February 2026 Reading Wrap Up

19 Mar 2026 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I haven’t been doing as well on my reading recently. I’d like to think my struggle in February had something to do with it being a short month, but actually the month simply slipped by and I wasn’t able to focus as much on my reading as I may have liked. As I sit here in mid-March I’m still struggling to get through books, but that will be an update for a future post.

Book cover for 'The Will of the Many' by James Islington, featuring ancient Greek-style pillars and a dark blue background.
Cover of the book 'Pilgrimage' by Zenna Henderson, featuring a man in a straw hat standing near a farm house with a UFO in the sky.

These are the two books that I read in February. Both were for book club discussions, but I hadn’t finished The Will of the Many in time to make that talk. I actually didn’t finish Pilgrimage: The Book of the People, but gave up on it about halfway through (paid links). I’ll work on getting reviews of these up soon, but here are my star ratings for them:

  • The Will of the Many by James Islington – ★★★★★
  • Pilgrimage: The Book of the People by Zenna Henderson – ★★
Book cover of 'The Everlasting' by Alix E. Harrow featuring intricate floral designs and a central sword element.
Book cover for 'Grievar's Blood' by Alexander Darwin, featuring a central depiction of a humanoid figure and a blue background.
Book cover of 'An Echo in the Bone' by Diana Gabaldon featuring a dark blue background with a leaf design and text indicating it is an international bestseller.

I did make more progress on the books I had wanted to read for February, but just didn’t finish them. I’m more than halfway through The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow. I decided to take a break from the Outlander saga audiobooks and listened to Grievar’s Blood by Alexander Darwin. This is book 2 in The Combat Codes series and I have finished it now, just not in February. I have already returned to book 7 of the Outlander series – I’m sitting at roughly the halfway point in An Echo in the Bone, with a little over 18 hours left to go (paid links).

Cover of the science fiction novel 'A Fire Upon The Deep' by Vernor Vinge, featuring bold text and a futuristic spaceship design.
Book cover of 'The Tainted Cup' by Robert Jackson Bennett, featuring a dark blue background with intricate gold designs, flowers, and a cup illustration.
Cover of 'The Faraway Inn' by Sarah Beth Durst, featuring a whimsical illustration of a cozy inn surrounded by flowers and mystical elements.

Looking back at the books I had planned to read for February, the only ones I didn’t get to were A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, and The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst. I’ve moved two of these onto my to-be-read list for March, but if I don’t get to them then, they’ll have to be pushed further down in my never-ending pile.

Next up are my reading plans for March where I get to pick six books!

Book cover for 'The Faraway Inn' by Sarah Beth Durst, featuring a whimsical inn surrounded by flowers and a mystical atmosphere.
Book cover of 'Seveneves' by Neal Stephenson, featuring a detailed illustration of an eye with a blue glowing element in the center.
Cover of the book 'Dreadful' by Caitlin Rozakis featuring a black castle with swirling tendrils and an open book on a stack of books in front of it, set against a red background.
Cover of the book 'The Tainted Cup' by Robert Jackson Bennett, featuring a dark background with gold illustrations of flowers and a cup, symbolizing themes of mystery and intrigue.
Book cover of 'Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil' by V.E. Schwab, featuring stylized yellow text and a dark background with floral elements.
Book cover of 'Written in My Own Heart's Blood' by Diana Gabaldon, featuring a wax seal and bold red title on a light background.

By the time I get this post published I expect that I will have started The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst. This is an ARC from Net Galley, so I need to read and review this one soon. Probably next up will be Seveneves by Neal Stephenson because it is long (872 pages), and it is for a book club discussion mid-April. If I am making good progress on that one, then I’ll probably start either Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis (another book club choice) or The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. If my reading goes spectacularly well then maybe I’ll get to the last two on this list: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab and Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon (paid links).

I’m doing well with sticking to my new book acquisition rule. Since I read five books in January, that meant that I could pick up four new ones in February. My Fairy Loot subscription book went missing (but still may turn up). I had left a spot open for it on my list and then the other three books that I acquired were:

Cover of the book 'The Tainted Cup' by Robert Jackson Bennett, featuring floral and vine illustrations with a dark blue background and gold accents.
Book cover of 'Seveneves' by Neal Stephenson featuring an eye with a blue light and the text 'SEVENEVES' and 'A Novel'.
Book cover of 'Sea of Charms' by Sarah Beth Durst, featuring a colorful garden pathway leading to the ocean with a sailboat in the background.
  • The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
  • Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst

The publisher (Bramble) was kind enough to approve an ARC of Sea of Charms for me. I enjoyed the first book in this series – The Spellshop – by Sarah Beth Durst, but haven’t reviewed it here yet so that will be one of the next reviews that I write (paid links).

