Hey everyone!!

Hope you all had a great third week of Magical Readathon! I know we did!

Sam’s Update

I had a really fucking great week. Some really good life stuff happened. Also my best reading week this year. 5 OWLs down, 2 to go. I may even be able to get a seminar done!

What Sam Finished:

• History of Magic: Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell: This is the sequel to Carry On. A sequel that we didn’t deserve but we got anyway. This is sort of a spoof on Harry Potter fanfiction that began in another of Rowell’s books, Fangirl, which was also great. This was not as good as the first one, sort of a let down. I still love the characters but they seemed a little whiny this time. More to come in a drunk review.
• Ancient Runes: The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkowski: (I have a real photo here to show that my beautiful special edition has a heart on it so it counts) This is a story of a girl who’s living a pretty shit life working for and being raised by this abusive woman. But as with most abusive relationships, she has no idea. Anyway, she ends up in prison for something dumb and she meets this person who is charming and they get them both out early. Another let-down but still beautiful. Drunk review is coming for this one too.
• Arithmancy: The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd: FOLKS. This is the fictional story of Ana, Jesus’s wife. Yep, you read that right. Sue Monk Kidd imagines a universe in while Jesus Christ has a wife. And while we all know his story, this is really more about hers. What was it like to be a strong woman in a world where women weren’t intended to be. Friends, I loved this. LOVED it. Can’t wait for Drunk Sam to gush about this.

What Sam is Currently Reading:

• Divination: The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu: So I’m listening on audio but what I can make out is that this is the story of Wolfgang Mozart’s sister and her way in to a magic world. The way she gets there is through music. I am loving it. Can’t wait to read more.
• Astronomy: Seven Endless Forests by April Genevieve Tucholke: I’m like 8 pages in. But it’s a gender bent Norse version of King Arthur, I think. We’ll see.

Minda’s Update

Magical Readathon (and social distancing) continues! Four classes down, two to go.

What Minda finished:

• Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire – Completed Ancient Ruins! This (short!) read is about the children who travel to alternate worlds that reflect their truest selves—then end up back in our own world. It was delightfully creepy—loved hearing about the worlds.
• Imposters by Scott Westerfeld – Charms also complete! This series is a continuation of the Uglies/Pretties/Specials world, which I loved when I was a teen. Two twin girls are inseparable… that’s because one is the other’s double. The double steps in for a dangerous deal and needs to keep her sister’s identity to survive. I loved and can’t wait to read the next!

What Minda is reading now:

• If These Wings Could Fly by Kyrie McCauley – For Arithmancy as something outside my fave genre. A powerful story about a teen girl who is balancing school, dating, and being a good sister, all under the cloud of the domestic violence she faces at the hands of her father at home.

Ginny’s Update

Happy 4/20 everyone. I managed to actually fit in a little more reading this week, and the library oh so cruelly took back another e-book. Because I’m actually home, I’ve been trying to get through some of the physical books I’ve had sitting around forever.

What Ginny Finished:

• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: That’s right. I finally finished this sucker. And I was right, I needed to be in the right headspace and wasn’t there. This book got very 2001: A Space Odyssey late in the book and… I don’t have the brainpower to make that work. I think it’s a book I could still enjoy but, wow was now not the right time for me.
• Sarah Bernhardt: The Divine and Dazzling Life of the World’s First Superstar by Catherine Reef: This is a YA biography. But I had a few issues with this that pretty much boiled down to this book felt more like a recitation of facts, and seemed unbalanced as to where the focus was.
• A Love Hate Thing by Whitney D. Grandison: Okay, so this book was clearly supposed to be a cute YA book, but boy do I have some major issues with it. To the point that Sam wants me to write a review to get it all out. I might, but let’s just say a lot of my issues stem from the fact that this book has a lot of good to it, which is why I’m so frustrated. Basic story, boy gets taken in by childhood friends family, but was from the rough side of town. He and the daughter clearly have a thing for each other.

What Ginny is Currently Reading:

• Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett: I’m still loving this book, but like I said, I’ve been having trouble reading, and my focus has shifted to physical books, and this one isn’t physical. Things are starting to ramp up so I’m pretty sure that as soon as I read one more chapter I’m going to fall into a hole and finish the book.
• Crybaby Ranch by Tina Welling: This is one of those books that I’ve had forever after pillaging it from family. It falls in the “wife realizes she needs to leave her marriage and goes to reinvent herself.” She’s going to Wyoming, which seems like an odd choice, but yeah, her husband sucked.

What the Library Stole:

• City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders: I’ve already put a new hold on this one. It just got away from me.

Until next time, we main forever drunkenly yours,

Sam, Ginny, and Minda