April was filled with highs and lows. I had a few very good reads but everything that wasn’t a graphic novel took longer to get through than I would have liked. I was a month ahead of myself with reviews up until this point, but I’m now reading books the month of and I’m not too happy about that. I really enjoy being organised and ahead on posts.
Anyway, here is everything I read during April:
Unfamiliar Vol. 1 by Haley Newsome
Read: 4/4/25
This is such a cute read, there isn’t a lot going on story-wise, but the illustrations are gorgeous. You can see the set up for the story to progress in volume two, so I really didn’t mind that there wasn’t a lot going on with the plot. The exorcism stuff was really fun though.
Synopsis: Meet Planchette.
A lonely young kitchen witch, she has high hopes for her new home, a place where she can finally be herself and maybe even make friends. Unfortunately, she discovers that her perfect house is haunted . . . really haunted. Ghosts live in the paintings, they crawl on the ceiling, and they pour out of the faucets! While Planchette can whip up a perfect pizza potion, getting these supernatural guests to leave is more than her magic can handle. To get out of her paranormal predicament, Planchette befriends a cursed girl, an introverted siren, and the worst witch in town. Together, they struggle to put these spirits to rest and find their own sense of belonging.
A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
Read: 30/3/25 – 6/4/25
I had a great time listening to this. Hades and Persephone are two of my favourite Greek gods and I love a retelling of their story. I’ve only read a few at this point, but this one is probably my favourite. I loved the modernity of it and I’m intrigued to read this book again but from Hades’ perspective.
Synopsis: Persephone is the Goddess of Spring by title only. The truth is, since she was a little girl, flowers have shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hopes to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist.
Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.
After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.
The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.
The Enemy’s Daughter by Melissa Poett
Read: 3/4/25 – 9/4/25
*I was sent an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
I’d been having a really hard time with getting through books before getting to this one. I absolutely loved this. Five star ratings have been few and far between in 2025 so far, so this was a wonderful surprise. Isadora and Tristan were everything to me for about a week.
ARC Review: The Enemy’s Daughter by Melissa Poett
Synopsis: It’s been thirty-seven years since the Republic was destroyed. Now two settlements—the five clans and the Kingsland—fight for control of the untainted land. Though the five clans are outnumbered, they’ve finally struck, killing Kingsland’s brutal leader.
In the war that follows, Isadora, an eighteen-year-old healer, risks her life to help injured soldiers. But when she stops an attack from Tristan, a Kingsland assassin, his soldiers shoot her with a poisoned arrow. As Isadora lies dying, Tristan does the unimaginable: He offers to save her life using a rare magic.
In choosing to live, Isadora is unknowingly bound to the mysterious Tristan. Worse, even acknowledging the attraction between them allows him to glean fragments of her memories and the very knowledge he needs to destroy the five clans. But their magical connection works both ways. So to save her people, Isadora will have to open her heart to her most cunning enemy. Because in a race for ultimate survival, she’ll need to destroy Tristan and his people first.
The Break-Up Artist by Erin Clark & Laura Lovely
Read: 8/4/25 – 11/4/25
This was a very meh audiobook. The narration was done well and I found it to be very entertaining but I didn’t really like any of the characters or the choices they made.
Synopsis: Zelda Reynolds has a secret identity as “The Break-Up Artist,” the infamous ender of relationships. Don’t want to end your relationship yourself? Just tell Zelda through her website and she’ll get the job done like a pro. Her online business isn’t paying the bills yet, but at least it’s an escape from her real life, where her boss steals her best ideas, her dates are all duds, and her dad just married someone her own age.
When Zelda starts falling for the recipient of one of her snarkiest letters yet—a guy who is challenging her to let go of past hurts and reach for her dreams—will she have the courage to tell him the truth? Or will her undercover identity as the breaker of hearts come back to haunt her?
The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee
Read: 10/4/25 – 12/4/25
*I was sent an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
I flew through this book, it was so cute. I love it when books actually celebrate romance readers and this one does it perfectly. The story is both determined by tropes but also our main character is trying to find love by forcing tropes. That’s a really poor description so just trust me when I say it’s really fun.
Synopsis: She’s read every romance…except her own…
Irene Park loves romance novels—so much so she’s made a career of them as an online book reviewer with a massive following. But Irene’s real life dating story? Non-existent. So when she starts her freshman year of college, she sets her sights on finding true love using the one thing she really understands…romance book tropes.
If only it were that easy.
Enter Aiden Jeon, Irene’s online book review rival and biggest nemesis. When Aiden challenges her to see who can find love-by-trope first, he becomes the one person standing in her way to getting everything she wants both professionally and personally, too. So when the competition takes an unexpected turn, forcing the two of them to have to partner in the ultimate trope, fake dating, Irene is not prepared for everything she believed about romance, and Aiden, to flip on its head.
