Hello, everyone! It’s Wednesday! That means it is time for another WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words. I’ll be answering the following questions:

1. What did you read last?
2. What are you currently reading?
3. What will you read next?

What did you read last?

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell – 5⭐ – I finally read this book, and it lived up to all my expectations. I loved the dynamic between the two leads, and the combination of fascinating sci fi world-building, murder mystery, and political intrigue kept me glued to the pages. The level of miscommunication in the romance was so outrageous it was almost comical, but it was believable because of the excellent abuse/trauma survivor representation that Maxwell created. I kept wanting to smack both of them in the head and push them together. lol. They got there eventually, though, and the payoff of all the angst was really good.

Instant Regret by E.M. Lindsey – 5⭐ – After finishing the first book in this MM romance duet, I NEEDED to read the second POV to see how the story ended. I’m not usually a fan of repeating the same scenes from someone else’s POV, but it worked really well for this story because we got to know literally nothing about Forrest in the first book. I absolutely fell in love with him in this book, and I was right in my suspicion there was a sweetheart buried underneath all that gruffness. It was beautiful to see how he and Jules helped each other process some major issues, and I particularly liked the disability rep in this one.

A Dash of Salt and Petter by Kosoko Jackson – 3.5⭐ – I really wanted to love this book, but a few things kept it from wowing me. The internal monologue was jarring at times, and it seemed almost like the main character was telling a lecture about different topics/events rather than the author actually showing him living them. The time jumps in this also felt clunky, and the main character was super whiny. I went into this expecting a cute kitchen romance, but they spent very little time in the kitchen. I did like the hilarious meet-cute, and the family dynamic with the single dad was well-written and probably my favorite thing about the book. Overall, it was fine, but minor things here and there just kept me from falling in love with the story.

Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell by Tobias Madden – 5 ⭐ – I’ll have a review up for this one later in the week, maybe even later today if I’m feeling productive. So, I’m not going to talk much about it here other than to say I loved it and related to the main character SO MUCH.

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper – 5⭐- I finished my re-read of this childhood favorite and loved every minute of it. I’d never read it over the holiday season before, and it was perfect. I split the reading up to mostly match the timeline of the book, which starts on midwinter’s eve. It was a fun way to read the story, and the brutal cold of the last week matched the atmosphere of the book perfectly.

The Dark Queens by Shelley Puhak – 5⭐- This narrative nonfiction book about two medieval Frankish queens was fantastic. I love learning about French history, and this book revealed the fascinating struggles of a time period I wasn’t very familiar with before. I liked that it centered around two women who had a ton of agency in a world where women were almost exclusively valued for their breeding capacity. Their struggles to maintain their hold on power and their bitter rivalry took numerous turns reminiscent of Game of Thrones. If you are even remotely interested in medieval French/European history, I cannot recommend this book enough.

What was my favorite of the week? I’m honestly not sure. I loved almost all of these, as you can see from the high number of stars I handed out this week. I think I’d probably have to go with The Dark Queens, though. I don’t read a ton of non-fiction, and it was just as gripping as many of the fantasy books I’ve read.

What are you currently reading?

The last few days of the year are going to be super busy with traveling and doctor’s appointments. So, I’m not sure how much progress I’ll make on these, but we’ll see.

Dark Theory by Wick Welker – This is a super overdue ARC, but the book is sooo long. I think I’m going to have it be a background read and read a little of it at a time each day when I’m not in the mood for my main reads. I like it so far, but I’m just not completely absorbed by it, at least not yet.

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare – I’ve just started this one today and don’t really have an opinion on it yet. I’m so close to being caught up on this series with only one book left after this one (at least until the next book comes out next month).

What will you read next?

I’m actually pretty excited to kick off the new year with these two books. I’ve wanted to read them for a while, and I’m excited to finally be getting around to it. 🙂

I hope you’ve all had a great week! What have you been reading? Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments!