January Reading List

[unicornduke]

this is shorter because it took a while to get a phone running where I had libby on it and I haven't been reading physical books as much

Read

• The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss - a delightful story of found family of monsters who fuck shit up - physical library book
• Honor's Knight by Rachel Bach - second in the series, space stuff, good fun, lots of aliens - I read the first book but can't figure out when, I might not have taken a photo of it - physical library book
• Swordcross by Freya Marske - this book was romance first, plot second (in comparison to her other series that I've read which was plot first, romance second) although the plot really picked up in the second half of the book and it turned out really well. plus, decent dive into fiber production which was pretty fun. library e-book
• The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst - light on plot, heavy on feel good community building, nice little chill book. library e-book

DNF 

• The Hurricane Wars - incredible worldbuilding and premise, absolutely ruined by the romance which was: on one side, a resistance fighter defending her land and on the other, the son of a man committing genocide who was actively assisting in the genocide. very high school feel to the romance, mostly ignoring the genocide - library e-book - I gave up 2/3 of the way through because the romance was so annoying

Comments

[ranunculus]

I really like Theodora Gross's writing.
The Spell Shop was a little bit too lightweight for me, but it was fun.

[unicornduke]

This was the first book of Gross's that I read and I really enjoyed it! I'm going to see if I can find some others since it was such a delight.

The Spell Shop is definitely lightweight! But a nice little read for something not super impactful. Sometimes you just need some fluff.

[ranunculus]

I have been reading two K9 mystery/thrillers that I really like. One series is By Sarah Driscol and the other is by Margaret Mizushima. I like both a lot. They both do a good job of balancing dark themes with light ones and not letting the romances in them take over the story. In both, romances develop over several books, which I like. It is clear that both authors do a ton of research for each book.

[oracne]

I love that Goss series!