I have been on the waiting list for 4 books for months, and now they have all become available in the past two weeks. So I have to double up on my books. I am almost done with Katabasis, and I started reading Leather and Lark during work yesterday. (a benefit of working from home). I don’t think I could have picked two different books to read at once.
Harry Hole is such a ridiculous protagonist that carries on mostly at this point (I’m on book 7), through luck and sheer dgaf energy. Oh, and substance abuse. A shocking amount of substance abuse.
We all know the stories of the heroes who finally win over their adversaries after years of fighting with each other. What happens after they succeed? Go back to regular life? For Elowen, Beatrice and Clare they each handled it differently. Elowen retreated to her treehouse and became a recluse. Clare reveled in his new celebrity, and Beatrice got married and lived a life as a rich wife. It’s coming up on the tenth anniversary of their victory, and they are all expected to attend the Queen’s wedding. The trauma of their shared experiences and the grief of losing the fourth hero on their team have kept them apart, but now they have to face it. This is a fun little adventure novel. They are forced together and deal with their trauma while also going on a new mission to vanquish the old enemy again. I liked it. They all had great chemistry with each other. Especially when they are fighting. Like most conflicts, a lot of their issues stem from misunderstanding covered in grief. They all had experienced great loss and are now really famous, and they all didn’t really know how to deal with it, so they went their separate ways. Over the course of their mission, they learn not only what happened with each other, but also, over time, they work through it and come out better. The ending seems like a happy ending for all, but a decision made by Beatrice, I have a feeling she is going to regret very soon. I’ll find out in the next book.
I’ve been on the waiting list at my library for three months. This better be as good as people say it is.
I am not sure where to begin with this one. It’s a satire that follows Nina, a sophomore pledging to a sorority, and Sloane, an adjunct professor who is asked to be the Academic Advisor for the sorority. Nina is an ambitious student who hopes that joining The House will open doors because it has an abnormally high success rate of alumni who have become successful. Sloane is going back to work after giving birth and struggles with being a good mother. Before she had her child, she had a tenure track at a small private school, but now she’s only an adjunct professor because her husband has a tenure track job. The narrative goes back and forth between their points of view, and while they are both in different places in their lives, they are still grappling with how to deal with the unrealistic expectations of being a woman. Nina is only at the beginning of her journey, and being in The House and the sisterhood that comes with it all that she ever wanted, but she soon starts to realize that not everything is as it seems. Sloane meets Alex, who is a former sister of the sorority, and is immediately thrown by how perfect her life is and how easy things seem to come to her and her fellow sorority sisters. Well, Spoiler Alert, the answer is cannibalism. The sisters have been sacrificing people and absorbing their nutrients that come with it. It makes them look younger, work harder, healthier, and just more focused. The satire is not just about the girl boss ethos, but also the wellness trends. I found this book to be really intriguing, but not sure it stuck the landing. I have very mixed feelings about the ending. It came out of left field, but it also makes sense, but I wish it had gone in a different direction. So yeah, I enjoyed it but think it could have been a bit better.
I’m fascinated by stories of what happens to heroes after they have defeated the villains. This book was described as The Princess Bride meets People We Meet on Vacation. I haven’t read the latter, but the former is not only one of my favorite movies but also a great book, so I’m stoked about this one.
The Ex Hex was cute. I wouldn’t say it was as good as the last two witch books I read, but still entertaining. While in college, Vivienne had a fling with Rhys, and it ended badly. So bad, she drunkenly cursed him. Nine years later, Rhys comes back to town to renew the ley lines in the town, but because he is cursed, he ends up cursing the ley lines and the whole town. Vivienne and Rhys have to team up to figure out how to reverse the curse so they can straighten out the ley lines and get themselves out of this mess. They are both likeable characters, but honestly, they are not all that memorable separately. I can’t say that either really stands out to me, but they do have some cute banter back and forth. It’s just a good book, when you need something quick and whimsical to read that won’t make you think too hard. If that is what you are looking for, this fits the bill.
I was intrigued by the premise of this book when I first read about it last year. I liked her Atlas Six series, so I’m pretty excited to read this one.
Sangu Mananna really knows how to write a cozy novel. Just like the last book I read, this one was comforting to read. Also, about witches who live in Britain, it is not a part of the same world. Mika has always been alone. She has been told it has been too dangerous for witches to hang out because it would cause too much magic, and that would alert witch hunters. So, it’s a surprise when Mika gets a job offer to teach three young witches how to control their magic. She agrees to move in with them and their adult caretakers and discovers that not only is it okay for witches to be together, but also that Mika herself is worthy of love. In this world, as soon as a new witch is born, their parents die, and they become orphans. Mika is taken in by Primrose, a powerful witch, but is raised alone with a rotating slate of nannies. As she grew up, she never stayed anywhere too long. Always moving so she cannot become attached to anyone. That is, until she meets the young witches of Nowhere House and Jamie, one of their caretakers. It’s a sweet book about found families and founding oneself. Mandanna’s writing style is just so crisp and accessible that you feel like you not only know these characters but are a part of their lives. I couldn’t help but feel comforted by the story and so happy that Mika had finally found the family she had always wanted. I hope that Mandanna writes more books like this because we all need a little comforting, cozy reads rightnow.
Thanks to all the snow in NY, my book on hold at the library is not ready to pick up yet, so I might keep going with the Witch Romances
2 Women, So Many Books 