37. Started on the 26th of the month
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So one of my friends got me Winter, White and Wicked (Winter, White and Wicked #1) by Shannon Dittemore in one of those blind date with a book things where the book comes wrapped up in paper with a few keywords written on it to catch your eye and a few little treats like stickers, bookmarks, and pens in between folds of the wrappings. Neither of us had heard of it before, but the Mad Max: Fury Road meets Frozen description written on the wrappings definitely sounded interesting. I definitely never would have ever thought of that kind of combination before, but the whole dystopian fantasy thing had potential. Anyway, now that I've read it I can say that it doesn't live up to that potential at all. The whole thing, but especially the world-building and magic come across as just thrown at the wall and seeing what sticks, if that makes sense, and the fantasy element really didn't really stick for me. If this were strictly speaking dystopian in a subzero setting, I think it would have had a much better chance with me. Finally, I want to mention that I think if the characters felt more real, that also would have solved other issues as well. Oh well, at least I got some nice stickers that I could use for my Postcrossing hobby!
My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.
9. Featuring a natural disaster
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The Storm by Rachel Hawkins isn't quite a favorite but I still really enjoyed this suspenseful mystery thriller. I like the Rachel Hawkin's style and I appreciate her ability to combine the two timelines in the story. I definitely need to catch up on her backlist soon.
My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.
22. Spotted in a TV series or movie
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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume offers quite a bit of a different experience from what I experienced at 12, but I honestly should have read this novel when I was that age. I might have to rewatch the 2023 movie adaptation now that I've read the source material. Also, it's still just a little funny to me that Margaret's new friend is named Nancy Wheeler. I understand why this is considered a classic now. It's wild knowing this has been so frequently banned and challenged since it's release in 1970.
My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.
30. Author related to another author
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People of Darkness (Leaphorn & Chee #4) by Tony Hillerman is another great installment of a western mystery thriller series I've really been enjoying. This one took me a bit by surprise given that Joe Leaphorn isn't the lead this time around, but the new character Jim Chee is. And, he's a pretty great cop as well even if he's quite a different character from Joe Leaphorn. I'll have to jump back into the tv series soon - I'll be on season 3. On that note, I was surprised with the differences between Jim Chee already knew from the tv series versus his original book iteration. Whatever the case, I'm looking forward to continuing this series both in print and onscreen.
My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.
36. Award-winning book from last year
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Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell is a fantasy horror with a dash of romance that I've really been looking forward to. Now that I've finished it, I don't know why I was putting it off for so long. I really liked the characters, especially Shesheshen who is absolutely fascinating. The world-building is also outstanding. I don't often read body horror, but this does it well. The one thing I wasn't particularly a fan of the instalove which took this down a notch for me. If you're a fan of Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill or Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher, you can't miss this standalone. I'll have to try more from John Wiswell in the future.
My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.
Are you participating in this challenge? Have you read any of these books? As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!
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