TBR Post Holiday Reading

I recently signed up for StoryGraph--I'm not one who usually pays attention to how many books they read in a year (I know it's a lot. I don't need hard numbers.) and I never particularly enjoyed Good Reads for my reading use. I've had a few friends speak highly of StoryGraph, though, and I thought I'd give it a go if only so I can keep better track of what I read for the TBR posts. (I'm on there under Lishism if you want to find me.) I don't write reviews on there much--I'm mostly using it to simply track what I've read or DNFd.

Since I mood read and tend to binge read, I think that will be highly evident on there. For example, the books I've read on there so far have been romance, one of them of the "Dark Category Romance" called Mafia Virgin by Mila Finelli. I don't read a lot of dark romance or mafia stuff, but I found out that Finelli is a pen name of Joanna Shupe, and I like most of her historical stuff, so I figured I'd give it a go. Like all category romance, it is exactly what it says on the package. I enjoy Shupe's writing, and will likely read the whole series, but I know it's not for everyone. (Lots of murder, for example.)

I also read the first two Ice Planet Barbarian books because they keep popping up on my feed and I wanted to see what they were about. With the exception of the first few chapters where the women get abducted by bad aliens and there's some abuse/sexual assault that happens (Not graphic, but I wanted to give a head's up) the books have some humor to them and I enjoyed reading them. Again, I don't read a lot of alien romance novels because it's not my jam usually. These were fun, though.

I apparently was in a dark mood, because I also read Devil's Daughter by Katee Robert, which an adult thriller/romance that follows an FBI agent as she goes back to her home town to confront the cult she was raised in and to solve a murder. This one also included assault, torture, and rape is mentioned, but not on page. 

It was not all darkness, though--I finished Battle Royale on audio (Adult, contemporary romance), and it was fun to listen to the book though I'd already read it. Adorable cast, fun GBBO vibes.

I started listening to two different books on audio...and had to stop listening. I was into the books, but for some reason the narration wasn't working for me. They were Murder on Black Swan Lane by Penrose, which is adult historical mystery, and The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu, adult contemporary fantasy, if you're interested. Library of the Dead has long been on my TBR and sounds so cool, and Black Swan Lane seemed fun, so I'll try them both as book books. I don't even think the narrators were bad? They just weren't working for me for some reason. It happens fairly frequently with me.

So I started listening to A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales (adult historical mystery) and so far it's been fun. It's funny, which I like, and the characters are very quirky. It's a comedy of manners with a sort of regency era back drop and so far, so good!

I've been trying to both tackle more of my physical TBR and read more nonfiction this year, so I've finally cracked open my copy of Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws: And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities by Mayor. Her style is very readable and it's a collection of various articles and essays she's written over the years. I've only read the intro and chapter 1, which is about flying snakes, but I'm enjoying it!

I think I'm going to start reading Wizards Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher next, because I got that for Christmas. And again, *waves at physical TBR*.

There has been some TV watching in my household as well. (My therapist has been trying to get me to relax more and "find hobbies besides reading" and frankly, the accuracy of her assessments borders on rude. I'm kidding, my therapist is awesome.) Smalls and I have been watching each episode of Percy Jackson as they come out and really enjoying the series. I love the creature design! Smalls and I also discovered Monstrum on PBS, which is short videos that talk about myths and creatures. (He wanted to learn more about wendigos.)

As with my reading, my watching tends to be mood based and I get locked into certain genres, so it's mostly been cozy mysteries. I finished the new Midsummer Murders, watched both seasons of the Chelsea Detective (somehow I accidentally watched season 2 first?!?), and will probably move along to the new season of Shetland next. The lead detective left last season, and I'm hoping I like the new one just as much. 

Okay, friends--what are you reading out there? Any recommendations for me? (I'm still looking for a new mystery series for audio. *sighs*)

--Lish