Never Rescue a Rogue by Virginia Heath

Title: Never Rescue a Rogue (Merrill Sisters #2)

Author: Virginia Heath

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin 2022

Genre: Historical Romance

Pages: 368

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 52 Book Club - Featuring an Inheritance; Romanceopoly - Library (Free Choice)

Spice Meter: 4

Diana Merriwell and Giles Sinclair only tolerate one another for the sake of their nearest and dearest. Everyone believes that the two of them are meant to be together, but Diana and Giles know that their constant pithy barbs come from a shared disdain—not a hidden attraction. Diana loves the freedom of working at the newspaper too much to give it up for marriage, and Giles is happily married to his bachelor lifestyle. But they do have one thing in common—the secrets they can’t risk escaping.

When Giles’ father, the curmudgeonly Duke of Harpenden unexpectedly turns up his toes, it’s only a matter of time before someone comes crawling out of the woodwork who knows the true circumstances of his only son's birth. As the threat of blackmail becomes real, Giles must uncover the truth of his parentage first, or else he and all those who depend upon him will be ruined—and dogged bloodhound Diana is his best hope at sniffing out the truth. As Giles and Diana dive into his family’s past, the attraction that the two of them insisted wasn’t there proves impossible to ignore. Soon, the future of the Sinclair estate isn’t the only thing on the line…

Another slightly disappointing historical romance. I was looking forward to this one as I loved Diana and Giles in the first book. In fact, their scenes were the best parts of the first book. So, I had hoped that this volume would be an improvement. Unfortunately, I was once again disappointed. Until the end, I couldn’t really put a finger on why I didn’t like it. The best explanation that I could come up was that I was bored. Something about Heath’s writing style bores me. I liked the big plot line and the mystery involved. It was a good plot, but I was still bored.

Merriwell Sisters

#1 Never Fall for Your Fiancée
#2 Never Rescue a Rogue

Next up on the TBR pile:

The End and Other Beginnings by Veronica Roth

Title: The End and Other Beginnings: Stories from the Future

Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books 2019

Genre: SciFi Short Stories

Pages: 262

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter TBR; 52 Book Club - Time in the Title

No world is like the other. Within this masterful collection, each setting is more strange and wonderful than the last, brimming with new technologies and beings. And yet, for all the advances in these futuristic lands, the people still must confront deeply human problems.

In these six stories, Veronica Roth reaches into the unknown and draws forth something startlingly familiar and profoundly beautiful.

With tales of friendship and revenge, plus two new stories from the Carve the Mark universe, this collection has something for new and old fans alike. Each story begins with a hope for a better end, but always end with a better understanding of the beginning.

With beautifully intricate black-and-white interior illustrations and a uniquely designed package, this is the perfect gift for book lovers.

A collection of science fiction short stories isn’t usually a winner and this volume was no exception. I usually find a few stories that really interest me, but often the stories are dull or uninspired. This one dives into the future featuring a few dystopian worlds and a few alien worlds. I preferred the dystopian worlds to the alien worlds. I liked when the stories stuck to simplicity. When authors try to cram too much world-building into short stories, they do not really work. Oh well. Stories can’t always be winners.

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Next up on the TBR pile:

Misadventures of a Curvy Girl by Sierra Simone

Title: Misadventures of a Curvy Girl

Author: Sierra Simone

Publisher: Waterhouse Press 2019

Genre: Romance

Pages: 226

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Winter TBR; Romanceopoly - Farmer’s Market

Spice Meter: 8

For the first time in her life, Ireland Mills is happy with her body. No more fad diets, no more hiding from every camera in the room, no more low self-esteem. She’d rather be alone than with someone who’ll only love her if she’s skinny.

Caleb Carpenter and Ben Weber are everything Ireland and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce dreamed of when conceptualizing the “Real Kansas” promotional campaign. They’re handsome, young, educated, and totally dedicated to their small prairie town.

When Ireland’s Prius gets stuck on a Kansas dirt road and a massive storm rips through town, she’s left stranded with nowhere to turn but to Caleb and Ben. These two hunky country boys are impossible to ignore, but could they ever be interested in her as well?

