Hey all, Sam here.
Did I start drafting today’s post just a few days into March? Yep, but I was already pretty sure I knew what books I wanted to pick up for the month of April, so it seemed like an easy choice. I actually only ended up changing two of the books on here from the beginning of the month until now, and that’s totally fine. My TBRs are fairly flexible and dependent on my mood (for the most part), but I try to stick to it as much as I can.
Anyway, as usual I have 12 books on my list for the month. Of those, five of them are upcoming releases that I’ve been approved for via NetGalley. Even as I write this, I’m thinking about the fact that I really really need to get to work on writing up and publishing some of my NetGalley reviews, especially based on the books I’ve read so far in 2026. I have been so utterly horrible about trying to keep up with any of that. And that’s a shame, because I really would like to talk more about the books I’ve been reading.
Okay, let’s go ahead and get on into the post, and I’m going to start with those NetGalley reads, which are posted with their expected release dates.
The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains by Reena McCarty (April 7), Smoke and Scar by Gretchen Powell Fox (April 7), Stay for a Spell (April 14), Gods & Comics by Kat Cho (April 21)
I’m definitely still in a more cozy or cozy-adjacent fantasy mood, which is why books like The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains and Stay for a Spell have made my need-to-read list. As for Smoke and Scar, I saw it on social media quite a bit when it was an indie-pubbed book and just never got around to reading it. Since I”m still seeing a lot of posts about it (and artwork from it) and I’m intrigued by the premise, it seems like a good time to give it a try. Then there’s Gods & Comics, which I had totally wanted to read at the beginning of the year and just didn’t get around to them. Thankfully it’s out towards the end of the month, so I still have time to dive into it, because it sounds like something I’m really going to enjoy.
An Arcane Study of Scars by Sydney J Shields (April 28), Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews, Home Grown Magic by Jamie Pacton and Rebecca Podos
My final not-yet-released NetGalley read is An Arcane Study of Stars and I’m interested in this one because I enjoyed Shields’s debut so I want to see what this new book is like. Then there’s Daughter of Crows and This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, which are by authors I’ve enjoyed in the past, and both books sound rather interesting, so I’m hoping to read them sooner rather than later….although the Ilona Andrews book is coming out on March 31st, so I have to wait for my pre-order to arrive before I can read it. And when it comes to Homegrown Magic, I was totally hoping to read the book last year when it came out, but I never got around to it. But spring is happening and it kind of feels like a flower-y spring-y book to me, so it seems like the perfect time to read it.
This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher, Date Knight by Sam Parks, The Cave of Swords by Taylor Lust, Pucking Wild by Emily Rath
Then there’s books that give D&D vibes. I wanted to read more of those types of books this year and yet I haven’t really read any from my TTRPG inspired TBR for the year. The follow-up to This Will be Fun has just released, and so I need to read the first one. I read the first book in this series by Sam Parks last year, and so it’s about time that I pick up Date Knight, which does have the characters playing D&D in it, as apposed to E.B. Asher’s books which are set in a fantasy world but give off D&D vibes. Speaking of that, The Cave of Swords is supposedly D&D meets Frieren, and both of those are things I enjoy, so I’m excited to give this book a try. Also, apparently the second book is expected later this year, which means now is the perfect time to dive into the series. Finally there’s Pucking Wild. I’m trying not to binge-read my way through my Emily Rath books too quickly, but I have enjoyed every last one of these 500+ page behemoths. This is a queer-friendly hockey romance, which isn’t my usual type of read (you know, based on the fantasy-filled TBR I have basically every month), but for author’s whose writing I enjoy, I tend to genre hop.
So there we have it…my hopeful TBR for the month of April. I think it will be a month filled with great reads. The question will be if I manage to finally get posting on some of my reviews and other blog posts I’ve been meaning to do for several weeks now. All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
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