2018

Two Maggie Hope Books!

2018, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

Yep, I finished two Maggie Hope books this month. Back to back, even! (The Queen’s Accomplice and the Paris Spy.)

I ranted for a bit after the Queen’s Accomplice because it seemed like a bit of a wasted book. Did we really need that fake Jack the Ripper stuff? Also, I think it was titled poorly. In the past, the X’s _____ meant Maggie worked with or on behalf of the X. In this book, not so much really. Instead, Maggie took advantage of her relationship with the Queen to ask for favors. That’s not her being the Queen’s accomplice. That’s the Queen being HER accomplice. I didn’t hate the book, I just felt like it dragged on and the places where the storyline progressed could have been done more quickly and efficiently in other ways.

Having said that, the Paris Spy was nicely set up by the events that did happy in The Queen’s Accomplice. (Minus the fake Jack the Ripper stuff.) And I think this is one of my favorite Maggie Hope books in a long, long time. The cliffhanger is VERY CLIFFHANGERY and I need the next book ASAP. Sheesh.

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Young Jane Young

2018, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Feminism, Fiction, Women /

Woot, we finished an audiobook! Right after we finished the last audiobook, which was MONTHS ago (or at the very least, weeks ago) I didn’t have another one waiting for us so I just grabbed something we hadn’t read that also looked like we wouldn’t hate it.

So, I ended up with Young Jane Young.

I didn’t hate it but didn’t love it. I liked parts of it quite a bit. I did not like the “choose your own adventure” section at the end. TW apparently didn’t enjoy the book at all.

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The Wonder of Us

2018, Books in Bed, Fiction, Young Adult /

I read The Wonder of Us almost a month ago… I have no idea where it came from. I thought it was a Cybil but upon reflection, it wasn’t interesting enough to be a Cybil. It’s also not a YA romance, it’s a YA friendship book. With that title, you’d probably be surprised by that. It’s a play on one of the girl’s love of the great wonders of the world. That was really the most interesting thing about the book.

Ho hum. Not great. Not horrible. Just ho hum.

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Reading in September… Whut?

2018, Books in Bed, Reading /

According to my blog, I read ZERO books in September. In reality, I read one and quit one. I didn’t blog either. It’s been a month… a very, very difficult month. September often is. Whatever.

Onward to October? When’s the fall #readathon? Umm, is there not one? That’s kind of heartbreaking. There must be. I shall investigate and report back. Update: Official #readathon date is 10/20/18. (That was much harder to find than it should have been.) I think we can manage that #readathon.

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The Favorite Sister

2018, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Fiction /

Gah. I wasted hours of my life reading The Favorite Sister for what turned out to be no damn good reason. It had ZERO redeeming qualities and I’m so annoyed by whatever LGBTQ pride month list I found this book on. Whoever put that book on a PRIDE list should be shot.

Also, it was just a bad book. Not a single good human being in the bunch AND worse yet, the twist on the feminist reality show just plain pissed me the hell off.

Don’t read this. And if you read it and liked it, I’m not sure we can be friends. SO BAD.

PS. I will publicly apologize to TW because I questioned her hatred of the book and didn’t believe it could be that bad… I was wrong. I was mislead by a horrible PRIDE month reading list.

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When

2018, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I have absolutely no idea how When, (on audio!), landed in my library bag. It doesn’t seem to be a Cybil from any recent year that I was just now getting to. It’s not queer YA. I just, I have no idea. Anyway. It was different. Maddie has a “talent/gift/curse/?” that I haven’t seen in a book before. (Or in real life, thank goodness.)

I liked most of the characters. I didn’t love the ending, though. How her talent/gift/curse/? evolved into something different there at the end when she talked to Aiden at the end (when it never had before?) … that made no sense. We could have done without that. Blah.

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Reverse Readathon: That’s a Wrap!

1 Comment / 2018, Books in Bed, Dewey's Readathon /

I’ve decided I like this reverse readathon thing. It’s officially over but it’s 8pm and what else are we going to do but read for another few hours? So, we get an extra four hours added to our readathon this way. I LIKE IT.

Here’s the final survey:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?

I took a 20 minute nap at 4:30 p.m.

2. Tell us ALLLLL the books you read!

I finished Master Magician (I was 100 pages into it when the readathon started.)
I read Stray City in its entirety.
I finished a short story in Dear Sweet Filthy World (after trying to finish one for weeks.)
I’m 132 pages into Lady Jayne Disappears.

3. Which books would you recommend to other Read-a-thoners?

I’d recommend the all (though you should start with the first book in the Paper Magician trilogy.)

4. How did you feel about this first-ever Reverse Readathon? Should we do it again?

See above – loved it! Let’s definitely do it again.

5. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? Would you be interested in volunteering to help organize and prep in October?

I definitely want to do more readathons, they’re my favorite.

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