Happy fire season!
We had our first wildfire of the season start in late April. It was a little unusual — because it wasn’t an immediate suppression-response wildfire, there was enough time for a thorough transition.
Which meant I had a full WEEK to prepare for said fire assignment.
Unusual! Crazy!
So while the fire started, I had time to get my affairs in order, go on my already-planned weekend trip to both Tuzigoot and wine tasting in the Verde Valley, and to read.
I read three books this month, which — for peak fire season — is honestly pretty great.
(As a reminder: I always track my reading both on Goodreads and via Instagram stories.)
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‘THE HUSBANDS’ BY HOLLY GRAMAZIO
31-year-old Lauren returns home to her London flat one evening to find her husband, Michael, waiting for her. There’s just one problem: Lauren doesn’t have a husband. As Lauren ponders her strange situation, Michael travels up to Lauren’s attic… only to disappear as a new husband returns to Lauren in his place. As Lauren realizes she has a magic attic that produces a seemingly unlimited supply of new husbands, she starts to wonder if she’s destined to continue swapping husbands (and lives) forever, or if something larger is at play.
I really liked “The Midnight Library,” so I wasn’t surprised to find that I liked this as well. A lot of reviews complained that this book dragged on, but I honestly felt like the pacing was right. I couldn’t figure out how it was going to end, which was refreshing. This was an easy read, and — while it wasn’t completely un-put-down-able, I did devour it in a few short days.
‘THE GRACE YEAR‘ BY KIM LIGGETT
The teenage girls of Garner County are magic. At least, that’s what they’ve been raised to believe. So, as the girls of Garner County enter their sixteenth year, they’re banished to the woods for their “Grace Year,” a year spent in the woods, releasing their magic so they can return home purified, ready to marry and fulfill a life of service. As 16-year-old Tierney James reaches her grace year, she balances her desire for a wild and free life with her fear of the grace year: fear of the poachers in the woods, fear of the life waiting for her upon her return, fear of the other grace year girls, and fear of herself.
This book is a combination of the Hunger Games, the Handmaid’s Tale and Lord of the Flies. Wow. This was a wild ride, and a pretty powerful statement as to how teenage girls are viewed and treated. The ending was fairly satisfying even if it was a little open-ended, and the pacing was great. There were a few things I didn’t like about the book, like the lack of character development among all the other grace year girls, but overall, I would definitely recommend it.
‘IN A DARK DARK WOOD‘ BY RUTH WARE
It’s been a decade since Leonora started her life over at the age of 16. She ran away from her life — and her best friend Clare — without any explanation, any trace. But now, 10 years later, an invite to Clare’s bachelorette party surfaces in her inbox. Against her better judgment, Leonora decides to go. But after arriving at the party, hosted at an elegant, foreboding, dark glass house in the woods, Leonora wonders if she’s made a mistake.
This one was a typical Ruth Ware thriller. Easy enough to read in one go, uninspired enough to remember the plot a year later. Either way, I’d definitely recommend it (as I do all Ruth Ware thrillers) if you’re looking for an easy read to pull you out of reality for a bit.
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Happy reading!
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