Friday, April 02, 2021

2021 Q1 Book List!

 1/1: Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts (inexplicably already on my Kindle, 2010) - The last entry in the Bride Quartet. I think this series is Roberts at her best and this is the best book of the best series.

1/2: Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh (library ebook, 2015) - Fourteenth book in this series.  I love the messages that this book is all about - we need each other to survive and that should be celebrated, not pushed back against.  

1/3: Allegiance of Honor by Nalini Singh (library ebook, 2016) - Fifteenth book in this series.  I thought this book was a bit weak - there was a lot of catching up with characters and not a lot of time developing all of them, but it's sort of a transition book between the characters we already know and a new generation of people, so I'll let it slide.  

1/5: The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle (library, 2006)

1/6: Storm Front by Jim Butcher (library ebook, 2000)

1/7: Silver Silence by Nalini Singh (library ebook, 2017) - I both loved and hated this, the 16th book in the series. On one hand, I really loved both the male and female lead. On the other hand, the whole thing felt vaguely rushed, particularly when the robot all of a sudden decided she wasn't a robot. Oh, well. I love these books. If you're a person who is into paranormal romance, this series will scratch your itch.

1/9: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (library, 2018)

1/11: Ocean Light by Nalini Singh (library ebook, 2018) - I loved (LOVED!) getting to know the ocean changelings. I thought the whole "going to die in two weeks exactly" subplot was lame, but overall a worthy addition to the series.

1/13: Wolf Rain by Nalini Singh (library ebook, 2019) - A pet cat dies early in this book and I was sobbing.  Singh definitely has me in her hooks.  I thought that the trauma of the main female character was too easily dismissed, but I'm enjoying watching all the ways Singh writes to show that every person is necessary to the well-being of everyone else.  

1/13: The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (library, 2007)

1/16: Kindred by Ocatvia Butler (library, 1979)

1/16: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (library ebook, 2001)

1/18: It's In His Kiss by Julia Quinn (library ebook, 2005)

1/21: Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward (library ebook, 2009) - Seventh book in The Black Dagger Brotherhood. I do not care much for stories that try to make drug dealers sympathetic, so it wasn't surprising that I just mostly wanted this book to end so I could get to the next one.

1/23: Lover Mine by J.R. Ward (library ebook, 2010) - Eighth book in The Black Dagger Brotherhood. I've been waiting for John Matthew's story and this did not disappoint.  On the whole, there are some super annoying things about this series, from its dumb namedropping of designer brands to way too much emphasis on drug use, but Ward is a genius at writing characters I care about, even if I frequently think that those very same characters are probably bad (evil?) people. I'll keep reading, of course.

1/24: Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas (library ebook, 2006)

1/25: Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward (library ebook, 2011) - This was the worst book of the series so far. Manny and Payne are two characters who have barely been mentioned before and it didn't seem like they had earned their own books. Plus, there were two side stories (Band of Bastards and Jose/Veck) that don't seem to be related to anything else in the series.  Disappointing.

1/26: An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Turston, translated by Marlaine Delargy (library ebook, 2018)

1/27: The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory (library ebook, 2019) - Look, I don't like the enemies to lovers trope, so I didn't enjoy this book at all.  

1/30: I, Eliza Hamilton by Susan Holloway Scott (library, 2017) 

1/30: Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson (library ebook, 2020) 

1/31: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (library, 2018) 

2/2: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (library, 2018)

2/5: Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell (library ebook, 2020)

2/6: Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton (library, 2019)

2/9: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (library ebook, 2019)

2/11: Lover Reborn by J.R. Ward (library ebook, 2012) - Tenth book in the series.  I have very mixed feelings on this book, to be honest. On one hand, I appreciate that Ward takes time to examine ongoing relationships and the struggles that John Matthew and Xhex had were interesting and seemed real.  As for the main couple of Tohrment and No'One?  It's too rushed - Tohr needs to deal with his grief and No'One needs to deal with the trauma related to her sexual assault.  Why was this done in one book instead of build-up over several books, as Ward has done with John Matthew/Xhex and Qhuinn/Blay?  Argh. I have so many opinions because I like this series a lot. 

2/13: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche (library, 2006) 

2/13: Van by Sawyer Bennett (library ebook, 2017) - The highs were below zero during Valentine's Day weekend, so I spent A LOT of time on the touch. Who doesn't want to read about a hockey superstar with a secret past identity?  Bennett is the queen of easy to read sports romances.

2/14: Mine After Dark by Marie Force (library ebook, 2018) - This is #17 in the Gansett Island series. I love Force, I love Gansett, and I want to live there with all these amazing people.  

2/14: Yours After Dark by Marie Force (library ebook, 2018) - #18 in the series. I'll just take my Marie Force fangirldom and sit on the couch, thanks.

2/15: Trouble After Dark by Marie Force (library ebook, 2019) - #19 in the series. Look, I didn't love this one.  Force is running out of characters on the island and both of these characters are new to the island. This book has an incredibly high ranking on Goodreads, but I will take Grant and Stephanie from Falling for Love over this couple. 

2/18: Dream with Me by Kristen Proby (Kindle book, 2020) - This is the first book in a new branch of the With Me series, so it's book #1 of the O'Callaghans, but book #13 of the whole series.  It was...fine. Some of the With Me books are so great (Rock with Me, Play with Me), but these last ones have been so lackluster.  This was a reread for me and as I read, I kept thinking about how very little conflict there actually was in it.

