CBR16 Book 66: "Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros

Page count: 561 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Smash (romantasy - I want it on record that I hate this term, by the way)

Since this has been a huge success and had lots of attention on the TikToks and the like, I'm not even sure if I need to give much of a plot summary, but here goes:

All her life, Violet Sorrengail has wanted to become a Scribe, like her father. However, her mother, a commanding general of the army of Navarre (the fictional country this is set in) will not accept that any child of hers become anything but a dragon rider. Violet's older sister is a dragon rider, Violet's older brother was a dragon rider (until he tragically died), and so Violet also has to join the most insanely dangerous quadrant of the Basgiath war college, even though she's only had about six months since her mother ordered her to change her mind, and she's disabled to boot, so weaker and much more breakable than most of the ruthless candidates surrounding her. 

Violet survives the perilous first task (apparently more than sixty people died before even getting into the college - is that really a good way to run a school?) and now has to stay alive in a literally lethally competitive environment. The lucky first years who survive, may be lucky enough to bond with a dragon and be granted exciting magical powers as a result. Violet has to use all her cunning and guile to survive among her more vicious peers, and there are a lot of people who want her dead, including the imposing Xaden Riorson, son of the man her mother personally executed after a failed rebellion. He and a number of other young family members of rebels are at the school because enrolling (and most likely being killed) was the only option given to them to ensure their survival. 

Violet does make friends, and surprising everyone, survives long enough to get a chance at bonding a dragon. Once that ordeal is over (and she's once again nearly killed), it becomes impossible for her to avoid Xaden any longer, since their dragons are mated, and that means that if something happens to either of them, the other one dies because of the bond bestowed by their dragons. So that's fun. Of course, Xaden might hate her mum, but he is undeniably very hot. Despite having every reason for wanting her dead and having lots of opportunities to get her killed, Xaden instead seems amused by Violet, even sparring with her and challenging her - it's all very confusing.

There is danger facing the borders of Navarre, and fewer dragon riders every year to deal with it. It becomes clear during Violet's first year at Basgiath that the country's leadership are hiding things and downplaying the seriousness of the attacks on border villages. Will Violet survive her first year at war college only to find herself thrust into an actual war?

For quite a while, I was usure about reading Fourth Wing because of all the hype on TikTok. Colleen Hoover is beloved on BookTok, and what little I tried of one of her books quickly made it clear that those books are not for me. So I was a bit sceptical. Then my friend Ashley read it last year and made this fun video about the experience. Generally, if Ashley likes a book, I will too (there are exceptions, but they are usually hard sci-fi or horror books).

While I don't think Rebecca Yarros and her dragon romantasy has gotten lots of readers hooked, even the ones who don't tend to read speculative fiction, I don't think she's anywhere near Twilight-levels of popularity and obsession. Because I myself was deeply hooked on the Twilight saga back in the day, and you still can't entirely convince me that the pages of those books weren't laced with crack, removing all critical faculties of the reader and making them impossible to put down. 

Did Fourth Wing hook me as powerfully? No, but I can absolutely see why it's become so popular. I also see why it's been widely criticised, because there are aspects of the world building that just do not make a lick of sense. Violet is a better heroine than Bella Swan, mainly because she has some agency, and the plot doesn't just happen to her. But she's also clearly extra super speshul and manages things no one seems to have done before - for why? Who knows? The plot requires it to be that way. Of course there is a love triangle, because these books seem to always have to have one. There's Violet, our plucky heroine, there's Dain, her childhood best friend, who has pretty thoroughly friend-zoned her their entire life, but now seems convinced (despite repeated proof of the opposite) that Violet is too fragile and weak to survive to become a dragon rider, and keeps wanting to smuggle her into the Scribe's quarter. No points for guessing who candidate number three is - if there is a dark, brooding, probably dangerous dude, who your entire surviving family has warned you to stay away from, that's clearly going to be the one guy who's bones you really want to jump. Xaden also gets major points for never underestimating Violet, and instead of coddling her, encourages her to get better, stronger and sneakier. 

While Twilight is YA and Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon who's all about no hanky-panky before marriage  (and let's not forget, if you do have sex, you'll get immediately pregnant with a lifeforce-sucking parasite and literally die giving birth to it), Fourth Wing is aimed at a somewhat older audience, and by the time Violet makes up her mind about which third of the love triangle she prefers (I'm sure you couldn't possibly guess who she picks), there are some pretty graphic sex scenes. Encindiary, one might say. As someone who read a whole lot of smut as a teenager, I don't see a problem with YA readers reading these (or Sarah J Maas or a bunch of other books that seem to be shelved in the YA sections of bookstores despite dealing with much heavier themes). But some people might be shocked, so fair warning. 

As well as having a central premise that just does not make sense Seriously, why kill off most of your promising young people - some of them before they've even made it INTO the school? If your country is fighting a decades-long war, you are going to want as many able-bodied fighters as possible. So only the best can become dragon riders? Fair enough, but why do pretty much all challenges have to be succeed or die? Why not have the ones who fail challenges moved to one of the other three sections of the war college, possibly to start at the bottom, but at least given a chance to be a valuable member of the fighting force. It's quite clear that once the first-years bond with a dragon and start trying to ride on them, a whole bunch of them die anyway. Why kill off  the majority of them before they get to that point and natural selection apparently kicks in? It's maddening, people!

This is my real life bookclub's pick for November, and I'm very much looking forward to the discussion. I hope a whole bunch of people show up, and I suspect there will be many spirited opinions. I'm also glad I waited long enough to read this that third and final book in the series is just around the corner. It's being released in January, so I think I'll wait for December to read book 2 (which I have heard is extremely slow-going in the first half, but gets better towards the end). I'm also glad I liked it because my friend Des took my book to a convention and got it signed and personalised by Rebecca Yarros, so it would suck if I hated it. 

Judging a book by its cover: Despite this book only coming out in 2023, it already seems to have a huge amount of alternate covers, most of them in black and gold. While the hardback is golden with black patterns, I prefer my paperback in matte black, with the pattern in gold and white. Much prettier. 

Crossposted on Cannonballl Read

CBR16 Book 64: "Obsidio" by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Page count: 615 pages

Audio book length: 13 hrs 1 min

Rating: 5 stars

CBR16 Sweet Books: Binge

CBR16 Bingo: Celestial (set in space. I'm sure the characters observe lots of stars on their epic journeys through space)

Spoiler warning: this is the third and final book in the Illuminae Files. A lot of stuff happened in the previous two novels, and it will be impossible to review this book without referring to some significant plot points. Additionally, I don't see how this book would be a satisfying reading experience taken out of context. So if you aren't up to date, and have finished Illuminae and Gemina, skip this review until you can return unspoiled. Or you know, read it and get minor plot spoilers. It's your life, you do you.

'

Previously in these books. The evil BeiTech corporation attacked an illegal mining colony on a small ice planet called Kerenza. They also deployed some scary biological weapons with disastrous results. Only very few of the refugees who originally escaped Kerenza in various rescue ships are still alive, now doing their best to stay alive on the Hypatia. They were trying to get to the wormhole at Heimdall station, but BeiTech's evil goons arrived before them and did their best to wipe out everyone there as well, trying to cover the tracks of their evil actions. Now the Heimdall space station is no more, the wormhole is useless and the survivors from Heimdall station need to join forces to survive. Luckily, the leader of the BeiTech assassination squad had a pretty cool spaceship that they now have access to, but it wasn't really designed to hold and transport several thousand passengers.

