Weekly Wrap-Up: 14 September 2018

I spent a good portion of yesterday convinced it was Wednesday. Where has this week gone? No, seriously. Where? September is absolutely flying by and I cannot believe it! Fortunately, we have books to keep us sane during these crazy months.

 

Books I read

Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce

What a great reading week this was! I finished two amazing books — Godsgrave was my audiobook read and Tempests and Slaughter was a proof copy. I absolutely loved them both. My review of Tempests and Slaughter will go live next week before the publication date, and both Nevernight and Godsgrave will have reviews the week after so keep an eye out!

Reading Tempests was such a great experience for me, and I now have a hankering to go back and read all her Tortall books. Would anyone be interested in a Tamora Pierce reading project?

 

Books I am currently reading

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson

Career of Evil is my audiobook for this week now that Godsgrave is over. I really love the narrator for the Robert Galbraith books, and I’ll be caught up on the series when Lethal White comes out next week!

I’m still reading Daughter of the Pirate King, I swear. I think it’s going to be my weekend book! I’m really loving it, but have had so many reading deadlines recently that I’ve just not had a chance to get stuck in. Now that most of those are cleared away, I’ll have a chance to get back to our sassy pirate captain. I’m also borrowing this and don’t want to take it on the bus with me!

Finally I’m powering through Sanderson’s latest novella, Snapshot. I’m starting to fall into it a little more, but it hasn’t grabbed me in the same way his other novellas have. I fully trust him to bring things to a stunning conclusion though!

 

Books I DNFed

The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh

Right. This is a weird one. I finally decided to put this down about halfway through, but it was a really tough choice to make. Why? It was so compulsive! One of the reasons I didn’t finish Tempests and Slaughter until late last night was that I was picking up The Water Cure as soon as I got home. But I wasn’t enjoying it? In fact, it made me incredibly uncomfortable. This book is filled to the brim with abuse and self-mutilation. Also heavily implied sexual abuse. It’s just not my thing at all, but I initially couldn’t stop. Finally, I ran out of steam and set it aside.

I’d love to know what you thought of The Water Cure if you’ve read it. Did you have this experience too?

 

Book post

A Time of Dread by John Gwynne

Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

I have received some amazing book post this week! First of all, A Time of Dread looks like a fantastic new series from John Gwynne. I’ve not read any of his books yet, although I recently discovered I own Malice on Kindle, and I’m so looking forward to this. I’ve heard amazing things about his books!

Okay, I’m sure you guys can imagine the excited noises I made when I opened up a package and Winter of the Witch slid out. I absolutely adore Katherine Arden’s books! The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower are two of my absolute favourites, and although I’m sad the trilogy will conclude with this book I’m so excited to see where Vasya’s adventures lead her. I’m going to hold off on this until the weather gets colder because these books are so atmospheric and gorgeous.

 

Books I bought

Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton

The Corset by Laura Purcell

I am weak! I walked into a bookstore yesterday and walked out with two books! At least they’re exciting new releases. I read and adored The Silent Companions last year, despite the fact that it scared the ever-loving shit out of me (hiss hiss), so I naturally had to pick up The Corset. Purcell writes masterfully spooky Victorian fiction and you should totally read her books if you haven’t yet.

Price Guide to the Occult is one I’m very curious about! I know people love her other series (which I have on hold at the library), but this sounds great! I really want to read more witchy books, and this seems like a great place to start.

 

NetGalley approvals

An Empress of all Seasons by Emiko Jean

Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli

Gollancz is nailing it with fantasy this season! An Empress of all Seasons is a book I’ve been oh so curious about ever since I heard about it earlier this year. I’m loving how many east Asian inspired fantasy novels we’re getting in 2018!

I am beyond thrilled to read Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli! I liked Last Namsara last year, but had some problems with the romance. I was unsure about reading the next book until I found out that Caged Queen is a companion novel rather than a straight up sequel. And it follows Roa, a very minor character that I thought had so much potential. This book has so many tropes that I absolutely love — marriage of convenience! Hate to love! Dragons that aren’t boring! I am on the blog tour for this book and you can expect to see a review on 24 September!

 

That’s it for this week! It has been such a good week for me and I’m so pleased with my reading progress. I’m still staggering under the weight of my TBR, but I’m clearing away obligations and getting through the stack. 

For the curious, I have cleared out all the books I’ve unhauled from my Insane Book Mastersheet and have a clear count of all the books I own. I’ve read 195 of the 561 physical books I own. That is…not as good as I thought. But hey! At least it’s progress.

 

What did you read this week? Did you get any great new books? Let me know!