Three Good Reads Recently

I read three books via the library recently that were all good enough to mention--and a fourth that didn't click and was a DNF, but that's still a good result. I'm not writing up real reviews here, but just wanted to share what they are. Good reads, entertaining enough to finish, enjoyable, but not me trumpeting that you must read this book. 

Recommending books is hard, y'all. I struggle.

The Forget-Me-Not Library by Heather Webber is a romance with an element of 'is it magical realism or not' that I mostly bought into, but partly just decided to roll with. It was an enjoyable read but I sort of think it's not one that will stay with me, if you know what I mean.

For various reasons, I've been reading almost exclusively ebooks, so it felt big that I got an actual paper copy of this when an ebook was not available. The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory had a fun premise and was an entertaining read, though when I saw it was the first in a series, I hesitate to get the next one. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I did like the supporting character who is a main in book two...

After seeing this book mentioned on Stephany's blog, and then Kim's, I decided to give it a try, and I'm glad I did (and if I hadn't, Engie might have persuaded me!). I don't always get into books this way, but in this case I really enjoyed it, and I'm glad I did. Thank you, library!

My Reading Trend

At this time of year, a lot of bloggers I read are talking about their reading from last year: numbers, favorites, and all that. I enjoy reading these posts, but haven't really wanted to dig deep on my own. I did get to thinking, though, about how much I read last year, which was a ton, I mean a ton, and decided to chart it to show what I mean. Yes, messing around in Excel is fun for me! 

I started my books read spreadsheet in 2013, and over the years I have added (and removed) different things to track. Of course, date finished, title, and author have remained, but in 2013 I checked off these:

And things were added and removed until in 2025, it looked like this:

The category short/novella is one I added midway in 2024, as I was reading a bunch of shorts that I wanted to add to keep track of, but that felt kind of skimpy to count as a book (I don't track book size, but even so). So in the figure below, the 2024 and 2025 numbers are not counting those, to give a more true comparison.

I'm intentionally not showing the actual numbers, because that isn't my point. The point is, just look at how much life avoidance through reading I did last year! I'm somewhere between appalled/embarrassed and impressed.

I don't know that I want to break things down more than I do, but it's fun to think about what else I could track if I wanted.

* happy ending ✅

* cliffhanger (I could write a whole post about how much I hate them) ❌

* potato-chip read (enjoyable read but promptly forgotten) ✅ or keeper (must own to reread) 🎆🎇

What else do you or might you track?

Brrrr; Depressing Library News; Good Cat News

While I understand that my cold weather is not your cold weather, Florida did have record-breaking cold overnight Monday into Tuesday. This was what I had at 8 this morning:

Brrrr! In Florida, that doesn't merit a frost warning, but a falling iguana warning:

The local weather person shared some fallen iguana photos on Facebook today: it really does happen.

Now, by mid-afternoon, it was more like 60, and probably in the sun it felt decent. But inside, not in the sun, I was layered up. 

Brrrr.

~~~~~~~~~~

I've written before about how I have not only a library card for my county's library system, but reciprocal borrowing through the next county's library. Since I read more and more ebooks, I love having two cards* to use: I read an absolute TON, increasingly so this year, as escapism, and I do buy some, but I would be bankrupt if I bought them all. 

*Technically, I have a third: there's an org called the Queer Liberation Library and signing up for that gave me another 5 loans a month from Libby, nothing to sneeze at. 

I was therefore crushed, and I mean CRUSHED*, to get an email from the other library system saying that they are changing the reciprocal borrowing program to eliminate ebooks. Almost the only thing I use it for! (The closest branch to me is an hour's drive, so obviously I'm not making that trek on a regular basis to borrow physical items.)
*Now, a few days later, I'm starting to get over the shock, but that just means I changed the title of this post from "Kind of Heartbreaking" to "Depressing" Library News. Dial it down, there, ccr.

In the email, they note that they offer a non-resident card that can be used for ebooks as well as other things---for $60 per year. Sigh. 

I get it. I do. But ow.

So my Libby borrows would go from 35 a month to 15, and Hoopla from, well I don't know because it tells me how many more I can borrow this month but not for any amount of googling can I find out how many I get per month, why is this a hard question, ugh.

Ahem. I go from more to less, basically. And I probably will suck it up and pay for the non-resident card, since I can afford $5 a month to read 20 books. But, you know, ugh. Change.

