Let's Catch Up: What I've Been Reading (Or More Accurately, Haven't)

HI GUYS! Things have been busyyyy in Gillian-land lately. Nothing terrible, just mostly tiring, which means my reading has...well, it's gone kaput. I'm going to blame The 100 for returning to air and sucking up all my emotions and dominating the part of my brain reserved for fictional investment. (That and binge watching Grey's Anatomy because oh my god you guys I ship Alex and Meredith so hard I am such ship trash GOD HELP ME BUT I WANT IT)

NO SHUT UP ALEX IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL TO WANT YOU TWO TO BONE

I mean honestly, look at them

Anyway, it feels like it's been a while since we had a good CHAT about books and life, aka just books because hahaha what even is this life you speak of?

SO MANY BOOKS CAME OUT THIS THIS MONTH, and I feel like I've read none of them. Every month I put together my Looking Forward feature, and every month I'm like "THIS IS THE MONTH I WILL READ THEM ALL, I will use this as a GUIDE and I will FOLLOW IT NOBLY, I will READ ALL THE BOOKS AND CLIMB EV'RY MOUNTAIN AND THE NUNS WILL SING". And then all of a sudden it's the next month, I haven't read any, and I'm putting together a new Looking Forward feature, which I should rename Looking Failureward.

I've enjoyed the few books I have managed to read this month. Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace--EXCELLENT voice, nice creeptastics, sublime writing, A+ bi and Asian American main character, some hinky plot stuffs. Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie--RUSSIAN FANTASY AHH. These Vicious Masks which I raved about in my review here. Other things, I'm sure... right? I did read other things, right? Oh sweet BELLAMY.

Oh, right, and I read Stars Above, and by Stars Above mean I skipped immediately to the Winter epilogue and read exclusively that.

Besides being busy and doing a lot of CREATIVE STUFF that essentially zaps my brain into "I am only capable of watching TV" mode, another issue I've been running into is... what do I read NEXT? Not because I'm without options--Karev knows I'm drowning in options--but mostly it's like, WHY WON'T ANYTHING GRAB ME?? I finished These Vicious Masks and loved it so hard, and then I did what I normally do--start a whole bunch of books at once--and waited. I've talked about my reading muses before, but basically I wait until one of my books reaches out and seizes me and refuses to let me go. Rather like me and this Shonda-damned ship oh my GOD sweet TORMENT

h o n e s t l y

 I thought Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell would be that book, but I unfortunately think it's the book responsible for slamming me into so vicious of a slump. And not because it's bad! I'm not trying to rag on Unhooked, which has Captain Hook as a love interest so it's already working on at least that level. I think it might actually be a very fun book.

Or at least, I feel like it SHOULD be, and for some reason I'm just... I don't knowwwww. I'm sure you guys know this feeling, where you're reading a book and you know it could be GREAT but it's just not everything you dreamed it could be/you want it to be/that BY MEREDITH ABOVE IT HONEST SHOULD BE IF THERE IS ANY JUSTICE ON THIS RHIMESIAN EARTH, and so you just get kind of MEH and keep putting it down every few pages to go troll the Merlex tag on Tumblr have a cookie instead.

Try to tell me this isn't a ship. JUST GO AHEAD AND TRY TO TELL ME.
(I heard you try but I did not listen)

But I miss reading. I want to get back in the GROOVE, YO. I've just started Glass Sword, and I'm hoping the utter addictive crack quality of this series and the high action and angstical ship goodness will shatter this muck of a slump I'm in, and I've got Rebel of the Sands in the wings, because I am 100% CERTAIN it will be another Gillian crack read.

So I guess the only medicine, really, is to wait until you're in the mood, until you're jonesing so hard for fiction that you can't fail, and then hit yourself with whatever genre it is you love best--which for me will always be magic and bloodshed and rebellions and kisses and Girls Fucking Shit Up (TM). Also, sequels are a failsafe for getting me out of slumps , because I'm already invested and it's just so easy to slip back in.

SO HEAL ME, GLASS SWORD. BRING ME BACK TO THE LIGHT. REMIND ME WHO I AM, LIKE A WISE OLD GHOST!MUFASA SPEAKING WORDS OF WISDOM IN THE STARRY NIGHT SKY

So that's where I am on the reading front these days. It's been grim, but I know that the night must end and that the sun will rise I'm hoping I'm through the worst of it.

Have you been a slump as well? What books have you been reading (or not reading)? WHAT ARE YOU SHIPPING AT THE MOMENT? Can we talk about Meredith and Alex and forehead nuzzles and hospital bed cuddles?  ALSO THAT BELLARKE SCENE GUYS

Have you read Glass Sword? How about Rebel of the Sands? Can I make it a whole line without bringing up Meredith and Alex?

I defy you not to ship them I DEFY YOU

Apparently not.