It's All About the Reread - May Books!

1.  A Queen in Hiding, 2. Queen of the Raiders, 3. A Broken Queen, and 4. The Cerulean Queen, Sarah Kozloff (audio, in my libro.fm library) - It's not even been three years since this beautiful series was published - the books were released over the course of four months so that you could enjoy the series altogether in its entirety - and probably only two since I first read them.  (Also via audio for the most part.)  I enjoyed them so much that I purchased the audiobooks through my libro.fm account.  Due to some family circumstances, I spent a lot of time on the road this month, and these were the perfect accompaniment.  I'm happy to report that they were every bit as brilliant and enjoyable as I remembered.  (OK, I have a soft spot...when I was a kid I pretended I was a superhero named Animal Girl who could talk to animals....Kozloff might as well have written this character just for me!)

5.  Tress of the Emerald Sea, Brandon Sanderson (audio) - Advertisements for this popped up so often that I decided to check out the audio from my library.  I've read a smidge of Sanderson years and years ago - enough to recognize his talent, but also enough for me to dismiss him as being a writer of boy books.  I was curious as to what he'd do with a female lead, and in a whimsical style that I didn't associate with him.  Friends, this book is up for my best of 2023 list.  It was amazing.   I loved Tress, I loved the story, I loved the writing, and I loved that it had just the right amount of whimsy.  Read several passages to my husband.  Kudos to Sanderson!  (Also, this is one of several books he wrote for himself - published at the urging of his wife.  I'm now very curious about those other books.)

6.  Scarlet, Genevieve Cogman - Having stepped away from the Invisible Library, Cogman apparently decided that vampires in the French Revolution were the way to go.....and I'm so glad she did!  A confession:  as problematic as it is, I'm awfully fond of the Scarlet Pimpernel.  (My favorite version is the musical by Frank Wildhorn and Nan Knighton, which I completely adore.) So when I realized that Cogman was putting her own spin on that story I was over the moon. Is it the greatest book ever?  Not really.  (I feel it could have benefited from another round or two of editing.)  Was it still a ton of fun to read?  Absolutely!

7.  An Unkindness of Magicians, 8.  A Slight of Shadows, Kat Howard - When it's been 6 years since the publication of the first book, you reread it before you pick up the surprise sequel!  Howard is not prolific, a fact that makes it all the sweeter when she publishes a new book.  I'm a little surprised she chose to continue this particular story, in part because the ending of the first book was so perfect.  I have mixed feelings having read the second.  On the one hand, I get why Howard wrote it.  On the other hand, I really didn't love it like I love the first.   It didn't feel necessary, and perhaps just this once I preferred the consequences of the first book.