Caleb and Ben are more than interested…and they’re willing to share. After their first night together, they know this has to be more than a one-time thing. They need to make her theirs forever. But can they convince Ireland they love her, curves and all?

I was hoping that this would be a good choice for my book club’s Dirty Book Month. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to the hype. I was completely onboard for a plus-size FMC and even a polyam relationship with two men. I wasn’t really okay with the insta-love from the men. Seriously, it was a bit much. And I wasn't okay with the constant body shaming from Ireland herself. I understand not liking your body and thinking negative thoughts. I don’t necessarily want to read that every other page throughout the entire novel. Authors only have to mention it a few times. Readers are going to forgot that the heroirne has body issues. It felt overdone. I was very much getting annoyed with the internal thoughts interrupting every scene.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Bad Boy for Christmas by Layla Valentine

Title: Bad Boy for Christmas (Christmas Romantic Comedies #3)

Author: Layla Valentine

Publisher: 2021

Genre: Romance

Pages: 196

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

HER:
There I was, reeling from the biggest disaster of my life, with my PR career in smithereens, I was bracing myself for the worst Christmas ever. Then I saw a shot at retribution. Tyler Bliss, Boston’s hottest bad-boy hockey star, finally thrown off his team. I know I can change the public’s perception of him and get him reinstated, he just needs to clean up his act, and follow my plan to the letter. Given his reputation, that might be more difficult than it sounds… Can we make our own Christmas miracle?

HIM:
They call me Bad Boy Bliss. I’m a beast on the ice, and off. All I want is to be back playing the game I love, And now this bossy publicist is telling me she can make it happen. I’ll grit my teeth through all the publicity stunts if it means being back on the team by January, We both need for this to work, But that means keeping our hands off each other, And I’m starting to think the frustration might be more than either of us can take.

Meh. I was intrigued by the summary and was definitely up for a bad boy hockey player. Unfortunately, we just don’t really get to know enough about either character to care that much. I wasn’t that excited about the pairing. Tyler wasn’t the exciting bad boy that I wanted. He’s more like the class clown who gets in fights. The story touches on some hard topics (e.g. alcoholism, death), but seems to just gloss over things. I needed more. And the steamy scenes weren’t all that steamy.

Christmas Romantic Comedies:

Next up on the TBR pile:

Fake It for Christmas by Layla Valentine

Title: Fake it for Christmas (Christmas Romantic Comedies #1)

Author: Layla Valentine

Publisher: 2021

Genre: Romance

Pages: 233

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

HER:
Billionaires just aren’t like the rest of us, are they?
No sooner has my boss requested my assistance at a winter wedding, we’re boarding a private jet to Aspen, and I’m being introduced to every member of his filthy rich and utterly insane family as his girlfriend – and he barely even knows my last name!
I know I’ve bitten off more than I can chew,
I just need to play this role for a few weeks, collect my check and go.
So why can’t I tear my eyes off his brother?

HIM:
At my sister’s wedding, there’s one girl taking all the attention from the bride,
My brother’s new girlfriend – the one he never thought to mention until right now.
Immediately, I can tell that something’s up. Our parents’ approval is hard-won, and it can drive some of us to ridiculous ends…
Are these two really an item? Or, just maybe, did my brother simply not want to be the only sibling here without a date?

Decent Christmas romance novella, but I really wanted a bit more between the main characters. There was a lot of discussion about the Bentley family and the situation at work, but not enough between Ellie and Sawyer. I wanted a bit more meat on the bone. Still it was a decent open door (but not super steamy) romance.

Christmas Romantic Comedies:

#1 Fake It for Christmas
#2 Stuck Together for Christmas
#3 Bad Boy for Christmas

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

Title: The Librarian Spy

Author: Madeline Martin

Publisher: Hanover Square Press 2022

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence.

Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.

As the battle in Europe rages, Ava and Elaine find themselves connecting through coded messages and discovering hope in the face of war..

