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maddiviner · 8 months

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Reading Journals!? Why You Really Should!!

I'm writing this to promote the concept of reading journals in general for occultists!

It often seems like, while a lot of us read a ton, we don't engage enough with what we read. It's very important to think critically about the information we consume.

Keeping records of it can be helpful for that. While not everyone's going to vibe with it, I do recommend giving it a try for most witches, diviners, wizards, etc... you might like it. Keeping a reading journal? It has some advantages IMHO.

I found it works very well for keeping track of my reading goals. It also helped me engage more with what I was reading. I think this produced an altogether more interesting experience when reading fiction, too.

I learned more when reading nonfiction, and it helped prep reviews for this very website, too. It's kind of hard recently, because of health issues, but I want to keep a daily reading habit as best I can. I might change up my journaling format, though, which I'll discuss towards the end of this article.

To begin, you need a journal. Any blank notebook will work. A lot of people swear by dot grid journals. I use those for most other things. For my reading journal, I bought a pre-printed one called Kunitsa, and there are others on the market, too.

Beyond that, you only need a pen. I use a lot of highlighters and other color in my reading journal, to make tracking things more fun. Next, you're going to want to include a table of contents for your reading journal if possible. In fact, I recommend doing that for all journals, but that's another story entirely. If you pick a pre-printed reading journal like mine, choose one with such a feature.

If you're a DIYer, leave a few blank pages at the beginning of your notebook for the table of contents. Usually four or five pages will do for a table of contents, depending on the size of the journal itself. Including a table of contents can also help get past those first-page jitters if it's a blank book.

A reading journal can include an inventory of your library. My own library is digital because I have to cross the Atlantic on a frequent basis. Those with physical books might find it useful to catalogue everything, particularly favorites.

This could even include where it's stashed. Given that I could easily print a list of mine, my journal doesn't have this, but yours could. You could also organize your library based on the criteria of your choice. I do this digitally, and it can be great to be able to pull out a list of (for example) all the Tarot books I own, favorites, etc..

Keep track of your reading goals! This is the big one, of course. I try to read at least thirty minutes per day, and I log each day I meet that goal. A reading journal can include a simple daily reading tracker like mine, or variations on that.

Some people might track how many pages they've read, or even chapters, for example. You can, of course, include your To Be Read list, adding to it and crossing out as needed.

Keep track of books, authors and topics. You'll want to include a page or two for each book you read, with meaningful quotations and your own thoughts. Some people get quite elaborate with this, including diagrams, images, and such.

I stick to quoting the parts I found important, then adding my own notes. If you buy a reading journal, choose one formatted for both fiction and nonfiction. These little "spreads" on each book help a ton if you want to prepare reviews later on, or just to keep track of what you’ve read for the future.

The reading journal I've been using has a section for borrowed books. Since all my books are Kindle, and I don't typically borrow books, I repurposed this for my review schedule. You can create your own spread for that kind of thing if you're doing a DIY approach, which would be even better.

Because I didn't see a use for the first two pages of the notebook, I turned them into a little pocket using washi tape. I figure that if necessary, I can include extra trackers/etc on my own paper in the pocket. I haven't done that yet, but I probably will in the new year. Currently, the pocket only contains some unused stickers.

You could, of course, get much more complicated with a reading journal! It's all up to you. I plan to use a similar setup next time around, but doing it myself in a (larger) dot grid notebook. The preprinted version of a reading journal worked well to get me started. Now that I've got the basics figured out, I want to customize things more.

All and all, I know most occultists love journaling. At least, many of us do. But why don't more of us journal about what we read? Dedicating a notebook just for a reading journal worked great for me, and might work for you, too.

I'd look into different options (preprinted, blank notebooks, digital) before getting started. Don't be afraid to mess up, like with any new notebook. It can become a way of looking deeper into what you're reading, though.

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novlr · 2 months

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I've just finished my first novel and am looking for ways to market it. A friend of mine mentioned NetGalley, but I've only ever used it as a reader. Do you know anything about how writers use it?

Thanks!

Ooh, we love NetGalley! I (Pamela) have been a long-time NetGalley user on the reader side, but it definitely has a lot to offer indie authors, too, not just trad published ones.

Check out this post in the Reading Room for the Pros and Cons of NetGalley if you're a self-published author.

