Deanna's World: What Deanna Read #116: April 2026

I'm going to be honest and say that I do not know where I will land at the time I'm prepping this post since I'm being slightly organized and putting this together early. That said, it's been a slow month as I'm juggling work AND playing full time nurse to Hubby who is recovering from knee surgery. And he's much improved and doing very well, thank you for asking. But he better not get too used to me waiting on him hand and foot.

UPDATE: I am happy to report that prepping this early has meant that I am going to likely be the earliest I have ever posted a monthly What Deanna Read. Go me! I did read a few extra books by the time the end of April rocked around, so I'm pretty happy with where I landed overall.

Here's what I read in the last month.

Sapphire

The Shop on Hidden Lane

Marc

The Hazard and the Hitman

Deanna's World join the advance reader arc team

I think April might land slightly better than March which is a relief because I was very disappointed in myself with February. Not a month I will forget soon since it was dismal on the reading front.

Reading numbers update: I did manage to squeeze in three more books from when I started this post, so that's actually pretty great for me. Still not a record breaking month of reading, but not dismal either. That said, it's still below my average which used to be around 20 to 25-ish books a month.

As usual, I'm continuing to lean more into audiobooks to "read" with my ears instead of my eyeballs because y'all, my eyeballs just can't brain right now. I discovered a new narrator whom my friend Joni recced. His name is Anthony Palmini and there's even an NPR org article about him called "He's the voice of romantasy audiobooks' biggest heartthrobs. He's never been busier." I'd listened to a little snippet of his voice from Quicksilver by Callie Hart and I do love that that's a duet narration - that's when the guy does all the male parts and the woman does all the female parts. I haven't actually listened to Quicksilver yet, though I did pick it up (I think) from the last Audible sale (I forget, I'll need to check). That said, I listened to him in a very short novella called A Merry Brutal Christmas by EV Olsen which was a very spicy MM Christmas novella about the couple from the second book in the series, Brutal Titan. I haven't actually read Brutal Titan yet, but I will. I only got it because I wanted to listen to Anthony Palmini and see if I would like his voice. Not gonna lie, he might almost give my beloved Thomas Locklear a run for his money.

Toni Anderson, of course, never disappoints even when I don't know what I'm getting into. Especially with Cold Cruel Kiss , and I was not certain at all about the pairing of Supervisory Special Agent Max Hawthorne and the (apparently) mousy Lucy Aston. There is a lot more than meets the eye and let me tell you, what Ms Anderson did with Lucy's character was just *MWAH chef's kiss* perfection.You pair that with the smooth, delicious, velvety tones of Eric G Dove's narration and you will feel like you're being caressed from the inside out while Max and Lucy fall for each other AND work on catching the bad guys. I've moved on to the next book in the series, so maybe I'll have that done before the end of the month, maybe not.

Audiobook update #1: I am about 60% through Cold As Ice by Toni Anderson as I'm doing this update. I'm taking advantage of weekly writing sprints with my Author Client Community to prep this post, so some parts of this post are done in chunks through the last ten days of April. It will still be posted in May, but hey, I will get ahead and prepped wherever time and opportunity allows.

Audiobook update #2: I finished Cold As Ice , and of course, it was BRILLIANT, as always. I'm always amazed at how Toni Anderson can bring two disparate people together, often two people who have different lives, different jobs, and who live in different cities together and tie it all up in a way that it works. And she doesn't do neat convenient "tied up in a bow" either. She offers up compromise, sacrifices, and a lot of discussion, and give and take which makes the "forever" part of the Happy Ever After (HEA) feel realistic and earned. I mean, we always assume as romance readers that the HEA means they will be happy together, forever, but I've read books where it's all too convenient and I don't always believe this will last, just the illusion of it. That's usually good enough for me. It's entertainment, so I'm not going to dissect it too much, but with Toni Anderson's books, I feel like I just KNOW it will all work out, and it really is forever. I'm hope I'm conveying this adequately enough for you to understand my meaning on this point.

Aside from that, Jayne Ann Krentz is always wonderful and her latest books The Shop on Hidden Lane shows that she's really leaning into her Jayneverse with the psychic talents of her characters. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to start reading her books, or if you're one of those people who have to read chronologically, then start with her Arcane Society series.

A small note for those unfamiliar with her books, she writes across three pen names: Jayne Ann Krentz (modern), Amanda Quick (historical), and Jayne Castle (futuristic). All her books have her signature style, so you won't feel out of place in terms of her author voice, but the settings are different. And they all have an element of romantic suspense plus psychic talent, though I wouldn't class her as purely paranormal. Think of it more as normal humans with an edge and a little something extra. Nary a werewolf or vampire in sight. But anyway, I digress, Arcane Society, yes. Start with the first book in the series, Second Sight written under her Amanda Quick pen name. The series bounces across all three pen names and I've also put together this handy dandy list (it needs updating) if you're at all curious of the reading order. Ack! I just checked the list and I thought I had included links, but alas, no. I'll try to add them before this goes live, but if not, sincere apologies. You'll need to look up the individual books yourself.

I do want to point out one small thing. I had a few duds this month and I have realised that the duds were all books that had a ranking or rating of under 4.0 on Goodreads. I'm not going to name names, etc., because that's not how I roll, but here's something to think about...

For Deanna the Reader: the ratings matter because they are a temperature gauge to see how that book will play out as to whether I would enjoy it AS A READER. I cannot stress that enough. Deanna the Reader is a different person and has a different set of criteria for a book from Deanna the Publishing Partner though there is some overlap. I will always say that I am first and foremost a reader and I started in the publishing industry as a reader—judging manuscripts in writing contests, beta reading, etc., so I make it a point in my job as a publishing partner to know what a reader wants and I can't do that if I'm not a reader first.

So on that note, Deanna the Reader has discovered that an average of a 4.0 rating of Goodreads generally means the book isn't going to work for her. There are exceptions—obviously! There always are. One of the books I enjoyed was actually a 3.91 rating. Not all books rated under 4.0 are equal. All people are different. All readers are different. All books are different experiences for different people. But this is a good overall ballpark gauge for me. And ONLY me.

However, Deanna the Publishing Partner would like to stress: Reviews are for readers. For authors, unless you have a very thick skin or learn to have a thick skin, stay off Goodreads for YOUR books. And repeat after me, REVIEWS ARE FOR READERS. I'm not saying that reviews are solely for readers, but generally yes. But as an author who does not want their soul crushed, stay off it—some reader reviews can be brutal. However, if you are an author who wants to learn more about where your book is not hitting the mark, if you're new and still learning to hit your stride, then by all means, do read a few reviews—not just the glowing ones, and learn from them. And of course, grow a thick skin and emotionally distance yourself from the content of the reviews, so you're only looking at it as a critique of your writing craft and not you as a person. Soz! I didn't mean for that to turn into a lengthy mini-essay on reviews, but I thought it was worth mentioning at least once in the decade that I've been posting my What Deanna Read updates.

That's it from me. I'm hoping May will be better, but that might just be wishful thinking on my part.

xoxo, D.