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Severina
01 April 2026 @ 02:03 pm
What I Just Finished Reading: Four books and a short story this week: The More The Terrier by David Rosenfelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, The Price of Honey by Liane Moriarity, Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten by Lisa Unger, and The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. Reviews below.

What I'm Reading Right Now: Just started How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristin Perrin.

What I'm Planning to Read Next: I went through and made note of what prompts I had left for Around the Year in 52 Books, then checked what on my TBR matches the prompts, and then further checked to see which of those are available at my local library (without needing a transfer) or on ebook. So now I've got a whole organized list for that, plus Gridlock books, plus my Dusty Bookshelf picks.

So I've got plenty to choose from, but if nobody picks for me at Give Me 5 and I have my druthers, it'll probably be The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren, because I enjoyed The Unhoneymooners so much.

44. The More The Terrier by David RosenfeltCollapse )

45. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van PeltCollapse )

46. The Price of Honey by Liane MoriarityCollapse )

47. Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa UngerCollapse )

48. The Unhoneymooners by Christina LaurenCollapse )
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Severina
25 March 2026 @ 12:53 pm
What I Just Finished Reading: Not as successful this week. Finished off the Under The Breaking Sky series, read one crackified short fic in Tantrum by Rachel Eve Moulton, and then spent four days trying to get into Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson before giving it up as a lost cause. Reviews below.

What I'm Reading Right Now: I just gave up on that Stevenson book, so I haven't picked up another yet.

What I'm Planning to Read Next: I need a comfort read, so it's back to David Rosenfelt and The More The Terrier.

41. Blind Hate by Nick ClausenCollapse )

42. Blind Evil by Nick ClausenCollapse )

43. Tantrum by Rachel Eve MoultonCollapse )
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Severina
18 March 2026 @ 07:27 pm
What I Just Finished Reading: A combination of a free weekend, not being able to sleep for more than 4 hours a night, and a series with quick reads and short word counts led me to reading 7 books this week: Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenthal, Vagabond by Tim Curry, and 5 books in the Under The Breaking Sky series by Nick Clausen. Reviews below.

I also had one DNF, Marsha by Tourmaline. Just poorly written, repetitive, and with no narrative flow.

What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm hoping to finish the series by the weekend. I'm reading Blind Hate now, and there's only one book left in the series after that.

What I'm Planning to Read Next: I think I'll move to a Gridlock book next. Maybe Everybody in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson.

34. Blind Fury by Nick ClausenCollapse )

35. Dog Day Afternoon by David RosenthalCollapse )

36. Vagabond by Tim CurryCollapse )

37. Blind Fear by Nick ClausenCollapse )

38. Blind Pain by Nick ClausenCollapse )

39. Blind Hope by Nick ClausenCollapse )

40. Blind Fate by Nick ClausenCollapse )
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Severina
11 March 2026 @ 08:07 am
What I Just Finished Reading: Four books this week, with varying degrees of enjoyment. I read John by Cynthia Lennon, The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward, Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, and Contamination Zero by TW Piperbrook. Reviews below.

I also had my third DNF of the year, Pemberley: Mr. Darcy's Dragon by Maria Grace. If you're going to add dragons to anything it should be fun and whimsical and joyous (or dark and brooding and apocalyptic.) This was just boring. 50% in and literally nothing had happened.

What I'm Reading Right Now: I just started Marsha by Tourmaline, about the life of trans activist Marsha P. Johnson.

What I'm Planning to Read Next: It'll probably be whatever is picked for me at Give Me Five, but if there's a delay there I will probably go with Blood Slaves by Markus Redmond next.

30. John by Cynthia LennonCollapse )

31. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona WardCollapse )

32. Spinning Silver by Naomi NovikCollapse )

33. Contamination Zero by TW PiperbrookCollapse )
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Severina
04 March 2026 @ 03:12 pm
What I Just Finished Reading: It feels like I should have accomplished more, but I did get through 2 books and 1 novella: Twas The Bite Before Christmas by David Rosenfelt, Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London, and Isolation by David Moody. Reviews below.

What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm about 20% into John by Cynthia Lennon. While it's nice (wrong word) to see that she finally came clean about her life with him, I also want to smack her in the head for even putting up with an iota of the abuse he gave her.

What I'm Planning to Read Next: I want to finally get to Pemberley: Mr. Darcy's Dragon next, but I also have library books waiting to be picked up. Decisions, decisions...

27. Twas the Bite Before Christmas by David RosenfeltCollapse )

28. Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-LondonCollapse )

29. Isolation by David MoodyCollapse )
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Severina
25 February 2026 @ 03:36 pm
What I Just Finished Reading: Another good reading week with four more books: Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Flop Dead Gorgeous by David Rosenfelt, The Country Under Heaven by Fredrick S. Durbin, and Blind Rage by Nick Clausen. Reviews below.

What I'm Reading Right Now: I just started another Andy Carpenter book, Twas the Bite Before Christmas by David Rosenfelt.

What I'm Planning to Read Next: Next up should be Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London. It's a Gridlock book and it was picked next over at Give Me Five.

23. Uprooted by Naomi NovikCollapse )

24. Flop Dead Gorgeous by David RosenfeltCollapse )

25. The Country Under Heaven by Fredrick S. DurbinCollapse )

26. Blind Rage by Nick ClausenCollapse )
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Severina
18 February 2026 @ 02:04 pm
What I Just Finished Reading: Another verrrrry slow start to my work week meant lots of reading. I finished four books: Postmortem by Patricia Cornwall, Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher, Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady, and Santa's Little Yelpers by David Rosenthal. Reviews below.

What I'm Reading Right Now: According to my Kobo, I'm 64% into Uprooted by Naomi Novik. As I was reading a couple things seemed very familiar, so I looked back in my journal and sure enough, I'd read it in 2015. LOL I don't remember what's going to happen, so that's a good thing.

What I'm Planning on Reading Next: Next will probably be The Country Under Heaven by Frederic S. Durbin, simply because it's due back at the library soon.

19. Postmortem by Patricia CornwallCollapse )

20. Nine Goblins by T. KingfisherCollapse )

21. Battle of the Bookstores by Ali BradyCollapse )

22. Santa's Little Yelpers by David RosenfeltCollapse )
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Severina
11 February 2026 @ 02:52 pm
What I Just Finished Reading: It feels like I was busier than this, but I only finished two books last week: A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage by MK Oliver, and The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. That one was suggested to me by someone here quite some time ago, so thank you, whoever you were. Reviews below.

I also had my two DNFs of the year, both at around the 25% mark. All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. It's about two teens dealing with death, but I felt ZERO empathy or sympathy for them. Violet (whose sister died in a car accident) comes across as a shallow, entitled brat. Finch (depressed? I have no idea why he wants to kill himself) is manipulative (he implies that he will embarrass Violet in class unless she agrees to let him come to her house) and simply annoying. I hated these damn kids.

I also DNFed Wanting Daisy Dead by Sue Watson, which I had got free from Amazon Prime free reads. Twenty years after Daisy's murder her "friends" are invited to a party. Each friend is fake and mean girl-ish. The thing keeping them at the party is ridiculous. And a quarter into the book literally the only thing that happened was each character musing, Oh no, I hope this mysterious party host doesn't reveal the thing that happened 20 years ago. I just didn't care. The murderer should have offed them all.

What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm about 1/5th into the first Kay Scarpetta mystery, Postmortem by Patricia Cornwall. I've never read any of these. I'm sticking with it, though there's not much compelling about Scarpetta and a bit to find annoying.

What I'm Planning to Read Next: Give Me 5 has been pretty slow lately, I'm still waiting on someone to pick from there. If no one picks, I'll probably go with Pemberley: Mr. Darcy's Dragon in hopes for some fun, even though it's been at least 30 or so years since I've read Pride & Prejudice.

17. A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage by MK OliverCollapse )

18. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson WalkerCollapse )
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Severina
04 February 2026 @ 01:36 pm
What I Just Finished Reading: Three books and a short story, so I had a pretty good week. I read Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, The Sleep Tight Motel by Lisa Unger, Rats by James Herbert, and Breakers by Edward W. Robertson. Reviews below.

What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm about halfway through A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage by MK Oliver, which is as darkly humorous as I'd hoped.

What I'm Planning to Read Next: I'll put a mix of Gridlock and Dusty Bookshelf picks for February up on Give Me 5, and let someone pick. :)

13. Warm Bodies by Isaac MarionCollapse )

14. The Sleep Tight Motel by Lisa UngerCollapse )

15. Rats by James HerbertCollapse )

16. Breakers by Edward W. RobertsonCollapse )
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Severina
28 January 2026 @ 03:21 pm
What I Just Finished Reading: 3 books this week, though one was crazy short. I read Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt, The Water Lies by Amy Meyerson, and The Tale End: Stories From the Vet by Beth Rice. Reviews below.

What I'm Reading Right Now: I just started Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, which so far is just as good as the movie.

What I'm Planning to Read Next: I got two more library books out (trying not to over-order like I have been lately) and the Dusty Bookshelf/Finish What You Started picks are tomorrow, so it'll be something from those. Probably.

10. Silent Bite by David RosenfeltCollapse )

11. The Water Lies by Amy MeyersonCollapse )

12. The Tale End: Stories from the Vet by Beth RiceCollapse )
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