This month tumbled by in a chaotic avalanche, so I’d barely had time to read, but , on the bright side, most of the books I did manage to squeeze into my nightmare of a schedule were awesome.
Starter Villain, John Scalzi
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
‘Are you aware when you’re rude? Or does it just sneak up on you?’
A teacher unexpectedly inherits his estranged uncle’s supervillain empire, and now he has two options: roll with the punches or get killed.
Short, funny, bizarre. It’s one of those novels that are best enjoyed without knowing too much about beforehand, so I’ll spare you the long rant. I’d recommend this to anyone in need of something exciting and imaginative. One of the best sci-fi books I’ve read in a while.
One of the Good Guys, Araminta Hall
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
‘It’s shit, isn’t it. When someone does something to you without your permission.’
Cole is a nice guy. He’s caring. He’s loving. He’s devoted. When his wife leaves him, completely breaking his heart and quashing his hopes to have a baby with her, he decides to move to a remote area and start over. Too bad, though, that wherever you go, you take yourself with you.
I went into this with 0 expectations, mildly intrigued by the description, and left impressed, which is rare for me. There are a lot of things I’d like to say about this book, but I don’t want to spoil the experience for any of you. The plot has a few WILD turns, and it’s an infuriating but fun rollercoaster. All I’m going to say is that the book deals with violence against women and presents a very twisty take on the concept of ‘a nice guy’.
Tampa, Alissa Nutting
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This was… disgusting. Sometimes really hard to read, but, in my opinion, it was worth it.
A 26-year-old teacher, Celeste, takes up a job at her local school with the sole purpose of getting access to young boys. Young as in ‘no older than 14’. She knows her attraction to children is wrong, she knows she’s dangerous, she knows the risks, yet her desire is so strong she refuses to stop.
It’s a cold, calculated recounting of her grooming multiple boys, and it’s not easy to get through. However, it examines the problem of recognizing and punishing female predators, and skillfully depicts all the ways in which people are inclined to make excuses for extremely malicious women as long as they’re young, attractive, and seemingly nice.
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands , Heather Fawcett
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I would highly recommend this series to anyone who loves fairytales, magic, adorable love stories, and cozy settings with a bit of eeriness sprinkled throughout.
CAREFUL, spoilers if you haven’t read book 1 yet
‘I told him the truth: in order to be surprised, I could not have known already that you are capable of anything.’
In this second part of the series, Emily is looking for a way into a faerie realm to help Bambleby reclaim his throne. While fending off the assassins Bambleby’s evil mother sends after her son, Emily also struggles with a very tough personal decision.
Will she find the door? Will she accept Bableby’s proposal? Does she even stand a chance against all the malicious faeries his mother has unleashed?
I’ll definitely read the third book, though I feel like I read this one at the wrong time (I was grieving and really f***ing depressed), so maybe that’s the reason I hadn’t enjoyed it as much as I could have.
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook For Surviving Medieval England, Brandon Sanderson
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
‘No one thing had ruined me. It had just…piled on.’
The MC wakes up in the middle of a field, having no idea where, or even when, he is. To make matters worse, he doesn’t really know who he is, either.
It soon becomes pretty clear he’s somewhere that resembles Medieval England, but things just seem off. He has to figure out what’s what on the go, because the dangers start piling up real fast.
I love Sanderson, I do, and I’d be happy to say this novel was as awesome as his other books, but I can’t. It was fine. Entertaining, easy, quirky, a good distraction. I would still recommend it, though, if you’re looking for something extremely light to pass a random day off with.
Morren Aconite 
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