August 2023 TBR

For the non-readers or mood readers in the crowd, a TBR is a To Be Read list. I tend to use mine as a general “it would be nice if I got through these” list. I always have lofty ambitions of reading dozens of books in a month, when realistically I’m good for about 7 books, max. The perk of a very loose list is helping alleviate the stress of what to read next, especially when my unread book pile is more like an unread bookcase.

Carryover Books

Kushiel’s Dart – Jacqueline Carey – This is a re-read for me and I’m currently a little over halfway. While I love the series enough that I have a tattoo inspired by them, it’s been quite some time since I’ve read them. But, as you’ll see later in the TBR, there’s a new book in the series coming out that is told from a different character’s point of view, so I wanted to read them again to familiarize myself with what happened. I definitely suggest taking a look at the trigger warnings though, because there are a number of them.

Hunt the Stars – Jessie Mihalik – This is a fun little Sci-Fi Romance (or at least I’m assuming romance. Currently it’s in the beginning stages of an enemies to lovers) that I picked up to fuel my need for fluff on hard days or when I’m not up for the heavier content in Kushiel’s Dart. I am also a sucker for a good old fashioned Sci Fi found family story. The romance bit would be a nice perk though.

Storm Front – Jim Butcher – Another re-read! I started reading the series over again last year when the most recent books came out, but I stalled out on book 8. Now I’ve read so many books in between that I don’t remember what was happening. Since I know the plot of the first few books fairly well, they are also something I read when I’m trying to fall asleep since they won’t keep me awake. Dresden is always a good time even if he’s the most Horny on Main character I’ve read in a long time.

Ninth House – Leigh Bardugo – Can you guess the trend here? Another re-read. Hell Bent came out earlier in the year and since Ninth House had been out a couple years, I wanted to give it another listen to get back up to speed on what was going on since it’s kind of an involved plot. It’s another that I would suggest looking up triggers for, because there’s at least one particularly brutal SA scene that has stuck with me as being pretty graphic.

Dope Therapy – Shani Tran – Finally a new to me book! I picked up this as my non fiction read a few months ago and just haven’t made myself finish it, despite it being a topic I’m interested in. I’ve been in therapy off and on for a few years, but I feel like short of being a therapist, it’s always handy to know how to get the most out of your sessions. There’s also bonus points here for it focusing on therapy when you’re a member of a marginalized group.

The Twisted Ones – T. Kingfisher – My current horror read. I had made the critical error that since most horror doesn’t really scare me, that this would be safe to read at night before bed. But Appalachian horror is a whole other beast. Especially given that one of my grandpa’s was from backwoods West Virginia (seriously his graduating class in high school was 4 kids) and I grew up with him telling me stories and what to watch out for on visits. If work is slow enough, I should be able to knock the rest of it out in a day or two, since I’m about halfway through.

New Reads

Kushiel’s Chosen, Kushiel’s Avatar, and Cassiel’s Servant – I’m hoping to get to these because I’m not sure how much of the original trilogy the new book covers and I definitely have no idea what happens in what book at this point. It’s been at least a decade since there’s been a new book in this world and when I tell you that I preordered Cassiel’s Servant as soon as it was announced last year, I am not joking. I checked and it’s been on preorder since November of last year.

Camp Damascus – Chuck Tingle – My first Tingler! Even if this isn’t technically like most Tinglers. Chuck is an absolute DELIGHT of a human on social media, so I had to pick up his first foray into horror. Queer, neurodivergent summer camp horror? Sign me the fuck up. It was another preorder for me and is this month’s pick for the book club on a booktube channel I adore. If you are into booktube at all and don’t watch The Naughy Librarian’s videos, you should, they are so funny and I can’t wait to see how she feels about this one.

The Sun & The Void – Gabriela Romero La Cruz – This one is both another preordered book and yet another absolute unit of a novel. If my plans on getting through four 1000+ pages novels wasn’t enough, I added a 700 page beast into the mix as well. I don’t know a ton about the plot of this one other than it’s indigenous fantasy set in South America, but I tend to enjoy going into books with as little info as possible most of the time.

Cruel Seduction – Katee Robert – After what is surely an angst filled TBR, this will be a welcome smutty delight. Okay it will DEFINITELY still be angst filled, but the Dark Olympus series has been so good and Katee is one of my auto buy authors. This one isn’t due to be released until the 15th, so I’m hoping to knock out a few books earlier in the month to get to it as soon as it arrives.

Well there’s my list for the month. Tell me what you’re reading or hope to be reading this month! I’m always looking for things to add to my pile. If you use The StoryGraph, feel free to add me. I still use Goodreads as well but I’m trying to move my stuff away from there.