Are you sick of seeing the purple bookcase yet?
No?
That’s good - I’m not sick of sharing it (lol)!
If I had to pick only one series to read for the rest of my life, it would definitely A Court of Thrones and Roses (ACOTAR) by Sarah J Maas. This series was just *chef’s kiss* in every way. I finished the series in September and immediately ordered her first series (Throne of Glass) and current series (Crescent City).
After I finished ACOTAR, I went through what I can only describe as if your mixed night of drinking that ended with six shots of Jamo met that bitter, heart aching breakup of your 20’s.
Everything was grey. No other book compared. There was no light left.
But you wanted more. You needed to dig through every platform to suck up every word published about ACOTAR.
So while I immediately ordered her other series, I protected by fragile reading soul by putting them off for months.
While Throne of Glass is not as Earth-shattering brilliant as ACOTAR, I have loved reading her first series. It’s much more YA and G-rated. Throne of Glass was her debut novel, and as an aspiring fantasy author myself, I have loved seeing where she came from, how she’s grown through the series and into ACOTAR. It’s absolutely amazing and just reinforces that I, too, can be an author (if I put the work in).
I’ve finished the first four books in that series (Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, The Assassin’s Blade). I’m currently in the middle of Queen of Shadows.
The Throne of Glass series is the story of Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan’s assassin, as she fights to bring good to a rapidly evil society. A series with eight books means the plot is too long (and spoiler prone!) to sharing. But, if you like stories of fantasy, coming of age, love, getting back up after failing, friendship, big and little baddies, no nonsense females, then you’ll love this series.
There is some debate on how you start Throne of Glass. If you prefer chronology, read them in this order: Assassin’s, TOG, COM and HOF. I think some people say you can even read Assassin’s after Crown of Midnight. But, I chose the order bolded above because a friend recommended me that order and I am nothing but a good friend!
It makes sense because the characters you meet in The Assassin’s Blade largely don’t come back until Queen of Shadows (fifth book), even though the events take place before Throne of Glass. I liked reading about those characters and events as a flashback before starting Queen of Shadows.
Sometimes, if I’m too deep into fantasy it obscures my own writing. The little monster bully in my head starts to chant “You’ll never be as good”, so I have to take a little break.
One of those book breaks was to read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
Now, this might have also been because I wanted to hear what my friend Clare had to say about this book on her new podcast, One More Chapter. Or, it might have been because I was likely the very last person on Earth to have finished this (much like I’m becoming with Lessons in Chemistry).
Anyways, Tomorrowx3, was absolutely charming. It tells the story of Sadie and Sam over many years, ebbing and flowing throughout their friendship that’s impacted by their creative partnership, fame, tragedies, success and love.
A large part of it is about gaming, but like all other reviews state, you don’t need to be into gaming to enjoy it. Every time I thought the plot would go one way, the author surprised me by going another way. The way Zevin writes, flicking between past, present and foreshadowing was like nothing I had ever read before. It was seamless, you were never lost wondering where, when, what.
Delightful.
Finally, Wahala, which follows the friendship of three Anglo-Nigerian women whose friendship are threatened when an old school friend inserts herself into the friendships. Part thriller, part women’s fiction, this book was a really lovely read.
We had the pleasure of attending a Rare Bird’s event with the author, Nikki May, and she is just absolutely incredible and cheerful, radiating positive sunlight. As another advertising industry person, she worked on this book with her husband, who is also her creative partner (her, copywriting; him, art direction). I am such a fan of when people pivot their careers so I loved hearing about her moving from advertising to writing novels, that process, the highs and lows.
What was on your reading list?
(I still haven’t finished Spare! Maybe with the Coronation coming up next week…)