It’s been a busy couple weeks as I’ve been finishing up Christmas presents and getting ready for the holidays, so my apologies for a brief lack of posts. I usually always have a “write night” with friends (my D&D group, actually) every Wednesday night, which is when I usually write posts for here, but that hasn’t happened because of the holidays as well. You know how December goes! Well, I have plenty of post ideas on the backburner, but very little time or energy right now to flesh them out, so let’s do a quick round-up of books I’ve been reading recently instead!
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| Poison Study, Magic Study, and Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder |
First up, we’ve got the Chronicles of Ixia series by Maria V. Snyder: Poison Study, Magic Study, and Fire Study. This is the original trilogy, although more have been added to the series/world since its initial plans. However, these are the three I read in 2012, and have been saying all year that I wanted to re-read them. Because here’s the thing: I recommend them constantly, but my little goblin brain could not remember why the series is such a good read. It just lives in my brain as one! So I wanted to read them again so I could more accurately recommend them. I’ll probably do a full review once I finish Fire Study (I’ve just started that one), but suffice it to say, they’re just as good as I remembered. Poison Study itself is a solid 5 star read. (Magic Study unfortunately suffers a bit of middle child syndrome as trilogies tend to do, but is still very good as well.) And look at these gorgeous new covers! When I saw this edition in the store, I just had to have them.
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| Assistant to the Villain and Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer |
Okay, to be truthful, these have been shelved for “will pick back up after the holidays.” I started listening to the audiobook of Assistant to the Villain and LOVED the story, but could not stand the narrator, so I picked up the print copies at the store a few weeks ago… and haven’t touched them since. Oops! So it goes. But I’m looking forward to diving back in in January. What I did read (or listen to) was very funny, and it seems to give us that morally grey villain that we all want to cheer for. I can’t wait to see what happens!
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| The Prince and the Dressmaker, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, and Heartstopper volume 1 |
A stack of graphic novels from the library! I asked a friend for recommendations for another friend, and upon looking them up, I was intrigued by these. I haven’t read The Prince and the Dressmaker yet, but I loved Heartstopper (I’ve now got volume 2 checked out), and while I definitely wasn’t the target audience for Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, I think it’s a good story and important reading for the target audience (young adults), as it deals with toxic relationships. So I’ll definitely be recommending it at the library for teen readers!
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| In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae |
In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae was a really cute sapphic holiday romance. I got to meet the author a couple weeks ago, and she was just as funny and delightful as this book. It was the perfect read leading up to Christmas, and hit all the right notes for me personally.
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| Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey |
Side note for this picture: artificial trees are not as good at holding up books, even light paperback ones, as real trees are. Lesson learned!
Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey is, unfortunately, just not it for me. Some of it is just that I’m not the right audience for it (it’s very smutty, something this author is apparently known for, but I had no idea) and some of it is just… it’s not very Christmas-y. But that’s why I picked it up, because I was promised a holiday romcom from its cover and blurb! It’s set in December but pretty much nothing has to do with Christmas, other than the culminating event taking place on Christmas Eve. I’m invested in the non-romance plot and want to know what happens with that (and unfortunately my sister couldn’t remember lol), so that’s why I’m still reading, but… I’m 75% of the way through and can say with confidence that it is not a book for me. But it does make me once again ask that question that’s always been in my mind as a demisexual: do allosexual people really think about sex and body parts that much? I always thought that was an exaggeration! (That’s not rhetorical. If you feel you’re on the higher end of the allo to asexual spectrum, please let me know the answer!)
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| Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson |
I had been hearing about Brandon Sanderson for a while in fantasy circles, and I figured, as a lifelong fantasy fan, I really should check him out. Unfortunately for Mistborn, it’s going on my DNF shelf… for now. Honestly, I’m probably going to return it to the library and then buy my own copy for reading later. The thing is, I’m really enjoying what I’ve read, I just… don’t want to read it right now. It happens! I have so many other books on my TBR shortlist right now that I just don’t want to get pulled into an almost 700 page book that’s only the first of a series. But one day I will! I’m pretty sure, from what I’ve read, that I’ll really like the book/series when I do read it… but it’s for another time.
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| We by Yevgeny Zamyatin |
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is an incredibly important book that I think everyone should read. I studied it in college, and I’ve read it since, but a friendly argument with my brother-in-law about this versus 1984 made me realize that I didn’t remember details anymore. I started re-reading it in August but put it down because it was too depressing with *gestures vaguely* the state of the world, but I’m determined to pick it back up and finish it before the year ends. (But of course, then that means I have to re-read 1984 because my side of the argument was that We is better and 1984 has large parts ripped directly from this book.)
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| A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston |
And, finally, I recently listened to the audiobook of A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston. I didn’t love it as much as I loved The Dead Romantics, but that’s hard to beat and it was still a very enjoyable read. Storygraph review here. I’m looking forward to reading her other novel in this “world”, The Seven Year Slip, once I whittle down my TBR pile a bit. (Actually, it’s an 18 week wait on Libby, so I’ll just go ahead and put that on hold now…) I think my biggest disappointment with A Novel Love Story is that the font is a very 60s/70s font and, as an aficionado of that era, I was let down that the story had absolutely nothing to do with it. (Okay, maybe it was a nod to Love Story, which came out in the 70s, but… that’s a very loose connection if so.) Fonts matter on cover designs, people!
Okay, that’s all for this round-up! I really need to do these more often so they’re not as long, but oops! As always, if you’re interested in knowing what I’m reading in real-time or want shorter reviews that I might not necessarily put up here, you can follow me on Storygraph or Goodreads.
On a different note, I’m starting a new job at a different library in January, so there may be some juggling of my schedule while I get settled, but I’m very excited for it! And the fact that it’s only 12 minutes away from my local bookstore. Thankfully I’m also making a lot more money than at my current job, so… those two facts will even out, right? Right?