Intrigued by the summary and the idea of two women being internal to the spy business during WWII. Disappointed that the spy business doesn’t really show up and just how boring and naive both women are. I think I am spoiled by WWII novels with Kate Quinn’s book. Her heroines (while usually based on real people) are spunky and tough. They are delight to get to know with the pages of the book. Ava and Elaine were pretty disappointing in comparison. I really detest when characters are super naive and others keep vital information from them resulting in miscommunications, faux-pas, and outright mistakes.This happened so many times throughout the book. I had trouble rooting for the ladies and really any of the characters. I was very angry with Joseph and his treatment of Elaine (before the book even starts). I just couldn’t forgive him for working with the resistance, lying to his wife the entire time, and even going so far as to forbid her to do anything for the war effort. Ugh! So frustrating. Overall, I was very disappointed in this novel.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Snowpiercer Vol. 2

Title: Snowpiercer Vol. 2: The Explorers

Author: Benjamin Legrand , Jean-Marc Rochette

Publisher: Titan Comics

Genre: Comic

Pages: 144

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

In a harsh, uncompromisingly cold future where Earth has succumbed to treacherously low temperatures, the last remaining members of humanity travel on a train known as Snowpiercer while the outside world remains encased in ice.

The occupants aboard the Snowpiercer believed themselves to be the last humans alive, yet they soon learn that they are not alone. There is another train that could potentially spell destruction for the passengers of the Snowpiercer as it carves a trail through the endlessly freezing terrain.

This second train houses a small band of people that are willing to brave the relentless cold in search of the truth and discover what is left of the world by any means necessary.

We get the next chapter in the Snowpiercer saga, but suddenly we’ve jumped forward in time and somehow are on a different train. There were multiple Snowpiercers? Very confusing… Once I settled in, I started to like the story, but there wasn’t enough there to keep my attention on high alert. I Don’t always need everything explained, but the utter lack of any explanations in this volume bothered me. And I’m still not a fan of the art at all.

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Magical New York Christmas by Anita Hughs

Title: A Magical New York Christmas

Author: Anita Hughes

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin 2021

Genre: Holiday Romance

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

It’s Christmas week when 26-year-old Sabrina Post knocks on the door of the Vanderbilt suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, ready to accept the ghostwriting position for the memoir of Grayson Westcott—a famous art dealer.

A struggling journalist, Sabrina can't believe her luck: a paycheck and six nights in her own suite at the Plaza. She feels like Eloise, the heroine from her favorite children’s books. To make the job even more exciting, Grayson recounts how he worked as a butler at the Plaza sixty years ago for none other than the author of the Eloise books, Kay Thompson.

What promises to be a perfect week is complicated when Sabrina meets Ian Wentworth, a handsome British visitor, at the hotel bar. When Ian assumes Sabrina is another wealthy guest at the hotel, she doesn’t correct him —a decision she doesn’t regret after learning that Ian is a member of the British aristocracy. But, things are not what they seem. The truth is: Ian is not a wealthy lord; he’s actually the personal secretary of Lord Spencer Braxton.

As the week unfolds, will Sabrina and Ian learn the truth about one another.

Started out strong, but then became incredibly repetitive and pretty boring. I don’t think I really enjoy the mistaken identity trope; too much lying and evasion. And this one really kept that up until way too late in the book. And then we get to the weird underlying story of Kay and Grayson. I just didn’t really care and I was annoyed by how many times that we were reminded just how unusual Kay was. Boring. Spencer also did not really add to the plot at all. And then we get to Sabrina and Ian. I just didn’t see them enough together to get a sense of the romance. Every scene involving both of them was too brief. We just didn’t get enough. Too many flashbacks, not enough in the moment romance.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey

Title: Window Shopping

Author: Tessa Bailey

Publisher: Tessa Bailey 2021

Genre: Romance

Pages: 258

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Two weeks before Christmas and all through Manhattan,
shop windows are decorated in red and green satin.
I’m standing alone in front of the famous Vivant department store,
when a charming man named Aiden asks my opinion of the décor.

It’s a tragedy in tinsel, I say, unable to lie.
He asks for a better idea with a twinkle in his eye.
Did I know he owned the place? No. He put me on the spot.
Now I’m working for that man, trying to ignore that he’s hot.
But as a down on her luck girl with a difficult past,
I know an opportunity when I see one—and I have to make it last.

