Hello, dear readers! How are you and what colour are your Christmas lights this season?
I’ve been in a bit of a downfall since losing my phone the other week (you can read about that particular conundrum in my latest ADHD Diary, if you wish), becoming a little emotionally unavailable, extremely tired, and living in a bit of a haze. I don’t know why, but with my phone, a lot of my joy for life has also been taken away.
I’m lethargic, constantly in pain, I find it ridiculously difficult to fall asleep, and with each day that I wake up, a looming deadline appears at work. I feel like I’m hamster-wheeling through life at the moment, not gonna lie.
But, oddly enough, that has meant that my desire to finally finish some books is also back. So, after an autumn-long slump, I’m happy to report I finally have some reading updates.
This Week’s Wrap-Up
It’s been a refreshing reading week, despite everything. I managed to finish three books since I last checked in, two of which I had been reading for a while.
Firstly, I finished re-reading the first book in The Extraordinaries series by TJ Klune, and I’m now on to the second one. My goal is to finish the series by the end of the year, with the third and final book, Heat Wave being a 2022 release I can’t wait to get to. I’ve written about this series a few times already, it’s an uplifting, sweet and incredibly wholesome story of love, friendship and the little things that make us extraordinary.
I got a new phone last Wednesday which means I finally have access to my Scribd library again. So I kicked off my Christmas TBR with The Geek Who Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert, a festive queer romance I finished in a couple of days. Annabeth Albert is a great author of LGBT books and what sets her apart is the geek elements of all her stories. I gave this one three stars.
It was nice and festive, but the character development fell a bit flat for me. I also didn’t like that there wasn’t a major conflict to shake things up a little bit — which is always a moment I look forward to in romance books. This is because the breaking point usually strengthens the relationship and makes the happily ever after much more satisfying.
The Geek Who Saved Christmas didn’t serve that element, opting instead for a small misunderstanding solved by a couple of lines of dialogue. But this was a nice amuse-bouche of a book and definitely one that got me back into audiobooks.
And finally, I finished Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story by Julie K. Brown, a non-fiction I had been listening to for months. This is the first hand account of the journalist who broke the Jeffrey Epstein story and how she managed to do it. It’s an incredibly interesting and almost surreal story of perseverance, integrity and power dynamics.
My background in journalism made me savour the diligence, courage and dedication Brown showed in her determination to get Epstein behind bars. Trigger warning for description of child sexual assault and harassment. It’s an interesting but hard to digest book. I still think it’s a must-read if you can bear it.
Hot New Release
This week’s new release explores a future decimated by climate change and the uncertainty of tomorrow, spanning one woman’s entire life. The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton follows Wanda, a girl born prematurely in a hurricane, under extreme weather forecasts and a dark prognosis for the future.
Wanda grows with no choice but to adapt to a collapsing society and the loss of her family, as she tries to find love and adventure in a world slowly reclaimed by nature.
“A luminous and wrenching portrait of a frighteningly possible future,” The Light Pirate is a hopeful, sweeping story of survival and resilience spanning one extraordinary woman’s lifetime as she navigates the uncertainty, brutality, and arresting beauty of a rapidly changing world (Booklist, starred review).
Arguably a dark one to recommend as the festive season is coming at us strong, but I believe there’s always room for a gripping story of what could become of us and where individual stories would fit on that uncertain scale. The Light Pirate comes out today, 6 December.
And that’s it for today’s Coffee Time Tuesday. What are you reading this week? Any new releases you’re eyeing before 2023 comes in strong? Let me know in the comments!
Coffee Time Reviews 