Completing series is something I really want to focus on this year! I’ve started the first book in a few series now and I need to continue on and get a good chunk of them read this year hopefully.
The five series I want to continue or complete in 2022 are:
Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks
Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski
Serpent and Dove series by Shelby Mahurin
The Poppy War series by R.F. Kuang
Shadow Game Trilogy by Amanda Foody
Every year I pick 5 books that are high on my TBR that I try to prioritise and actually read! This year I decided to go with the books a mix of older and newer releases that I want to get to.
The 5 books I really want to read in 2022 are:
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
All’s Well by Mona Awad
Dune by Frank Herbert
Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is new to you authors. I didn’t read as many books last year so there weren’t that many authors that I read for the first time that I would actively want to read more of in the future. However, I managed to find 5 authors I read for the first time last year that I will definitely pick up from again, whether it’s from their backlist or new releases!
N.K. Jemisin
Matt Haig
Stephen Graham Jones
Ashley Winstead
Andy Weir
*THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD*
The sorority girls at Kappa Rho Nu—the Ravens—are determined to restore balance to the world. After destroying an ancient talisman and barely saving their sorority in the process, they’ll go to any lengths to keep their secret as Westerly’s most powerful coven of witches. Unbeknownst to the Ravens, new rivals and ancient evils lurk on Westerly’s campus. With Kappa Rho Nu’s future on their shoulders and their pasts still haunting them, will Scarlett and Vivi be able to save their sisterhood once again?
Scarlett just came across and very insecure throughout the course of this book. Always second guessing all of her decisions and not really standing up for herself as the president of the sorority. It makes sense now having finished the book why the other sisters kept making remarks about Scarlett’s presidency but the fact that she would just take it and not call them out on being rude and toxic didn’t make sense to me.
Vivi also didn’t really grow in any kind of way throughout the course of this book. She realises at the end how some of her actions and decisions weren’t the best but I feel like if she went back she would absolutely do the same thing. I think she really disregarded the feelings of her sisters when they tried to have the intervention with her despite saying over and over how much of a raven she is, immediately becoming super defensive and dismissive and ran straight over to the Theta’s and joined them. I also don’t understand why she didn’t just explain to Mason about Tim and why she was meeting up with him. She totally just did what Scarlett did to him and I thought it wasn’t nice of her to just blow him off time and time again and then be surprised when he breaks up with her.
I didn’t enjoy the fact that we get this new storyline with the Hadesgate but we don’t get a history of who contained it last time, or who the witch was in the old house that Vivi had the vision about. Also we find out in this book that there are guardians/witch hunters that Scarlett was warned about her whole life which is one of the reasons why they are so serious about containing the secret about their magic. But again were just given kind of the bare minimum that is told to us by Xavier but we don’t get any kind of in depth explanation about who they are and how they were established.
The whole plot was just everything turning against the Kappas all at once and them just being like oh is someone sabotaging us??? It was blatantly obvious that there was someone out to get them but there just wasn’t that sense of urgency until they lost their magic. I feel like the girls are all so cavalier about their magic and will just do a spell whenever something inconvenienced them and it was definitely interesting to see them having to try and navigate their lives without it. There was just nothing that was super surprising or gripping about this book, I was interested enough to see how it would end but this didn’t leave a lasting impression on me at all!
⭐️2/5 stars Underwhelming and forgettable!
*DEFINITE SPOILERS BELOW*
After sacrificing her relationship with Roma to protect him from the blood feud, Juliette has been a girl on the warpath. One wrong move, and her cousin will step in to usurp her place as the Scarlet Gang’s heir. The only way to save the boy she loves from the wrath of the Scarlets is to have him want her dead for murdering his best friend in cold blood. If Juliette were actually guilty of the crime Roma believes she committed, his rejection might sting less.
I found Juliet in this book to be frustrating. I could tell straight away that something was happening behind the scenes with her father as he sent her to ‘work’ with Roma. But because she was so wrapped up in finding out who the blackmailer was and dealing with Roma directly again she was oblivious to what was happening around her until it was too late and she had to scramble. For someone who is supposed to be the heir to the Scarlett gang she is rarely ever with her father or privy to any of his meetings and plans I felt.
Roma was not all that impressive either to be honest. The first half of the book before he found out that Marshall was still alive was just him having conflicting feelings towards Juliet and not really getting anything done. Honestly he didn’t really add anything significantly to the book other than just being a Montagov. I didn’t really come away from the book having that much of a connection to him.
One thing I loved was the evolution of Benedikt and Marshall. Ben finding out that he was still alive and then their reunion where you could feel the tension stirring between them to the eventual declaration of their love! I found it to be incredibly heart warming and lovely to read. I also was very much surprised with Rosalind and Kathleen and how integral their roles were in the plot.
I think what really bogged down this story for me was all of the political talk about the revolution and the different factions within the city that came to a head in the end. I couldn’t find myself being that invested even though it took up so much of the storyline. I know what they were talking about was significant but it derailed the whole story so completely that I feel like the original premise was lost.
⭐️2/5 stars Fell flat for me!
Amy Leigh Reads 