Wednesday Reading Meme
What I Just Finished Reading: Since last week I read 3 books: Craven Manor by Darcy Coates, Cast Away by Annabel Chase, and Bloodline by Jess Lourey. Reviews below.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm 40% through The Circle by Dave Eggers and literally NOTHING has happened. I'm going to slug it out for one more night but I swear if something doesn't happen tonight it's going in the DNF pile. Probably.
What I'm Planning To Read Next: We'll be in the 70s in the Super Series challenge so it'll be book 7 of the Spellbound series, and hopefully it's better than the last.
30. Craven Manor by Darcy Coates
20-something Daniel is unemployed and one small step away from homelessness, so he takes a job as a groundskeeper from a mysterious employer that includes instructions like “don’t look outside after midnight” and “don’t go in the tower” and “don’t answer that mysterious tap-tap-tapping on your door in the middle of the night.” Ooo-eee-oooh!
Daniel is just a little bit too nice and gullible and his deadbeat cousin Kyle is over-the-top obnoxious, which makes both of them unbelievable as characters. It’s no surprise that the house turns out to be haunted, and the plot follows a very predictable course. At the very end Bram, Daniel’s employer, develops a little bit of a personality beyond ‘mysterious benefactor’. One bit of silver lining, I suppose.
Dates Read: March 21 to 23, 2023
Page Count: 260
3 out of 5 stars
Around The Year in 52 Books - Prompt 42 - related to a ghost, spirit, phantom or spectre (30/52)
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 17 - read 17 books that have an “E” in the title (01/17)
Challenge Factory Give Me 5 pick
Challenge Factory World Book Token - MC is brave
LJ Book Bingo - recced by gilda_elise
31. Cast Away by Annabel Chase
Book 6 in the Spellbound series was a disappointment. There is finally a resolution to the Daniel/Elsa debacle and Emma’s true powers, but everything was so rushed that it ended up being such an anticlimax.
Why is Ms. Chase rushing through these books? Yes, I realize they have low page counts, but the decisions on where to focus those words are so abstract. We get a page of Emma thinking about Rochester’s kitten mug and musing about him being mayor, but the major plot points like a wedding and the repercussions about Emma’s abilities are brushed over. There were also several formatting issues that started in the last book and have returned in this one, so that a new scene starts without any page breaks and the reader just suddenly goes from one scene to a completely new one. This ended up just being a frustrating, if quick, read.
Dates Read: March 24 to 25, 2023
Page Count: 204
3 out of 5 stars
Around The Year in 52 Books - Prompt 02 - by an author you read in 2022 (31/52)
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 13 - read a book set in a country other than your own [set in USA] (05/13)
Challenge Factory Super Series - Spot 67 - 6th book in series
32. Bloodline by Jess Lourey
In 1968, pregnant journalist Joan agrees to move to her boyfriend’s hometown after she’s mugged in the city. This is a very, very bad idea.
With shades of Rosemary’s Baby and Stepford Wives, this is a creepy, twisty, roller coaster of a ride. Very quickly it appears that everyone is watching Joan, she’s being forced into a submissive housewife role, and everyone is fixated on her pregnancy. When she gains permission to return to work, she starts investigating a missing person’s case from 20+ years ago, which ends up having repercussions on her current life. Joan doesn’t know who to trust and neither did I - there is just unrelenting tension as Joan struggles to keep up a facade for the outside world and figure out what’s going on. As with the other works by Ms. Lourey that I’ve read, there is more than one story going on here and many people are not who they seem, and all the twisty turns make for a great story!
Date Read: March 25, 2023
Page Count: 347
5 out of 5 stars
Around the Year in 52 Books - Prompt 28 - book is dark (32/52)
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 11 - read 11 books that take place in a small town [Lilydale, Minnesota] (03/11)
Challenge Factory Give Me 5 pick
.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I'm 40% through The Circle by Dave Eggers and literally NOTHING has happened. I'm going to slug it out for one more night but I swear if something doesn't happen tonight it's going in the DNF pile. Probably.
What I'm Planning To Read Next: We'll be in the 70s in the Super Series challenge so it'll be book 7 of the Spellbound series, and hopefully it's better than the last.
30. Craven Manor by Darcy Coates
20-something Daniel is unemployed and one small step away from homelessness, so he takes a job as a groundskeeper from a mysterious employer that includes instructions like “don’t look outside after midnight” and “don’t go in the tower” and “don’t answer that mysterious tap-tap-tapping on your door in the middle of the night.” Ooo-eee-oooh!
Daniel is just a little bit too nice and gullible and his deadbeat cousin Kyle is over-the-top obnoxious, which makes both of them unbelievable as characters. It’s no surprise that the house turns out to be haunted, and the plot follows a very predictable course. At the very end Bram, Daniel’s employer, develops a little bit of a personality beyond ‘mysterious benefactor’. One bit of silver lining, I suppose.
Dates Read: March 21 to 23, 2023
Page Count: 260
3 out of 5 stars
Around The Year in 52 Books - Prompt 42 - related to a ghost, spirit, phantom or spectre (30/52)
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 17 - read 17 books that have an “E” in the title (01/17)
Challenge Factory Give Me 5 pick
Challenge Factory World Book Token - MC is brave
LJ Book Bingo - recced by gilda_elise
31. Cast Away by Annabel Chase
Book 6 in the Spellbound series was a disappointment. There is finally a resolution to the Daniel/Elsa debacle and Emma’s true powers, but everything was so rushed that it ended up being such an anticlimax.
Why is Ms. Chase rushing through these books? Yes, I realize they have low page counts, but the decisions on where to focus those words are so abstract. We get a page of Emma thinking about Rochester’s kitten mug and musing about him being mayor, but the major plot points like a wedding and the repercussions about Emma’s abilities are brushed over. There were also several formatting issues that started in the last book and have returned in this one, so that a new scene starts without any page breaks and the reader just suddenly goes from one scene to a completely new one. This ended up just being a frustrating, if quick, read.
Dates Read: March 24 to 25, 2023
Page Count: 204
3 out of 5 stars
Around The Year in 52 Books - Prompt 02 - by an author you read in 2022 (31/52)
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 13 - read a book set in a country other than your own [set in USA] (05/13)
Challenge Factory Super Series - Spot 67 - 6th book in series
32. Bloodline by Jess Lourey
In 1968, pregnant journalist Joan agrees to move to her boyfriend’s hometown after she’s mugged in the city. This is a very, very bad idea.
With shades of Rosemary’s Baby and Stepford Wives, this is a creepy, twisty, roller coaster of a ride. Very quickly it appears that everyone is watching Joan, she’s being forced into a submissive housewife role, and everyone is fixated on her pregnancy. When she gains permission to return to work, she starts investigating a missing person’s case from 20+ years ago, which ends up having repercussions on her current life. Joan doesn’t know who to trust and neither did I - there is just unrelenting tension as Joan struggles to keep up a facade for the outside world and figure out what’s going on. As with the other works by Ms. Lourey that I’ve read, there is more than one story going on here and many people are not who they seem, and all the twisty turns make for a great story!
Date Read: March 25, 2023
Page Count: 347
5 out of 5 stars
Around the Year in 52 Books - Prompt 28 - book is dark (32/52)
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 11 - read 11 books that take place in a small town [Lilydale, Minnesota] (03/11)
Challenge Factory Give Me 5 pick
.