Tagged book is #9 and in progress but there‘s no chance I‘m finishing it today, I‘m like 40 pages in. So 4 bingos for June.

King of Ashes was the best book of the month. 🔥

2 DNFs and probably 3 more that should have been 😩

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

In a few ways this book didn‘t seem entirely fleshed out even as the “first” in the series (why have so many tests and competitors is we get details on so few of them?) the love corner is of no use to me, go away Dorian. Interested to see where this goes with the portals, politics & Celaena‘s journey. And having a great time reading with #littensloveSJM thank you for hosting @StayCurious !

It was a boring set up, the twists didn‘t wow me, a couple could have been done better (my thoughts in comments) - the last one was cartoonish which I expect from him.None of it reads like it would take place in the 40s/50s. Just no. Not the summer blockbuster I‘ve come to expect from Riley Sager.

Read for #losersclub @BarkingMadRead
An iconic King novel.
My first time reading this one, it was good. I thought it would be more like Carrie, but it has a wider reach as far as Charley‘s backstory and the conspiracy surrounding those that are seeking to stop/control her.

I really enjoyed this. It was very hopeful and empowering without becoming naive. Gilead and the Commanders are as abhorrent as ever. The 3 women telling the tale come from vastly different circumstances which made it a very interesting read.

July‘s #bookspinbingo list @TheAromaofBooks
Some big titles I‘m really looking forward to
(Let‘s see how many I get to since my maternity leave is ending 1/2 way into the month 😩)

Why am I trying to read this now? I am concerned. *gestures broadly at everything* 🇺🇸🇺🇸🫡🫥🤯😭

This title naming convention & cover style should be thrown into the sun, I never would have looked twice at this book if it wasn‘t for @TorryK ‘s review 😂 but it was really good, I liked Elise, I liked the twist with the curse. It was fun. Romantasy that‘s heavy on adventure.

Went to a silent reading book club event in town this morning, brought my book, brought the bub, brought his book (You‘re My Little Cuddle Bug) got a Green Monster Smoothie & an egg and cheese, managed to read 37 pages while entertaining a baby in public and eating a greasy sandwich. A win is a win.

Excruciating slow and terrible. The last 30 pages brings everything together but it barely makes sense and in no way makes up for the lethargic pace.

Loved this for all the same reasons I loved the 1st book, PLUS it had lots of arts & crafts with surprising mediums. Lachlan is the epitome of “if he wanted to he would”. The Phantom‘s overall plan was a bit convoluted but I‘ll forgive it. That last chapterrrrr… I‘d be starting book 3 now if I didn‘t have some many Libby Loans almost due 😂😩

I‘m about 1/3 of the way in. There‘s too many people and I care about what happens to very few of them. I‘m also struggling with the audio performance. I may pick it back up, I‘ve liked others of his & want to trust the process but it‘s not keeping my interest right now.

If you want to be a king, you have to think like a king, you have to do king shit🔥

S.A. Cosby is brilliant, immaculate prose, the details are luscious even when describing the most gruesome things imaginable. The plot was compelling. Older brother Roman returning home after his father is in an accident finds his younger brother in trouble & tries to protect him & their sister.

I wish that wasn‘t the ending but that doesn‘t mean it wasn‘t good.

The plot synopsis reminded me of the whole “how would you do if your tattoos came to life and had to defend you in battle?” meme (I‘d do great: I have Buffy, a wolf, a sword & Kirby)
The good: it‘s adventure oriented but the spicy scenes there are: are v sexy. It‘s unique.
The not so good: action was confusing & not well described at times. Wish FMC was questing more than getting info dumped on
The ending sold me on continuing the series though!

I think I‘m having an issue with the structure of this, I like seeing the artifacts & blurbs but the longer explanations & geography are daunting. I think I need a museum for this knowledge, not a book.

LOVED ittt. Lots of fae trickery, well paced & plotted. The ending was maddening (in the best way)

This gave good advice, sample meals/servings for each age. I do wish there was more explanation as to why some foods were recommended for 4-6 months and others not, but this is one I would revisit as needs change

I‘m trying to make sense of this BLW trend because we will be starting solids soon …this book did not clarify any of my concerns & at times highlighted them further. The only bits I found helpful (nutrition, first foods) also seemed like common sense.

I read Marriage when it was released, I remember it being campy & chaotic & having to suspend disbelief but thinking it was fun. In the meantime I‘ve read a couple others by Rose & enjoyed them. I wish I liked this more. I found it pretty predictable. I also thought the POVs lacked a distinctive voice.

The author accounts eir personal journey of queer discovery which could serve to explain gender dysphoria both to people on the outside or those who may be experiencing it without understanding. Man did the mom tick me off, not just on the pronouns, on many things. It kind of just ends randomly. But it‘s a memoir & I guess we are all in progress & evolving so …I‘ll take it for what it is.

#withthebanned

It was very readable, but wtf was the point? That‘s enough “literature” for meeee

A nice lil surprise under the slip cover 🩸

Ok so there‘s more time spent here in book 2 just pining away instead of plotting but shhhhh their hands just touched. This installment saw relationships broken or mended (&sometimes broken again). I‘ll be impatiently waiting for book 3. More was revealed about the Truthbringers, the scravers & their motivations, less politics than expected with the king & queen at odds. But the action & character interactions were impeccable

I‘m not sure how this got on my radar… audiobook recs or dark academia recs but great for both those. I almost DNF‘d because I was afraid I wouldn‘t “get” all the Shakespeare (& I‘m sure I didn‘t) but I ate this up.

Frank was irking me, did I find him kind of endearing at the end? idk. It was persevering through, it wrapped up nicely, but it was a struggle (Franks attitude towards Abigail in particular, Tammy deserved a throttling a couple times tho). This isn‘t much of a mystery, it‘s family drama with mystery elements. There‘s a huge reveal with no lead up at all & I was stunned, it was a good twist but pointless. Unless the point of the story is just Frank

May‘s finished #bookspinbingo card
6 bingos
2 DNFs (& 2 more that I probably should have)

Tagged book was my favorite read of the month!

@TheAromaofBooks

I honestly could not conceptualize what this book would be like from the (completely accurate) description. I thought it was going to be a splatterpunk smut fest & while when it was spicy; it was absolutely filthy… that was such a small part of the book. It actually had a lot of heart, charm & wit right along side the accidental cannibalism.

I enjoyed the poetry of the journey left open ended

Good recap at the beginning, which helped it‘d been a while since I read book 1. There was little action in book 2 until the end. Focus was the love triangle (love corner)& I don‘t like either option:the one she‘s fated to against her will or the forbidden love she wants
Alex has more time with her would be bfs because she‘s flunking training but then seriously injures someone with an apple, takes out trained guards & mythical beings

it‘s just 🙄

First, this is simply not a thriller. It‘s a family drama. Why go out of the way to write “a thriller” on the cover?

Super inconsistent with what is revealed. Chapters flashback in time but some dates only have years making you have to read in to who the character are to know if it is before or after the trip. & then there are random flashbacks in memories later in the timeline.

Honestly Matt sucked & I didn‘t care what really happened to him.

So many good new releases and Buddy reads for June!
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

I wanted to like this. It draws extensively & specifically from (mostly) Celtic folklore about the fae. I forgive a lot with a 1st book in a fantasy series because we have to build out a whole world but my issue was:
I was taken out of the plot so many times by a characters behavior:
-Why is Toby kissing this guy? Why do we like him?
-why is this character mad at Toby?
-Why doesn‘t Toby just tell the truth?
Etc
Also ..not what a hope chest is.

I‘m trying to review this for what it is & the intended audience

The author successfully made it sound like a high teenager‘s journal, the references they would find clever. It was a nice stroll down memory lane of being a juvenile delinquent & Hunter S Thompson-ing around high school 😂

I understand this is the 1st in the series but I was wholly unsatisfied with the conclusion of this book.

Excited for the discussion #withthebanned @Jadams89

Another thriller about the insidious world of momfluencers. The writing is witty & funny, starts off with Chiara is excited to make mom friends at a retreat aimed at growing your social media brand & fostering coMOMunity, but she doesn‘t fit it in & it ends with a bang. The humor stays & turns into a campy slasher as our hero (of sorts) takes on moms of all forms from the #tradwife to the #BossMom.

This book is deeply unserious, a hilarious ride.

