Category: Weekly Blog

I have been in the longest reading slump these last few months where I have essentially only been reading what I absolutely had to for book club at work. Thankfully, this week I busted that slump and got a ton of reading done. I started the week with a few days off and that certainly helped a ton.

Sunday, September 10th

I finished Fierce Fairytales: Poems and Stories to Stir Your Soul by Nikita Gill. I’m not normally into poetry collections, but this one ended up in my online book cart a few years ago after watching a vlog from Books and Lala on YouTube. While I didn’t connect with every entry in the collection, there were several that I thoroughly enjoyed. My overall rating was 3/5 stars.

Once I finished that collection I started Advika and the Hollywood Wives by Kirthana Ramisetti. I picked this one up from Book of the Month earlier in the year because I loved this author’s debut, Dava Shastri’s Last Day, which I rated 5 stars. I got about halfway through Advika’s story on this first day. It’s the story of a young woman who dreams of being a screenwriter and takes work on the fringes of Hollywood to pay her bills. One night while bartending at an awards show after party, she gets hit on by an older, very successful producer who sweeps her off her feet. The story progresses from there with a very interesting premise. I liked the beginning of this book, but it had started to drag slightly by the midpoint.

Monday, September 11th

I finished Advika and the Hollywood Wives today. This book addresses a lot of topics related to manipulation and problematic relationships. Reading those parts of the story was difficult for me. The story also focuses a lot on friendship and grief and following your dreams when they get difficult and those parts are the reason that I kept going with this story. I ultimately rated it 3/5 stars and would still recommend it to others. This may have just been an issue with me and my headspace around those types of relationships.

After finishing that one, I started By the Book by Jasmine Guillory. This is from the Meant to Be series that sees big name authors taking on fairy tale retellings. This particular retelling was a modern take on Beauty and the Beast. This was a nice, light and fluffy romance palette cleanser after the last book. I ended up finishing it the same day and rated it 4/5 stars.

Tuesday, September 12th

Sadly, this was the day my vacation ended and I spent the day packing and driving home, so I didn’t get to do any reading (my traveling partner doesn’t do audiobooks).

Wednesday, September 13th

After lamenting that it was back to reality this day, I decided to take advantage of my return to reading and hit up the library for some more titles. I picked up and quickly flew through Ben Hatke’s new graphic novel for kids, Things in the Basement. I really enjoyed the art style and the layered nuances behind the story. It’s about a little boy whose mom just had twins. He’s feeling a little left out but also feeling the new pressures of responsibility. They have moved to a new house that has a scary basement. When his mom asks him to go down to the basement to try and find a missing sock for one of his new siblings, he has to face his fears. The basement holds all sorts of scary things…but also secrets and adventures? There are so many things that can scare you as a child, and I really appreciated how those fears were validated and also resolved in the this story. Highly recommend even though I wasn’t the target audience. 3/5 stars.

Thursday, September 14th

I began reading a new book today that I picked up because I was hoping to convince my book club to try something new. They don’t typically gravitate towards sci-fi, but the summary for this one sounded humorous. The book is called The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis. Willis is an award-winning sci-fi author, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I got to page 36 on the first day and it definitely throws you into the story early.

I also started listening to The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer because my audiobook hold came in on Libby. I listened on my commute and determined that this was going to be too emotional for me to listen to. I returned the audiobook and put myself on hold for the physical copy. I normally listen to mysteries or thrillers on my commute, things that aren’t going to make me cry. When I’m already stuck in traffic, I don’t need another reason to get emotional.

Friday, September 15th

I finished The Road to Roswell today. This ended up being very funny and fun to read. There’s very little serious sci-fi here. It’s a book that takes some of the most well-known tropes about the sci-fi community and UFOs and runs wild with it. This book name drops every alien movie I’ve ever heard of and several that I haven’t as well as a ton of Westerns. The characters were incredibly lovable and it takes a different approach to first contact than I have ever read before. We are following a young woman named Francie who is headed to Roswell to serve as the maid of honor at her college roommate’s UFO-themed wedding. Her friend is marrying a true believer and Francie is secretly hoping that she can talk her friend out of it. When she gets there, the town of Roswell is getting ready to celebrate their annual UFO festival, marking the anniversary of the infamous crash and cover-up. There has also been a reported new sighting just outside of town and all of the UFO-enthusiasts are losing it over that. When Francie finds herself kidnapped and ordered to serve as the getaway driver for an actual alien, the story really gets started. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to convince my book club to pick this one up, but I’m really glad that I did. 5/5 stars

Saturday, September 16th

I started reading Three Fires by Denise Mina. This is a slim historical fiction novel that focuses on the story of the Bonfire of the Vanities and Girolamo Savanarola in 15th century Italy. I got to page 58 this first day. This is another title that I picked up to pre-read for a potential book club pick. It’s a very short novel and a new release from Mina. I’ve only read one previous title from Denise Mina, Conviction, which I rated 3/5 stars. Looking at her backlist, she rarely writes the same style of book twice, so I’m not expecting any parallels between my previous read and this one.

