WWW Wednesday 2025: 5 November

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share their answers to the reading world’s three W’s:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Disclaimer: While I do participate in a few challenges and readathons, I am also a mood reader, so any books waiting in the wings are subject to abrupt and unannounced changes. You have been warned lol.

Pages in Progress

Book cover: Cupid's Curse: A Romantic Fantasy Adventure of Love, Gods, and Breaking Generational Curses by Travis Brown

The Hound of Death and Other Stories by Agatha Christie Book Cover

Cupid’s Curse: A Romantic Fantasy Adventure of Love, Gods, and Breaking Generational Curses by Travis Brown: Digital. 271 pages. 70% done. Current Goodreads rating = 0.00. There are no ratings or reviews on The Storygraph. Won this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. Not gonna lie, I’m struggling to finish this. I don’t DNF review copies but I’m not really enjoying this at the moment. The thing is, Every so often there is a glimpse of true talent so the potential is there. I just think this needs a few more rounds of editing.

The hound of death: And other stories by Agatha Christie: Paperback. 190 pages. 76% done. Current Goodreads rating = 3.46. Current Storygraph rating = 3.24. Still enjoying this collection. Some top class stories.

Small Worlds: Flash Fiction and Microfiction by Gail Vida Hamburg: Digital. 156 pages. 38% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.69. Current Storygraph rating = 3.25. Won this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. As the name suggests, this is a flash fiction and microfiction collection. The stories are enjoyable.

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna with Samara MacLaren (Narrator): Audio. 9 hrs & 54 mins. 65% done. Current Goodreads rating = 3.99. Current Storygraph rating = 4.16. I am loving this book. It’s funny as.

The Story of Vicente, Who Murdered His Mother, His Father and His Sister: Life and Death in Juarez by Sandra Rodríguez Nieto: Paperback. 193 pages. 93% done. Current Goodreads rating = 3.61. Current Storygraph rating = 3.17. A creative non-fiction true crime story. Interesting so far. A bit dry at times.

The Music Makers: A novel about the death and re-birth of freedom by James D. Snyder: Digital. 193 pages. 4% done. Current Goodreads rating = 2.00. There are no ratings or reviews on The Storygraph. Won this through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. I’ve only just started this so I don’t have an opinion as yet.

Dracul by Dacre Stoker & J.D. Barker: Hardcover. 497 pages. 14% done. Current Goodreads rating = 4.14. Current Storygraph rating = 4.04. This is a prequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It’s rated fairly highly on both Goodreads and The Storygraph, and I can see why. I’d have to reread Dracula to be sure (it’s been a while) but so far I’m enjoying Dracul even more than the original.

Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake: Hardcover. 398 pages. 6% done. Current Goodreads rating = 3.79. Current Storygraph rating = 3.70. This came in a Owlcrate box a few years ago and I didn’t read the blurb on the inside dustcover flap, so I went into this flying blind. I’ve only read the first chapter but I’m loving it so far.

On the Shelf Again

I didn’t read my challenge/readathon books in their correct month/s due to being in a reading slump, but I’m counting them anyway, because I did read them!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Book Cover

Title: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Author: Lewis Carroll
Prompts:
The 52 Book Club Challenge 2025: Character’s Name in the Title
Read Good Challenge 2025: June: Reading Shame Forgiveness Month (haven’t read it before now)
The Bewitched Book Challenge 2025: Familiar’s Blessing: A book with an animal on the cover or in the title
Time to Read: 13 days
Rating: 4
Spice Rating: 0
Some Thoughts (not reviewed yet): I figured this qualifies for the Read Good Challenge Reading Shame Forgiveness Month because I’ve somehow gone my entire life without reading it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I’m not really a fan of the animated film, so I thought I’d struggle with the book. I didn’t. I don’t think this will be a reread for me, but I’m glad I read it.

Title: Winter Moon
Author: Dean Koontz
Prompts:
The 52 Book Club Challenge 2025: Genre Four (Horror): Set in winter
The Buzzword Cover Challenge 2025: June: Cover featuring celestial objects
The Bewitched Book Challenge 2025: Lunar Light: A book with the word “moon” in the title
Time to Read: 16 days
Rating: 4.25
Spice Rating: 1
Some Thoughts (not reviewed yet): This was a reread. I loved it the first two times I read it, and I love it now. It still creeps me the fuck out, even with having read it before. Especially those damn squirrels. :shudders:

Soulless (Revenge, Unhinged 2) by Mike Geczi Book Cover

Title: Soulless: Sometimes the Darkness Overcomes the Light (The Revenge, Unhinged Series #2) [Review Copy]
Author: Michael Geczi
Prompts:
The 52 Book Club Challenge 2025: Genre chosen for you by someone else (my Aunt chose crime fiction)
Time to Read: 9 days
Rating: 4.75
Spice Rating: 1
Some Thoughts (not reviewed yet): I was on the lookout for a crime novel, and I’d just finished reviewing Pointless, so I was thrilled when the author reached out to me asking if I wanted to review Soulless. I loved Pointless so, of course, I jumped at the chance. Believe it or not, this was even better than than Pointless! I will definitely be checking out his back catalogue. If you’re into crime novels or thrillers and you haven’t read these books, I highly recommend picking them up.

A court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Special Edition Book Cover

Okay, this will probably get me into strife with the ACOTAR Army, but I just could not get into this book. :ducks for cover:

The cover, at least the one on my shelf, is stunning. Unfortunately, the story inside fell short. The plot is predictable and full of tropes; and there’s nothing wrong with tropes, I like tropes, they became tropes for a reason after all, but they need to be integrated well and relevant to the story, not just included for the sake of it. I felt like the author had a list of tropes and was ticking them off one by one as she added them in. Plus, it wasn’t really all that well-written either. A bit flowery for my taste, and kind of repetitive. I really, really wanted to like this book but I just… don’t.