Happy Monday, Boozie Book Nerds!

This is your weekly reminder that black lives matter. Also, #StopAAPIHate

Sam’s Update

I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that things are opening up. But that also means I 100% don’t want to read as much, which is funny cause it’s not like I was reading much before.

What Sam finished:

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• The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis: I gobbled this up. Basically, in this world, there’s a war between two space empires, one based in religion. This religion has “sisters” who can’t speak (literally) and they’re like the priests but also prostitutes for the ship crew. The first sister is one of our POVs and has been asked to spy on her new captain. There’s also the other side and he was an elite warrior that lost a battle and has been given a mission to come back to glory. Anyway, I read this in 2 days and it’s so good.
• The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix: I’m a huge fan of his other work so when I saw he’d come out with a new series, I bought it immediately. Susan just got to London before school and wanted to see if she could find her dad before classes started. When she got to her “Uncle’s” house, she was attacked by magical beings and is saved by the Queerest Merlin. Turns out there are these booksellers, that are also like Sam and Dean Winchester. Sort of like the men of letters from that show. This book moved so fast. But I found the characters really endearing.

What Sam is Currently Reading

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• Flamefall by Rosario Munda: this is the sequel to Fireborne. It’s dragons. It’s almost like post-Romanov revolution but the Romanovs are still out there. But with dragons. I loved the first one, and I’m loving this one too.
• A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine: this is the sequel to a memory called empire and I was waiting to get the audio since I loved the audio for the first. This picks up with the political machinations right where the other left off, but back on Mahit’s home world. I love it.

What Sam DNF’d

• Reaper of Souls by Rena Barron: this is the second book in this series, and I just couldn’t get into it. I made it 50% and like nothing had happened. I realized the first one was pretty similar so I just put it down.

Ginny’s Update

It’s been a bit since I actually sent an update. Life, man, it gets in the way. Regardless, it’s not ridiculously hot outside which means it’s so much more comfortable to splay out on the couch and read!

What Ginny Finished:

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• Pride and Prejudice and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev: This book is a love letter to pride and prejudice and it’s GREAT! Trisha Raje is a brain surgeon, brilliant, but awkward and currently in an odd place with herr family. DJ is dealing with a sister with a brain tumor, and is also a really good chef. They meet and instantly deal with attraction and the fact that they kind of don’t like each other. Honestly though, I think this is one of the best P&P inspired books that I’ve read. It doesn’t follow the formula exactly, but the two characters still perfectly encapsulate the emotions of pride and prejudice and, ugh. I want the whole series now!
• The 99% Invisible City by Ronan Mars: This book was a really interesting look at modern and historic architecture. It’s easy to see the big things i.e. traffic signs, crossing walks, the buildings. But there are still all of these pieces that have specific histories and reasons behind why they exist. It was interesting learning why certain things were designed in certain ways.
• Finna by Nino Cipri: This book was a lot of fun. A wormhole opens in an Ikea-esque store. Two min. wage workers (who recently broke up) are sent in to find a missing customer. This book did a nice job about playing around with the way that every big box store feels like every other version of that big box store, seeing it in the different universes was also a ton of fun. It’s also a novella, so super short.

What Ginny is Currently Reading:

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• You Can’t Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson: I’m not very far into this, but Phoebe Robinson is a comedienne writing about being black in the world. I’m reading this for a book club, but so far I’ve enjoyed her perspective and writing style.
• Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly: I know Minda read this book a while back. It’s taken me a while to get into it and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. The book focuses on one of Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters and the fight between Fate and Chance for what is going to happen to Isabella (said stepsister).

Minda’s Update

The highlight of the weekend was having a phenomenal time dressing up for a murder mystery scavenger hunt as Clue characters. I was Mrs. Peacock and it was great.

What Minda is Currently Reading:

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• The Stepsisters by Susan Mallery – “Eighteen years, two kids and one troubled marriage later, Daisy never expects—or wants—to see Sage again. But when the little sister they have in common needs them both, they put aside their differences to care for Cassidy. As long-buried truths are revealed, no one is more surprised than they when friendship blossoms. Their fragile truce is threatened by one careless act that could have devastating consequences. They could turn their backs on each other again…or they could learn to forgive once and for all and finally become true sisters of the heart.” Comes out later this month. ARC from NetGalley. Look forward to finding out everyone’s secrets muhahah.

What Minda Finished:

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• The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell – “Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am … But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.” Enjoyed, but didn’t love.
• The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff – “Ella Stepanek is an affluent Polish girl living a life of relative ease with her stepmother, who has developed close alliances with the occupying Germans. While on an errand in the market, she catches a glimpse of something moving beneath a grate in the street. Upon closer inspection, she realizes it’s a girl hiding. Ella begins to aid Sadie and the two become close, but as the dangers of the war worsen, their lives are set on a collision course that will test them in the face of overwhelming odds.” See drunk review here.

No update from Ginny this week

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,

— Sam, Ginny, and Minda