The Turquoise Reading Room

📖 Dune: Messiah 📖 by Frank Herbert

After finishing Dune a few years ago, I was fine to leave this series there. I had heard about some weird stuff that happens later in the series & wasn't interested in adding that into my brain 😐 But with a 3rd movie adaptation arriving soon, I thought I might as well give Dune Messiah a read so I know what is possible 😄

I'm overall glad I did. It's nice to know what happens after the OG book with Paul, Chani, and Irulan. Especially after finding out Paul's plan at the end of the first novel. There were some surprises and you get to see Paul's character fully develp in to what was prophesied about him. I don't think it's what everyone expected but he was the only one who could ever forsee that, right?

This is a good read, and a good follow up to the first novel. I think I'm going to leave the series here though. I felt it was pretty wrapped up the way it ended. I'm curious what others think about this sequel and all the other Dune books. Let me know if I'm missing out by not continuing 😁

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶
Language: 🚫

Bookmark

📖 Walk This Way 📖 by Lexi Vale

How's your summer going? Is it bananas busy like mine? I can't believe we're near the end of July!

I got the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Walk This Way back in the spring. I think I saw an advertisement for it on insta and I was looking for cute romance to dive into ❤️

Rowan Turner is heart broken after a rather jarring break up with her dirt bag boyfriend. She's looking for an escape plan and decides upon a walking adventure through the Scottish Highlands. Angus Mckenzie hikes the Scottish Highlands once a year in memory of his father. These two souls meet at a rest stop along the hike and immediately dislike each other. Along comes a cast of likeable misfits and the two are forced to be civil to one another as it appears they'll be stopping along the trail at the same spots for days.

Walk This Way is a cute read, with a good cast of characters, witty banter, and fun geographic imagery. I enjoyed it to an extent. My hang up is in how the two MC's processed their inner dialog. When it came to lustful thoughts and feelings I was sort of taken out of the story by how extreme their thoughts were portrayed. I felt that their inner thoughts were not realistic and very over the top. No 30 something female thinks like that! Even if she's really really desperate 🤣 It happened more than once and sort of ruined everything that the story built up 🫤

All in all, I finished this book a little let down. The cute story was sort ruined for me with the overdone spicy scenes and dialog.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶
Language: 🤬🤬🤬

📖 The Frozen River 📖 by Ariel

Ngl, I listened this book in January and am just now reviewing it 😆 I was waiting on my library copy to arrive for a picture and now it's the end of June and my library copy is a few weeks overdue 🙃 😬 💁‍♀️

The Frozen River has a lot of hype around it and it's very deserved. This was a great read! It's set in early America, as the country is beginning to form.

Martha Ballard works as her rural community's mid-wife and healer. The book begins as she's summoned to examine the body of a man found in the frozen, Kennebec river. The circumstances surrounding his death are suspicious and she's later called to give an account of what she finds after her examination. A mystery begins to unfold and her small town of Hallowell is caught up in the intrigue.

The author's notes in the audiobook were fascinating to listen too. Martha Ballard was a real life mid-wife in the late 1700's. While this book takes liberties with her story, the author utilized Martha's extensive diary entries as inspiration. I was really fascinated by it!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶🌶(this book does have a couple big SA trigger warning)
Language: 🤬🤬🤬

📖 Brimstone 📖 by Callie Hart

Continuing on in my fantasy reading era, I finally got around to listening to Brimstone (Fae & Alchemy #2). Boy oh boy this book was a crazy ride 🤪 I'm not sure I even understood what was happening a lot of the time!

There's vampires, half vampires, sires, crazy dark creatures that can't be killed who are not vampires (🤔), old friends, new characters, bad guys who are even more bad than we thought, and something called brimstone which is greatly needed but is only obtained at a terrible cost. Then there's the ending! What the heck just happened at the end?! Did I hear that right?! 🤯

I'll for sure be anxiously awaiting the next book in this series. 2027 can't get here soon enough!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
Language: 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

📚 Part of Your World 📚 by Abby Jimenez

This was my first Abby Jimenez novel and it did not disappoint! I like Jimenez's writing style and the rom- com kind of way this books reads.

Alexis is an esteemed ER doctor with a deeply rooted family legacy. On her way home one evening she finds herself in a ditch in a small town & requires the help of a local man & his truck. That man's name is Daniel, and he's attractive but probably thinks she's just a silly rich lady. Later the same evening the two meet again at the local pub and realize the attraction is mutual. But how can a small town guy fit in with a highly educated wealthy doctor?

"I'd follow a clown into a storm drain if he had a baby goat in pajamas."

