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What are you reading in 2022?
Time for that weekly recap and I've got a couple of things to say this week. 
-3 StarsThis is an odd series. On paper I should love this series. A secret police division dealing with the supernatural set in London that has it's own unique take on your usual urban fantasy tropes. Top that all off with a top notch narrator for the audiobook and it should all be a slam dunk. For what ever reason though I just don't find myself engaged with this book. It's not boring as I find the book entertaining but I'm just not pulled into the story like other ones I really enjoy. The first part of the book kind of felt like it meandered a lot. Bouncing back and forth between two different cases, jazz, and a certain character. It wasn't until later when things started to fall into line and the pace picked up a bit that I felt more engaged. It's not a bad book or anything and I intend to keep listening to these. I just hope the series kind of finds its groove.
-3 StarsThis book, oh this book. I wasn't super hyped for this book like say an In Death book or something but after seeing this earlier this year, and a long wait, I was interested in reading this book. I enjoyed the movie Brave and the character of Merida. It all seemed like an easy set up for what should have been an enjoyable book. After I finished this book I can say that it was... a book and things happened. Again, this wasn't a bad book or anything but it just felt like it existed. It was just kind of there doing something kind of remotely interesting. I just never clicked with this book but I never hated it either. That was until the ending that is. That ending, no spoilers either, was something. It came out of no where, tried to pull the big emotional moment, and fell flat on it's face. I just felt like there was no build up for that kind of ending. Maybe it was because I wasn't super engaged with the book but I don't feel like that ending was deserved. That being said I can easily see how some people would like this book more than I did.
-4 StarsAh yes, emotional damage, the series. Joking aside I really am enjoying this series but this is most definitely not something that one could sit down and marathon back to back. This series is definitely on the darker and heavier side of things shall we say. That being said I did feel like this book toned it down a bit after book two but that's not saying a lot as book two was emotional damage on a level not often seen. This also felt less like a mystery and more like a chance to explore the characters and in particular that character of Lena. Lena, I want to like you, I really, really, do but you are a raging dumpster fire of a character. This is a character that has made practically every bad choice possible and somehow still finds even worse decisions to make. Since the ending of the first book I have wanted her to have a redemption arc. A chance to hit rock bottom and then through the strength of her character, pick herself back up and show us a redemption arc. Instead it feels like she hit rock bottom and instead of picking herself back up she just pulled out the pickaxe and started digging deeper. After the ending of this book I don't think there is a redemption arc that I can get behind. I can't wait until next month to get to my next dose of heavy emotional damage.
On a weird side note I also saw the trailer for the new Will Trent show which is the series that this spins off into and I am rather confused. The tone that the TV series seems to be putting forth doesn't seem to match the tone of the Grant County series and it makes me really curious about how the book series progresses.
-4 StarsI returned to this series because of a challenge and I am really kicking myself for not returning earlier. These two books had some great action, some great emotional scenes, and some great comedy. No joke there was one scene that gave me the biggest laugh I've had in a while. It was a stupid scene but I just cracked up and it still makes me grin nearly a week later.
-4 StarsThis is not a statement that I will say very often but I want to see an anime version of this. The action scenes in this series are so over the top that I want to see them animated. I also want to get my hands on the next volume of this manga but I'm waiting for the library.
-3 StarsThe end of this silly trilogy and it was everything one would expect from this series. More silly wrestling moves, more horrible wrestling puns, a feel good ending. It has it all. This is an easy recommendation for either kids or big grown up kids.
Now for what I am reading next. On audiobook I'm tackling
. For regular books I'm starting
today. After that I have a stack of manga and novels to read but I'm kind of waiting for the next round of my timed challenge to start so I can determine my next read.
Mod
potential but not good execution and after 124 pages I just couldnt be bothered to continue
Mod
Also yay for emotional damage kind of books
Brittany wrote: "Curious what you end up thinking of Scarlet Women, Gord. I liked the narrator and will listen to the second one at some point but I cant say I loved the book.Also yay for emotional damage kind of ..."
I've listened to the first hour or so this morning and I'm not exactly hooked in yet. It just doesn't feel like a Sherlock Holmes novel to me. I've read a few of these female Holmes kind of novels and I'm a fan of Holmes in general. This just feels... off to me somehow. I'm really hoping that it hits its stride here soon.
I finished several interesting books recently and far less cozy mysteries. But first some mangas :)
- 4 stars. That one is very old and way more interesting then series based on the manga.
- 3-5 stars. This manga is extremely cute, nice and warm, but sometimes it's just too much! You can't be so stupid.
- 4 stars. A very descent asian fantasy, with the writing style, which reminded me of LitRPG genre. I loved the quest there and that step-by-step approach to immortality.
- 5 stars. That one is definitely a highlight of the week. I loved everything, the story, the twists, the ending, especially the ending with some hints and clues, but never the exact thing.
- 3 stars. A nice series for a child, but for me it was boring.
- 4 stars. Funny, light, cute, nice romantic story.
- 4 stars. Oh that one was interesting. Until it was not. With such a great start I expected so much more! Though still worth reading.
- 3 stars. Finished the series. I loved the first book, the second and the third not so much, pretty boring story. Recently fantasy was hit or miss for me. That one is more miss, unfortunately.
- 3 stars. Ok, without sex scenes it could be better.
- 5 stars. Haruki Murakami. That's it. Seriously, in his best traditions, so simple with a feather-light touch of magic. I wonder, how he's doing it?
- 3 stars. The list aspect was funny, but overall the story is messy and I didn't like it much.
- 4 stars. The book didn't get me till 50% or so. After that I was hooked and finished it in one sitting, though a bit disappointed with the ending. In such books I usually want it to be extremely happy, not some type of open ending.
- 3-4 stars. The last book was way better than the whole series. It was what I expected the series to be. More food, interesting mystery case and some drama going around.
- 3 stars. A pathetic copy of Freaky Friday. Didn't like it much, it wasn't bad but the original was better.
- 3 stars. A normal cozy mystery, nothing bad and nothing memorable either.