~~~~~~~~~~

I took Newman to the vet for his checkup, and though he wasn't pleased about the experience, he was a very good boy, and got a mostly clean bill of health. 

"Why does this take so long? I guess I'll watch the TV."

He needs dental work ($$$), and they're testing to make sure the worms are completely gone, but he's at a good weight (about 12 and a half pounds, he's not a lightweight) and there were no red flags. They also trimmed his claws: I'll do that going forward, but for now the needles are gone and he can make biscuits on me without making me shriek. 

Which makes both of us happy.

On Reading: What I Want, What I Don't

I've written recently about how all I want to do these days is read, very Escapism 101, and that holds true still. And I had an amen-sister moment when I read this in author Rachael Herron's email newsletter, part of a conversation with her sister:

I was recently looking at some book recommendations, and couldn't nope-out fast enough when one said, "I found this book exceptionally difficult to read—it's depressing and dark and triggers abound—yet I was eager to find out what would happen next to these doomed families..." No thank you, not me!

I did read a book recently, a fantasy, that was pretty good, an interesting premise and well written, but it ended on an absolute fucking cliffhanger, like "captured by the enemy, pause here and pick up the sequel, whoops it doesn't come out until next March," and I was pissed.  

I hadn't actually realized it was the first in a series, which is my bad, but that in itself isn't the problem. Look, I don't need every thread of the story to be completely resolved in that situation. But I need something!

Let's compare. I've been enjoying a lighter fantasy series, The Lost Arts, by Ellie Ash, which currently stands at two books (of a planned four), plus a prequel novella and a side-characters novella. 

Not everything has been resolved so far, and there are a bunch of questions I am waiting for answers on! I am very curious why one character reacted the way he did in that situation, why that other character is so mad at the main character, what exactly happened to cause the attack six years ago, how is it possible that someone who died in that attack is maybe not so dead after all...I have questions! So many questions.

But these stories are more happy than harrowing, and each story has stopped at a good place. At least something has resolved in each one. 

I don't want to name-and-shame the cliffhanger one*, because it was not a bad book. It just wasn't what I want these days. What about you?
*If you really want to know, I can email you.

Even More So: Read

I raise my head from a book and look at the world.

The world looks back at me, and I say "nope" and move on to the next book.

Why All I Want to Do Is Read

Lately, I have found myself frequently lamenting if I have to do anything that isn't reading. All I want to do is read.

All. I want. To do. Is read.

Every spare minute. Evenings on the couch. Weekends between forcing myself to actually do things that need doing. Walking from condo to condo, checking on neighbors' places. In the elevator (hey, it's slow, those minutes get boring).

I was on a zoom call last week knitting with a friend when that came up, and I added "and knit" a bit less than convincingly, since lately my only knitting time has been with others*. She asked if I knit while doing something else, like watching TV, and yeah, sometimes I do, particularly during hockey season. But lately, all I want to do is read, and we agreed that sometimes, that's all that shuts the brain down to a single focus.
*Though now and then I have coffee and a pastry at a local bakery on a Saturday and people-watch while knitting.

This is not a good time in America (and plenty of other places). All sorts of awful shit is happening, all the time, over and over. And the more I let it into my brain, the harder it is to function.

Other than being a woman, I am not in a class that is heavily targeted right now. I'm white, middle-class, above childbearing age but not into the Medicare years...but what's happening to other people right now is terrifying, institutions are caving and crumbling, and I feel fragile.

