Top March Reads!

March has been a wild ride and we are here again to share some of our favorite reads of the month! I have tried to keep up with ARCs (Maggie) but that doesn't always work out, luckily I think I might be caught up for March and into April, so get excited for some more fun reads into the next few weeks! Hopefully as the weather gets better (I think we are on fake spring number 5 in Minnesota) there will be more chances to read outside in the sun instead of cuddled on a blanket on the couch. I feel like we have a good selection of books to share with everyone this month!

The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez -Maggie

3.5 / 5 Stars

Starting out strong with a local author for me. The Night We Met follows Larissa and Chris, two people are connect deeply and quickly, a perfect couple on paper...except Larissa isn't with Chris, she is with his best friend Mike. But as Larissa starts to see the truth behind why Mike seemed perfect, especially after seeing how much he drinks, she realizes that maybe Chris should have been the one she went home with that first night.

Now they share books and co-parent a crazy dog and Chris does his best to avoid his feelings for Larissa while she is with Mike.

I really enjoyed this book. Overall a cute romance story with some harder hitting subplots that takes place in Minnesota, which I'm always a fan of. I also really liked the addition of a chaotic small dog that just craves murder and violence at any given moment. This dog is insane, I love him dearly.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - Allison

4/5 Stars

Klara is an Artificial Friend, or essentially a robot programmed to be there for her assigned human, once she is purchased by one. As a store favorite, Klara gets a coveted spot in the window and observes humanity with a keen eye all while enjoying the light and energy the sun provides for her.

In walks Josie, a young girl who makes her promises and gets Klara's hopes up. Josie seems to love her, but she is fickle beyond Klara's understanding, and treats her family and dear friends with varying degrees of care. When Klara's mother instructs her to watch Josie very carefully and mimic her, are her motives pure in trying to understand her sick child or is this entire situation too much for Klara's too-logical brain to handle?

This book was full of twists- some twists I expected, and some I did not. It is overall written very well, and I can understand its rise in popularity as a summer reading book for the new generations of high school students. There are very interesting themes to dive into, like dealing with childhood illness, what constitutes a person, is genetic enhancement fair for the masses, and the unusual ways grief can manifest. This book, though, is overall sad- not necessarily in a visceral way, but it definitely feels like a prolonged ache. I enjoyed having read it, and I would recommend people read it, but you have to be in the mood for something deep and strangely offputting at times.

To Deal with Kings by M.K. Lobb-Maggie

5 / 5 Stars

This book is a sequel to To Steal From Thieves, which came out last year and my goodness is it glorious. This is a young adult duology that follows two people just trying to survive. Kane Durante is now the kingpin of London Slums and after Zaria Mendoza betrayed him he doesn't know if he can trust her. Zaria doesn't have much to lose, but she needs Kane in order to find her freedom from London.

Zaria and Kane now find themselves in the middle of a battle with new kingpin, who is looking to use both of them to get what they want. The more they work together, the harder it is from them to deny that they kissed before the betrayal, and that they may understand each other more than anyone else.

I absolutely love this duology, and pretty much any other book I've read by M.K. Lobb. I love a chaotic heist novel that then falls into something more. These two little chaos children are something else, and watching them bicker and fight is one of my favorite things.

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez - Allison

4/5 Stars

This book is The Mummy for the younger generation. Inez Olivera leaves a high-class life in Buenos Aires upon hearing of the death of her parents while on their yearly trip to Egypt and receiving a mysterious ring from her father for safe keeping. As she lands in Africa for the first time, Inez faces mysteries galore- how did her parents die, what secrets are her uncle and his associates keeping from her, why does she feel strange pulls towards this old-world magic, and is the handsome rogue/assistant flirting with her or not?

This book had magic and crocodiles, bazaar chases and river trips, artifacts and guns, and so much more. The backstories of the characters are endlessly interesting, especially that of Whitford Hayes, the Han Solo-type of the book. Inez is a solid main character with strengths and weaknesses highlighted by the plot as the book goes on. The only main complaint I would have would be the pacing. There is a lot of repetition in the book regarding making mistakes over and over again, debating who to trust over and over again, and not really making a firm choice to go in one direction or the other. It doesn't seem to really have serious consequences most of the time, so it is hard to figure out if Inez's indecision is important or not unless you check the thickness of the book to see how many pages are left.

Overall, it was an entertaining read, and the world Ibañez created will certainly have me seeking out the sequel. I just hope that it is a bit more tightly written and that the pace is faster.

Which of these books would you add to your April TBR? Any recommendations for Allison or Maggie?