- 3 stars. I'm a bit late with all the witchy stuff, but I liked the first 2 books in the series and decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, not so interesting.
- 5 stars for re-read. Finishing with one more candy. Oh that book! I loved it even more, the world is brilliant, the MC is so freaking bold!
Mod
and I am trying desperately to savour it and not inhale it.... but its hard!
Mod
Mod
Glad you liked the First Step too :) Planning on reading on?
Brittany wrote: "I started and I am trying desperately to savour it and not inhale it.... but its hard!"Oh so familiar~ I decided to re-read the first era before going into the second and also will try to savour... though it's hard indeed!
Brittany wrote: "Elena so many books!! Love it.Glad you liked the First Step too :) Planning on reading on?"
Thanks for a great recommendation. Definitely going to continue reading as soon as I can get the second book :)
Mod
Oh yes, that's the ones I won't read. I read In A Holidaze which is a super cute christmas romance, and Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating. Those ones are just cute romcom type books.
Mod
and I am trying desperately to savour it and not inhale it.... but its hard!"Oh so familiar~ I decided to re-read the first era befo..."
I so want to reread Era 1 at this point but I also want to read all of Sanderson's books that are out.... so I'm waiting on the reread for now.
Kayleigh {K-Books} wrote: "Oh yes, that's the ones I won't read. I read In A Holidaze which is a super cute christmas romance, and Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating. Those ones are just cute romcom type books."Yeah, I've also enjoyed those two, I think their YAs are pretty cute, but the Adults kinda dirty.
Brittany wrote: "I so want to reread Era 1 at this point but I also want to read all of Sanderson's books that are out.... so I'm waiting on the reread for now."Totally understandable, his books are so good!
I'm doing my weekly update a little early this week but I'm at a good point currently to have a clean break in the week. This week has been a lot of challenge books even though there were also a lot of manga.
-3 StarsThis was for a historical fiction challenge and it was a book. It's been nearly a week since I finished this and this was such a nothing book that I've nearly forgotten it entirely already. This was about a young boy living outside of Florence, Italy in 1944. As you can guess from the location and the year this involves WWII. A young boy wants to be a hero there are Nazis, Allies, Partisans, and things happen. This book wasn't bad in any way but it just didn't do anything at all for me. It was very middle of the road.
-3 StarsThis is the other historical challenge book I read this week, or I guess listened to, and this one has me very conflicted. This is another book in the female Sherlock Holmes genre (is it a genre? it feels like it) and this is a genre I have a bit of a soft spot for. It's not my most favorite genre of all time but it's something I can find entertaining and I've dabbled in more than a few times. I also have a bit of a fondness for Sherlock Holmes in general even though I haven't read them in years. Holmes was one of many in the genre that got me into mysteries as a young man and I've had a certain appreciation for them ever since. I had a few issues with this novel in general but my biggest source of conflict is that this just doesn't feel like a Sherlock Holmes story. For most of the book it actually felt like two different books that just got tossed together between the same covers. On one hand it was something like a Victorian era police procedural and on the other hand there was this Victorian era drama piece about a woman getting ostracized by society due to her immoral actions. Every once in a while these two different stories would meet up, exchange notes, and then wander off in their own directions again. This brings to my next issue with it not feeling right. The MC just wasn't involved in the case. She never visited the crime scenes, she never interviewed anyone, she never investigated anyone or anything. I don't even feel that she really solved the mystery itself. She was getting some big picture ideas about what happened but then basically the villain mailed her the solution. Which brings me to the final thing that didn't feel right for me and this is a lot of personal opinion here. For me Holmes always felt alien. He was wired in such a different way from a normal person that he just felt so alien to a normal person. This MC cared about fashion, her appearances, there was romance, she cared for her family, etc, etc, etc. She was clever but it never felt like a Holmes level of clever. She felt like a protege that had years of training and learning ahead of her before she got to that level of Holmes.
Outside of the comparison to Holmes this book was a bit slow at times. I get about a hour a day of listening time as I walk to work and after the first day I was absolutely baffled where the heck the story was going. I get that it was trying to do character set up but it just felt that it dragged on for a very long time. This wasn't the only slow moment in the book either. There is also the weird problem I have sometimes with Victorian era novels where everyone is a Lord or Lady. Names start blurring together as do the characters especially if they are minor or side characters. "Oh it Lord such-and-such who was with Lady whats-her-name, who were you again?" That being said there is an interesting foundation here and I've heard that the second book addresses a bunch of the issues I had so I do plan to continue on at some point.
Now for the manga
-3 StarsThis is the first two books of a trilogy and I love the idea behind it but I feel that the execution leaves a bit to be desired. Basically old dude drives around the apocalyptic wasteland in a food truck making food for customers that are never there. One day he finds a strange young girl on the side of road and takes her in. She is wanted by the military and shenanigans ensue. This is an interesting setup for a weird food based manga to have but instead of explaining anything it instead just defaults to fan service. Why did the old dude leave the military? Why does he drive a food truck around? What brought about the end of the world? What is so special about this girl? Etc, etc, etc, etc. With only one book left in this trilogy I feel that most of these questions are going to go unanswered and it leave me feeling rather frustrated.
-4 StarsAhhh, good old Junji Ito and his horrifying art style. This was a collection of four short stories by Ito and it's what one would expect from an Junji Ito manga collection. Weirdness, horrifying art, vague story telling, etc, and I loved every minute of it. There was a particular image in this novel that was seared into my brain for days after I finished reading it. Every time I closed my eyes that image was the first thing that popped into my head which is not very helpful when you are trying to sleep and this abomination is staring into your soul.
-4 StarsAfter the emotional story telling of the last volume this one felt a bit flat. This was the big fight arc that went on for a while. It was nice to see Kenshin step back and let others fight instead of him trying to deal with all of it. Spoilers for an old manga but it went for the fake ending and I'm not the biggest fan of that but it did take the story in an interesting direction I guess. I have one more volume left of these omnibuses and then I'm done with this series. I'm not sure if I want to read more or not.
-4 StarsI never expected to like this series as much as I am. As I mentioned before my knowledge of this series was pretty limited and what I knew was from pop culture. What I found though was this absolutely bonkers story that is not afraid of going bigger or crazier at every turn. I also feel that this is a great example of an author figuring out what he was creating as he was writing it. In the beginning the card game was barely even a part of the series and now the entire story is essentially about that card game. It's also interesting to see how rapidly this game is evolving. It started out as a simple card game played with paper cards to this fully 3D holographic madness. This brings up a question though and maybe a fan of the series could explain this. How do the old paper cards contain the microchips needed for them to work with this new tech? Is this just a story point we are not supposed to think about and just accept? I have a ways to go before the end of this series and I'm curious where the heck this is going to go.
-5 StarsAt long, long, long last I can finally return to this series. I had to wait for the library to buy this book and then I had to wait for everyone else and their dog to get a chance with it before me. It felt so good to return to this story. Especially as this was the start of a massive growth for the characters and it just felt so good to return to this series. Hopefully my wait for the next book wont be as long.
Now for what is next. On audio I am getting to some Tamora Pierce that I have not read before with
. For regular books I need to read
this week so I can get it back to the library at the end of next week. I won't lie I'm rather excited for both books honestly.
Mod
Nothing all that spooky this week. Although to be fair, this had La Llorona, who is actually pretty spooky. Especially if you grew up hearing stories about her and how she kidnapped misbehaving children 😰 My childhood was fun!! 🙃 Lol. Anyway, for that reason, I was very excited to read this book, but idk... It was just... fine 🤷♀️ It wasn't what I expected, and I haven't figured out why I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. But, I mean, it wasn't bad. It was a fun adventure.
Another Elemental Assassin re-read, and it was great! This book is brutal! The villain in this arc of the series is just sneaky and ruthless and I hate her. Lol. But that's what makes this book so good! It's actually one of my favorites of the series!
I finally finished this book!! It had been MONTHS since I set this aside with the intention of reading the prequel series first. Well that didn't happen so I just decided to finally finish this. Lol. I enjoyed it overall, but it's not my favorite Julia Huni book. It takes place in the same world as Space Janitor, which I'm obsessed with, but I feel like this book was more character-driven and it just felt kinda slow. Things definitely picked up toward the end, so that was good.
I also really enjoyed The Grissom Contention. Once I realized, in book one, that the Colonial Explorer Corp series is more character driven than the authors other books, I found myself enjoying this book a lot more than the previous one because I knew what I was getting myself into. I really enjoyed the adventure and all the characters.
Six Wakes was so good! It's basically a murder mystery set in a spaceship, and it was just so well done! The mystery kept me guessing till the end and I really enjoyed how all these little connections and pieces in the puzzle came together.
@Lili Six Wakes sounds so interesting! I'm intrigued.
Time for the weekly update and this has been a busy week of reading for me. 
-3 StarsI read this for a quick book that I needed for a team challenge. It was one of those things on my TBR pile and it was a lot better than I expected. This was a middle grade/YA mystery novel in the vein of mystery novels like the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew etc except that it's set in ancient Japan. Something gets stolen, young boy who was a witness gets recruited by the authorities to help solve the mystery, Japanese stuff sprinkled throughout for flavor. I had to laugh about this part as it is something I have not seen since the old Hardy Boys books that I read. Whenever there was a foreign word it was done in italics. For instance "The young boy sent up a prayer to the Kami for help." It's such a weird thing to see in such a newer book. I read the ebook version of this so I can't really comment on the original novel but the formatting for this was rough. I can't really say that I'm surprised as I've seen this trend in older books that are not as mainstream that get an ebook format created. It's like the publishing company hired the cheapest person possible to type of the book and format be damned. Overall this was entertaining and I plan to keep reading at some point.
-4 StarsMercy Thompson is a series that gives me some mixed feelings. Overall I enjoy the characters, the world building, and a lot of the stories. That being said there are some books in this series that aren't as good as others. The first book is a great example of that in my opinion. I have warmed up to it over multiple rereads but it's still not a great novel in my humble opinion. This was one of those books that wasn't as good as others but it wasn't bad either. The first part of the book was rather slow and I was a bit fuzzy on the events of the previous book so there was a lot of "what's going on?" for me. Once the book picked up though it was an entertaining read for me. That being said I can't help but feel like this was a middle book. There was some bigger revelations and set up but overall it didn't feel like the events of this book had a massive impact on anything. It was just a interesting story set in the world of Mercy Thompson. That is not a bad thing either but it just kind of created this feeling that nothing happened.
-3 StarsI'm finally returning to Valdemar and while I enjoy the characters and setting of this book the story itself was something I just don't enjoy. This book was essentially 400 pages of court drama. It was about a feud between noble houses and it just felt petty. There was a lot of talk about young women coming to court to get married, the men who came to court looking for a wife, and all the drama that comes with that. None of it felt like it had any stakes to it. Especially after the previous books in the series where we dealing with much larger and legitimate threats. Overall this was another Lackey book and it wasn't horrible but I'm just not a fan of all the pointless petty drama.
-5 StarsThis is me getting into all brand new territory in the Tortall universe and to no ones surprise I enjoyed this book. This was kind of court drama as it was about a mad king and the plotting between him and others in the chain of succession for the throne. At the same time it was so much more then that as well. Our MC is the daughter of The Lioness (the MC of the first series). She finds herself kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Copper Isles where she enters into a bet with the Trickster god. She has to use all the skills taught to her by her father to win this bet and to survive. Aly is an interesting character and a nice change from the more straight laced characters from previous series. I also love how each series progresses the world while giving us a glimpse into the life of previous characters showing how their lives have progressed. I'm really excited to get to the next book in this duet to see how this wraps up.
-4 StarsMore Komi and I'm still finding this series enjoyable. There were some really sweet and touching moments and some moments of really nice art. There will be more in the future for sure.
