March 2023 Wrap Up

Here is what I read/posted in March.

As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and (if you did) what you thought of them.


Books I Read:

ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books
ARC from author
Kindle Unlimited Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
ARC from author
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Dell
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
KU Purchase—No Review
ARC from author
ARC from author
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books
Non ARC from Author (KU Purchase)
KU Purchase—No Review
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Paperbacks
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
KU Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Non-ARC from author
ARC from Crooked Lane Books
ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books

Books I got from NetGalley:

Read Now from St. Martin’s Press
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Invite from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Wish granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey
Invite from Level Best Books, Independent Books Publishers Association, Members Titles
Wish granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey
Wished granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey
Invite from St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Invite from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam
Wish Granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books
Limited time Read Now from Sourcebook Casablanca
Wish granted from Sourcebooks Casablanca
Read Now from Crooked Lane Books
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press

Books I got from Authors/Indie Publishers:

Invite from Novel Cause
Invite from Author
Invite from Author
Invite from Author
Invite from Author
Invite from Novel Cause
Invite from author
Invite from Author
Invite from author
Invite from Novel Cause
Invite from author
Invite from Dancing Lemur Press

Giveaway Winners

Goodreads Giveaway Winner through William Morrow—Hardcover

Books Reviewed:

The Things We Do To Our Friends—review here

Too Wrong to Be Right—review here

The Shadow of Theron—review here

Mad Honey—review here

A Paroxysm of Fear—review here

The Last Lap—review here

Mr. & Mrs. Witch—review here

Missing Clarissa—review here

What Have We Done—review here

Off the Map—review here

Solomon’s Crown—review here

For Our Soul—review here

AI—review here

Not That Kind of Ever After—review here

The Fake—review here

Peril in Paradise—review here

Yours Truly, The Duke—review here

Hotel of Secrets—review here


Reading Challenges

Buzzword Reading Challenge (words in the title like secret, secretive, secrets)—A Dangerous SecretFinished 3-6-2023

2023 Sami Parker Reads Title Challenge (A book with one of these words in the title: Ice, Snow, Flurry, or Blizzard)—Ice—Finished 3-6-2023

Cover Scavenger Hunt 2023 (Food)—The Obituary Society—Finished 3-10-2023

The StoryGraph’s Onboarding Reading Challenge (read a book from your StoryGraph recommendations)—Beautiful DemonsFinished 3-10-2023

The StoryGraph Reads the World (Cuba)—Of Women and Salt—Finished 3-12-2023

The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge (a sapphic romance)—She Who Became the SunFinished 3-22-2023

Beat the Backlist 2023 (about dragons or robots)—The Glow of the Dragon’s Heart—Finished 3-22-2023

Scavenger Hunt TBR Book Challenge (what is the most common letter in the title of the last book you read for this challenge. Find a book with a title that starts with that letter)—Even the Moon has Scars—Finished 3-23-2023

Scavenger Hunt (the prettiest book in your TBR)—The Watchmaker’s Daughter—Finished 3-23-2023

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 (A book about a vacation)—The SwapFinished 3-24-2023

2023 TBR Toppler (the first book in a series)—The Last Artifact—Finished 3-26-23

2023 Monthly Themes (March of the Memoirs)—In the Dream House—Finished 3-1-23

2023 Reading Challenge (A book in a series you already started)—Catching Fire—Finished 3-27-23

2023 ABC Challenge (C)—Contained—Finished 3-6-2023

Romanceopoly 2023 (Killer crescent: read a mystery or thriller of your choosing)—Malevolent—Finished 3-1-23

2023 TBR Prompts (a book written about women in STEM or a book with a strong female lead)—Vicious DelightsFinished 3-28-2023

Bookish Travels—March 2023 Destinations

This meme is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are lovely and take you to places you would never get to. That includes places of fantasy too!!

Bon Voyage!!

Please let me know if you have read these books or traveled to these areas.


