Hey-yo! You know the way you sometimes complain about something and then the opposite happens, and you’re left thinking – well, now I look like a fool, complaining prematurely!? In my last post I mentioned how reading has been far and few in between, and thus today, I can tell you about 3 books. Three!

First up, supernatural (or, ExtraOrdinaries) are out for revenge in Vengeful (Villains #2) by V.E. Schwab.

It may be that I am getting impatient with age, maybe my brain isn’t operating at full capacity because lack of sleep does feel like a nuclear hangover (I may as well pick up drinking again, at least the hangover feeling will then make sense), but man, did I feel so utterly disconnected from this story. I loved Vicious back in the day, it was the decent type of dirty I liked. I had high hopes for Vengeful because hello, revenge! I love a good revenge! You know why this tanked? The bloody structure… It’s a kicker, because Schwab’s writing is like flowing water at near freezing temperatures- silky and smooth, it’s nice… But it was this bloody back and forth in past and present like a time capsule gone haywire. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I can follow 2 timelines.. but this? This was like:

4 years ago, 5 weeks ago, 20 years ago, 4 months ago, 2 weeks ago, 5 years ago, etc etc etc

Just. No. Thanks.

Bam! We’re on to romance in Vermont! After me pining for Montana (so badly pining I kept thinking why in the hell I never upped and left for America, haha), La La, the Accidental Blogger, said I’d be better off making maple syrup in Vermont.. and I start reading Bittersweet and it’s set in Vermont! Cool coincidence. I loved the vibe… there’s that American farm life again with cattle and a big orchard. No maple syrup in this, however, just apple cider. The story itself was probably one of the least eye-roll inducing of romances out there-. Quite down to earth and some legit, serious issues to solve and I enjoyed that.

The third book I am going to mention in this post is ‘Die a Little’ by Megan Abbott. I finished this last night. I have to admit, it was 8:30pm and I was straining to keep my eyes open to finish those last 30 pages. So sleepy, man. Anywhere, my sleepiness was not a reflection on the book. The book is noir, set in 50s and I truly liked the vibe of it. I think there’s quite a lot of insinuation happening and a lot of – ‘you figure out what happened but I’ve given you all the dirty clues‘ type of thing and I LOVE it! This book is like a black and white movie… or… ah! Have you seen Sin City, the film? Yes? That vibe! I scored this title from a second hand book shop and I got it only for it’s cover – imagine how pleased I am to have enjoyed the story, as well!

What have you been reading?