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Book 875: Souls Aligned (Tasier #2) – Arian Williams

What a dangerous opening line! For some reason when I said yes to this book, I mean I did read the first one after all, I didn’t realize a chunk of it would be taking place in Boston.*

It’s always a gamble with me when it’s in a town I’ve lived in or have been to frequently. Thankfully, Williams didn’t disappoint, but that’s because she kept everything super vague and general, which I’d rather an author do than screw up something everyone who’s been in the city for more than an hour knows.

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Book 870: Before We Disappear – Shaun David Hutchinson

Full disclosure, I only requested this one because of how adorable Wil is on the cover with that book.* I have no idea why, I was just like awwwww and then I read the premise and was sucked in and so glad I requested a copy!

Jack and Wil are magicians’ assistants and they meet at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1909. They’re both in abusive relationships with their magicians and when they find each other they slowly discover that there is so much more in the world than they ever thought and ultimately, they want to experience it together.

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Book 869: The Guncle – Steven Rowley

I had to wait a few weeks for this book to come in at the library, but when it did I immediately slotted it into my upcoming books to read. I did this not so much out of an OMG I have to read this but more out of an OMG I need to read this before it goes back to the library because the wait list exploded and I’d never get it back again!

The book is a lot more serious than the cover and the characters really make you think it is. It covers death and grief and growing from both of those things at different ages and life stages. It talks about substance abuse and  sibling rivalries. And it highlights dysfunctional adult sibling relationships. Rowley really did a great job of bringing humor and lightness to some really serious topics.

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

After 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 862: His Haven (His #3) – Con Riley

This one was a little bit of a disappointment for me. It doesn’t feel like it’s the story of this book that disappointed, more just that the last two were so strong and had such big emotional impacts that this one just fell a little short.

His Haven features Kier, a no-nonsense lawyer whose spent the last year hiding his hurt from being jilted at the altar, and Mitch, Justin’s (Tom’s younger brother with some mental disabilities, from His Compass) health assistant and friend. They’re thrown together when Tom and Nick (protagonists from His Compass) decide they want to purchase a place for Justin and Mitch to stay before/after their various sailing trips.

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