United States

New Hampshire (Adams)
New York (Haverford, Limerick, Johnstown), Connecticut (Ashford, Canterbury, Bayfield), Pennsylvania (Philidelphia)
Iowa (Iowa City), Pennsylvania (Philidelphia, Allentown), Georgia (Savannah), Indiana (Bloomington), New York (New York City)
Louisiana (New Orleans, Algiers Point, French Quarter, Port Sulphur)
Florida (Key West, Orlando), Georgia (Atlanta)
Georgia (Atlanta, Decatur)
Washington (Oreville)
California (post-apocalyptic Sacramento)
Hawaii (unnamed island)
Washington D.C., West Virginia, Pennsylvania (Chestertown, Philadelphia), Florida (Miami)
Florida (Fort Lauderdale)
Nebraska (Auburn), Wyoming (Rock Springs)
Georgia (Peachville)
Florida (Miami), Texas
Hawaii (Maui, Maalaea Bay, Lahaina, Wailuku)
Oregon (countryside), California (Los Angeles)
Massachusetts (Gloucester, Boston)
Massachusetts (Boston), New York (New York City)
Wisconsin (Lofty Pines, Pine Lake)

South Africa

Lichtenburg

France

Paris
Paris, Aquitaine, Rouen, Nantes, Brittany, Rennes, Poitiers
The French Riviera

England

London
Dexford, Jersey, St. Helier
London
London
Regency London
Victorian London
Chiswick, London

Montriga

Thame

Scotland

Scottish Highlands, Arach Caim, Glasgow
Glasgow, Isle of Benbarra

Ireland

Dublin, Tralee, Wicklow Mountains, Donegal, Ballybunion
Unnamed Village, Dublin

Argentina

Estancia Moat

Cuba

Camaguey, La Habana

Mexico

Irapuato

The Afterlife

Purgatory, Heaven

India

Calcutta

Canada

Toronto, St. Clair

China

Southern Henan (Huai River Plains, Zhongli, Wuhuang, Anfeng, Anyang, Lu, Jiankang, Bianliang), Hichetu (Shanxi)

Austria

Vienna

Erlanis Empire

Arborren, Chrysalis

Spain

The Cantabrian Mountains, Los Picos De Europa, Costa Brava, Toledo

Turkey

Istanbul

Italy

Florence, Rome

Morocco

The Atlas Mountains

Holland

Amsterdam

Gibraltar


Panem

District 12, District 11, District 8, Capitol, District 13

Isle of Midnight

Isle of Midnight (Devil’s Bay)

Angawunde

Typgar (Loh’dis), Narcaya

Goodreads Monday: The Dark Rift: The Supernatural Grail Quest Zombie Apocolypse (The Last Artifact Trilogy: Book 1) by Gilliam Ness

This is a weekly meme where anyone can choose a random book from their Goodreads TBR and highlight it. This meme was formerly featured on LaurensPageTurners and was taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog.


When they come into possession of a mysterious prehistoric cube, relic hunter Gabriel Parker, and the alluring artifact historian Natasha Rossi, find themselves inexplicably bound to a dark mythology dating back to the roots of civilization. Throughout history the long lost Cube has been sought after by emperors, popes, and caliphs alike. It is believed to be a container of knowledge; a holy vessel capable of emancipating humanity from the confines of earthly mortality. Now that it has been found, demonic forces are surfacing to destroy it. Their presence marks the return of a potent nefarious entity that once reigned supreme in Earth’s distant reptilian past.

Under the apocalyptic shadow of global unrest and rampant natural disasters, Gabriel and Natasha battle to prevent this sinister blight from being unleashed. With nothing but a tattered journal to guide them, they race from Italy to Morocco, and finally to the mountains of Northern Spain where they must locate a Lost Labyrinth spoken of by the ancients. There, deep in a Sacred Chamber, they will find salvation for mankind, but not without a price. A cosmic clock is ticking. It marks the world’s entry into the oblivion of the Dark Rift, and the final days that remain.