Some of the books I’ve read I’ve already sold on; some were e-books and all in all I just couldn’t be bothered to keep them in a collection for an end-of-the-month photo. Here is one of my shelves instead.
Reading-wise September was a mixed bag. I read a lot in the first half, while I was on vacation. Then almost nothing for the following week and a half, because I was busy with work and knackered from it. My opinion on all the books I’ve read are also a mixed bag. Some I loved, some I didn’t care much for in the end and there were a bunch of short stories from “The Chronicles of St. Mary’s” series, which officially count as “books”, but I won’t list or review here, because they were about 40-50 pages each. The mini plots of those also kind of melded together once read in quick succession (between the big books in the series).
Once again, not chronologically, but in order of favourite to least
Alone With You in the Ether, Olivie Blake, 2020
This was a fascinating – slightly different, more serious – romance between two very special people. I loved the writing here. It felt different and refreshing and less like following the trodden path of phrases and words and plots used by many others before. If that makes sense. I clearly lack the vocabulary to explain it any better.
My Mechanical Romance, Alexene Farol Follmuth, 2022
That was a really sweet story about young love. A bit of the enemy to lover trope, but that’s fine by me. I adored Bel and could well relate to her kind of scattered/messy character. Teo was a bit too good to be true and I’d have liked a bit more of a resolution about his own struggles by the end of school year. But all in all I just adored those two. I also very much enjoyed the “girl power” vibe of this story. It was realistic, without being too much. I still don’t understand anything about robots though.
The Chronicles of St Mary’s (Book 6-8), Jodi Taylor, 2019
06: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
It was about time to get back to St. Mary’s. I admit I didn’t recall the details of what had happened in the previous book, which shows that I shouldn’t leave too much time between reading them. I liked Max’s new challenges as training officer and I was glad that they didn’t jump up and down the timeline as much as they did in previous stories. The whole Hoyles sub-plot didn’t really interest me all that much and it felt a bit like a filler to set up bigger plotlines / new ? adversaries for the following books, which was fine by me. All in all as always a entertaining read and I’m looking forward to more.
07: Lies, Damned Lies, and History
I mostly enjoyed this one. It seems to move the various plots (Max & Leon’s private lives, fight vs old enemies, future of St. Mary’s) forward in a good way and wasn’t too much all over the place (e.g. timeline). Unfortunately the bit at the end of the book about the following books in the series spoiled me quite a bit, which means I need to keep reading asap.
08: And the Rest is History
That was quite the ride. Heartbreaking for quite a long stretch. I sort of knew (had hoped) that those assumed dead wouldn’t/couldn’t be, but I still cried a few times. I thought the way they handled the Matthew plot was quite neat and grudgingly admit that it might be a good idea. As I’m not a native English reader, the focus on so much of one year of English history turned a bit boring in the end, but that’s ok.
What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to The West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service, Mary McCormack, Melissa Fitzgerald, 2024
I’m a hardcore “The West Wing” fan so of course I enjoyed this book immensely. It was so wonderful to get a behind the scene insight and also learn that the cast and crew really enjoyed working together and still are friends. It was heartwarming to read. The structure of the book felt a bit jumbled sometimes, but that’s my only complaint.
A Novel Love Story, Ashley Poston, 2024
I enjoyed previous novels from this author, but I was a bit sceptic when I read the idea of this one. And I have to admit that I didn’t really loose that. I don’t know what other solution I had hoped to read for the phantastic idea of ending up in a fictional village. I might have been more satisfied if there actually had been some kind of magic involved? I don’t know. I loved the slow-burn romance and Anders backstory was kind of heartbreaking and I liked the HEA and all. But still… something was off with this story for me. There also were WAY too many characters for me to keep track off, but that might have been due to my busy mind.
Songs in Ursa Major, Emma Brodie, 2021
I was afraid this one would be too much like “Daisy Jones & The Six”, which it wasn’t and I appreciated that. All in all I have mixed feelings about this story. I loved the independence of the Quinn family, I loved that Jane didn’t back down and I thought the insight into the 60/70s music industry was quite interesting. I also liked the variety of supporting characters. I wanted to root for Jane and Jesse, but Jesse made that difficult. The secret Jane and her family kept caught me by surprise to be honest and in a way it invalidated earlier parts of the story for me and thus by the end I lost a bit of interest in it all.
Only This Beautiful Moment, Abdi Nazemian, 2023
Another story, which didn’t fulfil the high hopes I had set in it, I’m afraid. To me the plot felt too far fetched, the characters and their motivations too vague and the writing felt bland. I’m sorry I don’t have anything more positive to say about this.
