Read in March 2025
In terms of reading, March was a pretty good month. I finished a total of 9 books, good for 3182 pages. The average March book comes to 354 pages/book.
Still, in terms of reading pleasure, it was also a month of highs and lows, with ratings that fluctuated between 2 and 4 stars, with the 4 stars fortunately prevailing. On the other side of the scale, there was also that one book that I decided to DNF after making two attempts to read it.
Based on the books I completed in March, the average book fortunately comes to a good score of 3.4 stars.
In terms of target group, I deviated little, only 1 Young Adult book against 9 adult books.
In my reading method, I alternated almost equally between my three options, with 3 e-books, 3 audiobooks and 4 bookshelf books.
For the genres, I alternated between 3 genres, namely horror (1), thriller (2) and fantasy (7).
Below is the list of the books I read in March and my rating in stars.
Click on the link to jump to the blurb and my review! As always, be aware that both blurb and review may contain spoilers, especially if it concerns sequels in a series!
- Willingham, Stacy – All the Dangerous Things 🎧 ★★★★
- Kingfisher, T. – A Sorceress Comes to Call ★★★★
- Abdullah, Chelsea – The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy #1) ★★
- Penner, Sarah – The Conjurer’s Wife ★★★
- Paris, B.A. – The Mosquito ★★★★
- Hendrix, Grady – Witchcraft for Wayward Girls 🎧 ★★★
- Clare, Cassandra – Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane #1) (DNF)
- Mandanna, Sangu – The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches ★★★
- Fry, Stephen – Odyssey (Stephen Fry’s Great Mythology #4) 🎧 ★★★★
- Watson, Andrew – The Black Mantle (Shadowbinders #2) ★★★★
🎧 Willingham, Stacy – All the Dangerous Things ★★★★
Genre: Thriller
Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.
Isabelle’s entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle’s past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust… including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.
All the Dangerous Things is a slow, meandering, and hypnotizing psychological thriller that pulled me deep into the murky depths of our protagonist’s troubled mind. The author successfully crafted an unsettling and moody atmosphere that perfectly mirrored the theme of insomnia, where the boundary between reality and delusion becomes increasingly blurred. It’s that creeping uncertainty—of not knowing whether what you’re perceiving is real—that builds the tension so effectively throughout the book.
Despite its slow pace, the audiobook had me completely riveted. The structure, alternating between the present and a haunting past, kept intrigue high and worked beautifully to showcase Isabel’s unraveling mental state. These dual timelines feel like entirely different stories at times, but they converge in a way that deepens the psychological impact and sustains the mystery.
That said, while the journey was thoroughly engaging, the destination didn’t quite land for me. The final reveal leaned into cliché, and I had to suspend my disbelief more than I would’ve liked. I found myself hoping the plot would take a less predictable route. While there were certainly some surprising and unpredictable moments, the identity of the ultimate “bad guy” felt disappointingly obvious.
I ended up giving this one four stars—not because it completely blew me away, but because the experience while reading was genuinely compelling. The atmosphere, character study, and structure worked so well in the moment, even if the ending didn’t leave a lasting impact. It’s a book I thoroughly enjoyed while in it, but it’s unlikely to stick with me in the long run.
Kingfisher, T. – A Sorceress Comes to Call ★★★★
Genre: Fantasy
Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.
After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.
Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.
T. Kingfisher proves once again why she has become one of my favorite authors with A Sorceress Comes to Call. This is a a gothic fairy tale adjacent fantasy that’s equal parts eerie, heartfelt, and darkly funny. From the very first line, a simmering unease sets in and only increases as the story unfolds, seamlessly weaving macabre horror with warmth and delightfully witty humor. This standalone story is set in a Regency-era world, largely in a Gothic mansion with servants and genteel customs. Kingfisher excels at slowly building tension, using a twisted fairytale lens to explore themes of compulsive control, emotional abuse, and resilience.
As always with Kingfisher, the characters steal the show. The story begins with Cordelia, a fourteen-year-old girl living in the shadow of her terrifying, controlling sorceress mother. I felt so sorry for her and rooted for her from the start. Hester enters the story a little later, but then continues to shine throughout the book. She’s a sharp, headstrong fifty-something with a bad knee and a brilliant mind. It’s so refreshing and rare to see older women in leading roles, and Hester’s humor, courage, and kindness made her my favorite character without a doubt. Together, with a wonderfully eccentric cast of supporting characters, they form an unlikely alliance to fend off evil.
A hauntingly heartfelt tale of monsters with elegant faces, resilience, found family and the power of unlikely heroines.
