Happy Monday, Boozie Book Nerds!

Friendly reminder that not all lives can matter until black lives do.

Minda’s Update

Visiting my parents and catching up with old friends in Ohio this week. Hoping to get some reading done before heading to Ohio’s party island this weekend!

What Minda is Reading Now:

• Long Past Summer by Noué Kirwan – Mikaela is a successful New York lawyer—a long way from the person she was growing up in small town Georgia. But when her past takes center stage, she has to confront a former friend and past love. And, to make matters worse, she has to win a case that pits one against the other, and they’re known to play dirty. Thanks for NetGalley for an ARC!
• Fireworks by Alice Lin (audio) – Lulu Li is excited about her last summer before college. But her plans go awry when her old friend and current K-pop boy band superstar Kite Xu arrives back in town in an air of mystery.

Ginny’s Update

What Ginny is reading now

• Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi:  I really do love John Scalzi’s books so I’m really excited for this. I’m like 5 pages in because right after I started my phone died. Thanks Android!

What Ginny finished

• Locklands by Robert Jackson Bennett: This is the third book in the Founder’s Trilogy and it’s such a satisfying end. The thing I love about this series is how the books are set a distance apart so you get to see how much the previous books affected the world and how people live. But to focus on this book, we’re a few years past the second book and the Big Bad has taken over most of the world. Our main characters put on a few last ditch adventures to try to save the world. Again, the world-building here really shines through and it’s delightful and terrifying to see. I love the mix of characters and the end of this book was really satisfying. I will say I think the epilogue may have been a little too tied together, but goodness, I kind of want to reread this series immediately.
• The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner: Gen is a thief in the king’s prison who gets sprung by a government official to find a magic stone that will force a neighboring monarch into marriage. I promise, my summary was bad, this book was AMAZING! Gen is such a fun character and the foreshadowing in this book is subtle but brilliantly done. I finished this book just a little before writing this so I haven’t had time to marinate but I’ve already gotten the second book in the series out from the library…

Sam’s Update

What Sam is Finished:

• The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan: this is the second book in the week of time series, and I’m trying to reread them because I love them and was struggling to read in general. I am reminded yet again how much i love this series
• The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake: this is a book I’ve been seeing everywhere and I got a copy from my fairyloot. I’ve been excited to pick it up for a while. I GOBBLED this book up. It was so good, I can’t wait for the next one.

What Sam is Currently Reading:

• The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah: This is the first book in a series. From what I can gather, there’s a black market merchant who was recruited (unwillingly) to find a Djinn relic by the sultan. He sends his oldest son, but his oldest son doesn’t want to, so he sends his younger brother disguised as himself. Shenanigans happen.
• Starsight by Brandon Sanderson: this is the second book in this series. The main character is trying to figure out her weird powers when an alien with the same kind of powers crash lands onto their planet. Spensa takes the alien’s place in this competition for the human’s jailers… which is confusing, but basically Spensa has to pretend to be an alien and infiltrate the bad guys’ forces. I’m enjoying this so far for sure.

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,

— Sam, Ginny, and Minda