Heart Wants Books

The Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo

August 19, 2022

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Darling readers, it is a Virtual Book Club miracle! Both Ashley and Nikki have already finished reading From Blood and Ash #1 by Jennifer Armentrout for our meeting on August 26 at 7:30pm CST and are BEYOND ready to discuss this title, and pick up the second in the series. We’re holding off on both because of you! So, don’t disappoint us and yourselves by missing out on the conversation, instead, sign up here and set a calendar reminder to buzz you with time to get your device and favorite beverage before the discussion begins!

There once were two readers who generally liked many different kinds of books, but really didn’t want to talk about a book they didn’t care for. It’s us, we are those readers. We picked a book for today, actually two. The first wasn’t for us (slide into our DMs if you want to know more), so we’re not reviewing it, or reading the second. My granny always told me if I didn’t have anything nice to say, then not to say anything at all. Well, there were no plot holes or typos, and I’m done. So, instead of a really short and lame review of a book that shall not be named (except here), we are going to review two different titles – Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo!

First a bit of a heads up, the Six of Crows duology is a part of the Grishaverse and comes after the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. While these books take place in different parts of the Grishaverse, Six of Crows does include some slight potential spoilers to the ending of the trilogy. Purists definitely want to read in publication order, but others may not care. As always, the DMs are open if you need more information.

Now for a review! Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom were definitely on my TBR list about the moment I finished the Shadow and Bone Trilogy earlier this year. When I needed a dead tree book to take to the beach, and had been (not so) patiently waiting in vain for Crooked Kingdom to become available from my electronic library, I decided that it’d make a great beach read. It helped that I’d read the first two books of the trilogy on the beach last summer. Readers, I was right, but my timing was off. I ended up only getting two days on the beach with it, because I didn’t finish Six of Crows until a couple of days into my trip, so it took me about six weeks to read, and my only regret is that I didn’t read Crooked Kingdom faster.

Six of Crows opens in Ketterdam, a city on the island of Kerch that is focused on business and trade. In it, we have an ensemble cast (which might actually be my favorite) of misfits who are seeking different things, but all boil down to they are trying to find themselves in some way. They’re from a wide variety of backgrounds, and mostly ended up in Ketterdam by accident, but they’re making the most of it and trying to thrive, now that they’ve (mostly) figured out the surviving part. Did I forget to mention that most are a part of a street gang? Oops. The story is about their adventures to make some money, which quickly turns into trying to save the world, basically, and multiple hijinks ensue.

The writing is the star of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, and I just might #weaponsorfists anyone who disagrees, even though I adore the ensemble. Bardugo paints a glorious picture of Ketterdam and the surroundings, she captures the intensity of the hijinks majestically, and the voices of the different narrators in the ensemble are truly fantastic. Yes friends, these titles have multiple narrators from the ensemble and I LOVED IT. I didn’t realize I was in for a fun romp of an adventure making that dollar and getting things done, but that’s what happened and I am HERE. FOR. IT. to the point that the adults in my house even started watching Shadow and Bone on Netflix before I finished the last 150 or so pages of Crooked Kingdom. If you’re considering the show, here’s what I didn’t know but wanted to, from about six episodes into the first season – it’s book one of Shadow and Bone with a sort of prequel to Six of Crows mixed in. As someone who prefers to develop my own imagination around the settings and characters, I am so glad I read Six of Crows before I started reading, even though one of my favorite librarians told me it wasn’t necessary. But I am a bit of a purist, so it took me a couple of episodes to be excited about the pieces of the show that include Kaz and company (aka the Six of Crows pieces).

I’m giving Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom four excited, emphatic stars each. The only reason it’s not five is that I do tend to reserve that fifth star for titles I can see being potential favorites of the year or I think I’ll reread. While I could be easily convinced to reread any of the Grishaverse main titles so far, I don’t think I’ll do it on my own. Four stars is a solid read, a fun hang, and a well-executed title that I’d definitely recommend. Also, if you tend to have feelings about Young Adult titles and are concerned about this one *cough Ashley cough* I’d encourage you to go ahead and pick this title up. The story is focused on young people, but they’ve already lived a lot of life and don’t have all the angst I’ve come to expect from a traditional YA title. If fantasy isn’t for you, well…that’s another story entirely.

What’s a book that was just a great reading experience all around?