Goals for the week: Start and finish at least 2 books.

Mon 2/22: I finished The Ravens tonight. I enjoyed it enough to give it 4 stars, but I will say that I guessed one of the twists pretty early on. It was a while before I got confirmation, but it didn’t diminish how much I enjoyed reading this book. If this author team writes something else, or even continues with these characters and makes this a series, I will definitely be picking it up.

I’m not sure what I’ll be picking up next. I’ve got a lot of books out from the library but nothing is calling to me at the moment.

Tue 2/23: I started reading Sustainable Thinking: Ensuring Your Library’s Future in an Uncertain World by Rebekkah Aldrich. I’m going to have to return it to the library sooner than planned, but I’ll definitely be getting it back soon to finish.

Wed 2/24: I needed a lighthearted audiobook, so I started listening to Daphne & Velma: The Vanishing Girl by Josephine Ruby, which is a Scooby Doo retelling/continuation/I don’t know how to categorize this. It gives me all of the nostalgia vibes though.

I also started reading Two Truths and a Lie by Ellen McGarrahan. I heard about it on the All the Books podcast from BookRiot and had to wait a few weeks for my library hold to come in. It’s a true crime memoir…sort of. It’s told from the perspective of a female private investigator, but the case she looks into is one that she only has a tangential relationship to. It’s different and the writing style is a little stunted, at least in the first few pages. I’m hooked though.

Thu 2/25: I made some progress in Two Truths and a Lie today. I’m about 1/3 of the way through the book at this point. I’m hooked, but uncertain about where this is going.

Fri 2/26: For the first time in a long time today, I spent 90% of my lunch break reading. I had to know what happened in Two Truths and a Lie. The pacing goes back and forth between breakneck speed and seemingly useless rehashing of what she knows. It can be a little frustrating to read, but when she starts down a new road, I want to know what happens.

Sat 2/27: I finished Two Truths and a Lie today. Overall, I put the story at a 3 star read for me. I really liked the story of the crime and I appreciated the amount of work she put in to trying to find out the truth, but the writing just let me down. She used a lot of short choppy sentences and the writing felt like reading stream of consciousness at times. She also used a repetitive structure throughout that I felt kept taking me out of the story.

I started reading Good Girl, Bad Blood today after I finished the McGarrahan book. I only made it to the 9% mark in the audiobook, but I’m liking it so far. It is the sequel to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and picks up very soon after that book left off. I am struggling a little bit to remember some of the characters from the first book, even though I only read it a few months ago.

Sun 2/28: I finished Good Girl, Bad Blood today. I really appreciated how much emotional depth the main character experiences in this story. I have to admit that I wasn’t as crazy about the first book, but after finishing this one, I will definitely be continuing on with the series (which is slated to be 4 books total). I compare this series to Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious series, because it is a YA mystery with a teenaged female protagonist with an obsessive interest in true crime. I still feel Truly Devious is the stronger of the two series, but they’re both worth a read if you like YA mystery/thrillers.

Goals for the week: Finish The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor and The Future is Yours by Dan Frey.

I had a slight breakdown in record-keeping this week, so some days don’t have much or anything recorded. No worries, I’ve got a less hectic week planned for next week and should return to the regularly scheduled updates.

For now, here’s what I remember:

I made some progress throughout the week on The Burning Girls. This is the third book that I’ve read by C.J. Tudor in the last 12 months and I feel like each one of them has had a really awkward scene involving an attempted sexual assault that doesn’t quite jive with the rest of the book. It makes me view the book differently when it comes to recommendations and I don’t feel like it’s pivotal to the development of the story. At least it hasn’t been so far…

I also broke my book buying ban this week. I picked up the complete Themis Files series by Sylvain Neuvel. I read the first book a few weeks ago and really loved it. I feel like it is a good investment in the series in the long haul. I also picked up 2 cozy mysteries from Jenn McKinlay, another author whom I have read from and enjoyed before. I might be willing to change the parameters of the book buying ban to include only works that I have read or authors that I have read from before. I still want to support authors and their work even though I do want to reign in the number of unread books on my TBR.

On Sunday I finished Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth. I wasn’t sure what to expect from my first return to this author post-Divergent series, but this book really delivered. There are some parallels to her writing in the Divergent series, and despite the fact that this book is in the New Adult category, I still think it reads pretty YA. Yes, the characters are in the early twenties, but they’re still dealing with the same things developmentally that teens would and we spend a lot of time in the book looking back at the main character’s childhood and teenager-hood. That being said, I enjoyed this book. I gave it 3 stars and felt that it ended well. Goodreads seems to indicate that it might be the start of a series, and I’m not sure that I think that is necessary. The first book ties up loose ends and I don’t know that we need a continuation to this story.

Technically, I only finished one book this week, which is a little off, but it’s been an emotionally tough week for a couple of different reasons. As is true with everything, some weeks will be better than others.

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.

Hello Readers! Does January feel like it has actually been 2 months long to anyone else?

