April 2020 Book Recommendations: What to Read & What to Skip

It’s mid-month so it’s time to round up my April 2020 book recommendations! There are two April 2020 new releases included in this book list. Plus a few hits from last year and a series that I’m absolutely adoring.

Most of my April 2020 book recommendations are hits that you should definitely read! I like to share both my five star reads and any misses to help you get a better idea of what you should read or might want to skip.

As always, I love to hear if you agree or disagree with my ratings! Let me know in the comments what you thought of my April 2020 book recommendations.

I’m linking up with Jana Says /Life According to Steph and Modern Mrs Darcy as usual to share what we read this month!

*Disclosure – I earn a small commission for any items purchased through the links above at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my book blog!!

 

April 2020 Book Recommendations

Physical Books:

The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez

In a rare scenario, I actually received a physical ARC of this book from the publisher! I recently read The Friend Zone and was thrilled to discover there was a sequel coming out in April 2020! In The Happy Ever After Playlist, Jimenez picks up the story with Sloane, who is still reeling from her loss two years later. When a dog literally jumps into her car, she begins healing and opening up her heart again while searching for his owner.

This story is full of depth yet nails the witty banter. I loved every second of it. It’s a must read for contemporary fiction fans and worth picking up even if you’re not normally into that genre! 5 Stars | Amazon (Release Date April 14, 2020)

 

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

A fellow bookstagrammer and I swapped books by throwing them through a car window so we could get our hands on two recent releases! I gave her The Happy Ever After Playlist and she let me borrow Oona. This book has the undeniably unique concept of a woman waking up each New Year’s Day in a different stage of her life. She never knows how old she’ll be, but must adapt to her current situation and learn to live each year to it’s fullest.

Ultimately, I think this was a slightly too big topic to handle in a fairly short book?? I wish I had read more years to get to know Oona even better and see how her life played out! When that’s the biggest complaint, you know it’s a good book! Ultimately though, I was left wanting more so I dropped it down to 3.5 stars. 3.5 Stars | Amazon | Book Depository

 

The Silent Treatment by Abbie Greaves

I participated in a blog tour for this book, so I needed to read it by a certain date. Unfortunately that meant this was a good book at the wrong time. With everything going on, I’m in the mood for fun, escapist reads that lift my spirits. The Silent Treatment is an excellent book (and a debut no less!) but it’s heavvvvyyy. There are a ton of trigger warnings for miscarriage, suicide, drugs, depression, etc and I couldn’t handle that right now. 3.5 Stars | Amazon (Release Date April 7, 2020)

 

Bringing Down The Duke by Evie Drake

A #bookstagram made me do it read. Unfortunately this wasn’t a great choice for me. It’s a historical romance that features a woman fighting for the right to vote going up against a traditional Duke. In the end, I thought this focused too much on a forced relationship between these two and not enough on the issues. To be fair, it is a romance so that’s perfectly justified! It was just a bit too much romance for me. 3 Stars | Amazon 

 

 

Save this for later!

 

 

eBooks (reading from Netgalley / Kindle Unlimited / Library):

What You Wish For by Katherine Center

I’m a recent Katherine Center convert, which makes me so excited to read the rest of her backlist! The only other book I’ve read was Things You Save in a Fire from last year, but I wanted to take a gamble on her 2020 new release. So far she’s 2/2! What You Wish For is a love story in so many different ways. At it’s heart, it’s a bunch of teachers trying to save a beautiful, creative school from a hard-ass new principal.

Throughout the pages, it also turns into a story about dealing with grief and fear and opening your heart to new ways to love. I honestly adored it and was so excited to pick it up and read every night. 5 Stars | Amazon

 

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

A rare contemporary romance where the couple is already married! After Gavin discovers his wife has been faking a very personal part of their marriage, the resulting fight leads to talk of divorce. When he’s approached by a teammate to join a romance book club to help save his marriage, he couldn’t be more surprised. The guys use tips from the books they read to maintain their relationships.

This was a cute story of a man fighting for his wife in an unorthodox manner. It’s a quick read with a lot of heart and deserves the massive amount of hype surrounding it. I’m looking forward to Book 2 as well! 4 Stars | Amazon | Book Depository

 

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

It’s no secret that I shout my love for the Inspector Gamache series whenever I can. You won’t find many murder mysteries here on this blog, but I make one exception for Louise Penny. This was easily the most difficult book in the series to read so far. There is an intense grief throughout the entire novel that is impossible to shake. It weaves into the current investigation at every turn. Her writing and the development of a connection to the characters is unparalleled.

While this wasn’t my favorite book of the series, I still highly recommend giving it a shot. I hear the books get even better as they go on too! 3.5 Stars | Amazon

 

 

Audio Books (listening on Kindle Unlimited / Audible):

My commute is nonexistent so I haven’t been listening to any audiobooks! Anyone else struggling with this??

 

 

Reading Tracker Analysis (Data: Jan – Present)

Since I created my Reading Tracker (available for $5 in my store), I thought it’d be fun to showcase a few of the graphs each month. I’m an accountant, so books + Excel is my dream combo 🙂

I think a lot of you will relate to the first chart I’m sharing. As you can see, my reading declined significantly in March and is just starting to pick back up through the first half of April. The adjustment to quarantine life was tough and the amount of time I dedicated to reading took a nosedive at the end of March. Thankfully we’re settling into our new routine and I’m reading more lighthearted, fun books now!

 

 

Along those same lines, my graph showing # of books read by genre makes it clear what I’ve been into this year! Rom coms & chick lit galore!!!! Most of these probably fall specifically in the contemporary romance genre. I’m craving these cute love stories.

 

 

Did you read any 5 star books in March or April?

 

If you’d like to analyze your reading or you’re tired of tracking books with Goodreads, check out my Reading Tracker!

 

 

 

For more mini book reviews, check out What I Read in March 2020!