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@Brittany how was ?

And I hope you enjoy reading . It is gorgeous!

I finished my 31st book

Brittany wrote: "Jo wrote: "Started my next audiobook, , can already tell I'm going to love this narrator!"

AHHH I am so jealous!"

Will let you know how I get on!

Elena wrote: "@Brittany how was ?

And I hope you enjoy reading . It is gorgeous!"

I enjoyed a Good Girl's Guide it was a fun mystery. Figured parts out but not others.
Haven't really started Gods of Jade yet but I am looking forward to it. I'll let you know

@Brittany great! I'm looking forward to read your thoughts on the book.

Here are some of my finished / current reads. It's been a great week!
- one more book with lots of Korean culture. Joseon period in particular (1800s). It was a nice read, I'm so glad that nowadays there are much more books about this interesting country and culture.

- almost finished the last book in the series. Though the season featured in this one is summer it still has the cold dark mysterious atmosphere. I love the series! Every book was very good and interesting!

I'm still reading this one. Though I craved more Rowan-Aelin line I found myself enjoying reading the Chaol-Nesryn line too. (view spoiler)[Is he going to be with Yrene and Nesryn with Sartaq? There are definitely some sparkles between those two pairs. (hide spoiler)]

I'm a little bit on and off with this book because of lack of time, not interest. It's definitely interesting but I still have some books to finish before diving into this one for real.

-4 Stars
I had some trepidation heading into this book after what happened with the second one. It was unwarranted though as I really enjoyed this book. There was something about it that just clicked with me. It had all the same elements as the first two books but there was something about how all the elements were put together that just worked. There was a riddle but it didn't feel like the story revolved around the resolution of it. There was the mole speech but instead of entire conversations in this language it's limited in its use. No one was really waiting around to be saved by the MC. It was just the right balance of food, story, and adventure and it all just clicked with me.

-2 Stars
I was intrigued by this book and kind of stoked when my copy finally came in from the library. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't foaming at the mouth hyped or anything but the synopsis and setting seemed like it would be an interesting read. This book started out kind of lukewarm and chilled to disappointment and boredom by the end. Most of my problems with this book all come back to the MC. Right from the start it felt like there was a wall between me and the MC that prevented me from connecting with her. As the story went along I grew increasingly frustrated with her. She is supposed to be this police officer and she does some dumb stuff in this book. Not just little d dumb but we are talking big D DUMB. For instance, she figures out who the killer is. She decides to go out an capture them before any more bad stuff can happen. Fine, now before heading out she could contact the local policeman she is working with to pass on all the info she knows, who it is, and where she is going. She doesn't do this though. She tells her brother before heading of with essentially a stranger to capture the bad guy. The worst part is that it's not the first time she did this. So many times she should have called her local contact to share what she knows and she doesn't. She just throws herself into the danger and hopes for the best????

The mystery itself felt kind of weak. There were several times where it felt like the mystery would take a back seat to the MC's personal issues. The ending was one of those frustrating ones where there was no way you as the reader could really solve it or the motivations behind it as it was all linked to stuff that happened off page. Plus the author just kept heaping motivations on to the killer to the point where it felt like they were just trying to make one stick. After the ending we also get an epilogue that was sequel baiting real heard which didn't sit well with me.

The other issue I had with this book is something fully on me. At it's core this is a locked room/trapped murder mystery. The location is a remote hotel that has been cut off by snow and avalanches. It's a great setting honestly. Modern technology ruins a locked room mystery in my opinion. There is no gravity to the situation when the MC can simply whip out their phone and call anyone they want. The mystery isn't the same when the MC can simply Google anything they don't understand. If you really wanted you could simply set up phones and live stream anything and everything happening at the remote location. It just doesn't feel like they're trapped.


This was a full on blast of nostalgia for me. As a kid growing up the only comics I could get from the local public library were Asterix and Tintin which I would snap up when ever I could. This was the first time I read any of the Asterix comics since I was a kid and oh man did I miss so many jokes as a kid. These books were hilarious. Every characters name was some sort of pun or joke. The best joke I discovered as an adult though was the Gothic font one. In the story, Asterix and the Goths, there are two Romans walking down the road. One comments how he thinks he hears someone speaking Gothic in a nearby bush. There is a speech bubble coming out of the bush with text in a Gothic font. All of the Goths in this book have speech bubbles full of Gothic font unless they are speaking our MC's language at which point it's just normal font. This joke is so stupid but I love it and I couldn't stop laughing at it. I'm sitting here chuckling just thinking about it. I'd say these comics have aged pretty well overall in my opinion. Some of the depictions of other races might now be seen in such a favorable light now a days though.

