march wrap-up!

The funniest part about my reading in March is that I’d go a week reading hardly anything, and then I just…read a book in one day. I’m confused too.

books

The Noh Family by Grace K. Shim | Talk about a K-drama! If you can think of a K-drama trope, it’s probably in here. It might not be here in the way you think, though! This story follows a girl named Chloe who gets whisked off to South Korea to meet her rich, estranged family after a DNA test. Except…the Noh family is not as perfect as they first seem. I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit! It’s predictable in some cases, and Chloe is aggravatingly naive at times, but it truly felt like I was watching a K-drama. Overall, I’m giving this 3.5/5 stars as of now.

MeruPeri Vol. 1 by Matsuri Hino | My first manga read of 2022! And I’m slightly terrified! Basically, I picked this up because it was one of three Shojo mangas on the library shelf that said Vol.1 (I have high standards obviously). Also, I didn’t realize until maybe halfway through that this is by the mangaka of Vampire Knight? So you’d think that I love this! But no! This follows a girl who gets swept up in this fantasy-esque plot when visitors from another world arrive through her locket that she didn’t know was magical. Except that the guy who comes through her locket is a literal child. He turns into a teenager when there’s darkness because he’s cursed but still. THE FACT THAT THE LOVE INTEREST IS TECHNICALLY A CHILD MAKES ME SO UNCOMFORTABLE. I’m not sure if I’ll do a mini-review for this one (let me know if you’re curious) but I’m certainly not continuing on with the series. No rating here.

The Bronzed Beasts by Roshani Chokshi | I finally read the conclusion to one of my favorite trilogies! This series follows a group of misfits who do heists for magical artifacts in a sort of alternate universe. I adore each and every character in this book but I felt a little let down by this conclusion. The story felt a little repetitive, and some of the magic felt lost just like the characters. I also have slightly mixed feelings on the ending. But honestly? I enjoyed this one overall! I haven’t laughed out loud and cried reading the same book in a while. 4/5 stars.

Once Upon A K-Prom by Kat Cho | I unfortunately haven’t read the author’s fantasy debut Wicked Fox yet, but I jumped at the chance to read her contemporary and it was pretty good! This follows a girl who doesn’t want to go to prom, partially because she made a promise to her childhood friend that she’d go with him when they were both younger. But when he comes back to town, she’s suddenly faced with a choice. Because guess what? He’s not just her old childhood friend, he’s a Kpop star now! This reminded me of XOXO by Axie Oh (which I adored) but in America. And already with the friends-to-lovers trope. This one is 4.25/5 stars!

As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson | Next, I finished off another favorite trilogy of mine through audiobook! This was…incredibly rough to get through. I very much admire Jackson’s ability to create a trilogy that comes full-circle and has amazing depth (especially in the mystery-thriller genre) but this truly went to a darker place than I ever expected it to go. As in, I had to switch off the audiobook at some points and rewatch Schitt’s Creek. And I listen to true crime. So this was definitely something. I’m still torn on the rating but I think it’ll be a 4/5 star rating.

Hide by Kiersten White | Kiersten White’s adult debut is an interesting mix of horror and thriller. It’s basically a competition in an abandoned amusement park turned deadly. Personally, I thought that this read was just okay. It wasn’t scary enough to be straight up horror, but also not twisty enough to be a thriller? So that was strange. I definitely had favorite characters that didn’t make it so that broke my heart a little bit.

That’s it! I did a LOT of traveling in March, to both Tennessee and Mexico, so I was only able to fit in a bit of blog-hopping and unfortunately wasn’t able to mark down my favorite posts. So I’m super sorry guys but I don’t have a favorite posts section this month. On the bright side, I did actually read this month so this post isn’t just white space? Tell me your highlights of March, reading or not!

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