And with this, I think my 2024 reads are locked in.

I missed Tracy. The level of mystery/thriller is unparalleled and her Nolan series is top notch. It kept me on my toes throughout and revisiting loved characters was such a treat. These feel like real people that have gone through different types of trauma, and Tracy deals with them in a masterful way. I can‘t wait to read the next in the series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This might be ambitious but the end of the year TBR is locked in. I have a plan!

Desolation Canyon and The Widow (already about 1/2 done) are my 15 hours Spotify listens. Throne of Glass, I expect to finish this weekend and then I can start Wreck the Halls. Sasaki and Miyano is something I can definitely breeze through!

Wish me luck!!

I‘m glad I read the third one first in this trilogy, because if I had read in order, I wouldn‘t have continued. This is repetitive and just… terrible. I began to hate the relationship of Poppy and Tyler. Just… nope.

Express to the purge pile.

⭐️

It is a rainy day here so I‘m enjoying the weather in my sunroom, with a good book!

King of Immortal Tithe - 🏳️‍🌈 retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth. Thoroughly enjoying it!

I loved The Blackhouse trilogy, so this was shockingly a disappointment. IMO Enzo is a sub par John Rebus… so read Ian Rankin instead.

Some thoughts:

1) Enzo is kind of… skeezy
2) wow, a character with the worst daddy issues I‘ve ever seen…
3) I think everyone was sleeping with everyone?? Or trying… see 1 … and 2.
4) oh yeah… murders happened, which obviously got overshadowed by the annoying stuff above.

⭐️⭐️

I am not a fan of golf, but I did enjoy this for what it was: short, sweet and smutty. Also relatable as the MFC is T1D and so her struggles and insecurities hit me personally. Being a T1D of 36 years, I can relate entirely to the need of being independent but also supported just in case of an emergency.

As Bailey wrote, this is a love story, with a side of insulin, because T1Ds are more than just the disease. And I appreciated that.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sometimes the translations in this series really get to me. It‘s too overly simplistic in writing style at times. That being said, I‘ve read the greatest sentence:

If the communication array had been as confusing as a pot of stew earlier, the stew had now just toppled onto the ground and fed the dogs.

🤣💀

Yeah I completely blew through this one! In order to sum up my feelings, I‘ll make a few points:

1) If I see a puppet in the near future, I will punch it.
2) The narrator‘s Pupkin voice made me want to turn inside out.
3) I actually LOL‘d at times, despite having a constant case of the shivers while listening.
4) IMO this is Hendrix at his best.

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

And with that, the Spooktober pile is done. Now I‘m gonna read a romance.

The last spooky book on my planned Spooktober pile! Doing this one on Audible.💀🎃👻

White is quickly becoming a favourite author. Using the late 1800s as a backdrop for a discussion on those that don‘t fit the mold, White seamlessly blends discussions on the use of asylums, trans and autistic individuals, and the spirits these places leave behind.

It‘s gruesome and tragic, but brilliantly constructed.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

I gave it the good ole college try… but when the thought that you only have so many audiobook hours and this is wasting them… there‘s no going back. As per my usual feelings with King… this just dragged on too long.

I know it‘s also an old book but there should also be trigger warnings… because it‘s almost vulgar detail. The audio also had weird chime noises that would happen mid sentence… it just got annoying.

Another spooky fail.

🎃

The care that Tanabe took to visualize Lovecraft‘s story is truly commendable. With every horror, my brain is constantly screaming some version of PUT IT BACK! And this was no different. An excursion to the Antarctic goes wrong, when eons old visitors are discovered.

While the imagery was both beautiful and horrifying, I think the most terrifying was what the reader did not see. Despite this being a manga, it still excelled there.

🎃🎃🎃🎃

Welp, I seem to be in my DNF‘ing era. I‘d say this is a reading slump if I wasn‘t actually enjoying everything but my Spooktober pics.

This wasn‘t Anno Dracula. It was a mishmash of short stories, the first two which were so beyond boring. I then looked up a summary and realized that none of these are worth it, and the one Anno Dracula story is an excerpt of the next book.

Disappointed.

🎃

Well, I‘m flying through my Spooktober pile, mostly because I‘m DNF‘ing a lot. This book fell flat. It was both so convoluted and yet… had nothing happening. It was an attempt to build a metaphor, which didn‘t quite make sense. The writing style was just… off. And the characters? Mostly horrible.

Sometimes being drawn in by the cover doesn‘t work out.

🎃

This is a spooky book club read for next month, but as the deluxe edition is quite hefty, I‘m starting it now! Excited to read this one!