~Nikki

Leigh Bardugo from LeighBardugo.com
Photo Credit: Jen Castle Photography

During July 2021’s Summer Reading theme, we brought you Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Well, here we are a little over a year later, and both members of Heart.Wants.Books. have finished the Shadow and Bone Trilogy (multiple times bestseller, there’s a Netflix show by the same name, fancy important bookish information, blah blah blah) and have continued in our immersion in the Grishaverse with the Six of Crows Duology, which picks up just a few years after the action in Ruin and Rising. We have yet to start Bardugo’s King of Scars Duology, the first of which is currently available on Kindle Unlimited, so get yourself reading to catch up with us! I have already read Ninth House, Bardugo’s adult magical realism title set at Yale, and am excited for the publication of the second in the Alex Stern series, Hell Bent, which is scheduled to release in January 2023. (Oh, ye digital library readers, go ahead and get that baby recommended to your library so you’re properly on the holds list now!) Just as a refresher, Leigh Bardugo lives and writes in Los Angeles, but is a graduate of, and a current associate fellow of Pauli Murray College at Yale University.

Nikki and I both love an ensemble cast. And, honestly, I think that’s the best way to read YA. An ensemble cast, with the friendships and romances and sass and snark you would expect from a group of young persons is the unexpected counterpoint to the formulaic romances we also love to read. I remember high school and college and that’s about what it was, yup. Maybe not the saving the world part, but the intimate circle of people who you know so well and grow in different ways together and separately. It’s amazing to witness in real life and it’s amazing to see in fiction, too. What I also love about what Bardugo did with her ensemble cast, just like we discussed with Roshani Chokshi’s The Gilded Wolves Trilogy,is creating a cast of differing backgrounds and identities. Bardugo’s group of six are four males and two females, comprising homelands from all over the Grishaverse so that they look and speak differently from each other. Two of the males are paired together romantically, with an outsider coming between them in the most odd way imaginable in Crooked Kingdom. I won’t tell you or I’d be spoiling so much! But, this is YA, so there’s not more written about than kissing. Like many YA novels, there’s so much action to take in that you don’t realize the character development that is happening at the same time.

I’m going to give the duology a solid 4.5 stars, but I’m not going to round up to five because I don’t think I will re-read them, even though I will consider a re-read if a friend wanted to experience them for the first time. Don’t forget that the end of Six of Crows will be be ridiculously dramatic and very clif-hanger-esque, because it is a duology, so prepare yourself for a back to back binge just like we did! By the end of Crooked Kingdom, everything from their adventures is settled, even if we know these young adults will continue adventuring in some other manner in their future, if not in future books. This really was the perfect summer reading adventure I needed.

~Ashley

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Book Review

Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy

August 11, 2022

I know we have some regular Virtual Book Club attendees who live that double book club life, but this time, we are trying it out. We are following along with the Literary Lads Book Club as they read and review From Blood and Ash #1 by Jennifer Armentrout. We will finish before they do, as our Hearts.Wants.Books Virtual Book Club will be meeting August 26 at 7:30pm CST to discuss this intriguing novel. And folks, be sure to get those sign ups in so you have that link almost immediately and don’t miss out on being in the conversation!

I’m going to spoil the ending of the review up front – I don’t remember ever liking a book that isn’t for me so much. Readers, Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy is over the top in so many ways, which feels like something one should expect when reading the story of a Playboy Bunny. Some of the over the top I expected, and some was a surprise, but it all poured in to make the story something really special, and not in a bad way. In the book, freshly graduated from high school Sherri has lost both of her parents and is on her own, with a building on a struggling midwestern square that includes an apartment she shared with her parents and a watch repair shop that hasn’t been tended since her father passed years prior. She gets the opportunity to work at a nearby Playboy Resort as a “bunny” or server, and takes it. As one expects, this launches her into a life of booze, boys, drugs, and rock n’ roll, directly from her working class, midwestern upbringing. Assorted waves of drama ensue, and readers want to thrash Sherri throughout for making dumb decisions, both big and small (or maybe that’s just me). The first three-quarters of the book takes place in the early 1980s, and the last quarter is in 2019, tying up the loose ends from the first part and letting us know where our cast of characters landed. If you’ve read this and want a spoiler filled discussion, I am HERE. FOR. IT. and can be found in the DMs.