I also read two more volumes of Otherworldy Izakaya Nobu this week.

As for what I plan to read next I've got that I'm starting today. After that I don't have much planned and I don't want to start committing to a ton of books either. The final book in The Poppy War Trilogy should be here anytime in the next two weeks and I want to devour that when it comes in. I'll probably try to finish off some older challenges that I have still open.

The Burning God is finally in from the library. Part of me wants to crawl into a cave and ignore everything but this book. The rational side of me is saying to wait until this weekend. That way I can finish what I'm working on and I won't have any interruptions like work and just life in general. It's so hard not to just rip into this book right now.

I finished my 32nd book

I wasn't really feeling Phoenix Flame (a common theme this year it seems!) so I decided to move on to my next Netgalley ARC, which I'm really excited for because I love Greek mythology!

@Gord I felt the same with the first book and finally decided to wait and not to buy the next one :D

Gord wrote: "The Burning God is finally in from the library. Part of me wants to crawl into a cave and ignore everything but this book. The rational side of me is saying to wait until this weeke..."

Yay Gord! Enjoy it

Too bad Phoenix Flame wasn't working for you Jo. I am super hopeful for Ariadne. I love Greek myth too and this is always a good one. I'll be curious to see how it is written and what changes the author makes.

Brittany wrote: "Too bad Phoenix Flame wasn't working for you Jo. I am super hopeful for Ariadne. I love Greek myth too and this is always a good one. I'll be curious to see how it is written and what changes the a..."

I mean I didn't love Havenfall so I didn't have high expectations but I was hoping it would be better! I'm not very far into Ariadne yet, but I like the writing style so far, it's 1st person POV from Ariadne and written in the style of like an oral storyteller, as if you're being told the story out loud rather than reading it.

Hmm, interesting. I have read some Ariadne retellings before. That sounds like a good way to tell it though.

I haven't so I'm quite excited! I really loved Circe last year so I'm hoping this will be a kind of similar thing :)

I started reading comics recently and even though I was a bit sceptical at first, I ended up liking them. I finished and all the other volumes, (again all the other volumes too) and now I started

I'm also reading but for some reason it reads kind of slow even though I like this story. Paolini is one of my favourite authors and this is the first time one of his books is going this slow for me. I don't know if that makes sense haha.

Comics are an interesting medium to explore. Like any other book you can get comics from all genres with various themes to explore. The interesting thing with comics is the art style can also influence your enjoyment. There have been comics that I simply could not read because I did not enjoy the art style. On the flip side of that I've given other comics a bit more of a pass because I found that art amazing.

Oooh an Ariadne retelling! I'm excited to hear your thoughts on it Jo! I have not read Circe yet, but I read The Song of Achilles last year and I LOVED it!

Today I finished and I loved it, of course! Lol. The romance between Magnus and Alec is just 😍 Plus it was just a really fun adventure!

Liliana wrote: "Oooh an Ariadne retelling! I'm excited to hear your thoughts on it Jo! I have not read Circe yet, but I read The Song of Achilles last year and I LOVED it!"

I've not read Song of Achilles yet, I'm thinking of reading the audiobook this year. Will definitely let you know how I find Ariadne.

Just going to get this out of the way early so I can get back to my book.

-4 Stars
I have to admit that I didn't see this series taking the path that it has. In the beginning of the series I thought that I had it pinned as some sort of modern day version of something like the Hardy Boys. Our young MC travels the world having adventures and saving the day. At some point it sounds like the series might become that but for right now it's diving into some pretty serious stuff. In this one here we continue the trend of Alex feeling like he is getting screwed over by MI6. We learn more about Alex's family outside of his uncle that we know about already. Alex once again finds himself in situations where someone his age his should have no involvement at all and has to deal with some rather adult situations. I'm rather eager to read the next book in the series right now to see where this current story arc goes.

-4 Stars
This felt like a textbook cozy mystery. It's set in a small town, the MC has something quirky about them (owns her own bookstore and lives in a train car), and a mystery happens that the MC has to get involved with even though they are not a detective in any way. There is something about how the author put these elements all together that just really worked for me. I love a good cozy mystery, and not just for challenges either, but a lot of the time they tend to feel rather cookie cutter. I personally associate that more with the restrictions of the genre than to any author. What really worked for me is the friendships that go started in this novel. Four middle aged ladies that due to life had ended up living rather solitary lives came together to help solve this mystery. Seeing them open up to each other, reveal their stories, and becoming friends was rather heart warming. You could have carved the mystery out of this novel and focused on merely the friendship aspect of the story and there would have been a pretty solid story there.

