Somehow, it’s May. That doesn’t feel possible and yet, here we are.

April has been a weird reading month, with an audiobook slump and general slow going. After staying ahead for the first three months of the year, I’m alternating between one book behind and just barely on track on my Goodreads goal. Alas.

I did manage to read five this books this month, which is up over my usual average of four. Plus, I’ve gotten some great reads in, which is really what counts. Let’s break down the best books I read in April 2023!

(Full disclosure: This post uses Bookshop.org affiliate links. Books marked with an asterisk were received as complimentary review copies.)

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Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

Format Read: Paperback

Why I Read It: I just kept hearing good things about this book and I can’t say no to a good modern witch story

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven is exactly the sort of modern fantasy witchy goodness I didn’t know I was craving. It’s told in the alternating perspectives of a group of friends who grew up as young witches together, survived a war, and have now gone their mostly separate ways. There’s a big scary prophecy and they disagree about how to handle it, setting in motion quite the series of events.

This is book one in a series and I can’t wait to snap up the second one very soon!

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Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power by Pam Grossman

Format Read: Audiobook (LibroFM)

Why I Read It: Grossman hosts one of my favorite witchy podcasts, The Witch Wave. When I realized she had a book and it’s self-narrated, obviously I had to grab it!

Waking the Witch is that blend of personal narrative, cultural critique, and well-researched informative prose that I just adore. Grossman takes a look at depictions of the witch and what they say about our societal impressions of women. From the Wicked Witch of the West to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Grossman explores the different roles witches have played in our cultural imagination, and in her own.

I absolutely adored this book and Grossman’s narration of it.

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Games and Rituals: Stories by Katherine Heiny

Format Read: eARC (NetGalley)

Why I Read It: I adore Heiny’s work and was thrilled to be approved for a review copy via NetGalley

Another wonderful short story collection from Heiny, Games and Rituals: Stories is full of tales about women and the relationships in their lives. I wrote a mini review of this one, which you can check out here:

Mini Review: “Games and Rituals”
A review of Katherine Heiny’s latest short story collectionmedium.com

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Honorable Mentions

• Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon. This book was fine. It just was missing something for me personally as a reader.
• Witches of America by Alex Mar. Complicated feelings on this one, which I tried to unpack in my review here.

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That’s it for my April reads! What are the best books you read last month?