So I read.

All She Wants to Do Is Read

I'm working on the overdue post about my trip to Curacao, which is delayed because all I'm doing lately is reading. I've let a lot of tasks drop to plunge into the sea of escapism. Missing Maggie makes me so sad, and I really, really don't want to think about it any more than I already am, so ... I read. 

And I'm not giving myself a hard time about it, because as the saying goes, it is what it is. In fact, a new book came out that I devoured, going by usual MO of racing through the first read and then having to read it again more slowly. Nuance, what's that? What counts is reading and loving it.

I've written about Katherine Addison's books many times; this is the third in her Cemeteries of Amalo series, which are not sequels to The Goblin Emperor, but in the same world. I love all the books, in print but especially in audio, and have been waiting impatiently for this one. And it's so good! I really loved it, and I look forward to reading it again more slowly. And then starting the wait for her next book, whenever that may be.

Don't you just love a good book?

Dropping Things, but Hey, Read!

I'm so wound up with worrying about Maggie (current situation is that we don't know yet, but it isn't looking good) that I'm dropping the ball in a lot of things in life right now. There are things I should be doing that I just don't, like when I noticed on Wednesday, just by chance, that I hadn't paid a credit card bill that was due today, and things I want to do but am not, like reading and commenting on blogs, and tasks that fall in between the two, like working on clearing out my email inbox. I'm mostly working, reading-reading-reading, and fretting, which manages to fill all my time and then some.

I did try to catch up on a few things yesterday, and came across a post from the other day where where Engie wrote about the ubiquitous READ posters that were always in the library and bookstores when I was a kid. I have a similar one, not from the American Library Association, but from the publisher when this book about the Muppets came out. I had to keep Kermit, and it's on the back of the door of my office even now.

Truer Words, Etc.

You know, this is so me it should have my name on it:

Is it you, too?

Beyond Anne of Green Gables

The comments on my post about LM Montgomery's The Blue Castle let me know that not everyone knows she wrote other books, and she did! So many of them! So I wanted to talk about some of my other favorites.

As I said, TBC is probably my very favorite. I read this one as a young adult, and immediately fell in love with Valancy, and out of love with her mostly horrible family, even though Valancy is an old maid at her advanced age of 29, not a child like Anne. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I loved Anne! I read all 8 books, many times, though along the way I weeded them out (I'm sure I kept the first one, but it isn't on the shelf with the other Montgomerys...I wonder where it's got to?). I was of a good age for the miniseries with Megan Follows and Colleen Dewhurst, as well. I'm not dissing Anne at all, just saying that I turned to it less often as I got older.

Here are the others I did keep, in addition to TBC:

A Tangled Web is another non-child-protag book, and is actually a book of many stories within an extensive clan. A lot happens, but it's definitely the story of the many characters, and highly amusing.

Emily, Jane, and Marigold are child protagonists, like Anne, and are similar and different. Of the three, Jane is probably my favorite, but I'm not getting rid of any of them. The paperbacks are copies I got when visiting the LM Montgomery Birthplace in PEI, which is where I learned about many of her books. 

Mom and I first visited PEI in 1985, and went back four or five times more. We saw Green Gables:

As well as other related sites. And so many beautiful red dirt roads.

It's lovely up there. 

Any LMM questions?

Ready for the CBBC, and a Very Cute Cat

I'm reading a book for a book club! I know, I have probably written before about how book clubs and I are not the greatest match. But in this case, Engie's Cool Bloggers Book Club (for which you do not have to be a blogger to participate), is reading The Blue Castle, which may just be my favorite of LM Montgomery's books. Yes, possibly above Anne of Green Gables! I probably read it for the first time in high school: I'm not sure I knew of it before Mom and I went to PEI, just before my senior year, and learned that there was more to the author than Anne.

