Here we are again at the Saturday Reading Wrap-up! Woohoo!
I managed to find 6 new-to-me ebooks to download this week - mystery, urban fantasy, two romances, a science fiction mystery, and a cozy mystery. I still have a historical mystery left from my last download binge.
Books Read:
19) Magical, Murderous Cupcakes by Skylar Starx (4/6/22) - Paranormal Mystery*# - 5 stars. New to me and underappreciated. Free off the Robin Reads newsletter.
Review: "Fun and interesting, little paranormal mystery, filled with twists and turns."
18) Murder in Cherry Hills by Paige Sleuth (4/5/22) - Cozy Mystery* - 4 stars. New to me, but not underappreciated. Free off the Book Doggy newsletter.
Review: "Light, quick, easy read perfect for escaping your day. If you're looking for something deeper or something with a lot of twists, this probably isn't for you."
DNFs:
4/7/22 - free - romance. It was supposed to be quirky and fun. And it tried REALLY hard to be those. Way too hard. Like obviously hard. And it failed to be either.
Currently reading... I'm still working my way through Three Musketeers, but as you can tell, I'm sticking other books in between spurts of that. Which is part of the reason why I'm only 30% through.
I'm currently 1 book behind schedule, but that's no biggie. What was on your reading list this week? How are things going for you reading-wise this year?
I'm at 42 books, 2 ahead. Finally. Started a marathon relisten of Suzanne Wright's concurrent paranormal romance series of Phoenix Pack and Mercury Pack books in chronological order. (I didn't the first time through, not realizing they were connected and the characters are so closely intertwined that it got kinda weir.) These books are dark and very dirty (that's what the fast-forward button is for) but with some quirky humor. The situations can be over the top but hey, sometimes, those kind of books just hit the spot. I'm about halfway threough the 13 books. Last week was better for listening than it was for writing. Sadly. My brain is on autopilot and sitting in a long line of "planes" on the holding runway. I finished 6 books. Anyway...
ReplyDelete42 - Savage Urges (The Phoenix Pack, #5) - 4 star: Makenna and Ryan. Wolf shifters. She a lone wolf, he's a pack enforcer. The lone shifter shelter where she volunteers comes under attack and Ryan comes to her aid. (She tracked him down because his young cousin ran away from an abusive pack and she's looking to rehome the boy.)
41 - Spiral of Need (The Mercury Pack, #1) - 4 stars: Ally is a wolf seer who needs sanctuary. Derrin is beta of the Mercury pack and owes Ally's foster brother a favor so he goes to get her, even though the pack distrusts seers. Needless to say, she saves the day and they're true mates. Ensuing HEA. LOL
40 - Dark Instincts (The Phoenix Pack, #4) - 4 stars: Roni and Marcus. She's a Mercury pack enforcer and the sister of the pack's alpha. He's a Phoenix pack enforcer. She's socially inept, he's charming. She likes to spout odd facts to put people off (Did you know that certain shades of red lipstick contain bull piss? ... [Marcus chastises] What? What did I say?" (I DID mention the quirky humor--each main character has their quirk to hadd the humor)
39 - Carnal Secrets (The Phoenix Pack, #3) - 4 stars: Shaya is half human/half wolf and a submissive (though she can resist dominant vibes due to a DNA quirk), and BFF with the Phoenix Pack Alpha female. He's a pack Alpha who has some "health" issues. They're true mates but he won't claim her. She leaves. He follows. Lots of stuff happens. As a natural-born Alpha, Nick ends up with a pack he doesn't want (after stepping down to chase Shaya) and the Mercury Pack takes territory near Phoenix Pack territory. (I did mention these series are deeply entwined--LOL
38 - Wicked Cravings (The Phoenix Pack, #2) - 5 stars: Jaime and Dante grew up in the same pack. Dante left when Trey (See next descrption) is banished. Bad stuff happens to Jaime and her wolf is almost feral. Dante, as pack Beta, decides to train her like he does the enforcers so she can learn control. I really liked this one, hence the 5 stars instead of 4.
37 - Feral Sins (The Phoenix Pack, #1) 4.5 stars: This one starts off the worldbuilding and setting the stage. Trey, Alpha of the Phoenix Pack, was banished from his father's pack at the age of 14 after he beat his father in a challenge. Rather than being named Alpha, he was banished. Several wolves went with him. Taryn is a healer but her wolf is latent--she can't shift forms. Her father is forcing her to marry the Alpha of another pack for the alliance (said dude being a total Alpha Hotel). Trey needs alliances for reasons so he proposes they pretend to be true mates. Lo and behold... Anyway. There's lots of action and a great introduction to even the secondary characters, who are all fleshed out and aren't just placeholders.
I actually started this series with the first Mercury Pack book when it popped up on my old KU subscription. I enjoyed but realized after reading that series that the Phoenix Pack books actually came first. So I backtracked and now I keep a list of them in chronological order. I do a complete re-listen every couple of years. I'm currently listening to FORCE OF TEMPTATION, Mercury Pack #2). Happy reading, all!