As you may imagine, I loved the extended epilogue feel of the last quarter of Shoulder Season. It was most definitely my favorite part of the book seeing where everyone ended up after their adventures in the 1980s. While I might skip my high school reunions, I love attending my annual college get together and seeing how everyone is and catching up, and I imagine the resort was more like college would have been for Sherri if she’s attended instead of getting a job. Perhaps one of the reasons for my struggles with the first portion of the book, which was a giant struggle with Sherri’s habitual poor choices, is because I can remember having my own struggles with making great choices at this age. I, like Sherri, was trying to find myself, and figure out who that was in the sea of possibilities and trying to find my people as I went along. I won’t tell you how that worked out for Sherri (if you need to know, DM me), but it ended up just fine for me, and my people are amazing!

Ultimately, I’m giving Shoulder Season a solid three stars. The writing was picturesque and really helped the reader understand Sherri’s struggles and where they originated. The pacing wasn’t my favorite, but it served the story well. My big issue was I did not enjoy reading about Sherri’s consistently awful decisions. Yes, I’m downgrading the book because the main character aggravated me, but I’m also stating that so you can decide for yourself. I hated that she had virtually no responsible adults in her life to guide her. And I feel like I’m doing the story an injustice in saying that because I genuinely enjoyed the last quarter and am very interested in reading more from Clancy, but it didn’t make up for the rest when I more than once texted Ashley things like “I don’t want to keep reading because Sherri is about to [insert stupid choice here].” Yes, I do enjoy books about young adults, but the titles I read are mostly of the fantasy variety where the youths are trying to save the world. I’m not sure I like the floundering version, and to be clear, this novel is definitely adult, content wise.

What’s a book you can appreciate, but didn’t enjoy?

~Nikki

Shoulder Season is the sophomore effort of creative writing professor Christina Clancy. Her debut novel, The Second Home, was released in June of 2020 and quickly followed by today’s review pick in July 2021. She has spent her life in Wisconsin, growing up in Milwaukee where she received her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, teaching English at Beloit College, and currently living in Madison with her ‘very tall’ husband. I think it’s very important to note that her husband’s family is from East Troy, the town that our protagonist Sherri calls home, and where Clancy’s family currently spends their summers. In the bio on her website, Clancy states that after her daughter read Shoulder Season she said: “Mom, you wrote two books about coming home.” And after recently spending a long weekend in Wisconsin, I can understand why the summers would be so fabulous on the lakes.

The shoulder season is that time at the resort that is not peak but not yet off-peak. I think the this time in Sherri’s life, right after high school, right after losing her mother to a chronic disease, and before she knows anything about what real life is really like is Sherri’s shoulder season. She’s trying to figure her life out, figure herself out, who and what she wants to be. Do I agree with Nikki that she made some really dumb decisions? Absolutely. But, that’s what this season in a young person’s life is for. Perhaps not to the extent that Sherri does, with her access to hard drugs and her lack of sexual health education. I really actually enjoyed the train wreck that Sherri doesn’t even realize is coming at the end of the tunnel, but that we as readers can see from the front end. We don’t know the exact timing of the wreck, or what the damage that it is going to entail, but we know it’s coming. I think I learned something about myself reading this book, realizing that I have never been very comfortable in or focused on my body, my physical being or on the pleasure that a human can derive just from existing in this form. I experienced Sherri learning and enjoying the process of what her body could do, like carrying drink trays and balancing in high heels for hours and hours at a time. And maybe I need to reconnect with my physical being rather than constantly be ignoring it.

I also wanted to discuss the change in covers for Shoulder Season. When we first put this novel on our TBRs last summer, the cover was this beautiful teal background and a svelte redhead’s bare shoulders. Looking more closely to that image, you’ll notice that woman’s outfit is a tight bodice cut low and strapless in the back, with a collar and bowtie around her neck just like the Playboy Bunnies wear. It is a photograph of a bunny in an incomplete outfit, we don’t know if she is getting ready to work, or just getting done with a shift. I really think that this cover is a better representation of the novel than the one where a woman is jumping into bow-tie shaped water.

I don’t have to like a character, even a main character, to enjoy a book, so I’m giving Shoulder Season four stars. It definitely exceeded expectations on several levels, and made me think about lots of things in my past as I was supposed to be ‘finding myself’ and realizing that maybe I haven’t done enough of that even at thirty-seven. Clancy’s writing is just right, and I really feel like I read this book at the right time – the beginning of my summer’s shoulder season here in Tennessee.

What book have you read recently that really made you ‘feel’ a certain season?

