March Reading Recap
March Reading Recap: 6 Books I Read this Month and 1 that I Didn’t
By: Brittany Shields
I didn’t get a ton of reading done this month. March Madness is highly celebrated in our house and we have an open door policy with our friends and family to come watch games throughout the tournament.
In addition, my kids had spring break so we, of course, had to find some activities to do.
Annnnddd… I was part of an alumni event at my college at the end of the month.
Henceforth, this month was more about socializing than reading. And that’s okay.
My book count was still 6 for the month (which is a little misleading because I read most of Keep in Step with the Spirit in February) and they were all 5 stars except for one!
Four qualified for prompts on the Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge.
And three were on my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025.
I also realized that 4 of my 6 reads for the month ended up being Christian Fiction. If that’s not normally a genre for you, before you scroll past, click off, or move on with your life, I think you should give them a chance.
I’m not sure what you normally think about when you think about that genre, but these are not ‘preachy’ books (in my opinion) and have great stories and writing and a lot of suspense (especially Out for Blood and The Other Sister). You may be surprised how much you enjoy them!
Spring is in the air and we’re about to move from cozy fireplace reading to fresh air and sunshine reading! What books are excited to take to the outdoors?
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1. Out for Blood (Matthew Redd #3) by Ryan Steck
Genre: Suspense/Thriller / Christian Fiction
This was an action-packed thriller!
It has some Bourne Identity type vibes because Matthew is an ex-Marine who is being hunted by a government agency because of information he has and because of his particular set of skills, he can be significantly outnumbered and still single-handedly take them all down.
It’s definitely a ‘hero’ story.
If you like thrillers with lots of tactical maneuvering, danger, and seemingly-impossible-to-survive-lone-man scenarios, this is definitely the book for you!
The setting of this book adds a lot to the story. It takes place largely in Montana near Matthew’s ranch. He’s been living there with his wife and their infant son, trying to get away from it all. But ‘it all’ finds him when a federal prison transport is attacked and the prisoner is killed. A prisoner who had confessed a lot of secrets to Matthew. He knows they need to silence him next.
Read my full review to get a few more plot details and to see what my main criticism of the book is.
2. Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
Genre: Rom-Com
I read one chapter of this book and realized this was not going to be the book for me— another Did Not Finish.
I give four reasons for why in my full review and some caveats for how I recommend or do not recommend this book to others.
3. Some Like It Scot by Pepper Basham
Genre: Rom-Com/ Christian Fiction
[Fulfilled ‘A book that could be associated with Adele’s album 25’ prompt (Remedy) as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025]
“Home. We’re all trying to find it. Sometimes it’s a place. Sometimes it’s a person. Sometimes it’s both.”
“The very real fear lay between wanting to believe in the beauty but seeing only the brokenness. Maybe that beauty was worth being brave for.”
When I realized that Check & Mate wasn’t going to be for me, I pivoted to a different rom-com— Some Like It Scot. I had not read anything by Pepper Basham but I knew this would be a clean rom-com which is more my speed.
If you prefer your romance to be spicy and graphic, you won’t find that in this book, but there were definitely sparks. And I’m not the ‘swooning’ type but I imagine many moments in this book would qualify.
Katie Campbell is in Scotland on assignment for her traveling social media page— Miss Adventure— to participate in and showcase what is called the ‘Edwardian Experience’. Two weeks in an old period mansion immersed in the Edwardian era dress, food, culture, and traditions.
Traveling has been her drug, her coping mechanism after losing a sister at a young age and dealing with an unstable family life.
Being in Scotland has awakened in Katie many emotions of her deceased Scottish grandparents and the potential ‘home’ that has seemed all too elusive.
Of course, the attention of a ‘hot Scot’ may have stoked that fire a little bit as well.
Read my full review to see the things I liked and didn’t like, get my take on the negative reviews people have left and get my ultimate recommendation.
4. Nobody’s Fool (Detective Sami Kierce #2) by Harlan Coben
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
“[Fulfilled ‘A book by an author who has written more than 25 books’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025]
“Did it all go wrong the moment I saw you?”
This was a really good, fast-paced thriller. I read it in two days, somehow. But I’m not surprised because I’ve always liked Harlan Coben’s books. And I haven’t read one in awhile so it was fun to get back to one of his.