Goals for the week: Finish The Survivors by Jane Harper and The Project by Courtney Summers and get reviews up for both. Make progress on Medievalathon TBR.

Mon 1/25: Today I got from the 11% mark on The Survivors to the 31% mark. It is really excellent so far and the only thing that stopped me from getting further was pure exhaustion. There’s something about Jane Harper’s writing that sucks me in every time. The mysteries are slow and intricate and she writes small town life really well.

I also started listening to Robin Hobbs’ Assassin’s Apprentice today on my commute. I needed a short break from the cozy mysteries and this book has been on my radar for a while. It’s a good start and the narrator is reminding me a little bit of the narrator from The Name of the Wind.

Tue 1/26: Not a ton of progress to report today, but I did get to the 60% mark on The Survivors. I also remembered that in addition to the e-galley of this book, I have the physical copy. This is the first time in my life that this has happened to me, where I had an e-copy of a book and forgot that I had the physical copy. In fairness, I requested the e-galley a long time before I knew that the book was going to be featured as an early release from Book of the Month.

I think I know where the story might be going at this point, but I find that I really don’t mind. I appreciate the red herrings that have been thrown our way so far, but this is Jane Harper we’re talking about, and I wouldn’t put it past her to double back on a previous suspect.

Wed 1/27: Lol, I was so wrong about the ending to The Survivors. I had it completely wrong, but the book was so good. I’m giving it 4.5 stars. It’s not my favorite of her works, but I still loved it (The Lost Man is my favorite, for the record). A solid mystery all around and I’ll be passing along my copy ASAP.

Since I finished that e-galley today, I went ahead and started The Project by Courtney Summers. I’ve only ever read Sadie by her before, but it was a dark and unexpected mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed. It has one of the only ambiguous endings that I have ever found satisfying. All that I know about The Project going into it is that it potentially has something to do with a cult. I made it to the 10% mark today and it is reading really fast even though it doesn’t seem like much is happening right now. It does that thing where you start out with a scene from the past that doesn’t make a ton of sense right away but you just know is going to be important later on.

Thu 1/28: I read very little today. Pure exhaustion. It’s just the nature of my work sometimes. Everyone thinks that librarians just sit around all day reading books, but my job is way more complicated than that, and it comes with all of the joys and challenges that any job working with the public can have. In any case, I literally only read 1% more of The Project today and I have made it to the 22% mark listening to Assassin’s Apprentice.

Fri 1/29: Today was a pretty good reading day. I made it to the 18% mark in The Project, and I feel confident that I’ll get it finished over the weekend. They’re predicting a good bit of rain for us over the next two days and I am fully prepared to hunker down with my sweatpants and a variety of tea for some literary therapy.

I’m now 38% of the way through Assassin’s Apprentice and I am seriously considering breaking my book buying ban already because I can just tell that I am going to love this series. The complaints that I had heard from people about the slow pacing haven’t bothered me yet. To me, it’s all interesting even if it isn’t necessarily thrilling. Plus, the U.K. editions of this book are nice looking. I wish the new hardback special releases weren’t so expensive. If I’m going to break my ban this soon, I’m definitely not going to be spending $40 per book. I’m doing that thing where I put the books in my cart and then sit back and think about it for a day or two. I don’t see this ending well.

Sat 1/30: I finished Assassin’s Apprentice today and I’m happy to report that it was a 5 star read for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the deep dive that we get with the character of Fitz and the ending had me riveted. There is so much political intrigue in this book, much of it that Fitz himself doesn’t understand, and it makes for a really expansive reading experience. Also, I really enjoyed the little vignettes at the beginning of each chapter that provided information about the world and its lore. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series and hope to get my hands on it soon. I didn’t end up purchasing the book series…yet, but I still really want to.

I also managed to squeeze in a graphic novel late this evening. I read Kieron Gillen’s Once & Future Vol. 2, which is a bind-up of issues #7-12. Once & Future is a graphic novel that is an Arthurian legend retelling. It imagines King Arthur as a more sinister figure who has been re-animated (think zombie) in modern times with the goal of collecting his lost knights and attaining the power for world domination. My favorite thing about this series is the character of Gran. She’s a demon-fighting Granny who lives in a retirement home but seems to have caches of weapons pretty much everywhere. She is instructing her grandson in how to fight mystical beings but their relationship has been strained by all of the secrecy her life has required. It’s a gory, but really great series.

Sun 1/31: The only reading that I did today was to start Anna James’ The Lost Fairy Tales. It’s one of the books on my Medievalathon TBR and I wanted to get started on it since the readathon ends on February 10th. I’m going to have to revamp the TBR for that one a little bit because I started listening to my “underrated book” The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness on audiobook and I really disliked it, so I’ll need to find a new book to replace that one.

Progress Report: I’ve finished 1 of the 2 books that I hoped to have read this week, but have made progress on the 2nd. I have also read 2 out of the 5 books for my Medievalathon TBR and started a 3rd. I’ve done a lot of reading this week overall and am closing out the first month strong, having made some progress on almost all of my 2021 reading goals.