March Wrap Up | 2020

Hello bookworms! I’m Nia and today I’m going to be talking about the books I read in March.

Now March was a fairly good reading month for me. I read a lot of contemporary  romances because I was on a huge reading slump and that was the only thing I was in the mood of, as well as some ARCs I had pending to read. There are some favorites and books that I really enjoyed, and others that were okay.

Without any further ado, let’s begin with my June wrap up!

Where Dreams Descend | Janella Angeles

★★★★.25

My review: I have already published a review of this book, so click here in case you want to check it out!

In a city covered in ice and ruin, a group of magicians face off in a daring game of magical feats to find the next headliner of the Conquering Circus, only to find themselves under the threat of an unseen danger striking behind the scenes.

As each act becomes more and more risky and the number of missing magicians piles up, three are forced to reckon with their secrets before the darkness comes for them next.

The Star: Kallia, a powerful showgirl out to prove she’s the best no matter the cost

The Master: Jack, the enigmatic keeper of the club, and more than one lie told

The Magician: Demarco, the brooding judge with a dark past he can no longer hide.

Of Curses and Kisses | Shandya Menon

★★

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?

His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…

As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.

Stuck-Up Suit | Vi Keeland

★★★

It started out like any other morning on the train.
Until I became mesmerized by the guy sitting across the aisle.
He was barking at someone on his phone like he ruled the world.
Who did the stuck-up suit think he was…God?
Actually, he looked like a God. That was about it.
When his stop came, he got up suddenly and left. So suddenly, he dropped his phone on the way out.
I might have picked it up.
I might have gone through all of his photos and called some of the numbers.
I might have held onto the mystery man’s phone for days―until I finally conjured up the courage to return it.
When I traipsed my ass across town to his fancy company, he refused to see me.
So, I left the phone on the empty desk outside the arrogant jerk’s office.
I might have also left behind a dirty picture on it first though.
I didn’t expect him to text back.
I didn’t expect our exchanges to be hot as hell.
I didn’t expect to fall for him―all before we even met.
The two of us couldn’t have been any more different.
Yet, you know what they say about opposites.
When we finally came face to face, we found out opposites sometimes do more than attract―we consumed each other.
Nothing could have prepared me for the ride he took me on. And I certainly wasn’t prepared for where I’d wind up when the ride was over.
All good things must come to an end, right?
Except our ending was one I didn’t see coming.

Keeper | Harloe Rae

★.75

“Will you help me remember?”

That’s the second thing I ask the stranger hovering just outside of my hospital room. To me, Decker Fredric is another nameless face in the crowd. To him, I’m a forgotten girl he hasn’t seen in years. But he agrees to be my crutch through the fog as if we were once friends.

Everything is a blank canvas spreading far and wide in front of me. Any direction I take, my steps stumble over the unknown. Decker becomes the only reliable constant in my life. I lean on him too hard, but he doesn’t seem to mind. His unwavering patience and guidance restore some semblance of normal I don’t recall having.

My attraction to Decker is instant, but he appears indifferent. Until the day his stare holds a bit too much heat. In return, I dare to let my touch linger. Our hugs cling tighter than a simple embrace should. But we have no business defying the distinct line cutting between us.

Decker Fredric was never mine to keep. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting him to be.

Reverie | Ryan La Sala

★.5

My review: I was so excited to pick up this book because it sounded absolutely amazing, and it was for fans of Inception (which is a movie I adore), so I went into it with pretty high expectations, but unfortunately it just wasn’t the book for me.

The thing about Reverie was that it started out great. I was interested from the very beginning and it was mysterious enough that it made me want to keep reading to know what was going to happen, but as I kept reading I became less engaged with the book and started to lose interest.

The main issue I had with this novel was that I found everything super confusing. There was barely any explanation about how that magic system worked or why they were the only chosen ones, and the scenes where they were inside those reveries were just so over the place and confusing. I found myself not understanding what was going on, or differencing the reality from those dreams, because it wasn’t addressed.

There came a point where there were so many things happening at once, while other times there wasn’t much going on and it dragged quite a bit, and I ended up feeling so disconnected with the story and the characters.

Speaking of, I think the characters weren’t bad, but it’s true that they were quite underdeveloped and lacking sometimes. I wanted to see an evolution throughout the story that didn’t end  up happening, and the way the friendship was written felt so rushed and the interactions didn’t make sense at times at were super cringy.