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mermaidsirennikita · 3 months

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ARC REVIEW: In Want of a Viscount by Lorraine Heath

4.5/5. Releases 2/20/2024.

Vibes: a genuine good guy hero, Business Bitches, sex beyond p -> v, and a mind for business with a bod for sin!!!!!

Heat Index: 6/10

The Viscount of Wyeth--AKA Rook, because Chessmen: MASTERS OF SEDUCTION!!!, the greatest series title of all time--is known for having a keen eye for investments. What he isn't known for is raking about town, because he's determined to be different from his horrible father, a man more known for the illegitimate children he abandoned (or worse) than anything else. But a chance, anonymous encounter with a mysterious young woman has his strict sense of self-control shaken... until he realizes that she's the American Leonora Garrison, a secret businesswoman who's accompanied her less-talented brother on a hunt for investors. Like Rook! They try to keep it strictly professional--but their attraction to each other could ruin Leonora's dreams before they come to fruition.

Look man, it's Lorraine Heath. She knows what the fuck she's doing, always. This is one of her less dramatic romances, I would say, but the character beats and the swoony "oh my god we're falling in love" of it all is unmatched. It's not so much about twists and tricks as it is about Rook and Leonora falling deeply in love, with a pitch-perfect ramp up of sexual tension that culminates in the best way possible. I can be persnickety about a slow burn--but Lorraine proves that when the author is talented, it works HARD.

Quick Takes:

--You absolutely can read this as a standalone, but I am glad that I went back and read Lorraine's Sins for All Seasons series first. For one thing, that series is just great, and everyone should read it. For another, Rook is technically introduced in The Duchess in His Bed, starring his illegitimate brother Aiden Trewlove (his other illegitimate brother, Finn Trewlove, is the hero of The Scoundrel in Her Bed, one of my most recent Lorraine favorites). There is a good bit of layering of Rook's backstory related to their father, and if you're intrigued by that after reading this--you probably will be, it's fascinating--absolutely check that series out.

In a lot of ways, this felt like an emotional culmination. You really see how Rook has matured here, and is so valiantly trying to reach his own impossible standards. He's very literally atoning for the sins of his father, and it kind of breaks your heart. On the bright side, however, this brings in not only the Trewloves but some cameos from Lorraine's Stanwick books... and I'm never mad at that!

--Going back to Rook, though... He really is a good dude. And I'm a tough sell on a good guy hero. I feel like a lot of authors write them simply to keep stories uncomplicated, and not because they actually care about the characterization. The thing is--Lorraine has always been one of the only authors who nails a good guy hero every time. Because characterization? It's her thing.

You feel that Rook is deeply good, and you feel exactly how deeply he believes in his efforts to be morally upright and restrained. He's taken responsibility for a lot of things that really have nothing to do with him. However, it's also clear that a part of growing up that he hasn't quite confronted is like... admitting that he's human. He wants things. He wants sex. And it's honestly really fun to see him become this horny mess over Leonora.

--Leonora is the kind of heroine we really don't get enough of in historicals. She's kind of nerdy, but it's really most of a "business bitch" kind of nerdy. And I think that gels really well with where she's coming from--this bustling Gilded Age America where there's a lot of risk and a lot of (potential) reward. But this is about more than just gambling on a dream--it's about keeping her father's memory alive. That alone really ups the stakes here.

I also loved how geeky she was about taking things apart (literally) and how much that amused Rook.

--Lorraine Heath watches The Gilded Age (although literally anything she's written ever in her life blows that show out of the water). You can absolutely tell. Leonora's mother is right out of the Bertha Russell playbook. She wants to get into Mrs. Astor's ballroom!!! And yes, she will be a total asshole to get there if necessary!!!

I actually really loved that Rook and Leonora could subtly bond over having shitty parents, even if Leonora's mother wasn't on the level of Rook's father. It was one of those moments of commiseration.

--Okay, so... the scene where Rook caresses Leonora's foot while "inspecting her shoe for pebbles" is everything it's cracked up to be, and it is further evidence that deep within every Lorraine Heath hero is a Thing for Feet.

