April was a good month for reading. Still stuck in quarantine as most of us are, the days blend into each other and become work, sew, eat, read, binge watch, waste time on phone… in some order or another. I try to read a little every day to keep my mind sharp, even if that reading is meant for children (for I am still making my way through the Baby-Sitters Club series).

I have already outlined Books 6-10 in The Baby-Sitters Club series, which were my first real reads for April. I’m still finding these books comforting and nostalgic, and I don’t remember nearly as much about them as I thought I did! You can click here to read my thoughts on these. Coming soon I will be doing my post about books 11-15, along with Super Special 1 as I have managed to read all of those in April as well (seriously, it takes me an hour at most to get through one of these books!).

My first non-BSC book was a Book of the Month Selection: The Guest List, by Lucy Foley. It takes place on a remote island in Ireland. A wedding is taking place, and something terrible has happened – someone has been murdered! The narrative jumps from the bride, the bridesmaid, the wedding planner, the plus one and the best man, who all have secrets to keep on this wedding weekend.

The setting is perfect for a murder mystery – an isolated island in a large manor that makes creepy sounds and brings up the feeling of ghosts and secrets. The power goes out, phones don’t work: everything is in isolation. Even with this, I had a lot of trouble getting into the book, though by the time the mystery really started getting going, I had to know what the ending would be. So while I wouldn’t say I couldn’t put this one down, I was interested enough in the outcome to keep going.

Then it was on to Perfect Little Children, by Sophie Hannah. I can’t remember how I stumbled across it, but I was immediately fascinated by the premise. A woman goes to the house of her former best friend, a woman she hasn’t seen in twelve years. She discovers that, while her friend has aged the appropriate amount, her two children have not. They seem stuck in time.

I was instantly enthralled by this book, even though the outcome seemed a bit implausible. It was clear from very early on what was going on, but it was still amazingly fun to get there. It was one of those books that I couldn’t put down from almost the very first page.

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I also managed to finish my rereads of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter of the Prisoner of Azkaban for this year. Like the BSC books, this one is all about the nostalgia factor. Sometimes it’s nice to just already know how the story is going to turn out, and revisiting characters is like visiting friends!

In May, I definitely want to continue with my nostalgia reading, but try to add in a few more age-appropriate books as well!