I am a bookworm.
I mean, if I could physically devour books and take them into my soul in a more permanent way than them just living in my heart and mind, I would.
The years I was in undergraduate and graduate school I was lucky if I could pick up one book, even on the vacations. My brain was all read out. One time, I swear I picked up a book and my brain screamed in protest. But that’s in the past. My greatest joy since graduating (other than never having to take another board exam again) has been rekindling my writing and by reading ALL THE BOOKS.
This year’s Reading Goal is 50 books. It is the first mile marker. Last year I got to 60 books and I anticipate I will get to a similar count, but I like to leave some wiggle room for life and its demands.
Speaking of having wiggle room for life and its demands… Ya’ll saved my butt when you said you preferred recaps than individual posts for each novel I finish. So, thank you. 😉 I tend to balance multiple books to satiate my voracious appetite. Some weeks, I’m finishing multiple books at once. Other weeks, it is one – or none. So, these recap posts make it much easier to keep up with!
In the future, I might make this series more frequent. You never what direction the wind will blow.
My January & February reads:
* Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
* The Hollow by Nora Roberts
* The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts
* Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
* The Siege of Macindaw by John Flanagan
No fancy bookstack for these reads. Whenever I get the chance, I will take bookstack photos of what I’ve read for the week or month; however, a new graduate’s best friend is the book they do not have to buy, because finances are tight. So… Libraries and Libby app are BFF. In particular right now I’ve been using Libby app a lot because of portability. (Also, have I mentioned that I’ve unexpectedly fallen in love with audiobooks? That’s a tangent for another day.)
Also, please note: I’ll try to include content warnings when I can, but I am human. I cannot guarantee that my warnings are complete or valid. Any information could be inaccurate or incomplete. To reduce this, I try to jot down what I notice while reading and use Book Trigger Warnings when writing reviews to verify.
Now, for the reviews!
Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts: ⭐⭐⭐ (3.5)
The Seven is coming. It is 21 years after three friends – Cal, Fox, and Gage – loosed a demon while on a birthday camping trip to Hawkins Hollow’s Pagan Stone. It is spring, but summer is approaching. With Summer comes The Seven. It is called the Seven because every seven years the demon is able to wreak havoc on the town of Hawkins Hollow for seven days.
For the past several Sevens, Cal, Fox, and Gage have been the ones to protect the town. Now, as the 3rd seven-year anniversary approaches, a paranormal researcher, Quinn Black, has come to Hawkins Hollow to chronicle the town and its strange history in hopes to make it the star of her new book. Soon she finds herself invested in determining the source of The Seven – and how to end it – and forming an unexpected connection to Cal.
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Review: What starts out with a suggestion of fantasy turns into a struggle of wizards and demons dating back over centuries. Paranormal + Romance novels? It is the perfect combination. To be honest, I first got into Nora Roberts because I am a hardcore fantasy lover, but the stress of graduate school made me unable to handle the unpredictability of fantasies. They were stressing me out when I needed to relax. I fell into Romance novels about that time, finding this cozy safe place amongst their pages for my anxiety. Nora Roberts was one of the most well-known authors that was suggested to me. So, when I found out that there were fantasy romance novels written by her, I was s o l d. The best of both worlds? SIGN ME UP.
That said… I approached this novel with hesitant caution. Her paranormal romances can get a little darker and more stressful than they are a safe place. (Currently staring at Year One, about a supernatural pandemic, which was not my wisest choice to read amidst the height of a real-world pandemic.) This struck a balance for me. It was creepy enough without being so creepy or disturbing that I had to put it down.
Nora’s trilogies often have a constant vein: a group coming together, love blossoms, men have good hearts even if buried deep, found family / deep friendship, and challenges and inner (sometimes outer) demons to be faced. It’s the found family and deep friendship that keeps bringing me back to them. Admission: I preferred the friendships – both the old roots and the growing ones – to the romance in this first novel. Each character, especially the trio at the center of it all, have distinctive personalities filled with their own strengths – and weaknesses. While I loved Cal and the trio and Cal’s grandmother is wonderful, and I want to live in Cal’s house (sans the murderous town every seven years) Quinn was not my favorite character. No hate, just… lukewarm enthusiasm.
That said, it was a quick, enjoyable read. I gobbled this book up in 1-3 days.
CW: Violence, blood, child abuse, animal abuse, murder, and mention / description of sexual assault.
The Hollow by Nora Roberts: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Hollow is the second book in the Sign of Seven trilogy and it starts where Blood Brother’s leaves off.
The dreaded Seven is looming. With every day, every week, every month, the event grows nearer, casting a shadow over the town. The foreboding dreams and events that always serve as a forewarning as to what is to come have already begun. It is earlier than any year. Stronger, too. As such, Cal, Fox, and Gage, know that this is the year. This year, they end it all – or it ends them and everything they love.
This year, the men who released the Demon who terrorizes the town every seven years, will not be fighting alone. They are joined by a trio of women – Layla, Quinn, and Cybil – who all possess unique gifts and are mysteriously connected to the forces at work, just as much as the men are.
Learning from the past is Cal’s gift. When he and his blood brothers inadvertently loosed the demon at The Pagan Stone, Fox walked away with the gift of reading minds. It is the same gift that Layla unwittingly shares. An outsider to the town and the only one of the group without a connection, Layla feels as though her life is out of her control and does not know what she wants to do with it. She has yet to commit to the battle before them or come to terms with her newfound ability. If they are all to survive what is to come, she will have to do just that – and trust Fox. Not just trust him to guide her, but with her heart as well.
Review: I am not usually a Likes Sequel Better Than The Original person but… this one proved me wrong. I enjoyed this book the most of the three. (It is probably because I loved Fox.) Layla’s wishy-washy approach to the issue at hand might have been frustrating at times – one foot out of the circle, one foot in – but it also felt very reasonable considering she had the least incentive to actually be there. (And her Welcome to Hawkins Hollow wasn’t the brightest of memories.) I wish we had learned more about Layla. Everything we learned was very surface-level. We learned so much about Fox throughout the novel; however, I feel as though the emotional connection between Fox and Layla could’ve been more developed, which would have been aided by delving more than her.
Other things I enjoyed: Fox and his family interactions were lovely; the plot quickened pace in this novel; the friendships filled with love and connection – and plenty of arguments and resolutions; and the emphasis that not all strength comes from being a “bad ass” but that there is strength in being soft and pausing before action.
Again, I devoured this book in just 1-3 days. So.
CW: Violence, blood, abuse, assault and murder, suicide, and mention / description of sexual assault
The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts: ⭐⭐⭐
The final Seven is nearly here. Picking up where The Hollow ends, in The Pagan Stone the trio of friends – Cal, Gage, and Fox – and the newcomers – Layla, Cybil, and Quinn – gearing up to face the demon who terrorizes the town Hawkin’s Hollow every seven years for seven days. Nightmares of violence and bloodshed plague them nightly. This time is different. If they do not end the cycle once-and-for-all this Seven, the men know that it will be their last. The demon is stronger. The stakes are higher. In an age-old fight between a demon and a guardian, the demon will win – unless they find a way to stop it.
They still do not have a plan. There is a bloodstone that may be the secret to taking down the demon… but they have to determine how to use it. And that’s what concerns Gage. When he and his friends accidentally performed a blood ritual that released the demon that terrorizes the town every seven years, they each walked away with a gift. Cal can learn from the past and Fox sees into the present via reading minds. Gage bears the burden of seeing into the ever-shifting future, a burden he shares with strong-minded, sharp-thinking Cybil. Each healing from traumatic pasts of their own, Gage and Cybil know it is up to them to gaze beyond the present, into the future, to find an answer. They will have to bring down their walls and surrender to the unknown – and each other – to find a solution to end the cycle and save everything they love.
Review:
I enjoyed this novel and think that the conclusion was a befitting end to the trilogy. The Hollow is still my favorite of the three novels, but this one was good. It was fun to see how the team came about solving the problems they faced, including the big one: how to put a stop to the demon’s periodic reign of terror. Endings are one of the hardest things, but I think this one wrapped things up nicely.
That said… I always wish these trilogies did not end with such an abrupt cut off – but that’s the character-driven reader in me. All of the first novels have showed the characters grow, blossom, and connect over time, then it is rapidly over, especially for the hero and heroine of the final novel. And I just want more! I would’ve loved a little epilogue to show everyone’s life in the future. (What can I say? I’m character driven. I love a good plot, but it is all about the characters in the end for me.)
Things I loved: Found family. Is anything better than that? Gage’s relationship with his friends’ mothers is just so wholesome, heartwarming, and lovely. Going hand-in-hand with my love of found family, I adored the growing friendships and relationships. I also appreciated how Robert’s chose to handle Gage’s past without forcing him to forgive his abuser.
The thing I absolutely disliked and which took down the star count the most for me was the depiction and handling of sexual assault and rape. It is unnecessary trauma that is very jarring, especially where so many people read romance novels as a form of safe space. In general, as much as I love Nora Roberts’ work, the unnecessary addition of sexual assault in her paranormal storylines is part of what turns me off to them.
CW: Violence, blood, abuse, assault and murder, suicide, and sexual assault.
Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mark Twain once said: “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” It’s a little gross, but, appropriate. This quote can be a metaphor for doing hard things first thing. For some people, it can translate into a metaphor about how we manage time and accomplish the most important things on our plates. That’s how Brian Tracy views it. In this book, he teaches us how to eat our frogs – the hardest tasks in our days and most important goals – bite-by-bite. Through providing 21 methods for overcoming procrastination, Eat That Frog! provides a template for how we can kick procrastination to the curb, set boundaries, focus on what is most important, and accomplish more in our lives and at work.
Review: Okay, okay. I really enjoyed this! I probably loved this one as much as I loved Atomic Habits (which was a lot). I love self-help books, but have fallen out of reading them in favor of fiction over the past year or so. (Let’s be honest, after graduate school my brain needed a safe place to escape that didn’t involve anymore work.) This was the perfect remedy for that.
Several of the concepts and tasks were things I already did, but sometimes it is important to be reminded of it or see it from a new perspective.
When it comes to self-help books, I especially love when they have application tasks inside for me to practice what they’ve shared. A read, absorb, and apply strategy. (That may be the perpetual student inside me, but it is the way I absorb and learn best.) This book has a task at the end of every chapter.
One of the main pros of this book is that it is not a long book. If you’re someone who has a hard time getting through long chapters or are not a fast reader, never fear! The chapters are short and succinct. This is great for bite-sized/quick reading that helps you build motivation and maintain momentum (or just be able to read a little bit if that’s all time allows for). It was easy to breeze through several chapters or choose only one or two to start or end my day with, fitting them into an otherwise busy schedule.
Siege of Macindaw by John Flanagan: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Will Treaty, now an appointed Ranger for the kingdom of Araluen, is assigned to watch over Seacliff Fief. No sooner has he begun to settle there than he receives an assignment from the Ranger Corps to journey north and investigate rumors of a sorcerer. Quickly, he finds himself entangled in a plot to overtake Castle Macindaw.
Now the traitor and usurper, a renegade knight, has taken Alyss, one of Will’s dear friends and a courier of Araulen, captive.
Cut off from the Ranger Corps, Will finds himself in a race against time to reclaim the crucial northern stronghold and save Alyss. With the help of another good friend, the young knight, Horace; a small force of Skandians; and Malcolm’s village in Grimsdell Wood, he develops a plan to retake Castle Norgate, free Alyss, and thwart an invasion force. It is all a gamble that Will – and Araulen – cannot afford to lose.
Review: Okay, let me be honest: coming back to this series, I was skeptical.
I used to read these books years ago when a friend gave me the first few books in the series. This was before e-libraries and I never got past Battle of Skandia. While I was reorganizing my bookshelf in December, I rediscovered Battle of Skandia and it got me curious about what happened to the characters. It also left me a little apprehensive.
Would I still enjoy it after years away? The answer was yes!
I read Sorcerer of the North in December and followed it up with Siege of Macindaw for one of my first reads of 2022. As a Lord of the Rings and Tamora Pierce nerd, these books generally feel like home. They lack the diversity of Pierce’s novels or the fantastical elements of either her work or J.R.R. Tolkien, but somehow retain the feeling.
I love Flanagan’s handling of fight scenes; the distinct, memorable personalities of each main character; the close knit friendships. The banter between Horace and Will is one of my favorite parts of the novel. He is also great with character growth, arch, and foreshadowing. With this series he creates a world I can easily immerse myself into with worldbuilding that is tangible and rich, filled with religions and cultural beliefs and differences.
The downside, like I said, is diversity, especially in terms of gender and race. For instance: women are severely lacking in the series. They are especially lacking in being present without being solely a romantic interest of the main / side characters. I’m glad that clever Alyss – who is a delight and a bad ass – got to have more time on the page.
CW: blood, violence, disfiguration
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What books did you read in January and February? Did you have any favorites? Share them with me in the comments!
xoxo,