The Sex:

I loved how sex was approached in this one. Because Rook is so worried about fathering bastards like his father did, he's very reluctant to sleep around, and when he does, he places a HUGE emphasis on non-penetrative sex. In other words, as he amazingly put it to Leonora in one of my favorite scenes in the book:"fucking without fucking".

In romance in general, but perhaps especially in het books, and especially in historicals, penetrative sex is seen as the end-all be-all. I loved having a historical romance hero who really was more about.... other things. Especially things centering Leonora's pleasure. Like, it does drag out the sexual tension. And I really do love it when a hero who thinks he's Got It Together finds out he Most Definitely Doesn't (... which.... a rude awakening for our boy Rook).

While this is definitely one of Lorraine's softer books, it's also one of her more character-focused ones. It's sweepingly romantic, it's about breaking cycles and recovering from emotional trauma, and it's definitely for the "ridiculous amount of sexual tension in the best possible way" girlies.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Preorder:

Amazon

B&N

Bookshop.org

#romance novel blogging #arc reviews #netgalley #book recs #book reviews #romance novels #reblogging with the preorder links added

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mollyringle · 1 month

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ARC reviewers wanted!

Please reblog if you know any avid readers who frequently review books online! Especially if they enjoy novels containing: - fae - witches - angst-free queerness - romance - a cozy noblebright mood even amid magical disaster - '90s cover bands I seek reviewers and general word-of-mouth-spreaders for my novel Ballad for Jasmine Town, which contains all of the above. (As to the romance and queerness, the main couple is a trans man and a bi woman, in case you prefer to know such details.) It can be requested on NetGalley and Edelweiss right now, or I could email you an ARC in PDF or epub format.

Here is the publisher page if you’d like to read more about it. (Though distributed by Simon & Schuster, the book is independent-press-published. The publishing world is complicated.) For those who've read Lava Red Feather Blue: it takes place in the same country and has some overlapping events, but you don't have to read one book to make sense of the other. They are both stand-alones. Thank you in advance, and I hope it finds some happy readers!

#please reblog #books #queer books #ballad for jasmine town #netgalley #arc #book reviewers #urban fantasy #fae books #witchy books #noblebright #queer fantasy #small presses #trans representation #bi representation #queer representation

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ninsiana0 · 4 months

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Read WHAT FEASTS AT NIGHT by T. Kingfisher if you love remote villages, disreputable cabins in the woods, mysterious illnesses, nightmares, fungi, strongly spiced sausage, trauma narratives, endless cups of tea, propriety, knives & very good horses.

I received an advance copy of this book for review.

#Read This If #WHAT FEASTS AT NIGHT #WHAT MOVES THE DEAD #T. Kingfisher #readers of tumblr #readers on tumblr #book recs #book reviews #book recommendations #readmore #i read books #netgalley #advance copy #book #books #i love books #nonbinary character

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inabooknook · 2 months

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The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

This book had a very interesting premise. The story follows an island at the very end of the world - a fog has taken over the rest of the planet, and the island is populated with some people who have found a way to keep the fog at bay. However, a murder occurs which sets into motion the fog coming for the rest.

The book was interesting and unique, unlike most other books I've read recently. The story was engaging, the twists were unexpected, and it was hard to predict what would occur next. I liked it because it was definitely different, and given many books nowadays, that is generally hard to come by.

I would recommend this as something for anyone who enjoys a good thriller but is tired of formulaic writing, and predictable endings. At no point during this book did I have any idea what would come next. Highly recommend!

#booklr #reading #books #netgalley #book recommendations #book reviews #fiction #book review #bookstagram #thriller #the last murder at the end of the world #stuart turton #mystery

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prose-mortem · 7 months

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Book Review: Late Bloomer

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Late Bloomer was such a cute book! It satisfied all of my cottagecore, sapphic fantasies from the special interest in flowers to the sprawling farm in Asheville. It was an adorable comfort read straight out of Taylor Swift's folklore music album. One of the characters buys the other character greenhouses… What is more classic than that?

I loved Opal and Pepper's story. I deeply enjoyed the character development alongside the romance. For example, I thought (at first) that Opal was going to be a major pick-me with all the people-pleasing tendencies, but I was completely wrong. As the plot progresses, we see what a strong, smart, and loyal person she is to the people she loves. That was a refreshing arc! Both characters are neurodiverse (though Opal isn't sure what label fits her exactly), which was very relatable to an autistic person like me.

