In 2020, March had 365 days instead of the ordinary 31, and being at home in lockdown didn’t help. But I’m not here to talk about these bad days we are living in. No, for that you can turn on the news. In this house, sadness stays outside the door, and if it dares to come in, I’ll fight it with a movie, a game, and a book (in no particular order). For now, I’m going to stick with the books that made my March more bearable and enjoyable.

I participated in two blog tours in March. The first one was for Happy Family by James Ellis. The book is set in Spain where the main protagonist, Germaine, goes to try to break out from isolation the creator of the virtual reality game Happy Family. I’ve read books about VR games in the past, but none of those can compare to this book. The story focuses on grief, art, relationships, and the importance games can have in someone’s life. I can’t recommend this book enough, and if you want to know more about my thoughts, please read the post.

The other book blog tour was for Vulcan’s Forge by Robert Mitchel Evans. A sci-fi mystery drama perfect for getting away into another planet. The main protagonist, Jason, lives in the only surviving colony after Earth’s destruction. The society has a very repressive culture based on American movies in the 50s. The priority is to marry, have children, go to church, and live by the rules. Although Jason doesn’t fit and quickly starts a forbidden affair with a gorgeous woman. From that on, it’s a lot of drama, mystery, crimes and murder. Check out the full review here and prepare for lift-off.

As part of my TBR Jar pick, I didn’t read one but two books instead. The Present by Charlotte Phillips and The Present by D.S. Devlin. Both books have the same name and are sort of companion novels, even though the only thing they have in common is the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. Other than that, the stories are nothing alike. In D.S. Devlin’s book, the main character is investigating Santa, a serial killer that delivers 12 bloody and very disturbing presents counting down to Christmas. I’ve never read a holiday murder mystery before, but this is now my new favourite genre. It was so awesome!

Meanwhile, The Present by Charlotte Phillips was completely the opposite. Lucy found in her grandmother’s attic a collection of 11 Christmas ornaments based on that song. Alongside, were letters from a secret love her grandmother kept away, and now Lucy goes on a journey to discover who was this secret lover. The story wasn’t as Christmassy as I was hoping it would be, although it was cute and heartwarming. It’s a lovely story to read if you want a warm hug.

The highlight of my month was reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Robert Langdon is on a quest against the clock to save the Vatican from an assassin hired by the Illuminati. Between the old streets of Rome and the sculptures of the great masters, Bernini and Michaelangelo, he needs to find a secret that has been kept for more than 300 years.

Being back with Robert Langdon was delicious! I miss being inside one of Brown’s books, they are always so captivating and a history lesson that I never knew I wanted. Reading about all the art and the architecture I have studied for a whole semester was amazing. And the mixture of fiction and reality was exciting and entertaining. The only thing I wanted to do all day was to read this book, and when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about the next time I would be. I adore the Robert Langdon series and going back to the first book, made me think about reading all the books in order. Now I just have to find time to squeeze them in and buy the fourth book, Inferno.

TBR

Last week, I posted my TBR for the OWLs 2020, which take place during the entire month of April. I’m aiming to read 6 books in total. Game of Thrones and A Muralha de Gelo by George R.R. Martin (these two are the Portuguese edition of Game of Thrones that is separated into two volumes), The Beauty volume 1 by Jeremy Haun, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Although, I kind of want to try and read more.

One book that has been on my mind is The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. After finishing Angels and Demons, it was the only thing I could think of. The only problem is the number of pages. A 500-something-pages book will take me at least a week to read, and I already have a 500-something-pages book in my TBR (Pachinko), so I don’t know if that would work out.

Exceptionally, I won’t be picking anything from my TBR Jar for April. I already have so many books planned to read that if I’m going to add anything on top of all, it will be something I’m really in the mood for. I’m sad because I was really enjoying the challenge of letting Lady Luck choose for me. Although, I don’t want April to be the month I fail just because I set myself too many books to read.