April 2025 Reading List

I've got 7 books planned for April, but first I'll be finishing up Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson, and Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh, both of which I'll be done within the next couple of days. 

Reading with my book club-

 

Orconomics (The Dark Profit Saga #1) by J. Zachary Pike

 

Professional heroes kill and loot deadly monsters every day, but Gorm Ingerson's latest quest will be anything but business as usual.

Making a Killing in Professional Heroics

The adventuring industry drives the economy of Arth, a world much like our own but with more magic and fewer vowels. Monsters’ hoards are claimed, bought by corporate interests, and sold off to plunder funds long before the beasts are slain. Once the contracts and paperwork are settled, the Heroes’ Guild issues a quest to kill the monster and bring back its treasure for disbursement to shareholders.


Life in The Shadows

Of course, while professional heroics has been a great boon for Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and all the other peoples of light, it's a terrible arrangement for the Shadowkin. Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, and their ilk must apply for to become Noncombatant Paper Carriers (or NPCs) to avoid being killed and looted by guild heroes. Even after getting their papers, NPCs are treated as second class citizens, driven into the margins of society.


An Insane Quest

Gorm Ingerson, a Dwarven ex-hero with a checkered past, has no idea what he's getting himself into when he stands up for an undocumented Goblin. His act of kindness starts a series of events that ends with Gorm recruited by a prophet of the mad goddess Al'Matra to fulfill a prophecy so crazy that even the Al'Matran temple doesn't believe it.


Money, Magic, and Mayhem

But there’s more to Gorm’s new job than an insane prophecy: powerful corporations and governments, usually indifferent to the affairs of the derelict Al’Matran temple, have shown an unusual interest in the quest. If his party of eccentric misfits can stop fighting each other long enough to recover the Elven Marbles, Gorm might be able to turn a bad deal into a golden opportunity and win back the fame and fortune he lost so long ago.

 

 

 

 

 

Reading at Fantasy Buddy Reads-

I had planned to start this one at the end of March but didn't get to it so it's now on my April list. That means I'll be pushing book three in this series to the beginning of May.

 

The Poisoner's Ring (A Rip Through Time #2) by Kelley Arnstrong

 

Edinburgh, 1869: Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is adjusting to her new life in Victorian Scotland. Her employers know she’s not housemaid Catriona Mitchell―even though Mallory is in Catriona’s body―and Mallory is now officially an undertaker’s assistant. Dr. Duncan Gray moonlights as a medical examiner, and their latest case hits close to home. Men are dropping dead from a powerful poison, and all signs point to the grieving widows… the latest of which is Gray’s oldest sister.

Poison is said to be a woman’s weapon, though Mallory has to wonder if it’s as simple as that. But she must tread carefully. Every move the household makes is being watched, and who knows where the investigation will lead.

 

 

 

We're resuming our read of this series in April and will read the last three books over the next three months.

  

The Knights of Erador (The Echoes Saga #7) by Philip C. Quaintrell

 

“HERE IS TODAY’S LESSON; HEROES DIE…”

It’s fifteen years since the Orcs were defeated. Fifteen years since a new king rose from the battlefield. Fifteen years since Illian knew the horror of war.

Fifteen years of peace are about to end.

Something is coming. Shadows gather. Whispers of rebellion have reached the king. Darkness stirs beyond Illian’s borders.

Beyond the mountains, Dhenaheim has lost a quiet war. Refugees pour into Illian, bringing suspicion and unrest. For Doran Heavybelly, Dhenaheim's war means facing a personal tragedy that demands his attention... and his axe.

A simple job for too much coin should have been warning enough for Asher but, like Fate, trouble always has a way of finding him.

Conspiracy. Rebellion. Betrayal. Time to find out who the real heroes are.

THE KNIGHTS OF ERADOR CONTINUES THIS UNMISSABLE EPIC FANTASY SERIES.

