Weekly Check-in #41

What I've Been Writing:

This week, I did a lot of reading over what I already wrote in Defectors and Queens, adding and deleting, smoothing out passages, so I haven't added a whole lot of new scenes. The manuscript is at 58,000 words now.

What I've Been Reading:

I finished reading Vengeance of the Pirate Queen and had to immediately hop into another Tricia Levenseller book.  

I was eager for What Fury Brings because I'm one of those people who can enjoy both YA and adult, or hop around from one steamy, spicy level to the next without batting an eyelash. As long as I'm loving the romance, I'm invested. (And I'm starting to learn this is not a common trait for all readers) So when I find an author who'll hop around like that too, I get excited. I really did love What Fury Brings. I couldn't put it down, and I got invested. Plus, the society with gender-reversed roles was shocking and eye-opening. But there's just something about those Stockholm syndrome stories that messes me up, man. I don't want to root for the couple when one of them has basically no freedom at all, and yet I start rooting for them, and it just...it makes me want to rant and get all judgey about things, which is not my normal default mode. It makes me feel wrong in my own body, and my brain isn't okay afterward. But still...engrossing, captivating story! Very thought-provoking.

It messed me up enough, however, that I kept being all ranty and judgey when I started reading a new book, and I could not for the life of me like the heroine. I mean, this self-serving, control-seeking, social-jumping murderer had no redeeming qualities at all, so I put that one aside and started a new story. We'll see if the next book shakes me out of my funky state.

What I've Been Stacking on My Shelves:

Got my two new Off-Campus books this week!! Hooray for The Score and The Mistake. Then, the final monthly subscription book I purchased from Bookish Box came in. Go, The Enchanted Greenhouse. And my obsession with Danielle Jensen continues, so I ordered the first book in her Malediction series called Stolen Songbird. It's about TROLLS, ya'all. That's a first for me. Kinda intrigued by it.

And that's been my week. Happy National Handwriting Day to you. See you next Friday.