March Wrap Up: 37 Books Read

About: My March Wrap Up unpacks my best reading month yet, and extracts a quote from each of the 37 books I read.

Overview

Outline

March Reflection and Into April

I don’t know why I find monthly wrap-ups so hard to keep up with since it really is just documenting the books I read and my progress in my reading challenges and goals. It seems keeping on top of these wrap-ups will be an ongoing goal of mine throughout 2023.

Looking back on March, it was a very stressful month. And, while that typically yields a spike in the number of books I read – 37 books is a lot, even for me – I was really happy that the quality / my enjoyment of the books I read was also high. My average rating in March was 4.16 stars, which is the highest so far this year! I was able to read quite a few anticipated library holds (e.g., the Broke and Beautiful series by Tessa Bailey) and finally got around to anticipated books on my backlist (e.g., Babel by R.F. Kuang).

Going into April, I’m hoping to start prioritizing my reading challenges.

Reading Challenges and Goals Update

To be honest, this section is more for my records since I’ve decided – as of March – I no longer want to be doubling books up on challenge prompts or reading goals. For instance, I want to read two nonfiction books outside of the ones that might fulfil the Buzzword Reading Challenge prompt for the month.

I go over each of my goals and discuss the books I read to fulfil the prompt or whether I didn’t complete it and why.

Monthly Goal #1: Read two books longer than 500 pages

I read four books over 500 pages in March! One was a re-read, the fanfiction Draco Malofy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love by ThisIsSelfCare. I also finally read the highly anticipated Babel by R.F. Kuang. Finally, I caught up in Vela Roth’s fantasy romance series, Blood Grace, by reading Blood Union Part One and Part Two. The next book in the 10-book series comes out in June!

Monthly Goal #2: Read two nonfiction books

While I didn’t read two nonfiction books in March, I’m happy I read at least one. To be honest, this challenge/goal is the most difficult since I read nonfiction books so slowly.

To my complete lack of surprise, You’re the Only One I’ve Told: the Stories Behind Abortion by Dr. Meera Shah was a 5-star read! I loved how the author wove facts about reproductive justice and medical care in the USA with anecdotes from her patients.

Series Finished/Caught Up

I finished…

1. Gates of Myth and Power by K.M. Shea
2. Dirty Martini Running Club by Claire Kingsley
3. Wrecked by Catherine Cowles
4. Broke and Beautiful by Tessa Bailey (I have no intentions of reading the 2nd book in the series)

I caught up to…

1. Blood Grace by Vela Roth
2. A Court of Gilt and Shadows by Stacy Jones and Harper Wylde
3. The Olympus Pride by Suzanne Wright
4. Fae Revealed by Katie May
5. Starlight Cove by Brighton Walsh

Reading Challenges

Books I Read This Month

Did Not Finish

Key: 🔁 re-read | 🤓 reviewed on this blog | 📜 from Up Next Shelf | 🥳 from 2023 Backlist

The Most Eligible Lord in London (The Lords of London, #1) by Ella Quinn
DNF @ 8% (on March 8)
This book did not feel like the first in the series, and the start of the book felt like it was actually the middle of the story. There was also too much internal monologue. ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Unstoppable (Pretty Liars, #1) by K.A. Knight
DNF @ 12% (on March 11)
Too much insta-lust and no character development (or even character establishment). ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

The Frost Touched Queen (The Winter Queen Duet, #1) by Ivy Fox
DNF @ 57% (on March 29)
Also, the completely illogical decision of the Heroes to wait until the evil king is dead to avenge their families’ murder. And their revenge is stealing the crown from their childhood love (the Heroine), whose crime is ignorance of her father’s villainy … when they literally could’ve just *asked* her to abolish the gross military draft laws. ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

1-star Reads

Key: 🔁 re-read | 🤓 reviewed on this blog | 📜 from Up Next Shelf | 🥳 from 2023 Backlist

Brutal Prince (Brutal Birthright, #1) by Sophie Lark
1.5-stars (Read on March 28)
This book was my least favourite read in March. Read my full review here.

2-star Reads

Key: 🔁 re-read | 🤓 reviewed on this blog | 📜 from Up Next Shelf | 🥳 from 2023 Backlist

Traitor Wolf (Howling Death MC, #1) by Sophie Ash
2-stars (Read on March 7)
❝Keeping her will start a war. Good thing this wolf loves a brawl.❞

3-star Reads

Key: 🔁 re-read | 🤓 reviewed on this blog | 📜 from Up Next Shelf | 🥳 from 2023 Backlist

