What I Read and Loved | April 2025

Eight books, travel content, and more

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

I’m happy to report that April was a good reading month. I enjoyed a week of spring break, appreciated more daylight hours, and finished reading eight books. Half are mysteries and thrillers, while the other half includes a YA anthology, literary fiction, and a novel in translation. Check out what kept me busy last month and let me know if you have any thoughts on these titles.

What I Read

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell: In this cozy-ish mystery, readers follow a cast of characters who are contestants on Bake Week, a show similar to The Great British Baking Show. There's a young woman with a loyal boyfriend who longs to make a name for herself. Another contestant is a man fixated on schedules and planning his every move. Other characters include a carpenter, a former journalist, and a wealthy man who can't ever seem to find satisfaction. Each character takes turns telling us about their experiences on the show, including the mysterious things happening in the grand manor where the cast is staying. Overseeing everything is Betsy Martin, owner of the manor and a bestselling cookbook author and TV personality who's hosted Bake Week for years. When a dead body appears in the filming tent, everyone becomes a suspect.

The Golden Spoon is fast-paced, charming, and mysterious enough to keep readers guessing, but it lacks depth. This novel is all about the plot, and while each character gets their time to shine, most of them aren't all that memorable. All but one of the characters were written in the first person, and it was difficult keeping everyone straight since the tone never changed and the characterization wasn’t developed enough. This book earned starred reviews from Library Journal, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly, so critics enjoyed this one more than I did. It was a fine book, but not one I’ll widely recommend. (ebook, 2.5/5 stars)

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean: Ellie Black is a teen girl who disappeared after a party. No body has ever been found, so Detective Chelsey Calhoun has never stopped searching. Two years after her disappearance, Ellie turns up in the woods, confused and unwilling to say much to the police. Chelsey, whose sister vanished 20 years earlier, is consumed with getting answers from Ellie about where she was and who took her.

The Return of Ellie Black is a taut, well-written thriller that I couldn't stop reading. The twists kept coming, and each seemed grounded in the reality of the case, making for a story that felt eerily believable. Chelsey is a Japanese woman adopted and raised by white parents, so in addition to an exciting mystery, Emiko Jean thoughtfully touches on topics like race, family conflict, and gender roles. This book frankly addresses abuse, so it’s a dark read, but I loved it. (Audiobook, 5/5 stars)

Ab(solutely) Normal: Short Stories That Smash Mental Health Stereotypes edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter and Rocky Callen: This diverse anthology was the most recent pick for one of the book clubs I help lead at school. Because this book contains a wide range of writing styles, genres, and authors, there's something for everyone, which makes it a great book club pick that the adults enjoyed as much as the students.

Each story addresses at least one mental health concern, such as PTSD, depression, suicidal ideation, or OCD. The authors of each story have personally dealt with the topics they're writing about, an aspect of this book I appreciated as a reader. As with any anthology, there were stories I liked more than others, but overall, this is a solid collection that shines a light on important topics. Reading these stories makes talking about mental health a little easier, and the more we talk about it, the less stigma seeking help will have. This would be a great book to read alongside your teen. (Print/audiobook, 4/5 stars)

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker: Patch is an outsider who's not yet a teenager. He's missing an eye, lost his father to war, and his mom struggles to care for his basic needs. He finds belonging when he befriends Saint, another misfit being raised by her grandma, a bus driver. When Patch sees his crush Misty being assaulted, he steps in to save her. Misty gets free, but Patch is taken instead, a disappearance that will forever change Saint and their small town.

All the Colors in the Dark is a masterful mystery that explores how far we'll go for our friends. The novel follows the characters throughout decades of their lives, and gives readers an up-close look at how grief and love shape who we become. Patch and Saint are unforgettable characters whose lives seem to radiate from the page. Chris Whitaker writes beautiful prose and infuses his story with so much longing and emotion. This is a tender yet brutal story that I know will stay with me for a long time. (ebook, 5/5 stars)

How to Fall Out of Love Madly by Jana Casale: At the heart of this novel are Joy and Annie, who are close friends and roommates. Needing help making ends meet, they decide to get a third roommate and end up choosing Theo, a handsome man who's delightful company. Joy quickly falls for him, becoming obsessed and wanting to spend all her extra time with him. She even starts cooking and cleaning for Theo.

Meanwhile, Annie is in a long-term relationship with a man who has commitment issues. When he finally asks her to move in with him, she's elated. Joy is pleased to have Theo all to herself, but that happiness is shattered when Theo brings home Celine, the beautiful girlfriend he's never mentioned.