Abdullah, Chelsea – The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy #1) ★★
Genre: YA Fantasy
With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan’s oldest son to find the artifact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen, and confront a malicious killer from Loulie’s past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything—her enemy, her magic, even her own past—is not what it seems.
This one was a bit of a letdown. On paper, The Stardust Thief had everything I usually enjoy: adventure, mysterious backstories, hidden treasures, and the magic of storytelling itself. But despite these promising elements, the book never quite managed to grab me. There was a strange disconnect between the book’s potential and its execution.
The writing felt uneven, at times confusing or overly simplistic, and overall pretty flat. The pacing dragged in places, especially in the middle, and the plot structure lacked momentum.
While the characters had intriguing setups, they never felt fully fleshed out. I remained emotionally detached, even when I should have cared. I kept hoping I’d get swept up in the atmosphere or pulled in by the intrigue, but that never happened.
There are cool ideas here, for sure, but in the end, the execution just didn’t land for me.
Penner, Sarah – The Conjurer’s Wife ★★★
Genre: Fantasy (short story)
In 1820s Venice, world-renowned magician Oscar Van Hoff confounds sold-out crowds with his astounding manifestations. Even his beautiful wife and assistant, Olivia, is mystified. Her job is to smile and recite her lines—onstage and in society. But the thankless routine is bringing out her rebellious side. Then, on the eve of what promises to be Oscar’s greatest performance yet, Olivia uncovers a secret with the power to shatter all her husband’s illusions. Now the finale belongs to her.
A quick, magical, and visually rich read that makes the most of its short length. Olivia and Oscar are surprisingly well-developed for such a brief story, and the central irony is powerful: a world that idolizes male conjurers while condemning women with real magic. The pacing and atmosphere are strong, though the ending felt a bit abrupt.
Paris, B.A. – The Mosquito ★★★★
Genre: Thriller (short story)
Michael wanted to back out of this trip to the South of France after his wife left him, but his sister and their friends wouldn’t hear of it. His fellow houseguest Rupert isn’t in the mood, either, having recently been widowed. But rather than bonding, Michael is unsettled by Rupert’s constant needling. That and the bug bites are enough to suck the life right out of an idyllic holiday.
Creepy, claustrophobic, and surprisingly effective. The buzzing mosquito and the equally irritating ‘friend’ make for a stifling atmosphere that’s captured brilliantly. I felt Michael’s growing annoyance, fatigue, and desperation—impressive emotional depth for such a short piece. It’s darkly entertaining and gruesomely satisfying in all the right ways.
🎧 Hendrix, Grady – Witchcraft for Wayward Girls ★★★
Genre: Horror
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.
Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.
I’m often drawn to the blurbs of horror novels—they promise such gripping, mysterious and intense stories—but since I’m a bit squeamish, I don’t actually pick them up all that often. Still, having enjoyed most of the Paul Tremblay books I’ve read, and seeing Grady Hendrix frequently recommended to his readers, I was curious enough to finally give one of his books a try.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls turned out to be quite different from what I expected—more a blend of historical and feminist fiction than straight-up horror, though its themes are deeply unsettling in their own right and the book is peppered with gory details.
The story is set in the 1970s, at a home for unwed mothers, it mainly explores the real-life horrors of how society treated pregnant teenage girls—often naive, frightened, and cruelly dismissed.
The most disturbing parts weren’t supernatural, but the graphic, harrowing depictions of childbirth and the condemnations and judgments these girls endured. Hendrix, as a male author, tackles this subject matter with unexpected sensitivity, and I genuinely admire his courage in doing so.
While witchcraft does play a role, it’s not the central focus I expected—it’s gritty, ritualistic, bloody and unsettling, but not quite the dark revenge fantasy in the vein of The Craft I had in mind. The friendship between the girls forms the emotional core, especially with young Holly’s storyline, which is particularly tragic and enraging.
However, the book dragged a little here and there, and the characters felt more like vehicles for the story than fully fleshed-out individuals. The ending left me a bit underwhelmed, and the witchcraft element felt underused and underdeveloped in places.
Overall, it’s a solid read with strong and impactful themes, but not quite as profound or memorable as I had hoped.
Clare, Cassandra – Sword Catcher (The Chronicles of Castellane #1) (DNF)
Genre: Fantasy
Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher—the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but Kel knows that his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible.
Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls within the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge.
After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces.
As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos?
I gave reading my very first Cassandra Clare book two honest tries in April, but had to admit defeat both times.
The first time, I made it to page 169.
I went in expecting a lush, mesmerizing fantasy world, but instead was met with relentless info-dumps, bracketed asides about wall colours and cutlery materials, and chapters so long they felt like mini-novels. The prologue alone stretched 34 pages, introducing a dizzying array of countries, characters, and lore with very little anchoring — just names tossed at me with the assumption I’d keep up.