The ending was so suddenly and rushed that I had to read it a couple of times to realize that it actually ended, and I feel some of the revelations made towards the last few chapters were super predictable and not as shocking as I expected them to be.

Overall, I think the writing was beautiful and the concept of the story and the dreams was so interesting and unique, but the way Reverie was done was so confusing, and there weren’t barely any explanations of the magic system or how the dreams worked, which was sad because I think it would have made the book so much more complex and intriguing.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This doesn’t change my opinion whatsoever. All thoughts are my own.

All Kane Montgomery knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. He can’t remember how he got there, what happened after, and why his life seems so different now. And it’s not just Kane who’s different, the world feels off, reality itself seems different.

As Kane pieces together clues, three almost-strangers claim to be his friends and the only people who can truly tell him what’s going on. But as he and the others are dragged into unimaginable worlds that materialize out of nowhere—the gym warps into a subterranean temple, a historical home nearby blooms into a Victorian romance rife with scandal and sorcery—Kane realizes that nothing in his life is an accident. And when a sinister force threatens to alter reality for good, they will have to do everything they can to stop it before it unravels everything they know.

This wildly imaginative debut explores what happens when the secret worlds that people hide within themselves come to light.

Kiss of Vengeance | Samantha Young

★★★★

Fionn Mór was once a high king of Ireland; a fierce warrior who led his tribes against the invading fae. It was a war he couldn’t win and to save his family he turned consort for the Fae Queen. Fionn escaped as the thing he once despised, and the people he loved betrayed him for it. Now, centuries later, it’s time to reopen the gates to Faerie to take his revenge against the Faerie Queen.

At sixteen Rose Kelly discovered family secrets that changed her forever. Years after, she’s still lost, traveling across Europe in search of that elusive missing ‘something’. When she’s attacked by a vampire, not only is she wrenched into a supernatural underworld she never knew existed, a knock on the head releases a spell on her mind and unlocks powers beyond her wildest imaginings. And with them more questions. Questions Fionn Mór claims to have answers to.

Following the powerful and enigmatic Fionn to Ireland, Rose quickly realizes she’s a pawn in his plan for vengeance. What begins as a passionate battle of wills leads to an inexplicable but undeniable connection. One that will force them to face an impossible choice between the deepest love… and the darkest revenge.

The Winter Duke | Claire Eliza

★★

When Ekata’s brother is finally named heir, there will be nothing to keep her at home in Kylma Above with her murderous family. Not her books or science experiments, not her family’s icy castle atop a frozen lake, not even the tantalizingly close Kylma Below, a mesmerizing underwater kingdom that provides her family with magic. But just as escape is within reach, her parents and twelve siblings fall under a strange sleeping sickness.

In the space of a single night, Ekata inherits the title of duke, her brother’s warrior bride, and ever-encroaching challengers from without—and within—her own ministry. Nothing has prepared Ekata for diplomacy, for war, for love…or for a crown she has never wanted. If Kylma Above is to survive, Ekata must seize her family’s power. And if Ekata is to survive, she must quickly decide how she will wield it.

Girl Gone Viral | Alisha Rai

★★★★★

My review:Ever since I finished The Right Swipe last year, absolutely adored it and knew she was coming out with a companion novel to that book, I was so excited to pick Girl Gone Viral and read it, and see if I was going to enjoy it just as much as I did with the first novel. Well, I have to say that this one was just as good as The Right Swipe, and I had a great time reading it.

Usually when I read a contemporary romance the only thing that I care about are the characters. If I’m a fan of the characters, I’ll most likely enjoy the book. And I think that was one of the major things that I loved about Girl Gone Viral, despite it having an interesting plot.

I think Alisha Rai is amazing at balancing plot and romance. It happened in The Right Swipe and it did in this one as well. The romance didn’t overpowered the plot, even though it was one of the main focuses of the story.

When it comes to the characters, I absolutely loved the crap out of them. Though I didn’t remember much of Katrina from the first book, I really loved her as a main character, and think she brought a lot to the story. She was such a kind soul and had a very soft personality, and I really liked how that complement the arc of the love interest, Jas. It had a few tropes that I really enjoyed seeing in a romance, and I think they were done pretty well.

The romance also was so good! They had such great chemistry and I have to say that I really enjoyed how angsty and slow burn that romance was. Jas and Katrina had such great dynamics and I think that’s something that totally sold the book for me.

