Confessions of a Literary Addict

Hi. Hello.

I’m not feeling the book reviews this week (or last Friday, if you didn’t notice the accidental radio silence — I thought I scheduled one, turns out I didn’t, and I didn’t notice until later on in the day and decided, nah, I didn’t want to scramble one together like that), so we’re going to skip them in favor of another post I’m going to toss out here to try, and that is an intermission post of sorts where I talk about the books I’m currently reading and how I feel about them.

Why? Because I’m currently reading too many books. I’m using the library a lot more than I have in the past few years, and, while it’s saving me a LOT of money, I’m a slow reader sometimes because of other obligations, and I keep having to return books before I can finish them and then I have to wait for them to come back, and the books just, you know, stack up.

So! Let’s talk about all the books I’m, technically, currently reading!

We’ll start with the first one on the list and go from there.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I’m… so iffy on this one. I’m reading it because so many people have been telling me I need to give it a try since Throne of Glass was very meh for me, but I’m about halfway through at this point and I’m still… well, meh on it. I will probably write a review for this one once I’m done with it, but I don’t know if I’m really feeling the story.

Maas is a great writer, I’ll give her that, and I’m very easily sucked into the story, but I seem to really dislike her main heroines for one reason or another. When the writing pulls me in and gets me interested in where the story is going, the main character pulls me out by making snarky comments that are probably intended to make you feel bad for her due to her family life, but only make me go, “We get it. Your family sucks. Stop pity-partying and move on.”

Probably not the intention.

I also have not hit the sex scenes yet, but I’m a little worried to, if the “heated moments” are any indication as to what the sex will be like. Guess we’ll see.

A Match Made in Mahendi by Nandini Bajpai. Not too far along in this one (I forgot to update some of these before I took the screenshot, oops), I’d say about 10%, but so far I’m really enjoying it. It’s a light, slice-of-life-ish kind of contemporary centered around a family of Indian matchmakers, and it’s super interesting getting to see how their culture is involved in this family business they’re a part of.

I don’t have a lot of opinions on this one as of yet since I’m not all that far along in it. The main character, Simi, definitely reads like the fifteen-year-old she is, which can be annoying, but is very appropriate for the book considering you’d expect her to act the age she actually is, and teenagers are basically just flat out synonymous with annoying. (I’m not dissing you guys, I was annoying at that age, too. We all are. It’s just how being a teenager goes.)

I’m looking forward to more of this one, because Simi’s family is great, and I really want to read more about them!

Night Life by Nancy A. Collins. This is the second book in the series, and the series itself is just very… oof. Dated, definitely, and maybe not the best written vampire book out there. However, it’s a super, super easy read because it doesn’t have the best writing, so I’m flying through this one a lot faster than the others.

I’m over halfway through this one and, while the twists can be seen a mile away and  there are a number of characters I want to punt into the sunset for their actions, it’s got that guilty pleasure kind of vibe to it, and I’m definitely enjoying it in that guilty pleasure way.

I wanted to draw vampire books from my TBR jar, so, I can’t really complain!

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater. I’m not actually going to say much of anything about this one, because not only am I taking my sweet, sweet time with it, I also am 100% going to review it, and I’m not far enough along yet to have anything but nostalgic glee towards it for my boys and intrigue for the new characters.

(God, I missed them so much, though.)

Next!

King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard. For some reason I haven’t updated this one yet? But I’m over halfway done with it.

I’m actually enjoying this one a lot more than the first two, mainly because it’s taking a pretty decent leap from the tone of the first two novels and taking a gritty turn, which I’m always a big you know what for. I like to see characters suffer and grow from their experiences and actions, especially when they’re supposed to be characters that are meant to become something great by the end of the series, and I’m pretty sure that’s what they’re setting up Mare, the main character, for.

I’m a little worried about where it’s going to go from here, because I don’t hear the best of things about the final book in the series, but, hey. I’m going to read it anyway, because that’s what I do.

Surrender by Elana Johnson. This is a weird one. I really, really didn’t like the first book in the series, Possession, but went on and continued due to many people saying the rest of the series was like night and day from the first book. And, well, they weren’t wrong. It’s like it was written years after the first book, wherein the author gained a ton of experience writing, except I… don’t think that was the case? I don’t actually know.

Also have not updated this one, but I’m about 35% through it as of typing this post. Not too far, but I’m slugging through it just a little. Despite it being quite a lot better than the first book, it’s still not a great book in my opinion, and I’m having some trouble getting myself to pick it up again and actually get through it.

Visitors by Orson Scott Card. Ah. So. This one. Hm.

I’m about 43% of the way through this one according to Scribd (because I needed to audiobook this series or I never would have made it anywhere with it), and I have very little idea of what the actual hell is going on.

This series confuses me so much. The first book? Great. Fine. Understood all of it, really. Second book? I was floating down that river and then suddenly I was lost without a paddle and there was no shore in sight. I legitimately have no idea what that book was trying to accomplish. If it was trying to confuse the shit out of me, it worked! I understood the concepts, but, in all, I gave that book a resounding “what just happened” of a review. And, because of that, this third book is also giving me some lost-without-a-paddle feelings. It’s a little more comprehensible than the last one, but I’m still very confused. And, honestly? I’m not going to bother to fix that. I’m just going to make my way to the end and hope it all clicks when I get there.

… And that’s the recap of what I’m reading! That was longer than intended, but I have way too many books I’m reading. Next time, hopefully, there will be fewer, because I liked doing this and plan on doing it again.

Thanks for reading!