As for what it is next well, ha, my library chose to release yet another batch of new releases and books long on hold so I find myself buried in books again.
For audiobook I finally got my copy of
which I'm stoked to read.For physical books I need to read
for a challenge and then I need to start working through my pile of new books from the library.
Mod
It was so good! I really enjoyed it!
Since my last update I found some gems, some cuties and a new cozy mystery series I loved, Yep, again, one more CM!
- 4 stars. To be honest, I'm kinda tired of how long it takes to get to a confession. I think I'll leave it here for now and pick another manga.
- 3-4 stars. I've started a cheesy, cozy, cute and festive British romantic series, which is not my usual genre, but the need for those holiday vibes made me do it.
- 4 stars. Finally got to reading this book. I’ve started the series with the one from Alpha and Omega line and it was good. I also loved the Mercy Thompson one, not sure which line I love more, let’s see. Anyway, the book reminded me of the Anita Blake series, but without porn (which is so great as this part freaked me out a lot while I was reading the series).
- 4 stars. A very dark, gothic retelling, reminded me of old German fairytales.
- 4, 2 stars. The 4th book is my favorite of the whole series. The characters there are so cute and the story is decent. The last book was disappointing, especially the love line and the mystery part (which is major).
- 4 stars. The mystery part was great, the romance I didn’t like, the LGBTQ component was too much. Why making them all queer? So wrong and unrealistic.
- 5 stars. Holy Moly! That book was so good! The narration reminded me of Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse.
- 5 stars. The final book in the trilogy, it couldn’t end better. Loved the book, the whole trilogy. My favorite was the setting. I love worlds with port cities, ships, pirates, those are always interesting to read.
- 3 stars. I have some controversial feelings about the book. I would like better if it had some real magic but it is what it is.
- 3 stars. Yet another insta love, cute romance. Not bad and nothing special, just a light story to give your brain some rest.
- 3 stars. I’ve started one more cozy mystery series and I kinda love it. It’s a bit different to the ones I’ve read so far.
- 4 stars. That book is hard to read as the main topic there is sexual crimes against children. It’s not graphical, but it doesn’t make it less painful. I tend not to read books like that but actually don’t regret reading this particular one.
- 3 stars. The story is nice, the setting is good, but I didn’t enjoy it much. I prefer a more gloomy, gothic atmosphere when it comes to Victorian London and mysteries.
- 4 stars. A very cute romantic story, with some cliches bunched together. Though I like it and it’s not an ordinary one, the love triangle also resolves pretty nice. And the setting… Japan!
- 3 stars. The first book was good though at some points it was made absurd. I love the narration and the idea here, a very unique perspective on the fairytales and their readers. But the second book was less interesting. There are some stories, which can’t be made into a series, I think that’s the one.
- 3 stars. I love the Irish setting and some descriptions of the scenery. But that’s it. The story is a bit bland and I didn’t like MC at all.
- 4 stars. Oh so good! The first book feels a bit long and there is not enough action, but I think it’s a necessary sacrifice, some kind of preparation for the main event to happen.
- 4 stars. I didn’t watch the movie and was actually glad I read the book first. Interesting story with a gorgeous setting.
- 3 stars. Space cozy mystery. A very unique setting, I thought there will be more to the space. Unfortunately it could be set anywhere, as the setting didn’t play any role in the story, and didn't even give the right mood or atmosphere.
- 4 stars. One more cute romance with a game developer MC. Loved it!
- 4 stars. I have a weak spot for Greek mythology and loved the book! Mr. Riordan knows how to use myths properly to create an excellent story.
- 1 star. Wtf? Congratulations! You’ve just read the hell of a… what? The first book I’ve read and didn’t get at all. Is it fantasy? Sci-fi? Mythology? African? LGBT? I mean, there is a lot going on there and the author just throws you into all the events without any proper pre-building. The book just lacks everything. It’s so random, the narration is so hectic, which makes it hard to follow the story.
Mod
I saw Crazy food truck the other day and was curious about it, too bad it isn't all that good.
Lili looks like some good reading and I agree it helps when you know what you are getting into with some books. Six Wakes does sound interesting!
Mod
Also you are making me want to read Tamora Pierce.... I just so don't need to start another big series. hmmm....
Elena yay!! Glad you finally started Mercy and enjoyed it :)
Too bad you didnt like Darkfever, it does get better from there but I get that the series isn't for everyone. If I read it for the first time now not sure how I would feel about it but as I read it years ago I still love it.
Mod
I'm amazingly enough still reading
loving it just both savouring it and havent had as much physical reading time since I bought Pokemon Violet...
@Brittany Wow, I love all the books you've recently read. How were they? What's the favourite?
Brittany wrote: "As for me, recently I've read ..."How did you like Demon In The Wood Brittany? I'm quite a bit behind on my reading challenge so I'm looking for short books to try and complete before the end of the year!
Once again it's time for that weekly update. Not a lot to talk about this week as I'm still trying to read all the novels that are coming in for me.
-3 StarsI reread this for a timed challenge and then at the last possible second realized I had an even better book. Any way, this book was still the bog standard overpowered OP isekai that it was the first time that I read it. What it did do though, and my reading of Kuma, was make me want to read more light novels. I found out that this series is done and the library has all of them plus what looks to be an ever increasing stock of light novels. I really need to read more light novels.