 

 

 

 I'm reading this one at Fantasy Buddy Reads and for NetGalley

 

A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett

 

The brilliant detective Ana Dolabra may have finally met her match in the gripping sequel to The Tainted Cup—from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy.

In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, an impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and windows remained locked from the inside, in a building whose entrances and exits are all under constant guard.

To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial investigator, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.

Before long, Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance, but a murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Worse still, the killer seems to be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here, the Empire's greatest minds dissect fallen Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the destruction would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.

Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.

 

 

 

 

 

Reading with the Mystery Book Club-

 

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret (Ernest Cunningham #3) by Benjamin Stevenson

 

Benjamin Stevenson returns with a Christmas addition to his bestselling, Ernest Cunningham mysteries. Unwrap all the Christmas staples: presents, family, an impossible murder or two, and a deadly advent calendar of clues. If Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club kissed under the mistletoe.

My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.

So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.

THE MAGICIAN

THE ASSISTANT

THE EXECUTIVE

THE HYPNOTIST

THE IDENTICAL TWIN

THE COUNSELLOR

THE TECH

My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there. A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens. And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it’s Christmas.

If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it.

After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?

 

 

  

Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard

 

PLAY

Andrew, the manager of Shanamore Holiday Cottages, watches his only guest via a hidden camera in her room. One night the unthinkable happens: a shadowy figure emerges on-screen, kills her, and destroys the camera. But who is the murderer? How did they know about the camera? And how will Andrew live with himself?

PAUSE

Natalie wishes she'd stayed at home as soon as she arrives in the wintry isolation of Shanamore. There's something creepy about the manager. She wants to leave, but she can't-not until she's found what she's looking for ...

REWIND

Psycho meets Fatal Attraction in this explosive story about a murder caught on camera. You've already missed the start. To get the full picture you must rewind the tape and play it through to the end, no matter how shocking ...

 

 

 

 

 

Pick It For Me book-

 

The View From Coral Cove by Amy Clipston

 

When a jilted romance novelist escapes to a small beach town, the last thing she expected to find was the start of an even better love story.

In the wake of a broken engagement and the death of her last surviving family member, sweet romance novelist Maya Reynolds moves to the haven of Coral Cove, North Carolina, to take over her great-aunt's toy store. Some of her grief is immediately eased by imaginative eight-year-old Ashlyn Tanner, who talks her into adopting a kitten and inspires Maya to create a princess tea-party room in the store.

Ashlyn's dad, local veterinarian Brody Tanner, is quickly smitten by the newest resident of his hometown. As a single parent, he sacrifices a lot in order to give Ashlyn the world, so a romantic entanglement with Maya is not a distraction he is looking for.

As the three develop a deepening bond in the seaside town where Maya experienced some of her happiest childhood memories, clouds cast a shadow over Maya's hope for the an impossible deadline looms over her next novel, a long-held secret by her late mother about Maya's absent father comes to light, and Brody's resolve to avoid romance seems unbreakable.

But together, they just might discover that sometimes happy endings happen outside the pages of Maya's novels too.

 

 

 

 

 

On Hold for now-

 

Conspirator (Foreigner #10) by C.j. Cherryh

I think I'll be dropping out of this buddy read, although there's a small chance I could change my mind. For the most part I've enjoyed this series, but after 9 books I feel like I need to take a break from it. It's over 20 books long, and I honestly don't feel like it needs to be. The author clearly loves writing this series and it's obvious she plans to write it until, well, she can't any more. While there are a few series that I would be happy to go on indefinitely, this one isn't one of them. The books have been hitting between 3 and 4 stars for me, with the last three books being 3, 3, and 3.5 stars. The good news is that there are mini trilogies within this long series, so the plot wraps up after every three books and that makes for several good places to stop. So I've read books 1-9, 3 trilogies, and I'm good with stopping here. At least for now. I think I will probably come back to this when I feel in the mood to read it again, but for now I'm a little burned out and need a break.