I read five books this month. One was a re-read, while four I read for the first time. Two were for Kid Lit Exchange, while three I chose on my own.

Also, all five books I read this month were YA, which is really unusual for me.

For some reason I feel like I read this book a million years ago even though it was the first of this month. Nevertheless, I loved it, I wished I had read it before I sent my final manuscript to the publisher, and more than anything, it proves, in its own way, that none of these tropes are bad so long as you do them well.

This was my first of two Kid Lit books this month. This one was mailed to me directly from the author. For starters, this is the nicest-looking self-published book I've ever seen in my life. It actually took me awhile to realize it was self-published.

I gave this a positive review on Instagram and Goodreads, but that's because I'm not allowed to give negative reviews. In reality, it was just okay. An easy read, but not a lot of substance. Your typical sexy white heroines with stupid names and a love triangle.

This book. What can I possibly say. It is a masterpiece. It stirs and breaks and fills me. If you don't agree....you're entitled to your opinion. Even if your opinion is stupid. But there's a reason this is in my top four books.

I didn't even plan on rereading this. It just happened. And oh it was worth it. It makes me long for the victory over our earth's evil, and long to somehow put it onto paper as well.

This was the sequel to the first Kid Kit book. It was also double the size of its predecessor. Lovely. Turns out, it really wasn't bad. The worldbuilding was fleshed out more and I enjoyed that, even if we had to wade through the never-ceasing boy angst to get there. But mostly, this series reminded me why I never request YA books for review. (I didn't request these. They were just sent to me.)

But then....the YA tides turned. Y'all. I LOVED THIS BOOK.

I picked it up literally just because the author and I share a name. But I felt like it was written for me. I cannot remember the last time I physically could not tear myself away from a book. This was certainly the first book of 2019 to do that to me. I love reading about lives on the road. It had the perfect, PERFECT, level of total creepiness without being terrifying. And FINCH. So aggravating, so real. And he deserves the world.

I also loved the mother-daughter relationship, the theme of adoption, and the fact that Finch and Alice became best friends without it turning romantic. In YA. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

But...and I hesitate to even say this...but on the other hand, it also reminded me I'm not careful enough about what I read. This book wasn't terrifying, but it was scary enough to give me reservations about reading it at night. Books don't scare me. That just doesn't happen. But this one did. It was scary and it was sad and largely put me in a bad headspace. There was nothing good in this world. The characters had a choice between pure evil and run for your hecking life. The ending made it worth it, but I did feel a little out of sorts the whole time I read it.

And there's March for you. I hope to have more to report in April.