I don‘t do well with a lot of King, but I‘ve seen the movie and this type of horror seems more in line with my interests.

Also despite having the tangible book, this will be partially on Spotify audiobooks.

I love me a Brubaker/Phillips and I was excited for this one, but it kind of fell flat. The back says it‘s a Jekyll/Hyde type story and maybe that got me too excited. It‘s a tale of stumbling into a world of drugs, sex and violence, and becoming a different person for one night. Why? 🤷‍♀️ Behind the beautiful art, and sometimes trippy instances… it missed the mark and could‘ve gone further.

🎃🎃

I DNF‘d these authors before so I‘m not shocked I‘m doing it again. I‘ve never listened to the podcast so maybe I‘m missing the connection there, but these books are just so instantly and overly weird that the storyline (if there is one) gets lost completely. Your head is left spinning trying to figure things out and the authors are just throwing random, strange comments at you.

A spooky read fail.

🎃

Let‘s start my first spooky read of the season with my remaining Spotify hours this month, with Welcome to Night Vale.

I‘m two chapters and so far… it‘s … f***ing weird. No other words.

There is so much about this book, but I really have no words. It was uncomfortable, but due to its topic, I knew that was going to be the case. I do feel that although the synopsis is clear what it‘s about, there should‘ve been a trigger warning. It does not hide anything. This is about abuse. Despite that, it was a good book. But it was hard to like.

Kudos to the narrator for giving me the heebie jeebies at times.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Spooktober books have been chosen. This might be over ambitious but I‘ll be starting them soon. 👻🎃💀

Planned reads include: Gerald‘s Game by King (audio); Welcome to Night Vale by Fink and Cranor (audio); How to Sell a Haunted House by Hendrix (audio not pictured); The Spirit Bares its Teeth by White; Anno Dracula 1899 by Newman; Dead Collections by Fellman; Night Fever by Brubaker; At the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft and Tanabe

Intrigued by Blue Period but not wanting to start another series, I picked up this one shot… and think I got the author‘s weirdest, most disturbing tales. While the three stories have underlying themes of eroticism, some are more graphic and violent than others. Ranging from coming of age to horror, the art also lends an air of creepiness to it. I did enjoy it, but it was not what I was expecting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oof. I knew this would be hard, but I thought knowing the ending from the anime would‘ve helped. It did not. This story is pain. Overall it is a tough subject matter and for a shojo, this was groundbreaking for its time and IMO still is. The characters have depth, the story feels real, and it will stay with you long after the last page.

Overall series rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘m still working my way through this series. The closer I get to the end, the more I‘m slowing down, because I know what‘s coming.

A sad point of this series are the spelling mistakes; more than I‘ve ever seen in manga before. While it‘s really only averaging about 1 mistake a manga, this is a format I usually don‘t see that occur.

Also Halloween wine glass because it‘s Augtober.

Back in my prime reading spot with the last Fangirl manga. I‘ve been thoroughly enjoying this adaptation of the novel!

This was light and delightful. A burly fisherman that doesn‘t know how to talk to women?? Sign me up. And then the SPICE! 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ I wasn‘t expecting that spice level, but excuse me SIR?? When he was unleashed? 🥵

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I basically kept picking up this novel because I wanted it finished. The premise drew me in. I love a good Christie-like closed room mystery/thriller. But I‘m learning I should just stick with the master. Let‘s have all completely unlikeable characters, all with a mix of a dark secret and hatred for one another, be invited to a wedding no one really wants to be at, on an isolated island. What could possibly go wrong?! 🙄

⭐️

It is a gloomy rainy Saturday, but with a covered portion on my deck, I‘m back to days when I used to sit on my apartment balcony during a storm and read.

I picked this up with zero expectations. It‘s the last in the trilogy but the one I thought I‘d like the best. IT WAS SO GOOD!! I cried, I laughed, I grinned ear to ear. I was committed to the struggle of Aiden to find a balance between his need for religion and his love for Elijah. The spice? 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️. I‘m going to need to get the first two in the series now.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Goodreads review said this book is full of completely unreliable characters, gaslighting to the extreme (between characters and for readers), ridiculous motives and a lack of common sense. And I agree. This premise drew me in, and it was wild, but it was absurd. The one character I did like, I didn‘t get to see the real character because of said gaslighting and stupidity. I‘m seeing these trends in thrillers and they do not agree with me.

⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed this one! Read by Carey Mulligan (love her immensely) it was a nice foray into the multiverse, chaos theory but mainly taking on that saying of ‘the grass is always greener on the other side‘. We have regrets in this life, mostly of what we failed over or what hasn‘t happened. And oftentimes those regrets weigh us down and don‘t let us enjoy what we already have and live for the small joyful experiences.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On a short vacation visiting friends. Couldn‘t resist picking up Saint.