'

Our intrepid YA heroes include Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik, not to mention Nik's genius cousin Ella. Despite all the amazing feats these young people have managed to perform, a lot of the older crew members now distrust and underestimate them, which leads to conflict and frustration. They discover that there are still people alive on Kerenza and that BeiTech hasn't been able to mine enough fuel to leave the place yet, but the clock is ticking, and despite the reluctant mining crew's many attempts at sabotage and delay, soon the evil corporate overlords will have what they need to leave for good, and whatever survivors are still on Kerenza will be disposed of.

On Kerenza, we are introduced to two new young rebels to cheer for, even though Rhys is working as an engineer for BeiTech and is now forced to work with the mercenary soldiers on the planet itself. He is shocked to reunite with his old girlfriend, Asha, who also happens to be Kady Grant's cousin. After a very passionate love affair a few years back, where both of them made some questionable decisions and got involved with some unsavoury people, Asha and Rhys were forced apart. Rhys was enrolled in a military academy, and Asha was sent to live with her relatives on Kerenza. While actually a pharmacy trainee, she now works as a nurse and pathologist at the only med centre left on Kerenza, and she is also a member of the resistance trying to sabotage BeiTech's remaining operations as much as possible. She can't believe that the man she loved is now part of the evil organization who is oppressing her friends and neighbours, but obviously, there is more to the story that she knows - and it will surprise no one that Rhys isn't actually a villain.

So we have the desperate people trying to stay alive on Kerenza, and the harried survivors returning through space from Heimdall station, on a ship that may not have enough resources to get everyone safely there in time. It's clear that these brave young people have to outsmart BeiTech once and for all, and to do that, they also need to make sure that all the atrocities are documented. So in this book, we finally find out how a lot of the material we've been reading for the past two books was assembled, and we discover the identity of the snarky young tech who has been narrating all of the video files throughout.

This is the first of the books I read partially in audiobook, after recommendations from among others, my friend cheerbrarian (she also has a podcast). I don't know if I would have liked the audiobooks from the start, knowing how many different types of text are collected in the novels, but having read the other two in paperback, having this as an audiobook for when I was out and about was great. I have also gotten the audios of the previous two and can see myself using them when I want to reread in the future.

This YA series is unlike anything I've ever read before and it made me feel pretty much all the feels at some point or another. I've been scared, grossed out, I have laughed and cried. Despite all of these events clearly being told after the fact at a tribunal for the head of BeiTech industries, so it's obvious that our band of heroes will be OK in the end, I was still on the edge of my seat and scared that one or more of them wouldn't make it. It's also important to note that while our protagonists survive, these books have death counts in the multiple thousands. So many innocent (and not so innocent) people die, in all sorts of horrible and/or tragic ways, and yet you feel elated and happy at the conclusion of the trilogy, because a little core of found family is safe and well, despite everything. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 63: "A Taste of Gold and Iron" by Alexandra Rowland

Page count: 510 pages

Audio book length: 18 hrs 20 mins

Rating: 5 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Golden Gold in the title and gold as a pivotal part of the plot. Also pretty much all of the central characters are solid gold.

Kadou is the younger brother of the sultan of Arasht and is delighted that she's just given birth to a healthy baby, putting him further down the line of succession. Unfortunately, the baby's father, a powerful ambassador at court, believes Kadou to be jealous and a threat to both his baby niece and his sister. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately, because he confides in some of his bodyguards, who massive overreact when they believe his life is later threatened by said ambassador at a hunt. It ends with two of Kadou's bodyguards killed and his sister furious with him.

Kadou has to plead with the sultan to let him stay at court. Kadou is in serious disgrace and hates that he has disappointed his sister. He is also fighting guilt, anxiety and depression after the deaths he feels partially responsible for causing. To keep her brother out of trouble, he is given a new personal bodyguard, the very proper and exacting Evemer, who Kadou is convinced despises him. Nevertheless, Evemer takes his duties very seriously, and accompanies Kadou to dangerous parts of the city, even though he clearly disapproves of the prince's drunken binges and trying to pick fights. After a memorable occasion when the two are ambushed in an alley, and Kadou ends up being the one to save the life of his bodyguard, Evemer's opinion of his charge changes.

To get back into his sister's good graces, Kadou has promised to get to the bottom of a series of thefts that may also be connected to a ring of counterfeiters. Once he and Evemer start to investigate, it's clear that there may be a number of city officials involved in the case, not to mention the self-same ambassador who fathered the sultan's heir and is trying to ingratiate himself further at court. Kadou needs to try to figure out how the thefts and counterfeit coins are connected, why someone is trying to destabilize Arasht's economy and possibly threaten the security of his sister's reign, all the while trying really hard not to fall in love with his taciturn bodyguard.

This book has been on my TBR since it came out and now that I've finished it, I'm really annoyed that it took me so long to finally read it. I listened to about three quarters of it in audiobook, really well narrated by Casey Jones, but got impatient to see how it would end, so ended up reading the rest on my e-reader (then I went back and listened to some of the really romantic bits again, because I really liked how Jones voiced both Kadou and Evemer and wanted to hear their dialogue read to me). 

Far too often, when publishers compare a book to others that have been previously published, the books in question far too often seem to have been selected as some sort of mad lib "book x meets book y", but in this case, I didn't feel lied to about this book being similar to The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Both books are set in elaborate court settings with a reluctant royal just trying their best to do a good job, despite all sorts of personal insecurities holding them back. 

In this case, the book is set in a historical fantasy world inspired by the Ottoman Empire. The eldest child becomes sultan, whether they are male or female, and Kadou's sister is a great secondary character. She is clearly tries to be a fair and just ruler, as well as a loving sister, and sometimes those two roles are difficult to reconcile, especially after Kadou goes and gets himself involved in an embarrassing squabble with a foreign ambassador, with people getting killed in the process. I really liked that children are clearly "belong" only to the mother, who can decide whether they want to grant 'the body-father' any rights to the child at all. The ambassador who fathered the new princess and keeps trying to get all possessive, is repeatedly told that he merely provided his genetic material and that any raising of the child will be done by the sultan herself, and any male members of her family (like Kadou). This is not just the case with the rulers of the country, all men are merely body-fathers, unless the mothers choose to make them more permanent parts of their children's lives.

This is also a very diverse world, where several members of the court are non-binary, with the prounouns çe (che) and çem (chem). Kadou clearly prefers men, but is accepting of the fact that if he has to marry a woman to secure a strategic alliance that would benefit the country, he will do so. The royal family's bodyguards, or khayhalar, are seen more like extended family members than servants, and most of them are extremely well educted and go on to hold important offices in the country's bureaucracy as their careers progress. So Kadou really feels the loss of two of his khayhalar deeply, made all the worse because he is sure he contributed to their deaths. If he hadn't been overly anxious and confided in some of his khayhalar about his sister's ambassador lover, they wouldn't have overreacted when they believed him threatened, and no one would have died. 

Kadou is also suffering from strong anxiety, but believes this to be a personal weakness and that he is a coward. He occasionally suffers from panic attacks, but only one of his khayhalar know about them and has figured out how to calm him down. Evemer, who initially believes Kadou to be "careless, flighty and negligent", not to mention completely unable to take care of himself. So he is rather shocked when Kadou knocks him out with one punch after he patronizingly offers to teach the prince to fight. He's forced to entirely reevaluate his opinion once they are attacked and instead of running away while Evemer does his job and fights the assailants, Kadou, who hadn't been lying about how much self-defence he had been taught, instead stays in the alley and skilfully murders the lot of them remarkably quickly and efficiently. 