And because it's such a favorite, I already own a copy, so I don't have to chase one down. It's not my childhood copy, but I love this physical copy specifically. It's an old ex-library copy:

Very old, in fact.

Apparently it was Nellie's book at some point from the print date of 1926 on, and was then given to the library in 1978.

I love an old library book, and this one just fits into my hand perfectly. I'm looking forward to the re-read, with my Blue Castle postcard as a bookmark.

And yes, the very cute cat in the title is Maggie. She has been particularly adorable recently. Enjoy!

A Few Words on Ebooks

I haven't crunched the numbers, so I don't have exact data, but I know that over the years, I have read more and more via ebooks*. I still read physical books, mostly from the library, and sometimes I purchase them too, once I know if I love the book enough (have to support those authors, you know). 
*Largely but not exclusively Kindle.

This (unknown) number went up last year, when I started using Libby and then Hoopla to get library books that way, especially when I figured out I could use Hoopla with the second library card I have, giving me a total of 30 borrows per month that way. 

Then last fall I signed up for a Kindle Unlimited trial (two months for $0.99 at the time), and liked it so much I'm going to keep it for a bit longer, at least. I can borrow 20 eligible books at a time, and while not all books are available that way, enough are that I'm roaring through them.

Which meant that I was reading an enjoyable-enough, but not fabulous book when I came across this:

And I'm largely the same. Because honestly, at this point when I request a physical book from the library, by the time it comes in, I've forgotten what grabbed me about it, or I'm not in the same mood...Who knew I was such a reader of impulse? Are you?

New Katherine Addison, yay

I've been a fan of the author Katherine Addison since The Goblin Emperor came out; to quote myself, "excellent world-building, with its own language and speech conventions that are conveyed without confusion (or without much, anyway)." And as much as I love it, I have been equally-if-not-more pleased by her subsequent related-but-not-directly books, The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones (not to mention her supernatural take on Sherlock Holmes, The Angel of the Crows, which is also great but very different). The books are great, and the audio versions are wonderful: honestly, I think I would struggle a lot more with the names of people and places, except that I can "hear" them from the many times I have listened to the books. 

Anyway! As a member of her Patreon, I saw recently when she gave away a few copies of the new book in the series, The Tomb of Dragons*, which comes out in March, and though I wasn't quick enough to win one of those, she next gave away advance copies of a new novella, The Orb of Cairado, which is in the same world but with different characters, and comes out in January (Subterranean Press is printing a limited, signed run). And guess what, I won! 
*One of the reviews on Goodreads states, "The Tomb of Dragons did not disappoint me in the slightest, except that it ended" which is very promising!

It arrived yesterday:

I liked that she signed it with both her name and her pen name (that's Sarah Monette).

I read it (of course), and I quite liked it, though I would not at all suggest jumping in with this one if you haven't read the series. You could read the books about Thara Celehar without having read The Goblin Emperor first, though I would argue you shouldn't, but in my opinion, you'll really want to understand how this world works before reading this novella. If you have read the others, then yes, I recommend this one!

Yeah, Yeah, I Know. Let's Talk Books Instead

I can't talk about the election results yet. I don't know when I'll be able to. We fight on, but for today at least, for my mental health (and my blood pressure), I'm pretending it didn't happen. 

I've read some good books recently, so I thought it was time to share them here! 

First up is a fantasy book I got an advance copy* of, Miss Amelia's List, by Mercedes Lackey. This is in her Elemental Masters series, which is the kind of series where the books are related but don't have to be read in sequence; I haven't read them all**, and this is book 17, but all you have to know is the basic principles. As her website describes them, the books "are a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, with a big scoop of fairy tales stirred in. Most of them are set in the late 1800s-early 1900s."
*Thank you to DAW for the ARC! #MissAmeliasList #NetGalley
**My favorite of those I have read is Reserved for the Cat

I really enjoyed this book; Amelia is a believable and realistic character, comfortable with her power while coping with her anxiety, and her cousin Serena, though less fully developed, is often unexpectedly competent. It was interesting to look at Regency England from the perspective of American characters, which I haven’t seen a lot of.

