So I spent quite a lot of time in February editing and not reading, but I did manage to get a few titles under my belt. Here's what they were and what I thought of them...
Sever- Lauren DeStefano- (THIS WILL PROBABLY CONTAIN SPOILERS) The final novel in her Chemical Garden trilogy. I thought the first book was rather beautiful (as was its cover), and I liked it far more than I thought I would. The second book was still good, but it didn't thrill me nearly as much. This third book is beautifully written (though I quite hated the cover) and really sad at times (which I don't mind because I like sad stories). But, I also thought it was a tad incomplete, especially knowing this is the final installment in the series. I felt like poor Gabriel was reduced to an afterthought, and I thought, after everything he'd gone through in the first two books, that he deserved more. And Rhine spends two entire novels trying to find her way back to her brother, then when she finds him in this book, everything fell flat. I wasn't wild about the resolution of the virus/fever storyline, mostly because there didn't seem to be much to it. But I enjoyed Cecily and Linden and Reed and, again, the writing is lovely, and I did think the actual ending of the book was a very fitting end to the series.
Touch and Go- Lisa Gardner- I don't mean to sound condescending (well, no more than I usually do, anyway) as she's a bestselling author while I'm an unpublished nobody, but I think her books keep getting better. This is her first book where I didn't figure out the ending long before I got there. There were a number of well-placed red herrings (and one that seemed to be rather lame), but I thought this was a very well-crafted mystery. I liked the three narrators, particularly Wyatt (the New Hampshire cop) and I hope we see him again some time.
Looking For Rachel Wallace- Robert B. Parker- One of the early Spenser mysteries. I've loved this series ever since I started reading it in high school, and this novel is one of my favorites from that series. I decided to reread it the other day during a snowstorm and a snowstorm a big part of this novel. Plus, there are some very funny moments to be found here. If you're a fan of detective stories, and you haven't read this series, you really, really should.
The Lady of Rivers- Philippa Gregory- This is the third novel in her Cousins' War series, but the first chronologically. I am a huge fan of Gregory's novels, but I haven't been the biggest fan of this particular series (The second book, The Red Queen, I didn't much like at all). It tells the story of Jacquetta, the mother of Elizabeth Woodville (who becomes the Queen of England and is the central character in the series's first book The White Queen) and I thought it fluctuated between being very cool and rather boring. So I didn't hate it, but neither did I love it. I vastly prefer the Tudor novels.
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That's going to do it for me today... I have to get back to editing. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!