I was still reading the last of my Black Jewels series at the end of August and finished it a few days into September. This book is made up of four short stories. The first story about how the weaver was given powers from the dragon was really good. The story about how Lucivar met and married Marian was so good. I really enjoyed it and had a hard time putting it down. The last story in the book basically picks up where Queen of the Darkness left off. And it was so good. This was the ending I was looking for. At the end of book three, I just felt like so much was left unresolved. Dreams Made Flesh was definitely worth a read and I’m so glad that I felt like I had the closure I needed. As a side note, after starting my read of these books, someone mentioned that Sarah J. Maas was highly influenced by them when she wrote her A Court of Thorns and Roses series. I can definitely see that influence, but the series are quite different.
After finishing with Dreams Made Flesh, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to read. I dug around and finally decided to read another Jade West book. I felt like I needed a little Jade fix and I liked the description of this one and how they meet on the train because they are both readers and sharing their favorite books. I read this in a couple days and enjoyed it. I feel like I got so much more out of the story than I expected to. Jade West books tend to surprise me in that way, that they aren’t just erotic romance, that there’s often quite a few deep issues that the books touch on.
After finishing Hello Stranger, I thought I’d give one of the free kindle books I got through Bookbub a try. It probably took me four days to read this one, which was four days longer than it was worth. This book was terrible. The writing was not great and in some cases made it difficult to even read. Parts of it read more like it was first person, where you know Emmy’s thoughts and feelings, but then it would switch to referring to her in the third person like “the young woman put down her bags.” There are also continuity problems that kept jarring me back out of my suspension of disbelief. The book didn’t get any better the further I read. The ending was clearly supposed to be some big twist/cliffhanger, but at that point I really didn’t even care. I was glad to be done with this one.
Thankfully, after that experience, I joined a new group that does a book club and their current selection was Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore. I’d never heard of the book but it sounded interesting, so I thought I’d give it a try. One of the things I immediately liked about the book was that, much like Haunting of Hill House, the house seems like a character itself and Jane is discovering its secrets. Plus, who can resist a book with maps?
This book is really hard to describe without giving something away. But, it almost kind of reads like one of those Choose-Your-Own Adventure books I loved when I was a kid or like the movie Clue with the different endings.
I really loved this book and highly recommend it. My group hasn’t yet had the chance to discuss it yet, but I can’t wait until we do because I have SO MUCH to talk about. I’m so glad I read this and I will definitely be looking for more from this author, who apparently also collects umbrellas.
If you read this book, or have read it, let me know. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
After finishing Jane, Unlimited, I decided to get a head start on my planned October reads and picked up Practical Magic. This book has literally been sitting on my shelf for years and even though it is one of my absolutely favorite movies, I’ve never read it. I’ll be honest though, this one had a hard time keeping my interest. I ended up carrying it over into October, so I’ll talk more about my thoughts on it in that post.
So, a couple days after starting Practical Magic, a fellow reader of smut recommended the Bad Love series by Charleigh Rose. I’ve never read anything my Rose, so I thought I’d give it a shot. At most, I figured it would be an entertaining side read. Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. The ending was kind of expected maybe, but I like a happy ending. I read this in a couple days. I believe there are three books in this series, so if you’re looking for erotic romance, this is a good read.
After finishing Bad Habit, I went back to Practical Magic for a few days, and then another friend recommended one of her all-time favorite erotic romance books. She said no one she knows has ever read it, so she needed someone to discuss it with. Several of us will willing to oblige. When I read the summary of the book, I had to start it. Art History + smutty romance = sold! This book was really good and I read it in about four days. Highly recommend this one and it is also part of a series that I will definitely be reading more of.
So, that’s it for September. It seems like I got quite a bit read this month but I’m a bit annoyed with myself that I got so sidetracked from Practical Magic.
