Books

Book 866: Under the Whispering Door – T.J. Klune

Book cover of "Under the Whispering Door" with Amazon Affiliate linkAfter loving everything I’ve read by Klune so far it was obvious I was going to read this. And then, when it appeared on NetGalley AND I was approved, I had to sit on it for SO. MANY. MONTHS.* It was 100% worth the wait.

Having not read any of Klune’s “adult” books, this one feels more mature than his superhero books (The Extraordinaries and Flash Fire) or The House in the Cerulean Sea. Most of this is directly because there are no young adult characters and this deals so much with the topics of death and grief. And it brings up so many philosophical ideas about life and death that I’m sure I still missed plenty.

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Books

Book 863: The Hollow Heart (Forgotten Gods #2) – Marie Rutkoski

Book cover of "The Hollow Heart" with Amazon Affiliate linkI wanted to like this so much more than I did. After really adoring The Midnight Lie, I thought it was a shoe-in this one would be just as good. Unfortunately, it fell short for me.

The publicist reached out to me a few months ago and I was immediately drawn to the story because of the slow reveal of the magic and the love story aspect.* And Rutkoski really delivered on that in book one, but it just fell short for me in this book. Some of it may have been the narration, but I think the ending was what really sealed it for me as being meh.

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Books

Book 855: The Midnight Lie (Forgotten Gods #1) – Marie Rutkoski

Book cover of "The Midnight Lie" with Amazon Affiliate linkWhen the publicist reached out to me about The Hollow Heart, coming out in mid-September, I was interested  enough in it to ask if they could provide a copy of this, the first book, in the duology and they did!* So extra thank yous for that!

I’m not sure if it was the Sapphic love story—how the publicist presented it, and I’ve read a few here and there and already acknowledged I need to expand my LGBT Romances—or if it was more the mystery of what was or wasn’t real when it came to Nirrim (the protagonist)  and her homeland. Honestly, it was a little bit of both, but more so the latter fantasy and magic aspect, the LGBT romance was just an added bonus.

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Books

Book 846: The Lavender Menace – Tom Cardamone (Ed.)

Book cover of UGH. I wanted to like this so much more than I did. I remember the excitement when I stumbled across it seven years ago at PAX East in the LGBT lounge. I guess I either forgot the premise or didn’t really read the full premise of the book so ended up slightly disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong there were definitely a few stories I very much enjoyed (more the redemptive ones) and there was some great writing throughout the novel, but there were some larger issues with the collection that may reflect when it was originally published (2013) and how far we’ve come as a society, and also the background of the editor (cis white gay man).

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Books

Book 843: The Midnight Library – Matt Haig

Book cover of "The Midnight Library" with Amazon Affiliate linkClearly, I grabbed this one for the title and the fact that it seems everyone is reading it. Seriously, I saw at least three or four copies while on vacation and it’s been popping up sporadically on book blogs since its initial release last year.

I didn’t really have an idea of what it was about so was a little taken aback by the opening line but then was totally on-board when I re-read the back blurb. In essence the book follows Nora as she tries to find the life she wants to live by visiting all her potential selves after attempting suicide.

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