What I Read: April

I read lots of great books this month! April included Independent Book Store Day. We were in Pittsburg on that day so we visited the independent book store there. They had a golden ticket hidden in the store and I FOUND IT! I won a year subscription to Libro.fm for free which means I get 12 free audiobooks! I got a year subscription to Audible with Christmas money because I wanted to listen to Project Hail Mary and it was only available on Audible. I'm excited to try out Libro to see which one I prefer.

Books:

• Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House by Alyssa Mastromonaco and Lauren Oyler- I didn't like this as much as I expected I would. I did love how honest she was and that she shared her own insecurities and mistakes in her career. When she mentioned not negotiating a salary at her first job after the White House, that felt like such a typical female mistake that I wouldn't have expected from someone who had worked in the White House. You know me, I love a good book about a President, First Lady, or the White House so when I found this in a Little Free Library I was so excited! 

• Call of the Penguins by Prior Hazel- I loved this book so much! It was the 2nd Veronica McCreedy book and it was just as hard to put down as the first. I loved it!

• The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson- I loved this one. It was so cute and I'm always a sucker for a book with library, librarian, or bookstore in the title. The main character got a bit frustrating at times so I was glad she came around at the end!

• I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Essays by Sloane Crosley- I was excited the word cake was in the title and I'd seen this recommended a few places. I should have known I'd be disappointed when she was compared to Sarah Vowell and David Sedaris. There's no way someone can be that funny, right? This was okay. There were a few essays I really enjoyed but there were also a few that I thought were kind of boring.

eBooks:

• A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas- I again read this one right after finishing the 2nd book in the series. I should have waited because I was starting to get tired of the books when I finished the 2nd one, but I was reading them at the same time as a co-worker so wanted to go ahead and read the 3rd one with her. I was so over it by the end of this book, I'm not sure if I'll even read the 4th one.

• Revealed by P.C. and Kristin Cast- House of Night #11, I am finally down to one more book to go! They sure know how to take a series and drag it out! This book started and ended with a bang with a lot of nothingness in the middle. I still enjoy the series because of the Tulsa and Oklahoma references, but I'm definitely excited to finish it!

• When Two Feathers Fell From The Sky by Margaret Verble- I saw a flyer for an author event at our library with Verble. I was super excited and checked this book out right away. I really liked it and there was Cherokee history in the book I didn't know about. I had never read a book with a character who was a horse diver before! 

Audiobooks:

• American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson- This book was really interesting. I loved learning about Heinrich's life and all the advances he made in forensics. I was a little disappointed there wasn't more information about the birth of the American CSI. I expected that to be a bigger part of the book, due to the subtitle, and it wasn't even mentioned until the epilogue.

• The Office BFFs: Tales of the Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey- This book was incredible and I loved every minute of it! It was narrated by the authors which was wonderful and there were a few cameos which were great. I loved all the little tidbits they included. It was so much fun, I didn't want it to end!

• In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri- This was not at all what I expected. It was interesting to hear about her writing in a 2nd language. It seemed like a bit of an odd premise for a book. I was glad it was short!

• Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley- My mom recommended this book to me and I loved it! I loved how everyone came together around Iona and how they helped each other in times of need. I also love a happy ending! I'm hoping there's another book with these characters because I don't want to just leave them there.

• Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck- The audiobook was read by Gary Sinise which was absolutely perfect! Obviously this book wasn't as good as his other books, but I enjoyed it.

• The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher with Mary Pilon- This was an incredible story. There were a few parts that had me crying as I ran while listening. I've always been a huge Kara Goucher fan and I'm an even bigger fan now, knowing what she struggled through and overcame in her years as a professional runner.