Casee
I am reading Pandemonium (World Fallen #1) by Susanna Strom. I’ve read one other book by this author, so I decided to try this one. It’s a dystopian/apocalypse book. It’s kind of creeping me out, to be honest. It’s still pretty good though.
I finished Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score. I loved it! I have Things We Left Behind (Knockemout #3) by Lucy Score.
Holly
I didn’t have a great reading week. I DNF’d a ton of books and read a lot of samples that didn’t work for me. Books I marked DNF after reading 30% or more: Draco by Hattie Jacks (uneven writing and TSTL characters), Redemption by Susannah Sandlin (TSTL Characters and the writing didn’t work for me), A Forest of Vanity and Valour by A.P. Beswick (A Dark Fantasy and I wasn’t in the mood for…I’ll probably come back to this one later or try another in the series) and Strands of Gold by Faith Gibson (the FMC accepted things a little too quickly and often had diarrhea of the mouth, which was annoying in context). I did read Shadowed by Isabel Wroth and Undying by Tiffany Roberts, which are stand-alone books as part of a multi-author series set on the same planet. I enjoyed both, though the Wroth was the better of the two, IMO.
I am currently listening to Thornyhold by Mary Stewart, which I found on a Reddit post with recommendations for people who enjoy the Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews. So far I’m enjoying it, though the first part was a bit slow.
Over the past week ~
— read Flight of the Diamond Smugglers: A Tale of Pigeons, Obsession, and Greed Along Coastal South Africa by Matthew Gavin Frank for my book group. I found it a rather depressing read and would give many content warnings. Despite some rave reviews (NPR, for example), no one in the group liked it.
— Total Creative Control (Creative Types Book 1) by Joanna Chambers
was an enjoyable contemporary romance featuring a script writer and his personal assistant (both male).
— enjoyed His Last Christmas in London by Con Riley which features a restaurant critic and a photographer (both male and with an age difference of some twenty years). I will happily read more by this author. NOTE: this book is currently FREE.
— enjoyed We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye by Layne Deemer. In this romance, a young woman from the present day visits a rather retro café only to come to realize that it’s 1934 there. She and the café owner become involved. NOTE: this book is currently FREE.
— read a fantasy novella that is the start of an upcoming series, The Untouchable Sky by Will Forrest. It details a young man becoming aware that he has magical powers. Content warnings for prior abuse.
I just finished SALT IN THE WOUND, the prequel to Sierra Simone’s new Lyonesse trilogy, a modern retelling of the legend of Tristan & Isolde. I now have the first book, SALT KISS, queued up. But first, I plan to finish Serena Bell’s HOTT SHOT, a grumpy-sunshine romance that is the first book in her new Hott Springs Eternal series about five brothers who have to return to their hometown to fulfill the conditions of their grandfather’s will.