The writing, which I’d always heard described as addictive, just didn’t work for me. I felt like I was slogging through molasses, trying to connect with a world that refused to let me in. Constant POV shifts within a single chapter, often without any narrative link between the characters, made the structure feel needlessly confusing. I kept wondering why these weren’t simply separate chapters.
I started to question whether I just wasn’t in the right headspace for a heavy world-building fantasy. Maybe I’d already read too many “big world” books lately? So I set it aside, thinking I’d return to it later with a clearer mind.
Not even a week later, PeruseProject posted an enthusiastic vlog about the sequel. Her excitement was contagious, and her praise for this novel convinced me that maybe the problem really had been me. Watching that video made me excited to try again, certain that this time would be different.
Hélas, it wasn’t.
Despite retracing my steps, I still couldn’t feel that spark. The story felt flat, the characters remained distant, and the prose never managed to pull me in. Whatever magic this book holds for others, it simply didn’t reach me. I gave up again, 75 pages in, this time with more certainty and no regrets.
Life’s too short to spend hundreds of pages hoping a book eventually get good. I’m chalking this one up as just not for me.
Mandanna, Sangu – The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches ★★★
Genre: Fantasy
As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….
After two attempts at reading Sword Catcher— and just as many times it failing to capture me — I was in the mood for something light, easy, and cute. This book had been on my list for just that type of mood, and while I had expected to pick it up in autumn, now felt like the right time.
My expectations were therefore quite high: I was hoping for a book that would give me a warm, cozy feeling, something I could get completely lost in with a nice latte, a blanket, and maybe a cookie or two. And perhaps because of those high expectations, it ended up falling a bit short.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is a quick read, and the atmosphere is absolutely charming. It’s a heartwarming story about found family, about being accepted for who you are without having to pretend to be someone else out of fear of not being loved, with a touch of magic and a peaceful, fairy-tale setting. On paper, this sounds perfect. Yet, it didn’t really manage to move me or take me on an emotional journey, and I can’t quite pinpoint why. I didn’t get bored, quite the opposite — it’s a book that reads fast and easily — but it never truly captivated me. It was nice, but also fleeting.
🎧 Fry, Stephen – Odyssey (Stephen Fry’s Great Mythology #4) ★★★★
Genre: Fantasy
Follow Odysseus after he leaves the fallen city of Troy and takes ten long dramatic years—battling monsters, the temptations of goddesses and suffering the curse of Poseidon—to voyage home to his wife Penelope on the island of Ithaca.
My delightful journey through Greek mythology with Stephen Fry has sadly come to an end—but what a rousing finale Odyssey turned out to be! With my obsession for Greek myths reignited (fueled in no small part by my love for EPIC the Musical), diving into Odysseus’ tale felt especially thrilling. I already knew the story, of course, but Fry’s version revealed forgotten details and surprising truths I’d never fully grasped. Even more delightful was discovering just how closely the musical mirrors the original material (like the wedding bed), despite some well-placed creative liberties. My brain, ever helpful, queued up the perfect EPIC song for each moment.
Of course, the musical paints Odysseus as a devoted husband yearning for Penelope—a touching angle that enhances the emotional arc. The reality? Not so much. As Fry dryly notes, Odysseus fathered children with at least three women whose names all start with “C,” and faithfulness was clearly not his strong suit. The end of his story is surprisingly anticlimactic and even a little unsettling: Penelope ends up marrying Circe’s son by Odysseus, while Telemachus (Penelope’s son by Odysseus) marries Circe herself. Weird? Very.
Still, Fry delivers the tale in his signature conversational style, blending rich detail with clarity and humor. His narration in the audiobook adds another layer of enjoyment, making even the trickiest names and places feel accessible. Sure, some characters may sound suspiciously modern, but it’s all part of the charm. I laughed often, learned a lot, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment!
Watson, Andrew – The Black Mantle (Shadowbinders #2) ★★★★
Genre: Fantasy
Rai faces a past he swore he’d never return to. Tarris is on the brink of civil war and Rai may have set the fuse for the oncoming devastation. But he is a different man now. A man with a darker shadow.
Darkness leaks into Yontar, but Nya refuses to let it take those she loves. If the darkness can be held at bay, she will have everything she has ever wanted. Everything should be perfect. But no one can outrun their shadow.
All the while, ancient mysteries are being uncovered. A past lost to the sands of time. However, the past was buried for a reason.
The dark beckons to them. And it shall not go unanswered.
My review for this book you good previously read here.
