Weekly TBR Plans

 Okay so I have had a pit in my reading heart where the Empyrean Series once was, I finished all three books and have had such a book hangover! 

HOWEVER...after sulking for about a day and enjoying many many posts on Reddit about the books, and tons of silly memes..I feel better. I've started on a new book and while there are no dragons to be found...it's still been a fun one. 

Also my work schedule this week is pretty light so plenty of spare time to read! I have a "my eyes are bigger than my stomach" kind of reading week planned for me. Let me show you what I mean!

Behold! My TBR for this week:

SEE! I have already made it halfway through Girl In The Creek, it's been a strange (but attention grabbing) ride so far. Murderland and The Lost Queen are both ARC's and the rest are all kindle books. 

Let's see how I do! 

What are you reading? 

Spring Into Horror Readathon-I'm In!

 

So I'm going to be joining in on this event, as it's a month-long event and I think I can properly participate. I'm also really needing to play catch up on my reading goals! So yay! 

The one main "rule" of Spring into Horror is that you must read at least ONE scary book (which can be a thriller, mystery, Gothic novel, or similar for those who are faint of heart). I hope you will indulge the scary beyond the one book, but that is entirely up to you. It is all about the reading after all.

I will try to figure out a good #TBR for this, but I have some time to think thunk upon it. 

If you want to join in just click that pretty banner thingy and go sign up! 

Weekly Reading Goals

 I'm going to make a plan for my reading goals this week. I really want to get back on track and put a lot of reading "work" into my week. So here goes my goals:

• Finish Iron Flame 
• Start on Onyx Storm
• The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan  ARC
• I Am Made of Death by Kelly Andrew ARC 

Now I doubt I'll finish all of these in one week but I will be pleased if I can make head way in at least a couple of them. 

So what are you reading this week? What's your TBR looking like? 

Let me know! 

I'm Sick, Let's Readathon!

 

Lookit my sweet banner making skills! 

So my weekend plans have been derailed by the ick. I'm feeling like absolute shite so I am taking the weekend off and spending it as a loaf on my sofa/bed. I'm rather bummed as this means that my son won't be visiting (don't want to infect him), so I've decided to make the best of it and do a lil readathon thing. 

I'm starting on Friday morning, probably around 8am CST and ending on Saturday night (probably around midnightish). I don't have work until later on Sunday so I might carry over but I'm going to run a timer and try hard to reach 24 total hours of reading. 

I have a stack for my TBR:

• Finish up Iron Flame
• Start Onyx Storm
• I Am Made of Death
• Murderland

I have plenty of snacks as I was planning on having the kiddo over, so I will be comfort eating as I read. 

You can join me if you want! 

1st Update:

I'm still reading Iron Flame. Today has been rough. I woke up feeling worse than ever so I've just been ugh...I took a long nap mid-day and have basically been a slug otherwise. 

If this isn't enough proof of how it's going I started today at 25% in the book and as of now I'm only at 35% as of 3pm. I'm still going though. 

UPDATE

I have been reading more today but I am still sick (duh) so I'm extending this readathon until tomorrow afternoon :)

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (review)

 

Blurb:

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans--though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the "Transition." Now, eating human meat--"special meat"--is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he's given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he's aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost--and what might still be saved.

My Thoughts:

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I felt really unsettled whilst reading it. It's not a happy book. There's not really any warm and fuzzies going on here. The world kind of sucks. The characters are all kind of sucky and the thought of eating human flesh just makes me nauseous...and I get it. That's the whole point. I think the author was trying to highlight how complacent humans can be when the majority chooses to do something, the few will go along with it. 

I couldn't help but hope that the main character would break free, do the right thing and live with the consequences of his actions but alas...it didn't work that way. (I'm trying to be as spoiler free as possible here). My main thought through this whole story was HAS NO ONE HEARD OF VEGETARIANISM OR VEGANISM? There are so many meat substitutes why go to that extreme? That was the part that lost me and kept me from slipping into this world completely. 

