It’s been a patchy reading month, I’ve been trying to reduce the kindle list but I’ve been extra critical of some of my reading…
The Astronaut Wives Club – Lily Koppel (Library book)
I picked this up at the library and because I know very little about NASA and it’s race to the moon, this was interesting but because Koppel didn’t talk to all the wives, it seemed to me that she was filling in thoughts and emotions of some of them. It did show the rampant sexism they experienced both from NASA and their husbands but it had me thinking about Hidden Figures and I want to read that story. Soon.
Tattered Loyalties – Carrie Ann Ryan (Kindle free)
This was free and was engaging enough, it follows on from another series, so there’s lots of mentioning what happened, who’s with who and it didn’t hugely annoy me, I was interested enough to look at the next book in the series and would have bought it. And this is where I’m possibly being unreasonable. I read this in a day, a day in which I worked so it probably took me 4-ish hours to read and there are currently 6 books in the series and I can’t, I really can’t, afford to spend £5 per book on a series that I’ll probably be all caught up with by the weekend. I appreciate the effort that the author puts in and that she doesn’t do it for free and all of that is fine with me. This is not a ‘you owe me cheaper books’, if she sells them at that price I’m pretty sure it reflects the costs of them to produce, but sometimes as a reader you have to know your limits and make your choices….
Disorderly Conduct – Tessa Bailey (Kindle bought)
Oh I really wanted to enjoy this. I did. I was all primed for really liking this. But the angst, good God, there was far too much angst. “I want you but not a relationship, I’m no good for that. I have to devote myself to my calling, a proper relationship would get in the way.” And that was just the hero, the heroine was worse. “Mistress rules, I’m fine on my own, my totally emotionally unavailable mother who taught me these rules has changed her mind, so now I’m going to try to have a relationship.” I understand how when you’re 23, you’re ridiculous but it was too much. At no point did these supposedly bright, young things consider that they were taking advice from parents who were idiots. I was so relived to get to the end of it because it was the end!
Turned Up – Erin Nicholas (Kindle bought)
You know what this is going to say don’t you. I find these books a complete delight because they are totally ridiculous in a way I don’t entirely understand but love. Yeah the small town in Nebraska is absolutely have all of these pretty, clever, successful people on it with easy to solve issues and everyone is lovely and isn’t small town America grand? Yes, it’s fantasy and I throughly enjoyed it, as I always enjoy Nicholas’ books.
The Book of Blood and Shadow – Robin Wasserman (Kindle TBR List)
Amazon tells me that I bought this in September 2013, so it’s high time I got around to reading it.
The Thief – Megan Whalen Turner
The Queen of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner
The King of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner
A Conspiracy of Kings – Megan Whalen Turner
I re-read all of these before I started on the new one. Honestly, it was a pleasure to get lost in this world again but also because I love them so much to find things I’d missed before and to see the layers build with each book. They are beautifully written and clever and if you haven’t, you should read them.
Thick as Thieves – Megan Whalen Turner
Which brings me to this book, which is about Kamet, who we met in The Queen of Attolia and we pick up his story again and it’s first person, so this is Kamet telling his story. This had a couple of major plot twists which I won’t talk about but again, Whalen Turner has built layers into this story, she lets us see what a life as a slave might do to someone’s sense of self, how it could be difficult to think differently, how you might be proud of it but at the same time abject in a way which you wouldn’t even really be aware. I really enjoyed Kamet’s journey, I really liked the things we learnt about Gen and Irene. I’ve read it twice already and the only thing I can say is that provokes the good book noise.
Temporary – Sarah Mayberry and Sarina Bowen
I enjoyed this enough but something about the extremes of the families of the hero and heroine rubbed me up the wrong way and the ending seems set for them to write another but felt odd. Overall, I enjoyed reading it, I like both these authors but the book seemed unreal. It could just be book hangover from Thick As Thieves and I was going to be nitpicky about it but although it was ok when I was reading it, I was non-plussed when I finished.
The Devil is a Marquess – Elisa Braden
From series called ‘Rescued from Ruin’. This could have been really bad but the twist was that she was rescuing him and really didn’t want to be married. It does not paint a pretty picture of what it’s like to be an alcoholic going through withdrawal, it’s a bit preachy (we should all be like Americans and work hard!) and a lot of the conflict later in the book could have been done away with if people used their words. Look, I understand the emotion involved and why you wouldn’t but if you think the love of your life is going to leave you, have a chat about it. I promise you’ll feel better, even if they leave.
The second time it blew down, we took the decision to bin it. Alas poor greenhouse, we knew you well…I thinking that next year we commit to a polytunnel but we’ll think about that later!
I cut back the broccoli and staked the leaning kale. Thinned the winter radishes, and planted strawberries in the old bath. 
And tidied up the existing strawberry patch. We’ve gone backwards and forward on what to do about this patch. I planted it last year, this year it didn’t do well and any strawberries it did produce either got slugged or eaten by the birds. Ma wanted them all pulled up and I decided that I wasn’t going to extend the bed because they were maybe in the wrong place. So I put a new set in the bath which should at least help in the war with the slugs and the birds. I think that I’ll keep the ‘old bed’ for next year and see how we go. But for now I have got rid of all the runners and weeds.
Ma also picked some marigolds and cosmos and I harvested chard, pak choi and kale. (This was mine, Ma took the other half)
On the job list for next week:
