Recent Updates and Currently Reading | June 4

Do you have a TBR jar? I have a vase filled with colored papers containing a lot of my unread books. Each color represents a genre so I can still select based on my mood. I don't get to use my jar very often, but I try my best to keep it filled with books I've purchased.

We started watching Silo on Apple TV. I'm enjoying it so far. The actors are great, and it's cool getting to revisit the series. It feels a little weird to be in a dystopian world since we don't get many stories like this one any more.

This week's update is super short since I still have a lot of work stress that is occupying my mind. We set up a new bird feeder yesterday so I'm hoping to sit outside today, calm the mind, and enjoy some reading.

Posted Last Week

Book Review | City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ - I enjoyed this middle grade horror - recommended!

Finished Reading

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard [dnf] - I was really in the mood for a thriller this week so I pulled a thriller paper out of my TBR jar. For some reason I didn't realize this book was set during COVID. I knew there was a lockdown but I didn't realize it was THE lockdown. Anyway. I only made it 40 pages. There were references to other things like the Challenger explosion and 9/11, and that wasn't the mood I was going for at all. I need fictional escapes right now. I was worried about what else the author was going to rely on so I noped out.

Currently Reading

Night's Edge by Liz Kerin - I'm enjoying this! This is actually a pandemic book, too, but it's vampires - not COVID - so it's all good! The blurb on the cover says it's going to break my heart into pieces, but for now my heart is happy.

Below by Laurel Hightower - We are reading this over on the Horror Spotlight discord. This is my first Laurel Hightower book - I'm excited about it!

Added to the TBR

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson - My beautiful kickstarter edition of The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England has arrived. It's so colorful throughout the whole book!

Below by Laurel Hightower - I'm trying to be a frugal wizard as well right now so I grabbed the ebook of this novella. Already regretting not having a physical copy. :)

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Review | City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

Source: personal purchase. This is a review of my reading experience.

City of Ghosts is a middle grade horror novel by Victoria Schwab.

Cassidy Blake's parents are The Inspecters, a (somewhat inept) ghost-hunting team. But Cass herself can REALLY see ghosts. In fact, her best friend, Jacob, just happens to be one.

When The Inspecters head to ultra-haunted Edinburgh, Scotland, for their new TV show, Cass—and Jacob—come along. In Scotland, Cass is surrounded by ghosts, not all of them friendly. Then she meets Lara, a girl who can also see the dead. But Lara tells Cassidy that as an In-betweener, their job is to send ghosts permanently beyond the Veil. Cass isn't sure about her new mission, but she does know the sinister Red Raven haunting the city doesn't belong in her world. Cassidy's powers will draw her into an epic fight that stretches through the worlds of the living and the dead, in order to save herself.

Yay! I'm so happy to have finally read City of Ghosts. I have so many Schwab books that I still haven't read including this trilogy. To be fair, I bought the rest of the trilogy after my son loved this first book, but I have no good excuses for not having read them myself.

We had a bad storm here, and I needed a horror to lose myself in, and this book called out to me.

City of Ghosts is a middle grade horror novel, but it definitely has wide appeal. It has my favorite MG elements: ghosts and friendships.

Cassidy Blake has the ability to walk between worlds and see ghosts. There was a wonderful balance between the living and the dead. City of Ghosts is creepy but also an entertaining story and well crafted.

I'm absolutely adding City of Ghosts to my list of recommended middle grade horror books.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★
4/5 stars

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Recent Updates and Currently Reading | May 28

Hello, friends! Another week has gone by without me posting any reviews, but I have a long weekend and a determination to get caught up.

Summer is here, and hopefully it will help the mental health! My husband and I went out to eat just the two of us and did some book shopping Friday. I got to work in the yard a little and watch a lot of baseball yesterday. I also read a lot this weekend which I haven't been able to do much of lately.

Do you read more or less in the summer? I think I typically read less in the summer, but this year I'm reading *while* watching baseball so I think that may help make up for doing other things while it's warm out.

Finished Reading

At the End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche ⭐⭐★★★ - This 2⭐ pains me because this book started out so good and I had such high hopes for it. In the end, it was just a really confusing read.