How to Fall Out of Love Madly follows Joy, Annie, and Celine as they fall into and out of love with the disappointing men in their lives. I'm into novels with unlikable and complicated characters, but spending time with these women wasn't always pleasant. The majority of the book is about how they cope while in relationships that are draining the life out of them, and that made for a slog of a reading experience, especially because it felt like the author was trying to make the same point repeatedly. A couple of reviews compared this author to Sally Rooney, but How to Fall Out of Love Madly lacks the nuance and careful characterization found in Rooney's novels. If you're in the market for well-written and character-driven fiction that focuses on romance, you'd do better picking up Rooney's Normal People or Beautiful World, Where Are You. (Audiobook, 2/5 stars)

Audition by Katie Kitamura: When this novel begins, readers follow an unnamed actress into a nondescript restaurant where she's having lunch with a young man. At first, it's unclear who he is and what type of relationship he has with her. The first half of Audition explores their affiliation and the woman's upcoming role in an important play, while the second half offers a different story.

SPOILER ALERT - Skip the rest of this review if you don’t want to know pertinent plot details.

In the book’s first half, the young man tells our narrator that he hopes she’s his biological mother. He read an interview she gave years before that mentioned a child she gave up. She lets him know that she actually had an abortion, so there’s no way he’s her son. Despite the awkwardness, the two end up forming a working relationship when the young man is hired as the new assistant to the woman’s play director.

The second half of the novel once again opens in a restaurant, but this time three people are dining: the young man, the actress, and the actress’s husband. In this part of the book, the trio is a happy family, and the young man really is the couple’s son. He ends up moving back into their apartment, needing a place to stay for a while. His homecoming tests and pushes his mother, especially when he brings home a girl.

I’m sure there are a lot of theories about what Audition means and what Kitamura is trying to express, but, for me, this is a book about womanhood and how women’s lives and art are often undervalued and misunderstood, no matter what choices they make.

I never knew where this book was headed, which made for a tense yet exciting reading experience. The unreliable narrator is a fascinating character, and I liked getting to know her as her storylines unfolded. Audition is a disorienting novel that won't give you concrete answers or resolutions, but it’s a worthy read for nerdy English majors like me who like reflecting on what they read. (Print, 4/5 stars)

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall: When Emma learns she's pregnant, she also finds out that her husband has been laid off. Desperate for a place to stay without any income, the couple is forced to return to Emma's childhood home in Arden Hills, the small town where Emma grew up alongside her two sisters. Emma has a reputation in the town because people suspect she was the one who killed her parents a decade prior. Since the unsolved murders, Emma hasn't talked to her older sister Juliette or her younger sister Daphne. Each sister is keeping secrets about what really happened the night their parents were shot.

I'm always interested in sibling dynamics, so that was my favorite part of this thriller. Readers get to follow each sister's perspective from when the crimes occurred to the present day. Toward the end of the novel, there were too many convenient twists that made the final reveal feel like a letdown, but No One Can Know is still highly entertaining and worth picking up if you want a page-turner. (Karissa Vacker is my favorite audiobook reader, and she does a great job narrating this book, as usual.) (Audiobook, 3/5 stars)

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico and translated by Sophie Hughes: In Berlin, Anna and Tom, a young expat couple, build a life. They're graphic designers who work from home in their spacious apartment. They have no trouble paying all their bills, have a solid circle of friends they enjoy partying with, and love doing their freelance design work. They're passionate about politics and feel moral pressure to give back, especially when a large group of refugees arrives in Berlin.

The tension in Perfection comes when the couple's ideals clash with their reality. As time goes on, some of their fellow expat friends return to their home countries. Other friends have children and leave the partying behind. They wonder if they're playing a role in the gentrification of their community and feel bad for asking such an exorbitant sum for their apartment when they rent it out while on vacation.

Perfection might be the only novel I've read with no dialogue, but I still feel as if I intimately know Anna and Tom. This short and smart book is a good pick for readers who find themselves pondering things like societal change, idealism, and charity. It offers interesting commentary on performative activism, delivered without ever feeling preachy. (ebook, 4/5 stars)

What I Loved

VIDEO SERIES: Travel content with Safiya

I’ve been a longtime fan of YouTuber Safiya Nygaard. She and her husband, Tyler, consistently produce thoughtful, funny, unique, and well-made content. Their most recent series is a collection of travel videos from Malaysia and Singapore. I’m not much of a traveler, but it’s been fun to see other parts of the world from the comfort of my sofa. I’ve linked to the most recent video above in which the couple stays at the world’s largest hotel, but I also love the other videos in the series.

SOCIAL MEDIA CREATOR: Aysat Ayodi

I recently came across videos by Aysat in which she helps people put together outfits. I’ve struggled with my style in recent years, so I love the way she breaks down the details of making outfits look chic and thoughtful. Her videos are fun and full of fashion joy and inspiration. You can follow along on Instagram and TikTok.

What I Wrote

---

If you’d like to support my work, comment, share, upgrade to a paid subscription, buy me a coffee, or shop my bookshop or affiliate links. I love doing this work, and I’m thankful to have you in this community!

---

What did you read in April? Do you have thoughts about any of my April reads? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for being here!