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?
Him by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy – 5 ⭐ – I stand by my initial assessment of this book from last week. It was hot AF. lol. If you are looking for a MM romance with plenty of steam and hot athletes, look no further. I’m definitely going to be picking up the sequel soon.
Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare – 3.5⭐ – My rating for this book is super generous and based largely on my attachment to the series as a whole. This book was a huge disappointment. The first half was needless drama involving two of my least favorite tropes: miscommunication and love triangle. The most annoying thing is that I know this author can write these tropes in a way that I love. It seemed almost like she was trying too hard to create the magic and angst of the Will, Jem, & Tessa dynamic. It ended up being a cheap imitation that left me frustrated. Don’t even get me started on the character death. It reeked of ‘killing someone for no reason to up the emotional stakes.’ Then there wasn’t really time for there to be any real impact of the death on the other characters because Clare wasted too much time on all the drama in the beginning to wrap up both the plot and all the emotional threads.
Crescentville Hunting by MN Bennet – 4.5⭐ – This was a great coming-of-age story that blended supernatural fantasy and queer themes. The world-building was inventive, and I loved the characters. For all my thoughts, check out my review!
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – 5⭐ – This book was absolutely epic in every sense of the word. The world-building was astounding, and thinking about all the moving parts of the plot makes my head spin. It all came together masterfully in the end, and I am very excited to start the prequel soon.
What was my favorite of the week? This is a tough choice. I love all of these except for Chain of Thorns, but even that one I love to hate. lol. I think I’ll have to choose The Priory of the Orange Tree, though, simply because of how well it lived up to all the hype and the sheer ambition of its scope.
What are you currently reading?
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes (59%) – This is an enjoyable retelling so far that adds a lot of depth to Medusa and attempts to make her less of a monster. I like it so far, but the format jumps around a bit too much. It makes the writing feel too abrupt. I also hate that Athena is portrayed as such a brat. Her POV has gotten on my nerves quite a bit.
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (18%) – I’m finally reading this one! I really like it so far. I read Foul Lady Fortune last year, and it is interesting to see some of those characters earlier on in their lives.
What will you read next?
I plan to jump into A Day of Fallen Night really soon, but I also have Always the Almost borrowed from the library and the ARC of Solomon’s Crown to get to. So, one of them will be next.
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!
I’ve heard some really good things about Solomon’s Crown so hope that you enjoy it. I can’t wait to read A Day of Fallen Night.
Oh good! I haven’t really seen anything about Solomon’s Crown yet. So, that’s good to hear. It definitely seems like something I’ll really enjoy.
I’ve seen so many mixed things about Clare’s books! I am planning on jumping into book two next week. I’m not all that excited about it. haha. Priory Tree is one that I’ve been back and forth on since it’s so chunky. Glad you enjoyed it!! Have a wonderful week!
I enjoyed Chain of Iron up until the way it ended. That ending set up most of the things I didn’t like about Chain of Thorns. There were still things about the book that I loved. It was just overshadowed by all the things I hated. lol. I’ve had Priory Tree on my TBR for ages, and I regret not getting to it sooner. It is slow, but the world and story were epic.
Yesss, waiting on my Illumicrate edition of Chain of Thorns, so I’ve been trying to dodge spoilers lol. Glad you enjoyed it!
I hope you get it soon!
I’ve been hoping to read Stone Blind, there’s so many Greek retellings out there lately. It sounds like they haven’t done Athena justice though, she’s great!
Yeah. I’m not sure if it was the way she was written or how the audiobook narrator chose to interpret the character, but she came across as super bratty, which is not really what I usually think of when I think about Athena. The book was okay overall, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite retelling.
I’ll have to bear that in mind when I read it, thanks for the insight!