Chase Me (Broke and Beautiful, #1) by Tessa Bailey
3.5-stars (Read on March 4)
❝You’ve been keeping me awake at night since we met, and until now, I honestly didn’t know if you felt anything for me. So, yeah. If you’re mad at me for not calling? Good.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Make Me (Broke and Beautiful, #3) by Tessa Bailey
3.75-stars (Read on March 4)
❝His heart . . . he wished it would just give in and stop working. Why wouldn’t it just stop working? Tick . . . tick . . . tick. Every beat was pointless. Every fucking thing was pointless without her.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Flirting with Forever (Dirty Martini Running Club, #4) by Claire Kingsley
3.75-stars (Read on March 18)
❝Once upon a time, I’d thought I’d be forever single. I hadn’t counted on the gruff, tattooed man next door breaking all my rules.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock, #1) by Sherry Thomas
3-stars (Read on March 19)
❝Remind yourself that you’re far more likely to undercharge than overcharge, my dear, because you don’t yet understand your own value and you’ve never been taught to demand your full worth.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

The Duke’s Shotgun Wedding (Scandalous House of Calydon, #1) by Stacy Reid
3.5-stars (Read on March 19) 🔁
❝You make me burn with life, and yearn to set aside my cold and distant, solitary ways.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Sins of a Duke (Scandalous House of Calydon, #3) by Stacy Reid
3.75-stars (Read on March 19) 🔁
❝I cannot exist without your forgiveness. To know I have caused you such pain torments me.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (Dangerous Damsels, #1) by India Holton
3.25-stars (Read from March 25 to March 26)
❝It is violence that best overcomes hate, vengeance that most certainly heals injury, and a good cup of tea that soothes the most anguished soul”; thus ran the motto of the Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Harlow (Dressed to Kill, #1) by Katie May and R.A. Smyth
3-stars (Read from March 27 to March 28)
❝Kingsley is my sunlight on a winter’s day. Easton has the power to make me smile. Bennett is the other half of my dark and twisted soul. And Gabe is my calm in the chaos.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

4-star Reads

Key: 🔁 re-read | 🤓 reviewed on this blog | 📜 from Up Next Shelf | 🥳 from 2023 Backlist

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care (Bright Falls, #1) by Ashley Herring Blake
4-stars (Read from March 3 to March 4)
❝My whole life, this is what I’ve wanted. A best friend. Someone who gets me, who accepts me. Someone who fights like hell to get me to see that they love me. Someone who lets me love them back. Someone who’s so goddamn beautiful, she makes my toes curl. Someone who calls me on my bullshit. Someone who makes me laugh. Someone who makes me look at her like this and looks at me the same way. Someone who . . . who’s my home.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Courting Darkness (Fae Revealed, #1) by Katie May and Quinn Arthurs
4.5-stars (Read on March 7)
❝One, don’t start a fight, but if you have to fight, make sure you finish it. Two, if you have to fight, make sure they bleed. Three, if you really have to kill someone, do it in private so it’s easier to hide the body.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Seducing Shadows (Fae Revealed, #2) by Katie May and Quinn Arthurs
4.5-stars (Read on March 7)
❝Be polite until they don’t deserve it and always speak clearly when you threaten someone.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Loving Demons (Fae Revealed, #3) by Katie May and Quinn Arthurs
4.5-stars (Read on March 7)
❝I’m nobody’s. If anything, you guys are mine.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Assembly by Natasha Brown
4.5-stars (Read from March 5 to March 7) 🥳
❝Be the best. Work harder, work smarter. Exceed every expectation. But also, be invisible, imperceptible. Don’t make anyone uncomfortable. Don’t inconvenience. Exist in the negative only, the space around. Do not insert yourself into the main narrative. Go unnoticed. Become the air. Open your eyes.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Beneath the Wreckage (Wrecked, #5) by Catherine Cowles
4.25-stars (Read on March 12)
❝It was a special kind of torture to want something so badly it physically hurt. And to be terrified of it at the same time.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Shadows and Curses (Weeping Hollow, #1) by Willow Hadley
4.25-stars (Read on March 13)
❝Harriet’s beautiful and interesting, and I’m pretty sure I’d like her regardless of any magical influence.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Babel by R.F. Kuang
4.5-stars (Read from March 14 to March 17) 🥳
❝English did not just borrow words from other languages; it was stuffed to the brim with foreign influences, a Frankenstein vernacular. And Robin found it incredible, how this country, whose citizens prided themselves so much on being better than the rest of the world, could not make it through an afternoon tea without borrowed goods.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Blood Union: Part 1 (Blood Grace, #5) by Vera Roth
4.25-stars (Read on March 22)
❝My uncle broke any army with his mind. My father walked the path of war for centuries. When one of our bloodline is in danger, I will not stand down. And by the Goddess, when someone threatens my Grace, I will remind them that Hesperines have fangs.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Blood Union: Part 2 (Blood Grace, #6) by Vera Roth
4.5-stars (Read from March 22 to March 23)
❝I am a heretic. I don’t bow to expectations. I don’t obey. I might have been born for the throne, but Hespera and I have remade e for a much greater purpose.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

The King’s Queen (Gates of Myth and Power, #3) by K.M. Shea
4-stars (Read on March 24)
❝You’re not my Amalourne, you’re something even more rare and necessary for me. You’re my bravery, the steel in my spine, my reason to pick up a weapon that scares the tar out of me and fight anyway. You’re my trust, and my safety. Is there an elvish word for that?❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Amidst Secrets and Shadows (A Court of Gilt and Shadow, #3) by Stacy Jones and Harper Wylde
4.25-stars (Read on March 24)
❝I love you, Arawyn. More than the sun, more than air, more than fucking cookies. I love you. In this life and all the others. I’m yours.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