If there is a cozy, comforting (sapphic) version of Gilmore Girls, then this is it. Every detail was spot-on from autistic sensory issues to shoe art to niche special interests. (I loved Opal's fleeting special interest in the Victorian era. I felt seen.) The epilogue was so perfect! I wish I lived in Opal's and Pepper's world! If you like sapphic romance, this will pander directly to your most iconic and cottagecore princess fantasies!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers at St. Martin's Griffin for my e-arc! I hope Mazey Eddings keeps writing sapphic romances, because I will most definitely be reading them all.

#late bloomer #mazey eddings #elyrria'sbookreviews #reading recs #bookish #bookworm #netgalley #advanced reader copy #arc review #st. martin's griffin #sapphic romance #romance books #cottagecore

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seundartist · 7 months

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Sketching and Coloring here and there. Do you want a fan animation of Batman?

#batman #dc fanart #fanart #animememes #mangacap #tumblr draw #art #illustration #netgalley #storytime #anime style #animation

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whimsicaldragonette · 5 days

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ARC Review: Death in the Spires by KJ Charles

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Publication Date: April 11, 2024

Synopsis

The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered. 1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth. Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer? As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby's killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger? Some secrets are better left buried… From the bestselling, acclaimed author of The Magpie Lord and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen comes a chilling historical mystery with a sting in the tail. You won’t be able to put this gripping story down!

My Rating: ★★★★★

*My Review and Favorite Quotes Below the cut.

My Review

This was incredible. I have long loved KJ Charles' books and this one, while a mystery rather than a romance, is no different. I love it just as much. Her romances have long contained mysteries, so this wasn't *that* much of a departure from her usual fare. I found the story, told alternately between past and present, to be completely gripping in both timelines for the entirety of the book. I had no idea who murdered Toby, and like Jem I vacillated between which of the former friends I most suspected up until the end. I like that it didn't end there. I liked that it was a complex issue. I really liked all the themes explored. The friend group was charming and wonderful and terrible and I slowly fell in love with each of them over the course of the novel. I love the way everything wrapped up, and I loved the healing and growth that happened at the end. It was everything I wanted. The setting of Oxford was so tangible and concrete. Despite never having been myself, I felt Jem's ambivalence for the place, the way he loved and hated it, and the way it had such a hold on him. It felt real. For that matter, each of the characters felt real and three-dimensional and present. The writing was stellar as always and it was a joy and a pleasure to read. I will absolutely be reading any and all future mysteries KJ Charles chooses to write, in addition to her romances. *Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for providing an early copy for review.

Favorite Quotes

He wondered as he walked if he would stand at the pillar box hesitating, if he'd walk up and down, plagued by doubt and fear and second thoughts, but in the end, it was too damned cold, so he just dropped the letters in.

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Ignore any knocking; it will be students, thus unimportant.

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Jem didn't know anyone else who'd use semicolons in a brief scrawl, and he hadn't realized how much he'd missed that sort of thing.

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He could put on his coat and shoes over his night things to go and ask; he'd look highly eccentric, but this was Oxford.

#kj charles #death in the spires #historical mystery #queer historical mystery #queer books #shilo reads #arc review #netgalley #mystery #best books of 2024 #favorites

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wardenclyffe · 1 year

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Exciting news! Mercury, the second book in the Wardenclyffe Series, will be releasing later this year!

Aboard the colony ship, Mercury, 19-year-old Lucy yearns to know more about her deceased father, much to the ire of her mother, the captain.

When a mysterious meteor strands Lucy twenty years in the past, she finds herself face-to-face with her teenage mother and realizes they may have more in common than she originally thought.

As rifts in space threaten to destroy the Mercury, Lucy looks for a way to save the ship and, with any luck, get back to her own time.

Check it out on NetGalley here!

#scifi #bookish #netgalley #indie author #reading #books #scifibooks #ya sci fi #booklr

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pagesandpothos · 3 months

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Faebound

Note: my review is as vague as possible because I don't want to spoil anything!

I was completely hooked and enamored with Faebound by Saara El-Arifi pretty much from the very beginning. I found both the world-building and the magic system to be so creative that I could not put it down.

