A detailed look at last week’s reading habits: Eight books read (two from my Up Next shelf), three new books I want to read featuring a psychological mystery that explores Japanese culture, a memoir unpacking mental health and healing through nature and a contemporary forbidden romance, and a new addition to my Upcoming Release list!
Updates
| Last Week’s Blog Updates | Last Week’s Goodreads Reviews |
|---|---|
| 📖 Weekly Wrap: November 30th to December 6th 📖 Magical and Entrancing: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson | 📚 King Sized by Jessa Kane 📚 Floored by Karla Sorensen 📚 Christmas Chemistry by Ella Goode 📚 Echo by Seven Rue 📚 Heartless by Crystal Ash |
Contents
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Weekly Review
What I’ve Read This Week
Key: 🔁 re-read| ❌ DNF | 📜 from my Up Next shelf | 📲 eARC
- Lilac by B.B. Reid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Heartless (Steel Demons MC, #6) by Crystal Ash ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Echo by Seven Rue ⭐️⭐️
- Beach Read by Emily Henry ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Christmas Chemistry by Ella Goode ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Floored (Ward Sisters, #3) by Karla Sorensen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- King Sized by Jessa Kane 📜 ⭐️⭐️
- Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross 📜 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Reading Progress
Get the book: 🇨🇦
Last week was super stressful, so it makes sense as a stress-reader I read around a book a day the whole week. I also didn’t re-read a single book, which is unlike me since I find re-reading books quite comforting. Many of the books I read were long-awaited releases or amazing discoveries that will be staples in my recommendations list for years.
One such book is Lilac by B.B. Reid. It’s a rock star reverse harem contemporary romance filled with angst (which is not surprising considering it’s about a rock band). The page length can be intimidating for some (558 pages), but I thought the length allowed Reid to properly progress the relationship between the Heroine and her love interests from bully to would-die-for-you.
Lilac is also realistic in that one of the Heroes is not celibate after meeting the Heroine. Still, I appreciated that the Heroine fully confronted the Hero afterward and informed him that she wasn’t going to forgive and forget (he shoved it in her face). In fact, none of their issues were patched over with sex or avoidance, which is such a novelty in erotica romance novels and why the book was a 4-star read.
Last week’s book review Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson is my second review under the theme standalone fantasy novels. Sorcery of Thorns was a magical and enthralling read; the fact that books–grimoires–literally come to life in this book made the bibliophile in me so happy. I loved how the Heroine’s love of books and libraries was a theme throughout–they were vital to the save-the-world-plot. The slow-burn romance was so heartfelt; I loved the slow evolution from enemies to reluctant partners to friends, and eventually more. You can read my full review here.
– Total Books is the total number of books still waiting to be read on my Up Next Shelf. It’s important to recognize that when I finish a book, that book is immediately deducted from the total, meaning the total value decreases. It’s important because while the weeks of Nov 2-8 and Nov 9-15 look like my total books value hasn’t changed, it actually shows that I added a new book to my Up Next Shelf during the Week of Nov 9-15.
– Books Read is the number of books I’ve read from my Up Next Shelf in that week. The values are negative because finishing a book from the Shelf decreases the total value. Therefore, when looking at the Overall graph (the yellow line), you can see when the line is 0, the books I read and added cancel each other out. This week (Nov 16-22), the Overall value is below the 0-line, demonstrating that I didn’t add any new books to my Up Next Shelf, but I did finish a book from the Shelf.
Up Next Shelf Progress
A reminder: my Up Next Shelf is comprised of all the unread books I want to read and have purchased.
I’m changing up my progress from a simple percentage complete to a line graph (see left) because a percentage doesn’t acknowledge how both the number of books read and the total books on the shelf fluctuate.
The total number of books on my Up Next Shelf has increased from last week’s 81 books to 87 books. I read two books from this shelf, which means I added a total of 8 books this past week. As my Net Progress graph demonstrates, I added more books than I read from this shelf last week. This fact also means that all my new books read (of which there were six) were immediately purchased and read, leaving no time or need for them to be placed on my Up Next shelf.
Want to Read Updates
You will like The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan if you appreciate:
✨ Psychological mystery
✨ Japanese literature
✨ Contemporary fiction
✨ Exploration of identity
✨ Complexities of familial relationships
You will like Wintering by Katherine May if you appreciate:
✨ Memoir
✨ Mental health
✨ Inspirational and healing themes
✨ Exploration of human condition through the parallel waxing and waning wilderness
The Upcoming Week
To Be Read
I have a bad habit of not reading the books I say I will! I used to be so dedicated to following a set to-be-read list, but now it seems I’m 100% influenced by my mood. #MoodReadersUnite
I still have to read Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo and A Deal With the Elf King by Elise Kova. I’m hoping that my current fantasy kick means that I’ll get through both of these this week.
I’m also planning on finishing For the Love of Men by Liz Plank. Toxic masculinity is a significant consequence of the patriarchy, so I’m interested in how Plank conceptualizes “mindful masculinity.”
To Look Forward To This Week
Originally I was planning on posting two book reviews last week, but, as I mentioned above, I was too busy and stressed to post my second review. I’m considering post only one review a week from now on, sprinkled with other bookish posts (like reviving my Opinion Pieces or some Recommendation lists, for example).
The newest addition to my Upcoming Releases list (see here) is What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition by Emma Dabiri. It releases on Kindle in March but in hardback at the end of April. It’s a collection of essays about how to transform antiracist work from books into tangible change.
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