I also read four more volumes of Fairy Tail manga. This is pretty much the part of the story where my previous knowledge comes to an end. I don't really remember what happens in this story arc but I know it ends with a seven year time skip. It's still Fairy Tail and that's not a bad thing.

Currently I'm 40% into The Burning God and I'll say two things,
1) This book/series is seriously amazing
2) I'm going to need something light and fluffy after this

I have no idea what my plans are for the rest of the week as I'm super focused on my current book. I've got a couple of novels from the library and a stack of manga that I need to read so I have stuff to read. I'm just not sure if I'll read some of that or just find something light and fluffy to read after I'm done my current book.

Jo wrote: "I haven't so I'm quite excited! I really loved Circe last year so I'm hoping this will be a kind of similar thing :)"

I've read years ago

I finished listening to and actually really enjoyed it.

Not sure what I am going to listen to next.

I finished my 33rd book

I just want to update things with this book as I kind of want to get my initial thoughts out there.

-5 Stars
You want to know my final thoughts? Go read this series. There, that's it, go read this series. If your looking for me I'll be in the corner trying to recover after what this series did to me. For those that recommended this series to me, thank you. This was a fantastic read and something I might not have ever picked up if not for the nudging and poking I got.

Glad you loved it Gord! I still need to read the first book. Soon I think.

I finished my 34th book

I've got a lot to cover this week as I went on a bit of a tear.

-3 Stars
This was another book in the more edgier 80's version of the Hardy Boys and as an adult it really doesn't work. I was fine with things when they were doing the initial investigation but after that it kind of fell apart. Basically the Hardy Boys were up against Vietnam vets/survival game teachers/terrorists and I was expected to believe that these two teenage boys were able to outsmart them. I feel that this book should have ended about the point they were drugged and taken to some random Caribbean island. They would have been shot and their bodies left to rot in the jungle but heaping amounts of plot armor and a massive leap in logic kept them alive. As a teen I might have been fine with this but as an adult it was just a bit much. I'm going to keep reading just because they're quick and easy but this one was a bit much.

-3 Stars
This was a 2.5 and the only reason it didn't get a 2 star is because I didn't out right hate it. This book is a kids version of Greek mythology told with modern day jokes and is a prime example of what happens when a joke just falls flat on its face. I did not like the humor in this book at all. Instead of the jokes landing with me they just kind of bounced off and died. The running joke throughout this book is that Zues isn't the great hero that he was made out to be in mythology but a selfish jerk. The real good guy was Hades all along. I can appreciate the book as a way to get a young child interested in Greek mythology but as an adult just no.

-4 Stars
The sleeper hit of the week. I initially heard of this book in some random newspaper article about it winning an award or something. I saw that it was written by a Native American author and had a young Native main character. Out of curiosity I checked out the book on ŷ������ expecting some contemporary drama piece and was ready to peace out. What I found was a YA urban fantasy kind of book so I decided to request it from the library and give it shot. After just one book I am ready for the authors next book later this year. You have a our young female MC (16 years old) who can summon ghost essentially through a skill passed down from mother to daughter through their family. Her cousin dyes in a horrific accident and passes on a message to her before passing over. She then goes about revealing the truth behind her cousins death. This book did a lot of things that just worked for me and a lot of it revolved around subverting tropes. For instance she tells her parents about the message from her cousins ghost. Now in most books like this the parents would not believe her leaving the MC to figure things out on their own. In this book the parents not only believe her but actively help her with the problem because a family stands together. They help her with moral support, training when her powers start acting strange, up to helping confront the bad guy. I loved this aspect as I hate the trope of the parents not believing what their child is telling them when they really have no reason not to. Another one that stuck out to me was how the MC approached dangerous situations. We have all read books where the MC comes across a dangerous situation and decides to just jump in with out telling anyone, without taking backup, without taking an precautions at all. Usually this results in them getting captured, injured, or something else. In this book the MC goes into dangerous situations with a friend, they notify someone else, and then whip out their smart phones and start live streaming to that other person. That way they have backup if something bad happens to them. It's so simple but I just love it.

Outside of that the world building left me wanting more. It does the usual urban fantasy thing where it has a world where it's not just one mythology that is correct or present in the world. Our MC is Lipan Apache and that is where her abilities come from. Her best friend is distant decedent of Oberon and has a very little amount of Fae magic. Fairy rings are used for transportation but are heavily restricted. There are vampires but it's more of a curse and most don't live more than a hundred years. One interesting aspect is that supposedly all this magic has a negative impact on the environment. There was enough there in the book to make me want to explore more. This is a definite recommend from me if you are looking for a YA book that is different from the usual fare that is out there.