Normally when I'm reading a new fantasy, I struggle with the first hundred or so pages as I learn the new world and characters. I didn't have that problem with Faebound at all. In fact, I read that first hundred pages in one sitting!

This is a really well-paced, exciting, and wonderfully diverse fantasy. The characters are complicated and likeable and every relationship had me hooked. The loyalty of the two sisters is beautiful and I love both of their romantic relationships too.

Faebound a fantastic setup for a new series and I can not wait for book two! This is an early contender for my Best of 2024 list!

Tags for the book: fantasy, romantasy, queer, sapphic, enemies to lovers, magic, fae, elves, slowburn, spicy (both straight & sapphic sex scenes)

Faebound comes out on January 23, 2024!

#faebound #books #book recs #best of 2024 #ARC review #book review #netgalley #Saara El-Arifi

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elliepassmore · 3 months

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The Tainted Cup review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, sci-fi, greenpunk, murder mysteries, powers, disability rep

Big thanks to Netgalley, Del Rey, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

To start, I'll say I'm not sure whether to classify this book as fantasy or sci-fi since I feel it has elements of both. The world the book is set in is 'greenpunk,' with buildings grown from plants and things like AC from mushrooms, and the characters have powers augmented through some kind of medical procedure. At the same time though, there are leviathans that rise from the ocean depths and threaten the empire. The genre isn't really important, but I will say it isn't super clear-cut and think it could fit easily into both sci-fi and fantasy.

The world in the book is super interesting. As mentioned, the buildings are largely grown from plants, with some more plant-like than others. A lot of the buildings have fernpaper walls, which serve well to keep out the humidity and don't mold, while also being sturdy enough to stand and not too heavy in the case of an earthquake. A couple of buildings are made from a different plant that can be grown in any shape, allowing for a more personalized architecture. Plants are pretty central to life in the book, and are used for additional things like AC, vaccination, medical treatments, and human augmentation. I love all the plant stuff and think the focus on 'green' things is a really interesting worldbuilding piece that isn't used nearly often enough. We get a good background on how the greenery works without going too in-depth, though I honestly could read an encyclopedia on this world and be happy.

In terms of the augmentation, there's a breakdown of the different augments people can have, with grafts being temporary and more for things like increased immunity in humans or faster growing in plants, while suffusions are permanent and change a lot more about a person/plant. If someone is employed by the empire and has a suffusion they're called a Sublime, with Sublimes categorized into how their suffusion works (axioms are good w/ numbers, linguas are good w/ languages, spatiasts are good w/ spatial relations, engravers who memorize everything, cracklers who are superhumanly strong, etc.). It was really interesting to read about the suffusions and the different Sublimes, and I really enjoyed the background info we get on the augmentations. I also thought it was pretty cool how the augmentations seem to be everywhere, including to help plants do different things and to help medications and vaccines be produced against the wide range of issues people might come across.

While this is a SFF story, the bulk of it is the murder mystery. It's twisty and deliberate, but at the same time has moments when it's very fun. Ana reminds me at times of Benoit Blanc from Knives Out and I really enjoyed her method to solving mysteries. There's a good mix of humor and seriousness here, and I think Bennett struck a good balance between the two.

Din is a Sublime engraver recently assigned to be Ana's investigative assistant. He's a rule follower and so his and Ana's approaches clash at times, though never majorly. Din is very clearly dyslexic, which gave him trouble in training, and at times he runs up against needing to read things during the investigation, but he's figured out a work around using his engraving skills which I found to be a really smart way of going about it. He's clever and a good observer, and is able to put the pieces of things together quickly even though he's new to investigating. I liked seeing things through his eyes and and way he would meticulously go through a scene to find evidence. It was particularly interesting how he interviewed people because Din seems to have a knack for knowing how to circle a conversation around to what he really wants to know without being too obvious about it, thus putting the interviewee at ease and getting them to open up. It was wonderfully subtle the way he got people to open up.

