I feel like March was extra long, and I think I feel that way because I read way more than I thought. There were five weekends in the month so I guess that was it?

The total read this month was 22 books, that’s put me over my 52 books in a year challenge. So one challenge completed in quarter one. I know I could up the number for this one but I stopped trying to reach high numbers for reading a long time ago, it just doesn’t suit my personality and I make the whole thing a competition with myself which is super unhealthy, so I’m leaving this at 52 and challenge completed.

I’ve read four more books in the ✨TwentyOffMyShelf 2025✨challenge I’m participating in and that brings me to 16 books read in that challenge. I also read the final two prompts for this quarters Romanceopoly 2025 Challenge. That’s Frostwood Village done, and now we move on to Blossom Falls, I have some books I’m really looking forward to earmarked for this quarter so keep an eye out for those post!

Also read book number three in my own Non-fiction reading 2025 challenge. That challenge also has seven participants which I really was not expecting and am super stoked about.

So onto the books read in March 2025:

The Spring Bride (Chance Sisters #3) – 3.25⭐, The Summer Bride (Chance Sisters #4) – 3⭐, The Christmas Bride (Chance Sisters #4.5) – 3⭐by Anne Gracie

I enjoyed this quartet, it wasn’t as good or as fun as The Brides of Bellaire Gardens but they were entertaining enough. I think The Winter Bride was my favourite out of this group. Freddy was very lovable. Also, Lady Bea deserves all her flowers, she was wonderful and I love that the girls saved her as much as she saved them.

Anne Gracie does a really lovey job of highlighting the importance of female friendships and how those friendships can bring power, that’s quite the accomplishment in regency romance. It wasn’t exactly an era in history where we equate women with power but Anne Gracie manages to give her FMC’s characters as much as possible and a lot of that relies on them helping each other. I’ll call it subtle empowerment and it’s so enjoyable to read!

The Bone Shard War (The Drowning Empire #3) by Andrea Stewart – 4.75⭐

Finally finished this trilogy, I swore last year I’d finish and then I finished book two and was far too stressed out to pick up the final book. It worked out well though because The Bone Shard War picks up two years after The Bone Shard Emperor.

Things are not going well for almost everyone. Those who are thriving just happen to be the very worst people, who I thought would just never die!   

This book honestly stressed me out. Our favourites are being attacked on multiple fronts and things felt so hopeless for much of this book. Progress would be made just for Ragan, Kaphra or Dione to turn up and ruin everything! I hated these three so much, Ragan because he was just so evil. Kaphra because he was one of those leaches war and upheaval always creates, the opportunists who will sell out everyone around them to gain even the smallest amount of power, and Dione, who might be the worst kind of all, the self righteous fanatic who refuses to see any other solutions to what they’ve decided is the only way for ‘peace’. He decided that Lin must die and saw no other alternative. It was very frustrating and made me hate him even though his goal was the best for everyone. 

Something history has thought me is that after dictators are disposed of or countries gain independence, a time of upheaval and civil wars often follow, I think The Bone Shard War really highlighted this, it was tough to read, just as it would be tough to live through, as always though, the citizens suffer while the powerful play their games. 

Seeing this all play out through Jovis (shoutout to Mephi), Lin, Nisong, Ranami and Phalue eyes gave us lots of different perspectives, showing us that things are not always as cut and dry as we think they are in times of great change but because none of them gave up and all eventually made decisions and sacrifices that were for the greater good, they changed the world!   

A Jingle Bell Mingle (Christmas Notch #3) by Sierra Simone & Julie Murphy – 3.25⭐

A Jingle Bell Mingle (Christmas Notch #3) was for the last main prompt in Romanceopoly2025 challenge, Alpine Cottage Inn – read a snowbound or winter romance.

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston – 4.75⭐

So this was a big surprise!

I was a little frustrated by both Clementine and Iwan at times but ultimately it was a lovely romance and I was very invested in their story. Sometimes time travel stories can be a little chaotic but this one was done beautifully. 

What surprised me, and will stick with me, was how it dealt with grief! Oooof, this book really dug into the painful journey that is grief. At the beginning of the book we see Clementine struggling with her feelings around her aunts death but it also seems like she is getting on with things and coping. As the book progresses and the apartment interferes, we learn that she really isn’t. It was just so heartbreaking, and then when you finish the book and read the authors note it’s even more heartbreaking! 

After the Climb (River Rain #1) – 4⭐ Chasing Serenity (River Rain #2) – 4.5⭐, Taking the Leap (River Rain #3) – 5⭐, Making the Match (River Rain #4) – 3.5⭐Fighting the Pull River Rain #5) – 4, Sharing the Miracle (River Rain #5.5) – 4⭐, Embracing the Change (River Rain #6) – 4.5⭐by Kristen Ashley

Whenever I feel like reading something that feels like watching Gossip Girl (the OG version) or The OC, I pick this series up. It’s ostentatious and even though we hate billionaires these billionaires aren’t psychotic and hellbent on trying to destroy the planet so I like the alternate reality of this world. I also love all the different settings!

Sistersong by Lucy Holland – 5⭐

I haven’t written a proper review for this yet, I actually think I’m about ready to review it?

This was just a gorgeous book and I think it was the highlight of my month. It spoke to my little Irish Pagan heart and made me sad and mad for a hundred different reasons.

My sister’s heart broke on the river—and the river took it and bore it away.

I’ll likely do a little collage and post the review here, no idea when, hopefully soon, I’ll share a link to the collage and review here when I post it.

This Could Be Us (Skyland #2) by Kennedy Ryan – 5⭐

I’ve also decided to make a collage for this one, book one, Before I Let Go, collage was part of the Romanceoply challenge, and I’m really looking forward to book three, Can’t Get Enough, which is due to release on 13th May 2025, I thought it would be nice to have a collage for all three books. Might then do a post with all three, I dunno! In the meantime, I’ll share a link to the collage and review here when I post it.

