Hello!

Here’s our weekly wrap up from the WRFB crew =)

Linz’s Updates

Got drunk Friday. Got less drunk Saturday. Celery and sadness the rest of the week.

What Linz read:

• This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: Two figures, Red and Blue, fight for opposite teams in a war to change the course of time, and they start to fall in love. REALLY cool concept, but there’s a lot that was left to be explained–and I suspect they could have done so if this weren’t just a novella.
• It All Comes Back to You by Beth Duke: I’ve been trying to make use of my Kindle Unlimited trial, so I read this novel that bounces between a nursing home aide writing a book about a now-dead patient’s life, and the actual events of the patient’s life. Meh–unhealthy relationships, questionable motivations, and a major fail of the Bechdel Test.
• Now Entering Addamsville by Francesca Zappia: A rebel girl tries to prove she didn’t commit a string of arsons without telling the truth, because that would mean telling people she sees ghosts and fights demons. Review tk, but I really enjoyed reading this book.
• Cursed by Thomas Wheeler (illustrated by Frank Miller): You’ve all seen the very catchy Netflix-toned ARC cover, you’ve all seen this at every book festival this year. Review tk, but…yikes.

What Linz is reading:

• Recursion by Blake Crouch: I literally have no idea what this is about, I picked it up because I really liked Dark Matter and everyone else on our team has loved this book. I’m 2.5 chapters in and goddamn I may finish this today.

Ginny’s Updates:

Whatsup! I’ve had a great week. Went to see a Cirque du Soleil show for my Birthday on Tuesday with some of my amazing friends, and as always my mind was BLOWN! I tried to branch out this week and read a little more things outside of my norm. I’ll let you know how that went, but first:

Currently reading:

• Breathless by Beverly Jenkins: This is the second book in a series, the first book was Forbidden which I covered in a previous weekly wrap up. This book focuses on one of Eddy’s nieces and one of the other minor characters. This series is charming and does a really nice job of creating the atmosphere of the old west. I’m really enjoying Portia’s personality and the way Kent is so laid back.
• After the Flood by Kassandra Montag: This is one of the ARC’s we got from somewhere and it takes place in a flooded world. It’s pretty damn heavy on the dystopian. I’m about 70 pages in and I get the feeling this might get DNF’d, not because the book is bad, but just because I’m not sure I’m in the right place to read something like this. Myra is traveling with her 8 year old daughter and finds out that her 12 year old daughter (who had been kidnapped by her shitty shitty husband) might have been sold basically to slavers… It’ll be interesting to see which list this ends up on for me next week.

Finished:

• Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire: This is the third book in the InCryptid series and it switches focus from Verity, to her older brother Alex. Alex lives in Ohio with his grandparents working at a zoo which is a great cover for his interest in cryptozoology. I’m planning on writing a review for this one, so no more info here.
• Lord Dashwood Missed Out by Tessa Dare: I think I’ve read other things by Tessa Dare and picked this one out because of a twitter thread about the “enemies to lovers” trope which I occasionally find delightful. As a note, this was a novella, so pretty damn short. But they were childhood friends and he was a bit of an ass to her before disappearing for years. She wrote a book about it and when he comes back she’s right pissed at him. Obviously it works out in the end. But a quick fun read. 3.5/5
• My Best Friend’s Mardi Gras Wedding by Erin Nicholas: I have this book club where I read free romance novels from Amazon with a few of my friends. This one was a lot better than the ones that we usually read. Definitely had a few issues (starting out with the leads have painfully cringey flirtations at the beginning of the book and ending with the wrong person uprooting their entire life plus the addition of a probably too bitchy fiance of the heroines best friend). Regardless, the cast of this was pretty fun. 3/5
• Trouble in Lafayette Square: Assassination, Protest Murder at the White House by Gil Klein: This book takes snapshot looks at pieces of history in one small square of the nations capital. The book follows a fairly linear timeline and especially early on there’s a fair amount of overlap. It was a good reminder for a local about the amount of history that is steeped in the vast majority of the city I walk through on a daily basis. 4.5/5
• How to Lose a Bride in One Night by Sophie Jordan: This book had it’s moments but there was definitely a certain amount of sexual assault and I’m kind of in the camp of offering warnings for that somewhere.
• The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards: This book starts in the mid-60s when a doctor and his wife has twins. The girl has downs syndrome and the doctor gives the baby away before his wife wakes up form the gas they used to give women who gave birth (gonna be honest, the “twilight” births sound kind of great. Wish they still did those) and tells his wife the baby died instead. The book follows the lives of the Dr, wife, and son, to be compared with the life of the nurse who took the baby and raised her as her own. It’s an interesting look at grief and the ways a single decision can ripple out. That being said I’m very conflicted about the way that I feel about this book and the way that the people with Downs Syndrome are treated. I think it could be a realistic portrayal, but I’ can’t tell whether or not it’s also infantalizing. 2.5/5

Sam’s Updates

It was a fun week! Ginny’s and Mama’s birthday, went to the show, it was awesome. Got drunk on Friday, and then also last night. I am hurting pretty bad this morning (she says, at 4:39 in the afternoon).

What I read this week:

• Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte: In this story, the country is divided into four quadrants each with their own specialty, run by their own queen. Enter our everyday thief and she finds out about a plot to kill the queens. Off we go on our adventure. I listened to this on audio, and it was fine. not great, but not bad either. Insta-love was a thing and so was the “plot twist”.
• Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel: This is the third book in the Themis Files. I was talking about this with Parker this week, while I LOVED book 1, and book 2 was alright, this one has shifted tone drastically. I didn’t mind the end at all. But I sorta wanted more from it.

What I’m currently reading:

• Steeltide by Natalie C. Parker: This is the second book in the Seafire series, which I didn’t enjoy as much as I wanted to, but THIS book. THIS BOOK is significantly better than the first. I love it when that happens.
• The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig: This story is about a girl on a pirate ship that can travel through time. Her dad, the captain, is tryna get back to Hawaii so he can save his wife, but it may mean that our lady may cease to exist. I’m doin ok with this. I think, like Linz, I struggle with this author. Audiobook format is helping though. Idk what the plot is supposed to be yet.

Minda’s Updates

What Minda is reading now:

• On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl – Based in the post-war American west, this woman and her brother-in-law are living a restless and divergent life on the road. Haven’t gotten very far yet.
• Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner – This story is about two sisters growing up in the suburbs of Detroit in the 1950s. As we follow them through their lives, things don’t go according to plan. Enjoying so far!