WWW Wednesday is a meme currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on A World of Words.
The three Ws are:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish reading?
- What do you think you’ll read next?
This is a meme that I’ve wanted to participate in for a while, and it’s been kind of a slow reading month thus far or at least when compared to my track record and reading speed so my answers to the above questions have been the same for a few days now, making it a good time to finally try it out! (To be clear: it’s not so much that I usually finish a book every few days as that I DNF another book every few days and start a new one. Life’s too short and my TBR too long to persevere with a story I’m not enjoying.)
Currently Reading
For someone who professes not to like reading multiple books at once, I seem to do it quite frequently, at least in the past few months. 😅
I’m currently buddy-reading (and really, really enjoying) my ARCs of To Best the Boys and Descendant of the Crane — I wish I hadn’t tried to read both at the same time, actually, because I want to devote my full reading attention to one at a time! The former is kind of The Testing meets The Hunger Games with bonus social issues (addresses sexism and classism), and the latter has been described as Chinese-inspired Game of Thrones. Again, both are amazing.
Additionally, I’m still doing my reread of The Cruel Prince for a new blog series and in preparation for The Wicked King … which I started back in January and have not made much progress on. Oops. (But I guess I know what I’m focusing on over spring break next week!)
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Recently Finished Reading
Although I’m nowhere near where I wanted to be at this point in the month because I never will be high-achieving enough for my own standards, I did manage to get through a few books recently!
Based on Kal’s very enthusiastic recommendation, I absolutely had to give Anna Undreaming a try — especially since the author, Thomas Welsh, was kind enough to offer review copies! It was completely different from what I was expecting and completely different from anything I’ve ever read before; to be completely honest I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to everyone since it’s so dark and cranium-screwy. But I’m definitely hooked on the trilogy and very much looking forward to the sequels.
The other title I’ve recently finished is My Name is Rose. I received a review copy for the upcoming blog tour (through Xpresso Book Tours), so if you’re interested in this story about a girl who leaves a communal-living upbringing to pursue an education and build a family, as well as some juicy family secrets and ensuing minor crises of identity … keep an eye out for my very first blog tour post, which will be up towards the end of the month!
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To Read Next
It’s still the Ides of ARC and I still have about 25 review copies to get through, after spending the month so far focusing on reading ARCs — and, unfortunately, losing access to a few due to technical issues with Adobe Digital Editions. (I’ve contacted the publishers but have yet to hear back.)
Based on release dates, the next ARC in line is The Trial of Lizzie Borden. While I don’t really follow news or true crime, I’m fascinated by the stories and psychologies of killers and alleged killers, and apparently this was a highly controversial case. The synopsis also promises analysis of legal documents and the culture of the time, so I’m really looking forward to reading this one.
Since The Trial of Lizzie Borden is my last March-release ARC, afterward I’m actually planning to briefly return to backlist titles and catch up on Darius the Great is Not Okay, which is this month’s pick for the Books & Boba Goodreads book club! It has LGBT+ rep, PoC (biracial!) rep, and mental health rep … and I have heard so, so many good things about this book.
Usually I don’t plan my reading order too far ahead to leave some flexibility depending on what I’m in the mood for, so all I can say now is that I’ll generally try to finish off my #ReviewPit books before I get back on the reading challenge grind. And, as I keep having to remind myself, it’s both already March and somehow already March, so there’s still some but never enough time left to get through more of my TBR this year!
What have you been reading recently? Are you familiar with any of the books on my list? How do you balance ARCs and backlist/frontlist releases?
Nine Tale Vixen 
I have just requested ‘ To Best the boys’. Will be looking forward to your review🤗
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hahaha I scheduled this post a few days ago so I actually finished the book just now, but suffice it to say it is AMAZING and I hope you enjoy it! 💕
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Really hope I get it. It is quite close to the publication date. Thanks for a great post!