Ana is the main investigator on the case and is not the sort of investigator you'd expect. She prefers to stay in her house (or later on, in her borrowed rooms) rather than going outside to investigate on her own, and when she does leave the comfort of her accommodations, it's with a blindfold on. I suspected she was autistic throughout the book, and then toward the end she basically comes out and says it (without saying it since...you know...this is a SFF novel not set in our world with our terminology). She's quick to make deductive leaps and is often several steps ahead of everyone else involved. It was fun to read as she snapped through deduction after deduction, using the evidence Din collected, and coming to a conclusion that made sense but you didn't always see coming. Ana is also pretty funny and I enjoyed the humor she brought to the book.

There are a bunch of side characters who come in and out of the story as needed, and I found them to be pretty well fleshed out. It definitely felt like each character had their own lives and concerns and didn't just cease to exist once they left Din's presence. Miljin is the side character who's probably around the most, he's one of the investigators working the case with Ana and Din. At first his demeanor was pretty gruff and unwelcoming, so I didn't think I'd like him much, but over the course of the book his character grew on me and I actually ended up liking him a lot. He's just the kind of person that doesn't immediately warm up to people, but once he does he's got quite the quick brain and lots of humor and advice to go around.

As mentioned, the main point of this book is the mystery. At the beginning, Ana was making all sorts of leaps that I just took her word for, but as the story continued, I began being able to make guesses of my own. Some of the stuff I was able to guess correctly, sometimes in a surprising way, but other times I was still puzzling it out when Ana and the others came to their conclusions. There are so many moving pieces and different elements to the mystery going on in this book, I enjoyed trying to figure out the solution myself as well as seeing what the actual solution was.

Overall I greatly enjoyed this book and I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series. This is the kind of book that makes me want more SFF backgrounds for mystery books, it added a really interesting layer to things that I enjoyed.

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mermaidsirennikita · 3 months

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ARC REVIEW: A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

4.5/5. Releases 2/27/24.

Heat Index: 6.5/10.

Vibes: vIKINGS!!!!, slutty guy/serious girl, "oops I'm married to your dad", and legitimately intense battle and magic stuff that actually works and puts people in those heartrending situations where it's all "STAY ALIVE!!!!! I WILL FIND YOU!!!!!!!!!" as it should in a FANTASY ROMANCE

Married to a man she hates and hiding the fact that she's the child of a minor goddess (children of gods are a Thing in this world) Freya lives a life of drudgery. Until, that is, her secret is revealed to all and Jarl Snorri declares that she's a prophesied shieldmaiden, meant to clinch him the kingdom he's always wanted. As such, she must marry him--kind of an issue, as she is very, very attracted to Snorri's son Bjorn. Another issue: Bjorn has been bound to Freya as her protector. On top of everything, Freya's goddess-given abilities are obscure but dangerous, leading her to wonder if her fate is less that of a protector than that of a monster...

OOOOH WE'VE GOT SOMETHING HERE. I've read Danielle L. Jensen before, way back in the day with her Malediction books--but those were YA (albeit, pretty hot YA) and I really don't read YA anymore. However, I do like Viking Shit, and I especially liked the idea of a romance between a Viking lady and her husband's SON, which was something I always wanted to happen on Vikings. So I picked it up.

And dude. It sucked me right in. I am, as I will get into more below, kind of a hard sell on fantasy romance--when it works, I am HOOKED but when it doesn't I am quickly turned off. This is the former. I was so drawn to Freya, a heroine who does have Chosen One aspects, but is also very human and just trying to make it work, one battle at a time. (Also? She's not instantly gREAT at fighting, how refreshing.) And I absolutely fell head over heels dumb girl for our hero Bjorn, who I expected to be a stoic silent warrior type. NO. He's so much better. He's like, an amazing warrior--but is also so funny and super slutty and just a BRO. I love him. Protect him.

The fantasy plot is compelling and doesn't get so in love with itself that it's impossible to follow. It's really good! I'm excited by this! Can't wait for the next! (What a relief, God.)

Quick Takes:

Here's my issue with fantasy romance (or romantasy, though I'll point out that this series is billed as "fantasy romance" on Netgalley, and that is so HOT to me): often, though the name implies that it's a subgenre of romance with a heavy fantasy bent... It's basically fantasy (well-done or not) with a romance subplot tucked in. The character work is shoddy, the tension is nil, and you can tell that the author is just trying to horn in on the romance audience. Not so, here.

