Earl Grey Books

Today was meant to be another of my five most recent reads (reread edition), but here we are with three instead. I just don’t think I’m in the rereading mood right now. I didn’t love any of these as much as I did the first time and so forcing myself to reread something else doesn’t seem like the best idea right now.

So rather than wait until I have two more rereads, I thought I’d just share these and move onto reading other things. So let’s get to it.

Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I decided to reread this one ahead of the movie because I haven’t read it since 2019 and I have a terrible memory. I mostly enjoyed the experience of rereading it. It’s a fun book for the most part—I like the humour and the relationships between the different characters. I love Henry, he is just adorable. The main issues I had while reading it this time were; a) it felt so long and especially towards the end I just wanted it to move quicker. Secondly, Alex is the worst. I don’t think I really had an issue with him the first time, but this time I realised how much of a terrible person he actually is. I found him nearly unbearable whenever the scene wasn’t about him and Henry. It was still worth the read just for Henry if nothing else.

The Harp of Kings (Warrior Bards #1) by Juliet Marillier

I really enjoyed this when I read it in 2021, so much so that I bought the other two books in the series as soon as they were out. I wanted to reread this one first and I’d meaning to do that for almost a whole year before I finally did. And then I absolutely hated it. Maybe that’s a little unfair. I made it through a decent chunk of this, maybe around page 200 of 400 or so. I still really enjoyed the start and then something just changed and things started to drag. It’s a pretty slow-paced read—there’s a lot that is set up and things do happen, but it was almost too much but also not enough. It’s a rich world and the characters are interesting, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care this time around. I’ve decided to unhaul the entire series because I know I’ll never make time to continue it now. I don’t think I’ve actually made it clear that I DNFed this, but I did and so I won’t be giving it a star rating.

Touched by Fire (Magic Wars: Demons of New Chicago #1) by Kel Carpenter

This was one of my favourite reads of last year, but I didn’t get around to continuing the series and I’d forgotten the details. I didn’t love this one as much as I did the first time. There are a few weird moments in here and I wasn’t as sucked in by the story. I still really, really enjoyed it. I talked in my original review about how much I loved the friendship between Piper and Nathalie and that’s definitely still my favourite thing. They’re just so funny and snarky together and I really enjoy watching their friendship develop. I don’t have anything else to add, so you can find my original review here if you want to hear more. I’m going to start book two as soon as I’m done with this post so hopefully you’ll see that review soon!

And that’s it for today. Have you read any of these? What have you been rereading lately?