Currently Reading

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey - I'm hoping to focus on this book this week because I truly am enjoying it. Easier, shorter books keep winning my attention, but that just means I get to savor this one when I do pick it up.

Added to the TBR

Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian - Listen to this description! "Red Rabbit is a folk horror epic about a ragtag posse that must track down a witch through a Wild West beset by demons and ghosts - where death is always just around the bend." YES. Red Rabbit comes out in September from Tor Nightfire. (Thank you, Nightfire!)

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig - I was so excited to see this new release at my local bookstore. A Chinese pirate queen. I need her story in my life, and that cover. I absolutely had to own this book.

A Million Junes by Emily Henry - I was also excited to find A Million Junes at the used bookstore! I told my husband I wanted to see if I could find a copy of A Million Junes and what luck! 

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

Recent Updates and Currently Reading | May 21

Hello, my dear reader friends! I hope you are having an excellent weekend. This update is going to cover two weeks, but honestly - I don't have much to report! Last weekend was my birthday/mother's day weekend so I didn't have a chance to get online to post updates.

Things have been so stressful at work - we are restructuring yet again and probably not for the last time - so I just haven't had enough mental power to read when I get home.

This morning my son woke up super sick so I've been with him in the emergency room. I'm getting this update out late - but I didn't want another week to go by! But that's where I am and how things are going. I'm hoping to spend some time later today reading blogs and reviews and posting some of my own! We were supposed to go watch Guardians 3 today, but life had other plans as it often does.

Posted Last Week

Book Review | In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune ⭐⭐⭐★★

Books I Recommend to Others the Most

On My Wishlist | At the End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche

Finished Reading

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ - Hopefully I'll have my review for this one out tomorrow. Recommended!

Currently Reading

Infinitey Gate by M.R. Carey - I'm still very much enjoying this one.

At the End of Every Day by Arianna Rieche - I needed an escape! I was in the mood for a book like Piranesi - a world I could get lost in, and I thought this might fit the bill. So far - I'm a happy reader! It's weird which is just what I wanted.

Added to the TBR

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin - I forgot to mention in my last update post that my pre-order of The Ferryman arrived. I don't have any immediate plans to read it, but I'm looking forward to getting to it eventually.

At the End of Every Day by Arianna Rieche - Just after posting my Wednesday wishlist post, this book arrived in the mail! So thank you very much to Atria for sending me a copy! It releases in July, but I've already picked it up.

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This post is being shared as part of The Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, Book Date’s It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Caffeinated Book Reviewer's The Sunday Post.

On My Wishlist | At the End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche

Wednesdays are for wishlists and books I am anxiously awaiting.

One of the books I am most curious about and anxious to check out is At the End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche. First of all, it's a debut. But Arianna Reiche is being compared to Iain Reid and Jeff VanderMeer. I'm so intrigued! It sounds like it's going to be a weird horror, and I'm absolutely anxious to give it a try.

In this haunting debut novel—perfect for fans of Iain Reid, Jeff VanderMeer, and Julia Armfield—a loyal employee at a collapsing theme park questions the recent death of a celebrity visitor, the arrival of strange new guests, her boyfriend’s erratic behavior, and ultimately her own sanity.

Delphi has spent years working at a vast and iconic theme park in California after fleeing her childhood trauma in her rural hometown. But after the disturbing death of a beloved Hollywood starlet on the park grounds, Delphi is tasked with shuttering The Park for good.

Meanwhile, two siblings with ties to The Park exchange letters, trying to understand why people who work there have been disappearing. Before long, they learn that there’s a reason no one is meant to see behind The Park’s curtain.

What happens when The Park empties out? And what happens when Delphi, who seems remarkably at one with The Park, is finally forced to leave?

At once a novel about the uncanny valley, death cults, optical illusions, and the enduring power of fantasy, Reiche’s debut is a mind-bending teacup ride through an eerily familiar landscape, where the key to it all is what happens At the End of Every Day.

Expected publication: July 4, 2023 by Atria Books