It’s that time of the month! No, not that time. Whatcha Reading time!
Sarah: I’m currently reading Thank you For Listening by Julia Whelan ( A | BN | K | AB ) – and I’m doing an interview with her for the podcast, too!
Shana: I’m reading The Servant and the Gentleman by Annabelle Greene. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It’s a good reminder of why I like to give new-to-me authors a second chance. Because I hated the first book in the series and I love this one.
Claudia: I’m reading The Dawn of Everything, ( A | BN | K | AB ) and it’s sort of an anti “Big History” book that chips away the prevalent, too-linear narrative of how we got to live in our complex societies (early humans became farmers and herders blah blah). It’s very interesting.
Sneezy: I’m going through The Wave in the Mind by Ursula Le Guin. ( A | BN | K | AB ) It’s a collection of her talks and essays. The short pieces and her voice is very kind to my fried brain
A lot of yummy that you don’t need to remember linearly to enjoy more of. Plus if you forget the pieces you read earlier like me, you can enjoy them all over again for the first time
Sarah: Y’all. The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope is So Good so far. I’m about 25% in and it will be hard to stop reading when I have to Do Things.
Creepy slow menace, folk magic, and historical fiction details aplenty. If this were optioned and made into a miniseries it would be sublime.
Tara: My 10-year-old got me hooked on the Witch Hat Atelier manga series. I’m currently making grabby hands at my library, while I wait impatiently for book 9.
Sarah: I LOVE IT.
Tara: She was not impressed when I told her that there’s probably Qifrey/Olly fanfic and then proved myself right when she said it was impossible.
Sarah: No fanfic pairing is ever impossible. The world contains multitudes.
It’s kind of comforting the more I think about it, you know? No matter how out there the pairing is, someone else has shipped it, too.
Elyse: I just got my copies of Are You Sara by SC Lalli ( A | BN | K | AB ) and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. ( A | BN | K | AB ) Not sure which I will start first
Sarah: “…I don’t wanna work. I just wanna read all my books all day.”
Lara: I’m in the midst of Mimi Matthews’ The Belle of Belgrave Square. So far, I’m charmed! So much better for me than the first book in the series.
So, whatcha reading? Tell us below!
Sooo… I am a little late this time!
Upon recommendation at the same spot a few weeks ago, I dove into Rachel Ember’s LONG WINTER, SIGNS OF SPRING, BURNING SEASON and AS THE TALLGRASS GROWS. Enjoyed them, though I have a few small quibbles/question marks. I have to say about the first two, as heartbreaking as Lance’s childhood story was (and that did explain a lot), he was a little too passive for my taste, especially at the beginning. Also, would have loved to see him properly get his rights against his ex on page. Of the four books, I probably enjoyed Burning Season most, though it was heartbreaking to see by book four how the family fell apart and how Dylan lost connection with his family, and his brother basically being turned against him by grandpa. Still, I am asking myself, could the brother really let himself be influenced that much? As for Tallgrass, I still can’t quite understand how Johnny could let everything slide so much. And despite all the required secrecy, it wasn’t right that he never even said anything to Robbie as to why he left. And now, I am waiting for book five which will hopefully resolve those questions that are still open!
HUSBAND MATERIAL – Alexis Hall. Of course! I loved catching up with Luc and Oliver, though yes, all the conflict made me a little anxious. It’s also a bit episodic and the Bridget and Alex episodes felt a bit over the top at times. The ending worked for me – and made sense to me. As for Oliver and his brother, one could see what’s going on in book one already… I hope this will be worked out. According to Hall, there will be a third book in the series, so I hope this and other open ends will be resolved by then. But patience will be required!
Coming in a bit late to say that I am currently doing a full reread of the Hidden Legacy series in preparation for RUBY FEVER coming out next week, and I’m fully enjoying spending time in that world again. So far I’ve read BURN FOR ME and WHITE HOT and now am on WILDFIRE. In between I read MAKE ME WILDER by Serena Bell which was recommended by a few other commenters here. It was very cute and filled to the brim with sequel bait but did not make want to pick up the next one immediately. I also read an old Julie James that somehow had escaped from my TBR, ABOUT THAT NIGHT. Lately reading these FBI/US Attorney books involves some work on my part to put aside problematic questions about the current state of law enforcement and this one was no different (billionaire computer whiz commits massive cyberattack and ends up on some kind of house arrest that lets him live in his own penthouse and go out for an hour each day BY HIMSELF to go for a run….let’s not delve too deeply into that setup, shall we?) but the writing is so good that I thoroughly enjoyed the book even if sometimes it made me do what my BFF calls “the WTF head tilt.” And finally I read FLYING SOLO by Linda Holmes, since I read EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by that author last summer and enjoyed it. This one was just OK–it was trying very hard to have Extremely Witty Banter, sometimes at the expense of actual storytelling. Next up: more Hidden Legacy and I’m excited for HEARTBREAKER by Sarah MacLean releasing next week as well. I have some work travel coming up and hope they give me a few hours off to hide in the hotel room and read!