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Rook

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I'm a 40-something Michiganer who loves to read books, likes to bend yarn, and drink tea. Public entries are usually anything book or media related while the rest is access locked. More info about my interests and about this journal can be found via the profile link and if you found me via

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( List of books read so far this year + stats! )

CURRENTLY READING
When The Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
Thoughts At 70+%: The summary on the back of the book doesn't do it justice. You think you're going to be reading a werewolf book, but it goes in such a delightfully different direction. There are some squicky things that made me go EEUUUUWWWWWW a couple times so far (you should've seen my face while I listened on my way to work 😅), but I've really been enjoying the read so far. I can't wait to see how this book ends.

Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen
Thoughts at 30+%: This book is good, but it doesn't have its hooks in me as well as the Nat Cassidy book. I absolutely disliked the audiobook - it sounded like someone handed a script to a bunch of teenagers/college freshman and they were just reading it. No emotion behind the narration so I switched to the ebook I'd gotten on Kobo now that the Storygraph keeps track of your progress. While this feels like an ode to 80s/90s slashers, I may end up DNFing it because the characters just seem like... idiots? 🤷‍♀️ IDK, yet, but I'll keep reading until roughly 50% and see how I'm enjoying the book (or not).

1. Do you enjoy reading?

Absolutely! I've been a avid reader since I was kid and read multiple days a week (or try to). Lately, I've gotten into listening to audiobooks on the way to and from work.

2. What is the first book you remember reading?

Oh The Things You Can Think by Dr. Seuss because it was the first book I ever read on my own as a kid.

3. Who is your favourite author?

Once upon a time, it would've been Laurel K. Hamilton until she got weird with her characters (and her books got too smutty for me). These days I'm usually reading something by Jim Butcher as soon as a Dresden File book drops, Patricia Briggs, or Kevin Hearne. I've also come to enjoy Rachel Gillig's recent books, and really enjoyed the first book in T. Kingfisher's Saint of Steel series.

4. What is your favourite book?

I don't have a favorite book, but my favorite series is The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.

5. What is the last book you read and the first you'll read next?

The Final Twist by Jeffery Deaver and then the next book in the series, Hunting Time. I also started Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn for the Tarot Readathon.

(These are questions provided by

thefridayfive)

Mood: meh.
Music: Fireman Ring the Bell - The Black Keys

Season 1 wrecked me. I'm not emotionally prepared for season 2.

And that's it. That's the post.

Mood: drained

Last week was... something. I must've temporarily pissed off a deity because two or three days in a row I got some really special Karens.

( Cut for length )

ETA: I completely forgot to write about my Saturday where I was super excited to get my haircut and chat with the lady that does my hair after last week being such a shit show. Well, that ended up not happening because the car I drive broke down and I ended up freezing my ass off, needing to pee, and being hungry for two hours on the side of the freeway waiting for a tow truck to haul my car to the dealership. Found out yesterday (at the crack of dawn because my dad insisted that we needed to be there at 7am when they opened) that the alternator died, which was why I lost the AWD, ABS, the braking system, traction, and power steering (I barely got my ass to the side of the road because the steering wheel was hardly turning). It was able to be fixed, thankfully, and I didn't need a ride to work later that day.

In my previous entry, I'd started Psyche & Eros and even though I was enjoying it, not much had happened. Things did start to pick up a little bit just after I posted that, but... I can't really explain it other than I just fell out of the mood to read it. I was enjoying it, but it wasn't like I needed to keep reading and know what happens next. Due to that, I've hit a reading slump and haven't picked up or continued anything else in the last week so I've put Psyche & Eros on pause and will be picking up Witchcraft For Wayward Girls instead since that's the next high priority book as it's a book club pick. I think next month I'm going to skip any book club picks and just mood read.

Mood: pissed off
Music: Forndom - Hemkomst

( Work venting under the cut )
Since it's a new month, it means a new book club pick, which is Psyche & Eros by Luna McNamara. I've been enjoying it so far, it's just not... terribly exciting? It's kind of slow at the moment, which I sort of understand, the author seems to be building their background and origins, but... yeah. It's a little slow so far and I'm hoping that something a little more interesting happens the closer I get to the quarter mark. This might be a book I soft DNF to come back to later since I have quite a bit on my plate this month reading-wise.

(I did see a comment in my Inbox and was planning on responding later in the week or over the weekend.)

Mood: angry

The Year So Far...

