“The Other Black Girl” by Zakiya Dalila Harris

I read this with two of my friends for our bookclub because we all happened to have ARCs of it at the time. The premise sounded interesting, so we were eager to jump in. I thought it would be a fast, propulsive read that would have me at the edge of my seat the entire time. But although it started out good, the story was a huge letdown by the end that left me and my group quite unsatisfied.

Genre

Thriller

Series

n/a

Pubbed

June 2021

From Goodreads

Get Out meets The Stepford Wives in this electric debut about the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of New York City book publishing.

Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.

Top 5 Tuesday #53: Books I Want to Reread

Giveaway Winner

Before I get to the T5T post, I’d like to announce the WINNER of my Wyrd & Wonder GIVEAWAY!!!

The lucky winner is Tanja of Where Stories Lie. Congrats Tanja!!! 😆🤣🥳 She will receive a fantasy book purchase(s) of up to $30USD from Book Depository! 😀

Make sure to check out her Wyrd & Wonder wrap-up post.

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Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm, and now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads.

This week’s topic:

Top 5 books I want to reread

(If you had the time, what are 5 books you would reread now??)

I love revisiting things and often reread books and comics and rewatch movies and TV shows. Being already familiar with the material helps me to focus on other things as I re-experience these books and shows, so it feels like a new experience too.

This is probably the third time I’m doing this topic on here, and I always come up with something new because there are many books I’ve read that I’d love to reread. Here are a few more.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Comics Roundup #55: 1602 — Angela and Marvel

I know nothing about the superhero stories, so I didn’t realize Angela was from the Marvel superhero universe when I got this. I picked up 1602: Witch Hunter Angela purely because of the cover, and the title — I like stories about witches. It wasn’t until I started reading the bonus story — Marvel 1602, #1 by Neil Gaiman — included in this volume that I realize it’s about superheroes but set back in the early 1600s.

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1602: Witch Hunter Angela by Marguerite Bennett & Kieron Gillen, illus. by Stephanie Hans with additional artwork by Marguerite Sauvage, Irene Koh & Jordie Bellaire, Frazer Irving, and Kody Chamberlain & Lee Loughridge

Genre

Historical Fiction; Fantasy

Series

Marvel 1602

Pubbed

2016

From Goodreads

In the altered realms of Battleworld, Angela and Sera are Witch Hunters, the scourges of King James’ England, 1602. In a land beset by magic and monstrosity, they seek a new and seductive evil-not witchbreed, but deal-making Faustians, who bargain with ancient creatures for unnatural power! Moral ambiguity? Fancy allusions? Marguerite making the most of that English degree?

Collecting: 1602: Witch Hunter, Angela 1-4, 1602 (Goodreads)

My thoughts

I had to read this one twice, which I usually do with comics to refresh my memory before reviewing them but with this one, I had to do a double read because I didn’t get the story my first time through. The plot was too episodic, and I couldn’t tell how Angela and her companion, Serah, were able to quickly identify the Faustians. And although I liked some of the mini-stories interjected throughout, they didn’t help to ease my confusion about the main plot.

Comics Roundup #54: “Deadpool: World’s Greatest, Vol. 1”

I recently read a bunch of comics and managed to put a dent in my goal to read at least 20 comic books this year, so at the moment I’m pretty damn proud of myself. 😀

I’ve also gotten into reading comic books digitally, which I’m grudgingly loving because the illustrations show up a lot clearer onscreen, and I don’t have to worry about details getting lost as the page curves into the book’s spine. The colors also pop more when viewed on a device.

However, I do prefer to own physical copies of books, so the comics I tend to read digital versions of are ones I don’t own and probably wouldn’t buy physical copies of, like Deadpool: World’s Greatest, Vol. 1: Millionaire With a Mouth, which I recently read.

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Deadpool: World’s Greatest, Vol. 1: Millionaire With a Mouth by Gerry Duggan, illus. by Mike Hawthorne, inked by Terry Pallot with colors by Val Staples (issues 1-2) and Guru-eFX (issues 3-5)

Genre

Sci-fi – superhero

Series

Deadpool: World’s Greatest

Pubbed

2016

From Goodreads

He’s annoying. He’s dangerous. He smells terrible. But the public loves him. That’s right-the Merc with the Mouth may make money for missions of murky morality…but he’s become the most popular hero in the world for it. Eat that, Spidey! The world belongs to…Deadpool. The fan-favorite team of Gerry Duggan and Mike Hawthorne return to bring Deadpool into his most successful adventures yet!

