souloftherose's 2023 comeback (she hopes)

Hoping to make a comeback to the group this year after skipping 2022 entirely (despite an intention to get back to LT whenever random life stuff allowed which sadly kept not happening...)

I'm Heather, early 40s, UK based with a husband and a very elderly rescue lurcher called Tink. Currently on sick leave with what Dr assures me is a 'normal amount of post-viral fatigue' following Covid last year.

Other than reading my 2023 goals are to start back at work and to be able to walk further than the end of the road (woot!)

In terms of reading I expect it to be mainly fantasy and romance books with occasional ventures into science fiction or crime.

Tink giving his best 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' impression (minus the earring)

Books read:

1. Malice by Heather Walter
2. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
3. Lando by Charles Soule
4. Brotherhood by Mike Chen
5. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
6. Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
7. The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian
8. Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
9. Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch
10. Wintering by Katherine May
11. From a Certain Point of View by Various
12. Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott
13. Travel by Bullet by John Scalzi
14. Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
15. Chewbacca by Gerry Duggan
16. Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford
DNF The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
17. Ocean's Echo by Everina Maxwell
18. Rebel Rising by Beth Revis

TBR challenge (details to come)

And done!

Hi Heather, welcome back, and starred. I hope you feel back to normal soon!

Hello, Heather, how nice to see you here again! Much nicer than just following each other's 'titles read' on Goodreads.

Happy New Year, Heather! I actually think Tink's tag looks just like a pearl earring

Happy New Year, Heather! I was so thrilled to see you started a thread. I'm hoping you feel much better very soon. I completely fell off the threads last year, so I am hoping to do better this year.

Lovely photo of Tink.

Welcome back, Heather, and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, Heather! I'm trying to be more present this year as well.

A lovely surprise this morning. Welcome back to the group, Heather - you were greatly missed last year.

I am SO pleased and excited to see you back! As Paul says you were very much missed. Here's hoping for a great reading year! :)

Happy new year Heather!

You're back! Hurray! I am also suffering from COVID long-haul fatigue so I get you. Here's to a better '23 and I hope you feel better soon. : )

Happy New Year and happy new thread Heather!



Welcome back. And Tink does look like the Girl with the Pearl Earring.

So good to see you back on here, Heather. I really hope you have a better year this year! I think there are a few of us who just weren't here in 2022 due to real life intervening in a bad way. Looking forward to seeing your reading updates (and your dog updates now that I've turned into a dog person.) I'm over on Club Read and three days in, I'm keeping up...

Welcome back, Heather! I hope your health improves everyday!

Hi Heather, welcome back! Starred. Hope you feel better soon!

Oh YAY!!!! I'm delighted to see you back, Heather, and I wish you much, much more energy as 2023 progresses, and that you may spend some of it reading and commenting here. I've missed you.

Very nice to see Tink too - with or without a pearl earring!

Welcome back Heather! So nice to see you. That's a lovely picture of Tink - lurchers are nice dogs.

Welcome back, Heather! We've missed you. I love the photo of Tink and your clever caption.

Happy New Year, Heather. It's nice to see you back. I hope 2023 is good to you.

Hi Heather! So nice to see you back. I"m sorry about the Covid effects. I hope 2023 sees much improvement for you.

Hi Heather, welcome back! Love the photo of Tink and I hope your Covid side effects lessen soon.

>5 kgodey: Thanks Kriti!

>6 CDVicarage: Lovely to 'see' you too Kerry :-)

>7 norabelle414: Happy new year Nora! Good spot on the tag :-)

>8 Crazymamie: Thank you Mamie - here's hoping we can both keep up more this year!

>9 drneutron: Thanks Jim!

>10 ronincats: Thank you Roni and Happy New Year!

>11 PaulCranswick:, >12 lyzard: Thank you Paul and Liz - I did miss my LT friends last year too.

>13 quondame: Thanks Susan!

>14 Berly: Thank you Berly! Sorry to hear you are also struggling with post-Covid fatigue. Hoping you also feel better soon.

>15 humouress: Thanks Nina!

>16 cushlareads: Lovely to see you Cushla! I will have a look for your thread in Club Read.

>17 Carmenere: Thank you Lynda!

>18 vikzen: Thank you Victoria!

