Wow! The first month of the year flew by so fast, I can hardly believe it’s already February! Ready for a recap of what I read (“Outbox”), what I bought/borrowed (“Inbox”), and what I’m currently reading? Cool. Let’s talk about books!
Outbox
First accomplishment of the New Year: I finished all the books I needed to read to complete all my prompts for the Winter Magical Readathon! Hooray!
I started the year with The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst. This is the second book in a trilogy, and I loved the first book. This one started off so good. I mean, I was LOVING this book… until the end. Because of the brutality of the first book’s ending, I was expecting an equally brutal end to this book. I mean, the story was building to it from the opening chapter. It had to happen. And then… something else happened. I don’t know how to discuss this without being spoilery, so if you want to know more, hit me up in the comments, and I’ll answer any spoiler questions there. I’m now very curious how this is going to get resolved in the final book. Luckily, I already have it on my Kindle.
Rather than diving right into book three in the Queens of Renthia series, I decided to continue with my Winter Magical Readathon prompts. I was more than ready to dive into The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas, and I plowed through it in a couple of days. Seriously, people. If you like Sherlock Holmes and you’re not reading this series, you are missing out. It’s so good! I will say that I highly recommend you have some pastries or delicious cookies and tea on hand while you read this.
And, the last book I read for the Winter Magical Readathon was The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai. This turned out to be exactly what I’d expected in the very best way. The heroine is the CEO of a dating app startup. The hero is an ex-football player with a passion for getting assistance for players with medical issues caused by concussions. They’re brought together by his very eccentric aunt. It’s sexy and heartwarming and romantic. Chapter eighteen is a playbook to my heart. If you are looking to dip your toe into contemporary romance (or if you already know you like it), definitely check out this book.
After that, I read Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik so that I could talk about it with my “Camp Book Club” friends in our virtual book club this weekend. I liked this second book better than the first, mostly because both the hero and the heroine were extremely competent spies who have a history of pining for each other and a decent enough reason to be kept apart. Although, I will say that I called the secret that the hero is keeping back when he made his first appearance at the end of book one. Still, I’m really enjoying this sci-fi romance series and looking forward to the next book.
Inbox
Aside from borrowing The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai from the library, I bought two books this month. Well, technically, I bought the subscription box that they came in, but I bought the boxes because they come with books, so…
Two more boxes from Fairy Loot arrived this month! First up, in my December box (which arrived at the start of January due to holiday shipping delays), I got Eight Will Fall by Sarah Harian. I hadn’t heard of this book, but after reading the blurb and the letter and the interview with the author, I’m pretty excited to read it.
In my January Fairy Loot box, I got Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez. I know the author of this one from the Pitch Wars community on Twitter, but I’d completely forgotten that her debut novel was coming out this year. I was very pleasantly surprised and excited that this turned out to be the Fairy Loot pick for January! I can’t wait to check it out.
Currently Reading
I am currently reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. The thing is, necromancers aren’t really something I’m super into, and I am really loving this book. I think it’s because the world-building is just weird enough, and completely unexplained enough, that I’m turning pages just trying to figure out what’s going on. Plus the characters are excellent, and the plot is basically a locked room mystery (which is a trope I love). If you have this on your TBR but you haven’t read it yet, pick it up. Believe the hype. It’s really good.
Beyond that, I’m working on my TBR for round ten of Tome Topple (starting on 7 February at 00:00 in your timezone). So, stay tuned for an upcoming blog post on that, once I’ve decided on what I plan to read.
Until then, have an excellent and extra special Groundhog’s Day! (It’s 02.02.2020!) Cheers to an early spring!
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