Books Started: 4
Books Read: 4
Total Pages Read:¹ 1,913

Books Read

( January Reads (Cut for length) )

Current Reads

Title: Bookshops & Bonedust, book 0 of Legends & Lattes
Author: Travis Baldree
Challenge: Second Book in a Series for Series Take-Down

Legends & Lattes was a 5-star read for me when I read it last year and I expect that this one will be, too, even though I'm only about a quarter of the way through. I like that Baldree portrays orcs as more than thugs when lots of people kind of raise their eyebrows at seeing Viv reading a book and I also absolutely love that various people are asking her thoughts and opinions on the books she's reading. It's like, yaaas, discuss the books like bookworms do! It's all just screaming at the reader in me and I fucking love it.

Title: Lost Ones, book 3 of the Warlock Legacy
Author: Ryan Attard
Challenge: N/A, a mood read

I only just started this and not very far so I don't really have any particular thoughts on it at the moment.

February Reading Intentions

Read both the BBBC pick and the Literally Dead Book Club pick.
1. BBBC: Psyche & Eros
2. Literally Dead: Witcraft For Wayward Girls (stupid excited for this one!)
Assign reading days to keep momentum throughout the month? (I noticed that I ran out of steam after the 15th lol)
Start Killers Of A Certain Age with dauntless_heart
Start Heartless Hunter with thelittleone
...Profit? (sorry, couldn't resist! lmao)

¹ The reading tracker I use is actually counting all pages I've read so far, which includes a few books I started in 2024 and haven't finished (yet). This number is more like in the 1,400s vs. the 1,900s.

² 😅 IDK what I was thinking trying to participate in a week-long reading challenge when it takes me a week to read one book these days. I won't be do anything like this again unless maybe I focus on manga or comicbooks instead. Thoughts?

Mood: good
Music: Wardruna - Dvaledraumer

Would anyone be interested in either reading Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli or Killers Of A Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn? Both books have sequels coming out the next two months and I haven't read the first books, yet.

Finally getting around to this. 😆

( Read more... )

2025 Reading Intentions

Read 25 books.
Try to read four or five days a week.
Check books out from library or read from books bought already vs. buying.
For every 4 books read, can buy 1 book.
Use audiobooks more (ie, driving, cleaning, etc).
Spend more time reading vs. playing video games.
Write reviews for books read.

I've been vibing with the Bujo Buddies Book Club (BBBC) so I'll keep going with that along with...

... and that's it re: books and reading (for now lol).

Mood: tired

I only posted about six or seven times this year and going into 2025, that's something I'd like to change. More on that later, but here's kind of an end-of-year update on some things I posted about the past year.

2024 Reading Goals

I did not read everyday, and that's okay.
I met my book goal of 24 halfway through the year! So far, I've actually read 29 books (not including my DNFs).
Definitely did not adhere to my "Read 3 or 4 books, buy 1 book" goal 😂.
While I did not write reviews using the CAWPILE method, CAWPILE did make me think a little more about what I was reading.
I did not make the little bookshelf. Looking back on that, I should've known it would be too much work in the long run.

I'll have a more book-specific wrap-up when Storygraph and Goodreads makes those stats available.

Work Stuff

I can safely say that things with the Merch Manager have gotten a lot better. That's not to say that they're perfect, because they can still be heavily passive-aggressive, but it's not like it was earlier this year.

Welp. That Happened.

( Cut due to politics )

TV/Media

I'm still not over how SPN ended and I don't think I ever will be. 😂
Daredevil: Born Again premieres in March! I'M SO EXCITED!
I learned recently that John Krasinski is going to do a Jack Ryan movie and I'm also so excited for this!
Tracker ended up doing better than I thought it would. Shortly after that post, the episodes started getting better and I'm glad it got a second season. My only complaint is that Jensen Ackles is not living up to the character he's portraying on his guest spots. Dean Winchester is not Russell Shaw and he's basically playing some form of Dean Winchester and while I love Jensen as Dean, that's not how Russell acts.

That's all I've got for now! I'll post my 2025 reading intentions soon.

I picked up Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisah J. Tuli (Goodreads) for one of two book clubs I recently joined. The book was actually pretty good until about 40 - 50% of the way in when it just started getting ridiculous and eye-rolling. It's basically giving The Bachelor On 'Roid vibes that I'm not finding appealing and now I'm just reading to see if the MC wins and saves her family.

ETA (2/7/24): DNF'd Trial of the Sun Queen at 220 pages, or 58%. It's just too eye-rolling for me.

Will be starting Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (Goodreads) today while on my breaks at work today. I'm very excited about it!

BOOKS

While I didn't exactly read one book a week, I did end up reading 5 books in January, which is one more than I planned on 😂.
Nisekoi #2 by Naoshi Komi
Dune by Frank Herbert
Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor
Demon Slayer #1 by Koyoharu Gotouge
Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon by Keith R. A. DeCandido
I didn't expect to like Demon Slayer as much as I did (even though I heard plenty of good things about it) and for such a short book/novella, Address Unknown was a difficult read.

OTHER MEDIA

I didn't watch much television or movies this past month, but did focus on Reacher and the last two seasons of Supernatural.

Overall, I liked the second season of Reacher, but honestly... season one was a bit better. While I do like me a nice burly man, I felt that Alan Ritchson added too much muscle to himself this year. I found it kind of hard to believe that a man who just about walks everywhere with only the clothes on his back would look like he goes to the gym five days a week. 🤷‍♀️ As for Supernatural...

I'm going to pretend that at least half of the last season doesn't exist and that the series ended on episode 19 instead of 20. 👍

FEBRUARY GOALS

Read 4 books
Join or read a book club book.

2023 Wrap-Up

General 2024 Goals

Try to read every day

Read 16 - 20 books

For every 3 - 4 books read, can buy 1 book (I lasted 10 days 🤣)

Write reviews for books read (CAWPILE)

Optional: Create little/mini bookshelf

January Goals

Read 1 book every week?

Scan book covers of physical TBR

( Cut for Unpopular Bookish Opinion )

Anyway. That's just my grievance with that, I guess. If you've got reading goals, what would you like to accomplish this year?

Mood: annoyed

I know I posted a book review at least once on here that I wouldn't even really call a review in the strictest sense 😆. The last time I did one I almost immediately took it down because it wasn't objective in the least and I was very critical of the author. To be fair, it was one of those "get a book for free if you leave a review" situations and... let's just say this author's work at the time was not polished in any sense of the word. In hindsight, I'm now positive that I got a draft version of the book instead of the ebook that's available on Amazon (for free at the time) and I wish I'd been told that because I spent way more time editing the book than I was reading it. Let me tell you, I had some thoughts on pretty much everything. So, yeah. I didn't really enjoy reading that book very much and I'm saying that because Belladonna kind of gave me mixed feelings by the end of reading it.

( Review )

Well, it's almost been a whole year since I last updated 😅. I've been battling a cold and cough so I'm not up to making a detailed post, but here are some highlights of events:

In February/March, I started training to be a custom framer at our store and I really love it! Sadly, since about August I haven't been in the frame shop a whole lote due to some college student going back to school.
In March, my mom and I went on a really fun Craft/Scrapbook retreat at a place that actually catered to scrapbooking and fiber arts. The facility had a kitchen that we could cook our own meals in and the ladies that coordinated the weekend made some really nice homemade meals for us. It was a great weekend - I got a lot of hats made - and I can't wait to go again next year!
In October, we spent a day at a scrapbook event (Croptoberfest lul) where I added a little more to my 8 x 8 album. We also went to walk the Tilson Street Halloween homes, but will definitely be trying to make a pair of mittens for myself because the new coat I got doesn't have any pockets 😭.

Books

I'm one book away from reaching my Reading Challenge for the year and I'm super excited about that. A couple books this year that I've read so far that stood out to me are:
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Suburban Hell by Maureen Kilmer
Ninth House was so tonally different than her Grishaverse books that I was completely stunned. Even though I haven't finished those, I honestly liked Ninth House way more than I did Shadow and Bone. One of my Next to Read books is the sequel, Hell Bent.

Contemporary or chick-lit is not normally my cup of tea, but the premise of Suburban Hell really grabbed me. I honestly thought it was going to be way more funny than it was, but the author really leaned into the horror very well. I can usually read scary/horror books any time of day, but some of the events really left me unsettled and creeped out that I mostly read this book during the day. Highly recommend this book!

One of the Book of the Month books I got recently is called The Helsinki Affair that I'm looking forward to reading.

Games

I haven't finished any games this year, so far, but I've been having fun playing:
The Quarry - I'm only a few chapters from finishing on my original playthrough. I started a new game for my Twitch stream in October.
Chained Echoes - I had to start a new game of this from back in January because I didn't know how to do anything anymore 😂.
7 Days to Die - I've been playing this with some friends on a server.
FFXIV - Good lord this one had it's claws in me for a hot minute.
New World - I love how you can level up your weapons separately.
The Sims 4 - Yes. Yes, this also has it's claws in me.
Baldur's Gate 3 - I've absolutely loved this game. Not very far in it, but it's scratched the D&D itch I've had for a while but couldn't play because I'm not friends with people that play it anymore.
I recently found out that there is a PC version of FFX and FFX-2 that I'm going to have to get because that is honestly my favorite FF game after VII.

TV & Movies

I've watched so many shows and movies that I'd be here a while. But I'm looking forward to:
Reacher (RIP Jack Ryan!)
Echo - the trailer looked really cool!
Daredevil: Born Again (it's been pushed to 2025, though! 😭)

Mood: sick
Music: It Ain't Me Babe - River Whyless

I haven't been active here for a moment, but I wanted to post a comparison of my reading stats from October last year to October this year.

( Click the image to enlarge. )

One of the many reasons I love TheStoryGraph is because of the detailed stats.🤎 It's really interesting to see the Mood differences from last year to this year!

BOOKS

Did not finish The Stardust Thief because my attention shifted to The Terminal List after binge-watching the series on Amazon. I was also in the mood for some other kind of fantasy series so I thought, Why not Shadow & Bone? That was a mistake because instead of reading The Stardust Thief, I got sucked into the Grishaverse. 😅 I finished that, but didn't complete another book like I wanted.

GAMES

I'm finding Evil Dead: The Game a lot more challenging than I expected it to be (co-op notwithstanding because oof, did that have a learning curve). I've attempted to do the first mission more than 3 times now and the "boss" of the first part continuously wipes the floor with my ass. It's been frustrating trying to move forward with the game so I haven't really been playing it all that much. However, I've discovered a game similar to Dead By Daylight called Video Horror Society that's currently in Beta. It's been an interesting experience and, overall, I've had some fun with it but the most frustrating thing I've found with the game is the long wait time for matchmaking (it can be up to 20 minutes) only for the match to last less than a couple minutes; and trying to figure out how to counter what is essentially a radial power each monster has. The most interesting concept of this game is that you can actually try to banish or kill the monster versus DBD where you can only stun the killer and try to escape the match after completing the objective.

I've continued my Minecraft journey and have decided that my base of operations is going to be a castle because... why not? 😂 Another game I've gotten into very recently is called ARK which is basically like Minecraft with scary dinosaurs (and a bit more difficult to play).

TV & FILM

I have yet to finish Stranger Things, but I did complete STSNW and... I'm a bit ambivalent overall on their freshman season. To me, if seemed to be a bit all over the place which I can kind of understand — they're trying to find their footing post-Discovery. But, there was a great plot point having to do with Spock that I, quite honestly, thought was going to be the focus for the rest of the season and was really surprised that it... didn't happen? So, I'm either thinking (or hoping) that it'll be a story arc that is next season's plot.

Jurassic World: Dominion was really great, overall, but there were aspects/points in it that I had mixed feelings about. I absolutely loved all the Old School Meets New School story points (I may or may not have cried. 👀) When it comes out on Blu-ray, it's definitely getting added to my Jurassic Park collection.

AUGUST GOALS

Finish The Stardust Thief
Read 1 more book
Read Tropic of the Sea
Finish Stranger Things

( Something completely unrelated )

I don't normally pay much attention to the front page of MAL, but the orange stack icon/image caught my eye today and I went to check it out. Looks like there is a watch/read challenge until the end of August that I've decided to participate in. One of the manga I'm going to read is Kaikisen, which sounded really interesting to me. I was a bit disappointed to see that a fair few of the anime that appealed to me for the other challenge weren't available in any of the streaming services I already subscribe to that has anime in their categories.

I'm kind of hoping that this challenge will encourage me to pick up the manga that I said I'd read the last couple months. 😅

At the end of May, beginning of June, I decided to take a page out of

lassarina's journal and do a wrap up of the media that I've consumed over the month. I also included goals, which you can read about below.

BOOKS

Junes goal for books was read two and one of them had to be a BOTM novel. I only reached half the goal, but... I did at least start the BOTM novel since I finished Paper & Blood close to the end of June. The Stardust Thief, so far, is pretty good but I haven't gotten very far in it mainly because it's sometimes difficult for me to get into a book from an author I've never read before. I'm sure once I get through a couple more chapters, I'll be into the book.

ANIME & MANGA

I had set the goal to read or complete vol. 1 of the Eternal Edition of Sailor Moon (or get through half of it). Unfortunately, I didn't even touch any manga or anime this month so the goal to get through Crystal and Nisekoi didn't happen, either.

GAMES

Due to some drama happening at the beginning of June in one of the gaming servers I'm in on Discord, I wasn't as committed to meeting the specific gaming goals I had set for June. I did, however, finally get on the Minecraft wagon and have been having a lot of fun with it. I will say this about the game... Creepers and Enderers (I think that is the name?) are scary AF. 😮

TV & FILM

Did not get to Stranger Things, but I was also just waiting for it to be fully complete before I sat down to watch it. I'm going to try binge-watching it because after I'm done with that series I was thinking of canceling my Netflix subscription. I've found that since all the Marvel shows I was into from Netflix are now on Disney+... there's really no point in keeping a subscription service I haven't really been watching. I might keep it long enough to watch Extraction 2, but IDK, yet.

Except for the most recent episode, I'm up-to-date with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Overall, I've been enjoying the series and especially enjoyed the ( (spoilers.) )
I AM curious to see what happens with the reveal in the pirate episode considering there are only one or two episodes left of the season.

I started the new season of Evil and I'm reserving judgement on it until a couple more episodes. Season 4 of Westworld dropped this past Sunday and... that episode left me all kinds of confused. I may have to re-watch the last few episodes of season 3 and re-watch the season 4 premiere again to better understand just what the fuck was going on. I was just... I was so lost. 😂

I watch so many movies during the month that it's just too much to list here, but if you're curious you can always check out my Trakt account. I do want to see the last Jurassic Park movie, though. Hopefully next week since I have a lot of days off!

JULY GOALS

Finish The Stardust Thief, read 2 books
Read or watch Sailor Moon/Crystal & Nisekoi
Complete 1 -2 missions in Evil Dead: The Game
Optional: Get to Iri 4 in Dead By Daylight
Stranger Things

I'm gonna steal

lassarina 's idea of monthly wrap-ups and goals. IDK how well I'll adhere to it, but...

May Wrap-Up
In terms of books I read, I only read Water for Elephants. On the Storygraph, in addition to my yearly reading challenge, I'm also (trying) to participate in the Kill Your TBR challenge where you read two books a month (one -- a book in a genre you don't normally read and two -- a book you own but haven't read yet). My goal with this thus far has been sporadic.

For my games, I haven't really been playing any where you need to complete or finish them. Dead by Daylight is the game I mostly play at the moment because I have a lot of internet friends that also play it (also because I'm terrible at FPS games), but I've also gotten into playing Evil Dead: The Game at the end of May. Evil Dead does have solo-missions to complete, so I'm going to try and complete at least two, if not three of them in June. I also recently started playing Vampire: The Masquerade — Swansong and it has a really great premise, but the motion capture at times is something left to be desired.

As for manga, I did not get to reading vol. 1 of the Eternal Edition of Sailor Moon, so that's my goal for June. I did catch up to episode 6 of Crystal, and I believe I'm on episode 2 of Nisekoi. By the end of June, I would like to get halfway through both series.

Other Media... I've completed season 1 NCIS: Hawai'i and Halo, and I'm currently caught up on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (and I'm looking forward to Thursday for the next episode).

Goals For June...

Read 2 books — one of them needs to be a BOTM I currently have.
Read/Complete vol. 1 of Sailor Moon (or at the very least, get through half of it)
Complete 1 - 2 missions in Evil Dead.
Iri 4 in DBD? (I will be hella shocked if I ever get to this goal)
Get at least halfway through season 1 of both Sailor Moon Crystal and Nisekoi
TV — Stranger Things (season 4)

I mostly read yesterday and was able to finish Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It was a good thing, too, because the book was due back to the library in nine days and I’m glad I was able to return it early.

The novel, however, left me emotionally drained a lot more than I was expecting (that’s why I’m kinda feeling “meh”). Jacob’s struggle as an old man was just heartbreaking and I felt sorry for him a lot, but there were also moments where I thought he was being a little selfish or whiney. The book also had a lot more adult content than I thought there would be, which I’m not complaining about, it just took me by surprise considering my experience with the plot has more to do with the movie that it was adapted to.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book a lot more than I thought I would. It’s definitely going on my re-read list.

Over the weekend (Sunday, I think?), I started playing Evil Dead: The Game and while I just went through the tutorial a couple times, I'm really liking it. I did watch a friend stream the single player mode for a while and there were some good jump scares in it! 😂😅 One thing I like so far is the keyboard controls as I'm not struggling to keep track of how my keys I have to press for skills and items to use (it's so simple — just 3 keys!) although there is one key that had me going 😕 for a bit (it's the ↹ key, which I thought was Tab?) before I decided it was probably just a good idea to move on. During my own stream, one of members of the Discord server we're on clipped a really great gem that had me dying afterward (a warning — if you're not a fan of gorey horror, you'll want to pass on the clip).

Mood: meh

a personal journal

Entries

Custom Text

Links

The Year So Far...

Books Read

Current Reads

February Reading Intentions

2025 Reading Intentions

2024 Reading Goals

Work Stuff

Welp. That Happened.

TV/Media

2023 Wrap-Up

General 2024 Goals

January Goals

Books

Games

TV & Movies