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:
- What did you read last?
- What are you currently reading?
- What will you read next?
What did you read last?
This week has been rough. While taking my parents for eye surgery last week, I managed to catch COVID for the first time. I’ve done everything I can to avoid it since I’m super high risk with only one lung. Regardless, it finally caught up to me. It has been hell, but I’m thankful for the vaccines because I’ve managed to stay out of the hospital. If you haven’t gotten the latest booster, I strongly urge you to do so! My wife got infected, as well, and she’s faring worse than me despite being less at risk. She hadn’t gotten her booster yet, and the doctors seem to think that’s the reason for our different reactions to the virus, especially since I really should have been much sicker than her. So, get your booster! It won’t keep you from feeling like crap, but it will definitely shorten the term and severity of illness, at least that’s what it did for me. Now, enough about COVID… Here’s what I read this week:
Firestarter by Tara Sim – 4.75 ⭐ – After the cliffhanger of the previous book, I had to dive right into this one. It was just as action-packed as its predecessor, and there were several truly heartbreaking moments that left me teary-eyed. The characters continued to grow considerably, and they all changed so much from the beginning of the first book, which I appreciated. I liked the way it all wrapped up in the end, and all in all, this was a fitting conclusion to the series.
Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare – 3.5⭐ – WHY?!?!?!?!?! The end of this book made me FURIOUS. The contrivance of the miscommunication was absolutely unreal, and I wanted to scream at the characters and Cassandra Clare for the absolute stupidity of the entire situation. That being said, the rest of the book was fine prior to the last few chapters. It was extremely bloated and probably could have easily been 300 pages shorter, but I liked the serial killer plot and the twists/reveals. I’ll probably wait a while on the last book in this series because those last few pages really put me off this story for now, but I’ll eventually finish it off.
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo – 4.25⭐ – This was a great follow up to Ninth House. It was full of arcane rituals, demons, murder, and the occasional trip to hell. It was once again a little light on the academia aspect to really be classified dark academia, but I still enjoyed it. It answered some questions and raised many more that have me very curious about where the sequels will take the story.
Seven Faceless Saints by M. K. Lobb – 4⭐ – I enjoyed this debut fantasy murder mystery. The story was plotted well even though the killer became quite obvious fairly early on. I liked the two main characters, and their relationship was fun to follow because of their major differences and complicated past. For all my thoughts on this one, check out my review!
What was my favorite of the week? My favorite this week has to be Firestarter. It was just such a great finale to the series, and I never wanted to stop reading it.
What are you currently reading?
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – I’ve started my buddy read of this sequel with Celeste from A Literary Escape. I’m not too far into it, but I’m enjoying it so far. Rhysand is still my favorite. I just love his sense for dramatic timing. lol.
The Pledge by Cale Dietrich – I’ve already started my first ARC of the month. I’m not really sure what to think about it so far. The writing is a bit mediocre, and I wasn’t really expecting the story to start off with a multiple homicide in the first chapter. I’m not a fan so far, but we’ll see if that changes.
Spare by Prince Harry – With all the buzz around this one, I had to read it. It is the first memoir I’ve read in a while (maybe ever?). It took me a minute to get used to the style, but I’m enjoying it so far. I love that Prince Harry is narrating the audiobook because I love his accent. lol. I also get a bit misty-eyed anytime he says mummy. 🙁
What will you read next?
I plan to finish my library holds (Glitterland), and then move on to two more books from my TBR (Prince of the Sorrows & The Luminaries).
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!
Ahhhh, Chain of Iron.. I’m scared. haha. Ohh, if Rhysand is your favorite then this will be your favorite book of the series too. I’m sorry that you caught covid. I do hope you start to feel better soon!!
Thank you! As for Chain of Iron… during the last few chapters, I wanted to reach into the pages and slap the crap out of all the stupid characters. It was just so dumb. I enjoyed it up to that point, though. So, I hope you have fun reading it.
oooohhh no!!!! That’s really frustrating. I’ve been on Clare’s train for SO long and I’m wondering when it will be time to jump off. I don’t think it will be yet but sometimes I think I’m out growing it… especially with the sheer size of them for YA.
I feel like I probably grew out of it a while ago, but I’m too invested at this point to completely give up. They are still mostly fun to read because of the connection I have to the characters and world. I actually just started re-watching the TV show a few days ago. The acting is so much worse than I remember, but I still love it. Lol. I definitely won’t be reading any of her non-Shadowhunters stuff, though.
I agree. I think that’s what has me holding on too. I own all the books and they are just so nostalgic. I feel like she’s lost her magic a bit or it’s just my growth, who knows. OMG. the show was so bad. lol. I actually liked the movie better than the show. I loved Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace though.
Spare unexpectedly arrived in my inbox early, so I’ll be joining you shortly with that read! I’ve seen so much commentary on it and I can’t wait to read it so I can have a more informed opinion before I say anything about it. In short, while I’ve seen some fair points about it, I think people are also being overly critical. But I’ll know more once I read it.
As for ACOMAF, please continue to enjoy Rhysand picking imaginary lint off of himself and others haha.
I’m going to confess something here: I started reading ACOTAR. I’m still in the early chapters, so it’s too early for me to give my thoughts about it.
Can’t wait to see your thoughts once you finish it! It’s the series that really got me back into reading. I’d been reading some prior to that, mostly literary fiction & nonfiction, but this threw me into fantasy!
That’s very interesting. So, ACOTAR was your gateway into fantasy!!!
Sort of! I read Ella Enchanted a lot as a kid and read Harry Potter many times as a teen. I’d say ACOTAR made me rediscover fantasy. 😉 And now I know how big the genre is and I love it.
That’s an excellent way of putting it. Nice!
I finished the first week’s reading, and I’m really liking it so far. I like it quite a bit more than the first one TBH. I just really enjoy the dynamic between Feyre and Rhysand.
Hehe…I agree…the dynamic between those two is very entertaining.
Awesome! I look forward to seeing your thoughts once you finish it. I’m reading the sequel right now and liking it a lot.
I’m approximately 80% of the way through Spare, and I really love it. I think it accomplishes exactly what it set out to do, at least so far. I think everyone came to it expecting a sordid tell all with perfect historical accuracy. This isn’t that, though, and he even says as much multiple times throughout the book. It is his rationale for why he broke with his family. It is his story from his perspective as he remembers it, which of course is flawed just like him. I’ve found it to be very humanizing.
And that’s exactly what I expect it to be. I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I think we’ll end up having similar thoughts about it.
I read Prince of Sorrows last year and I really enjoyed it. I hope you do too!
Thank you! I’m looking forward to it.
Oh, one lung! Now that makes me feel silly for commenting yesterday about how irritating the covid cough can be 🙃 I’ve still only had one booster but my sister and I are searching out places where we can get the second one cos I totally agree, it helps so much being boosted. I hope you’re both feeling better today!
I haven’t read your review for Seven Faceless Saints yet cos I’m actually picking that up next but I’m glad to see that you enjoyed it! 😃 Also would be curious to see what you think of Spare by the time you get to the end. I’ve seen a lot of people commenting about it and I did hear a snippet of the audio that made me feel a little uncomfortable but maybe it was just in the context of how people shared it? Cos it was awkies, haha. 😂 Either way, I hope you enjoy all your reads!
There is nothing silly about it! It is extremely irritating. So, you are not wrong. It also helps to see that my course of COVID is similar to others’ experiences because I’ve long thought mine would be so much worse than everyone else. So far, it hasn’t been, and seeing the similarities to everyone else has kept me from going doom and gloom. For the longest time, I thought COVID would be a death sentence, and it is why I stopped working after losing my lung to cancer right before the pandemic started. I hope you are able to find one of the latest boosters. I find it enraging that we have people here in the U.S. who adamantly refuse to take it when there are people all over the world without the same easy access.
I hope you enjoy Seven Faceless Saints. It wasn’t my favorite book ever, but it was an enjoyable enough murder mystery. I look forward to seeing your thoughts. I really like Spare so far. I’m approximately 80% of the way through it, and I’ve enjoyed it. The awkward moments are a little less awkward when in context, but the entire thing just feels so raw and unfiltered. I’ll share more of my thoughts later, but I feel like Harry took the opportunity to really share his truth with the world in this book.
I am so sorry that you caught COVID. I had it Fall 2020 and it suuuuucked. I really hope you recover okay — I had no idea you only had one lung!! Our entire family is vaxed and boosted as much as they can be, but I still worry about bringing it home. I hope you continue to enjoy ACOMAF!!!!
Yeah. I lost a lung to cancer three years ago. I’ve been super careful to avoid COVID as much as possible, but I had to bring my parents for surgery last week. I’m fairly certain I caught it in the waiting room because almost everyone in there was coughing up a storm, with no mask of course. I’m feeling mostly better with only a nagging cough and some shortness of breath, and the Paxlovid medication has helped along with being boosted. As for ACOMAF, I am loving it so far. The dynamic between Feyre and Rhysand is sooo good. I’m liking it a lot more than the first book.
I’m looking forward to reading “Seven Faceless Saints.” When will I get to it? That’s an excellent question.
I totally relate to this. lol. The list of things I want to read is so long, and I have no idea when I’ll get to most of them. I hope you enjoy Seven Faceless Saints when you get to it!