Five of my March 5-Star Reads!

March was a busy month! I was prepping for the baby for most of it, and I had a LOT to do, because I got to 36 weeks and realized that with everything else going on, I hadn't done anything to prep and got on it. I got my birthing kit together, prepped the baby station, filled the freezer with meals, and did a lot of deep cleaning all month.

The week before the baby came, I got sick with a cold and couldn't do as much, and then at the very end of the month, we got to welcome our baby girl! With all that going on, I had less time to read, but lots of time to listen to audiobooks.

I read 17 books in March and 5,133 pages, for an average of 301 pages per book. 13 were written by female authors and 4 by male authors. I borrowed 6 and read 11 books I owned. I read 8 stand alones and 5 books part of a series. I read 1 physical book, 6 ebooks, and 10 audiobooks. I read 7 middle grade, 1 YA, and 5 adult books and shared 2 read alouds with my kids. I read 2 new releases. I had 3 rereads and 14 new reads. I had 10 five star reads, 4 four star reads, 3 three star reads, 1 two star reads, and no one star reads.

Here were my 5 favorite 5 star reads in March!

When My Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park

I absolutely loved this WWII historical fiction taking place in Korea. I knew basically nothing about what had happened there leading up to and during the war and learned so much. I loved the characters and was very invested in the family and country's hardships. This is the second book by Linda Sue Park that I have read and loved.

What Everybody is Saying by Joe Navaro

I loved this nonfiction book! Body language is something I don't know a lot about but an very interested in learning more. This felt like a very thorough introduction, one I would revisit.

Refugee by Alan Gratz

Refugee is a book that follows several refugee families from different time periods and the struggles they face. It is such an important topic to explore. I loved each of the three stories and I loved the author's note afteward.

Content: While it is middle grade, I would say it is aimed at older middle grade due to the violence in parts. It's not unneccessary and adds to the story, but I wouldn't hand this to my 10 year old currently.

Lines of Courage by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Lines of Courage follows many different characters through WWI and circles back to connect many of them in the end. I wasn't sure at first about following so many different characters, but I ended up really liking it and the way their stories converged. It was also interesting to read a story set in WWI (rather than WWII).

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Casimano

This is the fourth book in the series and my favorite of the series so far! Something about taking all the characters to a casino hotel and throwing them all together, then letting them try to figure everything out was so fun to me. The comedy really worked for me.

Bonus reread:

Framed! by James Ponti

When I pick my favorite reads of the month, I don't typically include rereads (partially because if I'm rereading it, it's probably because it's already one of my favorite books). For my bonus book this month, though, I had to include this one! I read it last year and loved it. I have been trying to talk my older kids into reading it on their own ever since, but they never did. Finally, on a road trip, I decided to start listening to it with them. Like I knew they would, they LOVED it (and the other two books in the series). I loved listening to it with them as well and looked forward to our audiobook time together.

Those were my favorite books from March! I share all the books I read and what I rated them on my Goodreads page. What did you read in March? What was a favorite recent read of yours? Let's talk about books in the comments!