Weekly Mews: March Musicals & April Showers (Please Vote in my April TBR Poll!)

I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted by Kim of Caffeinated Book Reviewer and The Sunday Salon (TSS) hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz  where participants recap our week, talk about what we are reading, share any new books that have come our way, and whatever else we want to talk about. I am also linking It's Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date where readers talk about what they have been, are and will be reading.

I am linking up Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality a meme in which participants share what new books came their way recently.  

How has this first week in April been treating you? It seemed like we just about went through all the seasons here, weather wise. March seemed to go by fast. My husband and I took a week off work to enjoy spring break with my daughter. We were none too happy to have to report back to work and school last Monday. Friday was the only day this past week I was able to get out of the office on time--I practically ran, I was that ready. It actually wasn't a bad work week though. It was a fairly quiet one, actually, which was nice.

I was able to get a day off work to see Mouse and her school band perform at a local band festival one day last month. I hitched a ride with my mom who went as well. They did a marvelous job. We even got to sit in on their sight reading session. Mouse hadn't known I was coming and so was happily surprised. We also went to see the musical Chicago at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood one night. I love the music and songs from the show, and so really enjoyed seeing it performed live on stage again. The last time I had a chance to see it live was nineteen years ago. The following weekend we went to see one of my daughter's friends perform in a musical performance called Over the Rainbow, a re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz.

March was such a good reading month! I was super excited when my husband surprised me by getting me a copy of Spy x Family, Vol. 11. It is such a fun manga series. I am all caught up with Jennifer Ashley's Below the Stairs historical mysteries series and Elle Cosimano's Finlay Donovan series, both of which are two of my favorites. And I never tire of spending time with Josie in The Witch Way Librarian cozy mystery series. I tried my first graphic audiobook, re-visiting Clean Sweep, which was just as good as I remembered it being the first time. The added music and sound effects made the experience even more entertaining. The Book of Doors was what I hoped it would be and more. 

Books Read in March

• Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1) by Ilona Andrews (audio) (re-read)
• Gone with the Witch (The Witch Way Librarian #6) by Angela M. Sanders
• The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
• Spy x Family, Vol. 11 by Tatsuya Endo
• A Soupçon of Poison (Below the Stairs #0.5) by Jennifer Ashley (novella)
• The Price of Lemon Cake (Below Stairs #6.5) by Jennifer Ashley (novella)
• Mrs. Holloway's Christmas Pudding (Below Stairs #6.7) by Jennifer Ashley (novella)
• Speculations in Sin (Below Stairs #7) by Jennifer Ashley
• Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank (Finlay Donovan 3.5) by Elle Cosimano (novella)
• Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice (Finlay Donovan #4) by Elle Cosimano

It was hard picking a least favorite and a favorite for this month because there wasn't a book in the bunch I did not like and several I absolutely loved. So while I enjoyed Gone with the Witch by Angela M. Sanders and can highly recommend the series, there were other books I liked more this month. If I had to pick, Speculations in Sin was my favorite book read in March. I never tire of spending time with Kate Holloway and Daniel McAdams. 

What was your favorite book read in March? Did you have a good reading month?

Earlier this week, I finished two books: Shannon Reed's  Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out and Dune (#1) by Frank Herbert. I highlighted quite a few passages in Why We Read that resonated with me. I always find it interesting to read about someone else's perspective on reading. I have yet to see the second movie of the newer Dune movies, but on a whim while looking through my audiobooks, I decided to give Dune a try. I quite enjoyed it! 

I currently am reading Cold Curses (Heirs of Chicagoland #5) by Chloe Neill, the final book in the series. The mix of high action, the supernatural, and romance is just what I was in the mood for. I am also continuing with my reading of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, which I am taking slowly, but enjoying. 

What are you reading right now?

My TBR List is hosted by Michelle at Because Reading. The 1st Saturday of every month, I will list 3 books from my TBR pile I am considering reading and let you vote for my next read during that month. My review will follow (unfortunately, not likely in the same month, but eventually--that's all I can promise). 

For this month's TBR List Poll, I selected three books from my TBR shelves that I purchased this year from my favorite local independent bookstore that I have been itching to read. Please help me decide which one I should read next! 

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, or life force, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking . . .

Manchuria, 1908.

A young woman is found frozen in the snow. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes involved, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and men. Bao, a detective with a reputation for sniffing out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman’s identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they’ve remained tantalizingly out of reach. Until, perhaps, now.

Meanwhile, a family that owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments, but not the curse that afflicts them―their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. Now the only grandson of the family is twenty-three. When a mysterious woman enters their household, their luck seems to change. Or does it? Is their new servant a simple young woman from the north or a fox spirit bent on her own revenge?

New York Times bestselling author Yangsze Choo brilliantly explores a world of mortals and spirits, humans and beasts, and their dazzling intersection. The Fox Wife is a stunning novel about a winter full of mysterious deaths, a mother seeking revenge, and old folktales that may very well be true. [Goodreads Summary]

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again...

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf. [Goodreads Summary]

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope, tracing a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible. [Goodreads Summary]

Thank you for voting!

New to my shelves:

Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by LeUyen Pham 

Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells

Legendborn (#1) by Tracy Deonn

Bloodmarked (Legendborn #2) by Tracy Deonn

The Persephone Code by Julia Golding

Cold Curses (Heirs of Chicagoland #5) by Chloe Neill

The Monstrous Misses Mai by Van Hoang

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? 

I hope you have a great week! Let me know what you have been reading!

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