Monthly Archives: February 2024

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January Wrap Up

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❄️January Wrap Up ❄️ 

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Image 1: My physical reads

I started out January feeling a little slumpy after binge reading 9 books in a week, but I ended up having a good reading month! I honestly felt like I was just reading out of habit, but half of my brain was just counting down the days until HOFAS. 

Image 2: Reading Goal Check in

Reading Goals:
❄️ Physical TBR: 6 of 6 
❄️ Total read: 13 / total brought into my house: I don’t want to talk about it, it was my birthday month. More than 13. Thank you all so much for your generosity!!!
❄️ Diverse Authors: 8 of 7 planned
❄️ ARCs: 7 of 8 planned 
❄️ BOTM: 0 of 1 

Image 3: ARCs

Image 4: Diverse Author / Book breakdown (could be diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, physical difference, neurodiversity, or something else!) 

Star Breakdown:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧📓🖋🗣️ Out on a Limb: link to review
😍📖🎧📚🗣️ House of Sky and Breath
📖🎧📓 The Fury: link to review
📖🎧📚🖤 the Marriage Game 
📖🎧📚🗣️ House of Flame and Shadow 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖🎧📓🖋🖤 Say You’ll Be Mine – link to review
📖🎧🖋📚 The Bone Season – link to review
📖🎧📓 Bride
📖🎧📚 Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖🎧📓🖋📚🏳️‍🌈 The Curse of Penryth Hall – link to review
📖🎧🖋📚🏳️‍🌈 Electric Idol – link to review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
📖🎧📓🖋📚🖤 Unladylike Lessons in Love 

Key:

😍 Reread
📖 physical/ebook
🎧 Audiobook
📖🎧 = mix of both
📓 ARC / ALC 
🖋 Reviewed 
📚 Series
🖤 BIPOC Author
🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ Author
🗣️ Mind, Body, Spirit Diverse Author 

If it doesn’t have a 🖋, the review will be coming next month! 

Image 5: February plans
HOFAS: Fable link
ARC challenge
Diverse Reading Challenge

QotD: What was your favorite read in January? Do we have any books in common? Do you have any goals for February?

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Thriller Review: The Fury

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

The Fury
By Alex Michaelades 
🎧 Narrated by: Alex Jennings
Book 7 of 2024

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Celadon Books for my review copies! 

The Fury follows a group of unlikable actors and writers to a private Greek island for a twisty “whydunnit” mystery. It’s told in five acts like a Greek tragedy. 

I’ve been gravitating towards mysteries and thrillers more in the winter months – the fast pacing, short chapters, and darker themes just fit the weather so well. 

The big question about whether or not you will like The Fury I think depends on how much you enjoy reading about unlikable characters. I personally found the characters to be unlikable in a fun way – think the side characters in Only Murders in the Building – but without the humor of OMITB. I thought it was a lot of fun and devoured it in one sitting. I don’t remember how surprised I was by the twists and turns, but I really enjoyed watching them unravel. 

[ book synopsis ]

A masterfully paced thriller about a reclusive ex–movie star and her famous friends whose spontaneous trip to a private Greek island is upended by a murder ― from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient.

This is a tale of murder.

Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it?

Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.

I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder.

We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.

But who am I?

My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.

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Romance Review: Electric Idol

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Electric Idol
By Katee Robert
🎧 Narrated by: Alex Moorock, Zara Hampton-Brown
Dark Olympus, Book 2 
Book 6 of 2024

I would read these in order, because there is a lot more world building in book 1 than book 2 and it could be confusing? Or you could just be here for a good time and not worry about understanding the world. 

Book 2 of the Dark Olympus series is a modern Eros and Psyche retelling. 

I am such a fan of a brooding, morally grey MMC and a sweet (at least at the surface) FMC. 

Psyche is a plus sized influencer thriving outside of the image-obsessed inner circle of Olympus. But when Aphrodite overhears Psyche’s beauty praised, she naturally sends her personal hit man after her. (Naturally.)

Since Aphrodite has several layers of evil, her hit man is actually her son, the incredibly handsome Eros. He cannot go through with it, and instead proposes marriage to Psyche so that he can protect her. 

Watching the two of them fall in love was such a treat. There’s almost a found family element to watching Eros get to know Psyche and her family. I absolutely adored Psyche.