Looking back at the ending, it felt a bit rushed: reading an ebook, I’m not always aware of how close to the end I am, and it came as something of a surprise to realize we were there, at the climactic events and then the end. There is some implausibility to how things wrapped up, but I actually can see how it could have been even more so and wasn’t, so although that’s a backhand compliment, I do mean it well. A book I’m glad to have read, though not the one I would recommend for jumping into this series.

~~~~~

Next up is a different kind of fantasy book, basically a romantic comedy book with shapeshifters! I know, sounds implausible given how dark a lot of shifter stories are, but when you have a bunny shifter, it's hard not to make it cute, and that's Emmy! Somebunny to Love, by Zoe Chant, is in the Virtue Shifters series, which I will definitely be checking out more of. Light, fluffy, intelligent, happily-ever-after: what's not to love? I don't need dark and gloomy right now. Good silliness is called for.

~~~~~

Lost & Found by Jane Glatt is something that I find refreshing: a book with an older woman protagonist! While I do read books from younger perspectives (see my recent adoration for Prince of Fortune), there's something about putting an older woman front and center that pleases me. This book is mostly not a fantasy (rare for me these days, right?), with one twist. As the description starts out:

"Homeless. Broke. Shunned by friends and neighbours. This was not what sixty-two was supposed to look like for Barbara Baker.

As a member of Toronto's exclusive Rosedale society, Barb was a fixture on charity committees and an accomplished hostess whose dinner invitations were coveted by Toronto's elite. Her comfortable life ended when her husband's criminal activity was discovered—he'd been stealing from everyone for decades, using her exceptional hostess skills to reel in new victims."

As Barb starts to figure out where her life will go from here, with help from her best friend, something unexpected happens, which I won't spoil except to say that's where the fantastical element comes in. It may not be 100% plausible, but I found it very entertaining, on a night when that was just what I needed.

Note that while I didn't think of this as an advance read, according to Amazon, it's not out yet. I bought it as part of something called The Never Too Old to Save the World Bundle, which runs for another 15 days, according to the website. It includes 10 books, if you're willing to pay at least $20, which I was.

Read any good books lately?

Fantasy Book Recs: Prince of Fortune and Swordcrossed

I'm going to put this on my posts until election day:
No shame if you haven't made a plan to vote yet, but today would be a great day to do it! Is there early voting in your state? If you got a mail-in ballot, can you drop it at early voting instead of relying on the mail to get it there in time? Or do you want to go on the day itself? That's November 5, a week from Tuesday! Why not look at your schedule now and see what works best for you?

I read two very different new fantasy books recently, and wanted to share in case anyone else is interested, because they were both really good! 

Prince of Fortune by Lisa Tirreno is actually billed as young adult, which I didn't realize before I read it, but I suppose that fits as the main characters are 16 at the start. Edmund and Aubrey are lovely, and well characterized, and the fantasy world and events are believable and logical without my in any way being able to predict what was going to happen. The boys are just so perfect for each other, and watching them overcome serious obstacles was very satisfying.

Content warnings: There is some violence (the fact that war is coming is a chapter-one reveal), and a romantic relationship of which the details are implied more than shown on the page: yearning and kisses yes, sex no, for those who wish to know that. 

I enjoyed this book so much that I wanted to be able to immediately read it again for the first time. I had bought the ebook, and promptly bought the audio so that I can listen to it as well. (So far, I like it, and the two narrators are doing a good job.) Frankly, it blows me away that this is her debut novel. 

The other book is the new one by Freya Marske, Swordcrossed.

This is the UK cover, BTW; I liked it better than the US cover, so I ordered a copy from Blackwell's, my favorite source for UK versions (though they often carry US versions as well). Free shipping to the US!

