APRIL by the numbers:
Total books read: 12
Published in 2022: 6
Backlist titles: 5
Five star reads: 3
Debut novels: 3
Books that are part of a series: 5
Goodreads challenge: 49/120 (41%)
GR NetGalley challenge: 32/70 (46%)
GR Edelweiss challenge: 7/25 (28%)
My armchair travels took me to the Norfolk, England (The Marsh House); Melbourne, Australia (The Younger Wife); Coastal Maine, USA (Lacie’s Secrets); Glasgow, Scotland (In The Silence); Yorkshire, England (Mrs. England); Essex, England (Into The Dark); Exmoor, England (Ellie And The Harpmaker); Toronto, Canada (Watch Out For Her); Pennsylvania (Spring Girls); Wiltshire, England (Long Shadows); Upstate New York (A Dead Man’s Eyes); Derbyshire, England (In Cold Blood)
Not bad for one month.
In this past month I’ve read twelve titles.
I enjoyed every one of them, some more than others of course. (Just click on the graphics below to read my reviews)
AND WORTHY RUNNER(s)-UP:
My review of “The Younger Wife”
AND
my review of “Ellie and the Harpmaker”
I feel very lucky to have access to so many wonderful books and hope that you had a great reading month. I hope 2022 is being kind to all of you. ♥
I’ve added 
Although this is the author’s debut novel, the writing was very assured and polished. A former crime journalist, she was already a seasoned writer.
Icelandic crime-writer 
Detective Geena Brassard – is single, in her early thirties, and lives alone with her aging bulldog, Codis. She is very tall and has no female friends other than those on the police force. She has only been partnered with Parker Reed for a short time. Before that she was partnered with her friend and mentor Albert – who has recently retired from the force. Geena’s loyalty to Albert and his methods is sacrosanct.
The CASE: Young women are being bound, raped, and strangled in Northampton County. They are always killed in the spring and their bodies dumped in lakes and ponds. All of the women were college students, had long hair, and were assaulted while alone on the mountain trails.
Jeannie and Julius Seeder are twins who live in rural isolation deep in the heart of Oxfordshire. Their music is their solace. Julius does go out to work doing odd jobs and is the more robust of the twins. Jeannie suffered from rheumatic fever as a child and was kept out of school a lot. As a result she is almost illiterate and their tiny, rundown cottage is the only world she has ever known.
The twins, along with their mother were accomplished folk musicians. Dot, the mother, played banjo, while Julius accompanied her on his fiddle and Jeanie played guitar.
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from
icon and automatically the app will go to that place and a pin would be added to the map (or you can navigate the map and add manually the pin with the 
icon).
After adding the moment, click on the circle with the cover and you can see it like:
His boss, DCI Marsh seems to be testing him. The only person who views him with any kind of tolerance is Police Constable Marnie Olsen, a rookie. Craig is suspicious by nature, takes anti-anxiety meds, and uses his job to avoid introspection.
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Joffe Books via 
Derek Thompson grew up in London and started writing fiction in his teens. After spending a year in the US, he returned to London and subsequently moved to the West Country. He wrote a commissioned piece for The Guardian in 2008 and entered the world of freelance writing in 2009. His short fiction has featured in both British and American anthologies, and can be found online. He has also written comedy material for live performance and radio.
They say you can never have a second chance to make a good first impression. A book’s cover does just that – gives a first impression. A good cover can make a reader pick up a book. A bad cover can leave the book at the very bottom of a dusty pile.
The Throwback Thursday meme was created by Renee over at 
The Mermaids are now all around the age of forty.
The protagonist(s) were very interesting characters, and you got to know them well over the course of the book. I particularly liked Freddie Power and enjoyed the scenes where she took up her late mother’s pet hotel.
The cover is stunning and exactly fits the subject nature of the novel.
When the Goldman’s arrive at their rental house in Toronto, Sarah discovers several hidden cameras installed… In addition, she encounters a pushy neighbour, and a creepy ‘neighbourhood watch‘ man across the street. And to make matters worse, her son’s favourite toy rabbit was lost in the move – until it was found on the bed in her son’s new bedroom…
First I have to say… the title of this book is perfect! “Watch Out For Her” meaning ‘be careful, she is a threat’ AND “Watch Out For Her” meaning ‘take care of her’.
1) To be honest, the blurb had me at “funny old house”.
Ellie Jacobs – Before her marriage to Clive, Ellie was a librarian, but now she is a housewife. She has little in the way of self esteem due to a fraught relationship with her mother. With no children to care for, Ellie spends her days writing poetry and wandering Exmoor. It is on just such a jaunt that one day she wanders into the ‘Harp Barn’ and meets Dan Hollis, the harpmaker.
Ellie’s marriage is not unhappy as such – it is just… empty. When Dan Hollis gives Ellie a harp and her husband tells her to ‘take it back‘, she does, only to learn that Dan says it is HER harp, and that he will store it for her. She begins visiting Dan, and her harp, on a daily basis – then she begins taking harp lessons.
Told via the alternating perspectives of Ellie and Dan, the story was heart-warming, poignant, humorous, and up-lifting. I particularly appreciated the chapters written from Dan’s point of view as his was such a uniquely different, and pure perspective. The addition of ‘Phineas the Pheasant‘ added some levity and interest too.
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Berkley Publishing via 
Hazel Prior is a harpist and novelist based in Exmoor, England. Originally from Oxford, she fell in love with the harp as a student and now performs regularly. She’s had short stories published in literary magazines and has won numerous writing competitions in the UK. “Ellie and the Harpmaker” was her debut novel and “How the Penguins Saved Veronica” then “Call Of The Penguins” were her second and third respectively.
Last year I started going through the entire alphabet, one letter per month. For April 2022, the 16th month of my endeavor, I’m listing all of my favourite novels that begin with the letter ‘P‘. I am choosing these titles from the books I’ve read since I began this blog. There are 20 books recommended here.
