This month, our book club’s theme is Leadership. In honor of Black History Month and President’s Day, I decided to read Heavenly Tyrant because it’s based on the first Chinese Empress. At the end of the first book, Zeitan has taken power, but can she keep it?
This was so good! While This Poison Heart, book 1 in the series, was a bit of a mystery, this one is more of an adventure. Leaving where the first book left off, they are on a race against time to restore all the pieces of the deadly Absyrtus Heart in order for Briseis to save her Mom. In order to do this, Briseis must rely on blood relatives she didn’t know she had.
These books weave myth in with the modern I absolutely loved them. Briseis is a smart and thoughtful hero and I cheered for her the entire way. I absolutely recommend these! They were so good!
It is January and the holiday season is over which means most of what is fun about winter is over. Except for the curling up with a good book, that is! Here are some suggestions of stories that involve travel, in case you’re stuck inside thiinking it would be better to be anywhere but here, where ever here is.
Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart
Genuine Fraud follows the friendship of Jule and Imogen, in reverse chronicle order, leaving you as the reader to put together the pieces of how the characters ended up where they ended up. The characters go from London, San Francisco, Puerto Rico, Martha’s Vineyard to New York. Sounds like a wild ride to me!
The Caraval Trilogy by Stephanie Garber
The Caraval trilogy is the story of sisters who are obsessed with a magical game. The sisters accept an invitation and travel to the game to find themselves at the center of the game where one of them must search for the other. If she fails, her sister could disappear forever.
The Dispatcher Series by John Scalzi
I never actually wrote a review of these books after I posted them as ‘What I’m Reading’. They’re super interesting. In an alternate timeline, if you are murdered, you turn back up again as you were moments before your death. This is horribly inconvenient for anyone who wants to commit murder, but is obviously nice for potential murder victims. It is also nice for other reasons, like if you are about to die during surgery, your doctors can be given another chance. Dispatchers are people who are officially sanctioned to murder people in certain circumstances. But there is a whole grey area where Dispatchers can also be employed. Zachary Quinn reads the audiobooks and he does an excellent job. These were interesting and enjoyable mysteries. I don’t love that they are exclusively from audible, since I prefer to get things from the library, but this is the world we live in.
Another book I got at Comic-Con this year. I like her Ember in the Ashes series so I’m pretty excited for this new series.
This is the story of Briseis, a young woman who has the magic touch when it comes to plants. She receives a surprise inheritance and she and her Moms move to a grand house in Rhinebeck, New York. She discovers secrets and mysteries in the house.
This was so fun. I was so interested to what happened next that I wanted to keep listening. It also inspired me to start a little knitting project, which I was able to finish while I was listening. These little wrist warmers with their falling leaves are so cozy.
Back to the book, I was delighted by the characters and their growth through the story. This is a series and I’ve already requested the next one from the library!
Last weekend I went to New York Comic Con and the Javits Center. Always a good time but damn, is it exhausting. I truly cannot express how big the Javits Center is. I went on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Attended a few panels. My favorite was a Talk with Tomi Adeyemi, writer of the Orisha Trilogy, and the Futurama panel. I also spent way too much and included books. Here are a few new titles I picked up.
First, I got this mystery bag at the Simon and Schuster booth. I believe I got the Romantasy mystery bag. I haven’t heard of any of the titles before but I’m excited to read more.
Simon and Schuster were also giving away books. I was able to snag this one. I have never read any R.A. Salvatore before but this looks pretty cool.
I have read great things about Heir and liked Sabaa Tahir’s work in the past so I had to buy it. What the River knows was described as the Mummy meets a Death on the Nile and I was like, “I’m in”. Not to mention I got a pin with it.
They were giving away the ARC to Amelie Wen Zhao’s next book when purchasing her latest. Why not get a book about dragons and get another for free.
So that’s all the books I got and NYCC this year. I can’t wait to read them.
Since Halloween is just around the corner. I thought a horror novel from one of my favorite authors was in order.
Celine Rosseau has fled Paris for New Orleans, in hopes of starting a new life. She’s running from a secret that weighs heavy on her. She begins her life in New Orleans at the Ursuline convent with her new friend Pippa, who has also left things in Europe in hopes of finding a new life.
Unlike some of the other girls who came over on the ship with them, Celine and Pippa don’t have what you might call practical skills. They weren’t governesses, so they aren’t meant for the classroom. They can’t cook or garden. Pippa is a painter and Celine was apprenticed at one of the best ateliers in Paris. So, they are relegated to making little baubles and selling them outside the church to raise money for the orphanage. They hear rumors about a violent murder that has taken place in the city. It must have something to do with the court, the gossipers say.
While selling her handstitched handkerchiefs, Celine meets Odette Valmont. One of the upper echelons of society, money is no object for Odette. It is carnival season in New Orleans and she needs something absolutely smashing for the masquerade ball. She asks Celine to design a costume for her. Celine, of course, agrees. She has mad fashion skills and it would raise a lot of money for the orphanage. How could she say no?
Celine meets the most beautiful man she has ever seen, Bastien, on the way to take Odette’s measurements. She finds out Bastien and Odette are both members of this mysterious court. And then, of course, there are more murders. Can Celine solve the murders before she becomes a victim? Is Bastien a jerk in a nice suit, or is there something special underneath his gilded exterior.
This was a fun and fast read. Celine is a great main character. She has good energy. She grows through the story. Bastien is good, too. There’s an excellent cast of character surrounding them. The plot is intriguing and includes a mysterious villain who is planning these murders with an ulterior motive. The villain’s chapters are in first person while Celine and Bastien, who both of chapters from their perspective, are written in third person. It was really interesting to see the narrative arc unfold from Celine and Bastien’s point of view and to then get explanations and little details here and there from the villain in the shadows.
There’s a bit of a twist at the end that sets up the second book in the series. I’ve already picked it up from the library, so you know I enjoyed this one.
So, if you like historical fantasy and/or vampires, smart leading ladies, and you’d like to see an interesting twist on New Orleans vampire lore, I’d say check this one out.
One of the hacks I mentioned in my previous post was to read the first page or so and see what grabs me. I don’t really have a pile of ‘what to read next’, but as I went through my shelves I started pulling one or two from the book cases. I added these to pile near my bed (one of a few). I thought if I narrowed it down to 6-7, that should make it easier to find where I want to head next.
I’ve got one non-fiction in the stack, a memoir of living in the Netherlands. I’ve got some booktok recs, Ice Planet Barbarians and The Queer Principles of Kit Webb. One historical romance (Mine till Midnight), one that’s maybe about demons and evil kings (Carnival of Souls), one about the West and riding horses and doing jobs stealing stuff (The Sisters Brothers) and one that’s maybe about vampires (The Beautiful)? (It is tough to say from the first page, so some of these are guesses. ) Part of me is leaning towards Kit Webb, as it is Pride Month, and part of me is leaning towards the second installment of Ice Planet Barbarians.
I think I’ve had the Sisters Brothers longest, but Mine til Midnight is the oldest. This was supposed to make it easier, having an actual TBR pile, but I don’t think it is.
What would you read next? How do structure your TBR pile? Sound off in the comments!
2 Women, So Many Books 