2025 Books - March!

 1.  Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales, Heather Fawcett - And so I finished up the series that I started last month!  Of the three, this was not my favorite.  I preferred the two earlier books where Emily was in a more scholarly role, and felt she lost a bit of herself by being in fairyland the entire time.  But still, these were really enjoyable reads.  Is it my favorite series of all times, no.  BUT, thanks to the author's instagram page I found some fan art that I truly love.  In fact, I ordered a print of my favorite piece! (I'm kind of obsessed with Emily and Wendell fan art...)

2.  Deep End, Ali Hazelwood - OMG!  Ali wrote something new and different!  Don't get me wrong, I love her STEM books, and the sameness of them has been a comfort as of late.  It's also super great to see a writer stretch her wings a bit.  Scarlett and Lukas were a perfect pairing, and I appreciate what the book said about their past relationships, friendships, and their road to find each other.  Was an enjoyable read, made more so by the fact that two friends read it at the same time.  

3. Tea You at the Alter, Rebecca Thorne - I adore this sweet, cozy fantasy series, and am super glad that the fourth book is coming out later this year.  While overall it was a bit slower than the first two books, the fantastic ending more than made up for that.  At this point, the characters are like old friends you want to revisit over and over.  And really, what could be more wonderful than building a series around a book and tea shop?!

4.  Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (audio, reread) - It's a beautiful little book, and the audio is performed by Chiwetel Ejiofor.  I could listen to him read the phone book and be perfectly content.  I'd actually forgotten quite a few plot points.  What I remembered is the beautiful focus on Piranesi's emotional life and mental health.  I don't think this book is for everyone, but it's beautiful for those who love it.  

5.  Unnatural Magic, C.M. Waggoner - Sigh.  When the two main protagonists don't meet until the very, very end of a book....there might be a problem.  When a good 75% of the book focuses on relationships over plot....well it's a problem when the premise of the book is based upon a plot and so that's not what you are expecting.  I did love the characters and the relationships, but overall wish it had been written differently.  (Also, this is a case of being 100% steered wrong by trusted writers who did blurbs....darn it.)

6.  Under Loch and Key, Lana Ferguson - Is this in many ways one of the silliest books I've ever read, yes.  Did I enjoy every minute, also yes!  Did Kristin of old, who read maybe two or three Romance novels/year ever think she would be reading Romance novels about the Loch Ness Monster?  No!  Am I embarrassed about how long it took me to figure out the title, yes!

7.  The Adventures of Amina Al-Serifi, Shannon Chakraborty (audio, reread) - I'd almost forgotten how wonderful this book is.  I'd definitely forgotten that the audio is one of the best I've ever heard!  Having gotten annoyed the month previous with yet another book about a 19 year old, it was refreshing to read a story about a grown-ass, middle-age mom coming out of retirement for one more great adventure.  I think this may be the beginning of revisiting all of Chakraborty's work! Also, the audio is amazing.  

8.  Installment Immortality, Seanan McGuire (Incryptid #14) - So done with this series.  I adore Seanan McGuire, but this has always been my least favorite of her three ongoing series.  What started out as a light and fluffy popcorn type of series took a big turn in book 13 with actual consequences coming home to roost for the central family.  I didn't like that, and I didn't like the really crazy amount of time taken up in this book by recapping and explaining.  It was a real slog to get through.  I made it, but just barely.  Looking back, I also wasn't crazy about books 9 and 10.  Yeah, it's time to give this one up.  

9.  Spark of the Everflame, 10.  Glow of the Everflame, 11.  Heat of the Everflame, Penn Cole - I picked up this popular BookTok series because it's the next series that the Fantasy Fangirls podcast is going to tackle - but I was cautious in my approach because I honestly didn't know if I'd like it based on some of the feedback I saw.  Well, I didn't like it....I LOVED it!  It was more romance-forward than I typically like in a fantasy series....but....well, I was here for it this time.  I loved Diem and Luther and their slow burn.  I loved how complicated Diem is - sometimes making poor decisions that were grounded in her character's history, and sometimes being blinded by her idealism.  I loved the world-building, and was especially glad for the map.  I loved the gryverns....because magic animals!  I appreciated that the author made you wait for the spice, and when it finally happened it was well-earned.  I loved that it wasn't a typical us v. them fantasy - with one side clearly being the good side and one side clearly being bad.  There was more nuance, with both good and bad on both sides and a lead couple who were trying to forge a way forward built on compromise and bringing both sides together.  And to be perfectly honest, I loved the fact that the stakes were lower in this series than they've been in others I've read in the last year.  (Cole just doesn't put her characters through it in the same way that someone like Carissa Broadbent does.)  I am now furious that the fourth and final isn't out, and desperately hoping the author sticks the landing when it comes.  

12.  I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com, Kimberly Lemming - Look.  I really enjoyed Lemming's Mead Mishaps series, as absurd as they were.  Even found a lot more heart in the last one than was expecting.  But this was just dumb.  There were moments I enjoyed, but so much of it was just too over the top for even me.  Doubt I'll read any more of the series.  