-3 Stars
You are going to know if you want to read this based on title alone. Either you read the title and immediately add it your TBR or you just nope out. For me I wanted to read this bad enough that I got the audiobook version because it was the only way that I could get it from the library. I listened to this book for nearly six hours and it was exactly what I expected. There are giant spiders up to one being the size of a house, there are people dying spider related deaths, and you have clowns. Most of the humor in this book revolves around the clowns not being as scary as everyone thinks they are. This clown troupe is well spoken, kind, and considerate. They are down on their luck and had been fired because of societies aversion to clowns. The only work they could find was working in spooky haunted house as scary clowns which were not a fan of but it was the only work they could find that would allow the troupe to stay together. Spiders show up and start eating everyone and the clowns, in their haunted house scary makeup, have to save the day. This is just dumb fun with dumb humor and it could easily be a cheesy B movie. Either you will love the premise or hate it.


I'm now caught up on what is available in English for this series and I rather enjoyed it. This wasn't just a dish of week manga as it had a progressing story. It was a complicated story but it worked for what this manga is. Supposedly the next English volume isn't out until October but I have some doubts about that.


For Fairy Tail I'm now half way through the series and firmly into new territory. About the only thing I know about after this is the once tournament scene with Erza. Outside of that it's going to be all new. Sleepy Princess is more of the same and that is a good thing. Sleepy Princess is adorable and yet terrifying. Pity the fool who gets between her and her sleep.

Over the next week I have some more manga I want to read. as for novels I plan on starting with and then see where things from there.

I finished my 35th book

A couple of books I read in the last week or so: The last 2 were re-reads, but they were all great! And I just started

I just finished good book. Love the use of different mythology!

I'm glad you all are enjoying your reads!
Here are some of my recent reads :)

- I wanted to read those books for years and finally did it! I loved the story though it was a little bit naive :)

- loved this one and the MC reminded me so much of myself so the book gave me the hope to maybe find one day a person who is meant to be with me :)

- it was ok but not as good as other author's stories, my favourite one is The Villa in Italy

- the series... is just hilarious! I had so much fun reading it :)

- some advices were really useful

- nothing special but I don't regret reading it as the atmosphere they created was pretty good

- the first book was ok with a lot of place for development though not my favourite. I'm going to continue reading the next one and hope it's going to be something good

- that one is gorgeous! Great story, great language, amazing atmosphere

- bittersweet story which made me happy and very sad at some points

- nothing special, didn't get the story at all, though the first book in the series was good

Glad you enjoyed The Sword of Shannara I read it many many years ago and got bored but I think that was just me.
I definitely want to read The Kiss Quotient so good to hear how well it worked for you.
Seems like you had mostly good books lately so yay!

The sword of Shannara is a series I've been meaning to read again for a very long time. That was one of the early books that got me into fantasy and the series is huge.

@Brittany yeah! The bookish part of my life was surprisingly good recently. I've enjoyed almost all the last reads.

@Gord I'm glad to hear you also enjoyed The Shannara series.

I finished my 36th book

Finished and loved it!

Since my hold for came in earlier than expected I'm starting that now

@Brittany great you loved King of Scars :) Do you want to read the. next book?

I've started today - so far so good!

Yes I will read the next one soon for sure! Am now just sidetracked with Guild Codex.

It's been another busy week of reading for me

-3 Stars
This was a group read for me and I went into it with a certain level of intrigue. The basic selling point is that there are six people locked in a room with a syringe of poison, a bomb, and a letter. The letter basically states one of you must die within the hour or you all die. Anyone who knows me can see how I would find this premise intriguing. (view spoiler)[What ensued after that was this roller coaster of a book. There were times where I'd find myself engaged in what was happening in the book and other times where I'd be rolling my eyes and clocking out as I plowed through yet another scene of pointless teenage drama. This book, as I discovered, was less mystery with juicy secrets and more teenage drama piece with a sprinkling of mystery on top. Then we get to the ending and this is where the roller coaster jumps the track and crashes into a fiery inferno. (view spoiler)[ The ending just felt stupid. There is no other way to explain it, it just felt stupid. The big reveal did not coincide with any of the character development that the author had established up to that point. I actually had to go back and double check that I was reading the same character and not just some side character that had been pulled into the book at the last minute. Then the whole thought process, the whole premise behind what had led to the events in the book was just next level DUMB. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

-3 Stars
This is the first a couple of challenge books this week. To borrow the books theme here for a couple of seconds to explain things. If this book was a cupcake it would be a plain cupcake with plain vanilla icing. This book was so average and so plain that I've nearly forgotten it already and a week has barely passed. You've got three friends down on their luck, finical woes, hot hunky guy, and the plan to open a cupcake shop. I swear to you that I've read this basic premise in more than one book. If you had tossed a dead body into this book you would of had a cozy mystery it was that generic. I've got nothing else. It was just average, plain, safe.