-4 StarsAnother novel that is heavily inspired by And Then There Were None (is it weird that I remember this more by it's offensive name Ten Little Indians? Which is no where near as bad as the original title as I just found out). The book even references that book during the course of events of this book. Here is the difference between this one and that bad YA one, Ten, I read earlier this year. This one was actually good. Don't get me wrong it has some issues but it really shines in the end. This books is about the Darker family who are getting together for Nana's 80th birthday at her house. Of course this house is in that perfect location that conveniently gets cut off from the mainland for X amount of hours everyday. Over the course of the book the Darker family secrets get brought to life as the family members get picked off one by one. It even has a weird creepy poem to go with it. This book essentially has two story lines working towards two different goals that are closely tied together. The first story line is the back story of this family, in particular the titular character Daisy Darker. The youngest of the clan who was born with a congenital heart disease. This story line is building up to the reveal of this ultimate big bad darkest of dark secrets and this is not a nice family. The other story line is of course what is happening currently in the house and working up to the reveal of who the killer really is. My one criticism of the book is that it is a bit slow moving at times and gets dangerously close to that "just tell me already" territory. That being said when it gets to big reveal in the ending it really nails it. I kind of figured out who the killer is. Not through any fault of the book though. It's just that busy part of my brain that approaches the book in a meta sense. If I follow all the mystery rules and tropes then the killer has to be ________. That being said there is another twist that I did not see coming, but makes sense looking back in hindsight, that really blew me away. If you are a fan of books that are inspired by And Then There Were None then I'd say check this one out.
-5 StarsAfter a good long wait I finally got my hands on this audiobook and my reread of this series can continue. This was a continuation of the previous book in the series and has our MC's tracking down the villain of the last book after he escaped. This led them across three countries and has some rather tense moments. The section in the drowned forest with the assassins was rather tense to listen to in particular. Then we get to the section that the book promises and it's emotional. There is a lot at stake, there are a lot of emotional moments, a lot of high tension moments, and it makes for a good read. The bonds between Halt, Will, and Horace are on full display here and it's well written.
-3 StarsThis is an interesting little four koma manga about goths, creepy cats, and various dark powers. It's not the greatest thing ever written but I find it entertaining at least.
-4 starsHere I am, I'm finally at the final volume of manga in this series. This will be my thoughts on this volume and the series as a whole. No, I'm not going to get into what the mangaka has done in real life. If you know, you know, if not, well, you can Google it if you're really curious. Lets just say that I'm glad I was able to get these from the library and didn't have to give the author any money. This final volume gave us some side stories for Yahiko and Sanosuke before the big return of Kenshin. This of course led up to final big battle of the series that showed Kenshin's resolve to his philosophy of not killing anyone ever again. This of course gives him the strength to defeat this final boss and then retire to a quieter life for himself and Kaoru. There was nothing bad with this but it just never felt like the greatest thing either. Like I mentioned in my review of the last book this felt like it was really borrowing from the elements of the Kyoto arc and because we had just saw that it didn't have the same impact. I feel that the Kyoto arc in general was the peak for this series. After we get this big battle we get some more story where everyone goes their own direction. The final chapter is set a few years in the future where we get to see where Kenshin, Kaoru, and Yahiko were in their lives. I feel that Yahiko got the most growth in this final arc as he had a few big fight scenes that really showed his growth from the annoying kid to someone reliable. This was really cemented with the final chapter where he earns the sakabato from Kenshin. I wasn't really blown away by the Sanosuke story line as it felt like it came out of no where. The end to his story also wasn't what I wanted either. He just gets into a boat and sails away to never be heard from again. I really felt like the story had been laying hints that he was going to be getting together with Megumi at some point. That would have been an interesting idea even if it might have been a little to similar to Kenshin's story.
Now for my biggest complaint for the series. The author really did Kaoru dirty in my opinion. She was set up early on to be this martial artist who ran her family's dojo but she never really did anything in this series. It felt like she was always that damsel in distress on the sidelines calling Kenshin's name while waiting to be saved. Everyone else got some growth of some sort but she just transitioned from girl who met Kenshin, to girl in love with Kenshin, to Kenshin's wife. I feel that there could have been so much more done with her character but that is just me.
Overall I can see why this series has so many fans and it definitely wasn't bad. I know that there is a sequel being worked on currently and a rewrite to match the anime more but I really have no interest in them. Part of that is the stink from the authors personal life wafting over everything. Part of it feels like the story was wrapped up already. It told it's story and it should be done now. Everything else just feels like it's cashing in on something that got crazy popular.
As for what is next I'm really not sure. This is my final week of work before I go on an eighteen day break. No real plans outside of stacks and stacks of books. I know I will be starting
on audio as I also got that one in finally. I need to take a look at my timed challenge and see what books from my stacks and stacks of library books matches what.
Mod
They were all good reads but nothing amazing.
Sakamoto days was a fun manga, hoping to read the next ones soon. Dragons Promise was a decent sequel but it didn't live up to its name, not enough dragons as that portion was over at 30% of the book...
People We Meet was a cute listen and I quite enjoyed it. A good friends to lovers story and I liked all the vacation stuff.
The graphic novels for graceling and shadow and bone were a lot of fun.
Mod
Brittany wrote: "Jo, Demon in the Woods was good. I do wish the story was longer and I don't love the look of The Darkling. But it was fun to see his origin story done visually like this. He's still such a compelli..."Glad to hear you enjoyed it. To be honest, short is good for me, I still have 5 books to go to make my Goodreads Challenge for the year, so if I can finish my current audio, a couple of comics and that, I should be all set! I quite like seeing the visuals, I don't really picture things when I read, so having the pictures does help me quite a lot!
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- 4.5 stars. Really enjoyed it and I'm glad I am finally reading these.
- 5 Stars. This was a re-read, to finish off my re-read of the whole series.
- 2.5 stars. I did enjoy it, but it was just really strange. I felt like the author had changed her mind half way through the book who it was going to be, and it did not make sense. There was too many mini mysteries within the larger one.
- 5 Stars. Obsessed with this book. It's one of my faves of the year. Gorgeous fantasy, inspired by scottish folklore. Can't wait for the second one, it's out already in the US but I have 1 more day to wait in the UK. Highly, highly recommend the audiobook of this one.
- 3.5 stars. Enjoyed it, it was sweet but some of the spicy scenes were a bit much. They didn't fit the sweet romcom nature of the book, felt like they belonged in a darker romance book.
- 3.5 stars. Very very different to what I was expecting as I went into this one not knowing anything and I wasn't expecting themes quite as dark as there is. But I ended up really liking it.Current reads:
and
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I've added River Enchanted to my tbr
This has been an odd week of reading for me. A rough book kind of started things off on the wrong foot for me and filled my head with all sorts of discussions. I was going to share those discussions but between either deliberately deleting the conversation or accidentally doing it I never did share my thoughts earlier on. Any way, lets get started.