In a lot of books, I find excessive mutual pining very frustrating and keep wanting said couple to just get over themselves already. In this book, the growing attraction between Kadou and Evemer is very well done, and the reason neither of them confess their feelings or act on them is clearly explained by their difference in social standing. Kadou believes himself to be a coward, a failure and a disappointment and is far too aware that while it's a very honourable position, Evemer is still his servant. A servant whose duty it is to sacrifice themselves for their charges if necessary. Equally, once Evemer realises that his initial impressions of Kadou were wrong, he believes himself far too lowly to ever be a worthy partner for a prince.

What seems to be a fairly minor investigation into the theft of some documents, turns out to become something a lot more dangerous, not just for Kadou and Evemer, but for the sultan and her baby as well. They come to learn that someone may have turned some of the khayhalar into traitors, and the court is no longer a safe place. There is a wonderful extended sequence where the sultan, her baby girl, Kadou and some of his trusted retainers all hide out with Evemer's mother, who doesn't blink an eye at having to house such exalted company.

I absolutely loved this, and because I waited this long to read it, there is now a sequel novella, as well as another adventure novel by Rowland set in the same universe as this one. So excited to read more. 

Judging a book by its cover: Isn't this cover just the most gorgeous thing? I often don't like covers portraying characters, but this pretty much captures my mental images of Kadou and Evemer perfectly. The hair jewellry, the gorgeous embroidery of the outfits, the background. Kadou holding the coin while Evemer gazes adoringly at him. *heart eyes* In contrast, the UK edition I have, is rather dull. Just a navy cover with some flowers on it. 

Crossposted of Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 62: "A Sorceress Comes to Call" by T. Kingfisher

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Dun Dun (From pretty much the first chapter, where Cordelia is "made obedient" there is a creeping sense of dread all the way through this novel)

Cordelia knows her mother isn't like other mothers. Other mothers can't take over your limbs and puppet you, or force you to stay still and motionless for hours or days on end. Other mothers permit doors that can be closed in the house and let their daughters have friends. Other mothers don't have a magical horse who spies on the daughter when they are out on rides. Cordelia's mother wants her to marry a rich man, and to launch her daughter properly into society, Cordelia's mother needs a rich husband who can provide her with the lifestyle she requires, and then conveniently disappear. 

Cordelia's mother, Evangeline, has found a suitable candidate, a middle-aged country squire who she now just needs to charm sufficiently for him to propose marriage to her. She can't enchant him, because all magical spells are dissolved once the wedding takes place (it involves water, wine, salt and holy ground). Fortunately for her (certainly not anyone else), Evangeline is beautiful and enticing and more than manipulative even without using magic. What she had not taken account of when plotting, was suspicious relatives. 

The squire's spinster sister, Hester, recognises Doom (as she without fail refers to Evangeline) the second she arrives on their doorstep, and she has no intention of letting her brother fall into her clutches. Hester is initially unsure whether Cordelia is her mother's creature and will take Doom's side, but after observing some of their interactions and speaking to the servants (Cordelia sometimes goes to sleep hidden in a wardrobe), she concludes that the girl will also need to be rescued from her ambitious and merciless mother.

I see lots of people saying that this is a dark fantasy set in the Regency era, but I really didn't see a lot of traces of a specific time period in the story. It could just as easily be set in some generic historical fantasy past. I have only read two books by T. Kingfisher previously, but even What Moves the Dead, which had me uncomfortable throughout, really kept me turning pages just to see what would happen next. Nettle & Bone was one of my favourite books of 2023. It also features a sinister threat and a sense of dread throughout, but in A Sorceress Comes to Call, the feeling of discomfort and unease begins in the very first chapter and doesn't really let up until the very end, because Cordelia's mother really is that unpleasant and so clearly extremely dangerous, and you really don't want her to cause harm to anyone, let alone the protagonists, Cordelia and Hester.

It should also be mentioned that this has some elements reminiscent of the fairy tale of The Goose Girl, but not enough that it feels right to call this a fairy tale retelling. The horse Falada certainly plays a very different role in this book than in the original fairy story. 

Cordelia has never known kindness or affection, and having seen her mother do terrible things in the past, she knows the Squire and Hester are in danger, but she's afraid to talk to anyone. She knows that the tale of her mother's magical powers will most likely not be believed, and she fears she will be seen as her mother's accomplice. Luckily, Hester is an observant and clever woman, who takes Cordelia under her wing and listens to her, even when what she says appears preposterous. In an attempt to slow down Doom's seduction attempts somewhat, Hester invites a number of close family friends for a house party, to ensure that the Squire is never entirely alone with the scheming sorceress. 

Cordelia and Hester are both such likeable protagonists. By letting the readers share the POV of Cordelia, Doom's traumatised young daughter, Kingfisher is able to show first-hand just how terrifying her mother really is. Giving Hester, a wise middle-aged woman the other POV gives the readers hope that there may be some way to thwart Doom's plans and hopefully give Cordelia a safer future. 

Hester loves her brother but is by no means blind to his weaknesses. She knows that if she doesn't act quickly, Doom will have charmed herself into marriage with her brother, and after that, it's unlikely that either Hester or her brother will live for very long. Hester also regrets some of the choices of her past, which means she gave up on love and marriage of her own, and now she is older and has a bad knee and feels she would only be a burden to a potential husband. Thankfully, someone disagrees with this (there is a minor romantic subplot that I found very sweet). 

I don't think Kingfisher's full on horror books are for me, because her suspense books are frankly more than unnerving enough. Luckily, I have a large back catalogue to choose from, and likely many good reading experiences in my future.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 61: "System Collapse" by Martha Wells

Page count: 256 pages

Rating: 4 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Rage (The Murderbot Diaries are all the rage all over the bookish internet, in addition, there's a lot of rage-inducing behaviour from the evil corporation in the book)

Spoiler warning! This is book 7 in the series, and absolutely not the place to start reading. This book will not make as much sense if it's your first encounter with Murderbot. You should have read at least All Systems Red, Artificial Condition and the previous novel, Network Effect to have the requisite backstory for this book. It's actually impossible for me to review this without mentioning what happened in Network Effect.

Murderbot is not OK. Murderbot cannot entirely trust its own instincts and reflexes anymore. That makes it very difficult for Murderbot to do its job, which is to provide security for its crew, who are currently working together with the crew of the Perihelion (better known as ART to its friends) to protect the rights of the colonists already living on planet they discovered in the last book. Unfortunately, the Barish-Estranza corporation wants the planet and its resources and has sent additional ships and SecUnits to try to persuade the colonists to sign contracts for "rescue and protection", which would in effect mean they would be signing away their lives to Barish-Estranza, being stuck labouring for them for the rest of their natural lives to pay for said "rescue and protection".

The fact that there are multiple groups of colonists living on the planet, spread out in different factions, further complicates the job of our intrepid good guys. Murderbot has to accompany some of its and ARTs crews to a remote location on the planet to inform a separate faction of colonists about the sinister motives of the Barish-Estranza representatives, who seem like they come offering safety, relocation and transportation to a new home. Because of [redacted] Murderbot is worried it might lose control, but in the end, it turns out that Murderbot's previous work to disconnect itself from its Control Module, not to mention its tremendous knowledge of entertainment and media is what might sway the colonists away from the tempting, but duplicitous offers of the Barish-Estranza corporation. 

