Kiwira's Recent Reads
Oct. 1st, 2025 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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christianreaderDue to my summer vacation, I never got around to posting my books for August, so instead you get two months for the price of one!!
Plus an additional read from July, as I couldn't post the review back then ;-) I had the pleasure of being offered the chance to do an alpha read of a book written by a friend of mine, and absolutely LOVED it! It was published last month, so I can finally write about it!!!
A Home in Percival - Paula K. Berman, 4/5, 285 pages
A really sweet and charming story about finding friends and getting settled in a new place :) I love love love descriptions of setting a house to rights and making it your own, so this was right up my aisle.
This is cozy fantasy at its best. No real conflicts, no real crises - just people being people. It is definitely character-driven rather than plot-driven, but as long as I like the characters, that's never bothered me :-D
And at the end of the day I picked up the book at every opportunity I got, and feel almost book hungover now that I've finished. I will definitely need a physical copy of it at some point.
A Witch's Guide to Love and Poison - Aamna Qureshi, 4/5, 336 pages
A random purchase, because I couldn't resist the title :-D Fortunately the book turned out really good too, and I loved reading about Bisma's life in the Enchanted Forest, and her work together with Xander in Xander's lab.
Not a true enemies-to-lovers story - more a "Gilbert and Anne" situation. Sweet and cozy romantic fantasy.
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - T. Kingfisher, 3/5, 306 pages
Surprisingly slow read. I liked it well enough, but didn't really get truly invested in the story until near the end. The defensive baking started way too late in the book, and I would have liked to read more about Mona's trials and errors in making it work. Basically, I like reading about the technicalities of magic :-P
I liked the beginning (until Mona got arrested) and I liked the end (after she and Spindle climbed up to talk to the Duchess) - the middle part could have been tightened up significantly.
The Enchanted Greenhouse - Sarah Beth Durst, 5/5, 375 pages
Not as much a sequel to "The Spellshop" as a companion novel to it, as it takes place at approximately the same time, and just references characters featured in the first one.
"The Enchanted Greenhouse" is even better than "The Spellshop", which I had really not seen coming. I loved the descriptions of the various greenhouses, and how Terlu and the gardener (whose name is currently escaping my memory!) slowly got to trust each other and become friends.
I'm loving this "cozy fantasy" genre!
The Summer Swap - Sarah Morgan, 3.5/5, 381 pages
A fairly stereotypical Sarah Morgan book. It was good, but I didn't find it quite as charming as some of her other books. The constant switch in POVs is common for Sarah Morgan's novels, so it didn't come as a surprise to me, but since there were definitely some of the characters I cared more for than the others, it did make the book drag a bit.
Overgrowth - Mira Grant, 4/5, Audiobook ~17hrs
"Overgrowth" is "The Host" if "The Host" had been written by ... well, by Mira Grant! Something that definitely wouldn't have turned out well for the human race!
I preferred the first half. Parts of the second just seemed ... contrived somehow - although that may be more a sign of me thinking too well of humans to believe they'd treat 'the plant people' like that, rather than based on actual facts.
Fascinating story nonetheless, and just as captivating as I would have expected something written by Mira Grant to be.
Red, White and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston*, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~12hrs
I'd recently watched the movie, and wanted to reread the book. It's just really cute! A great mix of friendship, romance, coming-of-age and finding your own place in the world. I really enjoyed seeing Alex' and Henry's friendship grow organically and how they each brought their friends and siblings along, to create a larger, harmonious group. I really appreciated that the relationship here was not interrupted by a misunderstanding that could have been prevented by simple communication. That is a trope far too prevalent in romantic novels, and I was glad not to see it happen here.
I also enjoyed seeing this "behind the stages" view of politics and royalty, even though I have absolutely no doubts that that part is 100% made up and not based on any personal experience :-P
Accomplice to the Villain - Hannah Nicole Maehrer, 3/5, Audiobook ~15hrs
I wish Hannah Nicole Maehrer would cut down on the number of POV she tells the story from. It makes sense to have both the Villain and Evie, but Gideon? Clare? ALEXANDER???? Not so much.
It was still really good, but with just as open an ending as the previous two books! I had hoped this would be the last in the series, so we'd get some form of resolution, but apparently there's at least one more to go.
There was still some developments though, so fortunately it didn't quite feel like everything was still status quo at the end of the book. But I did rate it lower than I would have, if more issues had been resolved.
Rewitched - Lucy Jane Woood, 3/5, Audiobook ~12 hrs
Cozy fantasy. I liked it well enough, but there wasn't really anything about it that stood out.
I would have liked to read more about the magic lessons themselves, but they were mostly glossed over.
I liked Belle's roommate / best friend. Their conflict was believable with the underlying knowledge of "Right now I'm pissed at you, but I love you and will always love you, so we'll get past this". I would have loved for the author to explore her reaction to Belle's magic more.
It took Belle waaaaaaaay too long to stand up to Chris, but I mentally cheered when she finally did!
Parts of the climax / great reveal didn't really work for me. It seemed too easy somehow.
So fairly average but enjoyable read.
A Deadly Education - Naomi Novik*, 4/5, 320 pages
The Last Graduate - Naomi Novik*, 4/5, 388 pages
Some posts on tumblr made me want to reread this series - or at least the first two books. I loved it as much as on my first read-through. I find the setting so fascinating. The writing style does take some getting used to - there's a lot more telling than showing going on in the beginning, but for some reason it worked with the atmosphere of the book, and I was instantly drawn in.
I loved reading about El's growth and almost reluctant way of making friends, and was fascinated by the way magic works in this world - crocheting to gain manna seems like the perfect deal to me! (which I know means it wouldn't gain me much, but hey - a girl can dream, right? ;-) )
Books Read: 64
Book of the Month: The Enchanted Greenhouse - such a delightful read!
