Happy Monday, Boozie Book Nerds!

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

Ginny’s Update

Happy almost Fall! The temperatures are still hot and don’t seem to be going anywhere but I’m still going to get excited about leaves changing and the possibility of sweaters in the near future.

What Ginny is Currently Reading:

• Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey: This is one of the book recs I got from Worldcon. Talia is from a border town that is really patriarchal, and finds a “companion” or magic horse that means she’s a Herald, which is the right hand of the Queen. She goes from an abusive family to a school and honestly this book is super cute.
• Honor’s Knight by Rachel Bach: This is the sequel to a book that’s been on my TBR forever that I finally read (earlier in the week). Honestly, the sequel has gone straight in on making the mysteries so much more mysterious.

What Ginny Finished:

• Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and how I Met my 35 Siblings by Chrysta Bilton: Chrysta mom wanted a child and found a man who fit the criteria of what she wanted in a sperm donor and made him promise not to donate to other people… He ignored that. This book details the unconventional household that Chrysta grew up in and it feels both like a unique story and also a snapshot of the past.
• The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian: This is the second book in the London Highwayman series. And I didn’t know that when I first started reading and I got very confused because the books overlap and I kept recognizing plot points. The quasi-duchess of Clare and the man who is blackmailing her run away after she shoots her husband and the back and forth in this book is delightful.
• A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert: I’ve read other books by Hibbert and really liked them but this book didn’t really do it for me. Ruth Kabbah is the town pariah for REASONS and new man in town Evan doesn’t care about that. They fall into each other and their relationship is really sweet. Honestly, I think a lot of the reason I didn’t feel this book is because it was set in the UK but felt very much like it shouldn’t have been.
• Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach: This is the book that had been on my tbr forever and I got it as an audiobook. Devi is an elite fighter who wants to get on the elite squad that protects her race’s queen. To do this, she signs up to guard the least fortunate ship in the gallery. I think this book built up its mysteries really nicely. I think some of the relationship things felt a little unrealistic, but the book made me want to keep reading.

Sam’s Update

What Sam is Finished:

• Master of Iron by Tricia Levenseller – this is the second book in this duology all as part of my mission to catch up on my open series. This one picks up with Ziva and her folks trying to get Talia healed from certain death but the healer is captured by a bad guy. When they go to save the healer, Ziva and her bae get captured and things go from there. I loooooooved this. Review to come

What Sam is Currently Reading:

• Wings of Shadow by Nicki Pau Preto – this is the last book in this series so I can’t really tell you what it’s about. Again in my mission to catch up. Listening on audio and I’m enjoying it so far
• Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson – this is the last book in the Skyward series (seeing a theme here this week?). Again, can’t say much except Spensa somehow got herself in to a worse pickle this time. Slow going but enjoying it

Minda’s Update

• No update from Min this week

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,

— Sam, Ginny, and Minda