>19 LizzieD: Thank you Peggy, lovely to see you too :-)

>20 SandDune: Thank you Rhian and I agree completely about lurchers

>21 lauralkeet:, >22 BLBera:, >23 katiekrug: Thank you Laura, Beth & Katie!

My intentions are to reciprocate thread visits but I suspect it will be a little slow at the moment so please bear with me.

Hi Heather. And hi Tink :)

Happy new year and new thread! Glad to see you in the group again!

Hi Heather - Happy New Year and welcome back to our group. I glimpsed you a few times over on GR.
I hope we can share a few reads along the way this year.

>25 souloftherose: Take your time, Heather. Just great to have you back for the time being. xx

Hey there, Heather! So nice to see you back again. Hope you are able to shake the remaining vestiges of stinking ol' Covid soon.

Tink is looking good.

I really liked The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue when I read it in 2021. One of my favorites of the year.

>26 Eat_Read_Knit: Hi Catherine!

>27 foggidawn: Thanks Foggi!

>28 avatiakh: Hi Kerry! Yes, it was nice to be able to keep up with a few people on GR last year.

>30 Fourpawz2: Thanks Charlotte. I think Tink is really starting to feel his age now (16) but I think we are managing to keep him comfortable and happy. I did enjoy The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue especially in audio (Julia Whelan narrating).

Some books read this week:



1. Malice by Heather Walter - 3 stars

I was intrigued by a sapphic Sleeping Beauty retelling from the pov of the wicked fairy. And this isn't a bad book by any means but I think I was hoping for a villain redemption arc and by the end of this book (which is the first book in a duology) our protagonist has gone full villain and I found it a bit depressing. I have no idea what happens in the second volume (Misrule) but this just wasn't what I was in the mood for.



2. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab, narrated by Julia Whelan - 4 stars

This was really good and worked beautifully as an audio book thanks to Whelan's narration. A young girl in 18th century France makes a Faustian deal with a god/spirit to live her life in freedom and inadvertently becomes immortal and instantly forgettable to everyone she meets. The narrative switches back and forth between modern day New York and the 18th/19th centuries as the girl learns to live with her curse.

I have The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue on the shelves, Heather. I am hoping to get to it this year.

Happy New Year Heather! I hope it is a better one for you in terms of health.

>32 souloftherose: Invisible Life sounds intriguing and I’ve heard some buzzing about it so on the TBR list it goes.

I'm another with Addie LaRue on my TBR :) Glad you enjoyed it!!

Glad to see your thread, Heather, belated happy reading in 2023!

>33 Crazymamie:, >35 Carmenere:, >36 curioussquared: Hope you enjoy Addie LaRue when you get to it!

>34 Sakerfalcon: Thank you Claire.

>37 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita!

>32 souloftherose: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is the choice for my book club in March, so I'll be reading it then.

I'm in a bit of a Star Wars kick at the moment.



3. Lando by Charles Soule - 4.5 stars

Charles Soule is becoming one of my favourite comic authors and this mini-series focusing on Lando Calrissian in a heist gone wrong set shortly before The Empire Strikes Back did an excellent job of capturing Lando's character from the films - so well I could hear Billy Dee Williams' voice in my head delivering the lines. 4.5 stars for pure fun.



4. Brotherhood by Mike Chen - 4 stars

Strangely, whilst I've never really been a fan of the SW prequel films, I've been really enjoying exploring some of the books and comics set around the prequels. This one is set very shortly after Attack of the Clones and focuses on Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi. My favourite character however was a new character called Mill Allibeth, a youngling Jedi who ends up being briefly mentored by Anakin in this book.

>39 SandDune: Hope you enjoy it Rhian!



5. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers - 4 stars

Like other Becky Chambers' books, this was a much needed warm hug of a read. It's the second book in her Monk and Robot novella series and I would recommend starting with A Psalm for the Wild-Built but this series is such a lovely gentle read for anyone feeling burnt out or unsure about where they're going in life.



6. Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert - 4 stars

Talia Hibbert has become an auto-buy author for me since I fell in love with her Brown sisters trilogy (starting with Get a Life Chloe Brown). This is her first YA romance and I thought it worked very well. Not too angsty but enough teenage uncertainty to be believable and super sweet.