~Ashley

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Book Review

A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev

August 5, 2022

Darling readers, I was texting with a bookish friend, and sometimes Virtual Book Club attendee, last night, and she insinuated she needed book recommendations. I want you to imagine you’re that friend, right now. I want you to hear me telling you what I told her – your TBR needs to include From Blood and Ash #1 by Jennifer Armentrout and soon, because you need to be ready to join us on August 26 at 7:30pm CST for Virtual Book Club because books are better when you have friends to talk to about them after reading them (and one of us is cheating today and discussing two)! If this sounds like something you need to hear, be sure you sign up here to get the link to join in the conversation.

If you remember back to our Persuasion Jane in January theme at the beginning of this year, you might remember our discussing The Rajes Series, specifically Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev. Well, A Bollywood Affair is Dev’s debut novel, and darling readers, I didn’t feel like I was reading a debut novel. That alone is proof to me that she never stopped writing even though Dev took her time earning two degrees, migrating across the globe, getting married, and having children between the age of eight years old when her first works were performed for a Diwali extravaganza in Mumbai and now, eight novels later, as she lives and writes from the suburbs of Chicago. A Bollywood Affair is currently available through Kindle Unlimited. Our choices for authors of color during this Lemonade Summer have been very subcontinent focused, and I am not remotely sad about it. Unlike The Widows of Malabar Hill, A Bollywood Affair is a modern-day romance, set both in India and the United States.

Mili used her 20 year old marriage certificate from when she was four, and he was twelve, as credentials in being approved for a student visa to the United States for an eight-month certificate course in women’s studies. She hasn’t seen her husband since the day of their wedding but for the past twenty years she was busy taking care of her aging grandparents and the grandparents of her husband, all with the goal of becoming a good wife, “a domestic goddess-slash-world’s-wife-number-one-type good wife.” And she had done that, but she was afraid of bucking societal norms and contacting her husband in any way, even though she has pursued higher education in order to be a wife who could support a husband who is an officer in the Indian Air Force. Nothing she had done in her entire life had truly been for herself, even the justifications for taking the certificate course was so that she could support a husband she hadn’t seen in twenty years. Virat, in that 20 year time frame, thought his grandfather had the marriage annulled, had married someone else and they were expecting their first child. He sends his brother Samir on a ‘woman-hunt’ to get Mili’s signature on official annulment documents so that his new wife and child would have no legal entanglements in the chance of his death. (This hit me really really hard in the feels because of the death of one of my best friend’s husbands in 2020 during a flight maneuver. It’s also the reason I don’t foresee myself watching Maverick ever again. Sometimes it’s hard to suspend disbelief, and it’s hard to even write these words…so let’s move on.)

Samir is Virat’s younger brother, a model, and bollywood movie writer and director. He goes on the hunt for Mili in order to avoid the looming movie deadline he has yet to begin writing. But, I don’t want to discuss Samir, as handsome and relatable and human as he might be, I really want to discuss Mili. I love her thirst for freedom and knowledge. I relate to her desire to be the best wife she can be while also trying to accomplish her own goals and desires. How is one a good wife to a husband one has never met? Well, you do all the things that society expects you to do and be without complaint, that’s how. No matter how it doesn’t make sense in her situation, she still does what is expected of a good wife for his family and for hers, and especially out in public. There is the theme of freedom of choice for Mili, and even in the prologue given from her mother in law’s point of view, there is this quotation:“She could hardly tell [Samir] it was because the child had been born a girl, destined from birth to be bound and gagged, to never be free. And [Mili] seemed to have sensed it far sooner than most. Sadly, the poor fool seemed to believe that she could actually do something about it.” Near the end of the book, Mili tells Samir, “I have craved freedom all my life.” And isn’t that what everyone desires? The ability to make our own choices on who to love, where to live, what to do to make a living, etc, without the constraints of someone else’s needs and desires or society’s rules? Dev really gets into the pull and tug of this mindset of wanting freedom to be your own person but also wanting to be the person society wants you to be.

I’m giving A Bollywood Affair 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I did expect a little more actual ‘Bollywood’ adventure, maybe having more of the book being set in India. There were also some major timeline editing faux pas at the end of the book that I could not believe were missed, especially when Dev has 7 more books to her name, and editors who should have gone back through her works and fixed them. I think it would be a pretty easy edit to make, and wouldn’t change the plot or timeline of the story at all. I am, of course, going to continue to read the rest of her novels at some point, and recommend her future books to the library as soon as I know they’re being published. I can make concessions for a debut novel that is so well written.

What book have you read lately that you were surprised to feel such a deep connection to one of the main characters?

