#urges an adsom reread too

[purplebass]

I have a wish and it is to read The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab, thank you very much

[bookofmirth]

For the book ask: 4, 5, 13, 14, 17, and 24

Thank you!! :D I will preface this by saying that this was a really weird reading year for me. I didn't read as much as I usually do, and what I did read I was largely not impressed with!

4) Did you discover any new authors that you love this year? I thought the answer was "no", but actually I did! Fonda Lee, Eliza Clark, Alma Katsu, Ann Leckie, Tara M. Stringfellow, and I could add in Sheena Patel and Mary Roach. The first two for sure, the Green Bone Saga series and Boy Parts were highlights of the year.

5) What genre did you read the most of? I stopped keeping track on my spreadsheet (whomp whomp) but fantasy, followed by literary fiction.

13) What were your least favorite books of the year? I could answer this question all day!!!!

Hell House by Richard Matheson reminded me of why I'm wary of men writing horror

Same with David Benioff's City of Thieves. It's not horror, but ugh. I made a shelf on my Goodreads this year called "clearly written by a man" for those two.

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey was soooo boring, it read like someone's sad divorce diary, not an actual novel with a plot.

14) What books do you want to finish before the year is over? our bookclub theme for December is to read one you meant to get to this year, and that's *gestures at my hundreds and hundreds of books*. A lot. However, I am rereading the adsom trilogy so that I can read Fragile Threads of Power soon! I also just got the third book in The Last Binding series by Freya Marske, and Erica Johansen has a new Nutcracker-inspired book, so I will try to read those too!

17) Did any books surprise you with how good they were? Not really. Well, maybe Boy Parts by Eliza Clark. It's dark, but thought-provoking and just my flavor of dissatisfied, angry woman lit. Walk the Vanished Earth by Erin Swan was also really interesting and surreal and the narrative slowly unfurled in a really interesting way. Considering it was a random cover buy, that was a nice surprise.

24) Did you DNF anything? Why? YES. I DNF'd Dopamine Nation, which is nonfiction and I thought would be pretty interesting. But Oh. My. God. The author actually tried comparing her shame about reading romance novels to people's actual addictions to substances. I gave it a final heave ho when she made an argument, explained a study that supports what her argument was, and then as an aside, added "oh and btw that study was later refuted" lkasdjlajsdlkasd I SCREAMED. I read The Urge: The History of Our Addiction by Erik Carl Anderson right before that, which was so, so much better written, researched, and argued, that I couldn't tolerate the way that Dopamine Nation was written. It was like, science writing for people who don't know what science is.

end-of-year book ask

[jellybeanbeing]

Top 8 Otherworldly Reads of 2018

The title probably doesn’t make sense but let me explain it. Unless it does. In that case, oh well. Otherworldly means that the premise of the books aren’t likely to happen in the real world. I read a huge mix of otherworldly reads and had a few favorites I wanted to share!

8. Scythe & Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

I have a Scythe review/booktalk which you can go read if you want to and hopefully a Thunderhead one when I reread it which would be around when The Toll is about to be released. The premise of this story is so interesting and well developed. There are so many complex layers to the story and it really pulls you in. I had a great time reading them. 4/5 stars!

7. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

My relationship with this series is a little wonky so let me give you a time lapse of it. 2016: I picked it (The Raven Boys) up, read the first two chapters, and I REALLY LIKED WHAT I READ but I ended up DNFing it. A couple months later, I picked it up again and the same thing happened; I read the first two chapters, really liked it, but couldn’t get passed what I’d read. 2018 comes around and for some odd reason, I get the urge to pick up The Raven Boys again. I’m committed to finish the book this time and I do. Guess what? I ended up really loving this series and characters. There’s just something in the mystery and atmosphere that pulled me in. Not to mention that these characters are so relatable (minus the being rich and searching for dead kings part). Also, I live for the banter. 4/5 stars!

6. Clockwork Prince & Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

I read The Infernal Devices early in the year and I’m so glad I did. I had just finished TMI, Lady Midnight, and LOS, and was wanting more from the Shadowhunter world so I picked up TID. I read Clockwork Angel in October 2017 and to be honest, didn’t really love it but I decided to continue with it and grew to love the characters. ALL THREE OF THESE BOOKS LEFT ME IN TEARS OF SADNESS which has never happened before so I applaud TID for giving me all the feels. 4/5 stars!

5. Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab

Our Dark Duet was such an emotional roller coaster. The Monsters of Verity duology was my first series from Victoria Schwab and it made me fall in love with her writing and ability to make me care so deeply about characters. Our Dark Duet was just the most heartbreaking ending to the duology and I’m hoping we get more from this world. 4/5 stars!

4. The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare

The Dark Artifices is done and it makes me so sad that we won’t see these characters until TWP. Anyways, this entire series was so amazing and well written. I’ve grown so attached to the characters in the book and the Shadowhunter world. I made reviews/booktalks for Lady Midnight, Lord of Shadows, and (hopefully) Queen of Air and Darkness. Y’all can go read them for more in depth and spoilery stuff. 4/5 stars!

3. An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir

I reread Ember and Torch, and picked up Reaper which was so great. I made reviews/booktalks about them as well so I’ll keep this short. I love these books so so much! It was so fun reading this series and I can’t wait for Ember 4. Ember is still my favorite book within the series even though the others are just as good. 4/5 stars!

2. Shades of Magic series by V.E Schwab

This was my first adult high fantasy read and I am so pleased with it. It was a bit daunting but after a few chapters into ADSOM, I was hooked. I’ll admit that I didn’t love ADSOM and after finishing it, I was reluctant to continue on, but the one character that had me jumping back into the series was Holland (surprisingly). He was just such an interesting character and I wanted to know what happened to him, so I continued the series. I grew to love the main cast of characters and the world. 4/5 stars!

1. Villains series by V.E Schwab

There is just something so intriguing about reading about murderers. *chuckles* I started Vicious in early April of 2018 and I DNF’d it because I had a massive headache that week I picked it up. It wasn’t until September when I picked it up again and boy, was it amazing. I quickly fell in love with these characters and the story line. Everything was perfect. Soon after Vengeful came out, I read it too. It was equally amazing and compelling. Every chapter of both books had me grinning like an idiot and I loved every second of reading them. I just absolutely adore how every character is so smart and that’s what keeps you on the edge of your seat. You don’t know how everything is going end up and it’s a whirlwind of emotions. 5/5 stars!