Very enjoyable. The set up at first seemed pretty generic but the characterization of the 3 estranged sisters & their trauma responses to their abusive upbringing & subsequent murder of their parents kept it interesting. Nice & twisty.

Immediately no.

Book 2 of ACOTAR Werewolves was pretty good. We start in fake-Rhys‘s castle & meet all his broken friends while the FMC gets irked at fake-Tamlin for treating her like a damsel.

Did I race through it? Yes. Did I love the endless hurt/comfort scenes? Of course.

But there‘s too much extra politics & side characters. & 1 character that has all the info & spits it all out at convenient times. The dialog is not good.

Still def reading the next book

“That‘s quite the life of leisure that you are leading. Tell me, do you have any injuries or ailments? Just looking at you, you seem to be in good health.”
“No, nothing particularly wrong with me at all. Of course, my spirit is completely burned out.”

📚
I liked the idea more than I enjoyed the book itself. Set in post WWII Japan, originally published in 1948. Easy read, odd characters, something seems lost in translation, & ending ran too long.

Dina hosts a (not so peaceful) peace summit at the inn.

Honestly this series is so odd. I like Dina. Andrews always do a good job with their FMCs (not pushovers, but not bristly for no reason, never the sole powerful female, never a Mary Sue, like actual people but with powers) I‘m not 1000% sold on it exactly but I‘m left pretty curious. The chef made this one for me.

Kemmerer‘s books are just a nice big hug for me. I knew this was in the same world as the Cursebreaker series but didn‘t realize it‘s essentially a continuation (so def read that first). But I was very happy to be back there. The plotting, the secrets, the relationships, the miscommunications, the sheer wholesomeness is just perfect.
🏳️‍🌈

I‘m impatiently waiting for some of your reviews on this one. The booksta discourse on this one is nuts 😂🤪

Magical school with young teens set in Nigeria drawing from African myths. It was neat, the characters were well done & felt very distinct in their voices & actions. I liked the magic system & what not but 1 thing perturbed me: the MC is albino & she gets offended saying that ppl always think albinos have powers or something like they are not human… but then she does have a special subset of powers bc she‘s albino… anyway, it was good tho

Had to bail, the opening was so bleak, I tried skimming forward a bit but I‘m still dreading reading on. Plus SK has been an idiot online this week 😂 wouldn‘t be a deal breaker but it‘s certainly not helping. As @dabbe says #hailthebail ! I‘ll check in with #losersclub & see what I missed @BarkingMadRead

“We worshipped gods of our choosing. Satan. Christ. America. Celebrities. Capitalism. Clean living. The New England Patriots. La Croix.”

Soft Pick
The main character; Vesper, was great. The overall metaphor & message isn‘t particularly striking, 1/2 the plot seemed to be nonsense that was inconsequential to the main theme & resolution. But Harrison‘s mix of horror & humor is impeccable

“You shouldn‘t be here.”
“Why?”
“Because you make me ravenous.”
⚔️
It‘s a pick, but the first 100 pages made me contemplate DNFing- I couldn‘t keep track of where we were going, who we were going with & if we liked eachother. But it picked up, it was kind of fun but doesn‘t compare to the core Crowns of Nyaxia series. I do commend Broadbent on telling stories from this world from different angles & expansive worldbuilding.

This was heavier on the historical drama vs horror than I realized it would be but I was engrossed by all aspects of this story & desperate to find out what would happen next.

Cute story! More about Princess Rinetta than Lando, but not bad for a middle grade filler episode.

May the Fourth be with you!

I enjoyed this. I‘m through Saint‘s retellings now & I have found that she has a good tone in her writing for all of them however then it is dependent on how much I connected with the myths themselves. Ariadne‘s story told from the perspective of Ariadne & Phaedra was very intriguing from start to finish.

#bookspinbingo card for April! @TheAromaofBooks

📚Tagged book was my favorite of the month!

🚫2 DNFs

🤼‍♀️ first nonfiction read of the year was Beck Lynch‘s bio

book buying ban accountability post
Why?
1)I keep buying physical books & have no real time to read them because I have a small baby
2)I need money (again, baby)
3)I have so many kindle books from either stuff your kindle days or prime reading first look
4)I some how preordered 3 books that come out June 10
5)my libby loans & holds are completely full & I need to not be distracted from those too

💰Goal: no book hauls until 7/29