Honestly, it's a decently written book. There was sufficient world building that I could picture this society pretty well. A few little points kept it from being REAL REAL and the main character was just pretty boring. There were several gory scenes in the book that made me squeamish. Several non-gory scenes that made me squirm in an unpleasant way and then the ending made me grrrrr. 

I didn't exactly hate it, but I didn't exactly love it. It was a quick read however, so there's that. 

What did you think of this book?  

Winter's Respite Readathon

 

Well I am going to be working my way through my TBR this month! I have a nice stack going and I am still on track to hit my goals!

I'm currently reading Fourth Wing, and hope to be finished by tomorrow (Sunday 2nd) and easing my way into Iron Flame, and then into Onyx Storm. So those are the first 3 books on my TBR. 

Here's the rest of the books on my to read list:

• The Borgias by Michael Mallet
• Murderland by Caroline Fraser
• The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
• The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

So that's 7 books by the end of February. I don't know if I can do that but it's what I'm aiming for. I don't think I'll be able to participate in the readathon on the 22nd, as I will have a work shift at night but I might could participate halfway and extend it into Sunday? I don't know yet. 

Other things I'm focusing on this month is the 75 Soft Challenge, it's a fitness thing that I'm starting Sunday 2nd. 

I'm debating on posting my progress for that here on my blog, even though I know it's not a fitness/health blog. It is part of my life and my goals for the year too. 

So let's get reading ya'll! 

The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (Double Quick Reviews)

 

The quick and dirty:
This is sci-fi at it's best! I am almost done with the last book in the trilogy and I am loving it! These books are absolutely must reads if you are into this genre! I got interested in it by the Netflix series (of course!) but the books blow the show out of the water! 

The Review: 

So the basic premise, and it is dumbed down because the science-y stuff is super dense (don't let that scare you please!). The Earth learns that in 4 centuries (or so) an alien species is going to "visit" Earth. Are they evil or are they going to be friendly? That's the question that really drives the first book through. We sent a signal into space to see if anyone answers, and they do. We aren't sure who they are or what they want, so different factions start to form. Those that welcome the new visitors and those that see them as a threat. Can you guess which group the government falls into? 

There's much more to the story, but that's basically the gist of it. Humanity is no longer alone. The first book, though very science heavy is showing how the human characters are all struggling with so many of the  "human" experiences that would be involved around this new knowledge. It's (in my opinion) both science driven and character driven. 

You learn about the aliens, you learn about why they are in space and responding to our signal. You learn about the people that interact with them and you get a good look at how people would react to such knowledge. It's both interesting and horrifying. 

The Three-Body Problem is an excellent read and a great start to a series. 

Then we get into The Dark Forest, the 2nd book in the series. 

This was a bit more dense with the science and a bit more of a slow read. We find out that the aliens have decided that we aren't worth it, so they plan on taking us out. The chaos that ensues from this is wild! The government tries to prepare and plan their counter-attack. Scientists try to ramp up the development of Earth's technologies. The general public tries to cope with the knowledge that there's a ticking time bomb headed straight for them. It's madness, and it's also pretty compelling. 

The Dark Forest is more about the aliens. You get more knowledge about them, their planet and their plans. It's not revealed completely, but you start to understand just a bit more. This book has almost completely new characters from the first, but they too are also well written and interesting to meet. 

I did find that the middle section (the more science-y heavy ones) did drag just a bit, it was tough getting through but once you made it the last 200 or so pages are explosive! So it is definitely worth it to push through. 

I am loving the 3rd book in the series so look out for my review coming soon. 

So for the first two books, I can say that they are very solid sci-fi reads. They are translated and sometimes I felt like the meaning was lost in the translation, but mostly it was easy to follow the plot (though as I've said a few times already the science-y bits can be a bit heavy) the world building and characters are all well developed and interesting. 

I'm not going to do star reviews, but I will say that is sci-fi is your jam and you haven't already read this series I would say go for it!