Her Royal Pinkness Reads: July 2025

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Review: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Purchased with my Audible Credit.
Audiobook narrated by Lauren Fortgang.

Characters: 7.4/10
Atmosphere: 7.3/10
Writing: 7.9/10
Plot: 8.2/10
Intrigue: 8.1/10
Logic: 8.7/10
Enjoyment: 9.1/10

Points: 56.7/70
True 4 Stars

Before We Were Innocent by Ella Berman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Borrowed from my library through Libby.
Audiobook narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya.

Characters: 7.1/10
Atmosphere: 6.9/10
Writing: 8.2/10
Plot: 8.3/10
Intrigue: 8.1/10
Logic: 8.5/10
Enjoyment: 8.5/10

Points: 55.6/70
True 4 Stars

Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Borrowed from my library through Libby.
Audiobook narrated by Silvana Kane.

Characters: 7.9/10
Atmosphere: 7.5/10
Writing: 8.6/10
Plot: 8.7/10
Intrigue: 8.7/10
Logic: 8.8/10
Enjoyment: 9.1/10

Points: 59.3/70
Low 4.5 Stars

Argylle by Elly Conway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Borrowed from my library through Libby.
Audiobook narrated by Dakota Blue Richards.

Characters: 6.4/10
Atmosphere: 6.7/10
Writing: 6.3/10
Plot: 7.6/10
Intrigue: 6.1/10
Logic: 7.2/10
Enjoyment: 4.9/10

Points: 45.2/70
Low 3.5 Stars

The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Borrowed from my library through Libby.
Audiobook narrated by Scott Brick.

Characters: 7.2/10
Atmosphere: 7.1/10
Writing: 8.5/10
Plot: 7.6/10
Intrigue: 6.8/10
Logic: 8.5/10
Enjoyment: 8.6/10

Points: 54.3/70
True 4 Stars

Review: Yellowface by RJ Kuang

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Borrowed from my library through Libby.
Audiobook narrated by Helen Laser.

Characters: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 5.2/10
Writing: 7.7/10
Plot: 8.7/10
Intrigue: 7.8/10
Logic: 8.1/10
Enjoyment: 7.4/10

Points: 52.4/70
True 4 Stars

Review: Banyan Moon by Thao Thai

Banyan Moon by Thao Thai
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Borrowed from my library through Libby.
Audiobook narrated by Cindy Kay, Catherine Ho, Elyse Dinh.

I DNF'd at 15%.

I can't even tell you why, other than the fact that I was lost, couldn't tell what was going on, or who was who. I will not be going back and trying again in print, which might help with the names. I am not in an eye ball read capacity at the moment. I also wasn't keen on the premise, but as it was part of the Read with Jenna book club, I tried it.

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Review: The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book #2 in the Millennium series.
Borrowed from my library through Libby.
Audiobook narrated by Simon Vance.

Characters: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 7.1/10
Writing: 8.9/10
Plot: 6.7/10
Intrigue: 6.5/10
Logic: 7.6/10
Enjoyment: 8.3/10

Points: 52.6/70
True 4 Stars

The King's Deception by Steve Berry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book #8 in the Cotton Malone series. For once I enjoyed spending time with Cotton again.
Borrowed from my library through Libby.
Audiobook narrated by Scott Brick.

Characters: 8.8/10
Atmosphere: 8.7/10
Writing: 8.9/10
Plot: 9.5/10
Intrigue: 9.6/10
Logic: 9.5/10
Enjoyment: 9.0/10

Points: 64.0/70
True 5 Stars

Bloodline by James Rollins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is Rollins' eighth book in the Sigma Force series. I'm still hooked. We continue to see how the shadow organization known as The Guild is wrecking havoc all over the world and more of their deeper and nefarious plans.

Borrowed from my library through Hoopla.
Audiobook read by Peter Jay Fernandez.

Characters: 9.4/10
Atmosphere: 8.6/10
Writing: 9.2/10
Plot: 7.6/10
Intrigue: 9.8/10
Logic: 9.8/10
Enjoyment: 10/10

Points: 64.4/70

True 5 Stars

Neglectful Blogger... That's Me

Hey, hey!

So obviously, I've been a Neglectful Nelly of this space, and for that, I can't even apologize.

I've been entirely too busy in other spheres. I haven't even been working on my Reading Journal past logging my reading numbers. Can't even get my reviews done.

But I've been writing, and working, and cleaning this Hoarder's Paradise (said totally tongue-in-cheek).