Book #88:
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman (534 pages). I ADORE this series! This is book 3 and I was hesitant to begin because this is the author’s least liked in the series for many readers due to the complicated nature of the Iron Tangle, a complex series of subway and trains on this level of the game. However, I’m nothing if not a completist so there is no way but through. And spoiler-alert, I LOVED this one. I took the author’s advice in his foreword not to get bogged down in how the Iron Tangle actually is structured and just to enjoy the ride and that really helped. There were so many laugh out loud lines, per usual, and I grew to love this author’s work even more. This is so clever and well-constructed and the new characters who he introduced are just as fun as the existing characters, but I’m a ride-or-die Princess Donut stan still. I cannot wait to keep reading and plan to read the fourth book before the end of the year while I’m still riding the high of this installment. 4.5 stars from me.
Book #89:
The Shippers by Katherine Center (Length: 327 pages). I listened to this rom-com on audio and I really enjoyed the listening experience. I am a fan of this author’s earlier novels, and this novel reads like a return to form to me. Two childhood best friends, JoJo and Cooper, reunite at a cruise ship wedding of JoJo’s sister. This is a zero-depth rom-com and the inherent conflict is super-manufactured (with the big reveal being obvious to even a third grader) but I truly enjoyed the journey here. The writing is solid; there are some laugh out loud humorous lines and the chemistry is believable. This is the perfect vacation or airplane read. 3.5 stars.
Book #90:
The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love by Joan Mendicott (Length: 341 pages). This contemporary fiction novel is the first of a series of nine and was recommended for those who enjoy reading novels about women of a certain age. Here, three older women, Hannah, Grace and Amelia, move into an old farmhouse outside Asheville, North Carolina, together for their second act. I did enjoy the details of how they all decided to move out of their depressing Pennsylvania boardinghouse and then how they fixed up the farmhouse and its surroundings. And I do enjoy novels about women at this stage of life, however, I truly didn’t care for any of the three women. I don’t need likable characters, but I do want to see some character growth and self-awareness so I can root for them and their success. Here, maybe this growth is coming in the successive books in this series, but I didn’t care for Grace’s timidness, Hannah’s brusqueness and Amelia’s selfishness. The writing quality isn’t great here, with entirely too many basic grammatical and spelling errors. Again, this may improve further into the series, but I, for one, will not be finding this out. 2.5 stars.