I’ll put my heart and soul into dressing his holiday windows.
I’ll work without stopping.
And when we lose the battle with temptation,
I’ll try and remember I’m just window shopping.

Okay, this is my second Tessa Bailey book and I really don’t think that she is the author for me. The book started interesting with a great setting of an upscale department store. I loved the whole feel of the store and the window display plot line. The parts of the book beside the romance I really enjoyed. The romance was a big dud for me. I was okay with their differing personalities. I actually like the sunny/grump trope. It’s very cute. My big problem was the way Aiden did the sexy talk. It’s a huge turnoff when men call women “girl” during sex. There was weird infantilization. I just cannot with this type of dirty talk.

Next up on the TBR pile:

You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky

Title: You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince (Boy Meets Boy #2)

Author: Timothy Janovsky

Publisher: Sourcebooks 2022

Genre: Romance

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Matthew Prince is young, rich, and thoroughly spoiled. So what if his parents barely remember he exists and the press is totally obsessed with him? He's on top of the world. But one major PR misstep later, and Matthew is cut off and shipped away to spend the holidays in his grandparents' charming small town hellscape. Population: who cares?

It's bad enough he's stuck in some festive winter wonderland—it's even worse that he has to share space with Hector Martinez, an obnoxiously attractive local who's unimpressed with anything and everything Matthew does.

Just when it looks like the holiday season is bringing nothing but heated squabbles, the charity gala loses its coordinator and Matthew steps in as a saintly act to get home early on good behavior...with Hector as his maddening plus-one. But even a Grinch can't resist the unexpected joy of found family, and in the end, the forced proximity and infectious holiday cheer might be enough to make a lonely Prince's heart grow three sizes this year.

Trying to be Schitt’s Creek and failing very badly. I could not ever get behind Matthew as a person. He annoyed me up through the ending. Even after he started showing a bit of humility and understanding, I still didn’t really see his appeal. Hector I loved, but you can’t love one half and hate the other half in a romance novel. At least the characters on Schitt’s Creek were funny. There was no humor in here to offset the spoiled rich kid-ness. Definitely not my pick for the season.

Boy Meets Boy

#1 Never Been Kissed
#2 You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince
#3 New Adult

Next up on the TBR pile:

Wallbanger by Alice Clayton

Title: Wallbanger (The Cocktail #1)

Author: Alice Clayton

Publisher: Omnific Publishing 2012

Genre: Romance

Pages: 384

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San Francisco, a Kitchen Aid mixer to die for, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here, folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O. Adding insult to O-less, she also has an oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard. Every moan, spank, and—was that a meow?—punctuates the fact that not only is she losing sleep, she still has—yep, you guessed it—no O. Enter Simon Parker. When the wallbanging threatens to literally bounce her out of bed, Caroline, clad in sexual frustration and a pink baby-doll nightie, confronts her heard-but-never-seen neighbor. Their late-night hallway encounter has…well…mixed results. Because with walls this thin, the tension’s gonna be thick. A delicious mix of silly and steamy, this is an irresistible tale of exasperation at first sight.

I’ve been looking for a good choice for our book club’s Dirty Book Month. I do not think this is my choice. My first issue is that there is too much talk about sex and not enough actual sex. Our main characters don’t actually have sex until the last few chapters of the book. I definitely needed more in my spicy romance. Instead of actual sex, we get a lot of ridiculous sex talk full of silly comments and nicknames. I was very over the silly talk. And then we get to the main characters. I really enjoyed Simon, but Caroline was very naive and grating at times. I think I need to stay away from spicy romances that center around characters in their early 20s. We’ll see how it goes, but this one is going into the nope category.

The Cocktail

#1 Wallbanger
#2 Rusty Nailed
#3 Screwdrivered
#4 Mai Tai’d Up

Next up on the TBR pile:

Snowpiercer The Prequel Part 2

Title: Snowpiercer The Prequel Part 2: Apocalypse

Author: Matz, Jean-Marc Rochette

Publisher: Titan Comics 2020

Genre: Comic

Pages: 104

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

After the extinction event that caused the new ice age, the train Snowpiercer travels perpetually around the globe, with the last survivors of humanity learning to come to terms with their new reality.

