March Reviews, Part 2

Another round of book reviews went up today. Here’s a fun insider fact for you… I’ve reached the part of the month where I’m semi-freaking out about my reading progress. Mostly this is due to the fact that it’s the 22nd (past the 20th means the month is closing) and I still have 2 more shield challenges to get to. I blame the quarantine. I’m not getting nearly as many pages read per day as I would (should) if my kids weren’t home all day. Anyway… here’s 5 more review insider peeks for you. ENJOY and thanks for being here.

STATISTICS

Age Category: 2 YA, 3 A

That’s right, I’m right back to my default settings. No children’s, no middle grades. Just back to my default ratio of 2:3. 

Author’s Gender: 4 F, 1 M

Not even close (again). None of you have weighed in yet on the pros and cons to continuing to track this. Anyone? 

Genres: 2 Fantasy and 1 each of Mystery/Thriller, Historical Fiction, and Science Fiction

At least I had variety here, right? Actually these are probably my top 4 favorite genres (if I had favorite genres) so that’s something. 

Indie Authors: 2 Yes, 3 No

Total Pages Read: 1,710

Average Pages per Book: 342 (I think this is the first time in 2020 I’ve been near that average I consider normal, actually. Thanks, Leigh Bardugo!)

Ratings: 2, 3, 3, 4, 5

Not a bad crop of books. 

Publication Dates: 1986, 2006, 2016, 2016, 2017

I guess I dropped into my backlist for these five. It’s always strange to me how I don’t really notice that until I go to compile the statistics for this blog post. 

BOOK NOTES THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE VIDEO

Murder on Tyneside

• I’m part of a Facebook group that shares Audiobook codes between authors, narrators, and reviewers. Full disclosure: I joined that group to share the codes for my books. I’ve done that maybe 3 times. But I’ve received more than 5 (I think) from that same group. Oops? Anyway, this one came from there. 
• I actually really liked the narrator for this one. The voice matches the story really well. I’d recommend this one as an audiobook. 
• Grab yourself a copy here.

Crooked Kingdom

• I borrowed this hardcopy from my library, just like I did with Six of Crows. I really like the look of these hardcovers. They’re dark and mysterious and those red edged pages just POP. 
• Yes this book is long. Yes it took me a while to read it. But it was easy to focus on, moved at a good pace, and kept my interest. Don’t let the length distract you from this story if you think you’re the kind of reader who would enjoy it.
• Grab yourself a copy here.

Moon Girl

• The author for this one sent me a request to review this title through my webpage. I had the electronic copy. 
• Someone in another review mentioned this would make a great comic book. Honestly, they’re not wrong. This is an origin story that is different than a lot of the ones I’ve heard before I like that originality. 
• Grab yourself a copy here. 

Water for Elephants

• I borrowed this audiobook from my library because everyone raves about this book. Actually, I’ve also noticed my used bookstore had about 10 copies on hand, so I really could have bought it. 
• While reading this I posted about it a few times online. Including for the Maby’s Book Club over on Twitter, where it was my current read at the time. Really, if you like insider peeks to what I’m reading you should really follow me on Twitter (@ShipleyTabatha) or Instagram (@authortabathashipley).
• Grab yourself a copy here.

Speaker for the Dead

• I won this paperback from the library. Every summer my family and I participate in the summer reading challenge. Basically if you read (and log) 1,000 minutes during the summer you earn yourself a free book. My family and I are big sticklers for the rules. We only post minutes we actually read. Still, I tend to earn that book every single summer. I had recently finished Ender’s Game before completing the summer challenge 2 years ago so it made complete sense to request Speaker for the Dead.
• Here’s something I didn’t come right out and say in the video… this book was better than the first one. That’s right, I read a series where I think the sequel was better.
• Grab yourself a copy here.

THE VIDEO

Check out the video to find out what I rated the books and who I recommend them for.