The only thing was that I felt the reader needed to know certain things about the main character’s past. Now, I don’t know if that’s something that we learnt in The Right Swipe or it was implied in this one and I didn’t read between the lines (I had a bit trouble concentrating these past few weeks so that might be the reason), but I just wish I’d known more about their history when those characters were talking about it.

Overall, I think Girl Gone Viral was such a fast paced book, and I really enjoyed it. The characters were so complex and amazing and I was so surprised with how little it took me to connect with them, and the romance was done really well and had a nice evolution. I only hope that she will come out with another companion novel about a side character!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This doesn’t change my opinion whatsoever. All thoughts are my own.

OMG! Wouldn’t it be adorable if he’s her soulmate???

I don’t see any wedding rings [eyes emoji]

Breaking: #CafeBae and #CuteCafeGirl went to the bathroom AT THE SAME TIME!!!

One minute, Katrina King’s enjoying an innocent conversation with a hot guy at a coffee shop; the next, a stranger has live-tweeted the entire episode with a romantic meet-cute spin and #CafeBae is the new hashtag-du-jour. The problem? Katrina craves a low-profile life, and going viral threatens the peaceful world she’s painstakingly built. Besides, #CafeBae isn’t the man she’s hungry for…

He’s got a [peach emoji] to die for.

With the internet on the hunt for the identity of #CuteCafeGirl, Jas Singh, bodyguard, friend, and possessor of the most beautiful eyebrows Katrina’s ever seen, comes to the rescue and whisks her away to his family’s home. Alone in a remote setting with the object of her affections? It’s a recipe for romance. But after a long dating dry spell, Katrina isn’t sure she can trust her instincts when it comes to love—even if Jas’ every look says he wants to be more than just her bodyguard…

Chasing Lucky | Jenn Bennett

★★★★

My review: I have already published a review of this book, so click here in case you want to check it out!

Budding photographer Josie Saint-Martin has spent half her life with her single mother, moving from city to city. When they return to her historical New England hometown years later to run the family bookstore, Josie knows it’s not forever. Her dreams are on the opposite coast, and she has a plan to get there.

What she doesn’t plan for is a run-in with the town bad boy, Lucky Karras. Outsider, rebel…and her former childhood best friend. Lucky makes it clear he wants nothing to do with the newly returned Josie. But everything changes after a disastrous pool party, and a poorly executed act of revenge lands Josie in some big-time trouble—with Lucky unexpectedly taking the blame.

Determined to understand why Lucky was so quick to cover for her, Josie discovers that both of them have changed, and that the good boy she once knew now has a dark sense of humor and a smile that makes her heart race. And maybe, just maybe, he’s not quite the brooding bad boy everyone thinks he is…

The Perfect First | Maya Hughes

★★★★

Persephone Alexander. Math genius. Lover of blazers. The only girl I know who can make Heidi braids look sexy as hell. And she’s on a mission. Lose her virginity by the end of the semester.

I walked in on her interview session for potential candidates (who even does that?) and saw straight through her brave front. She’s got a list of Firsts to accomplish like she’s only got months to live. I’ve decided to be her guide for all her firsts except one. Someone’s got to keep her out of trouble. I have one rule, no sex. We even shook on it.

I’ll help her find the right guy for the job. Someone like her doesn’t need someone like me and my massive…baggage for her first time.

Drinking at a bar. Check.

Partying all night. Double check.

Skinny dipping. Triple check.

She’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. The walls I’d put up around my heart are slowly crumbling with each touch that sets fire to my soul.

I’m the first to bend the rules. One electrifying kiss changes everything and suddenly I don’t want to be her first, I want to be her only. But her plan was written before I came onto the scene and now I’m determined to get her to re-write her future with me.

The Second We Met | Maya Hughes

★★★.75

That’s the note I should’ve written. Instead I sent a pleasant and apologetic version.

Had I known Phoenix “Nix” Russo would’ve been the neighbor from hell, I’d have told him right where he could shove my words.

Nix is the big man on campus with everyone lined up at his games to make sure he knows it. Sure, he’s got piercing blue eyes, abs that don’t quit and a smile that could set fire to a set of panties from a hundred yards away, but he’s also the biggest pain in my ass.