None of the instalments of the Murderbot Diaries are bad, but after all the action and emotional developments of Network Effect this book felt a lot more like a filler episode before more significant plot hopefully happens in future stories. It was nice to see Murderbot's people and ARTs crew interacting and getting along, and I was especially impressed with the solution our ragtag crew came up with to thwart the nefarious corporation. I had a good time reading this, but I doubt it's one I'm going to be re-reading a lot.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 59: "Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup" by John Carreyrou

Page count: 352 pages

Audio book length: 11 hrs 37 minutes

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo: From a genre you've never read (true crime)

CBR16 Bingo: Fiasco (Theranos was a massive fraud and a fiasco)

I've owned this book since 2020 and am pretty sure I picked it up in an e-book sale because of the many Cannonball reviews I've read about it over the years. Not being particularly interested in the tech world or medical science, and certainly, not someone who reads a lot of business news, I didn't really hear about this case as it was unfolding, and I'm aware that there have been podcasts, a documentary and a mini-series starring Amanda Seyfried about the scandal, but this book was pretty much forgotten in my e-book collection until the Nowhere Books bingo required me to find a book from a genre I've never read.

Readers of my reviews will know that I have certain genres I prefer - romance, fantasy, YA, the occasional mystery or sci-fi novel. If I read nonfiction, it's usually historical biographies, celebrity autobiographies or something I need to read for work. Nevertheless, I like to challenge myself, so over the years I've read a LOT of different books in so many different genres. It was genuinely a challenge to come up with one I hadn't already tried. My husband suggested I look up subgenres of nonfiction, as it was clear that was where I'd find something that might fit the bill. When True Crime came up, I realised that would work. I know that lots of people find True Crime fascinating, but I just don't really see the appeal in exploring grisly murder cases or other horrific crimes. This book, which I remembered that I had on my shelf didn't seem to involve any murders, so it would probably not traumatise me too much. 

John Carreyrou is the journalist who wrote the Wall Street Journal articles which began to expose Elizabeth Holmes as a fraud and brought attention to the very shady business practices of her tech company Theranos. He later developed his thorough research into this book, where he details how Miss Holmes, a young and charming Stanford dropout managed to bamboozle the tech and business world for years, promising her company could deliver quick, accurate and almost pain-free blood tests with devices so small and portable they would be possible for the public to have in their homes. At one point, Theranos was valued at 10 billion dollars, without ever having actually managed to produce the testing machines or blood testing results they were promising.

Holmes was beautiful and persuasive, and clearly excellent at fundraising for her company. Along with her boyfriend, Sunny Balwani, who was COO of Theranos, they managed to perpetrate their fraud for so long by intimidating and threatening their employees, firing anyone who spoke up about their suspicions of underhanded dealings, and because very few of their investors actually understood the science behind what they were trying to do. Holmes was featured in a number of highly flattering articles, and the board of directors of Theranos at various points included several senators, former secretaries of state (including Henry Kissinger), a former secretary of defence, an admiral, and a general - all seduced by Holmes' promising tale of deception. 

Once Carreyrou started investigating the case, he had a hard time finding people willing to talk to him, since Holmes and Balwani made all their employees sign iron-clad NDAs and were fiercely litigious towards anyone they thought might be a threat to their company. However, Carreyrou were able to publish several critical articles, which again led to investigations into Theranos' business practices and inspections of their laboratories. The results were disastrous for the company, proving that not only were the test results their labs produced extremely unreliable and could endanger patients because of it, but they were mostly using equipment from other producers to get their results since none of the proprietary machines made by Theranos worked at all. They had not only misled their investors, they had put countless patients' lives in danger with their inaccurate blood tests. 

It was a fascinating story, and I will probably check out the HBO documentary and the mini-series at some point as well. Now, having read this, I can't really think of any genres I haven't tried at least once.

Judging a book by its cover: Some editions of this book feature a gloved hand holding up a tiny vial of blood, but my edition, and most that I've seen, have this fully black cover with the bold red title. Not exactly the most exciting, but the contents of the book more than might up for it.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 58: "Much Ado About Nada" by Uzma Jalaluddin

Page count: 320 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Retelling (modern retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion)

CBR16 Bingo: Bollywood (set in Canada with desi protagonists)

The absolutely last place Nada Syed wants to be is the big annual Muslim convention in downtown Toronto. She is nearly 30 years old, single and lives at home with her parents and two brothers. If she goes to the convention, there is a high chance that she'll run into her old mentor, formerly her mother's best friend. She might also run into her mentor's son, her former business partner, who promised to help her launch an advice app, but stole her ideas and launched a rival app of his own shortly before the official release, making Nada's app a dud. 

Now Nada's friend Haleema is getting married, and her fiancée Zayn's parents run the convention. Haleema obviously wants to introduce her future husband to her maid of honour. What no one knows, because Nada has made very sure not to tell anyone, is that while she's never met him, she knows of him from his brother Baz, who will also be at the convention. Nada hasn't seen Baz for six years, and they have a long and complicated past between them, some of it romantic. When they finally do meet again, Baz treats her like a stranger, which she can understand, but it still hurts. During the days of the convention, their paths keep crossing, and with each new meeting, Nada can't help but wonder what would have happened if she's given them a proper chance all those years ago, instead of breaking both Baz' and her own heart.

Jalaluddin's first novel, Ayesha at Last, was a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, set in Canada. Her second novel, Hana Khan Carries On, had a lot of elements from You've Got Mail. In this novel, Jalaluddin takes inspiration from Persuasion, and even includes some direct references to the characters and some quotes. It, therefore, shouldn't come as a surprise to the reader that Nada and Baz have a past, and that there are unresolved issues between them, as well as regret and longing colouring their current interactions. 

Nada and Baz first met when they were eleven, at Sunday school. Baz was the new boy and Nada became his relentless bully, trying to gain popularity and fit in. It's pretty bold of the author to show such a negative side of Nada as early as chapter two. By the time Nada and Baz meet again, she has realised how badly she acted and apologises to Baz, who forgives her. They become friends, and later, when they are students together, romantic feelings spring up between them. But they are young and inexperienced, and Nada's parents disapprove of their relationship, so they have to date in secret. Having to lie to everyone she knows and keeping Baz secret from her friends and family is difficult, and in the end, Nada's insecurities and doubt lead to them breaking up.

While Nada's parents indirectly contribute to Nada and Baz's breakup, they are not portrayed as bad people. They care a lot about their three children, who all have challenges in different ways. Nada's elder brother got divorced and has joint custody of twin girls, but still lives in a small apartment in his parents' house. Nada is worried that he is depressed and unable to move on with his life. She takes him to a dating event during the convention to help him meet new women, and maybe get a new chance at love. Nada's younger brother has a rare genetic disease that makes him wheelchair-bound, but despite his parents' protectiveness, he clearly has ambitions and plans for the future that don't involve living at home forever.

The need to change and move forward with one's life is a major theme in the book. Nada and her brothers all need to make some changes and take steps to better their futures. Nada realises that she also has to deal with her former professional failure, and after many years of being depressed and dejected, she is finally getting new ideas and possible plans for new and useful apps to develop. 

Normally I'm not a big fan of second chance romances, but as with the novel it's homaging, this was really sweet. I also liked the subplot with Baz and Zayn's Muslim boyband, and their adoring audience throwing extra hijabs on the stage to show their enthusiasm. While I wouldn't say Jalaluddin has achieved pre-order status yet, she is absolutely someone whose books I would probably pay full price for, since I've now read and really liked three of her novels. I'm already looking forward to seeing what she will do next.                                                      

Judging a book by its cover: All of Jalaluddin's covers have fairly different designs, yet each of them also features a woman with a hijab, so there's certainly no doubt that she writes about Muslims. Of the three books I've read, I think I prefer Hana Khan Carries On to this one, but they are all nice. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 57: "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov

Page count: 448 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Nowhere Books Bingo: Banned books (Wasn't published until 27 years after Bulgakov's death, and only then in a censored version. )

CBR16 Bingo: Cult (cult classic, and there's the whole Devil and his entourage as a central plot point - that's pretty cultish, right?)

