“Throw the TBR Away” Kind of Month

I am actually quite good at generally staying on track with my monthly TBRs. I never use them as an exhaustive list and always plan to NOT read some of the books, while subbing in other books where mood or opportunity strike. I also usually include upwards of 15+ books just to have variety when I look at what I might want to read next.

My TBR lists are usually structured with the following criteria in mind:

1. Upcoming review copies that are due
2. Variety of formats (audio, ebook, physical, mixed)
3. Variety of genres (usually contemporary, mystery, maybe some fantasy, etc.)
4. Books I’ve generally been in the mood to read
5. New releases I’ve been excited and waiting for
6. Book club and readathon selections

I usually read two books at once, and typically I have an audiobook available for one of them. I may be reading one physical book and mix in the audio of that book, while also reading another book on my Kindle. I may have a Kindle book and audio option to alternate between, plus another book as a physical copy. There are plenty of times I’m not listening to an audiobook and just skip it altogether. As you can see, I like to have all my options.

I also read multiple genres at the same time – you’ll never catch me reading two contemporary romances at once. I may be reading one contemporary and one mystery, for example (this is the most common lol). I also try to switch up the age target – if I’m reading a YA fantasy, there’s a decent chance the mystery or contemporary book is adult.

All of these factors and criteria are what lead me to choose my TBR each month. It’s pretty thoughtful! However, there are some months where I am like… straight up throwing this TBR away. Just a few days into April and I realized that was going to be the case! I thought it would be fun to add in some books here that I didn’t initially include in my April TBR that are probably more likely to be read, and explore the ones that could be getting the boot!

Missing from April TBR

Throne of Glass Reread + Completion

I’m going to do a full post about my reread when I finish it this month, but I saw a booktuber talk about tandem reading EOS and TOD and was intrigued by the concept. I only read the first four books (plus the novellas) when I read this series in 2016… and managed to put off the rest of the books for years. I decided to reread all of them (minus then novellas this time!), tandem read EOS and TOD, and then finish with KOS this quarter. This was a very random decision in late March after I already wrote my April TBR post so none of these are in there! I’m reading HOF at the time of writing this post so my plan is to finish that and QOS this month to fully complete the reread portion. I have another fantasy book I really want to read this month (see below) so I’m hoping to pause at QOS and then pick up EOS/TOD for the tandem read in early May. I know that reading those two at once will take time and energy, so I’ll take a break from the series for something lighter once QOS is done. I have these as ebooks and audiobooks, which was really great when I had a lot of driving time in early April! I also was really in the mood to just keep reading them back-to-back and sit on the couch with my Kindle, which I rarely do.

Book Clubs

While I did list out books I may read for readathons in April, I didn’t actually include books for the book clubs that I fully planned on joining when I was making my TBR! Liv’s Library’s Patreon is reading FLOWERHEART in April. which I’d be interested in trying out! (It also fits with the prompts below for Flowerathon or Spring Fling!) This is a fantasy so hopefully I can finish the TOG reread before. @shadowbooker on Instagram organized a book club / readalong for LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY that I’m in the group chat for. Totally forgot about it and frankly this seems the least likely here? But we’ll see! I also joined a few online book clubs – Thrillers by the Book is reading THE SOULMATE, which I have from BOTM. My mom currently has my copy though so again, we’ll see if this happens. I just completely forgot about these!

Still Happening

  

Readathons and Book Club

These three books are on my “must read” list this month because they fit for the two readathons I’m doing – Flowerathon and Spring Fling! I don’t know which books I’ll read when (and the rest of the TBR for both is definitely in flux lol). I need to read books with flowers on the cover for one of them and then the other has three prompts (spring graphic novel, cute romance, and book with flowers/plants on the cover). That adds up to a few books with flowers on the cover (above), a graphic novel (also above could work), and likely one of books below (like MEET ME AT THE LAKE) for the romance. RETURN TO HUMMINGBIRD WAY, THE SPRITE GARDENER, AND A SPRINKLING OF MURDER will definitely be read in April. (The last one is also a book club selection for Cozy Hollow, so win-win there.)

Miscellaneous and Mood Reading

I have a list of random reads here that were on my TBR that fit various things… or just are completely based on what I’m in the mood for! I’ve had VERA WONG for ages and really think this cozy mystery will hit the spot this month. MEET ME AT THE LAKE will likely work for the romance prompt I mentioned above… plus I’m just dying to read it. WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME – embarrassingly – won an Insta poll that I ran where people picked my next read… and I just kept reading TOG! I wanted a physical book to read and I have this as an audiobook and ebook instead, so it doesn’t map over well with my current TOG reread. Once that’s done and I need that combo, this will literally be first up! And finally, I really want to get to LEGENDS & LATTES in April to unwind after binge-reading the heavier fantasy of TOG. I will probably read it near the end of the month as a palette cleanse before continuing with EOS/TOD.

Will I Get to This??

      

I included all of these for various reasons – review copies, books I recently bought (or bought a long time ago – whoops) and want to read, or thought I may use in a readathon. There’s still a chance some of these get read but I just don’t know if time will allow based on everything I shared above. ANA TAKES MANHATTAN, PROJECT HAIL MARY, THE AGATHAS, IN NIGHTFALL, MARPLE, THE MOTH KEEPER, and ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS will probably get pushed to next month or later lol.

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