Unfortunately my new book acquisition rule means that I can only pick up one new book in March. I’ll have to choose carefully!

Book Review – Slow Gods

17 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , ,

I had never read anything by author Claire North, but I saw Slow Gods offered on Net Galley and thought that the premise of this new science fiction book sounded terrific (paid link). The cover was great too. Fortunately, I received a copy, so you can read on below to see what I thought.

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I read the e-book edition.

Here is the blurb:

From one of the most original and dazzling voices in speculative fiction comes an intergalactic tale of conspiracy, war and the fall of empires.

My name is Mawukana na-Vdnaze, and I am a very poor copy of myself.

In telling my story, there are certain things I should perhaps lie about. I should make myself a hero. Pretend I was not used by strangers and gods, did not leave people behind.

Here is one out there in deep-space, in the pilot’s chair, I died. And then, I was reborn. I became something not quite human, something that could speak to the infinite dark. And I vowed to become the scourge of the world that wronged me.

This is the story of the supernova event that burned planets and felled civilizations. This is also the story of the many lives I’ve lived since I died for the first time.

Are you listening?

Rating: ★★★☆☆

When I read this book, I found that the most interesting aspect of the premise was something that was not included in the blurb above. An enigmatic alien god-like race called the Slow are known for making accurate predictions about events in the galaxy. When they send out an alarm that a specific star will go supernova and destroy dozens of inhabited worlds, you would think that all the planets would take them seriously. However, the disaster is over a hundred years away, and the repressive government of the Shine doesn’t even want their people to know about the prediction and tries to erase the message from the Slow. Other worlds make plans for evacuation, but it’s tough to relocate the entire population of a world and some will inevitably be left behind. This entire situation and the dilemmas involved created the best parts of this book.

The main character, Mawukana na-Vdnaze (Maw), has undergone a strange transformation after being forced to pilot a ship as a form of punishment by the Shine. He is killed yet somehow reformed into someone who is not quite human and can harness the power of a sort of darkness that exists in arc space. He can no longer die and does not age, and he also never suffers from the inevitable psychosis that affects arc space pilots.

Despite these interesting ideas, the story in Slow Gods dragged and it was tough to figure out what the main thrust of the plot was supposed to be. Maw becomes involved in the evacuation of the planet of Adjumir where he tries to rescue someone he met briefly on an earlier excursion. He unconvincingly fell in love with this antiquarian after a brief tryst decades earlier. The Adjumiri also use a variety of odd pronouns which I stumbled over every time one came up. I never understood the differences between them and I thought that the author could have gotten their point across in a more concise way in this respect.

Maw does provide an interesting character study. He is someone who is happy to have escaped one of the worlds of the Shine and a person who becomes inexplicably violent when the Dark takes him. He has some fascinating interactions with one antagonist in the story near the end of the book. However, I felt like this novel suffered from focusing too much on his character and not enough on the events around him. I think that some readers will love this book, but overall it wasn’t for me.

I also felt like this book was only the beginning of a larger series and didn’t wrap up anything like a stand alone novel should. However, it is noted to be a single volume with no sequels planned that I can find.

Thanks again to Net Galley and the publisher, Orbit, for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

Have you read anything by Claire North? I’d try something else by this author. Which other book would you recommend? Let me know in the comments.

You can find more of my book reviews here.

Book Review – Detour

06 Feb 2026 1 Comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , ,

Detour is a science fiction novel by co-authors Jeff Rake and Rob Hart. I received a copy courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher (Random House Worlds) in return for an honest review (paid link). You can read what I thought below.

I read the e-book edition.

Here is the blurb:

Ryan Crane wasn’t looking for trouble—just a cup of coffee. But when this cop spots a gunman emerging from an unmarked van, he leaps into action and unknowingly saves John Ward, a billionaire with presidential aspirations, from an assassination attempt.