This Could Be Us – review and collage.

Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things (Sisters of Light and Shadow #1) by Breanne Randall – 3.5⭐

Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things (Sisters of Light and Shadow #1) was an optional prompt for the Romanceopoly2025 challenge, and the last prompt to complete the Frostwood Village (Winter) prompts. I purposely saved this for Women’s History Month. #FuckthePatriarchy- more now than ever!

Loose Ends by Kristen Ashley – 4⭐

Have had this a good long while and I’m in the mood to reread way too much KA so thought this would get me out of the reread spiral. I think it has?

No Clue

Joe and Vi from At Peace

A little insight into how Joe, Vi and the family are doing. It was cute and I’m always happy to visit these two but nothing amazing happening.

The Stars Aligned

Luci and Hap from Heaven and Hell

These two were the reason I purchased this in the first place and it did not disappoint.

I actually totally got why Hap was reluctant to go there with Luci and I think it was totally normal for them to have the relationship struggles that they did at the beginning. What I do not get, and I’m still salty about, is how Sam behaved!

What.

A.

Dick.

Like sure, be apprehensive and worried but dude, use your words and be good friend and actually talk to your friends about those feelings. How very dare he tell Hap not to go there because of Gordo!

I mean this did the job in making me not want to reread Heaven and Hell right now because I’m still super mad at Sam. Kia is a saint!!

The Favor

Deacon and Cassidy from Deacon

Like ‘No Clue’ this is another little snippet into Deacon and Cassie’s day to day and it was also cute. Loved the small bit of time we had with their girls and would have liked more of that. They are both super cute!

This did make me want to reread though so that’s unfortunate! 😀

More Than Everything

Diesel, Maddox and Molly from The Greatest Risk of the Honey series

I have not read the Honey series and I’m going to be truthful and say, it’s likely I never will read it!

That said, when I saw this was MMF I was intrigued because I do like a MMF, so even though it’s part of a BDSM series I decided to give it a go and I really enjoyed it!

The BDSM is very minimal and I just liked the three of these characters. Maddox most of all!

Diesel is having some self acceptance issues and has been for what looks to be four years. I mean that’s just too long, but also, self acceptance takes as long as it takes. I didn’t love that his self acceptance seemed to come at the expense of Maddox BUT when he fully embraces his love of Molly and Maddox he also acknowledges he was hurting them, Maddox in particular and then he goes full on protective! I liked that. I mean I’d have read more!

Rebel from Free (the final Chaos book) made an appearance as Diesel’s sister. I liked seeing her in it prior to finding Chaos. I really hated that last book! 😀

“Tell Me What You Want”

This isn’t really connected to any of KA’s books. It was cute! Fairy matchmakers at a The Spice Girl concert.

Rock Chick Renewal

Tod and Stevie from the Rock Chick series

This one was bittersweet! Anyone who follows KA will know about Tod and who she based him on. Rick passed away a few years ago and this short is dedicated to him. I cried the whole way through.

Love Tod and Stevie 4Evah!

Tattered Stars (Tattered & Torn #1) – 4⭐, Falling Embers (Tattered & Torn #2) – 3.5⭐, Hidden Waters (Tattered & Torn #3) – 3⭐by Catherine Cowles

I read all three of these in one weekend, the last weekend in March specifically. Catherine Cowles is perfect reading for when you need to switch off. The majority her books I’ve read thus far on a weekend.

These are nice small town romances with a nice kick of suspense added. I think one of the MMC is due a fight for his life storyline though, the FMC in Tattered & Torn have an awful time of it. Poor Addie in Hidden Waters had at least three concussions between two books! Her poor brain!!!

Legendborn (The Legendborn Cycle #1) by Tracy Deonn – 4⭐

So I was actually a little unsure of this one for about the first 30% or so, I felt like it dragged a little, all of the characters were frustrating me and I was struggling with reconciling why King Arthur would end up in the u.s.a, this is the same issue I had with Percy Jackson and Olympus. It just doesn’t track for me and I thought this was going the same way but as the story moved forward and I saw how things were shaping up with Bree, her magic and her ancestors, I was completely hooked.

“Two faults. My race and my gender. But they are not faults. They are strength. And I am more than this man can comprehend.”

Bree was your typical teenager when we meet her, a teenager living with overwhelming grief but still a teenager.

So annoying! 😀

I’m kind of kidding!

Honestly though I would hate to be a teenager again, that shit was HARD and I don’t imagine it would be much easier in this day and age. No thank you!

So she is just trying to survive her grief and survive being a 16 year old on a college campus. I think the reason I struggled with the beginning of the book is because I remember how difficult this time of life was and it gave me a lot of reading anxiety. Once we learn more about the Legendborn and the magic system the less stressed about how Bree was dealing with things I was. Then I got unreasonably annoyed with Selwyn. He was like a dog with a bone and it took him far too long to figure out that Bree wasn’t a bad guy.

The last 25% of this book was epic though, and we see Bree come into her own. I think this story does an excellent job at highlighting the atrocities inflicted on Black people in the u.s.a and how much of their history they lost when they lost their freedom. That’s made crystal clear to us and Bree when she sees a wall that traces the Legendborn back generations and generations, back to the time of King Arthur, while she knows she has no such history for her family.

I’ve not read much YA over the last few years, it just hasn’t appealed to me, but this was a great reintroduction to the genre, I’ll definitely be finishing and thankfully I had the foresight to hold off on starting the trilogy until all the books were released!

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy – 5⭐

Third non-fiction of the year — I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, this was all kinds of heartbreaking. Really worth listening to.