Book Releases I missed || Goals Reset 

Oh I actually really liked City of Stardust! It was in one of those read or unhaul videos I did.

One book that I think did the same for me as you describe Evicted doing is The Secret Life of Groceries. It really breaks down the world wide food chain and is extremely interesting and accessible. One thing it doesn’t do is present solutions, but I found that fine because the problems are so huge there aren’t really easy “do this and you’re no longer part of the problem” solutions.

I love hearing about how you're balancing mental-physical-work-hobby. I need to do more of those self check-ins, "Hey me, how am I doing this week?" Thanks for the reminder. 😊

I just read Demon Copperhead and it's amazing. New favorite of the year and I didn't even expect that it's for me. Highly recommend :)

I found Tempest of Tea to be fun! It’s a little less angsty than Sands of Arawiya. I think the only real comparison to Six of Crows are the tropes - city setting, heist, found family. I read this immediately following a very stressful event at my job, and it was a much needed distraction!!

Some recs! Horror - if you haven't read The Reformatory yet you absolutely should. Also maybe Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. Non speculative fiction recs - I think you'd like The Lincoln Highway or A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Nonfiction - A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan, Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, Stiff by Mary Roach, Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez, Bad Blood by Jon Carreyrou, The Earth Is All That Lasts by Mark Gardner, Catch & Kill by Ronan Farrow, The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes.

I have a similar reaction to book recommendations from people in real life. I just need to make friends with people who read more interesting books and ALSO shake my “not like other girls” energy. 😝

I really enjoyed Six of Crows and DNF A Tempest of Tea. There was an outline of a heist which, imo, was sidelined by too many longing glances at his broad shoulders, etc. They are nothing alike. But if you really enjoy romance you might enjoy A Tempest of Tea.

I havent done great recently on my "not falling into the couch after work" goal but I think I have done better overall at reading more diversely despite the Bujold and Kingfisher obsession you have helped fuel. The Lessons in Chemistry show made me curious about the book although I still havent picked it up.

I love these check-in vids so much! You're so good at recognising where you can excel and where you can give yourself a break. It's so encouraging to watch. 😊

Love a goal check in video 😊Really curious about Womb city!

Very happy to hear that there have been some steps in your mental health, progress is progress 🥰 And as someone who has read most of the books on your 'not interested' list, I can only say... good for you, I wish I had waited for reviews to read them because they were not it lol. When the Moon Hatched was good though, loved the world building, though it has a very flowery (and slightly pretentious) prose style. Happy reading!! ☺

I'm not a goals-person at all, but I love these check-ins (and TBRs) for some reason :'D have a nice spring season! 🌼

I feel you - my reading has not been reading the same way it normally does these last few weeks for a variety of reasons. Giving myself grace but also hoping to get back into the normal routine soon! 🌷🌷

Shadow of the Wind was really good. It is definitely historical fiction with maybe magical realism elements so that counts lol I have the City of Stardust but keep forgetting that I have it...whoopsies maybe I should read it lolol. Yeah HOFAS is not like HoEaB but it is a good ending/resting point for this series so you basically have one more book to finish the plot line

👩‍🔬 “Lessons in Chemistry” isn’t in my regular wheelhouse, but I binged the entire tellybox show on 🍎📺+ on Xmas day, and discovered that I absolutely loved it 😍 Haven’t read the book, mind you, but FWIW I would now definitely give it a go 🌼🌷

Even though it’s cold in Germany I wish you a flowery day 🌸🌺🌹🌷💐🌻🌼

not me being the picky friend 😭 i am nervous for you to read the emperor and the endless palace but i hope you like it!

When Grumpy Met Sunshine was really lovely, Just be prepared for the final hour breakup.

I didn't set any goals this year, and that was for sure the right choice - it's been a struggle, that's for sure! I did just read The Warm Hands of Ghosts, though, and I loved it! One of my favorites of the year. Really gothic and atmospheric. A little violent and dark for what I normally read, but it just gripped me so much.

I am always looking for more scifi horror but haven't heard of Womb City. Definitely looking forward to your thoughts on that one!!!

i also added the justinian huang book to my tbr because of tammie!

I love Shadow of the Wind and Demon Copperhead!! You definitely don’t have to read the Dickens book that it’s based on

I totally enjoyed Tempest of Tea... but yes, it is a Heist and multi-pov. I don't get why it was disliked on reviews.

I want to be a vlogger too but I'm crap at it 😂

I read Shadow of the Wind last month. It was quite interesting. A little melodramatic for me. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. One of my goals is to read down my physical TBR so that means I try to read them as they come in.

Re: A Tempest of Tea O man, I have so many thoughts. So, I read Six of Crows but it was too hyped by the time I got to it; I just thought it was kinda meh? I'm still planning on reading Crooked Kingdom, but still. However, I picked up A Tempest of Tea and LOVED it. Yes, there's a heist, but in reality it's a small part of the book. People that go in expecting SoC end up disappointed, and because I didn't I ended up loving it more. There are only 3 POVs, so not an extreme amount. The author had so many homages to other fantasy tidbits, it was such a joy to read; and this is coming from someone who thought they were out of their vampire era! All of that being said, I don't blame you if you don't pick it up but thought I'd provide some insight in case you do end up swinging back to it at some other point.

I really liked Warm Hands of Ghosts but it did take a bit to get going and is very different from her other works. Poverty by America is really excellent in general but PARTICULARLY as an audiobook.

Definitely try The Final Strife over Faebound, for trying out that author. I liked Faebound well enough, but it legit kind of feels like a different author wrote it... I read an e-arc of City of Stardust and was not terribly impressed eeeeek

🌷

Carlos Ruiz Zafon was my auto-buy author for many years. I've read everything he's written. Just love his writing style and his way to tell stories. It's very atmosphereic, tends towards horror a little bit. Shadow of the Wind is historical fiction with a coming of age story and a mystery mixed into it. I really loved it. It definitely can be read as a standalone but I also like the other 3 books in the series a lot. City of Stardust was my fav read in January. But I think it might not be for everyone. Again, it's very atmospheric. I would even say the vibes are more important than the plot. Which I still liked a lot, it went places I didnt expect. The story and vibes reminded me a lot of The Starless Sea btw. (Which is my fav book of all time but I know there are a lot of people who hate it)

🌸

🌼

🌷🌷🌷

💮

🌸🌸🌸

🌹

🌸🌻🌷

🌼🌷🌸

Just a heads up - The Women & When Grumpy Met Sunshine are Saint Martin's Press titles, and under the ongoing SMP boycott!

I hope everything goes well for you. (Are you from Cleveland? do you go to Case?)

🌸🌷🌼🌸🌷🌼

🌸🌺🌷🌻🌼

Skip house of flame and shadow. It won't give you completionist feels bc she left so many dangling threads for obvious spin offs

Have you read Em by Kim Thuy? I think you'd enjoy that.

I found City of Stardust disappointing. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t a great book for me. I’m currently trying to unhaul my Fairyloot edition

🌷🪻🌷🪻🌷🪻🌷🪻🌷🪻

🌷

🌸

🌼

🌸🌸🌸

🌸

🌷