As thanks for Ryan’s quick thinking, Ward offers him the chance of a lifetime: to join a group of lucky civilians chosen to accompany three veteran astronauts on the first manned mission to Saturn’s moon Titan.

A devoted family man, Ryan is reluctant to leave on this two-year expedition, yet with the encouragement of his loving wife—and an exorbitant paycheck guaranteeing lifetime care for their disabled son—he crews up and ventures into a new frontier.

But as the ship is circling Titan, it is rocked by an unexplained series of explosions. The crew works together to get back on course, and they return to Earth as heroes.

When the fanfare dies down, Ryan and his fellow astronauts notice that things are different. Some changes are good, such as lavish upgrades to their homes, but others are more disconcerting. Before the group can connect, mysterious figures start tailing them, and their communications are scrambled.

Separated and suspicious, the crew must uncover the truth and decide how far they’re willing to go to return to their normal lives. Just when their space adventure seemingly ends, it shockingly begins.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

This book initially caught my attention because it featured a crew of astronauts as the main characters. However, this was a large part of why this story didn’t work for me. The professional NASA astronauts on the crew had previous spaceflight experience, but their training for the mission to fly around Titan on a new spacecraft was minimal to non-existent. Three civilians were also selected, but no screening for medical conditions or psychiatric testing was shown. These would have been particularly important aspects to consider for a mission that was expected to last two years.

The commander of the mission turns out to be a known alcoholic, and his colleagues at NASA cover for him constantly, even when he tries to distill alcohol from mouthwash in the middle of the mission after drinking all the alcohol that NASA sent along with them (LOL). One of the civilians is socially awkward and claustrophobic, which is also not a great combination aboard a spacecraft. Another one gets into a fistfight with another crewmember before they even leave Earth.

I found the pacing odd, with roughly the first half of the book being taken up by introductions of the characters. Once they finally arrive near Titan, the ship circles the moon and then comes home. No direct input from any of the astronauts was performed, bringing up the question of why a manned mission was even necessary. Of course there is a strange explosion on the ship when they are at Titan and they lose most (but not all) of their communication ability after that point. Unfortunately the nature of that explosion isn’t really investigated and by the end of the book it is clear that this is going to be the first of a series. The book ends on a cliffhanger and gives no answers to their situation.

The action that opened the novel was exciting and hooked me on the book enough to finish it despite the flaws in characterization and mission logic. The best part of the book occurs in the last third, when more action happens. The prose was also easy to read and I liked the cover.

While the premise of this book held potential for an exciting and intriguing story, I don’t plan to be reading more in this series.

Have you read any books lately that were disappointing? Let me know in the comments.

You can find more of my book reviews here.

January 2026 Reading Wrap Up

04 Feb 2026 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The beginning of January gave me pneumonia, so while I didn’t feel well and missed work, I DID have more time to read. The second half of the month left me busier though, so I didn’t quite meet my goal of finishing 6 books for the month. These are the books I finished in January:

Since it takes me so long to get to reviews lately, I thought I’d give you a preview of what I thought by listing how many stars I gave my recent reads. Here are my ratings for what I read in January with purchase links:

When I set my reading goals for 2025, I estimated that I could read 6 books a month (72 for the year). Of course, being unrealistic about my reading goals, I then put 9 books on my to-be-read list for January. Even with that, I feel like I did well with my reading, having started 2 additional books from that list, and leaving only 2 that I haven’t started yet.

I’m currently enjoying the trade paperback edition of The Will of the Many by James Islington. I’m about 200 pages into this one. Then my audiobook journey through the Outlander saga continues with #7 – An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (paid links). I have 26 hours left of 46, putting me around 43% of the way through the book. If I add my progress for these two books up, I think that should count as a sixth book for January.

The two from my unrealistic list that I didn’t get to were Quicksilver by Callie Hart and Alchemised by SenLinYu (paid links). I still want to read these books, so I’ll have to figure out where to squeeze them in.