Meh. I wanted to see what happened. I guess I did. I wasn’t so mad at this book, just a little bored by the repetitiveness. I think the prequels could have been condensed down into one book. Not sure why we needed multiple.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Snowpiercer The Prequel Part 1

Title: Snowpiercer The Prequel Part 1: Extinction

Author: Matz, Jean-Marc Rochette

Publisher: Titan Comics 2021

Genre: Comic

Pages: 98

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

The Snowpiercer saga continues with this brand new story by original artist Jean-Marc Rochette and Eisner nominated writer, Matz. Set before the extinction event that caused the new ice age in which the Snowpiercer travels perpetually around the globe, witness the terrifying events that led to the need for and creation of the eponymous train.

Overall, I enjoyed the plot. The pages progressed a little too slow for me. And I had a hard time really diving into any of the characters. They just didn’t seem that interesting. I kind of just wanted to see how the train came together in the end.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Midwife's Revolt by Jodi Daynard

Title: The Midwife’s Revolt

Author: Jodi Daynard

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing 2015

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 426

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project

On a dark night in 1775, Lizzie Boylston is awakened by the sound of cannons. From a hill south of Boston, she watches as fires burn in Charlestown, in a battle that she soon discovers has claimed her husband’s life.

Alone in a new town, Lizzie grieves privately but takes comfort in her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams. Soon, word spreads of Lizzie’s extraordinary midwifery and healing skills, and she begins to channel her grief into caring for those who need her. But when two traveling patriots are poisoned, Lizzie finds herself with far more complicated matters on her hands—she suspects a political plot intended to harm Abigail and her family. Determined to uncover the truth, Lizzie becomes entangled in a conspiracy that could not only destroy her livelihood—and her chance at finding love again—but also lead to the downfall of a new nation.

This was our selection for November’s book club and I was not initially thrilled by the summary. But I decided to give it a go anyway and dove in. And it was thoroughly boring. I was bored by our main character. I was bored by the plot line. I was bored by the writing. I thought were was going to be a poisoning plot line, but that doesn’t come into the picture until over halfway through the book. And that portion of the book wasn’t that exciting either. I was just really really bored with this one.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Title: Lessons in Chemistry

Author: Bonnie Garmus

Publisher: Doubleday Books 2022

Genre: General Fiction

Pages: 400

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

CW: Sexual Assault

This was chosen as our December book club selection. The reviews keep telling me that this is a “laugh out loud funny” book of strong women. The reviews tell me that it’s a heartwarming story of a woman finding herself. I most definitely disagree. I read this a terribly depressing story about what happens to women in this patriarchal society. We are slapped in the face with all the injustices that Elizabeth faces just because she is a woman. All of that, I could have maybe dealt with. The graphic sexual assault scenes were too far. And then we get Elizabeth herself. I was very annoyed by her completely obliviousness and naïveté when it came to issues and situations. I just couldn’t really root for her in the book. In fact, my favorite characters were the dog, Six Thirty, and the the next door neighbor, Harriet. I would have enjoyed more from them.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

Title: Mrs. Caliban

Author: Rachel Ingalls

Publisher: Harvard Common Press 1982

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 103

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

In the quiet suburbs, while Dorothy is doing chores and waiting for her husband to come home from work, not in the least anticipating romance, she hears a strange radio announcement about a monster who has just escaped from the Institute for Oceanographic Research… Reviewers have compared Rachel Ingalls’s Mrs. Caliban to King Kong, Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, the films of David Lynch, Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, E.T., Richard Yates’s domestic realism, B-horror movies, and the fairy tales of Angela Carter―how such a short novel could contain all of these disparate elements is a testament to its startling and singular charm.

Definitely one the stranger books I’ve read lately and it was our Nerdy Bookish Friends pick for December (library hold came early). I dove in not knowing what to expect. Right away, I had such sympathy for Dorothy. She’s stuck in a terrible place with no energy to attempt to change it. And then we encounter Larry, and Dorothy begins to think of her like in different ways. I loved seeing the effect Larry had on Dorothy much more than the scenes with Larry. I was getting hopeful that Dorothy would get a happy ending. The actual ending of this book is much more complicated and I’m still not sure how exactly I feel about the entire thing. Right now, I’m really leaning into 3 stars as my rating. It was fine, but nothing very exciting.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Title: Fairy Tale

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Scribner 2022

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 608

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.

