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Kiwiria's January Reads
Feb. 1st, 2024 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiwiriaFirst booklist for the year! No 5-star books yet, but a ton of 4-star ones! :-)
The Naughty, the Nice and the Nanny - Willa Nash, 4/5, Audiobook ~4hrs
A short listen - only around 4 hours - but very sweet even if very predictable. Despite the title and cover, it's not actually a Christmas story at all, so can easily be read at any time of year.
I enjoyed it a lot. It was fun, charming and, probably due to its length, wonderfully lacking in the miscommunication trope that is otherwise so prevalent in the chick-lit genre.
Bookshops & Bonedust - Travis Baldree, 4/5, Audiobook ~8hrs
This prequel takes place while Viv is still young and eager to fight, and is therefore not quite as charming as "Legends & Lattes", because you know that everything is by necessity temporary.
But still - what's not to like about Viv helping out at a bookstore?? I loved Fern and would very much like to see what kind of book she'd recommend me! I definitely wouldn't have minded even more pages about the bookshop, and was almost sorry when the plot took Viv away from Murk.... both temporarily and permanently.
I did appreciate the epilogue though. It tied a nice knot on everything.
This audiobook was read by the author himself, which added a nice touch.
Kongeord - Kong Frederik & Jens Andersen, 4/5, 109 pages
(Royal Words)
Short, but well worth reading. It took me about an hour to read, and I enjoyed this insight into what King Frederik actually meant by his motto and why he chose the exact wording that he did. An interesting read, and it left me with a sense of ... pride? affection? can't find the exact right word for it... for our new king.
I especially enjoyed the last few pages on how he plans to follow up on his mother's legacy and which of her traditions he intends to make his own. That was lovely to read, and strengthened my opinion of him as "a man of the people".
The Golden Enclaves - Naomi Novik, 4/5, Audiobook ~15hrs
The third and final book in the series. At first I was worried that it would also be the weakest of the lot, as it was no longer set at the Scholomance, which had been part of the charm of the first too. And too be honest, it did take a few chapters to get properly going, but once it did, I found that the progression of the plot really worked.
I still preferred the two first books, as I was completely fascinated by the Scholomance itself (plus, I've always enjoyed books where the main character had to study something or the other), but this tied up a lot of the loose ends in ways that I hadn't really seen coming, but which totally worked and made sense within its own universe.
Very enjoyable series - highly recommendable!
Lurituri - Gunnel Linde*, 4/5, 81 pages
This used to be a firm favourite when we were kids - to the point that Dad had to insist on reading at least one other book between each time he read us this one X-D Something made me think of it recently, so I felt like rereading it. It was still cute. A lot simpler than I remembered it (duh :-P ), and a lot more obvious that Lurituri was just a figment of Kvidretoppen's imagination, but charming all the same -- and at 81 pages, a super-quick read!
I'd forgotten that the sheet music for all the songs had been included at the end. I can't remember any of them off the top of my head, so will have to try to play some of them, to see if they ring a bell once I hear them.
Kรฆrlighed for kontrolfreaks - Pia Konstantin Berg, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
(Love for Control Freaks)
I was introduced to Pia Konstantin Berg last year, and the first book I read by her ("Kys din kรฆreste pรฅ rejsen") was a clear 5-star read, so I think this book probably suffers quite a bit in comparison. It's very likely that if I had read this first, I would have rated it higher.
I liked the general concept of the book. Reading about the ins and outs of managing a hotel/restaurant is almost always fascinating - even if I have no clue how close to real life it is. It was quite interesting to read this such a short time after reading "The Northern Lights Lodge" by Julie Caplin though, because there were a LOT of similarities between the two. But in a good way.
I wasn't quite as taken with the characters though, and their constant lack of communication / jumping to conclusions really frustrated me. I don't remember that being as bad in KDKPR.
Happy Place - Emily Henry, 2.5/5, 386 pages
Emily Henry is very hit-and-miss for me, and unfortunately, this was a miss.
Like with "People We Meet On Vacation" (another miss) pretty much ALL the issues could easily have been solved if people had just chosen to communicate - making for an extremely frustrating read and very much not a comfort book.
The Ordinary Princess - M.M. Kaye*, 4.5/5, 123 pages
I felt like revisiting an oooooold favourite I used to love as a kid. It was first read aloud to me when we were in France in 1986 and my dad would translate from English to Danish 'on the fly' while reading. Meaning that parts of it I still recall more vividly in Danish than in English X-D
And even without the nostalgic element, it is a sweet fairy-tale, and one that I wish more people knew.
Books Read: 11
Book of the Month: Probably Kongeord... with Bookshops and Bonedust as a close second though.
Biggest Disappointment: Happy Place. Definitely not a book I'd recommend to anybody.
The Naughty, the Nice and the Nanny - Willa Nash, 4/5, Audiobook ~4hrs
A short listen - only around 4 hours - but very sweet even if very predictable. Despite the title and cover, it's not actually a Christmas story at all, so can easily be read at any time of year.
I enjoyed it a lot. It was fun, charming and, probably due to its length, wonderfully lacking in the miscommunication trope that is otherwise so prevalent in the chick-lit genre.
Bookshops & Bonedust - Travis Baldree, 4/5, Audiobook ~8hrs
This prequel takes place while Viv is still young and eager to fight, and is therefore not quite as charming as "Legends & Lattes", because you know that everything is by necessity temporary.
But still - what's not to like about Viv helping out at a bookstore?? I loved Fern and would very much like to see what kind of book she'd recommend me! I definitely wouldn't have minded even more pages about the bookshop, and was almost sorry when the plot took Viv away from Murk.... both temporarily and permanently.
I did appreciate the epilogue though. It tied a nice knot on everything.
This audiobook was read by the author himself, which added a nice touch.
Kongeord - Kong Frederik & Jens Andersen, 4/5, 109 pages
(Royal Words)
Short, but well worth reading. It took me about an hour to read, and I enjoyed this insight into what King Frederik actually meant by his motto and why he chose the exact wording that he did. An interesting read, and it left me with a sense of ... pride? affection? can't find the exact right word for it... for our new king.
I especially enjoyed the last few pages on how he plans to follow up on his mother's legacy and which of her traditions he intends to make his own. That was lovely to read, and strengthened my opinion of him as "a man of the people".
The Golden Enclaves - Naomi Novik, 4/5, Audiobook ~15hrs
The third and final book in the series. At first I was worried that it would also be the weakest of the lot, as it was no longer set at the Scholomance, which had been part of the charm of the first too. And too be honest, it did take a few chapters to get properly going, but once it did, I found that the progression of the plot really worked.
I still preferred the two first books, as I was completely fascinated by the Scholomance itself (plus, I've always enjoyed books where the main character had to study something or the other), but this tied up a lot of the loose ends in ways that I hadn't really seen coming, but which totally worked and made sense within its own universe.
Very enjoyable series - highly recommendable!
Lurituri - Gunnel Linde*, 4/5, 81 pages
This used to be a firm favourite when we were kids - to the point that Dad had to insist on reading at least one other book between each time he read us this one X-D Something made me think of it recently, so I felt like rereading it. It was still cute. A lot simpler than I remembered it (duh :-P ), and a lot more obvious that Lurituri was just a figment of Kvidretoppen's imagination, but charming all the same -- and at 81 pages, a super-quick read!
I'd forgotten that the sheet music for all the songs had been included at the end. I can't remember any of them off the top of my head, so will have to try to play some of them, to see if they ring a bell once I hear them.
Kรฆrlighed for kontrolfreaks - Pia Konstantin Berg, 3.5/5, Audiobook ~10hrs
(Love for Control Freaks)
I was introduced to Pia Konstantin Berg last year, and the first book I read by her ("Kys din kรฆreste pรฅ rejsen") was a clear 5-star read, so I think this book probably suffers quite a bit in comparison. It's very likely that if I had read this first, I would have rated it higher.
I liked the general concept of the book. Reading about the ins and outs of managing a hotel/restaurant is almost always fascinating - even if I have no clue how close to real life it is. It was quite interesting to read this such a short time after reading "The Northern Lights Lodge" by Julie Caplin though, because there were a LOT of similarities between the two. But in a good way.
I wasn't quite as taken with the characters though, and their constant lack of communication / jumping to conclusions really frustrated me. I don't remember that being as bad in KDKPR.
Happy Place - Emily Henry, 2.5/5, 386 pages
Emily Henry is very hit-and-miss for me, and unfortunately, this was a miss.
Like with "People We Meet On Vacation" (another miss) pretty much ALL the issues could easily have been solved if people had just chosen to communicate - making for an extremely frustrating read and very much not a comfort book.
The Ordinary Princess - M.M. Kaye*, 4.5/5, 123 pages
I felt like revisiting an oooooold favourite I used to love as a kid. It was first read aloud to me when we were in France in 1986 and my dad would translate from English to Danish 'on the fly' while reading. Meaning that parts of it I still recall more vividly in Danish than in English X-D
And even without the nostalgic element, it is a sweet fairy-tale, and one that I wish more people knew.
Books Read: 11
Book of the Month: Probably Kongeord... with Bookshops and Bonedust as a close second though.
Biggest Disappointment: Happy Place. Definitely not a book I'd recommend to anybody.