-4 Stars
When I first started reading this series at the beginning of the year I was expecting some dumb teenage male escapism. A throw back to the kind of books that I used to read, and still read to this day. Those elements are there of course but there is an interesting level of depth to these books. The things that the MC has to experience and the changes it has on him was just not expected. I'm used to the MC having a certain level of plot armor and story convenience when it comes down to the uglier aspects of a teenager thrust into an adults world. You kind of have that here of course but it also doesn't shy away from it. It talks about the physical toll that these adventures have on Alex and how people around him are noticing the sheer amount of scars he his acquiring. Then there is the mental toll. This is a 14 year old thrust into the world of espionage where everyone is a liar. Or to be more precise the truth and lying are merely tools to be used. He is manipulated by both sides for different reasons and he of course develops some massive trust issues. Then there is aspect where he just doesn't have many friends anymore. He is always away from home doing missions and when he is home he just can't connect with other people his age which makes sense. While his classmates are worried about usual teenage problems he is stopping global threats that could kill thousands if not millions of people. All these elements have come together to make a series that I am just really enjoying.

-3 Stars
The other challenge book I read this week. This is a childhood classic and I will always love this series for it's influence on me. That being said I have to be in the right mindset to read one of these and I wasn't in that mindset when I read this book. It's not the book was bad it just wasn't clicking with me really. Not much more to say then that really.

-3 Stars
This is a book with some interesting potential. It falls into this weird grey area somewhere between an urban fantasy and a paranormal cozy. It doesn't have the action one would expect from an urban fantasy and it doesn't have the dead body/mystery aspect of a paranormal cozy. What you get is this urban fantasy with the chilled vibes of a paranormal cozy. It's an interesting dynamic. What I didn't like was the complete and utter lack of a ending to this book. It was a Kindle freebie and it's not the first time I've ran into this problem. It will basically get to a real interesting point in the book and then just end it. None of the story lines get resolved it just ends with a page saying "hey if you liked this go buy the rest of the book in what I'm calling the second book". I get why it's done but as a reader it just feels dirty and just don't like it.

-3 Stars
This manga is what happens when you try to stretch one joke into an entire series. Magical girls, by tradition, are pure character who fight for the best of the world. They are heroes essentially. The joke with this manga is what would happen if you made the wrong girl that hero. Instead of a pure character you make the juvenile delinquent the hero. As a premise it's not bad and it was enough for me to look at the series but after two books I've had my fill and I'm ready to move on. The problem here is that there is nothing done with this series outside of that initial joke. There are attempts at a story but when the story itself tries to just gloss over it I just don't care anymore. Maybe the series goes some interesting places later one but I've lost interest already.

-4 Stars
Now this manga on the other hand was exactly what I was looking for. Much like Magus of the Library you have a surface level story about a young person getting into the world of magic for the first time. There is a certain level of joy and innocence to the story as you see them take their first steps into this new world. Then through the seams in this joyful story you get glimpses of the much more serious world and what is going on in that world. I love this story telling method. You get the joys of seeing this young person succeed all while you have this much more serious mystery lurking in the background keeping you on your toes. Your always looking for small clues about what is going on and it's fun. The art work is gorgeous and that just helps the story as well. I fully intend to keep reading this series until I'm caught up.

I'm currently reading and I have some interesting books I'm picking up from the library today. Honestly I'm not sure what I'll be reading over the next week. It probably wont be as much as I have been reading the last couple of weeks as things are looking a bit busier at work but we will have to see.

Gord that’s a lot of books that your reading

Work is slow right now so I've got some extra reading time during the day.

@Gord nice to hear you're enjoying some of your book. Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1 looks especially interesting.

Here are some of my current reads:

- the only thing I enjoyed were the food description, the story was not interesting (like 1-star not interesting)

- on the other hand this one is extremely good! So steamy and sparkling!

@Elena - so glad you are liking The Hating Game! It was one of my favorite contemporaries last year!!

Too bad about Pho love, glad to hear about Hating Game! I'm still waiting on my hold