Hello Readers! I can’t believe we’re already starting a new month! At this point, I’m just hanging in here and wishing for a snow day soon. February tends to be our best chance for snow where I’m from, but we’ve gone a few years without anything significant. Here’s hoping!
Goals for the week: Finish The Project by Courtney Summers. Start and finish The Future is Yours by Dan Frey and The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor.
Mon 2/1: No reading got done today. I don’t even have an audiobook picked out right now. Most unusual for me,
Tue 2/2: I started reading The Lost Fairytales by Anna James today. The writing puts me in a nostalgic state of mind, which is funny because I haven’t read the majority of the books that this series talks about. Maybe I should go back and read some of the classics like Anne of Green Gables and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Wed 2/3: I made it to the 37% mark in The Project today. It isn’t gripping me as quickly as Sadie did, despite the fact that it includes a cult, which is one of my favorite true crime things to read about.
Thu 2/4: I made it to the 67% mark in The Project. I’m really seeing the psychological aspects of the story come into play. This main character is a deeply flawed personality but she is definitely engaging at this point. The pace is picking up but the mystery is as clouded as ever. I can’t get a handle on what is really going on, but knowing how Summers writes, it’s definitely not going to be whatever I think it is.
Fri 2/5: Spent today prepping a report and just getting through the day. No reading whatsoever.
Sat 2/6: I finished The Project today in an unexpected burst of reading. It was really good. The twists are unpredictable and they really pile on at the end. I appreciate that we didn’t get the ambiguous ending that we did with Sadie (even though I liked that too). The closure was real, as was the deep impact of everything on the remaining characters.
I started reading this month’s Cozy Mystery Book Club pick: Crime and Punctuation by Kaitlyn Dunnett. I had never heard of this author before but she actually has well over 40 books to her name (including her other pen names). This is the first entry in her Deadly Edits series and I really like it so far. It reads a little more literary than most cozies do, like the story is being more carefully plotted. I also appreciate that we have an older character who is dealing with modern issues, like having to take on side work when her retirement income doesn’t cover her needs. She doesn’t come across as helpless or out of touch with the times either, even though she has certain preferences that may put her slightly off the modern mark.
I also started reading C.J. Tudor’s newest, The Burning Girls but had to take a break before I got too far into it in order to charge my Kindle. All I can tell thus far is that maybe there’s a hint of possession/exorcism vibes? I barely got started before I had to put it on the charger. For now, I think it’s a safe bet that I won’t be finishing this one this weekend or The Future is Yours for that matter.
Sun 2/7: I finished Crime and Punctuation today. It’s an easy read to get through and my opinion of the quality of the writing has not changed. It seems more elevated than a traditionally cozy mystery and I am a fan! I’ll definitely be continuing with the series.
I also finished The Lost Fairytales by Anna James. It slowed down a little in the middle for me, and having Tilly fight with her grandparents put me off a little. It really is starting to put me more in mind of the Series of Unfortunate Events series, where adults are sinister and largely making unfortunate decisions that have consequences for the children. Basically every time we meet a new adult character in this series, I become suspicious that they are up to no good.
Books Dani Likes 