Listen, after a successful NaBloPoMo, the LAST thing I want to do is POST ON THIS BLOG. But! I am a creature of habit, and it is the FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH. Sooooooo…
I am not going to bury the lede here, YOU NEED TO READ FOURTH WING and IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros. I listened to both of them, and OH MY GOSH. SO GOOD. Before the dragon sex (implied) and the human sex (LOTS), I gifted Iron Flame to Jack on Audible, and then it got raunchy (which I should have known because I read In the Likely Event), and I felt kind of weird about being the one to give it to him (but my mom lent me her Clan of the Cave Bear series when I was a 5th grader, and there was definitely horse/human sex, so **shrug**)
ANYWAY, here’s what I read in November in order of least to most favorite
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears: Oh wow. And a ghost writer helped with this, you guys. **2023 **Kindle
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah: Really terrible. **Audio
Ohio by Stephen Markley: Save yourself the time and just re-read Demon Copperhead if you want to hear about meth heads in rural America. **kindle
Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo: This did not live up to the hype for me. **2023
While You Were Out by Meg Kissinger: This memoir was SO SAD but also a really good read. **2023
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey: REALLY SCARY. Liked it. **2023
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue: Solid. I love a good English department drama. **2023
The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard: Very creepy. *2023
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll: LOVED this and not just because I was a Chi Omega in college and Ted Bundy (THE DEFENDANT in this book) killed Chi Omegas. **2023 **Audio
Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker: LOVED THIS. But I made an ass out of myself falling all over the place to recommend it to Minnie’s teacher (follow up email, even) because it’s a hilarious send up of parents at a private preschool, and then I read a little further and the teacher DIES a horrible bloody death. **2023
Evil Eye by Etaf Rum: This is actually better than everyone says it is. Worth the hype. **2023
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward: This book is beautiful and devastating. **2023
Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros: OH THESE BOOKS!!! So great, you guys. Can’t wait to watch the show. **Audio ** 2023
This Month:
This Year:
109 books published in 2023
106 print, 14 Kindle, and 75 audio
I really enjoyed A Woman is No Man, and already have Evil Eye on my holds, so am looking forward to reading it based on your rec!! I am also putting your other top four on my list, although with Jesmyn Ward, I did not enjoy Salvage the Bones as much as I enjoyed Sing Unburied Sing...but am willing to read another for sure!
ReplyDeleteI read Clan of the Cave Bear when I was young too and remember thinking it weird that they had to go out alone when they were on their periods! How many books are in the Yarros series?
I agree with you about Ward, but this one was so spare and beautiful.
DeleteI read Clan of the Cave Bear around that age as well, in addition to the Flowers in the Attic series, wtf me.
ReplyDeleteYes, Nicole, Flowers in the Attic! I read that whole series and it was so inappropriate, or maybe we were really more mature that we are giving ourselves (or the younger gen) credit for! (I also read a lot of bodice ripping romance novels pretty young but turned out okay!)
DeleteOH MY GOSH ME TOO! And I would never recommend it to my kid. But if she discovers it, I will probably do a re-read LOL
DeleteFourth Wing had so much sex in it! It was so out of place. I generally liked FW a lot, but there's no way I'm going to read anymore in that series because I am too much of a prude. LOL. I do not want to think about teenagers having sex, thank you very much! I know they DO, of course, but it makes me feel very uncomfortable in my brain to be picturing it, iykwim.
ReplyDeleteOnce they started doing it THEY DID NOT STOP
DeleteI am not a fantasy person or a romantasy person so I am going to skip Fourth Wing but I know many have absolutely adored it so I am glad it lived up to the hype. I had Evil Eye on my hold list but took it off after I heard not great things from multiple people. But now I might read it since you feel it was really good!
ReplyDeleteI really liked Evil Eye-- SO RELATABLE
DeleteAdding most of these to my list right now! But I'm on the fence about the Britney memoir. Should I read it???
ReplyDeleteI don't know-- it was just really bad. And maybe not bad enough. Like, Jessica Simpson's book was HORRIBLE and very campy. This one is a bummer.
DeleteI am going to dive into this Fourth Wing thing maybe in January. I was on the fence and you pushed me over. I will report back . . . maybe this will be a whole new genre for me!
ReplyDeleteI LOVED it. I also really liked the Court of Thorns and Roses series, but romantasy is not usually my thing...
Deletealso HAHA winter garden. I liked that book until I hated it! I think I may be done with Kristin Hannah . . . her characters always suffer for about 100 pages too long
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing at the preschool recommendation to the preschool teacher dies, um - so funny. How do you find time to read this much when you have work and 5 kids? I'm in awe.
ReplyDeleteIt was SO EMBARRASSING
DeleteWow, I have never heard of Fourth Wing before and when I went to check it out on Libby it has a 15 week wait! 282 people waiting for 40 copies! I have never seen a wait like that! Clearly late to this party. I put myself on the list so I guess I can look forward to it in late March! Or maybe I’ll just use an Audible credit on it. Except we’re all going to listen to John Scalzi’s Starter Villain with my next credit, which is an Audible Original so I can’t get it anywhere else… boo.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the audio version a lot. My 15 y/o lucked into Iron Flame as a skip the line on Libby, so maybe you'll get lucky
DeleteI got the Spanish version of Fourth Wing on Audible for $9! It was one sale! Woot! Merry Christmas to me!!!! Thanks again for the reco. I’m so excited to start it.
ReplyDeleteyay!!
DeleteHorse/human sex as in... no, don't tell me.
ReplyDeleteFully agree about Just Like Home - scary, and good. And the other Jesmyn Ward book I read was also beautiful and devastating.
Putting Cutting Teeth (lol) and Evil Eye on my list.
Just Like Home was so scary and just bent the rules of reality enough for me to go along with the stroy.
DeleteWow that is a number of books you ploughed h
ReplyDeletethrough in november, i also read Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. It is a great escapism book but Iron Flames was not as strong for me. Too much bickering and pouting and i could have done with less sex scenes.
I agree with the pouting, bickering, and frequent sex!
DeleteHold on just one second- you read FOURTEEN BOOKS last month while participating in NaBLoPoMo????? How is that even possible? I'm laughing at your story of recommending Cutting Teeth to Minnie's teacher, ha ha, oops!
ReplyDeleteVERY OOPS. But I did really like the book.
DeleteUgh, the Britney memoir. I didn't rate it because I just couldn't. She has had such a sad life. But those ghostwriters need to find a new profession, yikes.
ReplyDelete