It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? Is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date, a great place to meet up and share your reading plans for the week. I love finding new blogs and new books – so a link-up that helps me do both? Sign me up!

 

I might be a little biased, but Houston puts on a great Super Bowl! I’m not the biggest football fan, but I can’t help but love the fan fair, especially having front row seats to the National Anthem fly-over. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds passed right by our apartment in route to NRG Stadium! We missed the half-time fireworks, but wow! I can’t imagine anyone topping Lady Gaga – her performance was amazing!!

As exciting as the Super Bowl is, the highlight of my week was reading The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, one of my most anticipated reads of 2017! A beautifully written mix of captivating imagery and Russian folk lore, Vasilisa’s story is un-put-downable as you enter the snowy-white of the Russian wilderness. I’m hoping to have a review soon, but trust me, you’ll want to read this one!

Finishing The Bear and the Nightingale, I fell back into the Tearling with Erika Johansen’s concluding novel, The Fate of the Tearling. While she finally answers the mystery behind the Fetch and even who Kelsea’s father is, I still have plenty of unanswered questions: why are the sapphires magical, how did Row do what he did, how did William Tearling even know he could take everyone to the Tearling… there’s so much I want to know, or know even more about! And how could she end Lily’s story like that? There’s so much I want to say, but it’s impossible to avoid spoilers! TDLR: there was a lot I didn’t like, but overall the series’ conclusion is satisfying, happy ending included.

And, according to tradition, I have a brand new library haul to share for the start of the new month. January was a great reading month, and I’m hoping February will be even better! Surprisingly, I have quite a few nonfiction titles this month, including Sarah Gristwood’s Game of Queens: The Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe. I’ve always been fascinated by the intricate history of royalties, especially the Medicis, so I’m very excited to dive into this one! I also have The Dry by Jane Harper and Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente on audio this week. I’m not quite sure what I’ll read next, but at least I have plenty of options!

What are you reading?