I’m going to limit my list for February to only 6 books, and half of them are under 400 pages, so maybe I’ll manage to read them all? Of course I have to finish those I’m currently reading too. Here are the books I’m planning to read in February:

  • A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge – 613 pages, e-book – This is a classic science fiction novel that I received from Net Galley quite a while ago. I’m slowly catching up on my review reading.
  • The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow – 320 pages, hardcover – I have read a ton of stellar reviews for this book and am very excited to start it.
  • Grievar’s Blood by Alexander Darwin – 13 hr, 31 min, audiobook – This is the second novel in a series I started a while ago that was a mashup of fantasy and MMA.
  • The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett – 410 pages, e-book – This novel won both the 2025 Hugo and World Fantasy Awards for Best Novel. It is a selection for an upcoming book club discussion.
  • Pilgrimage: The Book of the People by Zenna Henderson – 255 pages, paperback – This is a selection for an upcoming book club discussion and is a classic published in 1961.
  • The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst – 384 pages, e-book – This is a cozy fantasy novel by the author of The Spellshop and was given to me for review by Net Galley. It will be published on March 31.

I did really well in keeping with my new rule to only buy the number of books I read in the previous month minus one. In December I read 5 books, and then for January I only acquired 4 new ones:

  • Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
  • The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
  • Pilgrimage: The Book of the People by Zenna Henderson
  • Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibanez (Fairy Loot)

You can see that there is significant overlap in my recent reading and the books I needed to obtain. I might have requested a book on Net Galley, but it hasn’t been approved, so it doesn’t count yet!

Coming up later this month on this blog are reviews of Slow Gods by Claire North, Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, and Detour by Jeff Rake and Rob Hart.

What are you reading this week? Are there any new books that you’re looking forward to reading? Let me know in the comments.

November, December 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

27 Dec 2025 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

As promised in my previous post, here is a summary of my reading for the last two months of the year. I made better progress in my reading by being more intentional about it and by also limiting my mindless screen time. Here are the books I read in November and December (paid links):

  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – I enjoyed this one a lot but it took me a little while to get into it. You can find my review of it here, and a purchase link here.
  • Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh – this was a science fiction story that twisted my expectations and was maybe one of my favorite books I read this year. I’ll have a review up eventually (really!).
  • Katabasis by R.F. Kuang – I had been looking forward to this book from the author of Babel and Yellowface. It wasn’t my favorite book by the author and I’m working on a review.
  • The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler – this was a novella that we read for one of my book clubs and recently won a Hugo Award. I enjoyed it but was surprised that it won the Hugo.
  • A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon – this was the sixth book in the Outlander series. I’ve been gradually making my way through these in audiobook format.
  • Twelve Months by Jim Butcher – this is the new book (#18) in The Dresden Files series and I was really excited to get this as an ARC from NetGalley. This will be one of my first reviews in 2026 and the book is out January 20th. You can pre-order it here.

I also expect to finish The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi before the end of the month (paid link). I’m listening to the audiobook and have less than an hour left to go, so I’m counting that one as finished for the purposes of this post.

I just started A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab yesterday (paid link). This book is a pick for an upcoming book club discussion. If I read it faster than I anticipate, then I might also count this one as read in 2025. We’ll see how much free time I have in the next few days.

I’ll definitely post more about my upcoming reading plans in my Books to Read in 2026 post that will be up just after New Year’s Day, but here is a sneak peek of my next few planned reads (paid links):

  • An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon – I plan to start the next (7th) book in the Outlander series as an audiobook once I finish The Kaiju Preservation Society.
  • Slow Gods by Claire North – this is a science fiction novel by an author that will be new to me and was sent to me courtesy of NetGalley.
  • Swordheart by T. Kingfisher – this book was so pretty that I had to buy it a few months ago. I should probably read it and not just stare at it.
  • Quicksilver by Callie Hart – I’ve been told by a few people that I need to read this romantasy book, and I believe there is a sequel out now as well.

I have a few other books on my list for January, but I don’t know exactly which ones I’ll read. I’m trying to narrow down my to-be-read list for 2026, but that means I have to either make hard choice OR just find more time to read!

What books have you read this year that surprised you? Did you try to squeeze in any quick reads by the end of the year? Let me know in the comments!

August, September, October 2025 Reading Wrap Up

09 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Every year I struggle with my reading and blogging when August or September comes around. While I thought I’d do better with reading in August since I’d be laid up after a surgery, the medications made me sleepier than I would have liked, so my reading suffered. Then September comes around and is always a busy month for some reason. So better late than never, here are the books I’ve been reading since August.

In August I did finish the four books shown below, although Rogue Protocol was technically a novella.