Starting the third one immediately because I do love Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. And meet Shadow, one of the pets I‘m babysitting this month.

I struggle with the writing and that makes it lose stars. It is at times beautifully written and poetic and then too often, simplistic. I still love it though. It has a great premise, great characters, backstories that continue to build and create tension. The lore and the world are amazing. It is slow burn to the max but I will be rooting for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng throughout.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Anyone aim to review a volume and then find themselves 8 volumes in? Volume 1-7 are PAIN (and I‘m sure the rest of the series is as well). This is a tough story with tough subjects; it‘s hard to read. But it‘s the characters that really keep you coming back for more. I want all to read this and watch the anime, but I know it‘s heartbreaking from the very first volume to the very end.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

RuPaul has an outlook on life that is truly inspirational. Coming out of hardships, suffering and struggles, with a strength beyond words, it was a pleasure to listen to their story. This isn‘t a celebrity tell-all but a tale of knowing you were made to shine, and going about achieving your goals.

The audiobook is also read by RuPaul which adds to the feeling of sitting down with them to listen.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My 15 hour allowance for Spotify audiobooks (dumb) is back so let‘s finished the last LGBTQ audiobook with the absolute Queen!!

Of course in an anthology, there are hits and misses, and this is no different. Some were over before I felt they started, while others gripped me immediately. It‘s awesome to see the lore of other cultures and the monsters they tell tales of. The audiobook was great in its narrative style, and really immersed you in the culture. I do feel that having the tangible book would‘ve been cool to see the art.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘ve fallen behind my Goodreads reading goal, so to catch up I‘m finally picking up this series. Wish me luck, because the anime made me cry for about 13 hours. Emotional damage.

Now that Spotify has audiobooks, I should try to finish off the backlog of Audible audiobooks I have. I heard that this is queer-inclusive so it‘s up next.

Pride month is celebrated in July in my current city, so I‘ll be continuing on with my LGBTQ reads. Up next, Heaven Official‘s Blessing. I‘ll read this then rewatch the second season of the anime.

The problems of Dark Rise persist in this one and it‘s a tad larger. Number one issue being very, so beyond slow. And when you‘ve figured it out well in advance, the slow plot becomes tedious. What characters I did like, weren‘t going anywhere and it was quite circular.

I wanted to like it, but it just wasn‘t jiving.

Trans people have always been here and I believe it‘s important to see them in a historical context. Representation is key to understanding and acceptance. I love P&P, and I couldn‘t resist this retelling with an LGBTQ lens. It was very well done, and the changes made fit characters perfectly. While it was entirely wholesome and sweet, it also dealt with serious issues that trans people still deal with, and I applaud it for that.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Yesterday and today are chill hot tub days, with some reading in between. Thoroughly enjoying Most Ardently. A LGBTQ retelling of Pride and Prejudice, I just can‘t but smile throughout.

These two are great mangas!

Cherry Magic is sweet, wholesome and beyond adorable. I absolutely love these two and their building of a new relationship.

Kowloon is a mind-bending adventure. This volume gives us a bit more information in which readers can maybe tell others what it‘s about 🤣. The characters are great, the ‘villains‘ amazing, and each volume throws in another twist. Cannot wait to see where it goes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for each

This was a slow burn in story and world building. It truly made me miss Captive Prince because I felt like got sucked into that story quicker. That being said, I loved the villain here and discovered the big reveal well before it was shown. It was still interesting and a fun read, and was heading toward a 3 star rating… but that last line?? 👌

I am excited for the second one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The LGBTQ manga is in! Some light BL and a mind-bending alternate time romance (one character is intersex and one is gay). I‘m loving the representation that is happening in manga! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

It usually happens that as I read my LGBTQ reads these next two months, I consistently add to the pile (two new additions in the background, and two LGBTQ manga on the way), but I‘m a third of the way through Dark Rise and I bought myself a new mug. Inaugural coffee and sitting down for a Sunday chill session.

I was drawn in by the cover, but this debut novel is a stunning and angry rhetoric on anti-trans legislation, and religious trauma. It‘s not for the faint of heart but as the back cover quote from NYT states: it is a long, sustained scream. This book will stay with me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pride read #2

I usually have a DNF in my Pride TBR but I didn‘t think it‘d happen this soon! Simply put, the humour didn‘t jive with me. All the side characters were the same naggy, ‘funny‘, argumentative people and it was beginning to drag… and that was only 100 pages in. I was excited for this one and loved the premise. But sadly, a flop for me.