“The Viscount Who Loved Me” by Julia Quinn, narr. by Rosalyn Landor

I’ve now grown accustomed to listening to audiobooks. I can even listen to new-to-me books on audio and keep up with what’s going on. But the tricky part comes when I procrastinate on writing up a review of what I listened to. With physical and e-books, I can just flip through the book and find things I highlighted to help refresh my memory of what I read and what I thought, but I don’t bookmark or take notes when listening to audiobooks, so discussing the book this long after listening to it will be a challenge.

Genre

Romance; Historical Fiction

Series

Bridgertons, book 2

Pubbed

2000

Quick summary

The second novel in the Bridgertons series focuses on Anthony, the eldest of the Bridgerton siblings. Anthony, a known rake around the ton, has decided to get married, but he doesn’t want to marry for love. You see, Anthony’s father died young and, since he’s nearing the age at which his father died, Anthony is convinced that he will die at the same age as well. As such, he does not what a wife who will endure the same heartache his mom did when her beloved, Anthony’s father, died. That’s why Anthony has his sight set on the beautiful Edwina, but first, he’ll have to convince Edwina’s older sister, Kate, that he’s a worthy suitor.

“Maggie Finds Her Muse” by Dee Ernst

I was in the midst of a romance reading phase when I requested this from NetGalley. However, when I started reading it, I was so annoyed by the protagonist after a few pages that I gave up on the book planning not to return to it.

But I did. I gave it another chance and after working past the first chapter, the story became interesting to me and even enjoyable. I managed to finish it and quite liked it too.

(Although I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, it does not influence the thoughts I share about my reading experience below.)

Genre

Contemporary; Romance

Series

n/a

Pubbed

April 2021

From Goodreads

A sparkling romantic comedy starring a bestselling author who goes to Paris to overcome writer’s block and rediscovers family, independence, and love along the way.

Wyrd & Wonder Wrap-Up & Bingo | 2021

Wyrd & Wonder this year was a surprising success for me. I read more than I expected and, although I didn’t post as much as I expected, I did pretty well considering how unprepared I was.

W&W Plans

I hit all my W&W goals:

✓ Read mostly fantasy.

— Apart from a thriller novel I completed early in May, all my reads were intended to be fantasy reads, although there was one that leans more into horror and another that I didn’t realize was religion but I count it anyway since I picked it up intending to read it for W&W.

✓ Publish mostly fantasy-related posts.

— Apart from a review or two that weren’t for fantasy novels, I’ve managed to pull off posting 95% fantasy-related posts.

✓ Do the W&W challenges.

— I’m so happy I found a way to do this that works for me. I sometimes did the challenges on Instagram, but I knew there would be times that I wouldn’t be able to keep up. Wyrd & Wonder Wednesdays helped me to resolve this; I made the challenge into mini tags. 😊

✓ Host a giveaway.

— I managed to do this as well! And I’m so happy so many folks signed up for it. I will reach out to the winner this week. (The winner will have up to 2 days to respond before I choose someone else. I will announce the winner on here on June 7.)

Wyrd & Wonder Wednesday: So Many Things! Oh, my.

For the month of May, my Wednesdays on here are dedicated to the Wyrd & Wonder Challenge. I’ll share my picks for the topics that pop up in the current week on the Wednesday. Most likely, the picks will be repeats of what I post on Instagram (that’s if I manage to post anything on IG).

For this post, I’ll do the challenge topics for May 23-31. So, here it goes!

Book rainbow…

So pretty 😊

“Dragon Wing” by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

A book with dragons! 😊 Since completing Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series, Emily at Embuhleeliest (my buddy-reader in all things Hobb) and I have been searching for a long, chunky fantasy series to get stuck in. Dragon Wing was the first book we decided to try in our search for a new series to read. But although it started out pretty good, it fell flat for me toward the end.

Genre

Fantasy

Series

Death Gate Cycle, book 1

Pubbed

1990

From Goodreads

Ages ago, sorcerers of unmatched power sundered a world into four realms — sky, stone, fire, and water — then vanished. Over time, magicians learned to work spells only in their own realms and forgot the others. Now only the few who have survived the Labyrinth and crossed the Death Gate know of the presence of all four realms — and even they have yet to unravel the mysteries of their severed world…

“The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry” by C.M. Waggoner

I’m here shaking my head at myself because I read this back in early April and am just now getting around to the review — a whole one month later. I keep procrastinating on the books I enjoyed reading the most. I feel like I won’t be able to do the book justice to let y’all know how awesome they were and that, yes, you really should get a copy and read it too!

I buddy-read The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry with Millie at Milliebot Reads. We had read Waggoner’s debut novel Unnatural Magic together and enjoyed it (and loved the cover) so much that we were eager to pick up the second book together too. It turned out to be a really good read (with a beautiful cover) as well.

Genre

Fantasy

Series

n/a

Pubbed

January 2021

From Goodreads

A charming historical fantasy with a tender love story at its core, from the author of Unnatural Magic.