2.5 Stars round up to 3This was the book that derailed a lot of my time this week. This was a new release book that caught my attention earlier this year. It was a horror novel set in the Japanese interment camps of WWII here in the States. While not frothing at the mouth for it the premise was enough to catch my attention. After I was done reading it I was left feeling disappointed and with a distinct lack of of enjoyment because of two chains of thought. Overall I just didn't feel like the book was that good. To many POV's that kept switching all the time made it hard to connect to any one. The ending just kind of happened all while not really wrapping up anything in general. I also felt that for a horror novel it really wasn't scary. It hinted at and teased that it involved yokai or Japanese spirits but it instead took the whole "people were the real horror all along" route. It's not a bad theme or anything but there are so many colorful things that could be done with yokai that the route it took just feels boring.
This leads me to the lack of enjoyment aspect and this is where, I feel, things get maybe a bit controversial. As I mentioned before this book was about the Japanese internement camps in the States and the racism/hatred towards Asians. This was also used to highlight the continued issues of racism/hatred towards Asians today especially with the events of the last few years. Now this is a serious and important conversation to be had and I think that it is something that should be had. The way this book handled these discussions though just made the book plain unenjoyable for me. A large chunk of this book just felt like I was reading the comments section on the bad parts of Facebook/Reddit/YouTube and that is just not something that makes for an engaging read. I have no issue with a book tackling difficult subject matter or pushing me to contemplate horrible things but I just don't think that this is the way to do it. I read/see enough of these kind of horrible comments in real life that I don't need the book I'm reading to be more of the same. Challenge me with this controversial subject matter, make me see a new point of view, do something different. This is just my two cents and I could be way off the mark as I sometimes am.
-5 StarsBecause of the above book I found myself in a funk for a few days. I was able to read some manga/comics but none of the books I had queued up from the library were speaking to me. I was thinking of reading some In Death but I figured "no, you have a ton of books from the library already". Then someone started dropping quotes from this In Death book in my timeline and the temptation grew. I decided to check and see if the library even had it available figuring it would have a queue like usual but nope, no queue. Next thing I knew I was reading this book and not regretting my decisions. This series is great for picking me up and reinvigorating my interest in reading again. This book had some great and tense moments and it was just that feeling of returning to old friends.
-4 StarsThis was the other novel that I was listening to this week and this book felt like it was really hitting its stride after the previous book. This book had a good pace that kept me engaged while moving things along. The humor, for me, was on point and I found myself laughing out loud several times at the stupid nerdy humor. The narrator was mostly on point and is just fun to listen to. The only thing I would criticize the narrator for was the American accent that was used in this book. This book is full of several accents and they are a treat to listen to. The American accent used for the American FBI agent though just felt wrong to my ears. I'm not going to sit hear and claim I know every accent or even if an accent sounds right but this accent was firmly in the realm of someone trying to sound American. I can't really ever say that I got used to it either as the character wasn't a constant presence in the story. It kind of sounded like there was an attempt with a drawl mixed in with something else and it just sounded so off. Overall I enjoyed this one and I'm interested in the little story hints for an overarching story and future events.
This is yet another manga series that I have finished and I'm glad that I am. Overall this series had some good moments but it felt like it was dragging things out a bit. I won't spoil the ending but I will address it. I was avoiding any spoilers for the ending but what I had seen was that the fandom was not overly happy with the ending. After reading it I find myself somewhere in the middle. It most definitely wasn't the worst ending ever but I wasn't exactly moved by it either. I find myself agreeing with the feeling that the author took the easy expected trope ending which wasn't really well set up. Overall I felt the series was alright and I'm now ready for something new.
-4 StarsThis was one of those random finds on Hoopla and it was alright. This is one of many comics that have come out of Tapas and I was a little concerned going into it. There are some comics that work great on Tapas. They are short, easy to consume, and come out every few days. There isn't really a story to them overall but for the way they are presented it works awesome. Reading them in a printed medium though just doesn't work for me. Instead of that spaced out drop in, giggle, move on kind of pace it's just page after page after page of the comic and it gets kind of boring after a while. Needless to say this isn't one of those kind of comics. There was an interesting story, some unique art, and by the end I was wanting more and thinking of checking out the series on Tapas myself.
-3 StarsWhy did I do this? When will I ever learn to not pick up a comic series based on a novel series I've already read? This is not a bad comic and it felt like it belongs in the Rivers of London series. It's the art work. I can't even say that the art work was bad but there is this disconnect between what I am seeing on the page and the image I already have created in my head from reading the series. The characters look correct enough to be recognizable but they just aren't right either. For instance, Peter, the MC. In my head he is this tall guy built kind of like a line backer but a little thinner. In the comic he is tall but built like a twig. The other big disconnect was with Stephanopoulos. In some ways the character we get in the comic is kind of matching my mental image but I didn't think she was that old. The comics almost make her look like that stereotypical scary schoolmarm.
-4 StarsOh the cliffhanger ending on this one was cruel. I have been loving this series so far and it's mystery of the week kind of feeling. It was revealed that these separate mysteries might actually be all connected and part of some grand scheme. Before you could get any real details though about this grand scheme the volume ends and I'm now stuck in that perpetual hell of waiting for the library to get the next volume/waiting for the volume to release. Cliffhangers like this are cruel and unusual.
-3 StarsI have so many mixed feelings in regards to this series. It started out so strong and hooked me in fast but now it just kind of feels samey which might be blasphemous for some. It just seems like there is always some long lost relative just off page waiting to be involved in the story. Everyone seems to have this unbeatable super secret martial arts technique tucked up their sleeve. There also doesn't feel like there is much tension when the MC can make every ones head explode with a poke of his finger. It's not bad but I'm at the point where I want something else to happen.
