Kiwiria's October Reads
Nov. 4th, 2025 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiwiria posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
christianreaderQuite a few books this month, so I'll be kind, and hide the reviews behind a cut :)
The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady - Sharon J. Mondragón, 5/5, Audiobook ~8hrs
My sister recommended this book to me, and as I trust her recommendations without hesitation, I immediately picked it up. Besides, with that title I knew it would be right up my aisle!
And so it was. I absolutely loved it and finished all 8 hours in just 4 days. It's a heartwarming story much in the same vein as "The Yada Yada Prayer Group" and "The Sister Circle" series. I grew to love the characters, and found myself wanting to know more about them and join them in their knitting circle.
Definitely character-driven rather than plot-driven, but so charming and delightful. I got the audiobook from the library, but the physical book is going straight on my wishlist - it needs to be part of my library!
The Tangled Tale of the Woolgathering Castoffs - Sharon Mondragón, 3/5, Audiobook ~9hrs
I had really high hopes for this one, since I loved "The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady" so much, but unfortunately this sequel / companion novel could in no way live up to my expectations. It was just ... so sad!
The focus of this novel is the memory unit at Fair Meadows, so of course it kinda had to be sad, but there are different ways of doing it, and whereas the first novel was very hopeful in mood, I didn't think that was the case here at all.
There was still a lot of focus on knitting ("and crocheting!") and on prayer, which I enjoyed. But I felt it lacked the humour and the joy of the first novel.
The Naturals - Jennifer Lynn Barnes, 4/5, 320 pages
I'm a huge fan of "Criminal Minds" and its depiction of the FBI BAU, so it's no surprise that this story about an FBI program for "natural profilers" should be right up my aisle. I loved the descriptions of the tasks Cassie and Dean were given, and hope there'll be more of those in the later books.
There were a few questions left unanswered - the importance of the pool and Sloan's place in the program, just to mention a few - and think Jennifer Lynn Barnes made Lia unnecessarily antagonistic, but again, I'm hoping this will be explored more in the later books.
Killer Instinct - Jennifer Lynn Barnes, 4/5,
All In - Jennifer Lynn Barnes, 4/5,
Books 2 and 3 in the "Naturals" series, and just as good as the first one! Not much new to say about them, that I didn't already write in my review for the first one though, so I'll just leave it at this. Looking forward to finishing off the series this month!
Naked in Death - J.D. Robb, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
After having read a ton of Nora Roberts' books, I figured it was time to try out the series she's written under her J.D. Robb pseudonym.
The story is written in 1995'ish but set in 2058, and it's quite fascinating to see how she imagined the future back then - see how many of the things are available already now, and how many probably still won't be in 30 years' time.
The murder mystery itself was pretty run of the mill. I hadn't guessed the culprit ahead of time, but nor had I really tried to. The plot was captivating and kept me nicely entertained all the way through. I didn't care terribly for the romance - a lot more tell than show! - but it didn't seem entirely contrived either.
So all in all a fairly average read. I liked it well enough, and may very well continue on with the series, but it cannot hold a candle to the suspense novels she writes as Nora Roberts.
The Cinnamon Bun Book Store - Laurie Gilmore, 3.5/5, 348 pages
Random purchase because I couldn't resist the title / cover.
Really sweet chick-lit, which surprised me by being a lot spicier than I had expected! Character-driven rather than plot-driven, which isn't a problem to me, as long as it's done well. But if you're looking for plot - look elsewhere.
The romance was believable, and I loved the chemistry between Noah and Hazel. I could definitely empathize with Hazel's overthinking everything, and was very pleasantly surprised by how realistically the communication (or lack of same ... ) was handled. No third act breakup, but rather a third act conversation!
A very different type of book from what I had expected, but I ended up really enjoying it.
There's Something About Merry - Codi Hall, 3/5, Audiobook ~11hrs
Not very christmassy when push came to shove, so it was fine to read in October.
A sweet romance, but unexpectedly spicy! I did really appreciate the lack of a third-act breakup though, and that Clarke and Merry seemed to communicate just fine - a refreshing change!
I loved Jace :-D
Breakaway - Grace Reilly, 3/5, 422 pages
High on spice, low on plot. A couple of really bad decisions but NO third-act breakup, fortunately! I almost gave up on it at one point, because I thought one was coming, but fortunately read a review saying there were none, so points for that!
Better communication than I had expected.
Books Read: 77
Book of the Month: The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady - such a delightful read!
Biggest Disappointment: The Tangled Web of the Woolgathering Castoffs. SUCH a shame, since I loved the first book!
