At the moment pretty much all of the books I’ve been reading are part of bigger posts, none of which I’ve actually managed to finish yet. So because of that here’s a really weird mix of books—an ARC from August, a September read and then a few things from this month too. But without further ado, let’s get to it.
Bazaar Girls (Townsend Harbour #3) by Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St Aubin
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
My favourite thing about this is that Gemma owns a yarn store, especially since I’ve been knitting a lot recently. I love books about people who own speciality stores, even if it makes a little sad that these exact ones don’t exist. Bazaar Girls sounds like an amazing place to spend a few hours. I also loved the chapter titles alternating between knitting and car terms for Gemma and Gabe.
As for the characters themselves, I liked Gemma and Gabe separately, but I wasn’t completely sold on them together. I liked the whole ‘opposites attract’ trope but there was just something missing between the two of them for me. I liked how they supported each other, but I just didn’t see the spark.
I hated the way Gemma was treated by so many of the other characters, excluding Gabe. She’s treated terribly and it honestly made me feel bad for her, but it didn’t make it a particularly fun reading situation. It made me like both Gemma and Gabe more, but I just wanted to wrap them up in blankets and keep them safe.
I think I would’ve enjoyed this more if I’d read the previous two books in the series before this one. I don’t know if it’s because I always read series in order or something else, but I just felt like I was missing out by not doing that. I think it felt like I was missing out on important tidbits about the town and supporting characters that would’ve made me care about them more.
All in all, I enjoyed it but I think I’d have enjoyed it more with the other books read.
Games With The Orc (Monster Smash Agency #1) by Kathryn Moon
Kathryn Moon has definitely become one of my best author discoveries of this year—she’s become a favourite and is battling out for my most-read author of 2023 right now. This one is definitely different from the others I’ve read from her—I’ve done her omegaverse, her reverse harem but this was my first step into her monster romance. I absolutely loved it. My favourite thing about Kathryn Moon is how she can write the most intense, smuttiest scenes and then switch to something downright adorable in the next line. This is definitely more on the intense side, but there were still some really adorable moments, especially towards the end. The characters are really the main focus of this one—there’s a light plot, but it’s really about falling for the characters while they fall for each other. And I did. I loved Sunny almost immediately—she’s moving on from a relationship that just isn’t right for her and discovering herself. I loved the side characters as well, very excited to see who gets a book by the end of the series.
Malamander (The Legends of Eerie-On-Sea #1) by Thomas Taylor
It’s been three years since I said I would but I’ve finally reread this now. I’m a little embarrassed that it took me only an hour and a half to read after putting it off for so long. I really enjoyed this the first time and luckily it didn’t let me down this time either. This book just has such incredible atmosphere—it’s whimsical and fun while also being incredibly unsettling at times. It’s just a fantastic start to a series and now I’m really excited to actually be able to continue with it. I’m glad that I did make the decision to reread it because I’d definitely mixed some of the plot elements of another book in with this one. I don’t think I really appreciated Herbie as much as the first time as I did here—big fan of his reluctance to leave his warm fireplace, I’d be the exact same in an adventure story.
The Labours of Hercules (Hercule Poirot #27) by Agatha Christie
It’s always nice to sleep back into a Christie after being in a bit of a reading slump. The Poirot series has been a comfort read for me for the last few years but I’m kind of excited and scared to be getting closer to the end. I’ve had some mixed reactions to the short stories in the past, but for the most part, I really enjoyed this. I think the way that they tied together through the theme of the twelve labours of Hercules was the reason they were so enjoyable. I think some of Christie’s short stories in the past have been a little disjointed for me and so these worked better. I was a tiny bit disappointed by the end—I don’t know what I was expecting, but just something with a bit more of a kick behind it. I suppose in part it doesn’t seem as powerful knowing that the series still goes on for a little, even though this one is a lot about Poirot moving towards retirement.
Shards of Venus (Celestial Shifters #1) by Tjalara Draper
This was a wild ride and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about it. This has a really interesting premise and I liked the whole ‘Celestial shifter’ thing that was going on. But it was very confusing—there’s some explanation, but there’s a lot that happens for only 289 pages. In a way, that’s good because things move kind of quickly but there also isn’t a lot of development. Violet is supposed to be the lead but I didn’t feel any connection to her or feel like I know anything about her. I much preferred Nathan who is a strange second POV as more of a father figure for Violet than anything else. I felt like he had a bit of development and he was interesting to read about it. The other side characters have very little to them in this one—I honestly completely forgot about Violet’s friends at one point until they suddenly popped up again. It was still interesting and it was fun to read. I’m interested to see where book two will go since this is only a duology.
And there we are. Have you read any of these? What have you been reading recently?
Earl Grey Books 