Dear Pink-Haired Menace, learn how to take a joke and stop being such a kill-joy…

Elle Masterson called the cops on one of my parties–again. My sweet talking usually gets me out of trouble, but this time it got me into a nice pair of silver handcuffs. Now I’m on a reputation rehab tour with a stop at a spring break community service project.

Guess who’s my new boss?

Now we’re shoulder to shoulder, sweaty, tired and…she’s not anything like I expected. There might just be a heart under that hardass exterior. She’s invading my dreams and I can’t shake the feeling she’s the key to unlocking a piece of me that I’ve hidden away.

It’s only a matter of time until she finds out why I’m really here.

Maybe I can break through her walls and into her heart before that happens…one screw at a time.

The Third Best Thing | Maya Hughes

★★★★

Dear Letter Girl, I need to see you. When can we meet?

Her response never came. My secret pen pal with a dirty mind has ghosted me. I’ve roped Jules, my sweet as pie next door neighbor, to help me track her down.

There’s only one problem–I’m falling for her. The tortoise shell glasses, out of this world curves and delicious treats are making the search for The Letter Girl even harder. 

My notes were supposed to be a one time thing.

A little too much wine and naughty thoughts on a winter’s night. I never thought Berk would write back. I wanted to tell him it was me, but the fear of rejection kept my lips sealed.

Now he’s enlisted my help to track down The Letter Girl and our search has him hot on my, ahem, her trail.

She’s the girl next door.

He’s my secret pen pal.

Truth is on a collision course with their hearts and it’s only a matter of time before one of them gets wrecked…

Echoes of Scotland Street | Samantha Young

★★★★.5

Shannon MacLeod has always gone for the wrong type of man. After she drifted from one toxic relationship to the next, her last boyfriend gave her a wake-up call in the worst possible way. With her world shattered, she’s sworn off men—especially those of the bad-boy variety.
Cole Walker is exactly the sort that Shannon wants to avoid—gorgeous, tattooed, charming, and cocky. But his rough exterior hides a good man who’s ready to find “the one.” He’s determined to pull Shannon from her self-imposed solitude to win her heart.
As Shannon opens up in the face of Cole’s steady devotion, the passion between them ignites to blazing levels. But when Shannon’s past comes back to haunt her, her fears may destroy the trust Cole has built between them—and tear them apart for good.…

Ruthless Gods | Emily A. Duncan

★★★.5

My review: I have already published a review of this book, so click here in case you want to check it out!

Darkness never works alone…

Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who–and what–he’s become.

As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. They’re pieces on a board, being orchestrated by someone… or something. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet—those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.

In her dramatic follow-up to Wicked Saints, the first book in her Something Dark and Holy trilogy, Emily A. Duncan paints a Gothic, icy world where shadows whisper, and no one is who they seem, with a shocking ending that will leave you breathless.

Cast Long Shadows | Cassandra Clare

★★★.5

Matthew Fairchild is the Consul’s son and the golden-haired boy of the Nephilim. He has the love of his family and his parabatai James Herondale, and nothing to wish for, except excitement and artistry and beauty that do not seem to fit in with a warrior’s way of life. Matthew gets more than he bargained for at the Shadow Market, where he commits the greatest sin of his life – something he can never tell his parabatai, or any of the honorable Shadowhunters around him.

A Deeper Love | Cassandra Clare

★★★

It is only three years since Tessa Gray lost her beloved husband William Herondale, and she is searching for a reason to live, trying to find the path of being a warlock with the guidance of her friend Catarina Loss. World War 2 rains down destruction on their world, and Tessa and Catarina become nurses who make bargains at the Shadow Market for enchantments to help suffering mundanes. But can Brother Zachariah bear to see the woman he loves risk her life, or might he consider breaking sacred vows to save her from loneliness?

Learn About Loss | Cassandra Clare

★★

In a small town lost to despair, a dark carnival of a market appears. In the fourth in the USA Today bestselling Ghosts of the Shadow Market, faeries and warlocks we know converge, and the fate that will one day produce Kit Herondale is sealed.

Every Exquisite Thing | Cassandra Clare

★★★★

Anna Lightwood, eldest child of Gabriel and Cecily, is mad, bad and dangerously dapper. Every rake has an origin story, though: now under Brother Zachariah’s eye we see Anna’s doomed love story unfold.

What books have you read lately and which one has been your most and least favorite? Have you read any of the ones I’ve mentioned above? Let me know in the comments!

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