2/19: Imagine with Me by Kristen Proby (Kindle book, 2020) - The second O'Callaghan book.  A couple who bickers is not my favorite trope.

2/20: Network Effect by Martha Wells (library, 2020)

2/21: The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (library, 2019)

2/23: Sabriel by Garth Nix (library ebook, 1996) - A much beloved book that was not for me. There was some interesting world building, but the whole thing felt dreary and scary and I will not be reading any further into the series.

2/26: Alpha Night by Nalini Singh (library ebook, 2020) - The most recently published book in the Psy-Changeling Trinity.  A pretty good love at first sight book if that's a trope you're into.

2/28: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (library, 2020) 

3/1: Lover at Last by J.R. Ward (library ebook, 2013) - This is the payoff for sexual tension built after six books?  Ugh. Ward, I TRUSTED you and you violated my trust. How dare you put Blay and Qhuinn on the backburner of their own book?  

3/3: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord (library, 2020)

3/5: On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn (library ebook, 2006)

3/6: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (library, 2005)

3/7: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett (library, 2019)

3/9: The King by J.R. Ward (library ebook, 2014) - I'm absolutely loving how Ward takes the time to go back to couples that have already had standalone books with their happily ever afters to show difficulties in coupledom. I thought that the frank conversations about why or why not to have children between Wrath and Beth were refreshing, although I do get sort of upset when "have a baby, of course" is the default answer. Anyway, I do appreciate Ward dealing with real issues - this dumb paranormal series actually digs deeper into truly difficult topics than most contemporary books I read.

3/13: The Shadows by J.R. Ward (library ebook) - Controversial book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I think Ward has earned it since we're at the thirteenth book in the series, but I can see why some diehard romance readers would get upset with this when one of the tenets of the genre is broken. I'm not particularly invested in iAm and Trez as characters, mostly because we only really know of them through Rehvenge, the druglord who everyone knows I am not crazy about, so it doesn't really upset me, but I'd like for Ward to move away from them for a bit.

3/17: Blood Kiss by J.R. Ward (library ebook, 2015) - This is technically the first of the Black Dagger Legacy series, but the reading order for the Black Dagger Brotherhood includes BDL books, so I guess I have to read them, too. The Brothers reopen the training center and this series will focus on the new recruits. This book was about Paradise and Craeg and was pretty boring, tbh. I don't care about these people.

3/19: The Beast by J.R. Ward (library ebook, 2016) - Fourteenth Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I 100% love that Ward goes back to couples who have already had their happily ever after and examines some issues that they may have. I hate that the issues are always "how to have children" and that the solution is always "figure out how to have a child." How about a child-free HEA?  Why isn't that allowed?  

3/19: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (purchased at my local book shop, 2020)

3/21: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (library, 2017)

3/22: What You See (Son of the Survivalist #3, 2020) by Cherise Sinclair (Kindle purchase) - I love Sinclair's Masters of the Shadowlands series, but this series is leaving me pretty cold. I'll probably read the next book in the series because the character seems pretty compelling, but I'm not loving it so far.

3/23: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (library, 2016) 

3/24: Blood Vow by J.R. Ward (library ebook, 2016) - This is technically the second in the Black Dagger legacy series. It spends far too much time on the trainees I absolutely do not care about, but we do spend some more time with the OG Brotherhood. Not my favorite book, but I like the introduction of this new character and how Ward handled it.  

3/26: Rescue After Dark by Marie Force (library ebook, 2020) - Look, I love my time on the Gansett Island, but Force has dealt with addiction and domestic violence issues before in a lovely way. This book is not that.  It is a predictable romance novel story with very little tension between the two main characters. It was perfectly acceptable for a 2021 read, but is not Force's best work.

3/28: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (library, 2018)

3/29: The Chosen by J. R. Ward (library ebook, 2017) - Hm. I think Ward learned from her non-HEA in The Shadows and then shoehorned in a very unrealistic ending here. I think that the characters in this book would be unable to reconcile their very different priorities and this ending would not be a thing that happened.  Oh, well. I'm going to keep reading because I love these characters.

Total: 56


Last year I didn't keep track of books I didn't finish, but this year I'm going to try to do so.

Books I Didn't Finish

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (library ebook) - I thought this was a boring look at a multi-verse with an uninteresting person as the lead. It gets great reviews, so it's the book for someone, but not for me. DNF at 46%.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown (library ebook) - Another beloved book that just was so much exposition and not enough interesting plot. DNF at 24%.

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall (library) - This take on Sherlock Holmes just never grabbed my attention. It sat on the table for weeks and I was actively looking at my phone rather than the book, so I eventually just gave up on it. DNF at page 42.

The Long Way Home by Cathryn Parry (library ebook) - I downloaded this because I wanted something light and frothy to read. It wasn't as light or frothy as I wanted and the characters weren't intriguing enough for me to continue. DNF at page 137.

Tris's Book by Tamora Pierce (library) - The second book of The Circle of Magic quartet just didn't do it for me. I left it on the table to read at breakfast and found myself reading whatever was on my Kindle instead of this book, so I guess I won't be reading any more of this series. DNF at page 68.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (library ebook) - Why is everyone in these old-timey books so unlikeable? I don't like enemies to lovers in modern fiction and I don't like it here, either.  DNF at 10%.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (library) - I was reading this and it felt awfully familiar. Turns out I already read it, but hadn't removed it from my TBR list.  It's a good book, but not enough of a favorite for me to reread it.

The Clique by Lisi Harrison (library ebook) - Just...no. Reading about mean girls does not transport me.

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