First off, I think Jensen was really smart to create a fantasy world that is very "Vikings But Fantasy". It's not poorly drawn. You can tell that she's really into the Norse vibe, and I will say that I am biased because as someone who has somehow been watching the Vikings franchise since its inception (pray for me) I'm fairly familiar with it on that level. But the way she weaves the fantasy elements, most distinctly the idea of these empowered children of gods (who are basically made when their mortal parents HAVE THREESOMES WITH GODS??? Amazing. Just imagine having these superpowers and knowing that it's because your parents took some dude home from the bar one night and he turned out to be Thor.) into the story is really natural.

Secondly... There is a really compelling plot, yes. I am really into the duality of Freya, don't get me wrong. I really like the royal intrigue. All the WIFE DRAMA. It's My Brand. But the real heart of this story, very openly and honestly and presented without any self-consciousness, is Freya and Bjorn. And I think Jensen just lays it all out there the moment she introduces the brilliant plot device of "Bjorn's Dad, Who Freya Is Technically Married To, Wants Bjorn To Follow Freya Around And Make Sure She Doesn't Get Into Danger". Oh, so he's supposed to protect her as she hurtles into adventure and fights Viking zombies and shit? HOW CONVENIENT. Throughout the story, their immediate physical attraction melts into this emotional slow burn... and I am also a hard sell on a slow burn, so thank you for doing it right, Danielle. The book is single POV (Freya's, though I wouldn't mind Bjorn's in a future installment) but you can just tell that Bjorn is so mad that he's this into a woman who is technically his stepmother. Like, he can have anyone! But he wants HER. But he can't have her!

Picture me gobbling this up like a raccoon in a trash can.

--Speaking of! If you're all "ew, I hate that Freya is married to his dad"--no spoilers, but this is dealt with in a way that I think both avoids the ick that some readers (to be clear: not me, I am very resistant to ick) may feel over that setup, and avoids a copout.

At the same time... First off, Bjorn doesn't fully know that the ick has been avoided, and to be frank, I don't think Bjorn really cares about a little ick. But he does have like, you know, the "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME" vibe for a while, and it is delicious. All very illicitaffairs.mp3.

--I also really loved that there is no mistake about Freya being a GROWN WOMAN. I strongly, strongly object to shelving this as New Adult, because regardless of her age, Freya (and honestly Bjorn as well) has been through a lot. She's literally married when we open this novel. She gets a second husband. She is not a virgin; her marriage was not chaste; it sucked. (To be clear: you don't get a lot of insight into Freya's first marriage beyond "it sucked" because it's dealt with pretty quickly. You don't see any sexual assault on the page in this book, and I don't know that Freya would see it that way? It's alluded to as "lie back and think of England" bad, gross sex, which I think suggests assault, but there is not any explicit violence, sexual or otherwise, depicted in either of her marriages.) She is JADED. She has never had a man like, take care of her.

And then she gets linked up with local dude who's snarking at her horrible husband about how he must not go down on her enough, and she's all "WHAT'S THAT MEAN :/". I really, really enjoy a pairing that involves a tough woman who's never been properly taken care of and a man who's like "I am DESPERATE to take care of you". Freya deserves!

--Another good choice: often, in fantasy romance (or at least in fantasy romance of yore; I feel like there has been a recent push to correct this, at least somewhat) the heroine is hypercompetent. She's smart, she's a good fighter, she's a femme fatale, she's the seventeen-year-old master assassin...

Freya is... a person. She does want to fight, and she is--not surprisingly, as she does come from a culture in which women do fight--not incapable of holding her own. Somewhat. But as soon as she's up against a master warrior like Bjorn, she's kind of not great, Bob, and even with the benefit of her goddess-given abilities, she still has a lot to learn. It's giving "Book One Aang", and I'm good with that. I'm actually much happier with her giving Book One Aang as a twenty-something woman because like? Give us hope, Freya.

She also doesn't have all the answers. Frankly, Freya doesn't have 80% of the answers, and she shouldn't, because she's new to this. She's new to the magic stuff (though she knew she had it, which I did like--she's not an Alina Starkov-level "WHAAAT" about it) and she's new to the court intrigue, and frankly she's new to Hot Dudes. Speaking of, she does spend a decent amount of brain time going "STOP! STOP, SELF! DO NOT LOOK! DO NOT TOUCH!" Which, frankly, I loved. I feel like that's the kind of behavior people are going to be annoying about because people are dying, but like. This woman just spent years surrounded by Village 2's and suddenly she's being swung around and guarded by a very flirtatious Royal 12. Give her a break. I would be much worse.

