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CRESCENT CITY: Y'ALLL. I loved this. The next one comes out my birthday week next year and I CANNOT WAIT like it's 7 months out but I've already preordered it. Holy Cow. It's ACOTAR meets modern day. Fae are still around causin' problems but now there are ARCHANGELS and shifters and OTTERS WHO DELIVER MESSAGES. Y'all. Just read it. It's steamier than ACOTAR, if you can believe it! I also will honestly be re-reading it before the second one comes out, I loved it that much.
The Memory Collectors: I won this in a bookstagram giveaway from Elle and it literally arrived in the mail the day I finished Crescent City how perfect is that? This book has it all, magic, mystery, murder, Bad Guys, sister drama, I devoured this one too.
Throne of Glass: After A Court of Silver Flames AND Crescent City I was honestly craving more Sarah J Maas. I'll admit it. So I dove into this series, which I've learned was her first ever and she started writing it when she was like SIXTEEN? Excuse me? I've been *talking* about writing my own book since before then but the closest I've come is being a half ass blogger here. (sorry y'all) Anyways, there are two things you need to know about this one: it takes forever to really get going, I swear the last 15% of the book is more interesting than all of the beginning parts put together, but knowing what I know, I stuck it out. You don't have to. Two: it ends on a damn cliffhanger so of course, being who I am, I proceeded to drop nearly everything and pick up a seven book series where each book is 700 pages. Will I get my goodreads goal this year? Only the shadow knows.
TL;DR: I gave this one three stars I think? (rounded up, honestly, from 2.5 because the first half was so. slow.) Then proceeded to place holds on the rest of the series. I have a problem.
Vicious: Another series I'm hooked on. The next book wasn't free at the library yet, and it wasn't as demanding as ACOTAR (we all know that's A Court of Thorns and Roses right? I'm not using jargon that's completely foreign?) Again, magic and murder. I'm deep in a fantasy trench? I don't want to say rut because I'm enjoying it. This is the same author who wrote Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and this is a COMPLETELY different adventure. I genuinely enjoyed it, I have the next book on holds, but I keep pushing it off because of Throne of Glass.
The Labors of Hercules: Poirot has never been one for the classics but decides to complete the Labors of Hercules before he retires. Did I have the muses from the Disney classic, Hercules, singing in the back of my brain every time? Obviously. Did I enjoy little Poirot's adventures? Always. I think I read this one in like. Two days. Maybe one. It was fun and not quite a collection of short stories, but kind of? I'm working my way through all of the Poirot novels and I'm honestly trying to pace myself now, since you know Agatha isn't writing any more of them....
Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2): And Here. We. Go. This one was better than the first, but still kind of slow in the beginning. I'm not sure if that's on purpose or not. I figured out the Big Secret before any of the characters did, but cannot for the life of me decide how we're supposed to be pronouncing "Chaol" I don't want to look it up, I've been pronouncing it like someone who doesn't know how to pronounce chaos. (Cha-Ol) but it makes me think of when they had Hermoine pronounce her name in the early HP books because none of us dumb Americans knew that name. haha. Anyways, this one has a bigger? cliffhanger than the first so you won't be at all surprised that my next book is
Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3): This one was ALL GAS, no brakes and the speed that I wanted. It finally got all the way up to 5 stars because things are getting interesting and there are just more twists than I can predict. Also new characters! New kingdoms! New drama! Yay! When I finished this one I was left with a choice: be a patient and reasonable adult and wait for book number four to come off of holds, or be impatient and by the e-book. Can you guess what happened next?
If you guessed that I was impatient and went ahead and bought the e-book Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) you know me well. I want to be a person who plans my reading journey but I'm just not built like that. I can predict that if I like the first book I will read all of them and I will DEMAND adaptations on tv or something, but that's jut who I am. The weather was lovely on Saturday and I spent the entire day laying on the couch, reading this book. I finished it, and immediately downloaded the next one, which I did at least walk up to the Square with Albus to read at the bar for a little bit.
So, as of this Monday morning, I'm still reading Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass, 6) and slightly worried that I think there's only one book left in the series. As always, linking up with Steph & Jana! Maybe this time I'll remember to add my link to the linkup, time will tell..... Tell me what you're reading and if I should add it to my ever growing but never shrinking TBR list.
: Y'all, I was Very Upset that they started out trying to get me to like President Snow. So if that's where you are in the book, keep going, it gets better. This was really good. It made me want to read all the books again, and I did end up watching the first movie after I finished it. It's a bit long, but what else do we have to do in the cold months anyways? I definitely recommend it if you enjoyed 
. The Games are terrible but it was interesting to see how they really got to where they were by the 75th annual... 
: This one was one of the free amazon books you can get for kindle if your a prime subscriber? It was originally written in Spanish and translated over. It's a story about love and loss and revolution and it was so good. There were twists and turns and the mob and I really enjoyed the whole thing. Plus! I learned a lot about Cuba in the process!
