Six weeks away from home and jumping right into the back-to-school grind have me WAY behind on this thread and on logging my own reading, so I may not have many thoughts to share on this update (which is basically a recounting of my Goodreads history, since it is so much easier to track there when I only have my phone).
#85/130 -
Myths and Mortals by Charlie Holmberg
The sequel to a YA supernatural title I picked up quite some time ago, I think from
Amazon's First Reads, this was a good continuation of the story with enough twists and suspense to leave me looking forward to the release of the final book in the planned trilogy.
#86 -
Pandemic by A.G. Riddle
I'm not sure how my daughter discovered this one, but it was one of the more engrossing post-apocalyptic titles I've read in a while. The genre seems to be getting a bit played out, but this was more race-against-time thriller than morbid, everyone-is-dead chronicle of the aftermath, and although the story is global rather than confined to a lab, it reminded me in a way of The Andromeda Strain, which I loved when I first read it as a kid.
#87 -
The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran
Fluff romance, I don't really remember my specific impression but I gave is 3/5 stars on Goodreads so I must have liked it well enough.
#88 -
The Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken
This started with what could have been a great premise in a fascinating fantasy world, but it was more of a lesson in all that is wrong with digital publishing than anything else. The formatting was bad, there were grammar, spelling and usage errors throughout, and it was clear no professional editor ever laid eyes on the manuscript before it went live. Which is really a shame because the story itself was fun, if a bit predictable, and the characters charmingly unconventional for their types/genre.
#89-91 -
Thoughtless,
Effortless, and
Reckless by S.C. Stephens
New adult will never be my favorite genre - it is like YA but with sex, and I often find the characters annoyingly shallow or static - but these weren't actually bad for a light bit of escapism. The characters did actually grow and mature over the course of the story arc, which is something I find lacking in a lot of "new adult" romances, and although it played the common "become rich and famous" trope with the main character's journey to rockstar status, it wasn't done in as naive a way as is often the case with these kinds of titles.