I can't remember exactly how long The Master and Margarita has been on my TBR list, but it's certainly more than twenty years. A quick glance on Goodreads shows me that 15 of my friends have rated it four or five stars, with several naming it one of their favourite books. So why has it taken it so long for me to read it? Some of my reticence comes from having tried to read translated Russian novels in the past, and in on one memorable occasion, nearly losing my will to read anything at all (Anna Karenina, I am absolutely looking at you). So the idea of tackling another Russian classic wasn't always that appealing. Knowing that so many people whose opinions I respect and trust rate it so highly, also makes me nervous - what if I don't like it and they'll be disappointed in me?

I made an attempt to read my mother's Norwegian translation of the novel for the first couple of chapters, but because the copy she had was translated in the 1970s, the language was heavy and archaic enough that I struggled. So instead I read the 50th Anniversary edition, translated into English by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volkhonsky. Once the language flowed more smoothly, reading became a lot less like unpleasant homework. As readers of my reviews know, I mostly read genre fiction like romance, fantasy and science fiction, where the plots are light-hearted and the books are very easily digestible. That is not the case with this book, written in the 1930s and up until the author's death in 1940, and finally published in 1996. It's an allegorical political satire, written in a very different time and culture, and getting into it felt like a bit of a slog.

I feel like I'm letting down all of my bookish friends and acquaintances when I confess that the first part of the novel mostly either bored and/or confused me. So much of it is absurdist and strange, and there is a long series of, to me, mostly interchangeable men with long Russian names either dying or ending up in an asylum, as a result of their encounters with Woland (the Devil). Nor was I particularly interested in the sections that involved Herod and Yeshua.

The novel finally got interesting to me in the second part, where the reader finally gets to meet the eponymous Margarita, and discovers the lengths she will go to to be reunited with her beloved, the Master. This section seemed more like a dark fairytale for the most part, and while it also had some odd twists and turns, I was mostly enjoying what I read. I can also faithfully say that at no point could I predict where the story was going to go next, and certainly not the way it was going to end. 

If the entirety of this book had only been the main story of part two (which involved Margarita and her beloved), I think I would have liked the novel a lot more. 20th-century history was never an area that particularly interested me, and while I know some of the atrocities committed in the Soviet Union under Stalin, I am in no way well-versed enough in the background of this novel to get the many layers of satire that the author has created. I found all the digs at literary intellectuals and various officials tedious. 

I don't regret finally reading the book, even though the first part was very hard going. However, I think I can also conclude that great Russian literature is not for me. I have tried several authors now, and if this, which so many of my bookish friends rate five stars, only for about half the novel, entertained me, it may be time to accept that I'm just not cut out for the Russian greats. I can see why it has been a controversial novel since its publication, not just for the political critique, but for prominently featuring the devil and witchcraft as part of the plot. 

Judging a book by its cover: There are 1229 (!) different editions of this listed on Goodreads, so obviously there are also a huge amount of different covers available. Most of them seem to have a black cat somewhere on the cover (Behemoth is a very striking character, who can blame them?). My e-book edition seems to have the black cat in upper corner and the face of a young woman (obviously Margarita) in the lower one. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 55: "Touch Not the Cat" by Mary Stewart

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 3 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo: From the decade I was born (1970s)

Smart Bitches Book Bingo: Published in 2000 or earlier (first published 1976)

CBR16 Bingo: Vintage (published 48 years ago)

Briony Ashley is working in Portugal when she recieves word that her father has died, in what appears to be a hit-and-run accident. Her father didn't die instantly, but had time to ramble some strange and slightly mysterious things, among them a warning that Briony needs to be careful. She goes home to what is now her cottage, bordering Ashley Court, the large and expensive estate her father could really only keep by renting out parts of it to wealthy Americans, and letting the National Trust conduct guided tours in other parts of it. Briony is rather relieved that the estate will no longer be her responsibility, and doesn't begrudge her male cousins the inheritance at all. However, she is a bit taken aback when she discovers that several valuable artifacts have been removed from the house. Have they been stolen?

It seems to be an occasional family trait in the Ashley family, going back generations, that some of them have the "sight", that grants them premonitons, and sometimes the ability to telepathically communicate with other family members. Briony has been using this gift since she was a child, able to transmit words and emotions to another, who by now she just calls 'lover' in her mind. She doesn't know the actual identity of her secret telepathic friend, but since the "sight" only seems to be shared by other Ashleys, this 'lover' is most likely one of her three male cousins. Since Briony in time also becomes convinced that one or several of these cousins were responsible for her father's untimely death, the whole telepathic soulmate that she's never actually confirmed the identity of, but who may be a close blood relation gets a bit squicky. 

I've only read one other Mary Stewart mystery, and Madam, Will You Talk? was a lot more batshit than this. In the previous novel, in between chain-smoking from waking up to literally being in bed in the evening, the heroine thought the love interest might be a murderer stalking her through Europe. Here the potential love interest's true identity isn't revealed until about two thirds of the way through, but it's strongly implied that said person may also be a murderer, and even overlooking that, he's one of Briony's cousins. 

There was a much more convoluted plot in the previous book I read, here a lot of the plot is quite slow, and while I see what the author was trying to do with the little snippets of a story from the late 19th Century included at the end of each chapter, I don't think it worked very well and felt rather unneccessary on the whole. Because I bought a whole load of Mary Stewart mysteries in an e-book sale a while back, I'm sure I'll be reading more of them eventually. At the moment, however, I finished this book mainly because it fit into three different bingo challenges. 

Judging a book by its cover: This book came out in the 1970s and consequently has had a number of covers, some of them more baffling and crazy than the next. The cover of my edition is a fairly boring one, with a grave in the foreground and some houses from an English village in the background. Nothing here screams romantic mystery with mild paranormal elements. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 54: "Take the Lead" by Alexis Daria

Page count: 368 pages

Audiobook length: 11 hrs 10 mins

Rating: 3.5 stars

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Reality TV

CBR16 Bingo: Disco (so much dancing in this book)

Gina Morales has been a dancer for four seasons of the popular reality dancing show The Dance Off, but she's never even made it to the finals. She dreams of stardom but doesn't like the behind-the-scenes machinations on the show. She may be a beautiful Latina woman, but refuses to be roped into any kind of 'Showmance'. She wants to be taken seriously as a dancer and choreographer.  Now her producer has told her that if she doesn't make it to the finals this year, her contract won't be renewed. She's hoping her dance partner this season will be an athlete or Olympic medallist or something, yet finds herself paired with a large and seemingly taciturn reality star.

Stone Nielson has been 'the strong, silent one' on his family's survivalist reality show in Alaska for far more years than he's comfortable with, and now the producers have decided that it would be great cross-promotion for him to take part in The Dance Off. The money he'll be paid, even if he doesn't make it very long will help pay for his mother's hospital bills. However, he doesn't have any dance experience and Los Angeles is vastly different from the quiet Alaskan home life he's used to. He wants to be a good partner to Gina but struggles with keeping things professional, considering how hot he finds her. 

Gina keeps resisting her producers' suggestions of a 'Showmance' with Stone and has strict rules for herself about getting involved with her dance partners, but as the rehearsal sessions get more intense and the attraction between them becomes undeniable, it becomes harder and harder for her not to fall for the large, kind, considerate and sexy Stone.

This book was a good fit for two different bingo challenges I'm doing this summer. I listened to it on audio and narrator Seraphina Valentine did a good job. The book was a bit slow to start, and I was never all that interested in all the behind-the-scenes intrigue of the reality shows, but Gina and Stone were likeable protagonists. I also think that in the latter half of the book, the story dragged a bit as Gina kept having misgivings about the relationship and I kept rolling my eyes and thinking 'Get on with it!'

