4/5 Stars: The Wicked King

This is my first full read of 2024 – there were a bunch of DNF books on my list, which I’ll write about a bit later, but this is the first one I just couldn’t put down.

This is the second book in the Folk of the Air series by Holly Black, and I was absolutely ready to continue the story of Jude, and her family. The book moved away from some of the teenage drama that we saw in the first (I was personally glad to see this) and into more politics – which I personally found refreshing.

This is one of those rare books where I couldn’t actually tell you what I thought the twists and turns of the plot would be or where they would end up – which is probably why I found it so fascinating, it has been a long time since a book enticed me in quite that way. Jude has done some growing up – she’s stronger, but she maintains her sense of loyalty at the same time.

Make sure you read the first book to the series before this one, they don’t work as stand alone books and brace your heart.

4/5 stars

2/5 Stars: The Inheritance Games

Another one of those books that I actually heard about on BookTok first, and decided to try out. I’m not sure why I thought the book would appeal to me but I decided to give it a go.

I enjoyed the writing style of this book. It was easy to read and beautiful – however. I absolutely did NOT enjoy the story, or the characters, at all.

“Traps upon traps… and riddles upon riddles”

There were no traps, no riddles. The book spent so much time focusing on drama between Avery and the other teenagers that sometimes I forgot what it was about. None of it made sense, and I didn’t enjoy the characters.

The dialogue didn’t hit any of the right notes with me, and the conclusion was underwhelming. I’m sure many others out there enjoy this read – but it was just not for me.

5/5 Star Review: Bookshops & Bonedust

I enjoyed reading Legends & Lattes, but I found the writing in this book had a much better flow, and it was easier for me to fall into the story. There’s a bit of romance, a little action, and of course who can forget Satchel. I’m obviously biased because the entire story takes place around books and a bookshop and everything about it just speaks to me on a personal level.

It’s such a pleasure to read these comfy cozy fantasy books. If I need a break from some heavier reads, Travis Baldree is an author I would absolutely lean towards. It may not be for everyone, you have to enjoy those light fluffy reads but I think if you go in not expecting too much, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

5/5 stars

2/5 Star Review: Master Your Emotions, By Thibaut Meurisse

I listened to this as an audiobook on YouTube, I’m pretty sure it was read by AI, which was pretty horrible, but I was determined to make my way through it. I also picked up a free copy on Amazon during a sale.

The author spends most of his time quoting others, and even says if you want to learn more you should go YouTube it. While I don’t think it was intentional, the tone was almost condescending, and there were plenty of groan-worthy moments. The ideas presented were simplistic in nature, so if you’re looking for a quick read (or listen) with basic ideas that you’ve probably already attempted on some scale, then look no further.

It also felt like there was a lot of repetition and confusion within the book. The author says ‘problems don’t exist’ and then also says ‘everybody has problems’. He talks over and over about how emotions are formed, how to be aware, how to let go, and how to deal with negative emotions – and is a bit all over the place with his ‘how to deal’ with aspects.

That being said, the book does have fairly high ratings over on Goodreads, sitting right now at 4.15 with 14,430 ratings. I’m not personally sure what those people saw in the book, but it really wasn’t for me.

2/5 stars

2023 Reading Challenge – Completed!

Ah goodness, I’ve fallen behind with this site – but I did manage to complete my GoodReads reading challenge for 2023, and I’ve read 20+ books! Here’s the list, and in the future expect a lot more reviews.

20. Bookshops & Bonedust – Travis Baldree (5/5)
19. (DNF) The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic – Breanne Randall (1/5)
18. Madly, Deeply the Diaries of Alan Rickman – Alan Rickman (5/5)
17. Age of Assassins – RJ Barker (3/5)
16. Cassiel’s Servant – Jacqueline Carey (5/5)
15. Village Witch – Cassandra Latham-Jones (4/5)
14. The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in life and Business – Charles Duhigg (2/5)
13. Her Mistletoe Cowboy – Liz Isaacson (3/5)
12. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario – Matt Dinniman (4/5)
11. Have I told you This Already?: Stories I don’t want to Forget to Remember – Lauren Graham (5/5)
10. The Complete Color Harmony, Pantone Edition – Leatrice Eiseman (5/5)
9. Buddhism for Beginners – Richard Johnson (3/5)
8. It Happened One Summer – Tessa Bailey (2/5)
7. Antony & Cleopatra – Adrian Goldsworthy (5/5)
6. Master Your Emotions – Thiabaut Meurisse (3/5)
5. Ikigai – Hector Garcia Puigcerver (2/5)
4. Homeland – R.A. Salvatore (5/5)
3. Love, Furballs & Forever – Karen Drew (2/5)
2. The Ivory Tomb – Melissa Caruso (5/5)
1. Book Lovers – Emily Henry (3/5)

