Mid-Year Book Round-Up: Our Reads and Reviews for 2024 So Far

We are 6 months into 2024 (I cannot believe it! The year has gone by so fast!), and it is about time that we reflect on all of the books we have read so far. Some we have liked, some we have loved, and others we’ve barely finished! We have barely had time to read, and we are both slow readers. So, there are not a lot of books on this list, but we read when we can! These are listed in no particular order:

  1. Circe

I kept seeing this book all over social media around the beginning of the year (and Achilles too!). So, I decided that I needed to read both Circe and Achilles. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed! Circe follows the goddess and sorcerer Circe throughout her life. If you don’t know who Circe is, she is a goddess from Greek Mythology. I found this story to be such an interesting and compelling way to tell Circe’s story. While I had heard of her, I had never really delved into Circe’s story because she was always a “side-character” in the books rooted in Greek Mythology that I have read. So, I was excited to read a book solely on her and her story. And, I did love it! Madeline Miller tells this story in such a wonderful way and is such a talented writer! If you love books about Greek Mythology and the stories of its characters, you should definitely give this book a read! I highly recommend it.

II. Shades of Magic Trilogy

I have only recently started reading V.E. Shwab’s books although I have been hearing great things about her writing a lot! I was first introduced to V.E. Schwab a very long time ago (or what feels like a very long time ago!) at BookCon (does anyone remember that? I loved going!). Ashley and I were in line to get  our books signed by an author (I don’t remember who, maybe Brandon Sanderson or Marie Lou?) when a lady got in line behind us with a backpack full of books, most of which were V.E. Shwab books! She spent the entire time discussing how amazing V.E. Schwab is, how great her books are, and how excited she was to get to see her at BookCon. At that point, I had never heard of V.E. Schwab, but was intrigued by how excited this lady was about her! So, I looked up some of her books, and I found them to be interesting! I went about slowly collecting her books, thinking that I would read them one day to see what this lady was so excited about. Well, I’m a slow reader and had a lot of books on my reading list, so I am only just now getting to them! And I’m sad it took me so long! The BookCon lady was right, V.E. Schwab is a great author and her books make for great reads!

The shades of magic series is made up of the following books: A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Darkness, and A Conjuring of Light. This series follows Kell and Lila (and an expanding list of characters as the series progresses) as they encounter and fight off one trouble after another. In the first book, A Darker Shade of Magic, Kell travels between Londons taking messages from one King to another. During his travels, he meets a thief, Lila. The two then embark on a dangerous journey together. I loved the way that V.E. Schwab built the world and the characters in this novel. The concept was new to me, but V.E. Schwab took her time building the world and getting to the action, so there was never any confusion. While it did take awhile to get to the action, I never felt bored with this story, the characters and world building kept my attention and kept me entertained. So, overall, I really enjoyed this book and was excited to start the second one!

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the second one as much as I enjoyed the first book. I found it to be a little slow without the world and character building in the first book to keep me entertained. This book, A Gathering of Shadows, follows the characters as they prepare for and attend the Essen Tasch, a magic competition held between the different countries in Kell’s world. These games seem to provide the “adventure” and “excitement” for this installment of the series, but it seemed to fall a little flat when compared to the first book. And, while new characters are introduced, and characters are developed in this book, it did not make up for the lack of adventure to me. It seemed as though this book existed to set up the start of the third book, A Conjuring of Light.

This third book is the best of all of them, though, and makes the seemingly boringness of the second book worth the read! The stakes and adventure are higher than ever before, and I was never sure what to expect next. I fell in love with the characters even more as I followed them to the end of this story. I was sad to finish the series and put those characters away!

III. A Court of Mist and Fury

I have been slowly working my way through this series because so many people seem to like it! And I did really enjoy the first book, but I found this second book to be less entertaining and a little slower than the first one. But, I did find that I enjoyed the characters in this book more than I did the characters in the first book. So, I do not think this book quite lived up to the hype surrounding it. But, I am going to continue to read the series (I’ve heard the third book is really good!), and I cannot wait to see what the books have in store for me!

IV. Million Dollar Weekend

I picked up this book due to a podcast that I listen to (So Money). I thought that the concept and book sounded interesting. After listening to this, though interesting, I don’t think it was meant for me! Million Dollar Weekend is about harnessing your weekends and entrepreneurial self to create business and, what people today would call “side hustles” in to full time jobs to replace corporate 9-5. Like all self-help books, I think this one can help the target audience, but I don’t think that was me. For me, it felt like the book could have been boiled down to a couple sentences: “Leverage your connections. Use your free time wisely.” I would recommend it for anyone wanting to start a business because as I said, I do feel like it will help most!

V. Gilded & Cursed

I will read anything Marissa Meyer publishes for as long as she is doing so! This duology is a Rumplestiltskin retelling that follows Serilda (a millers daughter born with the ability to weave stories) through her adventures. I LOVE fairytale re-tellings. There’s just something about taking a well known fairytale and weaving it in to modern day or new stories that I find endlessly exciting and fascinating to read. To me, nothing will live up to the pedestal I have Marissa Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles, but I did enjoy this retelling. Gilded was my favorite of the two. I felt that Cursed was a little slow compared to the first book. Gilded felt like an adventure into the unknown with fun characters, but Cursed felt like Sirilda and her friends were waiting on things to happen to them or things were happening to them without much action from her. Despite that, I still enjoyed the series!

VI. Project Hail Mary

Let me start this out by saying that I absolutely loved this book. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to pick it up and read it again. Project Hail Mary is about Ryland Grace, a school teacher that wakes up on a space ship with no memory of how he got there and what he’s supposed to be doing. We quickly learn that he was sent to the Tau Ceti solar system to look for a cure to the star dimming disease that is threatening humanity. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this because I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy a book about a man stuck on a space ship lightyears from earth with no one to talk to. I was certainly wrong though because from the first chapter, I was hooked. Ryland was an interesting character and his development and story was entertaining and a bit lighthearted for how serious his situation was. The book was fast paced and kept me engaged the entire time.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so do yourself a favor and pick this book up!

VII. Legends and Lattes

I have been getting in to cozy reads recently. I feel like so much goes on in our world and sometimes it’s nice to bury yourself in a cozy book and not have to think about any of it for a while. This book was the first one I picked up and I think it was a great one for me to start with!

This book follows Viv on her journey from a mercenary to coffee shop owner. As someone who loves fantasy but is also nosey and wants to know what happens after the end of a book/series, I think this book was written for me. It introduced us to new characters, but made them feel like they were beloved characters that we had already journeyed miles with. The book felt fast paced enough to keep me entertained but also slow enough that it still felt cozy. While I enjoyed the building of Legends & Lattes, I liked that there was some conflict! It added interest to the story. If you’re looking for a way to escape reality in a low stakes, fun book pick this up!

VIII. A Healthy State of Panic

A Healthy State of Panic by Farnoosh Torabi is about leaning in to your fears to get what you want out of life. As mentioned in this post already, I’m not a huge “Self-Help” book fan. However, I listened to this because I’ve been listening to Farnoosh Torabi’s podcast So Money for a while now. Since I enjoy her podcast, I went ahead and picked this book up! In the book, she walks you through nine of the most common fears and shows how those fears can be used and turned in to strengths to create a life full of purpose and meaning. While this isnt the normal type of book I would read, I did enjoy it and I think it would be a great read for anyone that has a lot of fear about life’s road bumps.

IX. A Court of Wings and Ruin

While I thought A Court of Mist and Fury was a little slow, it was worth it to get to this book! I enjoyed the pacing, the story, and the end. The end had some surprises that I wasn’t expecting, which I feel like can be hard to do after I’ve read so many books. To be honest, there was a portion of the end that I felt like was unnecessary and was frustrating. However, with two more books, I’ll be interested to see if it has a part to play in the ending of the series. If it doesn’t I will truly be baffled by Sarah J. Maas’ choice to make this a plot point. I know thats a bit vague, but it was quite a shock to me and I don’t want to spoil anything! Despite me being frustrated with a portion of the books ending (honestly enjoyed the rest of the ending!), I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next two in the series!

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