  • The Feeding by Anthony Ryan – You can find my review of this one here and a purchase link here.
  • Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver – My review is here and purchase link is here.
  • The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence – This was the third and final book in The Library Trilogy and was quite good. I hope to review it soon and you can find a purchase link here.
  • Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells – This was the third novella in the Murderbot Diaries series. I haven’t reviewed any of these books yet, but I did watch the recent Apple TV series. You can find the show here and a purchase link for this third book here.

For September, I read three books, but one was a struggle and I DNF’d (did not finish) it about 1/3 of the way through.

  • The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten – This was the anticipated finale in The Nightshade Crown series. My review of it is here and you can find a purchase link here.
  • What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller – I’ve read a couple of this author’s YA books (Warrior of the Wild, Blade of Secrets, Master of Iron) and this was her first adult novel (paid links). It is a stand-alone and I’ll have a review up soon. You can follow a purchase link here.
  • Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders – While I’ve enjoyed this author’s other books, with All the Birds in the Sky being one of my favorite books of 2019 (paid link), this is the book that I struggled with. I’ll have a review up soon with an explanation.

October should have been when I caught up, but the month continued to be crazy and I only finished two books:

  • The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong – This was a stand-alone novel as well. I recently reviewed the author’s first novel, The Teller of Small Fortunes, and found it to be surprisingly good (review here) for one of the first “cozy fantasy” novels I’ve read (paid link). This new book follows in the same vein and I’ll have a review here soon. This is a purchase link.
  • Crossroads of Ravens by Andrzej Sapkowski – This is the new prequel novel in The Witcher series about a young Geralt on one of his first adventures. I just finished the audiobook a few days ago and you can find a paid link for it here.

At the end of October I succumbed to the temptation to read six books at once. I’m still working on 5 of them (purchase links included below):

  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – This is the first book that I’ve read by this author and I have about 50 pages left to go. It took some time to get into, but became more interesting about halfway through. I only need to find a dedicated hour to finish it.
  • Katabasis by R.F. Kuang – I have been a fan of this author since I read Babel (review here / purchase link here) and her new novel is a stand-alone dark academia tale that reads like Dante’s Inferno so far.
  • Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh – I was supposed to read this novel for a book club discussion, but didn’t finish it in time. It is a page-turner space opera tale that won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2024.
  • Twelve Months by Jim Butcher – This is the latest (book #18) installment in The Dresden Files, a well-known urban fantasy series, that I have early thanks to NetGalley. I was excited to start this book, but the beginning reminded me of the tragedy of the previous book, so it has been slow going to get into it so far.
  • A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon – This is the 6th book in the Outlander series and I’m more than halfway through it in audiobook format.

While it is only a short story, I just finished The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal (paid link) (technically this was read in November).

I’m trying to finish the year by reaching my goal of reading 50 books. I only have 11 left to go, so with two months remaining, I think I can do it! First I need to finish the current books above. Here are some of the other ones that I may read in November (purchase links):

Are there books on this post that you’ve read? What did you think? Which ones should I review here first?

What other books do you think I should try to squeeze in this year? Let me know in the comments!

Book Review – Artificial Wisdom

14 Sep 2025 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Reading Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver was not in my plans for the year since I had never heard of either the book or the author (paid link). This novel was suggested to me by NetGalley and the description did sound like something I might like, so I agreed to read it. Find out what I thought below.

I read the e-book edition.

Here is the blurb:

It’s 2050, a decade after a heatwave that killed four hundred million across the Persian Gulf, including journalist Marcus Tully’s wife. Now he must uncover the truth: was the disaster natural? Or is the weather now a weapon of genocide?

A whistleblower pulls Tully into a murder investigation at the centre of an election battle for a global dictator, with a mandate to prevent a climate apocalypse. A former US President campaigns against the first AI politician for the position, but someone is trying to sway the outcome.

Tully must convince the world to face the truth and make hard choices about the future of the species. But will humanity ultimately choose salvation over freedom, whatever the cost?

I loved so much of this book and (not knowing much of what to expect going in) found myself swept up in a wild sci-fi thriller following a group of investigative reporters as they followed a lead with huge political ramifications. Set in a near future where only the ultra-rich can protect themselves from the coming climate catastrophe, the plot is filled with surprising turns and unpredictable betrayals.