I imagine a few more books will make the list before the end of 2023, but I’ll write about those as a ‘year end’ type of post. Over all, it was a pretty good year as far as books go. Some big winners and some not-so-great books, too. I think next year I’m going to aim for a higher goal. Maybe 10 more, or so. I really didn’t dedicate much time to books this year, and I want to change that for 2024. I also plan on tossing in a lot more audiobooks while I do things like knitting.

I am also currently participating in two beta reads, and I can’t wait to talk about them in the future, so watch this space!

Happy reading!

4/5 Stars: Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree

I picked up this book back in March on the recommendation of a friend, and I’m so glad I did. I didn’t intend on binge reading, but it was fantastic and exactly what I was looking for at the end of the day. The book had just enough action to keep me turning pages, and at a time where stress is everywhere, I felt like I could let go and relax a bit into Travis’ world. For a debut novel, Travis hit it out of the park, and I can’t wait to see where this takes him next.

We follow the story of Viv, an orc barbarian, who is trying to give up her heated battle forged ways and open a coffee shop. She (of course) comes up against trials and tribulations, and makes (and loses) some friends along the way. If you’re a fan of high fantasy worlds but want to see a lighter side, I highly recommend giving it a read.

4/5 Stars

Quiet, but Still Reading

I know it has been a while since I made a post here – but that doesn’t mean I’ve slowed down in the reading! My goal of 20 books read for 2021 is almost complete, and while it’s a far cry from the 50 books that I used to read pre-kids, it’s still something. I am a firm advocate for reading – period. It doesn’t matter what you’re reading, so long as you read. Comics, romance books, magazines, they all count in my eyes. I’m currently making my way through The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and I am absolutely loving it. I knew a bit of what to expect since I read (and loved) the Night Circus many years ago, and while this novel is a bit confusing (it involves many timelines that sort of merge into a central one) the world building is constantly what draws me in.

It’s exquisite, to put it bluntly. I always feel like the world is alive, that the author is able to create a flow that just speaks to me. Even if the story itself is something that I find difficult to follow along with, the writing is superb. I appreciate that.

2021 has been a particularly lucrative one as far as reading ‘good’ books goes (for me, personally). Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan was fantastic, and I had a great time reading The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso. I was able to delve into a handful of novellas by Martha Wells that were all great reads of their own merits, and the comic ‘Sunstone’ by Stjepan Šejić was beauty on every page.

I was also able to take some time to read some ‘just for me’ books, The Book of Hedge Druidry, by Joanna van der Hoeven, and The Witch’s Shield, by Christopher Penczak. While these books were not exactly what I was looking to find, it was nice to round out some knowledge and there were portions of each book that spoke to me.

My TBR pile keeps growing, and that’s always a great thing. Up next I’m hoping to read The Hidden Palace, by Helene Wecker (#2 to the Golem and the Jinni), and The Color of Dragons, by R.A. Salvatore and Erika Lewis. I even managed to read a few Canadian authors this year, something I attempt to remind myself of as often as I can. They’re not always books I completely enjoy, and I know that life is too shore to waste it reading bad books – but they don’t have to be 5 star reads in order for me to complete them and learn from them. I’ve branched out a little bit but of course there is always more room when it comes to reading. With any luck I’ll discover even more authors that I’ve never heard of who have gems to share with book worms like myself.

In any case, I’m sorry for the lack of posts. Some days are more difficult than others when it comes to reading (I’ve had to put my physical books away during multiple sclerosis relapse days because it is too painful to hold them) and sometimes it just slips my mind. That being said, books are (and have always been) an important part of my daily routine, even if blogging is not, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Review: Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan

I’ve never been one to write a review where I talk about the entire contents of a book because I really don’t want to spoil it for people. I know plenty of people who write those types of reviews, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them, but it’s just not my jam. I just wanted to put that out there.

