Tag: Self Harm

Books

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

Geoff W

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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Books

Book 809: Heartstopper, Vol. 3 (Heartstopper #3) – Alice Oseman

Geoff W

[Check out my updated (Feb 2022) response to Heartstopper Vol. 3 here.]

Well, my organized reading list has already been disrupted. I pre-ordered this back in December and didn’t really forget that I ordered it, but forgot when it was supposed to arrive. So, when it arrived while I was out of town last week I knew I couldn’t put off reading it—and frankly I’m impressed I lasted the four days I did!

These are so stinking adorable. I can’t believe I’ve managed to keep myself from finishing the series on the website, knowing it’s there! So, kudos to me for having some self-restraint in some part of my life 😀 If only I could figure out how to do that with food . . . I know for sure there’s at least one more, I’ve ordered it already, but I’m not sure how many more she’ll squeeze in between this and Solitaire.

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ARC, Books

Book 571: Just Julian (Romeo & Julian #2) – Markus Harwood-Jones

Geoff W

I started Romeo for Real the morning after I finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and I finished before I got to work. That afternoon on the bus home I read this one and finished it before bed. Not only are these short works, but they are hi/lo novels that are designed for reluctant readers with easier language and fast paced as I found out when I got them from NetGalley*

It’s hard to separate this from Romeo for Real because they are the same story from opposite perspectives. I wouldn’t usually be mad at a decision to write like this, but the fact that they are separated into two books is frustrating. Neither book can stand on its own without leaving SO many questions unanswered and even together the two books don’t have enough character development to make them worth it.

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ARC, Books

Book 570: Romeo for Real (Romeo & Julian #1) – Markus Harwood-Jones

Geoff W

This book and the next book are companion novels, so they are intertwined. They are also apparently hi/lo novels, novels “intended for reluctant and struggling readers. As such it is fast-paced, short, and uses high interest content with simple vocabulary to keep these readers engaged.” And even knowing this I’m not sure they hit the mark.

I grabbed copies of these from NetGalley last month and only just got around to reading them in early August* because who doesn’t love an LGBT retelling of a classic? I know I do. Unfortunately, this part of the story, at least to my memory, was at such a minimum and tangential level it didn’t really work for me. It mostly came across in the main character’s names, Romeo Montague and Julian Capulet, and the very short time frame of the book.

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