Marcus Tully worked well as a protagonist for me, although we do get some chapters from other points of view. The personal tragedy in his past is used to provide sympathy, show his flaws, and lead him deeper into schemes that he only partially understands. One of his colleagues is also a main player in the events, and the others were as developed as they needed to be for their more distant involvement.

For much of the book, it is difficult to know the identity of the antagonist, which is often a problem for me in novels. However, in this book it worked well because it deepened the suspense by making the enemy a hidden threat. I did figure out part of the ending before reaching it, but as in much of the book, the full truth twisted the part I had guessed into something more interesting.

This book also incorporated timely issues like the use of AI, climate change, and capitalism and corporate greed without ever becoming completely about any of them.

My one criticism of this book was that the final part of the ending didn’t work for me. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I felt like it didn’t provide the answers I had wanted, although the questions that the book asked were hard ones. It wasn’t a cliff-hanger, but rather an anti-climactic conclusion after all the action and suspense that led me through the book. It does look like a sequel is planned, so I can hope that that will give me the resolution I’m looking for. I’d still highly recommend this book – other readers might love the finale, as a quick scan of other online reviews shows.

I could see this book being developed into a movie or television series. What books have you read that you think would work well on the big screen? Let me know in the comments.

You can find more of my reviews here.

July 2025 Reading Wrap Up

06 Aug 2025 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I felt like I struggled with my July reading, but when I sat down here to write about it, it turned out that I did finish four books. While this number doesn’t get me ahead on my unrealistic reading goals, it is steady progress that could land me at 50 books read for the year. Three of the four books that I read were audiobooks: Columbus Day by Craig Alanson, Orbital by Samantha Harvey, and To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (paid links).

The only non-audiobook that I read in July was Artificial Condition, the second book in the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (paid links). I have been on medication that makes me tend to fall asleep when I sit/lay down to read, so I think that is part of the explanation for my reading struggles this month. I also had a lot to do at work, so fewer hours of downtime for reading.

Total pages read in July = 1,192.

I’ve been trying to get through The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence, the third and final book in The Library Trilogy (paid links). The book is fascinating and I can’t wait to see how he ends this series. However, it is also a hardcover, and that means that I’m less likely to read it in bed due to the size and generally lower light conditions. The e-book solution to my reading slump was to start The Feeding by Anthony Ryan (paid link). I’ve had trouble getting into this one so far, but in the past few days I’ve been making more steady progress.

Currently reading:

I just started the sixth book (audiobook) in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series – A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get through it in August because it is 57 hours, 48 minutes long. The other books that I might read in August are shown below.

I’m particularly excited for several of these! The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten is the conclusion to a series I’ve really enjoyed (The Nightshade Crown) (paid links). You can find my reviews of the earlier books below:

I also found Julie Leong’s cozy fantasy story, The Teller of Small Fortunes, to be a surprising hit with me, so her new stand-alone novel – The Keeper of Magical Things – is also at the top of my upcoming list, thanks to Net Galley. You can find my review here (paid links).

What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller and Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders were also given to me for review courtesy of Net Galley. These are both by authors I’ve read before and these new novels looked exciting. The other books on this list are also at the top of my mind, but I don’t know which ones I’ll start. It seems like every time I have a plan for what to read next, it spontaneously changes!

One of my book clubs has been reading the Murderbot Diaries, so I have the third book, Rogue Protocol, also on my list for this month (paid link). If you are interested in joining our Science Fiction Women of Central Jersey Club discussion on August 24, take a look here.

I was doing so well with my book acquisition problem until yesterday found me at a local Barnes & Noble. I had already picked up The Nightshade God and Lessons in Magic and Disaster, as well as the latest Fairy Loot subscription box installment – A Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena (paid link).

I couldn’t help myself and left the book store with three more stand-alone novels: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell, and The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (paid links).

For August, I’m hopeful that I’ll get a lot of reading done. I’m having surgery next week and will have some enforced rest. So despite the anticipated drowsiness of pain medications, I should have more time to read!

What are you planning to read for the end of summer? Have you read any of the books I mentioned? Let me know in the comments.

