Another day, another weekly wrap up post. But it’s progress towards catching up at least??
Here’s what I read between September 23rd and 29th.
Books read: 7
Pages read: 2,990 pages
#1: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Reread)
Audience: Adult
Genre: Classic
Plot summary: A doctor in training decides to build a man out of body parts and is shocked when it comes to life and starts murdering his family when he’s a neglectful parent.
Thoughts: So here’s the thing about Frankenstein: the movie versions are generally very lurching monster-y. Very “Vincent Frankenstein is the hero”-y. And Y’ALL. Did the people who made them even read the book?? Because let’s be real here, Vincent Frankenstein is a hot mess of stupidity. He literally creates a life and then immediately runs away when things don’t turn out as he expects them to. It’s a very philosophical book a lot of the time, and while I do enjoy it, it also makes me want to throw things because Frankenstein is such an infuriating character. So.
Rating: 3 stars
#2: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Audience: Adult
Genre: Horror
Plot summary: An expedition to search for mermaids in the Marianas Trench goes horribly wrong.
Thoughts: Oh man. I put off reading this book for ages because I’d heard it was ridiculously scary and I am a wuss. But I finally jumped in and I really really enjoyed this one. It’s full of diversity, full of twists and turns. Definitely don’t get attached to any of the characters. It was hella creepy and full of gore. But I didn’t find it ridiculously scary. There were a couple of scary moments, for sure. But on the whole, I mostly found this ridiculously gripping and just a hell of an enjoyable read.
Rating: 4 stars
#3: Stallo by Stefan Spjut
Audience: Adult
Genre: Horror-ish?
Plot summary: When a child goes missing, a young woman who’s spent her life hunting for mythical trolls in Sweden decides that the trolls might be responsible for the disappearance.
Thoughts: Oof. This book is ENORMOUS – it’s over 600 pages – and honestly? There wasn’t that much story here. It dragged from start to finish. It was probably a good 200 pages longer than it needed to be. There were a lot of irrelevant details in the story (I literally never needed to know anything about snus and now I know a lot about snus…). And there were very few explanations offered for the reasons behind the abductions, and I just…yeah. I didn’t care. I feel like maybe things got lost in translation with this one, and that if you have some background in Swedish folklore, it’ll be a more engaging read? Maybe?? IDK.
Rating: 3 stars
#4: Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah MacLean
Audience: Adult
Genre: Romance
Plot summary: A young woman attempting to attract an aristocratic husband to regain her place in society finds herself falling for a devilish rake with a bad reputation.
Thoughts: I bought this while suffering from Tessa Dare withdrawal symptoms, and it was a hell of a lot of fun. The characters were delightful, the writing was light and fluffy and funny, there was plenty of swoon and plenty of plot besides the romance. I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next book in this series!
Rating: 4 stars
#5: Devil’s Advocate by Jonathan Maberry
Audience: YA
Genre: Paranormal
Plot summary: 15 year old Dana Scully has moved to a new town and finds herself dealing with paranormal weirdness that makes her increasingly sceptical.
Thoughts: I think the best way to describe this is “great idea, average execution”. It’s an X-Files origin story, telling us how 15 year old Dana Scully became a sceptic about the paranormal. Which sounds AWESOME. Except that at no point did this feel like Dana Scully. And I definitely don’t buy the idea of Teenage!Scully having a bunch of psychic hallucinations and then just forgetting all about it?? And I definitely don’t remember her having any martial arts skills… So yeah. If this hadn’t been an X-Files origin story, I wouldn’t have read it. I kind of wish I hadn’t bothered, to be honest…
Rating: 2.5 stars
#6: Dracula by Bram Stoker (Reread)
Audience: Adult
Genre: Classic
Plot summary: A real estate agent heads to Romania on the request of Count Dracula, who’s looking for a house in England. Weirdness occurs.
Thoughts: I think I enjoyed this more on this particular reread than I have in the past. It’s a surprisingly action-packed story, and I kind of love that the big bad of the piece, Count Dracula, spends so little time actually on the page. The changing narratives work very effectively, and it was far, far creepier than I remembered.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
#7: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
Audience: YA
Genre: Historical Fiction
Plot summary: The sequel to The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue features Monty’s sister, Felicity, going on her own European adventure, this time in search of a medical education.
Thoughts: It’s no secret that I adore The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue with every fibre of my being, so it’s perhaps not surprising that I was a little hesitant going into this one. Would it live up to the first one? Would I love Felicity as much as I love Monty? How much would Monty and Percy be present in the story?
Thankfully, I loved this basically from the get go. There’s plenty of Monty and Percy. Felicity is fierce and determined and stubborn and I loved her a lot. There’s plenty of diversity in the story, including Felicity’s asexuality, and it’s all brilliantly done. I loved the writing and the setting and the characters and the discussion of the complexities of female friendship and the examination of how there’s no single way to be a strong woman. Basically? It was everything I wanted it to be.
Rating: 5 stars
What have you been reading recently?
The Tea is Also Cursed 