Her Royal Pinkness Reads

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).

Well That Year Did Not Go As Planned... Looking forward to the future

I had a strong intention to spend more time here this year. Although I started out well, I struggled in the middle of the year and never came back.

I have good reasons though. A good friend and cheerleader passed away, leaving her daughter, who is one of my bestest friends, grappling for meaning in her grief. That's not to say I haven't been busy; if anything, I've been busier than ever.

Review: Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong

Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Categories rated on a 10 point scale. Averaged and then translated into Star Rating. See CAWPILE V3 by Book Roast.

I read this book as an audiobook via my library and the Hoopla app. Jennifer Ikeda and Richard Ferrone narrated.

I love Armstrong's writing. Having already read 3 other series, I was excited to have this pop in my monthly TBR Game. And it did not disappoint overall.

I may also be biased as one of the hitman contacts lived in my city and Fort Wayne does not get brought up a lot in pop culture. But the moment Armstrong wrote about the cobblestone street the contact lived on, I knew exactly where in town this portion was set. But locations were not described all that well. This was certainly a character-led description book, but it was plot-driven.

I felt like I knew mostly how the characters would respond to situations but I questioned their logic because I didn't know what they knew.

I busted through the audio in less than two full days and am looking forward to more Nadia Stafford.

Characters: 7.5
Atmosphere: 5.8
Writing: 8.1
Plot: 7.6
Intrigue: 9.2
Logic: 6.6
Enjoyment: 10!

Points: 54.8 out of 70.0
Stars: 4 actual - 4 rounded

View all my reviews

Monday, July 1, 2024

Staycation and TBR Games/Books

The second half of June has found me spending quite a lot of time at home. The third week I was working from home so I was not distracted from a work project by my coworkers and this final week had me at home on 'vacation'. Sometimes we just need a reset.

As a result, I got a lot of work done around my house; you guessed it, I was listening to audiobooks while I did it. I quickly processed all 4 of my TBR Busterland picks and put the question to my followers on TikTok: what do I do? Roll for 2-4 more picks or do I choose another method?

Of the several hundred views, I got 4 likes and 2 responses. I have come to terms with the fact that my mutuals do not interact with my content the way I interact with their content. I hit the like button on all their videos, but they cannot be bothered to return the respect. Whatever. I'm the Hype Girl. Very few people hype me back, but they know who they are and they have my loyalty.

In any event, I did not roll for more books. What I did do however was design a second TBR game.

Goodreads: Reading Poll

Poll

For July, one of my Uncorked Reading prompts is "Celebrity Memoir". I currently own 4 in audiobook format. Which one should I try first to complete my challenge prompt? (Poll ends 7/6/24)

Still Just a Geek: An Annotated Memoir Girl Logic: The Genius and the Absurdity How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived I'm Just a Person

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