13.  Swordcrossed, Freya Marske - I was really excited when I saw that there was a new to me Marske book out.  Her previous books were an absolutely delicious blend of fantasy and LGBTQ romance, and I adored them.  This book was much heavier on the romance and spice than her previous works, and really only barely qualifies as fantasy....and I ate up every word.  I loved how emotionally complex her two MMC's were, and that wedding scene at the end is one of my all-time favorite scenes.  Best.  Wedding.  EVER! 

14.  All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders (reread, audio) - I had forgotten how good this book is, and the audio narration is absolutely brilliant.  Even more relevant now than it was when it was published in 2016, it's about science v. magic (technology v. nature) in a world that is ending.  I had a much more emotional response this time around, and it's lingered long after each page was done.  Two tiny complaints.  1.  Most of the book feels somewhat disconnected from the end.  I get it, we are seeing most of the book through the eyes of children and they wouldn't see what adults would see.  Still, feels a tiny bit disjointed.  2.  The ending is very rushed.  I wish it had had more time to grow - as the first part of the book did.  

15.  Funny Story, Emily Henry - This was an NPR Books We Love 2024, which is one of my favorite ways to find a romance novel.  I loved Daphne and Miles and the emotional growth they both went through.  Daphne and I may have had very different life experiences, but I related to her more so than I have with any other romance FMC.  As to why I ultimately love this book so much I'll quote the NPR blurb. "Above all, Funny Story is a reminder that the most important relationship you have is the one you have with yourself." (Arielle Retting, growth editor)

16.  Half a Soul, Olivia Atwater -  The second book in this series showed up on the Apple Books sale page, and I bought it after reading the charming synopsis.  Then this first book showed up on sale...and I again read the synopsis and was this time completely blown away by the authors who blurbed it.  (Seriously, Atwater won the lottery with that!)  This was sweet and charming and utterly delightful.  I cannot wait to read the other two books....but I'm also not in a hurry.  I think I'll save these Regency inspired fairy tales for when I need a break from heavier books.  

17.  The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, Zen Cho (audio, novella, reread) - A short and sweet story that I enjoy very much.  Upon a reread, I'm not sure that it'll be one I come back to ever again...and that's ok.  

18.  The Beasts We Bury, D. L. Taylor - My beloved Skylark Bookshop has started a new fantasy book club, and out of curiosity I picked up this book, which is their second pick.  I will not be attending the meeting, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.  For one thing, I truly cannot stomach books about child abuse, and that was the central focus of the book - no matter what kind of fantasy/magic trappings it was layered under.  For another, any goodwill I had about the plot was completely wiped away by the epilogue.  I cannot stand the way the author finished up the book.  That last-minute surprise is one of my most hated literary devices ever.  I cared enough to finish it, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth.  And maybe I'm just getting cranky and old, but yeah....I'm pretty tired of books about teenagers at the moment. 

19.  Book Lovers, Emily Henry - After the last book, I needed something to completely flush my system, so a fun romance novel it is!  I'd been warned that Henry books were not as lighthearted as many of the other romance novels I've been reading, and yes indeed this one had a lot more of an emotional punch.  Nora is so, so different from me in so many ways, but I adored everything about her.  I loved that a big part of the book was about her relationship with her sister, Libby, and I loved her love story with Charlie.  

20.  The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar (novella) - El-Mohtar is half of the duo that wrote one of my favorite novels, This is How We Lose the Time War, so I was really excited when I discovered this new book!  And my, oh my, is it a perfect little gem.  It's a fairy tale/murder ballad that is written in the most exquisite prose.  I loved every minute of it.  I sincerely hope that someday El-Mohtar moves into longer form fiction! 

21.  Fable for the End of the World, Ava Reid - Straight up, I despise The Hunger Games, and Reid has been very clear that this is her love letter to those books.  Please see my earlier comments about books about child abuse.  Sooo.....I was preset to read it because I adore Reid, but to hate everything about it because of the inspiration.  (Incidentally, I felt a similar way about Reid's last book - didn't really want to read it because I know what happens to Lady MacBeth and the whole thing was just so flipping depressing - but I did anyway.)  The synopsis also describes it as being inspired by The Last of Us as well, which is a series I know well enough to see the inspiration but didn't bother to finish because I wasn't into it.  (By now you are probably wondering why the heck I bothered reading this at all...)  What I wasn't expecting was just how strongly this book reminded me of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, which is probably his least popular work but is one that stuck with me for all of the questions about humanity it posed.  (Reid may be too young to know Dollhouse - no one really remembers it - but damn, the similarities…). It is beautifully written, of course, and the lead characters are highly sympathetic.  And I get what Reid has said about the polarizing ending and what really matters.  But damn, it was bleak.  And I am ambivalent about how it ended.  I don’t know.  Of her five published books, I’ve hated two so it may be time to revisit whether or not I want to continue to follow Reid’s work.