Plus an additional read from July, as I couldn't post the review back then ;-) I had the pleasure of being offered the chance to do an alpha read of a book written by a friend of mine, and absolutely LOVED it! It was published last month, so I can finally write about it!!!
A Home in Percival - Paula K. Berman, 4/5, 285 pages
A really sweet and charming story about finding friends and getting settled in a new place :) I love love love descriptions of setting a house to rights and making it your own, so this was right up my aisle.
This is cozy fantasy at its best. No real conflicts, no real crises - just people being people. It is definitely character-driven rather than plot-driven, but as long as I like the characters, that's never bothered me :-D
And at the end of the day I picked up the book at every opportunity I got, and feel almost book hungover now that I've finished. I will definitely need a physical copy of it at some point.
A Witch's Guide to Love and Poison - Aamna Qureshi, 4/5, 336 pages
A random purchase, because I couldn't resist the title :-D Fortunately the book turned out really good too, and I loved reading about Bisma's life in the Enchanted Forest, and her work together with Xander in Xander's lab.
Not a true enemies-to-lovers story - more a "Gilbert and Anne" situation. Sweet and cozy romantic fantasy.
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - T. Kingfisher, 3/5, 306 pages
Surprisingly slow read. I liked it well enough, but didn't really get truly invested in the story until near the end. The defensive baking started way too late in the book, and I would have liked to read more about Mona's trials and errors in making it work. Basically, I like reading about the technicalities of magic :-P
I liked the beginning (until Mona got arrested) and I liked the end (after she and Spindle climbed up to talk to the Duchess) - the middle part could have been tightened up significantly.
The Enchanted Greenhouse - Sarah Beth Durst, 5/5, 375 pages
Not as much a sequel to "The Spellshop" as a companion novel to it, as it takes place at approximately the same time, and just references characters featured in the first one.
"The Enchanted Greenhouse" is even better than "The Spellshop", which I had really not seen coming. I loved the descriptions of the various greenhouses, and how Terlu and the gardener (whose name is currently escaping my memory!) slowly got to trust each other and become friends.
I'm loving this "cozy fantasy" genre!
The Summer Swap - Sarah Morgan, 3.5/5, 381 pages
A fairly stereotypical Sarah Morgan book. It was good, but I didn't find it quite as charming as some of her other books. The constant switch in POVs is common for Sarah Morgan's novels, so it didn't come as a surprise to me, but since there were definitely some of the characters I cared more for than the others, it did make the book drag a bit.
Overgrowth - Mira Grant, 4/5, Audiobook ~17hrs
"Overgrowth" is "The Host" if "The Host" had been written by ... well, by Mira Grant! Something that definitely wouldn't have turned out well for the human race!
I preferred the first half. Parts of the second just seemed ... contrived somehow - although that may be more a sign of me thinking too well of humans to believe they'd treat 'the plant people' like that, rather than based on actual facts.
Fascinating story nonetheless, and just as captivating as I would have expected something written by Mira Grant to be.
Red, White and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston*, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~12hrs
I'd recently watched the movie, and wanted to reread the book. It's just really cute! A great mix of friendship, romance, coming-of-age and finding your own place in the world. I really enjoyed seeing Alex' and Henry's friendship grow organically and how they each brought their friends and siblings along, to create a larger, harmonious group. I really appreciated that the relationship here was not interrupted by a misunderstanding that could have been prevented by simple communication. That is a trope far too prevalent in romantic novels, and I was glad not to see it happen here.
I also enjoyed seeing this "behind the stages" view of politics and royalty, even though I have absolutely no doubts that that part is 100% made up and not based on any personal experience :-P
Accomplice to the Villain - Hannah Nicole Maehrer, 3/5, Audiobook ~15hrs
I wish Hannah Nicole Maehrer would cut down on the number of POV she tells the story from. It makes sense to have both the Villain and Evie, but Gideon? Clare? ALEXANDER???? Not so much.
It was still really good, but with just as open an ending as the previous two books! I had hoped this would be the last in the series, so we'd get some form of resolution, but apparently there's at least one more to go.
There was still some developments though, so fortunately it didn't quite feel like everything was still status quo at the end of the book. But I did rate it lower than I would have, if more issues had been resolved.
Rewitched - Lucy Jane Woood, 3/5, Audiobook ~12 hrs
Cozy fantasy. I liked it well enough, but there wasn't really anything about it that stood out.
I would have liked to read more about the magic lessons themselves, but they were mostly glossed over.
I liked Belle's roommate / best friend. Their conflict was believable with the underlying knowledge of "Right now I'm pissed at you, but I love you and will always love you, so we'll get past this". I would have loved for the author to explore her reaction to Belle's magic more.
It took Belle waaaaaaaay too long to stand up to Chris, but I mentally cheered when she finally did!
Parts of the climax / great reveal didn't really work for me. It seemed too easy somehow.
So fairly average but enjoyable read.
A Deadly Education - Naomi Novik*, 4/5, 320 pages
The Last Graduate - Naomi Novik*, 4/5, 388 pages
Some posts on tumblr made me want to reread this series - or at least the first two books. I loved it as much as on my first read-through. I find the setting so fascinating. The writing style does take some getting used to - there's a lot more telling than showing going on in the beginning, but for some reason it worked with the atmosphere of the book, and I was instantly drawn in.
I loved reading about El's growth and almost reluctant way of making friends, and was fascinated by the way magic works in this world - crocheting to gain manna seems like the perfect deal to me! (which I know means it wouldn't gain me much, but hey - a girl can dream, right? ;-) )
Books Read: 64
Book of the Month: The Enchanted Greenhouse - such a delightful read!