When a book enters my TBR pile it usually happens one of three ways. One, a friend recommended it. Two, I read about it some place online. Three, I happened to be browsing ‘what should I read next’ lists or recommendations off of sites like StoryGraph or even here on GoodReads. ‘Age of Myth’ entered my pile from all three of these methods. I was searching for an epic fantasy book to read because I hadn’t read one for some time, and this one popped up on my feed. After I purchased the book I noticed that the back cover has a brief review from Mogsy over at the BiblioSanctum, who I adore and have been friends with for a number of years. We don’t always like the same books, but when she gives a 4.5/5 star review, I know it’s going to be a good read.

I was not disappointed at all with Age of Myth. It was everything I wanted – but not perfect. It was a book I found hard to put down, beautifully written (the world building is absolutely top notch) with a fascinating story. There are multiple story lines going at once, so if that’s something that doesn’t interest you, you might want to take a pass – on that same note, the stories do converge fairly early on, making it much easier to keep track of everyone.

Female protagonists, epic deities, a ‘big bad’ – and let me say that’s one thing that I actually think the book did not need. Further on you meet ‘a big bad’ on top of a few other ‘bads’ wandering around. You’ll know who I’m talking about when you meet him, and it is a very stereotypical ‘big bad’ and one that I think the book absolutely did not need. It felt a bit like HBO trying to force blood/gore/elicit emotion that I was already feeling before the ‘big bad’ even showed up. I’m not even sure their role was needed at all. I might be alone in that feeling, but it seemed unnecessary.

I finished this book within a week, it was that good. It was a great epic fantasy read, and exactly what I was hoping for. Thankfully the second book is already out, and I’m thinking of picking it up as an audio book because Tim Gerard does the reading and apparently it’s quite amazing.

5/5 stars

Goodreads Challenge – Progress Update

While I may not have been keeping up very well with the site, that doesn’t mean I haven’t managed to read a few books this year! I’m still hoping to get more detailed reviews up, but in the meantime this is what my 2018 GoodReads Challenge looks like. I really wish I were the type of person who could do audiobooks, but for some reason they continue to put me to sleep, no matter who the reader is or what I’m reading. If you have a suggestion for me about audiobooks I’d love to hear it! I feel like I could optimize my time better if I were listening along to a novel instead of just filling that space with xyz background noise.

One of my goals this year was to read books written by Canadian authors, and as you can tell by my list, I’ve managed a couple. My favourite would have to be American War, but there’s lots of time left in the year for that to change. I’ve been using CBC reads to find Canadian authors that I’ve never heard of before and so far it’s working out wonderfully.

I love branching out with my book genres and I hope I continue to find amazing new authors that I’ve never read before. What are you currently reading and how is your GoodReads challenge stacking up? I do hope to complete 50 books this year, but with a new baby on the way (due end of July) we’ll just have to see how things go.

Reading Challenge: 2018

I know, I have fallen behind in posting to this site for many months now, the last one being back in July 2016. I didn’t even write at all in 2017, even though I did read books. I can’t promise that I’ll be any better about it in the upcoming months but I do want to try. I set myself with a new reading challenge over on GoodReads for 2018, last year I managed 30 books which seemed a bit abysmal for someone who enjoys books as much as I do. Sure, things are busy, but even just a few minutes before bed can allow you to get some wonderful reading done.

So this year I’ve decided to aim higher, 50 books. 50 is what I would ‘typically’ read before having children, before moving to a new province, before my life became the complicated mess that it is these days. I am not sure if I’ll actually make it, but I am sure going to try. That’s approximately one book a week (give or take a few days) and so far I’ve managed two books for 2018. I don’t want to force myself, but on the other hand I don’t want to continue to fall so far behind, either.

Along with that new reading goal I decided that I wanted to read more Canadian authors, so I went to CBC Books and looked up what books people were talking about. My first two 2018 books were both by Canadian authors, and I’ll be talking about them more in the upcoming days (hopefully, again no promises). I’m trying to decide what I want to read for my third book of the year, something a bit different than what I’ve been reading I think (I’ve stuck to a lot of plain fiction).

Hopefully putting these goals down in text here on the site will inspire and motivate me to actually get the reading done (and the writing). I’m sorry for slacking so badly over the past year, and I can’t wait to share what I’ve been reading with everyone.