Earl Grey Books

Lately, I’ve been making good use of my NetGalley account and by that I mean I’ve been requesting books so I can then avoid reading them for months. You know how it goes. But today I thought I’d share some of the ones I have so I can push myself to read a few of them this month.

Some of these have already been released, some haven’t but they are all ones I need to get to.

Meet Me At The Summit by Mandi Lynn

This is a very recent addition to my list and it’s also one I hope to get to this month. This is a story about a girl who goes on a road trip after losing both her parents. Honestly, I love a good road trip book and as well as anything that deals with loss and grief. I’ve seen some reviews saying the way grief is depicted is really honest and realistic, so that makes me even more excited to give this one a go. You’ll see a theme in the post for sure, but the original thing that drew me in was, of course, that gorgeous cover. I’m a sucker for covers with illustrated designs on them (again, you’ll see this as a theme throughout the rest of the post for sure!)and specifically ones that are nature-based. There’s just something that is both gorgeous and calming about this cover, so I hope I end up enjoying the story inside as much!

Queentide by Donna Fisher

This is another recent addition and cover selection. I think the cover might be a bit deceiving, but I’m interested in the story as well. This is set in 2026 Australia where it is apparently, not a good time to be a woman. I don’t mean to get political, but it’s not exactly been a great time to be a woman in Australia in 2021 either so take from that what you will. Anyway that aside, the fact that this is a futuristic Australia really grabbed my attention. We don’t really see a lot of that. I mean, my family and I used to joke that we’d be fine at the end of the world because no disaster movies ever make reference to like anywhere outside of the Northern Hemisphere. I’m not sure how dystopian this is going to be, but either way, it sounds like a really interesting read nonetheless.

Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe

I’d honestly completely forgotten what this one was about until I went to grab the cover off Goodreads for this post. So it turns out this is a retelling of The Tempest and to me the cover looks very 1920s but I’m not sure whether that’s an actual thing or just the aesthetic of the cover. Either way, this sounds very magical and intriguing. Honestly, it’s been a really long time since I’ve read The Tempest, or even really thought about it, so I’ll probably reread it to refresh my memory a bit. I’m trying to collect and read/reread all of Shakespeare so I’m not too worried about doing that so that I can get to this one. I just feel like I’d appreciate this even more if I can compare it to the original and see how Cohoe has adapted it.

African Europeans by Olivette Otele

I have actually started this one so that’s something, right? I’m really not that far into it at the moment, maybe about 10% so I think it might take me a little while to get through this one, especially on top of everything else I’m trying to read at the moment. I don’t think I’m far enough in yet to really pass any judgements or have any strong feelings about this. I will say that the little bit that I have read so far has definitely held my attention, so that’s a good thing at least. I’m sure I’ll talk a little more about this one once I’m a little further into it.

Mercurial by Naomi Hughes

Last but not least for this post is Mercurial! I can’t even begin to explain how excited I was to see this one available on NetGalley. It sounds incredible—”Snow, blood, and magic: this story is perfect for fans of the Grishaverse and The Winner’s Kiss series.” Like, excuse me? Uh why aren’t you already in my life? It works that I’m really desperate for a good YA fantasy at the moment as well and I’m hoping to find that here in this one. This is probably going to end up being the first one from this list that I read so be prepared to hear about this one soon!

And that’s it for today. Because I have so many books from NetGalley right now, I’ll be doing another post later in the month to talk about some of those as well as sharing any reviews on these ones if and when I get to them. But until then, I’ll see you tomorrow.