Take the Lead was Alexis Daria's debut novel, originally published back in 2017. The audio version I listened to is a reworked version from 2023, where some of the content has been edited and I think some things have been added to improve the story. Having never read the original, I can't say how different it is now.

Judging a book by its cover: The original book has a wild-haired woman and a shirtless dude with very implausible abs on the cover. While the female model might look a bit like the way Gina is described, the guy looks absolutely NOTHING like Stone. So the new cover is a lot more appropriate, as at least it has a big, blond, bearded guy dancing with a pretty Latina woman. Based on the description of Gina's dance outfits throughout, the red dress the woman is wearing is far too modest, but I guess you can't get everything. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 50: "The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love" by India Holton

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Only one bed (and horse)

CBR16 Bingo: And also... (Repeat of the Bananas square, because this book fits the bill)

Beth Pickering is the youngest professor of ornithology at Oxford, and she needs to really impress the faculty if she is to get tenure. She works with wealthy widow Hippolyta Quirm to try to locate and capture rare (and usually dangerous) birds. Just as they are about to capture the coveted deathwhistler, a rival ornithologist, the dashing young Professor Devon Lockley from Cambridge, swoops in and steals the bird away from them. Not only that, he has the temerity to flirt with Beth!

Beth is determined to keep her distance from such an obvious villain as Devon, but that becomes a lot harder to do once a competition to win not only "Birder of the Year", but a large cash prize and tenure for the winning ornithologist is announced. Ornithology is a discipline full of ruthless individuals who are willing to do almost anything to catch their prey, and Beth and Devon discover that they are probably more likely to succeed if they join forces trying to track down the elusive bird in question. Of course, there can only be ONE winner, so sooner or later, one of them is going to have to betray the other. 

What Beth and Devon (and all the other unscrupulous competitors) are unaware of is that the contest is in part to drum up publicity for and increase recruitment to the ornithology departments of British universities, not to mention encourage international tourists to visit Britain. Both Beth and Devon are young, intelligent, and attractive, and publicity agents soon have newspaper reporters trailing them and emphasising just how dashing and compatible they are, spinning a fictional romance in the press long before Beth and Devon can actually act on the growing attraction between them. Constantly finding themselves in locations where there is only one room (with or without the one bed) available, or one horse that they must use to escape pursuers doesn't exactly make them less aware of one another.

Will Beth and Devon succeed in locating the rare bird needed to win "Birder of the Year"? Will they survive the various devious traps and vicious birds thrown at them by competitors (or publicists wanting to secure exciting news coverage of the competition)? Will they actually ever find privacy and peace enough to possibly act on their growing feelings for one another, or will inconvenient interruptions keep occurring? Which of them will actually win the contest (and the coveted tenured position)?

India Holton already wrote three witty and adventurous novels set in an alternate Victorian England with witches, pirates, domestic staff who were also spies, and a bunch of flying houses. In her new series, Love's Academic, there are lots magical birds all over the world, most of them in varying degrees of viciousness, and the academic discipline of ornithology is full of manipulative scoundrels, all working to one-up each other for fame and glory. I'm not going to lie, I care very little for birds, and all the actual ornithology stuff, while wildly fantastical, did very little for me.

This book is an adventure novel, through and through, taking inspiration from films like Indiana Jones, The Mummy, and Romancing the Stone. Our protagonists might seem very different at first, but it turns out that always being smarter than everyone else around them, and having to prove their brilliance in academia at a very young age, hasn't exactly made them popular growing up. While Beth has dealt with years of rejection by becoming a very proper, polite, and unfailingly kind young lady, Devon has hidden his insecurities behind a charming exterior, seemingly careless about what anyone might say or think about him. He's utterly smitten with Beth from the start, constantly in awe of both her beauty and academic achievements. Beth keeps trying to deny just how handsome and dashing she finds Devon, wanting to keep him at arm's length and calling him a villain, but she comes to discover that he's not just a charming rogue, but an equally skilled and intelligent scholar, and obviously her perfect match. 

I'm eager to see where Ms. Holton takes the series next. The next book in the series involves Devon's cousin Gabriel (he seems grumpy and deeply unimpressed with Devon's antics, but nevertheless helps him several times throughout this novel) and magical geography. The Geographer's Map to Romance isn't out until 2025, but after the teaser chapter included at the end of this book, I'm already very excited to see what happens to Gabriel and his estranged wife.

Judging the book by its cover: I love both the colours and the design of this cover, featuring no people whatsoever, just a very formidable bird and a simple and elegant design. I had pre-ordered this book long before the cover design was revealed, but now I might have to buy a physical copy, just so I can have this pretty book on my shelf. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR16 Book 48: "A Ruse of Shadows" by Sherry Thomas

Page count: 368 pages

Audio book length: 13 hrs 3 mins

Rating: 3.5 stars

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: the latest or last book in a series

CBR16 Bingo: fan fiction

This is book 8 in the series, and really not a good place to begin. Start with A Study in Scarlet Women. 

Charlotte Holmes, more used to solving murder mysteries, now finds herself questioned by the police, the main suspect in the murder of Lord Bancroft Ashburton. Inspector Threadles is concerned for her, but needn't have worried, Ms Holmes isn't going to let something as tiresome as a charge of murder keep her down.

In the present, the reader follows Charlotte and her questioning by the police. In various flashbacks, we are given insight into what has really happened, and how Charlotte, her beloved Ash, Mrs Watson and the rest of her gang have been working on a number of different schemes, some of which did involve Lord Bancroft. 

While I really enjoyed the most recent book in the series, A Tempest at Sea (or Lady Sherlock on a Boat! as I have cheerfully renamed it in my head), this one felt like more of a chore to read. No reader of this series is actually going to believe that anyone can stick a murder charge to Charlotte Holmes, whether she actually decided to murder someone or not, so the whole framing device of her being questioned seemed a bit tedious. Then there are the flashbacks, which are spaced out oddly, and keep illuminating different aspects of the story, which obviously doesn't entirely come together properly until the end. It probably doesn't help that this story referenced things that happened fairly early on in the series and I didn't entirely remember all the details, so kept being a bit confused.

As a big fan of Thomas' romances, I was pleased to see that the relationship between Ash and Charlotte is proceeding apace, and some very lovely declarations are made over the course of the story. I always enjoy Mrs. Watson and her niece, but have to confess that I care very little for Charlotte's sister Livia and her thwarted romance with the put-upon Mr. Marbleton. This whole book felt like filler, and since the plot seems to suggest that Charlotte is gearing up to take on Mr. Moriarty in a more serious manner in upcoming books, I am not exactly thrilled by the prospect. Nevertheless, Kate Reading's narration always make these a treat, so I'll probably be reading the upcoming books as well. 

Judging a book by its cover: Another woman in an expansive dress, seen from the back, possibly running from something or towards something. Is it supposed to be Charlotte? Who knows?

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 47: "Gemina" by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Page count: 672 pages

Rating: 5 stars

CBR16 Sweet Books: Binge

Nowhere Book Bingo: A YA novel

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Epistolary romance

CBR16 Bingo: Part 1 and Part 2 (the book has more than 600 pages)

This is the second book in a series, and starting with this one means a lot of stuff won't make much sense. I also don't think it's possible for me to review this book without spoiling the previous one, so if you're not up to date, start with Illuminae.

After the disastrous events, first on the mining colony of Kerenza, and then on the space fleet evacuating survivors, the only remaining ship, Hypatia, is on its way to Jump Station Heimdall, hoping for aid. BeiTech, the organisation which launched the attack on Kerenza and utilised the bioweapon which led to a plague, cannot risk word getting out about their heinous deed and therefore need to make sure that they eradicate the Hypatia. To do so, they will need to use the jump station's wormhole, and later make sure that there are no survivors on Heimdall left to reveal the truth.

Entirely unaware of BeiTech's sinister goals are two teenagers aboard the Jump Station, Hanna Donnelly and Niklas "Nik" Malikov. Hanna is the station captain's beloved and pampered daughter, Nik is part of the Malikov crime family, and Hanna's occasional drug dealer. There's clearly an attraction between them, but Hanna is in a relationship with the dashing Jackson Merrick, one of her father's officers, and consequently doesn't really have time for more than some light flirtation with Nik. Life onboard a space station surrounding a wormhole obviously isn't very exciting for either of them, but Hanna tries to pass the time by studying, parties and working out, while Nik reluctantly assists with his family's business.

Both of their lives are irrevocably changed once an elite team of BeiTech mercenaries arrive, and very rapidly take control of the station. The mercenaries start by wiping out the people who helped their ship get onboard (Nik's family) and Nik only survives because he's on his way to deliver party drugs to Hanna. Thankfully, while she's annoyed that Nik is late for their deal, Hanna is also spared from seeing her father shot in the head when the mercenaries take control of the majority of the station. Now, Hanna might seem like nothing but an airheaded, fashion-obsessed teen, but being the daughter of a military commander with a keen interest in history, she's picked up a lot of useful knowledge about strategy, tactics and how to be stealthy. Nik, meanwhile, has only one family member left alive and is determined to avenge the Malikov crew in any way he can deal hurt to the mercenaries. Unfortunately, in all the sudden danger, both Nik and his computer genious cousin Ella completely forget about the very dangerous alien parasites hatching in a secluded part of the station (long story, the drugs the Malikovs sell are derived from some truly scary creatures, who should not be left unattended and allowed to crawl through space station vents and the like). Of course, the BeiTech baddies don't know about them either.

The BeiTech kill squad need to take control of the wormhole so that a second kill team can be sent through to deal with the Hypatia. They were not expecting to be foiled by a few teenagers and a few officers having sealed themselves on the bridge of the space station. Can Hanna, Nik, and Ella with a few ragtag allies foil their enemies, warn the Hypatia, save the remaining crew and thwart BeiTech's evil schemes? (This is book 2 of 3, what do you think?)

Fans of Ezra and Kady (her dad is the chief of security on Heimdall), not to mention AIDAN, will be pleased to know that in the latter half of the book, they do appear, although they are not the focus of this story, that would be Hanna and Nik. While Kady and Ezra had a past, and many months of separation with only computer chats to make the heart grow fonder, Hanna and Nik's attraction to one another is basically put to a boil in an insanely tense and demanding situation, where they are fighting for survival, grieving loved ones and trying to find a way to help complete strangers aboard the Hypatia. 

Hanna is unbelievably badass, and Nik may seem like he's got a dangerous and ruthless past but is really just a big, tattooed cinnamon roll (who will still do what is necessary if his or others' lives are in danger, he just needs more time to process it than Hanna). Ella is more of a secondary character, but the girl is fierce, especially since she's not really able to move around except via her computer. I love all of them and am so glad that Kaufman and Kristoff had the surviving characters from Illuminae take a backseat so readers could get to know these guys as well.

I am also grateful that while the lanima (super creepy alien parasites) are scary and unpleasant, any scene involving them (including the early ones where it's explained how they incubate) was a pale shadow of all the horror with the virus rage zombies of the previous book. I really liked how the book includes the photos and call signs of all the BeiTech mercenaries, and how as the book proceeds, more and more pictures are just crossed out (they may be teenagers, but Hanna, Nik and Ella are NOT messing around). 

Having now read two of these books, I have absolutely no idea what the authors are going to come up with next, but I'm hopeful that eventually the BeiTech corporation will be brought to justice for all the horrible things it has done. Having now heard so many cool things about the audiobooks, I may do the third and final book partly in audio.

Judging a book by its cover: While the first book was all warm colours, red and orange, this one is all cold, with a cloud of something (dust? smoke?) blue over a black background. I think this entire series has a very well-done cover design, with the covers of the trilogy complementing each other so well. 

CBR16 Book 45: "The Ex-Talk" by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Page count: 352 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Pets (Steve Rogers Goldstein plays a fairly major role in the book)

CBR16 Bingo: Dreams (Shay has dreamed about having her own show on public radio for over a decade)

Shay Goldstein grew up loving radio. She and her now deceased father would listen to radio together and even have their own pretend radio shows, so she is very grateful for her job as a producer at a Seattle public radio station, and is very happy with what she does. However, while trying her best to be an indespensable help to the hosts whose show she produces, she can't help but wish she could have a show of her own. She's also very frustrated about the fact that one of the radio station's new hires, Dominic Yun, keeps being given positive attention by their boss, even though Shay has worked there for a decade, while Dominic only recently graduated with a journalism degree.

Unexpectedly, during a pitch meeting (where her boss asks her to take notes, naturally, can't leave that to a man), one of Shay's ideas is met with great enthusiasm and before she knows it, Shay will have a chance to host her own live call-in show. The only problem? The show is supposed to be hosted by two exes, who now share relationship advice, rooted in their own relationship failures. The station boss proposes that Shay and Dominic pretend to be those exes, a little white lie to help bring listeners and advertising revenue to the station. Neither is happy about having to lie to their listeners, but once it becomes clear that both of them, and possibly their young producer too, are likely to lose their jobs if they don't go ahead with the show, they reluctantly agree.

The Ex-Talk very quickly becomes a huge success, and their fan base grows week by week. On social media, there is a lot of talk of Shay and Dominic's supposed relationship, with a lot of people hoping "they get back together". The co-hosts are both shocked and pleasantly surprised at how well their show is doing, but they also start feeling more and more uncomfortable about lying. Only their boss knows their relationship is pure fiction, even their producer thinks they dated for a few months but kept it quiet. What will happen if the truth comes out? After spending so much time together, discovering the other person's strengths and weaknesses, Shay and Dominic also find themselves falling in love. Can they really risk an actual relationship when their entire working life is based on them being broken up?

Confession here, I find radio generally very boring. Going to university in Scotland, with so many of my friends absolutely addicted to BBC Radio 4, I've listened to my fair share of it. I just don't get it. I don't really get podcasts either. Why would I spend lots of time listening to people talking about stuff when instead I could read, or listen to an audiobook? It just seems like wasted time. I will, on occasion, listen to pop culture related podcasts with my husband, but we also watch a lot of TV together, so it becomes more about the shared experience, and feels less like I'm frittering away time when I could be reading. So I cannot tell you how true to life all this behind the scenes in the radio world this book is.

I did, despite my indifference to radio shows and podcasts, really enjoy this book, mostly because Shay and Dominic are great characters, both separately and together. Both of them are very lonely people, and once their initial antagonism (much greater on Shay's part than on Dominic's) passes, they discover that they have a lot in common. Shay has invested sensibly and bought herself a house, but it feels far too big for her, and she can't really be there without all the lights on and TV or radio playing. Once she adopts a dog, the adorable, if somewhat demanding, Steve Rogers, her life improves, even if she now has to go home every afternoon to make sure he gets walkies.

Shay manages to squash down her misgivings about lying to their audience because she's wanted a show of her own for so long. She gets Dominic to agree to give it six months, even though he's scrupulous about workplace ethics and being truthful. As their show becomes not just a local listening success, but starts becoming a thing nationwide, both of them are uncomfortable about the way their boss is managing the situation, and especially how much he seems to ignore Shay, but listen to Dominic, even when they're saying the same thing. The job market is tough, and a steady paycheque is important, but how long can they continue lying to their family, co-workers and friends? 

