Reader Rayna

Welcome to another wrap up, but also, how are we already at the end of the month already!? Is it just more, or is this year flying for everyone else?

I didn’t end up reading much at all the first two weeks of the month because, once again, Pokemon Pokopia took up all of my life. I don’t know what they put in that game to make it so addicting, but my god it’s so fun. I have, however, taken a break from it since I actually finished the story, and now I can just basically sandbox it, so I don’t feel a compulsion to play every single second of the day.

Aside from that, Fan Fest for Final Fantasy XIV took place April 24th-25th, and the amount of hype for the next expansion is sooooo palpable, so the desire to just jump back into the game – especially since the new patch just came out the following week – was too hard not to do, so absolutely no reading happened at all the last week of April, either.

I’ve also been feeling a lot of guilt for not reading or finishing any books during that time. I know it’s silly, and I’m only just disappointing myself as there’s no actual test or quiz or anything else at the end of this month that I’ll have based on what I did or didn’t read, but I think I just really want to hit the goals I keep setting out for myself, you know? Not hitting them kind of has brought me down a bit, so I did my best in the second half of the month to just read what I could, whether it be physically or in audiobook format, and enjoy my time with the stories I had.

And let me tell you, I enjoyed them all so, so much!

What I Read

Click on a cover to go to its Goodreads page!

• Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas – This was a reread for me (my third time, actually), and I still enjoyed this one, though not as much as the previous time I had read it. I lowered my rating from 5 stars to 4.25 stars. I liked it more than Throne of Glass as it adds more to the world and the characters, but I think Celaena, as she is now, just grinds my gears a bit.
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – This audiobook was SO amazing and fun. The narrator did a fantastic job, and I agree with everyone when they say to listen to the audiobook: it’s definitely worth listening to! Check out my review here!
• The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas – This was also a reread for me, and I haven’t read this in over ten years, which is wild. I did lower my rating from 5 stars to 4 stars as there were a LOT of typos and grammatical errors, and Celaena at this age and time is so full of herself that she really grinded my gears a bit too much as there wasn’t as much character growth as I thought there was. Still enjoyable, though!

Book(s) I Started But Didn’t Finish

• The Eternal Ones by Namina Forna – I got about 45% of the way through the audiobook before the end of the month, and I plan on finishing it in May! I’m enjoying this one, and I think that each book has improved upon itself.
• Jade City by Fonda Lee – I was really starting to enjoy this one a lot, from the pacing to the story beats and the characters. I want to finish this in May, so hopefully I get to do so! I’m only on chapter 10, though, so I have a long way to go.

The Stats

What I Talked About

• March 2026 Wrap Up – All of the books I read, reviews, hauled, and talked about in March is all in one convenient post! Check out the post here!
• Top Ten Tuesday: Books About/Set in Places on My Bucket List – I want to travel the world, but these are just five of the places I’d like to see in my lifetime if possible. Check out the post here!
• r/Fantasy 2026 Bingo Prompts and Choices – This is my first year joining in this community challenge! Check out the post here!
• Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Describe Me/My Life – This was a challenging post this week, but I managed to find ten titles that I think best sums me up. Check out the post here!
• Top Ten Tuesday: April Showers – This was an open prompt themed around April showers, so rainy day books, books that made you cry, blue cover books, etc. I went with blue covers, because I needed a break after the challenging prompt from the week before lol Check out my post here!
• Five Series I’d Like to Read This Year – Though this list could be a mile long, I wanted to chat about five series I want to start this year, even if I don’t finish them this year, too. Check out the post here!
• Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Standalone Books I’d Like to Read By the End of the Year – The title says it all, really! Check out the post here!

Book Haul

Click a book cover to go to its Goodreads page!

• This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews – This book came out March 31st, and I had it preordered, but of course it didn’t get to me until after the release date. It’s okay, though. I’m super excited to get into it! I’m thinking I will in May.
• The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin – The way I’ve heard this described makes it sound like a whimsical modern fairy tale that’s both enchanting and heartbreaking, and I think that’s something I definitely want in my life. This is the FairyLoot edition I got off of PangoBooks!
• The Greenbone Saga by Fonda Lee – My wife already owns the books in the original paperback covers, but these new paperback covers were simply too gorgeous to resist. And since I was starting the trilogy this month, it just felt right to get them, you know?

• Japanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker – I’ve seen this making the rounds on some anticipated reads lists, and this is definitely one that sounds right up my alley: different dimensions, crossing those dimension, nothing being what it seems.
• Innamorata by Ava Reid – I have so many of her books but haven’t read any of them. yet. I gave this one a try in story and I liked the writing well enough that I want to give it a go.
• Steel Gods by Richard Swan – This is book two in the Great Silence trilogy. I’ve heard good things from those who have read this sequel, but as I haven’t read the first yet, I can’t say one way or another!
• Starside by Alex Aster – This one has also been making the rounds and I’ve been hearing positive things about it so far. I’m interested to see how I’ll like it and how the magic system works, since that seems to be the main draw for a lot of people.
• The Elsewhere Express by Samatha Soto Yambao – This book caught my eye when it first came out but I waited until now to get it, unsure if I really wanted it, but I’m excited to read it and see what it’s like.

• The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu – The premise of this one seemed so interesting and strange that I couldn’t resist getting it, to be honest. I hope that I like it!
• Ascendant by Michael R. Miller – I got this on my Kindle for the 2026 r/Fantasy Bingo, but I’ve heard really good things about this first installment to a new fantasy series.
• By Blood, By Salt by J.L. Odom – Another one I got on Kindle, this is a military fantasy that’s been getting really good reviews and one I’m using for my bingo board.
• Exhalation by Ted Chiang – Another I got for my Kindle, this one is a collection of short stories that I hear is really fantastic.
• Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence – An older female protagonist recounting her days in a brutal academy called The Academy of Kindness? Yeah, I need to know more.

• Between Two Fires by Christopher Buelman – This one got republished in hardcover, so I wanted to grab it while it was out!
• Black Holes: The Key to Understanding the Universe by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw – I’ve always been a space nerd, and I’ve seen several videos recently of Brian Cox, who’s a professor at the University of Manchester so he’s used to explaining things in a way in which students (and everyday people) can understand things, explain several astro-related things, and so when I spotted this book I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to pick it up.
• Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green – I’ve wanted to pick this up since it came out but never found it at my local store for some reason, but managed to snag it at another location instead. Just another book to add to my nonfiction reading goal that I want to hit, as well, which is nice, since I’m familiar with his writing style at least.
• A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine – I have the first book of this duology and I’ve never seen the sequel in the wild, so when I spotted it I needed to grab it lest I’d never see it again.
• Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson – Originally published in 1997, this book sounded like a political, ecological, and enviornmental story that’s right up my alley, so how could I not give it a shot?

• The Last Phi Hunter by Salinee Goldenberg – This is a Thai inspired fantasy whose cover caught my eye, and upon reading the synopsis I decided to give a shot.
• Way of the Walker by Salinee Goldenberg – The store also had the next book in the same world as the Phi Hunter, so I figured I’d grab them both because… why not?
• The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson – I saw both this and The Iliad at Barnes and Noble and immediately grabbed them as I’ve never seen them at my local store ever. Maybe I was just never in the right section, but my English major heart wasn’t going to stand not having these editions any longer.
• The Iliad by Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson – These covers are gorgeous, by the way. I love how they’re designed, and the texture is really nice. They also have deckled edges, which I don’t mind. It adds to the “ancient feel” of them.
• The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan – I had hesitated on getting this book before, even though it was on my most anticipated reads for the first half of the year list, but I finally grabbed it and hope to read it at some point this year. It definitely gives me fall/winter vibes, so I’m going to aim to read it around one of those seasons.