WWW Wednesday | 26th of July 2023

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Hello Hello! How are you today?

I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday, this week is going by fast, but probably not fast enough for me as I’ve been tackling a pain flare since this weekend and just felt very fatigued in general. I’ve got a super busy week ahead of me and a busy weekend, so it looks like I won’t be resting straight away.

I didn’t get to read much the past two weeks because we had so much to do, and I’m still struggling to get back into reading at the speed and productivity levels I had before the last months of my thesis work, but I’m slowly getting back into the swing. In the past week, I’ve managed to finish three books, and have a few more on the go.

Keep on reading to find out what I recently finished, what I’m currently reading, and what’s next on my reading list!

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I started this book on Audible a few days ago as I’m buddy reading it with a few friends, and I already love it! I usually boost the speed on audiobooks but I’ve kept this one fairly low and I’m just taking my time with it. I feel like Christie books are the best on Audible. The narrator is not Hugh Fraser (the usual Agatha Christie narrator), but his voice is still enjoyable. I sort of already knew the story, but not in detail, so it’s great fun listening to it and I’m so glad I started reading it. I’ll hopefully be done with it before next week’s check-in!

 

Crush (#2 Crave) by Tracy Wolff

This is the second book in the Crave series and I’m absolutely OBSESSED! I’m only about 70 pages in and I just want to binge it in one go, but I don’t have the hours in the day or even the energy necessary. I love being back in this world and with these characters. Jaxon Vega is my new favourite book boyfriend! I have a feeling this book is going to be full of twists and turns and I’m just enjoying my time with it. I’m going to try to read it slowly because the next book is on preorder (I got the paperbacks for this series) and it only arrives in August, so it’s going to be a LONG wait!

Tant que le café est encore chaud (#1) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

I picked up this book from my library a couple of weeks ago since I have been seeing it about Bookstagram and Book Twitter. I wanted to get the book in English but since we had it at the library I decided to give it a shot, especially since whether I read it in French or English, it’s a translation anyway. I’m about 30 pages in and so far I’m not fully in the story yet, but I’m intrigued enough to want to continue. It’s not a very long book and I have the second book on hold, so I’ll see how I end up liking it!

 

Way of the Argosi (#0.5 Spellslinger) by Sebastian de Castell

And the last book I’m currently reading is the next buddy read with Candyce from The Book Dutchesses and the next instalment in the Spellslinger series that we started together at the start of the year. I hadn’t read any of it for over a week, but this weekend I got back into it and I’m really enjoying it. This book follows Ferius, one of the characters we meet in the first book, and we are both really enjoying reading about Ferius’s past. She has a really sad life so far, but I am really enjoying reading about her and seeing how her childhood and teenage years unfolded and all the horrible things that happened to her. I think we are about halfway through, so we won’t be too long until we’ve finished!

La longue marche des dindes by Léonie Bischoff

This is a French YA graphic novel adapted from The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Karr. I really liked this book because of the historical elements and the art style was really beautiful, because it almost looked like the illustrator/author had used watercolour paint, it gave it such a stunning look. I also really enjoyed the story and I thought it was beautifully executed. It was a very long book, but it kept me entertained. It’s a lovely story about a young boy who wanted to prove to everyone just how far he could go and the dreams he could make true, and the people he met and became friends with on the way. I gave it 4.5 stars and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Ariane, l’astucieuse by Isabelle Pandazopoulos

This was another book I got from my library and it is a short middle-grade/young adult retelling of Ariadne and the Minotaur’s story. I’ve already read one retelling if I remember correctly so I knew what happened to Ariadne and her link to the Minotaur, but I liked that this was a short version adapted for younger readers. It was a quick story to read and it was well written, so I enjoyed it. On the other hand, it’s not very whimsical like a lot of mythological retellings, especially those written by authors such as Jennifer Saint or Nathalie Haynes, so it felt a tad lacking. I gave it 3.5 stars and I enjoyed it!

City of Thorns (#1 The Demon Queen Trials) by C. N. Crawford

The last book I read in the past week really took me by surprise. I just happened to see a reel about this series on Instagram and the whole reel and the caption about this book and book series sounded so amazing, I couldn’t help but buy the first book on my Kindle. Well, it took all of half a chapter to get me completely hooked and completely immersed in this story. It’s a paranormal book with demons and a sort of floating City (or multiple floating cities) where demons live since a treaty between them and humans. The main character, Rowan Morgernstern wants to get into the City of Thorns to search for her mother’s killer, but along the way she ends up striking a bargain with a dangerous and gorgeous demon, and OMG this was exactly what I needed. I would say it’s only mildly spicy, it’s a lot of innuendo and attraction in this first book and only one actual sex scene which I didn’t think was too vivid, so if that’s not really your vibe, I’m sure you’ll still enjoy this book. I was completely captivated and therefore have purchased the second and third books so that I can finish this series soon, because WOW, what a cliffhanger!! I gave it 4 stars!

Les Femmes du bout du monde by Mélissa Da Costa

I don’t really want to give myself too much pressure over picking which book to read next especially since my shelves are all full, both of books I own and ones I’ve gotten from my library. I’ve just picked this one up from my library and about a million people have it on hold after me so I won’t be able to push the date back, which means I have to read it in the next month. This is a story about a group of women who live far away from civilisation and from men, somewhere in the New-Zealand wilderness. I’m excited to read about their story and I’m sure it’s going to be a unique and possibly uplifting read. It’ll also be a bit of a palate cleanser after all these fantasies!

 

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That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx