Kiwiria's January Reads
Feb. 2nd, 2026 03:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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christianreaderOff to a good start with 9 books read last month! Most of them pretty good too :-)
A Little Place in Prague - Julie Caplin, 3.5/5, 359 pages
Every bit as charming as I've come to expect from Julie Caplin's books. The plot itself is quite formulaic, but I love how she sets her stories in different cities around the world. Having been to Prague myself, I appreciated reading her take on the city, and definitely got some ideas for places I want to see next time ... even if I don't drink beer :-P
The third act breakup bugged me a bit, but as it happened 40 pages before the end of the book, I knew that it would be quickly resolved - and fortunately more naturally than I had expected.
Butter Witch - Tess Lake, 3/5, Audiobook ~6hrs
This was a "free-with-audible" deal, which turned out to be a lot better than I had expected. I'm not usually a huge fan of the cozy-mystery genre, as I tend to have difficulties suspending my disbelief when it comes to amateur sleuths, but this suffered from none of the usual weaknesses of that genre.
- Harlow worked together with the police - she didn't just go off rogue.
- Harlow was involved for a reason - she had abilities that the police didn't.
It's not great literature, but it's fun entertainment. I liked Harlow and her family (Adams especially!) and enjoyed getting to know Harlot Bay. I can definitely see myself reading more of the series.
The Cousins - Karen M. McManus, 3/5, 325 pages
Very easily read, just like all of Karen M. McManus' other books. I did find it a tad less believable than most of her other books though. There were just SO many places where somebody ought to have gone to the police or at least just talked to a grown-up! I know teenagers can be stupid, but come on!
Still a good read though.
Heated Rivalry - Rachel Reid, 4.5/5, 372 pages
This was just sweet! I really enjoyed it.
A rather unusual slow-burn, in that the main characters start hooking up pretty much right away, but it takes quite awhile for them to start to admit they've caught feelings ... even to themselves. As two high-profile players in a very "manly" sport, it's not exactly easy to step out of the closet.
Excellent character development, and I loved both Rose and Shane's parents.
The Night Stalker - Chris Carter, 3/5, 381 pages
Ridiculously short chapters and about 70% of them ended with some sort of cliffhanger. Something like having "I don't believe what I'm looking at!" as the very last sentence. Since they were all resolved in the next few chapters, it didn't really bother me, but it was blatant enough that I started noticing and rolling my eyes a bit at it.
Apart from that it was well written and extremely readable. As usual with Chris Carter, rather graphic and gruesome in places, but not quite as bad as I seem to recall from the first two books in the series. The UNSUB's motivation seemed a bit off to me though, and as I really need for that to be believable in this sort of novel, I don't think I will be continuing on with the series.
Brigands & Breadknives - Travis Baldree, 2.5/5, Audiobook ~8hrs
Unfortunately a huge disappointment. I had had such high hopes for this book, as I loved both "Legends & Lattes" and "Bookshops & Bonedust", but this one just couldn't deliver at all, and I actually considered giving up on it multiple times.
Two main reasons. Firstly, Travis Baldree switched genres on us. This is no longer cozy fantasy but plain ole regular fantasy. This I could easily have forgiven though if it hadn't been for the second reason - I just didn't care about the characters. Fern never grew on me, and while I was vaguely interested in Asterix and Zyll, it wasn't enough to carry the entire book.
There was still enough charm that I ended up finishing it, but unlike the two others, I won't be purchasing this for my physical library. A miss for me, unfortunately.
Atmosphere - Taylor Jenkins Reid, 4/5, 332 pages
I've always been fascinated with space travel, so when I read the back blurb, I knew that I had to read this book.
It mostly lived up to my expectations. Unfortunately, at the end of the day it turned out to be more about the people training to be astronauts than the training / work itself. I still really enjoyed getting to know the characters and seeing the relationship grow between them, but wish more time had be focused on space travel.
Time and Time Again - Ben Elton*, 4/5, Audiobook ~14hrs
Time-travel always appeals to me, and Ben Elton managed to deliver a book somewhat similar to "11/22/63" by Stephen King, but with twists and turns that were entirely its own. Some of the twists I had not seen coming, which always pleases me.
As often happens in time-travel novels (at least those set within our own universe), the ending at first glance seemed slightly depressing - but once I started thinking about it, it really couldn't have ended
An Old-Fashioned Girl - L.M. Alcott, 4/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
One of my favourite books as a child, and I still prefer it over most of Alcott's other books (with the exception of "Eight Cousins"). She tends to preach quite awfully in her books, but there's not too much of that in this one, and what there is comes natural. The first half seemed a bit slow at times, but I greatly enjoyed the second half.
Books Read: 9
Book of the Month: Heated Rivalry - of course I'll have to watch the show now, but only the two first episodes have been released in Denmark so far.
Biggest Disappointment: Brigands & Breadknives - unfortunately.
A Little Place in Prague - Julie Caplin, 3.5/5, 359 pages
Every bit as charming as I've come to expect from Julie Caplin's books. The plot itself is quite formulaic, but I love how she sets her stories in different cities around the world. Having been to Prague myself, I appreciated reading her take on the city, and definitely got some ideas for places I want to see next time ... even if I don't drink beer :-P
The third act breakup bugged me a bit, but as it happened 40 pages before the end of the book, I knew that it would be quickly resolved - and fortunately more naturally than I had expected.
Butter Witch - Tess Lake, 3/5, Audiobook ~6hrs
This was a "free-with-audible" deal, which turned out to be a lot better than I had expected. I'm not usually a huge fan of the cozy-mystery genre, as I tend to have difficulties suspending my disbelief when it comes to amateur sleuths, but this suffered from none of the usual weaknesses of that genre.
- Harlow worked together with the police - she didn't just go off rogue.
- Harlow was involved for a reason - she had abilities that the police didn't.
It's not great literature, but it's fun entertainment. I liked Harlow and her family (Adams especially!) and enjoyed getting to know Harlot Bay. I can definitely see myself reading more of the series.
The Cousins - Karen M. McManus, 3/5, 325 pages
Very easily read, just like all of Karen M. McManus' other books. I did find it a tad less believable than most of her other books though. There were just SO many places where somebody ought to have gone to the police or at least just talked to a grown-up! I know teenagers can be stupid, but come on!
Still a good read though.
Heated Rivalry - Rachel Reid, 4.5/5, 372 pages
This was just sweet! I really enjoyed it.
A rather unusual slow-burn, in that the main characters start hooking up pretty much right away, but it takes quite awhile for them to start to admit they've caught feelings ... even to themselves. As two high-profile players in a very "manly" sport, it's not exactly easy to step out of the closet.
Excellent character development, and I loved both Rose and Shane's parents.
The Night Stalker - Chris Carter, 3/5, 381 pages
Ridiculously short chapters and about 70% of them ended with some sort of cliffhanger. Something like having "I don't believe what I'm looking at!" as the very last sentence. Since they were all resolved in the next few chapters, it didn't really bother me, but it was blatant enough that I started noticing and rolling my eyes a bit at it.
Apart from that it was well written and extremely readable. As usual with Chris Carter, rather graphic and gruesome in places, but not quite as bad as I seem to recall from the first two books in the series. The UNSUB's motivation seemed a bit off to me though, and as I really need for that to be believable in this sort of novel, I don't think I will be continuing on with the series.
Brigands & Breadknives - Travis Baldree, 2.5/5, Audiobook ~8hrs
Unfortunately a huge disappointment. I had had such high hopes for this book, as I loved both "Legends & Lattes" and "Bookshops & Bonedust", but this one just couldn't deliver at all, and I actually considered giving up on it multiple times.
Two main reasons. Firstly, Travis Baldree switched genres on us. This is no longer cozy fantasy but plain ole regular fantasy. This I could easily have forgiven though if it hadn't been for the second reason - I just didn't care about the characters. Fern never grew on me, and while I was vaguely interested in Asterix and Zyll, it wasn't enough to carry the entire book.
There was still enough charm that I ended up finishing it, but unlike the two others, I won't be purchasing this for my physical library. A miss for me, unfortunately.
Atmosphere - Taylor Jenkins Reid, 4/5, 332 pages
I've always been fascinated with space travel, so when I read the back blurb, I knew that I had to read this book.
It mostly lived up to my expectations. Unfortunately, at the end of the day it turned out to be more about the people training to be astronauts than the training / work itself. I still really enjoyed getting to know the characters and seeing the relationship grow between them, but wish more time had be focused on space travel.
Time and Time Again - Ben Elton*, 4/5, Audiobook ~14hrs
Time-travel always appeals to me, and Ben Elton managed to deliver a book somewhat similar to "11/22/63" by Stephen King, but with twists and turns that were entirely its own. Some of the twists I had not seen coming, which always pleases me.
As often happens in time-travel novels (at least those set within our own universe), the ending at first glance seemed slightly depressing - but once I started thinking about it, it really couldn't have ended
An Old-Fashioned Girl - L.M. Alcott, 4/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
One of my favourite books as a child, and I still prefer it over most of Alcott's other books (with the exception of "Eight Cousins"). She tends to preach quite awfully in her books, but there's not too much of that in this one, and what there is comes natural. The first half seemed a bit slow at times, but I greatly enjoyed the second half.
Books Read: 9
Book of the Month: Heated Rivalry - of course I'll have to watch the show now, but only the two first episodes have been released in Denmark so far.
Biggest Disappointment: Brigands & Breadknives - unfortunately.
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Date: 2026-02-02 03:38 pm (UTC)