My Month Is Booked: March 2026

Welcome to the My Month is Booked linkup! I accidentally DNF’ed a book (No New Things) this month because my phone was glitching and I returned it early, so I may go back and finish that one later this year, h haha.

My Month Is Booked: March 2026

I have an eclectic mix of mystery, historical fiction, sci-fi, and non-fiction from last month!

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Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz – Set in a near-future San Francisco Bay Area where a group of service bots in an abandoned ghost kitchen take over their own delivery app account to earn their own living + make the tastiest hand-pulled noodles in the city.

This was a sci-fi novella (163 pages) recommended to me by a friend I made at the craft retreat I went to last month! :] I listened to it as an audiobook and the narrators did a great job with bringing life to the different characters. It is a commentary on the country’s treatment towards minorities/immigrants + touches on some dark topics, but manages to do it in a fairly lighthearted way (all things considered) + leaves you with feeling hope rather than despair, so that was definitely welcomed given how current world events are going…

Anatomy of an Alibi, by Ashley Elston – Camille Bayliss seems to live a charmed life, but things aren’t what they seem — she believes her husband Ben has been hiding something for years but can’t find proof because he tracks her every move. Aubrey Price has been haunted for years and is convinced Camille’s husband knows more about it than he lets on…so the two hatch a plan — for 12 hours, Aubrey will take Camille’s place so Camille can spy on Ben + they can get the answers they’re looking for. But when Ben is found murdered the next morning, they both need an alibi, and only one of them has one.

I’d heard great things about this one, so I was looking forward to reading it! There were a lot of characters to keep track of, but the twists/turns did throw me for a loop, and the final twist was definitely not what I expected/would’ve guessed (not sure how I feel about said twist), but overall it was an entertaining read (listened to it as an audiobook, but I finished it pretty quickly since I wanted to know what would happen!).

Heavenbreaker, by Sara Wolf – Synali is the bastard daughter of the duke of a noble house who is hellbent on revenge and destroying said house after her father orders for an assassin to kill her and her mother. In this world, the noble houses send representatives to ride enormous machines to joust against others, so she joins forces with a mysterious stranger and they make a deal — for each tournament she wins, another one of her enemies will die.

Where to start with this one…I wanted to like this book more than I actually did — the title sounded cool, the cover is beautiful (but makes no sense after reading the book), the premise sounded so promising, and the world sounded so interesting…but the main character is absolutely insufferable. I know the main character often gets plot armor, but there’s only so much suspension of disbelief I can muster. It’s marketed as romantasy and I wish it wasn’t (there was no romance and it’s difficult to see why the MMC is at all attracted to her :’). This would be better classified as sci-fi, maybe. Despite everything I just wrote, I did finish the book because I wanted to know what happened, so I guess there is that.

All the Forgivenesses, by Elizabeth Hardinger – Set in the early 1900’s, 15yo Albertina (“Bertie”) is the eldest daughter in a family of 9 — when her mother passes away, she is tasked with raising her 4 younger siblings while dealing with her unreliable alcoholic father.

I actually started this book a longggg time ago but it took me a while to finish it.  It’s written well, but I think you may need to be in a certain mood/headspace to be able to read it. Although it’s not quite as dark as Demon Copperhead, it’s somewhat reminiscent because it’s also of the trials and tribulations of someone growing up in rural Appalachia. I think this would be a good choice to discuss at a book club.

A Letter from the Lonesome Shore, by Sylvie Cathrall – The conclusion to The Sunken Archive duology — this follows E. and Henerey’s life as they adapt to living in a mysterious underwater city and come to terms with the fact that they may never return home. 1.5 years later, Sophy and Vyerin discover an Entry point brings them closer to finding their siblings again, but an ancient threat also looms near as well.

I read the 1st book in this series back in August of last year, so some of the details were fuzzy but came right back. I would not recommend reading this one as a standalone. I felt the first book made more sense with the  plot with the letters being sent back and forth — this one felt more forced + it didn’t feel like a whole lot happened until maybe the last 25% of the book.

The Vagina Bible, by Dr. Jen Gunter – Dr. Jen Gunter is an OB/GYN physician + this book delves into everything from the vaginal microbiome and what changes to expect during pregnancy/after childbirth/through menopause  to breaking down the science/research (or lack thereof) behind the different (often-harmful) trends out there on the “vaginal health/hygiene” products/treatments out there.

This has been on my to-read list for ages mainly because I thought it’d be a really great resource to help me counsel my patients on all things women’s health and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. I honestly feel like this should be required reading — it dispels so much misinformation + myths that’s frankly pretty harmful/predatory.  Since that’s unlikely to ever happen though (maybe it can be recommended reading in medical school though!?), I would recommend this to anyone with a vagina. I listened to this as an audiobook but I do actually own this book too and will be going through + taking notes because she breaks things down in such a palatable way; I really feel the care I provide to some of my patients will improve just from reading this book alone (I should’ve read it sooner, but better late than never). She has 2 other books that I also own + plan to read later on this year!

• Do you have any books you’ve been meaning to read for a while that you haven’t gotten around to yet? Since I have hundreds of books in my TBR, I made a “TBR shortlist” (a TBR list within a TBR, if you will) for the books I definitely want to try to get to/finish this year.
• Have you read any books that took place near/around where you live?