And she doesn't know what the hell she's doing with this man. She knows the mechanics, but she doesn't know the FINESSE. Speaking of...

The Sex:

The reason why I'm between a 6 and a 7 on this (and that's not quality, that's literally just how hot the book is re: sex acts) is that the story is a slow burn. Everything sexy happens in the back half, and you don't get to the full shebang until pretty late in the game. It's ABOUT THE YEARNING.

However, I think this was a good choice, and when we do get those scenes they are super hot (and explicit, though not like Sierra Simone explicit to be clear) and passionate and you definitely get the sense that it's this giant deal for these two. I was quite touched. I was like "awww" but also "oh" which is where I want to be when a story builds to two people hooking up for that long.

And Jensen fully takes advantage of the "Vikings" component and does have some "under the sleeping furs with 76 people sleeping in the near vicinity but we just need to get this done" action here. Which. Brava.

I'll be honest--I was worried about this, as I feel like I've been let down by a great fantasy romance in the past. I, much like several people in this novel, have been burned before. Not so here. I'm fully on board. I loved where we left off, and I cannot wait to see where those two crazy kids go next. Hopefully, like. To Vikings divorce court. So she can end that marriage to his dad.

Thanks to Netgalley and Del Rey for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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#romance novel blogging #romance novels #arc reviews #netgalley #book reviews #book recs #books

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libertyreads · 8 months

Text

Book Review #114 of 2023--

System Collapse by Martha Wells. Rating: 4 stars.

Read from September 6th to 8th.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Tor giving me access to one of my most anticipated releases of the year in exchange for an honest review. If you've been here for any length of time then you already know about the Murderbot Diaries, but let me give you a quick series synopsis. In the series, we follow a Security Unit (SecUnit) who has hacked their governor module and all it wants now is to do its job while watching its shows. But SecUnit finds itself getting attached to humans as it travels the universe which inevitably leads to more danger and drama and dealing with more Corporation Rim companies than it would like. In this one, we follow SecUnit and its 'friend' ART who must protect their humans and some how prevent a company from seizing a colony of humans for their own selfish reasons. If only SecUnit wasn't starting to malfunction. This is the seventh in the series and it comes out on November 14th. Available for preorder now.

Discussing Murderbot with people who haven't read the series is hard, especially now that we're on number seven in the series. But we all know the basic premise, right? A SecUnit has gone rogue because it wants to not be controlled by a system that can kill it for disobeying. Oh, and so it can watch its shows. I will always enjoy getting back into this world. I think the author does such a great job with both the human characters and the constructs that always draws me in. This one actually made me like Ratthi way more than I did before which came as a huge surprise and showed me just how good of an author Martha Wells really is. At times I hated that something was wrong with Murderbot and that they weren't on top of their game the way they usually are. But we also got to see how trauma has impacted them and what happens when trauma just keeps getting compounded without any sort of treatment. The thing that I LOVED about this one was that we got both Murderbot and ART while also getting all of their humans. I love that the teams were mixed together based on task and ability instead of who came from where. And I loved that by the end Murderbot found itself attached to all the humans not just the ones it knew before meeting ART.

There were a few moments that felt unclear in the action. There is usually a decent amount of fight sequences/action scenes in this series and usually I can follow them pretty well, but in this one it felt more muddled. I think it might actually be me and not the book. I have a lot of real life stress going on at the moment so I feel like my focus has been pretty split. I'm willing to say it might not be the book's fault here. Just my attention span at the moment. I also wasn't 100% sure where this fit timeline wise for the series. It seems like it would fit after Network Effect and not the latest novella which is Fugitive Telemetry. Please correct me if I'm wrong here.

Overall, it's Murderbot and you cannot go wrong with reading some Murderbot. I will always sing this series' praises. Probably not my favorite but up there for sure.

#netgalley #tor #The Murderbot Diaries #Murderbot Diaries #book review #book reviews #booklr #bookblr #bookstagram #books read in 2023 #2023 reading challenge #goodreads challenge #goodreads #bookish #books

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