An element of Robert’s writing that I always appreciate is how casually queer it is. Both Psyche and Eros get to casually mention their bisexuality without much fanfare. 

I wish this world had just a little more fantasy or was a little more realistic, but that checks out with my general taste in books. 

If you’re a fan of “touch here and die” vibes or the bad guy / good girl trope, you have to read this one!

[ book synopsis ] 

He was the most beautiful man alive.

And if I wasn’t careful, he was going to be my death.

*A scorchingly hot modern retelling of Psyche and Eros that’s as sinful as it is sweet.*

In the ultra-modern city of Olympus, there’s always a price to pay. Psyche knew she’d have to face Aphrodite’s ire eventually, but she never expected her literal heart to be at stake…or for Aphrodite’s gorgeous son to be the one ordered to strike the killing blow.

Eros has no problem shedding blood. But when it comes time to take out his latest target, he can’t do it. Confused by his reaction to Psyche, he does the only thing he can think of to keep her safe: he marries her. Psyche vows to make Eros’s life a living hell until they find a way out of this mess. But as lines blur and loyalties shift, she realizes he might take her heart after all…and she’s not sure she can survive the loss.

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Learning to DNF – part 1

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This is the story of the person I was before I embraced DNFing books…

I have always been a list maker, a goal setter, and a journal keeper. So I can tell you *specifically* how I went from a “must finish everything that I start” reader to a “DNF on page 1” reader. 

The year…2018…the time…that week between Christmas and New Year’s where everyone rests and socializes and *I* go on unhinged marathon goal planning sessions. (Happy to talk more about that if anyone is interested.) I was looking through my reading docs and reflecting on my year. It was my 3rd year in a row of not meeting my reading goal of 50 books. 

Something that I had implemented that year was keeping a record of every book that I started, and I noticed that where were a *lot* left on the list – some of which I’d started the year before!

So my list convinced me, if I had just finished every book that I started, I would have met my goal!

I also made the brilliant (heavy sarcasm) conclusion that audiobooks were really slowing me down – mostly due to the fact that I can read with my eyes faster than my ears. Especially back then, when I didn’t know that you could speed up audiobooks! But more on that next week, I digress…

My list had me convinced about my 2019 bookish resolution – I decided that I would dedicate time to read at least 10 pages a day of whatever the first book that I started was. 

Do you know how long it takes me to read 10 pages of a book that I’m not interested in? Hours. Years. I cannot make myself read something with my eyes that I’m not interested in. 

So that was the proof that I needed. I read more when I’m enjoying what I read. Instead of forcing myself to read books that I do not enjoy, I quit them, and I read more because I enjoy the books that I’m reading.

I will still find myself reading books that I have to set aside time to read (as opposed to just tearing through them). Some books start slower or are dense or heavy and I need more breaks. Those aren’t necessarily the kinds of books that I DNF. But, if I find myself really struggling to focus for even five minutes at a time – I know I need to DNF. 

Did you find this helpful? Check out my highlights for other reading or bookstagram advice! 

Come back next week to hear about how I stopped feeling guilty about loving audiobooks. 

Let me know in the comments – how hard is it for you to DNF?

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Out on a Limb

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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.

Thank you to Libro.fm for my review ALC!

These two were just SO swoony!!! 

The thing you have to know going in is that this book centers around a surprise pregnancy after a one night stand…so if that’s gonna give you a bad vibe, this might not be for you.

Win and Bo just take SUCH good care of each other. I don’t know how else to describe this. It’s so beautiful, and there’s funny moments, and the side characters are also amazing. 

Just go read it, please. The audiobook is fantastic, so however you choose to consume your books you are in for a treat! 

[book synopsis ]

Winnifred “Win” McNulty has always been wildly independent. Not one to be coddled for her limb difference, Win has spent most of her life trying to prove that she can do it all on her own. And, with some minor adjustments, she’s done just fine.

That is until she has a one-night stand with the incredibly charming Bo, a perfect stranger. And that one night changes everything.

While Bo is surprisingly elated to step up to the plate, Win finds herself unsure of whether she can handle this new challenge on her own or if she’ll need a helping hand.

Together, Win and Bo decide to get to know one another as friends and nothing more. But, as they both should know by now, life rarely goes according to plan.