This book was funny, cute, and sweet. There's a little tiny dusting of magic mixed in which I liked. Don't be fooled though. There's plenty of swearing and raunchy jokes too. There is a trigger warnings for DV. It's not too detailed or a major plot point, but it isn't light either.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶
Language: 🤬🤬🤬🤬

📚 The Keeper of Lost Things 📚 by Ruth Hogan

I dove far into my TBR list once again to pick this recent read. This plan of mine for mixing up my reading is working out great!

The Keeper of Lost Things is a charming novel about how we can make life what we want, even after it doesn't work out the way we intend. The story features Laura, a divorcee and caretaker to elderly, Anthony Peardew. While Laura maintains the majority of Anthony's home, she is encouraged not to bother with his office. Often locked, Laura respects Anthony's wishes but wonders at the Secrets he keeps behind the doors.

This story was sweet and a great read for any occasion. I liked how it went back in forth in time, slowly allowing the mystery of Anthony's life to be discovered. It has an endearing cast of characters and a sprinkle of magic thrown in 💫

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶 for mentions of infidelity and closed door relations
Language: 🤬🤬

📖 Project Hail Mary 📖 by Andy Weir

Oh boy, I am so excited for the movie adaptation of this book to come out next month! Not just because it stars Ryan Gossling, but because this is a fantastic story! 🎬

I loved everything about this book. The nerdy but funny MC. The science. The fake science 😉 The space stuff. A character I won't spoil ❤️🪨. The jumping back and forth in time narrative. Everything! If you haven't read this book? I highly encourage you to now, before the movie is released. Because we readers know, the book is always better! This is also a great audiobook.

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: Just talk. No actual scenes.
Language: 🤬

📖 The Secret Society of Irregular Witches 📖 by Sangu Mandanna

I actually listened to this book back in October when I wanted a witchy novel for Halloween 🎃 In my brain, I was going to get a copy from the library to take a pic for the Gram, but it was on hold for months! So here we are now, in February getting around to posting about it 🤦‍♀️

The SSoIW (like that acronymn 😁) is a cute little story about a twenty-something witch named Mika Moon. Mika runs an internet channel where she pretends to concoct charming witchy brews and potions for her viewers, all the while operating as an actual witch in real life. Bound to a life of solitude by The Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Mika yearns for companionship and belonging. One day she receives a mysterious summons for a potential job opportunity in a distant coastal community. What she finds there is forbidden but everything she has hoped for.

This story was heart warming and a little surprising! There was a decent amount of profanity that I was not expecting given its cute cover 😯 In addition there was a spicy scene that felt sort of misplaced. The book has the cozy vibes I was wanting but some elements of the story felt forced and disconnected. In the end, it wasn't totally what I expected, but was alright.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶
Language: 🤬🤬🤬

📖 Wild Love 📖 by Elsie Silver

"That journal entry is fascinating, but all wrong. I was at home when you called that night. And I broke every speed limit to get to you."

Despite the beat up library copy pictured here, I listened to Wild Love on and it was 🤌. Dare I say, Zachary Webber has the hottest narrative voice and that made picturing Ford Grant's character that much better 😍

This is the 1st novel in the Rose Hill series and it's a good one. I like romance books with real stories and realistic characters. This fits the bill perfectly.

Ford is on the outside, a very attractive billionaire and entrepreneur. On the inside he's quiet, loyal, and full of compassion. Rosie Belmont is the younger sister of Ford's best friend, Weston. Rosie's suddenly unexpected return to Rose Hill is concerning, but when another much younger girl shows up on Ford's doorstep, his world is thrown into chaos.

I really liked this book. The characters are great and the story arc has substance. It is heavy on the spice and spicy language, so I wouldn't reccomend it to teenagers. There's a small trigger warnings for SA too 💔

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶
Language: 🤬🤬🤬🤬

📖 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year 📖 by Ally Carter

I really wanted a cute holiday novel to listen to while I wrapped gifts this year. So when a friend recommended this book as a fun Christmas read, I immediately added it to my library!

Cozy mystery author, Maggie Chase, is invited to a secret Christmas party at the English estate of an unknown super fan. The bad news is, the one person in the world she can't stand, fellow author Ethan Wyatt, has also been invited. When their surprise host goes missing after the first night's gathering, Maggie begins to worry there's something amiss. She begins to investigate but Ethan Wyatt keeps getting in her way.

This was a fun and adorable novel to listen to this Christmas season. It helped wrapping all those presents go so much faster! Plus, the mystery twist on the novel made it a little more exciting and adventurous than your typical romance read ❤️

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶 (totally closed door)
Language: 🚫