: I think this one was also a free amazon one? It's been a minute so I'm not sure. It was also a good read. WWII, y'all know I get stuck there quite often. Again, love, loss, war, my bread and butter it seems. As it goes with most of my reviews, I recommend this one too. It was somehow light and predictable even for a WWII novel, you know? Maybe that's silly. 
: This one also broke my heart. I learned a lot and plan to watch the movie soon ( I haven't had the attention span for a movie in quite some time...) This one will really open your eyes to the prison industrial complex, the school to prison pipeline, and the death penalty. I highly recommend it, but just know that you're probably going to come out the other end very angry. 
: This was so fun! It's a new take on Alice in Wonderland and I couldn't put it down. The only reason I haven't finished the series (this is the first of said series) is because the library didn't have the other books available for eBook checkout and they've only recently reopened for curbside pickup. I tore right through this one, the characters are so fun and witty and I love a good re-imagining of Alice. 
: I also read this one in one single weekend. Like, started it on Friday evening, finished it on Saturday night. It tells the story of twins who choose to live completely different lives, and then the lives of their daughters. It's a really great story and I definitely recommend it too! I think it lives up to the hype.
: OKAY GUYS WHY WERE YOU HIDING THIS SERIES FROM ME FOR REAL? I tore through this entire series and these books are all like 500 pages long. Couldn't put them down. Wasn't patient enough to wait for the second and third one to come off library holds so I bought them. Then I watched the entire first season of the TV show, followed by several hours on the internet trying to figure out when season two would be released (like everything else, it's on a corona delay)
: I think this might be my favorite of the three, if I had to pick. In this one Diana & Matthew TIMEWALK and live in the 1590's in England. Time travel, witches, vampires, murder, bad guys, IT HAS EVERYTHING OKAY. Honestly. Which is part of why I was so bummed to find out the second season is delayed, because obviously I wanted some period drama to fill my days with. 
: I know this one is allegedly the last one in the series, but I think there will be more. At least I hope so. There's another book, Time's Convert that depending on where you read it is either #1 in the "All Souls" Series, or #4 in the Discovery of Witches. WHO KNOWS. There are a couple of story lines in this one that sort of get dropped? I'm hoping that just means they'll be picked up in future books. And a little bit of unnecessary unrequited love drama, but like, still very good. I still tore right through it, and honestly can't wait for more. 
: BOOK FOUR! or book one of the universe series? Anyways, it focuses more on the story of Marcus and Phoebe and honestly I would read books about all of the lives of the supporting characters in this story universe forever and ever amen. This one is set after the first three, like in immediate succession so you definitely need to read the other three to really understand what's going on in this one (which is why I feel like it's more of a book 4 than a book 1, but I'm neither author nor publisher so what do I know?)
: BLACK GIRLS FIGHTING ZOMBIES. This one is the first of two books (see the second one as my next book, lol) Where the Dead rise up the day after the battle of Gettysburg and it re-imagines history if that happened. This story touches on all kinds of issues and involves our heroines straight up kicking ass and taking names. I really enjoyed both of these, and highly recommend!
: BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH MY PAL POIROT! This one is a collection of like, five Poirot stories. I love the theme that people think they can pull one over on Poirot. He always figures it out! Those little gray cells my friends. I always enjoy a Poirot novel and sometimes when I get overwhelmed trying to pick a new read, as silly as that may sound. I love the format and I love watching characters try to outsmart him. 
: Another Poirot novel! This time it's set in Jerusalem and involves an American family! We don't even really see Poirot until the second half of the book. I really didn't see the murder coming in this one. I know I say that almost every time but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
: Again, another month with lots of Poirot novels. I regret nothing. I've started looking for Agatha Christie novels in used bookstores. I'm turning into a monster. I love it because I have yet to figure out the murderer. Cannot get enough. Highly recommend all of them.
, which I learned about when I found out a bigger name author had basically stolen her premise and work! 
: HOLY COW YOU GUYS. I honestly put this on my TBR list shortly after Toni Morrison died and I learned more about her. I devoured this. Literally finished it in two days because I could not put it down. I don't know what I was expecting from this book, because I honestly didn't know anything about it going in other than all of the praise for Toni Morrison. Anyways, here's the 
: This was very much in the same vein as 
, told with two different timelines, and I loved it. It was another one that once I got to the meat of the book, I couldn't put it down. I kept telling myself "okay, one more chapter and then you have to go to bed" but I ended up finishing it. Another story about strong women in WWII who were nearly forgotten because the men want to take all the credit. You know the drill. I really liked that there was a romantic interest for the main characters, but that wasn't the whole story. It wasn't something that was wrapped up in a pretty little bow at the end of the book where they live happily ever after in some enchanted forest.
and any of the other ones about female warriors and spies in WWII, I recommend this one too. It does take a little while to pick up, but once it does it's hard to put down! 
: I've mentioned before that I'm enthralled by the stories of strong women that tend to get overshadowed by their superstar husbands, so obviously this one was on my list to read. I really enjoyed this one, it almost felt like I was listening to Michelle Obama tell her story. I loved the little behind the scenes things that you're not going to get in an interview and I loved how honest she was about everything? It sounds weird, but I really enjoy when people who seem larger than life can be like "I sat there thinking, am I enough?" because that's something I feel all. the. time. It's nice to know that you can feel that and still have a huge impact on the world. I'm also fascinated by [most] of the First Ladies, it's such an interesting position. There are so many rules but at the same time there are no rules. I was too young to really remember people hating on Hillary for working while First Lady, but based on recent history, I'm really not that surprised to hear it. Another one that I very much enjoyed and I think everyone should read.
: I was the very first person to borrow this from my library. I recently saw an instagram post that was in no way directed at me, but I took it personally anyways, it was about how the poster always makes a point to buy copies of books instead of getting them from the library to support the author. Now, I'm sure Margarte Atwood will survive without my royalty money, but I freaking love the library, so I felt defensive. Additionally, I can't afford my reading habit without the library.
. From 
) I don't think that's what this is. I read it in TWO DAYS you guys. Hard, physical copy. All 415 pages. I devoured it. If you liked Handmaid's then I think you'll like this too. I don't think it's pandering, I think that most authors know what happens to their characters after the first book ends. I'm very defensive, I suppose, but I enjoyed it. I wanted to know how it ended. I worked out some of the ways the characters were tied together, but I think you were supposed to. Someone else read it and let me know if I'm being fanatical, the "top" reviews on Goodreads are making me doubt myself.
: I had seen this one a few times and then decided to pick it up after so many people talked about it last month on this linkup, I really enjoyed it! I feel a little iffy on memoirs sometimes, because I really like stories about pretend people, and the sad things are more sad when you know it's a real person? I really liked how his sense of humor came through in his writing and the way he didn't gloss over the ugly bits. I recommend this one too!
because I just can't resist a book set in the Scottish Highlands. What are you reading?
: I honestly didn't even know Einstein was married before I read this book. I really identified with the main character and watched her as she kind of lost herself in her marriage. (Not that I've lost myself in a marriage, obviously, just a pretty substantial fear I have as an Aquarius.) This one kind of broke my heart and mended it again. I loved the undertone of strong female friendships in there, I give it all five stars. I would definitely recommend it.
: This one has been in my "books you might like" suggestion forEVER. My mom even told me to read it. Y'all. It should have ended about 80 pages before it did. It was heartbreaking several times over and that was really uncalled for. Like, every time you think "okay, things are looking up" they stop looking up. I almost quit several times because it kept happening. I really did like the arch of the book barge and the writer that the main character ends up basically adopting. There was just too much to this book. It would have been 5 stars if it had ended sooner than it did. Overall, I give it 3 stars.
: I mentioned that I've decided I'm just going to read all of the Hercule Poirot stories, and aside from reading the Murder on the Orient Express out of order, I'm reading them all in order. This is the third of the Poirot novels, and it's a fun collection of Hastings being a sidekick. I really love Hastings's character in these series, and it's always fun to read his side of things. None of the stories takes more than 15-20 minutes to read, so it was a good one to read in the between times. I give it all five stars. (I'm really bad about giving everything five stars, this may be an issue..
: This is the fourth book in the Poirot series. I learned from goodreads that it's the one from 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and after reading it, I can see why. If you're only going to try one Poirot novel, it should be this one. I don't think you'll be able to stick to just one Poirot novel after finishing it. I can usually figure out the twist, but I didn't see this one coming. Five stars!
: ANOTHER Poirot novel! This one was a little different than the other ones I've read so far, a little more adventure and action compared to the focus on solving sneaky crimes. I tore through this one too, I think it took me two days. I decided after finishing this one to switch to another book that's not Poirot. I think I was getting in too deep with the mysteries. ANYWAYS. I give this one five stars too, because I have a problem.
: This one slowed me down a little, I have a hard time reading books written in any kind of accent that isn't mine. I really loved the story though, I also learned that this author's work disappeared for a couple of decades and was brought back to light by the author's biographer! I loved this story because it just felt so real. Sometimes stories have a happy ending and you're just like "yeah, that's not realistic" and some stories just seem like a genuine experience. This one is a genuine experience, and it'll break your heart a little bit. Five stars!
: I actually came across this one while seeing what everyone read on Show Us Your Books last month, and there was a wait list at the library, so I joined it. All of the holds I have are like 6 months out, so I was really surprised when I received the email that this one had been added to my shelf! The description of this book reminded me a little of 
, for some reason I really love the term murderess. It's right up there with a new word I learned since I've started reading the applications for variances, executrix. How fun is that? ANYWAYS. I liked this one, the story is told in two parts, and you really start to feel for the main characters. It was interesting to see them grow and I really did enjoy this one! I'd give it five stars too! (maybe this is why I haven't been nominated as a Yelp! Elite reviewer....)
so I'll need a new book soon! What have you been reading?