~Ashley

When I sat down to write up my review / feelings on A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev, I reviewed my highlights, and then looked on Goodreads to see what star ratings I needed and try to remember how I felt about this book way back…six days ago. What I realized is that I read two modern, billionaire romances back to back. (Ashley read two in five days, but also finished other things too, because she’s an overachiever like that.) So, this review isn’t going to be the usual, because I’m bringing in another title, The Last Eligible Billionaire by Pippa Grant.

In both titles, we have very rich successful men who can get anything or anyone they want and we have women who are striving to become a better version of themselves. They accidentally fall into a relationship together, they experience a lot of drama together, and then they’re driven apart for basically the same reason, and are brought back together through a grand gesture that is shockingly similar. Now, these books were published about eight years apart, yet I’m not suggesting anything beyond the formulaic nature of romance novels, which is honestly part of the reason I adore them. If I can’t handle the drama of the issue that breaks the couple up before the grand gesture brings them back together, I usually know where to pause, and these were no different.

Here’s how they do differ – in A Bollywood Affair, Samir needs Mili to annul her marriage to his brother (it’s in the marketing copy, so not a spoiler). In The Last Eligible Billionaire, Hayes needs a fake relationship to stop people from trying to set him up or throw themselves at him. Mili has devoted herself into becoming the model wife for her husband (even though she was four when they got married and hasn’t seen him since). Begonia is trying to find herself after getting out of a marriage to an obnoxious man and meets Hayes very accidentally. I do enjoy that Hayes and Begonia are both adults who’ve experienced relationships, even if they weren’t great. I did struggle with the combination of Samir’s rakish nature and Mili’s devotion to a husband she hasn’t seen in 20 years and how that plays out in the novel. Is it unrealistic? No, but I don’t have to like it. What I did really enjoy about A Bollywood Affair was the culture, and a couple of mysteries that are revealed slowly (or not so slowly, depending on how quickly readers connect the dots) throughout. I giggled at the reference to Samir’s brother enjoying some Old Monk rum, having consumed more than I should admit myself (not that I purchased it, because I wasn’t permitted in the liquor store, as a delicate female *eyeroll*).

Ultimately, I did genuinely enjoy reading both of these books. I’m giving A Bollywood Affair three stars, and a bit of a caveat, as I did consider 3.5, but ultimately, I wanted a bit more in some parts of this book, however, it is Dev’s debut, and as such, I can appreciate it more, having read some of her more recent works. I’m glad to have read it, and I’m likely to continue in the series. I’m giving The Last Eligible Billionaire four stars for a really fun, well-executed reading experience. Both titles have a bit of “hold my beer” energy which I do genuinely enjoy on the page. Dev’s is a bit more, almost, apologetic, whereas Grant’s has no cares to give, as evidenced by the meet cute and the dog. Speaking of the dog, I went back to find its name, looking in my highlights, which didn’t help, but they did give me a great list of one liners, which I also enjoy about Grant’s writing. Two of my favorites which don’t include spoilers are:

“I don’t drink coffee. I drink the blood of people who piss me off.”

“Why do you love my son?” “Because he pays attention and he believes in me.” Not to leave Dev without her own quote, because there were definitely some truths to be found, my favorite of which is:

“But trust was the most fragile of things.”

Who’s an author you trust, and were glad to have read their backlist that demonstrated how much their writing improved with practice?

~Nikki

P. S. Will I offend Ashley and some of you darling readers if I say Sarah J. Maas (except I don’t trust her, not after the cliffhanger that shall not be named and what he did – #iykyk)?

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First Monday

Lemonade Summer Continues

August 1, 2022

The more things change, the more they stay the same, we’re still reading, and still inviting you to read along with us. This is a special day, because we’re inviting you to sign up for Virtual Book Club where we’ll discuss From Blood and Ash #1 by Jennifer Armentrout because the internet, and some of you lovelies, are still talking about it. We’ll be honest, it’s burning a hole in our kindles waiting for us to read it too. Join us for all the details and discussion on Friday, August 26 at 7:30pm CST by signing up here!

AND we’re inviting you to read along with our special extended version of Lemonade Summer! Tracking our summer reading might be officially over for some (hear: Nikki and her people, and of course Nikki won), but the temperatures and habits still say summer, as do the titles we’ve selected to read and review this month. If you feel so inclined, please read along with us this month and leave us a comment or slide into our DMs with your feelings about these titles: