Just Another Struggling Writer

Hello fellow readers and welcome back to another edition of Fiction Friday. Today I’m going to talk about the books I hope to read in the month of May. This month, I’m going to break my list down by format, just for funsies. 

Physical Copies

So, this was actually my starter book for my new [Book of the Month] account. I didn’t see anything on April’s list that appealed to my fantasy-focused sensibilities, so I selected one of the past releases. Look how pretty it is! 

While this book doesn’t strike me as especially fantasy (despite what BotM and Goodreads tries to tell me), it stays enough in the wheelhouse to keep me interested. Who said a little boundary stretching was a bad thing anyway? 

I became such a fan of Mark Lawrence’s writing last year that when I saw this book up for pre-sale, I didn’t even hesitate (despite my 70+ strong TBR). I am so super excited to get his book in my hands. I do love books about magical libraries so this one is right up my alley. 

The third and final book in the Broken Earth trilogy, I have actually been putting off reading this one for a while. Both the first two books were so visceral for me to read, I’m honestly a little scared of how this final installment will make me feel. Will I be relieved or gutted that it’s over? I don’t know, but I think it’s finally time to find out. 

E-Book

If I’m being totally honest, I am not suuuuuper jazzed by the mafia/crime family aspect of this book. As a rule, I prefer to avoid stories about bad people doing badness for the sake of it. However, I don’t feel like I can rightly skip this series and still call myself a fan of the genre. It’s just too unmissable. So, I’m gonna push through my discomfort and see where it takes me. 

I tried this one a little while back and did not love the prologue. It was really lengthy and colonizer-y, and I just wasn’t in the right headspace to tackle a book that dense. I’ve heard some really great things about this book though, so I’m ready to give it a second try. 

Audiobook

So, I know this book is classified as young adult, which I normally am not a fan of, but if I learned anything from my experience with The Shadow of the Gods, its that I should really reserve my Audible credits for books that I’m not going to feel… gosh, how do I put this nicely… I guess what I’m saying is I have trouble listening to audiobooks at the best of times, so I’m going to try and only listen to books I don’t anticipate to be super engaged with anyway. How’s that? 

That said, setting the YA aspect aside, I am loving the premise of this book, so we’ll see how it goes. 

I don’t know much about this book, but I’m intrigued by its vibes. Not so much urban fantasy as rural fantasy. This also seems like the kind of book that will be made or broken by its audio narrator. Fingers crossed for a good one. 

And that’s it! Seven books is a big ask, but I need to do some catching up if I want to hit my 50-book target for the year.