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Nice post!! Your two next reads are both books I’ve heard great things about, I’ll be really interested to hear your thoughts on them! I just posted my current/recent/future reads on my very first WWW Wednesday today too 🙂
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that’s awesome to hear; I’m definitely looking forward to reading them! (and i’m off to check out your WWW post in a hot minute 😉)
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Anna Undreaming sounds so unique and I am completely interested! I love when books are so different to anything else you’ve read before. And I hope you love Darius The Great is Not Okay! That is one on my wishlist and would be curious to know what you think of it. Hehe, I love multireading :3 It looks like you might be conforming to the multireader lifestyle..
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ahaha I’m a creature of habit (monoreading) and my brain was Not Having It; I had to put Descendant on hold for a few days so I could finish To Best the Boys first before switching back 😜 but that’s partly due to the fact that both of them are such strong reads, so to speak; I’ve definitely had multiple books going at once when at least one of them wasn’t really doing it for me!
if you do pick up Anna Undreaming or Darius the Great I hope you enjoy them! 💕
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I just finished To Best the Boys and absolutely loved it! It was such a fun read and kind of a palate cleanser as well. I can’t wait to read your thoughts! As soon as I finish Wicked Saints, I plan on picking up Descendant of the Crane. The Trial of Lizzie Borden sounds fantastic! I didn’t even know that was coming out and I need to go find it ASAP! Thank you for the recs!
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thanks Anna! I hope that you can get your hands on a copy soon, and that you enjoy it 💕
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I hope I can get To Best The Boys and Descendants of the Crane soon..they sound so intriguing! And the covers are stunning! ☺️😍
I read The Cruel Prince last year and…didn’t enjoy it. 🙈 I’m not sure if I’ll give it another chance (would have to reread TCP as I’ve forgotten most everything) and then see if I want to read The Wicked King or not. 🙈
Happy reading!
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the covers are just as gorgeous as the stories! (I mean, DotC tore my heart out … they don’t compare it to Game of Thrones just for fun 👀)
there are definitely plenty of people who didn’t like TCP, so I wouldn’t force yourself to reread … especially since you probably have plenty of other books to get to 😜
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Oh I didn’t know it’s been compared to GoT…the one series I have no intention of reading ever. 🙈 Also, I couldn’t watch the show anymore after the Red Wedding episode. 🙈
Yup, I probably won’t reread it..😋
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A Song of Ice and Fire (aka GoT) is definitely not the most compelling series I’ve ever read, and I’ve only seen a few episodes … but I will admit the characters are pretty compelling and the story is kind of morbidly and gruesomely entertaining 👀
imo DotC is less gory, more emotion-driven, so although it does share themes of political intrigue, betrayal and deception, family drama, etc, it really is a totally different story!
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I did find the show compelling despite the gruesomeness..🙈 but then the blood and gore etc was too much for me. I’d watch a few episodes back to back then go away for a few weeks, then binge-watch the rest of the season and then need to get away from it. 🙈🤷
DotC sounds like much more my kind of thing. 😍
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wow literally everyone is reading descendant of the crane or just finished reading it. I have only heard good things about it so far! I have to read it asappppp
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IT IS AMAZING. if you have an ARC I would definitely get on that ASAP, but it comes out early next month so even if you don’t, you’ll be able to get it soon! (also also – the preorder goodies are so pretty!! not sure if you know about them, but it’s the pinned tweet on the author Joan He’s feed) 😉
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Anna Undreaming is on my asap tbr list. As you mentioned its dark but I hope not too dark where I won’t want to read it anymore.
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Love your currently reading choices! I so so so want to read The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King, I went to my local bookstore to get them but I did’t buy because they were from two different editions – weren’t matching!! I know, silly! But I’m happy because I got some other excellent books like Enchantee and On The Come Up. I hope you’re having a fabulous reading month 🙂
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thanks Ayushi! and no, I can totally relate – I want my series to match on the shelf, it’s Very Important. hope you’ve been having great reads this month too!
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Cranium screwy, lolol. You are definitely right about it being dark, it handles grief and essentially hitting rock bottom literally in the Sump in a way that could be triggering to some readers. But I am glad you enjoyed it and want to continue with the series!
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I’m so glad you recommended it! it was quite a time 👀
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