-3 StarsAnother release that I feel like I have been waiting for forever to get from the library. This is a super sweet and innocent manga about two boys falling in love. I have nothing bad to say about it but it also never really moved me a lot either. I read it, thought it was cute, moved on. You can't go wrong reading this one I guess.
Now, what am I reading next? I have two and a half weeks off work so I'm kind of going with the flow. I have some 20 books out from the library and nothing but time for a while. I have started reading
and we will see where things go from there.
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I read TWO more contemporaries 😯 And I LOVED them!! 😱 They were so freaking cute!! I'm honestly surprised at myself, but also proud because I'm reading things outside my comfort zone and actually enjoying them. Lol. I think I liked The Do-Over more than Better Than The Movies, but they were both solid 5-star reads! The time loop aspect of The Do-Over was a lot of fun!
But one book that is not surprising, is another Elemental Assassin book 😆 I'm enjoying my re-read, and honestly the end is coming up fast and I'm not ready 😭 lol
This book was pretty fun and cute. It had an interesting premise and the robots were all very endearing. It wasn't amazing, but I didn't have a bad time reading this. Lol.
And I just finished this one today and omg... it was SO good!! All you need to know is that a woman witnesses her son commit a murder, and then she's suddenly thrown into a time loop, but instead of living the same day over and over, she keeps going backward in time, all while trying to solve the mystery. The premise was really cool and just so well done!
Alright, I know it's only been a couple of days but I want to share my thoughts on a particular book and since I'm on holidays I'll do just that.
-3 StarsThis was a cozy mystery set in an Amish village around Christmas. It's a cozy mystery that really did nothing offensive and was perfectly fine. If you know cozy mysteries you know what to expect with this book. The only thing I'll say is that the MC was kind of oblivious to one big thing and it wasn't the mystery. Her boyfriend was acting all suspicious around her, taking mysterious calls, and all of that and this made her think there was another woman and that she was getting dumped. Now if this was any other time of the year I'd say the MC has some valid concerns but it's in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Don't you think that maybe, just maybe, your boyfriend is working on a super sweet Christmas present for you? Especially with the relationship that the book has portrayed? Of course the boyfriend is working on a super sweet present, not saying more than that. It just felt like the MC was uncharacteristically dumb in that one aspect but I can let it slide.
-3 StarsI caught wind of this book end of last year or early this year and it was one those new releases where I was interested. A game of hide and seek set in an abandoned amusement park for adults. Seven days, fourteen contestants, one deadly secret. How could I not be interested in this concept? This is one of those books that sounds like it's not only up my alley it sounds like it's sitting in my living room waiting with a pot of tea. I'm not going to say that this book was bad or anything. I just feel that it could have been so much more than what I got. Instead of an earth shattering kaboom I just got this wet fizzle. I feel like I can't really say more about this book without spoiling things so... spoiler wall. Read ahead if you have already read the book or just don't care.
(view spoiler)
Up next I'm planning on reading
and starting
on audiobook.
Mod
and it was so adorable. So different to other fantasy books but I really liked it.
Legends and Lattes was an amazing book. I would love to see more chill low stakes fantasy novels like that.
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Gord too bad about Hide not being what you hoped for.
Time for another mini update.
-5 StarsTo be perfectly clear I had zero intention of reading this the day that it came out. I was merely looking at the books page here on Goodreads when I noticed the extension I use. It's a library extension that shows if the book is available at the library or not. I saw that Overdrive had the usual 80 million year long queue and then I noticed that Hoopla also had it. Hoopla, the library service that has no queues and that I have still have some borrows left this month on. Needless to say, for some weird reason, I found it downloaded to my computer and I was reading it. Not sure how any of this happened at all.
Joking aside this book was great. I love the way that this world is built where it's some stuff we know, some stuff we know but with a twist, and some weird off the wall ideas. I think the best way to describe this book is you take The Bachelor and instead of the usual "celebrities" you replace them with scheming and conniving politicians on a galactic level. It's an interesting combination full of assassins, pirates, galactic threats, and all of that. I'm not wanting to spoil anything so I'll sum this up with a simple "this was awesome".
-4 StarsI'll admit it, if I really have to, that this book might have made me grin. Only a little bit though. I'm not a big fan of this time of year, books about this time of year, or even books that are tagged as Christian fiction. For this book to overcome all of that and still make my Scrooge heart grin a little bit says a lot. I couldn't tell you if this book was good in the broader genre this floats in but it made me smile a bit so I guess that counts for something.
-2 StarsThis was read for a challenge and I think I found a new thing to put on the "nope" list. I'm not the biggest fan of reading erotica in general but listening to it on audiobook is just a firm "nope" from me. Take all the cheesy and bad writing one would expect from an erotica novel and then have it read into your ear with a monotone voice. I'd divide this book into two parts. The sex parts and the non-sex parts. The non-sex parts are there to give the book "story" and initially I was kind of interested in the story. Then these parts basically just became the sections to give you a breather from the paragraphs of smut you just read before plunging you back into even more paragraphs of smut. As for the sexy/smutty parts of the novel it's what you would expect. He's packing a WMD in his pants, he is the greatest in bed, etc, etc, etc, etc. Listen if you have ever read smut you know what to expect.
-4 StarsThis might just be the best romance manga I've read in a good long while. First, no angsty teenagers who can't muster up the courage to speak the most basic of sentences. Second, romance doesn't even feel like it's the main point of this series. It's about two coworkers becoming friends and finding out more about themselves. It's not until the end of the second volume where romance really feels like it's even being considered. There were also several relatable moments in this manga. It's been many a years but I remember thinking some of those thoughts or feeling a certain way. I really hope my library hurries up and gets the next couple volumes of this manga because I want to see where this one goes.
