Team Owlcrate Books Of The Month: What We Read In March 2024

In Bad Cree we follow McKenzie, a Cree woman who has fled to Vancouver to escape the grief of the untimely death of her sister.

When McKenzie dreams of the night of her sister's death, she starts waking up carrying disturbing items. Needing to face what is happening, she returns to her rural hometown where she reconnects with her family to figure out what dangers have been lurking in their dreams.

This is a horror that had me gripped from chapter one, but it also is a wonderful exploration of family, community, grief and exploitation.

I didn't know anything about this book going in except that everyone I know who has read it has rated it highly, and I see why.

This is a dark tale of a man on death row, hours from execution, whose story is told through the eyes of the women he has encountered throughout his life. This story isn't so much about the man, but about how he changed the life of others. This book will haunt me for a long time.

Jordan, from Team OC recommended this series to me a while ago. I finally decided to give it a try and I’m so glad I did! It has a bit of a Hunger Games vibe, along with some teen adventure and very light romance elements. If you are like me and find the whole subject of death intriguing, this might be for you too.

Set in a utopian future (or dystopian depending on your point of view) in a world with no struggles, hunger, war or death, scythes are the only ones who can end a person’s life and they must do so to control the size of the population. The story begins when two teens are chosen to become scythe apprentices.

I will say that the end didn’t feel like an end to me, but no spoilers so I will leave it at that!

A slightly steampunk fantasy meets Sherlock Holmes mystery with laugh-out-loud humour? This book delivers on it all, with a healthy dose of unique, well developed world building. I can’t wait for you to all meet Bennett’s answer to Sherlock Holmes - the sharp tongued, acerbic Ana.

Large family dramas are my literary catnip, added bonus if they centre around a family-run restaurant! Even though this is a shorter novel, with multi-POV, Lange delivers on all the dysfunctional family dynamics and well developed characters. Ultimately hopeful, lighthearted, and an ending that is ripe for book club picking, I really enjoyed my time with the Brennan clan. 

Buddy read this YA Fantasy, dystopian with Korrina! Here's the blurb: She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting. He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be. Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.

The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites’ powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.

Adult spicy urban paranormal fantasy - Ali Hazelwood did it again! A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.

Spicy, wholesome, cowboy romances, I can't wait for the next book in the series, but I have to wait until November (SOBBING!)

She's off -limits, but he's never been good at following the rules... For the first time in her life, Clementine 'Emmy' Ryder has no idea what she's doing. She's accomplished everything on her to-do list. She left her small hometown of Meadowlark, Wyoming, went to college, and made a career for herself by doing her favorite riding horses. But after an accident makes it impossible for her to get back into the saddle, she has no choice but to return to the hometown she always wanted to escape.

Luke Brooks is Meadowlark's most notorious bad boy, bar owner, and bachelor. He's also the unofficial fifth member of the Ryder family. As Emmy's older brother's best friend, Luke spent most of his childhood antagonizing her. It's been years since he's seen her, but when she walks into his bar and back into his life, he can't take his eyes off her. Against his better judgment, he wants to do a whole lot more than just look at her.

As things between Emmy and Brooks heat up, it gets more difficult for him to keep his hands off of her. Can he help her get her spark back? Or will they both go up in flames?

It takes a lot for me to feel truly scared when I am reading a book, and Nightwatching takes the cake as one of the most intense reading experiences I've ever had. In short, the story is about a woman who is at home with her 2 sleeping children when she realizes that there is someone else in their house, and it is definitely not her husband. What follows is a terrifying experience as she tries to hide herself and her children from this intruder, while also trying to figure out who this man is and why he is at their house that night.