>41 souloftherose: I just read the first Monk and Robot book and this one is on my to read soon list! Also glad to see you liked the new Hibbert. I think I need to put that one on hold at the library :)

>41 souloftherose: I have a feeling that Becky Chambers will appeal to Hani, Heather, and I think I will recommend she buys her latest book. I can of course read it too when she does!

I've taken note of the Monk and Robot books and also Talia Hibbert. I enjoy a good romance read from time to time.
I think my daughter will like The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue so I'll probably end up reading it too.

I have the first of that Monk and Robot series in the stacks - you are reminding me that I need to get to it. And you got me with Get a Life Chloe Brown - I have not read that trilogy. Thanks, Heather.

I have the first couple of Monk and Robots, and I'm in need of some warm, Chambers reading. Thank you for the nudge, Heather ---- just as soon as I finish my reread of The Fresco and get back to complete A Memory Called Empire.

Just popping in to say Hi! and keep up here. : )

>35 Carmenere: Yep! Me too.

As well as 'Psalm ...' and 'Get a Life ...'

Too many BBs, too little time.

Dropping by to hope you have been updating. xx

Well, I guess it's February now? January was a blur of medical appointments and then recovery from appointments and then another appointment on repeat. And medical admin - so much admin.

But it's February now - it's starting to feel like spring might not be too far off and hopefully this month will be quieter.

I'm not back at work but I have managed to walk a little bit further.

January books read:

7. The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian
8. Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
9. Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch
10. Wintering by Katherine May
11. From a Certain Point of View by Various (SW anthology)
12. Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott
13. Travel by Bullet by John Scalzi
14. Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
15. Chewbacca by Gerry Duggan
16. Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford
DNF The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

My favourites were rereads (or relistens) to Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott which is a Star Wars audio drama and Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell.

Honourable mentions to Wintering by Katherine May and Amongst our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch

>42 curioussquared: I hope you enjoy the 2nd Monk book and the new Talia Hibbert Natalie :-)

>43 PaulCranswick: I hope Hani enjoys Monk and Robot books Paul - they're science fiction but gentle science fiction if that makes sense?

>44 avatiakh: Hope you (and your daughter) enjoy all those book bullets Kerry!

>45 Crazymamie: I hope you enjoy Monk and Robot Mamie - and now if you enjoy the first one you won't have to wait for the second book to be released!

>46 LizzieD: Hope you enjoy Peggy! I think warm and comforting reads are something a lot of us feel the need for at the moment.

>47 Berly: Hi Kim! *waves*

>48 humouress: Hi Nina!

"Too many BBs, too little time." - new group motto?

>49 PaulCranswick: Thanks for checking in on me Paul - you'll be pleased to see I have done an update at the top of the thread :-)

Lovely to see you here, Heather! I remember you hit me with Winter's Orbit when you read it the first time, and now you have read it again. I think I will use my Kindle Rewards to pick that one up. And you are reminding me that I really need to get back to those Rivers of London books - I love those on audio, so maybe I will just start again at the beginning and re-listen to the first ones.

Hoping that February is kind to you.

Just checking in here. I am struggling with post Covid fatigue and intermittent brain fog. I am just sleeping ALL THE TIME! How are you doing? Any better? I am starting a support group in early March. Can't wait.

Dropping in to say hello and wish you a happy weekend!

>50 souloftherose: Yay, Winter's Orbit! I loved that one last year and have Ocean's Echo on my list to read soon. The only other one I've read from that list is The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes, which I liked a lot but didn't quite love. Her Majesty's Royal Coven is also one that's on my radar but I haven't got my hands on yet.

>50 souloftherose: I'm glad things are looking up for you.

Thanks to you (no, really. Thanks. Thanks for adding to my ever increasing TBR pile.) ;0) I'm attempting to read some of the Star Wars cannon ... er ... ex-cannon to try to see where George Lucas was going with the story before Disney bought the rights.

Hi Heather! Hope everything is well with you.

Thinking about you during the festive season, Heather.

Have really missed you, Heather and I do hope everything is ok. x

Merry Christmas, Heather!

Merry Christmas, Heather!

Wishing you and yours all the best for the festive season, Heather.

Hi Heather. I hope life is treating you well. We miss you on LT.