June 2025 Reading Wrap Up

01 Jul 2025 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I didn’t do too badly with my June reading, and with the end of June, this also brings us to the halfway point of 2025. Despite my unrealistic goal of 96 books that I set on this post here, I am doing really well with my reading with 25 books completed so far, thereby putting me on track to read 50 books for the year. That is realistically the highest number I’ll ever hit unless I start reading significantly shorter books, quit my day job, or stop doing any writing, exercise, or cooking.

Overall I’m happy with my reading progress for the year so far! I’ve even managed to keep up with my posts and book reviews here (more or less). On top of that, I put together an e-book of one of my own short stories that is one of my favorite things that I’ve written. You can find my story, Renewal, by following this link.

In June, I finished listening to The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst as an audiobook. I finally had a chance to pick up the second book in Mark Lawrence’s Library Trilogy with The Book That Broke the World. You can find my review of the first book, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, here. Then I finished up Inverse by Margot Conor, one of the members of my writing group. With my recent back problems, I needed something easy to read to finish up the month, so I jumped into the third book in the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas – A Court of Wings and Ruin (paid links).

Total pages read in June = 2,014.

I’m currently reading only two books. Expeditionary Force: Columbus Day is an audiobook that starts a military science fiction series, and I only have 6 hours left to go. The Book That Held Her Heart is the final book in Mark Lawrence’s Library series, and I’m less than 100 pages into it (paid links).

Looking ahead for the next month, I have a few books that I’m definitely planning to read in July, either for book club discussions or as upcoming releases that I’m reviewing for Net Galley. The ones that are book club picks include To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose and Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells. I received an ARC of The Feeding by Anthony Ryan and an e-book copy of Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver from Net Galley to review (paid links).

I expect that I’ll start the next audiobook in the Outlander series with A Breath of Snow and Ashes (#6) sometime in July, and then if I’m doing really well, perhaps the next book in The Wheel of Time series with The Path of Daggers (#8) (paid links). There are plenty of other books that I’ve had on my upcoming reads list, and I may also pick up one of those, depending on my mood later in July.

Of course, I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t pick up some new books this month. Orbital by Samantha Harvey is about astronauts and won the Booker Prize recently, so I picked this up in audiobook format. It’s quite short (5 hours), so I might use it to break up my Outlander listening (paid link). Artificial Wisdom is one of the books I already mentioned receiving from Net Galley.

After I enjoyed The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong so much (review here), I was ecstatic to see that the publisher approved me for a copy of the author’s upcoming book, The Keeper of Magical Things, on Net Galley. Then the latest surprise book that I received from Fairy Loot is the new bestseller Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab. I’ll put a coupe of photos of the special edition below.

How have you done with your own reading goals for the year so far? What books are you most looking forward to reading later this year? Let me know in the comments!

Book Review – Sunrise on the Reaping

29 Jun 2025 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I know that author Suzanne Collins has written other books outside of the world of Panem, but (probably) like a lot of people, I have only read those in her hit Hunger Games series. I found the original trilogy of books to be a solid read, but nothing earth-shattering. I never reviewed any of them here, but if you need to catch up, you can find purchase links to all of them below. Since then, she has written two prequel novels that can mostly be read as stand-alones, although knowledge of the characters from the main series will add to your enjoyment of the books. The second prequel (Sunrise on the Reaping) was just released this spring and you can find my review of it below (paid links).

I read the hardcover edition.

Here is the blurb:

When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

If you know the character of Haymitch from the main Hunger Games series, you will know going into this book that this isn’t a happy story. But are any of these books, really?

This novel tells us Haymitch’s backstory and how he survived and won the Hunger Games for District 12, but lost everything else that was important to him. This book also shows us another step in the evolution of the Hunger Games and how the event became the spectacle that is seen in the original series.

I enjoyed reading this, despite the tragic nature of the story. I find it interesting that the author can create a fresh story around the same concept of the Hunger Games where kids from the districts are pitted against each other and the creations of the game masters until only one victor is left alive. One of the points of this book is to show how someone that is seemingly powerless can still resist and fight against those in authority. At the same time, it shows the possible price that one must pay by demonstrating against those in power.

I’d recommend this book if you’ve read the main Hunger Games series and didn’t hate the ending of the third book. While Sunrise on the Reaping is a stand-alone novel, it would be best to start with the earlier books if you are new to this series.

Have you read any of Suzanne Collins’ other series? Which would you recommend? Let me know in the comments.

You can find more of my reviews here.

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