What I’ve Been Reading Lately: 4 Quick Fire Reviews

Instead of giving you one review this week, I want to do a quick run down of the last 4 books I read. I did this last year and if you guys like it I can probably do it every quarter or something. Just let me know in the comments. So without further ado, here are four books you’ll either want to add to your TBR immediately or decide to drop from your list!

1. Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid:

“I know there may be universes out there where I made different choices and they led me somewhere else, led me to someone else. And my heart breaks for every single version of me that didn’t end up with you.” 

I loved “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” so I decided to give Reid’s backlist titles a try. At 29, Hannah Martin moves back to Los Angeles after moving around the country so many times to finally settle down and create a life. Shortly after moving back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with her best friend, Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan. Right after midnight, Ethan asks Hannah to stay with him instead of leaving with Gabby. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan? In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. This was just an okay book for me, I thought the premise was super interesting but I thought the execution was just okay. I didn’t find the storyline where she doesn’t stay with Ethan as compelling as the one where she stays. But this book brings up a lot of questions about the concept of soulmates and fate that I found super interesting. I gave this book 2 stars on goodreads.

   2. The Ember Blade (The Darkwater Legacy #1) by Chris Wooding 

“Every day, a person should learn something, experience something, do something that left them changed, even in a small way.”

This is the first book in this series. I came across this book randomly on audible so I did this on audio. I absolutely loved this book. Such a solid start to a hopefully great series. Born into a land under occupation, Aren has lived by the rules all his life. He’s never questioned it; that’s just the way things are. But then his father is executed for treason, and he and his best friend Cade are thrown into a prison mine, doomed to work until they drop. They’re rescued by a man who hates Aren’s father but is bound by an oath he made in the past to protect him. Pursued across the country by human and inhumane forces, Aren starts realising that the rules were not made for his people, a revolution is brewing and he’s heading straight into the thick of it. This writer makes you fall in love with his characters and then kills them off. The last death that happens in this book absolutely broke my heart. Give this book a try if you’re into fantasy. I gave this one 4 stars on goodreads.

3.  Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

“But what’s the use of arguing with a man? You belong, Mr. Smith, to a sex devoid of a sense of logic. To bring a man into line, there are just two methods: one must either coax or be disagreeable. I scorn to coax men for what I wish. Therefore, I must be disagreeable.”

Anyone who follows us on twitter (follow us @2nightstands!) knows I raved about this book while I was reading it. This book is an epistolary novel which is usually hit or miss for me but this was such a hit! “Daddy-Long-Legs” was written in 1912 (yes, that wasn’t a mistake!) but it reads so modern. When Jerusha Abbott, an eighteen-year-old girl living in an orphan asylum, is offered a chance to go to college all expense paid by an anonymous millionaire she is incredible happy. The only catch being that she write him letters about her experience in college regularly. I adored this novel. It reminded me a little of “Mallory Towers” but there’s a romantic element to this book which I also found extremely cute and which I guessed way before the reveal. I gave this book 4 stars on goodreads and you can get the kindle version on amazon for just 99cents.

4. The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas

                                      

“Adversity didn’t improve everyone – or the world would be filled with men and women of flawless character and sublime insight.”

This is the third book in the Lady Sherlock series. Sherlock Holmes is reimagined in this series as a woman called Charlotte Holmes and just like the real Holmes, she has a powerful sense of deduction, very intelligent, lacks access to the full spectrum of human emotions and solves mysteries. The whole premise of this series is that Charlotte has disgraced herself in society, she moves out of her parents house and sets up a mystery solving agency under the name “Mr. Sherlock Holmes” pretending to be a man. In book 3, her love interest Lord Ingram’s wife – Lady Ingram- turns up dead in his estate and all signs point to him. With Scotland Yard closing in on him, would she be able to solve the mystery in time to save Lord Ingram from the gallows? I didn’t enjoy this particular installation like I did the previous ones. I gave this one 2 stars on goodreads but will continue to read the rest of the series because I usually enjoy them. It’s fascinating to read the roles women were relegated to in the society and time period these books are set in. Really recommend starting this series if you want a fun series to get into. Also, I recommend you start from the first one because even though they never end on cliffhangers and each book solves a complete and independent mystery, the author builds up the story from each book released.

 

I hope you enjoyed these quick fire reviews. Let me know if you’ve read or intend to read any of these books in the comments. Have a great reading week everyone!

 

Leggy