Unfinished Series on My Shelf

Over the past few years I've started a lot of book series and failed to finished most of them.This week I wanted to chat about the series I have on my shelves that either I'm not caught up on or that I have left unfinished despite having the final book in my hands.

Why do we do this? I love a lot of these series. The characters are special and the plots intriguing. Why have I left them languishing on my TBR shelf while I pursue other series? I think the most obvious answer is: new series are shiny. New books and new releases grab my attention and steal it away from those older backlisted series on my shelves. Hopefully I'll finish a few of this this year and reduce the number on my shelf!

Weekend Recap - February 1st-3rd

This was the first weekend in three weeks where I didn't need to work at all and my busy season is officially over. Therefore, I spent most of this weekend relaxing and reading. There was much tea and many blankets involved.

On Friday night was really excited to start my reread of Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers. I started this reread on audiobook because I listened to the first two on audio. However, by the time Sunday rolled around I was too anxious to read Annith's story I was reading the physical book. I'm about two thirds of the way through and will be ready for Courting Darkness release day!

Faebruary started on Friday and, while I wanted to read some of the books I selected for that readathon, I also wanted to finish some of the books I was already reading. So I read Mortal Heart and decided to DNF The Yard by Alex Grecian. I tried to read this book on audiobook and physically. Nothing was working for me and I'm really disappointed. All my buzzwords were involved, but this book just didn't work for me.

On Saturday night I had trouble falling asleep so I borrowed one of Grace Burrow's Lonely Lord books from the library. I started this series last year and was a little disgruntled with it, but I was intrigued enough to try it to solve my insomnia. In the series we follow a group of interconnected lords finding love in various places. Once I finally did sleep, I finished this off with my coffee in the morning. I also borrowed the next book Gabriel. I am actually really excited for this Lonely Lord story. The characters we are following were in a previous book and I was curious about their relationship. 

The rest of my Sunday was cleaning and video games. I didn't actually read much more. I think my brain needed a little break after spending so much time reading on Saturday. How was your weekend? Did you read anything fun or exciting? My copy of King of Scars arrived this week and has been tempting me even though I have many other things started. 

Happy Monday!

January Wrap Up (2019)

This month I've read quite a bit and I'm proud of myself for reading everyday so far this year. I participated in several readathons which have helped me read so much this month. As we move into February, a historically bad reading month for me, I hope I can continue this reading trend.

Books Mentioned:

The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn't by Gail Carriger (audiobook)

Becoming by Michelle Obama (audiobook)

Herding Cats by Sarah Anderson

Uprooted by Naomi Novak

Read Bottom Up by Neel Shah & Skye Chatham

Tales of the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare

Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger (audiobook)

Grave Mercy by Robin Lafevers (audiobook) 

March Vol. 1 - John Lewis

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers (audiobook)

Hope Against History by Jack Holland

Review: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Series: Wayfarers #1

Genre: Science-Fiction

Age Group: Adult

Paperback - 404 pgs

Source: Purchased

Published - August 2015

Hodder & Stoughton

Add it // Buy it

Rating: 5/5

Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe. 

What this book is: A character centered story of found family aboard a spaceship with some space travel and difficult decisions.

What this book is not: Action packed, plot driven or hard science-fiction.

When I picked up this story I was a little hesitant because I've had trouble with science-fiction in the past. Though I had heard a lot of positive things, I wasn't sure this book would be for me as I'm usually more interested in fantasy than sci-fi. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and how it was much more character focused. Though we learn about the world throughout the book, it is more in context with how it has effected the characters we follow rather than a big picture. Space and science are not the focus of this story. The plot is thin for the most part, but the story works nonetheless. The focus of this story is the crew of the Wayfair as well as their interactions and relationships with one another.

While recommending this book to my IRL family and friends, I described it as Firefly meets Star Trek. There is a rag tag crew with tight knit relationships much like Firefly. Then much like Star Trek, there are interspecies crew members and inter-planet politics as well. It is rare that I push books on my family and friends because we all enjoy different books, but I think this holds appeal for readers of all types.

My Last Review--> River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Faebruary TBR

This month I'm doing my best to participate in the Faebruary Readathon which is hosted by Sarah-Jane from TheBookLife. She's created this fun Fae centered readathon and I can't wait to read all my Fae themed books this month. I have a few on my TBR and am hoping to cross off as many of the bingo squares as possible. More on that here.

My TBR is a little flexible because I'm unsure if some of the books are going to contain enough Fae to make them count!

T5W - Freebie (Stories I'm Looking For)

This week the Top Five Wednesday was a freebie and I focused on story ideas or story topics I have been looking for in books. Some of these are specific while others are more general.

Top Ten Books I've Added to My TBR Pile Recently

As always if you would like to participate in Top Ten Tuesday, please visit That Artsy Reader Girl for topics and more information! 

This week I'm trying to stay in line with my goal of focusing on my owned TBR by talking about the 10 books I've purchased most recently instead of my initial plan to feature the 10 most recent adds to my Goodreads "Want to Read" shelf. In 2019 I'm doing my best to ignore my desire to buy the most recently release. Instead I want to read books I already own!

Surprise surprise I also bought my last book before Christmas so congratulate me on my no-buy success thus far. This week the books go in reverse order. Daughters of the Storm is my most recent purchase and we go back in time from there.

 

 

 

 

What books have you picked up or added to your TBR recently? Which one are you most excited about?

My Last Top Ten ---> Top Ten Books I Meant to Read in 2018

Review - River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Series: Mercy Thompson #6

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Age Group: Adult

Hardcover - 326 pgs

Source: Purchased Used

Published: March 2011
Ace Books

Add it // Buy it

Rating: 3.5/5

Coyote shifter Mercy Thompson knows that life with her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will never be boring, but even their wedding doesn't go as planned. Nevertheless, a ten-day honeymoon camping on the banks of the Columbia River, alone, just the two of them, should make up for it. But the trip - and the pimped-out trailer they're using - is courtesy of the fae. And nothing from the fae comes without strings attached...

Being a different breed of shapeshifter - a walker - Mercy can see ghosts, but the spirit of her long-gone father has never visited her. Until now. An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River - and innocent people are dying. As other walkers make their presence know to Mercy, she must reconnect with her heritage to exorcise the world of the legend known as the river devil. 

Overall, I'm really enjoying this series. Unfortunately just like Silver Borne most of the impact and thrill of this story has faded over time. The details have also disappeared from my memory banks. None of that takes away from the fact I enjoyed this story and am enjoying the overall series. This series hasn't wowed me quite like the Kate Daniels series did and, even though it is unfair, I've been comparing them as I read. This book took a hit because the larger story made zero progress. While exploring Mercy's heritage was interesting and provided some answers I had, this removed us from the set of characters we know and love to tackle a side plot.

While reading it I remember enjoying the story and being amused Mercy is so easily thrown into trouble. Honestly, Adam should be used to it and expect Mercy to sniff out trouble or for it to find her. I like both of their characters. Adam grows on me the further into the series we go and, while he is a bit overbearing, he and Mercy are balancing each other out nicely.

I wasn't able to find an own voices review about this book unfortunately. While I enjoyed the story, I would be interested to see what a Native American reader thought of Brigg's use of the lore as she dives deep into it in this book.

My thoughts on the next book will follow soon as I've broken my rule and continued on with the series without a review of the previous book. 

My Last Review --> The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove 

T5W - Top Books On My TBR

Though I think this topic was meant to focus on the books you want to read the most, I wanted to talk about the audiobooks I want to try. I've added a lot of audiobooks to my TBR over the past few years and searched out which books on my TBR are available as audiobooks. These are the ones I'm most excited about.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books I Meant to Read In 2018 but Didn’t Get To

Last year I didn't read the things I wanted to. In general I had a good reading year, but it wasn't a great reading year. Here are 10 books I didn't read that I didn't pick up. My biggest regret is not reading The Hate You Give last year. I started it twice and never finished it. Eventually I will read them all.

As always visit That Artsy Reader Girl for more Top Ten Tuesday topics and a list of who is participating.

  

  

  

Weekend Recap - January 18th - 20th

Weekend Recap - I've never done one of these before. A few of the blogs I follow do weekly reading wrap ups either on Youtube or written out. So, I thought I'd try it out. Let me know what you think!

Today is a holiday and I am absolutely thrilled to have the day off. This time of year is hectic at my work and I've never had Martin Luther King Day off before. The people in charge changed our holiday policy this year for which I am grateful and stressed! I had to work both days this weekend so I'm excited to have off even though I know we will have a lot to catch up on.

This weekend started off on a high note. On Friday my sister and I visited our parents. We had tacos for dinner and spent some quality time with our family dog. Molly is a black lab who is an absolutely sweetie. After a long day at work, it was nice to have her welcome me at the door. I haven't spent quality time with her for a couple of weeks so it was lovely to see her and eat some home cooking!

Friday wasn't a great reading day but I did fit in some audiobook time before work and before I went to bed. I listened to The Yard which is gruesome so far but interesting. I also took Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy with me to work and made some progress. All of these were small gains, but gains nonetheless! (Can you tell I'm watching football while I type up this post?) 

Saturday and Sunday were almost the same. Like I mentioned I worked both days so I tried to be productive in the morning. On Saturday I did some blog work and some cooking while listening to my audiobook. I am listening to Etiquette and Espionage as well as The Yard. E&E is more fun and I've read it before so I can pay less attention to it. I'm mostly rereading this to catch some of the hints and foreshadowing for the next books and the Parasol Protectorate Series. Sunday was another morning of chores and errands while I listened to audio.  

On Sunday at work I finally finished the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy! It has been a while since I read a Cassandra Clare book. While I'm not a huge fan of her writing style, she does create a compelling story and interesting characters. I am tempted to jump into Lady Midnight before next month which is when I was planning to read it. 

I'm hoping this week I can finish both audiobooks I've already started and maybe one of the books I have hanging on my Currently Reading shelf. However, I work extended hours the rest of the week so that may not happen! 

What did you read last week? Did you start or finish anything you were excited about or you would recommend?