I more than made up for some reading slumps in March—I actually finished 11 books! That’s an accomplishment! Especially since I got my grabby little hands on things like S.A. Chakraborty’s second Daevabad novel, The Kingdom of Copper, Uzma Jalaluddin’s charming Pride and Prejudice retelling Ayesha At Last, and Helen Hoang’s highly anticipated follow-up to The Kiss Quotient, The Bride Test. Plus Ann Aguirre’s next Ars Numina book, The Shadow Warrior, which was sexy, funny, and everything I’ve come to love from that series.

It’s probably no surprise that I think The Kingdom of Copper might be my favorite book of the year so far. I feel like it stepped up the conflicts in such a big way and changed the game for so many principal characters. And I changed my ‘shipper alliances! Yes, I was a hardcore Nahri and Dara fan coming in from The City of Brass, but no longer!

The Reading Rundown:
The Shadow Warrior by Ann Aguirre (out 4/26, paranormal romance, fantasy)
The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty (fantasy)
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang (out 5/7, contemporary romance)
Ayesha At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin (out 6/4, contemporary romance)
The Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas (historical romance)
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (out 5/14, contemporary romance)
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia (young adult LGBT+ fantasy)
My Wicked Prince by Molly O’Keefe (contemporary romance)
Scoring Off the Field by Naima Simone (contemporary romance)
Reverb by Anna Zabo (out 5/6, contemporary LGBT+ romance)

Backlist adventures: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill earned a hearty “meh” from me. I liked quite a few of his turns of phrase, but the overall book left me feeling kind of hollow.

Currently reading: Internment by Samira Ahmed.

On the TBR/wishlist:
A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole (out 4/30)
Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik
Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse (out 4/23)