Quick Review: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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So, Gideon is a trained warrior and orphan in the House of the Ninth on a resurrected planet in a resurrected galaxy and she just wants to get out and join the army. You know, do something with her life instead of finding herself wasting away on a planet full of people who don’t care about her. But then her plan goes to hell and she ends up having to be the swordswoman to her childhood nemesis, the necromancer Harrowhark Nonagesimus. Harrow, and the heads of all other houses, have been invited by the emperor to undergo trials and join him. If Harrow can beat the trials, she becomes immortal and can join the emperor. Gideon isn’t keen on this, but she’s promised her freedom if she helps.

This book was so freaking enjoyable. I couldn’t put it down. I had so many questions that I had to keep listening in hopes of finding out answers. Gideon is delightful. She’s smart and funny and just a wonderful character. I was so into it.

I’m glad so many people recommended this and I can’t believe I waited so long to pick it up!

What I’m Listening to Now: Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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In the beginning of 2023 I asked people to suggest books for me. I wrote them down and put them in a jar so when I wasn’t sure what to read next I could just pull one out and that would be the next one.

Gideon the Ninth was suggested by at least 3 people and I’ve been giving up my first-in-line spot at the library for at least six months. This time, I figured it was time.

Quick Review: Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

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Y’all, this book is so cute. I absolutely loved it. Chloe Brown decides she needs to get a life and become the badass adventurous woman she was meant to be. So, she makes a list of things she needs to do in order to achieve this goal. The first thing on the list is move out of the family home and into her own place. Which of course she does and that’s where she meets Redford Morgan, the building manager/artist/beauty/lovely guy. But, Chloe has fibromyalgia and on high pain days, she has a short fuse and, of course, that is always when she runs face first into Red.

Red is an artist and used to be out there, showing his work, and making waves. But he’s been hiding for a bit after a bad breakup back in his hometown working for a friend. He paints at night and he wonders if he’ll ever feel ready to get his work back out into the world.

I loved both the main characters in this. They both had really great individual arcs and their romance was heart warming and also hot. This is a 2 chili pepper book. I bombed my way through this while it snowed outside. The audio book is read by Adjoa Andoh, who really brought the text to life.

So, if you like novels that involve personal growth and heartwarming and a little spicy romance, give this a try.

Review: Starter Villain by John Scalzi

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This book was so funny. I listened to the audible ebook narrated by Wil Wheaton and it’s just perfection. Charlie has had a string of bad luck. He was laid off from his journalist job and now working as a substitute teacher. He’s divorced and his father just recently died. He is living in his families home that his siblings want to sell. Things are not great. Then his estranged Uncle died and he’s thrown in the world of villains. He founds out that his Uncle may have had a legit business of owner parking lots but his real business was being a villain and messing up the plans of other villains. Charlie is now a head of his Uncle’s business and with cat spies and talking dolphins. He’s a bit over his head. Even more so when a group of other villains want him to join their group or he’ll lose everything.

This is book is ridiculous in all the best ways. His cats Hera and Persephone are spies that were sent to watch him and can communicate with specialize keyboards. The dolphins that guard his Uncle’s volcano island lair want to unionize. Charlie is funny and grounded. He takes everything with an awe and WTF reaction that is appropriate in situations like this. While everyone underestimates him, he outwits all of them with his knowledge and journalistic experience to dismantle his rivals in one fell swoop. To say this book was enjoyable that I was so sad when it was over and there isn’t a sequel. I forgot what it’s like to read a standalone book. Go read the book or listen to the Audible. You will not be disappointed.

Quick Review: The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

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I don’t remember adding this to my waiting-list-queue this summer and I didn’t remember what it was about when I checked it out from the library. But, I really enjoyed it so, good job, Past Kate on book selection!

Casey Fletcher is a character actor with two famous parents, a recently deceased husband, and a life made for tabloid fodder. Following an incident where she’s caught toasting the paparazzi with a double manhattan and getting fired from the play she is in, her mother banishes her to the family vacation home on Lake Green in Vermont. This is the worst place for her to be banished to alone as it is where her beloved husband was found dead a little more than a year before. One morning after arriving, she notices something in the lake and realizes she’s seeing someone drown. She rescues former supermodel/current philanthropist Katherine Royce. Katherine and her husband tech bro husband Tom have recently bought the house across the lake. Everything gets weirder and spookier from there.

This novel was part Rear Window, part ghost story, and part murder mystery in the best way. There were mysteries to solve and unexpected twists. This was a really entertaining novel. If you like unreliable narrators, not being sure whose side you should be on, and satisfying twists, I’d say give this a go.

Review: Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

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I’ll admit I was curious of what Cassandra Clare could do outside her Shadowhunter series. Sword Catcher is a good book. It actually is better than her last couple of Shadowhunter books. I think it was good for her to explore a different kind of world. This is a high fantasy that is set in the kingdom of Castellane and is narrated by Kel, the Sword Catcher or the body to the Prince and Lin, a physician outcast. An outcast because not only she a woman in a man’s field but she’s an Ashkar, who can’t live in the city but only in the Sault. Kel was an orphan who looks enough like the Prince that with a talisman he can look just like the Prince and stand for him if needs to. Kel was raised in the Palace, among the courtiers and wealthy but will never be one himself. Both Kel and Lin are outsiders to this world but they collide when he is stabbed and left for dead. Now they are caught up in the political intrigue that neither knows what to do with it. 

Now, it wasn’t the best book I’ve read but it was definitely entertaining. I really liked both of Kel and Lin’s voices as they navigated a world that needs them but doesn’t necessarily want them. This was a good set up novel. I am not sure how many books are in the series but it was a good introduction to the world. People and the upcoming trouble to come. It still leaves a lot to explore, like what is the madness the king suffers from? Is Lin really the returned Goddess to bring magic back to world? All and all a good start.