I loved A Marvellous Light by Marske, which is an alternate-universe Edwardian English setting with magic, and after she finished that trilogy, I was excited to see what came next. It's very different, but also very good!

When I started reading this, I found the first few pages somewhat confusing, but that was largely because my mother kept interrupting me so I couldn't concentrate very well. Once I settled into it, I enjoyed figuring out the way the world worked, with the different guilds and beliefs and rituals. 

Matti is getting married, for family-business-bond-strengthening reasons rather than love, and he needs to hire a swordsman to stand with him for the ceremony (to face any challengers---and wouldn't "speak now or forever hold your peace" have more layers if you had to bring a sword and duel someone?). He may not love his betrothed, but when he meets Luca, the swordsman, well, sparks fly! 

Matti has a lot of secrets, and it turns out that Luca does, too. As they work together to figure out what's going on and right a few serious wrongs, they get to know and trust each other, in ways that were both what I expected and complete surprises.

Content warning: If on-page sex bothers you (I suppose I should add, between two men), this isn't for you.

Stress Reading Update (Already)

My friends! After I complained yesterday about how I can't borrow any more library books through the Hoopla app this month because I only get 10* and I borrowed them all, and I read your comments on it, I got to thinking: 
*Poor Engie only gets two a month! I feel so greedy, wanting more than 10.

• I have a card from my local library system (Card One)
• I have a card through the reciprocal borrowing program with another library system (Card Two)
• In the Libby app, I can see and borrow books using both cards
• I only have the Hoopla app through the first library
• But does the second library use Hoopla too?

IT DOES.

I needed to use my other email address to set up the account, but it let me, and not only that: it gives me 20 books a month. TWENTY! Forget about accomplishing anything, I'll be reading now.

Yeah, you know I borrowed a book the minute I got this set up...

Stress Reading

While I have definitely done plenty of stress eating through worrying times, lately I've been adding another coping mechanism: stress reading. I have read A TON this summer, to the point where, this week, I learned that the Hoopla library program/app/thing has a monthly limit. Because I hit it. For the first time ever. Halfway through the month.

Mind you, I do prefer to borrow ebooks through Libby, so I tend to go to that first, and that program also has limits, but it's by number of books borrowed, so if I hit 10 and want to borrow another, I can just return one to open a spot. But Hoopla is different. Apparently.

I mean. I'm in the middle of a series! but I'll just have to read other things for the next two weeks. Apparently.

Re-Post: Review of Full Speed to a Crash Landing, by Beth Revis

Back in June, I wrote about a good book that I got to read ahead of publication, and now that it's out, I wanted to re-post what I wrote, in case any sci-fi fans could use the reminder! 

Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis comes out August 6, or as we can now call it, Tuesday. 

I was approved for an advance copy by Daw Books--thanks, y'all!

Publisher's description:

A high octane sexy space heist from New York Times-bestselling author Beth Revis, the first in a novella trilogy

Ada Lamarr may have gotten to the spaceship wreck first, but looter’s rights won’t get her far when she’s got a hole in the side of her ship and her spacesuit is almost out of air. Fortunately for her, help arrives in the form of a government salvage crew—and while they reluctantly rescue her from certain death, they are not pleased to have an unexpected passenger along on their classified mission.
...
A phenomenally fun novella that kicks off a trilogy of sexy space heists and romantic tension, Full Speed to a Crash Landing is packed with great characters and full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end.

My review:

I raced through reading this and enjoyed every twist and turn along the way! Ada has an upfront attitude and hidden depths, and she’s not the only one who may not be fully what they seem. As layers are pulled back, I was constantly reevaluating what had come before—it really made me think. I kept putting it down to ponder and then immediately picking it back up because I had to know what would happen next. The ending was both satisfying and left me wanting more: I look forward to reading the next in the series.

Also, I really want to talk about some things in the book that would be spoilers, so please read it and then let me know, and we can talk!