Our April 2025 Favorites!

April was a great month for reading! We read old classics and new releases alike, and we came up with some highly recommended reads. Scroll below and see if any of these reads sound like they belong on your every growing TBR list! Also get stoked, it looks like May has a lot of new and fun releases that we can't wait to read and share with you all!

Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

5 / 5 Stars

Xavier Rush is an overworked veterinarian, who sometimes says the wrong thing. When he tells Samantha, a women who comes in with a sick kitten, that the cat might not survive. He doesn't expect her to return later with a healthy cat after using the help of the internet.

Samantha doesn't expect the vet to be this gorgeous and after proving him wrong, he asks her out on a date. When they have probably the best first date ever, Samantha is sad to tell him she is leaving Minnesota. She has to return to California to take care of her mom.

The rest of the story revolves around these two realizing how much they love each other, even if the timing was less than ideal, and how somethings love doesn't care about distance and circumstance. This book wrecked me at times, especially with the talks of Dementia and how it impacts the family.

The River has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar - Allison

4/5 Stars

I was able to get an ALC of this book from Libro.fm, so many thanks to them. I had originally discovered Amal El-Mohtar when I read her co-authored book This is How We Lose the Time War, and its detailed characterization of the two characters Red and Blue absolutely blew me away. When I saw she was writing her own novel, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy.

This book was a beautiful, lyrical fantasy read. It felt like a fairy tale for the modern era. El-Mohtar was able to intertwine nature and language in a way I have never read before, and she hooked me immediately with this magical world. I was not only entertained by the story of sisterly love and understanding, but it left me with so many feelings on how this story overlaps with our world and time today. It was thought-provoking, and I recommend it for anyone looking for a new take on a fantasy stories.

Oathbound (Legendborn 3) by Tracy Deonn - Maggie

5 / 5 Stars

So this is the third book in a series, and I don't think Allison has gotten to it yet, so I'm not going to get super spoilery with it.

Brianna made a deal with the devil, almost literally, to save her friends and understand her powers during the events of book two. With her oath to him, and her broken oath to those in the Legendborn, she is at a loss. It doesn't help that the Shadow King removes the people she loves from her memories to 'help her'.

Meanwhile, the other scions are leaderless and only a handful of them care to look for Brianna and the other missing people. As they push to find their friend, they end up deeper into the world of demons and magic. The plot twist at the end of this book was chef's kiss and I'm excited for others to read it. I absolutely adore this series.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins - Allison

5/5 Stars

Maggie and I did a deep-dive, dual review of this book recently, but I had to plug it again here. This addition to the Hunger Games universe was timely, insightful, and tragic. Haymitch is such a vibrant character until he is beaten down physically and emotionally by the Capitol and Snow. The new side characters and their interactions with Haymitch make the story more meaningful. It feels like they are part of a history that the Capitol is actively trying to suppress, and that we owe it to them to tell their story. The expanded lore of existing characters satisfies a craving I didn't know I had needed in my life, but I am so happy to get to know all of them better. And the overarching ideas that rebellion doesn't happen over night, that it takes time and luck, and that there will be innocent casualties along the way feel more poignant today than ever before. It was an excellent read for Hunger Games fans and new arrivals alike. Everyone should read it.

What did you read this past April?

Anything you can recommend for us to add to our TBR lists?