As Irene tackles the challenges of college life, struggles to figure out what she really wants for herself, all while trying to win the race for love, Irene realizes the answers may not be found in a romance novel. Happily Ever Afters seem so easy on page. But for Irene to find her ultimate HEA, she’ll have to get her nose out of the book and become the main character of her own story.
Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng
Read: 11/4/25 – 13/4/25
This was such an interesting concept. I know next to nothing about the world of K-pop, other than it can be quite brutal. This book took that literally. The horror elements were written really well and I enjoyed the complex character dynamics. Definitely worth checking out.
Synopsis: After a shocking scandal that abruptly ended her teen popstar career, eighteen-year-old Sunny Lee spends her days longing for her former life and cyberstalking her ex-BFF and groupmate, Candie. The two were once inseparable, but that was then—before the tragedy and heartache they left in their wake.
In the here and now, Sunny is surprised to discover that Candie is attending a new K-pop workshop in her hometown. Candie might be there chasing stardom, but Sunny can’t resist the chance to join her and finally confront their traumatic history. Because she still can’t figure out what happened that horrible night when Mina, the third in their tight-knit trio, jumped to her death. Or if the dark and otherworldly secrets she and Candie were keeping had something to do with it . . .
But the workshop doesn’t bring the answers Sunny had hoped for, nor a happy reunion with Candie. Instead, Sunny finds herself haunted by ghostly visions while strange injuries start happening to her competitors—followed by even stranger mutilations to their bodies. In her race to survive, Sunny will have to expose just who is behind the carnage—and if Candie is out for blood once more—in Linda Cheng’s spellbinding sapphic thriller that will have readers screaming and swooning for more.
Giant Days Vol. 3 by John Allison & Max Sarin
Read: 18/4/25
I’ve decided I’m not going to continue this series. I’m not enjoying the chaotic plot lines anymore and Susan has become insufferable to me.
Synopsis: Best friends Susan, Esther, and Daisy are rounding out their first semester at university. The girls, along with their male hall-mates Ed and McGraw, find that college is more than academics and bad microwavable meals. Add some pub-hopping, hookups, breakups, and political scandal and this might just be the most eventful first semester ever.
Eliza, from Scratch by Sophia Lee
Read: 15/4/25 – 20/4/25
*I was sent an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
My full review for this will be coming in the next few weeks so I won’t say too much here, but this was a really lovely read. My official rating is 3.75/5.
The main character is fairly unlikeable for a while but it makes sense for her arc. The cooking scenes are fun and were a really great way to develop character relationships and plot lines.
Synopsis: Ingredients:
· 1 try-hard salutatorian
· 1 annoying and (annoyingly) cute boy
· A handful of Korean recipes (measure with your heart)
· The spice of competition, to taste
Eliza Park’s senior year will be perfect: She’s going to be salutatorian, give a tear-jerking graduation speech in front of her parents, and enjoy her last year with her equally ambitious best friends. But when a scheduling mishap enrolls her in Culinary Arts, Eliza is suddenly the most clueless person in the class. Her typical title of star student belongs to the aggravatingly arrogant Wesley Ruengsomboon, a charming Thai American boy whose talent in the kitchen leaves Eliza both awed and annoyed.
With her rank on the line, Eliza’s only hope is to snatch the midterm cooking contest win from Wesley, however improbable that may be. Add in the flavor of her grandmother’s Korean recipes, the heat of being class partners with Wesley, and the sweetness of unexpected feelings—and Eliza must now rebuild everything she knew about success, love, and what it means to be herself, from scratch.
Formidable Magic by Iris Beaglehole
Read: 23/4/25 – 28/4/25
This instalment was so much better than the last. I was really starting to give up hope with this series, this book was going to be the decider. Thankfully, I did enjoy this one so I will be continuing at some point. I also have a full review of this coming later this month so I’ll leave my actual thoughts on it for then.
Synopsis: As the leaves fall and the fog thickens, the town of Myrtlewood prepares for the annual Samhain festival. But this year, something is different. The chill in the air is not just from the frost, but from a deeper magic, an ancient magic that has lain dormant for years. Rosemary Thorn and her daughter Athena both sense that something is amiss. They soon find themselves caught up in a thrilling mystery as strange occurrences happen around town. They must navigate through the mystical and mysterious world of magic and uncover the truth behind the spooky happenings before it’s too late.
As All Hallows draws near, the spirits in the land begin to stir in restless frustration and the anticipation in the air thickens, promising to be a Samhain that the people of Myrtlewood will never forget!
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: ARC Review: The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee
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