Quick Review: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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

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

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.

Quick Review: The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

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.

Quick Review: The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

This was so good I can’t believe it’s taken me almost a whole month to write this review.

Kara moves home to her uncle’s to help him run his Mystery Museum while he recovers from surgery and she decides what her life looks like post-divorce. One day in the museum, a customer tells her there’s a hole in a wall. She goes to investigate and discovers a mysterious hallway that could not actually be there. It physically makes no sense. She discovers the hole is a portal to other realities and meets ravenous creatures who appear to hear thoughts.

This novel was consuming. It was scary and thrilling and I needed to know what happened next. I liked the main characters and the relationships in the book and I devoured it in a day. Absolutely worth the read.

Stuck

Since last summer, I have been having trouble starting things. This happened with books. It happened with music. It happened with TV shows. I ended up rewatching and relistening to the same things. My spotify wrapped podcast list is a monument to the harrowing amount of minutes of true crime and politics adjacent series’ with back catalogues I binged in the back half of the year.

I was hoping, when I started the new year by completing a book in a day that things were turning around. But since then, I’ve checked three things out of the library that expired before I made progress in them.

When the last of them expired, I looked at my waiting list queue and I made a decision. I’m only going to check out one thing at a time and I’m going to try and make a habit of listening to audiobooks when I cook. So, we’ll see if that is any help to getting me out of this slump.