This did take me longer than usual to finish reading (about a week?) partly because I was super busy during this time of the month (hello, The Story! IYKYK) but also partly because the beginning half of the book (the setup) was a little dense. The book is written as a case study/manual from a college where select students get chosen to go to complete a murder of their choice. I was extremely satisfied to read how all the case studies ended except for one!! Hence the one star knocked off. 

killers of a certain age

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn had big shoes to follow after Murder Your Employer and it ended up landing at a solid 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me.

FROM AMAZON:

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age.

Doesn’t the premise of this book sound so fun!? And it was. It really was an easy, fun read. I flew through this book quickly; the plot was simple, and as expected. It was a nice brain break from some of the meatier titles I’ve read this month but definitely not one of my top murder thrillers. I loved that it had the unique perspective of senior citizen female assassins (aka grandma assassins) but the writing and plot felt a little juvenile. Would be a quick easy beach read if you’re looking for something during spring break that doesn’t require much heavy mental lifting!

the disappearance of astrid bricard

The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard by Natasha Lester was my highest rated read this month with 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!! It was soooo close to being a full 5 ⭐️ read.

FROM AMAZON:

Everyone remembers her daringly short, silver lamé dress. It was an iconic photo capturing an electric moment, where emerging American designer Astrid Bricard is young, uninhibited, and on the cusp of fashion and feminism’s changing landscape. She and fellow designer Hawk Jones are all over Vogue magazine and New York City’s disco scene. Yet she can’t escape the shadow of her mother, Mizza Bricard, infamous “muse” for Christian Dior.  Astrid would give anything to take her place among the great houses of couture–on her own terms. I won’t inspire it when I can create it.

But then Astrid disappeared…

Now Astrid’s daughter, Blythe, holds what remains of her mother and grandmother’s legacies. Of all the Bricard women, she can gather the torn, painfully beautiful fabrics of three generations of heartbreak to create something that will shake the foundations of fashion. The only piece missing is the one question no one’s been able to answer: What really happened to Astrid?

Okay, I honestly loved this book so much, I pretty much could not put it down once I started reading (I finished it in one day!). If you loved Daisy Jones and the Six or the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I think you’d adore this book as well. I loved the characters, strong female protagonists, and the multiple timelines. BUUUT! I couldn’t give it a full 5 stars because the ending felt a little too Pollyanna and unrealistic. I love a happy ending (no matter how unrealistic) but the plot journey to get to that happy ending felt a little too easy to me if that makes sense. Like the last 20% of the book I feel like the author just started making all the pieces fall into their convenient places while I was still wanting there to be something EXTRA to really make this book shine. I only knocked it off half a star for that though, so I mean she really did write a beautiful book. To me, Evelyn Hugo is a full 5 star read because the ending, while it gave perfect closure, was also jaw dropping. This read felt a little more like Daisy Jones … great read, great ending, but COULD HAVE BEEN A TEENY TINY BIT BETTER.. just a little bit! ◡̈

before we were innocent

Alright, last but certainly not least … Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman. I had to give it a 3.8 ⭐️⭐️⭐️. Why the weird decimal? Well, it felt like more than 3.5 ⭐️ but it didn’t quite make it to a full 4 ⭐️ for me.

FROM AMAZON:

Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures.

While the girls were never convicted, Joni, ever the opportunist, capitalized on her newfound infamy to become a motivational speaker. Bess, on the other hand, resolved to make her life as small and controlled as possible so she wouldn’t risk losing everything all over again. And it almost worked. . . .

Except now Joni needs a favor, and when she turns up at her old friend’s doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice but to say yes. She still owes her. But as the two friends try desperately to shake off their past, they have to face reality. Can you ever be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty?

So I actually couldn’t even give this book a star rating when I first finished it because I genuinely didn’t know how I felt about it. I raced through this book as quickly as I did The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard and up until the ending, I was convinced this book would get either a 4 or 5 ⭐️ rating from me. It was so compelling and twisty/turny …. But! The ending. The ending fell sooooo short for me. To start, the “twist” was one that was obvious to me from pretty much the moment the crime occurred. Second, the ending had no resolution to it which is MY LEAST FAVORITE TYPE OF ENDING.  Whether it’s realistic or “happy ending”, I NEED there to be resolution. I absolutely hate when authors leave loose ends that can be interpreted however the reader chooses; it feels lazy and like a total cop out to me. Maybe some readers like that they can choose but for me, that will ALWAYS immediately sour a book in my eyes so this fell to a 3.8 at the end.

I have a BUNCH of amazing books in my queue (both ebook and physical) and an entire week of spring break to chug through them so I’m excited to report back on how April’s reading goes!