Books

Book 859: Subtle Blood (The Will Darling Adventures #3) – K.J. Charles

Now THIS is how you end a series! Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want it to end, especially after reading Charles’ short story “To Trust Man on His Oath” that takes place between this and The Sugared Game. The short story provided Will and Kim the much-needed space to discuss who they are separately and who they think they want to be together.

And, thankfully, I’ll get to visit with Will and Kim one last time when I finally Charles’ short story/epilogue “How Goes the World”. I just need to read Proper English and Think of England first which share a world with The Will Darling Adventures! (Oh no, more books to read :-D)

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Books

Book 854: The Sugared Game (The Will Darling Adventures #2) – K.J. Charles

After thoroughly enjoying Slippery Creatures, I immediately requested the next one in the series from the library and got it faster than expected! I wasn’t really sure where Charles would take the series, and I’m even less sure having finished this one. Wherever it goes I am ready to be part of the journey!

Picking up a couple months after Slippery Creatures, we once again find Will, WWI veteran and bookseller now with his inheritance, and Kim, aristocratic untrustworthy agent-of-some-sort, thrust together at the mercy of the cult-like Zodiac. This time, it’s both more and less straight forward because at least we know Zodiac exists.

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Book 834: Blackout – Marco Carocari

In general, I don’t read a lot of mysteries or thrillers, even though I really should (see next paragraph). However, when the publicist reached out about this one with a gay protagonist I thought sure why not give it ago.*

Although there were definitely some issues with this book, pretty sure the authors native language isn’t English, for the most part I enjoyed it. And if my reaction to the two big reveals in the novel are anything to go by I really should read mysteries/thrillers more often. The first WTF moment happened and I had to take a few minutes to collect myself. I mean it was obvious it was coming looking back, but I got caught up in the story and didn’t pay attention to the clues or hints. And then the second one, I was just pissed about.

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Books

Book 747: Camino Island – John Grisham

I read this after a coworker passed it on because he knew I loved books and this is a book about a book theft from a world class library and then set in a bookstore featuring mostly authors and booksellers. I mean come on that’s like catnip to a book blogger, right?

Unfortunately, this book was 100% forgettable. I’m not sure if it has to do with it not being a legal thriller or if it has to do with the weird split narrative. But whatever it was I just wasn’t feeling it.

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Book 728: Where the Boys Are – Christopher Murphy

I took quite a few days before writing this review because I wanted to be thoughtful in my critique and honest in what did and didn’t work.

It’s always a little bit harder to write a response to a novel when it’s the author who reaches out to you to review their work.* I know how much of themselves authors put into their books and to then put it out in the world, I mean come on that’s more nerve than I’ll probably ever muster, so kudos to all of you out there brave enough to do it.

I’m going to start with what didn’t work, and then end on a high with the things that I really enjoyed about this work. So, stick with me because there were DEFINITELY some highlights!

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