-3 StarsThis was an odd and yet wholesome comic book. A witch has created this sentient vegetables to help around the farm and this is the super weird part of the comic especially if you think to hard about it. These sentient vegetables specialize in growing their own vegetables. So Garlic grows garlic, Carrot grows carrot, etc. They then take these vegetables to the local market and sell them. Either as vegetables or as products made of that vegetable. For instance you have Tomato selling tomato sauce. In my head this is incredibly weird and has the potential to spin off into horrible dark places but this is a kids comic so lets shelf those thoughts. One day the local castle shows signs of someone moving back in and the people are worried that it might be the vampire that used to live there who has returned. All the vegetables decided to send Garlic out to investigate because she is garlic. She is terrified and has to find the courage. I won't spoil the ending but yes the vampire is back and there is a wholesome happy ending to the comic.
Up next is some Komi manga and then
before tackling something else.
Mod
@Gord Oh that Doughnuts manga looks really nice.
I'm still wrapping up my thoughts on some books I've read since my last update, but here is a small chunk.
- 5 stars. Yet again reminded me of the Throne of Glass even more. It’s the second book of the trilogy and my favorite. The worldbuilding is finished and the events are finally gaining some proper speed.
- 4 stars. I was reading this book alongside another romantic story, which was much better. It’s a nice, cute romantic story with a professional sport setting. The other book was also with a kinda similar setting.
- 4 stars. The final book is not as rich with events as the second one, but gives a solid conclusion to everything. I love how it ended, giving a decent level of satisfaction.
- 5 stars. Oh my, that was a steamy one! It’s hard with that type of male MC in a romantic story with a boss/employee setting. It turns out either disgusting or cheesy and unbelievable. I don’t know how, but the author managed to make this story so real, cute and pretty unique.
- 1 star. After several days I can’t even recall what the book was about. For me that means it was bland and unremarkable.
- 5 stars. Colleen’s books have that unique bitter-sweet taste, very distinctive. I love the idea with confessions and how it is resolved in the end.
- 4 stars. Overall I loved the series but I think I’ve missed some things since I didn’t read the original series and started with this one. And I didn’t expect dragons. (I know it’s in the genre list and in the description, but I don’t read them prior to reading, turns out they sometimes might spoil the whole experience).
I'm just purging this book so I can move on to something else.
-2 StarsI just did not like this book at all. For me it failed on all levels and I just feel disappointed upon completion. So this book popped up on my radar because of Daisy Darker that I read earlier this month. I was seeing a lot of comparisons and debate about which one was better (Daisy Darker was leagues better in my opinion) and it helped finish a challenge for me. I went into this book with the impression that this was going to be a isolated murder mystery on an island like the classic And Then There Were None. I'm a fan of this sort of set up so I was rather stoked to read this. What we got was not that in the slightest. There is only one murder in the entire book and it doesn't happen until the very end of the book. This is where my issues with this book begin. This entire book is build up to this murder taking place. Throughout the book we get very short chapters hinting to what happens the night of the murder. The bulk of this book is setting up the characters, their motives, etc. I just didn't like this format for a murder mystery. The book is heavily reliant on characters and I just did not like any of the characters at all. This just made the entire reading experience drag even more. The big shocking twists that were revealed were not that shocking as I figured them all out before hand. Including the identity of the killer. Here is the thing, if you have five main characters and then actively hide one character while doing everything possible to make the other four look guilty it's pretty clear who the killer will be. The last 50-100ish pages was truth bombs about what was going on and none of it was really shocking to me. I either didn't care about the reveal or it was something I had already pieced together from the clues presented to me. This book was just a boring read that felt like it dragged on longer then it should have.
Mod
@Brittany yeah, the second book was the best. Even after some time I'm still confident in that thought.
And here is the second chunk of my recent reads. Finally I wrapped up all of my thoughts.
- 4 stars. I definitely loved it more than Beach Read. Though still not my favorite romance.
- 4 stars. Oh that freaking ending! What have you done to me? The setting is gorgeous, I love those court asian settings, they are so vivid and how to say… intriguing is the closest word probably, but doesn’t describe it properly. It’s much more than intriguing, it’s a perfect base for everything, including conspiracies, politics, poisons, shocking secrets, difficult quests and impossible tasks.
- 1 star. Honestly, I’ve picked this series only because of the ‘35 old, single female main character’. I thought it would be nice to read something like that. How wrong I was…
- 4 stars. A cozy mystery rated 4+ stars is actually a rare find. The setting is very good, an old library, a new librarian with extraordinary powers.
- 5 stars. Re-read. That was one of my first book by Mr. Murakami. I was a bit afraid to re-read it and hesitated for a while. But actually happy I did. It’s even better!
- 4 stars. For some reason I delayed reading this book for a long time and now, when I finally read it, I feel like I should have picked it earlier. A great space sci-fi book I’ve been looking for a long time.
- 1 star. I don’t know what exactly it is, either I don’t like British authored cozy mysteries or I’ve just run into not really good ones.
- 3 stars. The series is nice and cozy, as it supposed to be, it also has the Hallmark vibes and a nice pick for the holiday season.
- 2 stars. That’s my first asian cozy mystery, it’s interesting to have a different setting, but I expected something more interesting. Turns out that it’s just a regular one with some asian culture to it.
- 3 stars. One more decent B&B cozy mystery I enjoy. That’s not the perfect one, but it does the job pretty well. The atmosphere is very nice, I also love the idea of renovating an old place but keeping it more or less the same.
- 3 stars. I don’t know. It’s so overhyped. I’m disappointed, I’ve almost dropped the book at about 60% as I could predict what’s going to happen.
- 4 stars. It's been a long time since I’ve read an LGBT book with a believable relationship, you can tell that it’s not thrown here just because nowadays everyone writes something LGBTQ and I really appreciate it.
- 4 stars. Oh that’s one of my favorite ghost-themed cozy mysteries. The idea of the ghost shows for guests is brilliant, alongside investigations.
And a little portion of manga.
- 5 stars. It is set on Mars and is about making great music, also the ending is so nice!
- 5 stars. I'm still reading it, so far it's my favorite manga of the year. It became more interesting when they found the ship and Sister.
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I definitely will! Again maybe next year, I think I've had my share of heavy reads this year and want to finish out the year with some light fun ones!