Beat The Backlist 2026 - April Update

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my fourth update for my April progress for the year long Beat The Backlist 2026 reading challenge, hosted by Austine Decker.  You can see my original tbr here.  In April, I completed 2 books for a total of 9 read so far out of 24 total books on my tbr.  I'm getting there!  Without further ado, keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in April:

12. fave author rec: a book recommended by one of your favorite authors

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Kagen the Damned (Kagen the Damned #1) by Jonathan Maberry is a fantasy series opener I was really looking forward to, but had been putting off.  I'm glad I finally decided to read it because I think I'll really love this series.  Kagen definitely improves as a character over the course of the novel. If you're at all interested in grimdark fantasy, you can't miss this. I'll definitely be back for book two, Son of the Poison Rose.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

4. all the colors: rainbow cover (has at least 4 rainbow colors)

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Zhara (Guardians of the Dawn #1) by S. Jae-Jones is a YA fantasy romance series opener that I picked up on a whim from a thrift store based on the colorful cover. I found it to be a solid read, but not a favorite or particularly standout. I was most interested in the world-building, but not so much the characters.  I doubt I'll be back for the rest of the series.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

Are you participating in this challenge?  Have you read these books?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!