Mt TBR Report: March 2021

Friends, I’m feeling very tired. I am continuing to deal with some health issues and some significant changes to household routine. So, I have decided to embrace the trend towards short and/or fluffy in my reading for the time being. You can continue to expect to see a lot of romance on my lists in these reports.

Recently on Twitter, I came across this thread from Sandstone detailing a method she’s been using to bust through her own recent reading slump. With April beginning, I thought I would give it a go. So far, I’ve found it to be very effective; it forces me to be honest about what I actually want to read instead of what I think I should be reading.

I don’t yet know whether I will stick to it for the long-term. Doing so will require me to accept there are quite a number of books on my pile that I feel I should read but will probably never get around to. Perhaps that would be for the best.

Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing the results at the end of April.

Mt TBR Status

Mt TBR @ 1 January 2021: 426
Mt TBR @ 28 February 2021: 429
Mt TBR @ 31 March 2021: 425

Items Read

22. Thorn by Intisar Khanani. First book in the Dauntless Path. Reread. Reviewed here.

23. Brambles by Intisar Khanani. Short story prequel to Thorn. Lovely, but entirely unnecessary.

24. The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani. Second book in the Dauntless Path. Reviewed here.

25. Witchmark by C.L. Polk. Fantasy. First book in the Kingston Cycle. A former military doctor now working at a veteran’s hospital gets drawn into investigating the murder of a fellow witch. There was a good balance between the different elements: investigation, romance, action and family dynamics. Miles’s struggle with bureaucracy was very relatable and his relationship with Tristan very sweet. I wanted to shake Grace, though.

27. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. YA fantasy. First book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy. A cartographer in the army is whisked away to court when she reveals a dormant magical power. Thought I’d better get to this before the Netflix series starts at the end of April. I found it a captivating read, very grounded in the YA genre. However, it’s not a story that stuck with me for long.

28-32 slow motion, double vision, rose blush; where the spirit meets the bones; with great power; on top of the world with you; my pain fits in the palm of your freezing hand by AppleJuiz. Fanfic of the Tom Holland Spiderman movies. AppleJuiz is my favourite writer in this fandom for the way they nail the voice of MJ. They do a great job of striking a balance between the intellectual self-awareness and the emotional awkwardness. Peter is likewise a great balance of absolute disaster and observant sweetheart. Anyway, I was most delighted when AppleJuiz started writing new fic in this fandom. What’s listed here is a mix of new works and old rereads. One day I’ll have to get to their AtLA fic.

33. Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier. Historical fantasy. First book in the Blackthorn and Grim series. Reread for book club. I liked this book a lot when I first read it. However, while rereading it I really noticed the trope of sexual woman as villain, which somewhat soured it for me. Nevertheless, I still love the characters of Blackthorn and Grim — Blackthorn for her feminist rage and Grim for his sweetness and loyalty.

34. Two Rogues Make A Right by Cat Sebastian. Historical m/m romance. Third book in the Seducing the Sedgwicks series. Will kidnaps his childhood friend, taking him out to the country to nurse him back to health. A charming story between a ray of sunshine and a bramble bush. I enjoyed the exploration of the agency of the chronically ill. I also loved the depth of loyalty between the characters, the sense that they would march into hell and back for each other.

35. Deadlock by Moira Rogers. Paranormal f/m romance. Third book in the Southern Arcana series. An empath doctor finds herself thrown together with a werewolf alpha after an attack on another empath. I’ve been a bit meh about the other books in this series, but it starts to find its stride in this book.

DNF

Stormsong by C.L. Polk. Fantasy. Second book in the Kingston Cycle. Dame Grace sets out to save the kingdom while trying to evade the interest of a beautiful and intrepid reporter. I loved the first book but I just couldn’t get into this one. It was very much a case of it being me and not the book. There is a lot more politics in this book and I just didn’t have the bandwidth to read about a privileged young woman discover her privilege (though I could, no doubt, learn a lot from it).

Acquisitions

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Kokomo by Victoria Hannan
Stormsong by C.L. Polk
By Earth by T. Thorn Coyle