Whoa. April is almost over. The year is 2021, the coronavirus is still outwitting governments, and AI has juuust about taken over people’s abilities to think independently. What’s a girl to do?
Well, you do what you’ve been doing ever since you were 13 and realized the world was going to do its thing regardless of what you thought or did. You read, naturally. But these days, you pluck out your nearsighted contacts and stick a Kindle inches from your face.
After the very excellent The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah, I went to A Book Like Foo‘s intelligent algorithm for recommendations. And out popped out As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner.
I try to know as little as possible before reading a book. So I judge a cover and book blurb as quickly as possible to ensure that I don’t overthink whether or not this is something I will enjoy.
What I did know was that ABAH was set in Philadelphia during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. Perfect. It was fascinating to discover how much current times echo what happened during WWI. What I didn’t expect was the family of girls to relocate to their uncle’s undertaker business — and I might have shrieked with delight and jumped up and down when read this.
I was too old when this originally came out, having missed out on the Sisterhood craze including the film. But when I was tearing through the internet in an attempt to find a book for my 16 year old student, Sisterhood came highly recommended.
It was way less heavy than The Perks of Being a Wallflower (our previous book) and even though the story line bounced between the four girlfriends, it was easier for her to understand. Definitely would recommend it for YA as it deals with big themes with all the symbolism and motifs you’d expect in older classic novels.
Looking for something different, I read this cute romantic sci-fi by Melissa Landers about an orphan trying to leave her past behind on Earth for an uncertain, but new future somewhere past the colonized planets. It’s considered a fast-paced book and based on my StoryGraph those are not my jams, but I really did like this, and fell in love with the characters.
Starflight is part of a duology so I picked up Starfall right afterwards, but couldn’t get into it so I’ve put it aside for now. But if you’re interested in a quirky, light, and funny adventure, this one’s great.
Once I find a new author, sometimes I feel like devouring everything by them so I picked up another Susan Meissner book. This one was set during WWII. And it’s interesting how I’ve read so many historical fictions about this time but never specifically about the London Blitz. And despite what I though might happen, this had enough twists and turns to keep my attention.
How was your April? What did you read?
Life, the Universe, and Lani 
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