In Nobody’s Fool, Kierce is a bit of a disgraced police officer, thrown off the force for a mistake on a different case. He spends some of his time teaching a somewhat ‘off the books’ criminology class to an eclectic bunch.
It’s in one of these classes that his past comes back to haunt him. A woman shows up that looks an awful lot like a girl he had a fling with in Spain on a backpacking trip many years ago. A girl he thought he had killed. Well… killed as in: he woke up from a drug and alcohol infused night to see her dead beside him and his hands covered in blood.
This shocking cameo (and then quick departure) sends Kierce on a new mission— to find her and find out what happened to her all those years ago.
You can read my full review to get a comment and recommendation on the fact that this is a sequel to a book written a long time ago, see what I liked and didn’t like, and get a content advisor.
5. The Other Sister by Jessica R. Patch
Genre: Thriller/ Christian Fiction
[Fulfilled ‘A book published in 2025’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2025]
“I assumed I was walking into a happily-ever-after, but now… now I can’t help but think I might have walked into a horror film.”
Gasp. That was intense! What a brilliantly crafted thriller!
I loved this book. Although it had dark themes, I thought Patch did a great job shaping it into a redemption story and bringing the light into the darkness (just like she did with The Garden Girls). And the twists were spot on! I did suspect some of them, but there were also ones I didn’t see coming!
Charlotte has been in and out of foster homes due to her mother’s drug addiction. When her mother dies of overdose, Charlotte receives a box of her mother’s things, including the surprising knowledge that Charlotte has an identical twin.
Charlotte finds and contacts her twin, Acelynn, to meet up with her in Chicago, but when they’re together, things go bad fast and Charlotte witnesses the murder of not only a friend but also Acelynn. Her only escape route now is to lay low at Acelynn’s house, using her funds to help her find a more permanent way to disappear.
But of course, she is spotted and forced to fess up to her true identity or play the part of Acelynn until she can figure a way out. Charlotte’s own sketchy past has given her the skills to pull it off.
But instead of a dream life, it’s a nightmare. There’s a serial killer on the loose nearby and apparently Acelynn was in a bit of a mess before she went to Chicago.
Read my full review for more plot details and some notes and discussion on the ‘dark’ themes of this book.
6. All We Thought We Knew by Michelle Shocklee
Genre: Historical Fiction/ Christian Fiction
[Fulfilled ‘A book with or about cancer’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2025 Reading Challenge]
“There are things you need to know. To understand. Our family… it isn’t what you’ve always believed.”
This book is a dual time period historical fiction that explores war-related challenges in both WWII and the Vietnam War.
I have some mixed feelings about this one. Overall I enjoyed reading it and it gave me some things to think about. However, after I finished it and was reflecting on the story I realized I felt a little underwhelmed. What I read was good, but I think I wanted a little bit more.
Also the ending wasn’t as dramatic as I was hoping for.
This is a dual timeline historical fiction novel that follows two women, juxtaposing WWII and the Vietnam War at a horse farm in Tennessee. The title fuses these two lives together as both women think they know certain things about war or prisoners or soldiers or even their own family, but then they come to find that there is more for them to learn.
Check out my full review to get more plot details, see which character I didn’t like, and get my discussion on the existence of God and the problem of evil, a struggle on of the women is going through.
7. Keep in Step with the Spirit by J.I. Packer
Genre: Theology
“If you were accused of honoring the Holy Spirit, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
Lots to glean from these pages as is typical of Packer’s books! Definitely one that would benefit from multiple readings if you can.
Unfortunately, I think that this book may not be as accessible as some of his others like Knowing God. I think many that begin to read might not stick with it. It’s definitely one you can’t read distracted. Even when I was really focused there were parts that I had to reread a few times to grasp.
Hopefully my (long… whoops!) review can help those who wish to read it— offer some framework and highlight some of his main points you can filter the book through.
If this book interests you at all, read my full review because I offer a lot more information on what he talks about, but the main gist is that he discusses the role of the Holy Spirit and some often misguided theology surrounding who the Spirit it and how he works in our life. He also describes and critiques the charismatic movement (speaking in tongues, healing, prophecy, etc).
An often controversial subject, Packer writes this book with much grace and charity and I don’t think an honest reading of this book would make him any enemies.
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