I read two really big books in April! I’m not one for big books in general so this is actually pretty exciting. Probably helped by the fact that I went on holiday in April and took some real chunky books. But overall it was a good month; I liked everything I read and I covered a wide range of genres!
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| Yes, these books did get knocked down about 0.2 seconds after this picture! |
The Coffin Dancer by Jeffery Deaver
I started this series with The Bone Collector back in September of last year, which I adored so I have no idea why it took me so long to get to the next in this series! I picked it up and put it down a couple times over the past few months but holidays always get me in the crime-reading mood and it eventually got its hook in me.
This is Deaver at the beginning of his long writing career and I did find a few things in this book that show that; the most amusing being someone pointing their “alarmingly long thumb” which… what?But also, Sachs, who is a wonderfully fleshed out character in the first book, is weirdly jealous of another woman in this book and responds to that by thinking about how unattractive she is. Other characters mention this womans looks over and over which is icky and a little disappointing.
It’s the second book in the series and, for the first time, I think I understand the whole second-book-is-tough mythology. Following up from The Bone Collector must’ve been a challenge, but I’m hoping these kinks get ironed out in book three.
On another note, I struggle with slurs in books when the intention isn’t to be racist and it’s a slightly older book. The Coffin Dancer was first published 20 years ago so the use of g*psy is, I guess, understandable- but still uncomfortable.
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Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse
Lord Emsworth has very bad luck in houseguests because in every book, someone comes in and uses his castle as the setting for some nefarious plot or other. This time, someone has stolen his pig.
I’m sure I’m a broken record at this point but Wodehouse has the most charming writing, I smile as I read these books and as we enter Spring, I find myself reaching for them more than ever.
Before, he would gladly have murdered Beach and James and danced on their graves. Now, he would be satisfied with straight murder.
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Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir
You all know my love for this series by now. Book one and book two were incredible, and while I enjoyed this one slightly less, it was still great and I’ll be giving it a full review soon!
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The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams
Do you ever read a book and get totally turned around on an entire genre? I was starting to think that fantasy wasn’t the genre for me because even though I love it in theory, in practice it’s what I ever reach for. And now I’m completely convinced that it’s not fantasy I don’t like, it’s male-written fantasy. I’ll be doing a full review rave soon but I can hand-on-heart say that I think Jen Williams is a blessing to the fantasy genre.
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Imogen's Typewriter. 