The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady - Sharon J. Mondragón, 5/5, Audiobook ~8hrs
My sister recommended this book to me, and as I trust her recommendations without hesitation, I immediately picked it up. Besides, with that title I knew it would be right up my aisle!
And so it was. I absolutely loved it and finished all 8 hours in just 4 days. It's a heartwarming story much in the same vein as "The Yada Yada Prayer Group" and "The Sister Circle" series. I grew to love the characters, and found myself wanting to know more about them and join them in their knitting circle.
Definitely character-driven rather than plot-driven, but so charming and delightful. I got the audiobook from the library, but the physical book is going straight on my wishlist - it needs to be part of my library!
The Tangled Tale of the Woolgathering Castoffs - Sharon Mondragón, 3/5, Audiobook ~9hrs
I had really high hopes for this one, since I loved "The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady" so much, but unfortunately this sequel / companion novel could in no way live up to my expectations. It was just ... so sad!
The focus of this novel is the memory unit at Fair Meadows, so of course it kinda had to be sad, but there are different ways of doing it, and whereas the first novel was very hopeful in mood, I didn't think that was the case here at all.
There was still a lot of focus on knitting ("and crocheting!") and on prayer, which I enjoyed. But I felt it lacked the humour and the joy of the first novel.
The Naturals - Jennifer Lynn Barnes, 4/5, 320 pages
I'm a huge fan of "Criminal Minds" and its depiction of the FBI BAU, so it's no surprise that this story about an FBI program for "natural profilers" should be right up my aisle. I loved the descriptions of the tasks Cassie and Dean were given, and hope there'll be more of those in the later books.
There were a few questions left unanswered - the importance of the pool and Sloan's place in the program, just to mention a few - and think Jennifer Lynn Barnes made Lia unnecessarily antagonistic, but again, I'm hoping this will be explored more in the later books.
Killer Instinct - Jennifer Lynn Barnes, 4/5,
All In - Jennifer Lynn Barnes, 4/5,
Books 2 and 3 in the "Naturals" series, and just as good as the first one! Not much new to say about them, that I didn't already write in my review for the first one though, so I'll just leave it at this. Looking forward to finishing off the series this month!
Naked in Death - J.D. Robb, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
After having read a ton of Nora Roberts' books, I figured it was time to try out the series she's written under her J.D. Robb pseudonym.
The story is written in 1995'ish but set in 2058, and it's quite fascinating to see how she imagined the future back then - see how many of the things are available already now, and how many probably still won't be in 30 years' time.
The murder mystery itself was pretty run of the mill. I hadn't guessed the culprit ahead of time, but nor had I really tried to. The plot was captivating and kept me nicely entertained all the way through. I didn't care terribly for the romance - a lot more tell than show! - but it didn't seem entirely contrived either.
So all in all a fairly average read. I liked it well enough, and may very well continue on with the series, but it cannot hold a candle to the suspense novels she writes as Nora Roberts.
The Cinnamon Bun Book Store - Laurie Gilmore, 3.5/5, 348 pages
Random purchase because I couldn't resist the title / cover.
Really sweet chick-lit, which surprised me by being a lot spicier than I had expected! Character-driven rather than plot-driven, which isn't a problem to me, as long as it's done well. But if you're looking for plot - look elsewhere.
The romance was believable, and I loved the chemistry between Noah and Hazel. I could definitely empathize with Hazel's overthinking everything, and was very pleasantly surprised by how realistically the communication (or lack of same ... ) was handled. No third act breakup, but rather a third act conversation!
A very different type of book from what I had expected, but I ended up really enjoying it.
There's Something About Merry - Codi Hall, 3/5, Audiobook ~11hrs
Not very christmassy when push came to shove, so it was fine to read in October.
A sweet romance, but unexpectedly spicy! I did really appreciate the lack of a third-act breakup though, and that Clarke and Merry seemed to communicate just fine - a refreshing change!
I loved Jace :-D
Breakaway - Grace Reilly, 3/5, 422 pages
High on spice, low on plot. A couple of really bad decisions but NO third-act breakup, fortunately! I almost gave up on it at one point, because I thought one was coming, but fortunately read a review saying there were none, so points for that!
Better communication than I had expected.
Books Read: 77
Book of the Month: The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady - such a delightful read!
Biggest Disappointment: The Tangled Web of the Woolgathering Castoffs. SUCH a shame, since I loved the first book!
no subject
Date: 2025-11-07 02:24 am (UTC)