King’s storytelling in Fairy Tale soars. This is a magnificent and terrifying tale in which good is pitted against overwhelming evil, and a heroic boy—and his dog—must lead the battle.

Early in the Pandemic, King asked himself: “What could you write that would make you happy?”

The Nerdy Bookish Friends buddy read for November. I must admit that I have enjoyed Joe Hill’s writing over his father’s writing for years now, so I wasn’t necessarily super pumped for this read. On the other hand, I wasn’t mad about the selection. I was intrigued by King’s take on a fairy tale world and hero’s journey. By the end of the book, I had a few high points and a few duds. I loved how King featured the various fairy tales as easter eggs throughout the book. We get to see Charlie recognizing the stories as he encounters characters, settings, and events. I loved picking up all of those references. I also loved seeing how Charlie’s speech changes as he emerges himself in the world of Empis. Those were the high points. On the flip side, the pacing was terrible. For the first fourth of the book (~175 pages), nothing magical happens. It’s so incredibly slow. Once we get to the other world, things accelerate, but there are weird slow patches throughout the book. The entire section set in the prison lasted way too long. And then we get to the odd tone of the main character. I just don’t think that King writes 17 year olds very well now. There were some strange scenes that I just didn’t connect with. By the end of the book, I was left with very mixed feelings. Probably not the book for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Scorpio Races

Author:Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic Press 2011

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 409

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

Some race to win. Others race to survive. It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn't given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition - the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen. As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive.

This book was so hyped up to me that I was pretty disappointed by the actual thing. We start off strong with two orphaned teens deciding to risk their lives to the Scorpio Races. I was intrigued but the idea of the water horses and hoped the book kept the threat of them front and center. Instead, we focus on other people’s petty and vicious games. We see a relationship develop between the two main characters, but I wasn’t really sold on their romance. Everything seemed just a bit too lackluster for me. I ended up finishing the book and not really caring what happened to Sean or Puck I wasn’t left with a strong impression at all. I don’t think this one was for me.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Wrong Girl by R.L. Stine

Title: The Wrong Girl (Return to Fear Street #2)

Author: R.L. Stine

Publisher: HaperTeen 2018

Genre: YA Horror

Pages: 328

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR; Unread Shelf Project

Poppy Miller swears she will get payback for Jack Sabers’s cruel prank that humiliated her in front of all her friends.

Then her classmates start turning up dead.

All eyes are on Poppy. Is Poppy being framed? Or did the kids of Shadyside High mess with the wrong girl?

In this Fear Street story, only one thing’s for sure—someone is out for DEADLY revenge.

After the high of the last book in this series, I was hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately, this one just fell flat for me. We don’t get the first death until way past the 50% mark. That’s unusual for these books. From there things move quickly, but I wasn’t really into the story. I thoroughly disliked Poppy and her narration was very grating at times. Even the narrations from other characters were not intriguing. I was not impressed and definitely felt disappointed when I reached the end of the book. Not for me.

Return to Fear Street

#1 You May Now Kill the Bride
#2 The Wrong Girl
#3 Drop Dead Gorgeous

Next up on the TBR pile:

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Title: I Capture the Castle

Author: Dodie Smith

Publisher: 1948

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Pages: 408

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR; Unread Shelf; Unread Shelf RC - August (Chosen By Friends)

I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has "captured the castle"-- and the heart of the reader-- in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments.

I was gifted this book during a Christmas exchange as the person who gave it told me that it was her favorite book. Somehow I had never actually read this one. After finishing, I feel very meh about this one. I found Cassandra to be at times so very naive and at other times too old for her age. I was intrigued by the book in the first half, but then the neighbors show up and Cassandra becomes a completely different person. I was not a fan of the personality switch. She become such a whiny girl and treated her family so badly. I got to the end of the book and felt very meh about this one. After thinking about it a bit more, I might have loved this book at aged 15, but as a 40 year old woman, I’m not quite a huge fan.

Next up on the TBR pile: