Hello, everyone! Instead of doing my weekly reading updates on Wednesday like usual, I’ve decided to focus them on each week of the Trope-ical Readathon. Since yesterday was the last day of week one, it is time for the first update! Let’s jump in and see what books and prompts I’ve managed to finish this week.

What I’ve Finished Reading

Things have gotten off to a pretty great start for the month. I finished four of the common challenges this week:

Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare – 3.5⭐ – I used this book for the absent/dead parent prompt since the two main characters were both orphans. It took me a long time to get into this book. Everything felt so slow, and it never seemed like I was making any progress. The world-building was quite dense with a lot of name-dropping. It was just a struggle for the first half. Then the court intrigue really popped off, and I was completely sucked in. I finished the last 250 pages in one day. So, it is safe to say I’ll be seated for the sequel sometime soon even though the ending of this one fell kind of short in the answers department.

The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert – 4.25⭐ – This book completed the recent loss prompt because one of the characters had lost a family member within the last year. I’m a huge fan of Hibbert and couldn’t resist snatching this up from the library when I saw it. This was a best friends to lovers story with the perfect amount of angst. The FMC had some major attachment/intimacy issues, but it didn’t scare away the MMC, who had been pining over her for seven years and was completely besotted. I do wish there’d been a bit more time spent on the personal growth phase of the story. It was still a really great story, though, and had some great steamy scenes, too.

Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey – 4.25⭐ – This story worked well for the found family prompt. Once-Was-Willem was an outcast after being brought back from the dead as a zombie. As his story went on, he collected “monsters” of all types into a new family of sorts to fight back against a power-hungry magician. The story had such a unique voice, and I truly enjoyed my time with this one.

The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap – 4.5⭐ – This book was a surprise on multiple fronts. I didn’t expect it to have actual serial killers from history in it, which worked for the historical figure prompt. I also didn’t expect to LOVE it so much. It was definitely macabre. The whole thing was about body snatchers for goodness’ sake. However, I adored the main characters, even when they were stealing bodies for scientific research. The POV character wanted to shake off the shackles of his family and be a surgeon so bad. I admired his drive and willingness to do whatever necessary to achieve his goal. His queer awakening was also really sweet. Furthermore, I liked getting an inside look at what it was like to become a doctor during this time period. My only critique is that it felt almost like two stories mashed together. The beginning was all about his struggles to build a place for himself as a surgical student that didn’t quite fit in. Then things took a hard turn into a murder mystery right before the end.

I also finished one of the team challenges for Team Science Fiction this week:

Infomocracy by Malka Older – 3.25⭐ – I read this book to complete the near-future/technothriller challenge. Unfortunately, I just didn’t love this one. It was incredibly confusing at first, and the global political structure just didn’t seem like something that could actually happen. The whole thing was chaotic. It had some good commentary that was relevant to problems in today’s society. It just felt kind of buried in all of the confusion.

Currently Reading

I’m currently reading two books. One of them is actually from my TBR, unlike everything I’ve finished in the last week. lol.

The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley – 10% – I’m a huge fan of Pulley’s work and am super excited to read this upcoming release. The beginning was a bit confusing at first, but now I’m settling into the story well. The writing is great so far, always with Pulley. I don’t know what prompt, if any, that I’ll use this one for. We’ll see.

Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson – 2% – I’ve had this book on my TBR for years and was excited to see that it would work for the cryosleep challenge. I just started it and have only read the first chapter. I’m super intrigued, though, because it was a great beginning.

Final Thoughts

My first week of March has been a fairly slow one outside of reading. However, I did manage to make tons of progress on the readathon prompts. I don’t know if next week will be quite as successful on that front because I’m hoping to get more things done around the house. It looks like the weather will be improving. So, I’m hoping to get some work done in my yard and start putting together my raised garden beds.

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and has a great week ahead. Happy reading!