My Darling Duke (Sinful Wallflowers, #1) by Stacy Reid
4.5-stars (Read on March 27) 🔁
❝There is something wonderful between us, and it sparks to life from a mere glance and transcends into something so profound at times that I am breathless, unable to believe such a feelings for this person could be real. I am certain, so certain that the duke feels it, too! The wretched, odious man!❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Luna Witch (Cricket Kendall, #4) by Willow Hadley
4.5-stars (Read on March 29) 🔁
❝I’ll have to make sure I tell her later how much I love her, and how proud I am of her. She’s so fucking brave and strong all the time, and I don’t think she realizes it.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Of Rain and Wrath (The Death Whisperer, #1) by Katie May
4-stars (Read on March 30) 🔁
❝A man who has loved a thousand times is dangerous because he can break your heart. But a man who has never loved at all will destroy entire worlds when he finally does manage to fall.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Protective Heart (Starlight Cove, #2) by Brighton Walsh
4-stars (Read on March 31)
❝I’d never wanted anyone as much as I wanted her, never ached for someone like I did for her. She was my sunshine, and I was caught in her orbit. There was never any possibility this would end any other way.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Defiant Heart Heart (Starlight Cove, #1) by Brighton Walsh
4-stars (Read on March 31)
❝If anyone thinks you’re too much, they can fuck off and find something less.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

5-star Reads

Key: 🔁 re-read | 🤓 reviewed on this blog | 📜 from Up Next Shelf | 🥳 from 2023 Backlist

Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Falling in Love by IsThisSelfCare
5-stars (Read from March 2 to March 3) 🔁
❝He loved her. It was in every embrace, in flights under stars, in the crossing of swords, in secret ballroom dances, in the giving of things, in the life-savings, in the passing of handkerchiefs, the accidental touchings, the arguing about hyphenated surnames, the drunken picnics, the shared cups of tea. He loved her. She made him understand the word.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

When He’s Torn (Olympus Pride, #5) by Suzanne Wright
5-stars (Read on March 10)
❝We’re not just bed-buddies, Bailey. It started out that way, but things shifted at some point. We might not do couple stuff like go on dates or whatever, but what’s between us ain’t simple. Not anymore.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Heartstopper: Volume 2 by Alice Oseman
5-stars (Read from March 10) 🥳
❝I like Charlie Spring! In a romantic way, not just a friend way!❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Forever Your Rogue by Erin Langston
5-stars (Read from March 10 to March 11)
❝Nate was shifting; no longer did he feel his ragged edges. He merely felt a bit…unfinished. And for once, it didn’t feel like a flaw. Rather, it seemed as though it was supposed to be this way. That all this time, he’d been waiting for her to finish him.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

When the Earl Met His Match (Wedded by Scandal, #4) by Stacy Reid
5-stars (Read from March 11 to March 12) 🔁
❝I feel as if I am fated to love you, Hugh Winthrop, for I’ve never dreamed I could feel such a yearning for another soul.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

A Matter of Temptation by Stacy Reid
5-stars (Read from March 19 to March 20) 🔁
❝Before I met Miss Crawford, love was simply a word. Now I understand what the word conveys… Trust. Loyalty. Courage in the face of hardship. Laughter. Admiration. Passion. I do not take the word lightly and never will. I love Miss Crawford, and she will be the only woman I’ll ever love.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
5-stars (Read on March 20)
❝People always say that your wedding day is the happiest day of your life, but honestly, people should try solving murders more often.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion by Dr. Meera Shah
5-stars (Read from March 27 to March 30)
This book was my favourite read in March! Read my full review here.

Find Me (WITSEC, #1) by Ashley N. Rostek
5-stars (Read on March 31) 🔁
❝I didn’t know if it was his question or the hug, but the loneliness that weighed heavily on my heart seemed to lessen.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

Save Me (WITSEC, #2) by Ashley N. Rostek
5-stars (Read on March 31) 🔁
❝If that fucker ever shows up, we run together or we fight together, but more importantly, we protect each other together.❞ ❃ Add on Goodreads or The StoryGraph ❃

March Stats

Favourite and Least Favourite Reads

Most Favourite: You’re the Only One I’ve Told: The Stories Behind Abortion by Dr. Meera Shah. See why here.

Least Favourite: Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark. See why here.

Quick Facts

• Most books (20) were from Kindle Unlimited.
• Most books (17) were 4-star reads.
• Most books (10) were reverse harem romances.
• My most-read author was a tie between Katie May and Stacy Reid, with 5 books each.

Longest and Shortest Reads

Longest Book: Blood Union: Part 2 by Vera Roth ~ 629 pages

Shortest Book: Assembly by Natasha Brown ~ 104 pages

Subscribe to My Blog!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to my blog, click here to get all my new reviews and reading updates sent straight to your inbox!