My LibraryThing tells me that I own quite a few Rachel Lynn Solomon books, both YA and adult fiction. This is my first romance by her, and based on it, considering how much she made me care about characters and a premise I wasn't sure I would even like, I am absolutely going to be reading more of her books in the next year or so. 

Judging a book by its cover: I like the cute simplicity of this cover, and the two faces over the microphone. It works for me, even though I'm very aware that modern radio and podcasts in no way are recorded this way. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR16 Book 43: "Don't Want You Like a Best Friend" by Emma R. Alban

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo: 2024 Debut Release

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: New to Me author

CBR16 Bingo: Scandal (Gwen and Beth's friendship lead to a scandal in the latter half of the book)

Beth is the daughter of the Viscount Demeroven, but has no brothers, and as a result, the title will pass to her cousin. If Beth doesn't find a wealthy and suitable husband during her first season, she and her mother will be left with barely anything (because her father was a very unpleasant man who didn't settle any money on them in his will). She hates being out in society, though, smiling and nodding and pretending to be a ninny just so some man might like her.

Her season gets a bit more bearable when she befriends Gwen, the daughter of a notorious rake. Gwen is in her fourth season, but since her father is wealthy, there is no real need for her to marry, and with each passing year, she becomes more certain she probably doesn't even want to. She takes an instant shine to Beth and promises to help her find a suitable match. The young ladies also notice that there is something strange going on with their parents, and discover that Beth's mother and Gwen's father were friends, and possibly more, back before Beth's mother got married. Now they seem determined to avoid one another, which is difficult as their daughters are becoming best friends.

Beth wouldn't have to get married if her mother married someone wealthy, so the young ladies start scheming (rather ineffectually) to get their parents to fall in love. While trying to push their parents together, the girls grow ever closer, and it becomes obvious that one of the reasons neither of them want to get married, is because they are madly in love with each other. Meanwhile, Beth has managed to catch the attention of a very eligible young man, and their matchmaking plan isn't going as well as they are hoping. Will our young lovers be separated because of Beth's need to secure her future?

A Victorian romance novel with a pair of lesbians with a title inspired by a Taylor Swift song? Sign me up. The book is set shortly after the introduction of the crinoline, or hoop skirt, so there is quite a lot of descriptions of the intricate garments the ladies have to wear during the various balls and such. Both young ladies, upon discovering their queerness, are able to be open with their various family members and instantly accepted, which seems unlikely for the time period, but also avoided some of the angst often present in queer historicals.

The story is mostly frothy and fun, some of the dialogue and attitudes felt anachronistic, but the characters (both the protagonists and the supporting cast) are very charming and I really enjoyed readin it. As is often the case with historical romances (hi Jane Austen!), women's rather unfortunate situations if left without generous male relations are highlighted. Beth's mother was in a similar situation to her daughter before she got married, and since Gwen's father was an untitled nobody at the time, he felt heartbroken when she chose to marry Viscount Demeroven rather than him. Sadly, the now late viscount was abusive and Beth is very aware that her parents' marriage was less than ideal. She dreams of being able to marry for love, but is all to aware that a lot of the eligible men of the ton might hide cruelty and unpleasantness behind their well-dressed facades. Gwen's father is in Parliament and trying to gather enough support to pass a bill that would make it possible for wives to divorce their husbands in cases of abuse or cruelty. Unsurprisingly, there there are a lot of noblemen opposing the bill, and as such, are not big fans of Gwen's father. 

This is Ms. Alban's debut novel. In the final part of this, she pretty heavily foreshadows the sequel, where Beth and Gwen discover that their male cousins (one of them the new Viscount Demeroven) both seem to be gay, and while they are trying to hide it, rather interested in one another. So they decide on another matchmaking scheme. I'm already looking forward the the hijinks that will no doubt ensue. 

Judging a book by its cover: Yet another wonderful cover by Leni Kaufmann, although based on their descriptions, I think Beth (the dark-haired one) should quite a bit shorter than Gwen (the blond one). Their dresses are lovely, and it's a nice touch that the main colour choices can also be found in the lesbian Pride flag. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read 

CBR16 Book 42: "To Say Nothing of the Dog" by Connie Willis

Page count: 512 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo: Award Winner (Won the Hugo and Locus awards in 1998, plus a bunch of others)

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Scene on a boat or body of water (there's a lot of rowing on the river)

CBR16 Bingo: Tech (time travel requires pretty specific technology)

This is the second book in the Oxford Time Travel series, but you really don't need to have read the first one, Doomsday Book, to understand and enjoy this one.

In the universe these books are set in, time travel was discovered, but once it was further discovered that no items could be taken back to the future, so it couldn't be used to gain riches or plunder the past of treasures, the technology became used solely by historians, and there are strict rules that must be followed when doing it for academic pursuits.

Ned Henry is an Oxford historian in the 2050s who feels like he's going mad. Lady Schrapnell, a frightfully wealthy and extremely demanding woman is funding the recreation of Coventry Cathedral (in Oxford, for reasons not really explored in the book) and is demanding that absolutely everything is exactly like it was before the Cathedral was destroyed in an air raid during World War II. Ned has been sent on countless missions back to the past to locate something known as the bishop's bird stump (I had to google this, it turns out it's an incredibly ugly vase shaped like a tree stump with decorative birds on it), because that was one of the items apparently present in the church at the time. Because he has been unable to locate it, Ned has had to go back to the past and visit any number of church bazaars and jumble sales in the hopes of finding the blasted relic. If people are sent back too often, they start getting delerious and behave very oddly, so Ned is ordered by his boss to get some rest.

He can't get the required rest in the present, however, because if tyrannical Lady Whatsherface discovers his whereabouts, she'll just demand that he keeps looking for the bird stump. So Ned's boss sends him back to the Victorian age, to hide out for a few weeks and get the much-needed break he requires. In the Victorian age, he encounters a fellow Oxford historian, Verity Kindle, who is trying to undo an unfortunate mistake, and if they don't manage to set things right, it could have consquences for the entire future timeline. While working together to fix Verity's mistake, she and Ned also have to try to make sure that Lady Schrapnell's ancestor, a truly dimwitted girl, doesn't fall in love and marry the wrong person, a task that proves more complicated than one might first have imagined.

I read Doomsday Book back in 2016 and don't remember it very fondly. It was far too long, the plot meandered a lot and because most of the story takes place during the Black Plague, it was also pretty depressing. This book is much lighter in tone, and a lot of the plot plays out like a farce, with humorous mix-ups, misunderstandings, mistaken identities, and a fairly large cast of rather ridiculous characters. The book is also full of literary allusions and clever references to all sorts of academic things, at least 50% of which went entirely over my head. I'm not sure I'm clever enough to appreciate this book on as many levels as the author intended.

Ned and Verity are both extremely likable characters, and my main complaint about the book is that there is so much faffing about and preventing romances between other characters, so there isn't enough time for them to spend together on page, developing their own romance. Nevertheless, this was a fun read, and I'm very much looking forward to my book club's discussion of it in August (we were supposed to have the meeting in June, but too many people were sick or busy, so we just postponed everything over the summer, which also gives more people the chance to read the book). Considering some of the books we've had in the previous months have been rather disappointing, this one felt like a breath of fresh (albeit confusing) air. 

Judging a book by its cover: This book has been out for decades, and as such, there are a lot of different covers for it, most of which I dislike. The cover for my e-book copy isn't great either, but at least I like the warm colours on it. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read