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o comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest june 20 2026 recent books that were surprisingly good or not so good as someone who reads about 100 books on average in a year it s natural that i ll come across ones that were better than i thought they would be and ones that were worse here are three books i recently read that i enjoyed more than i expected to jade city by fonda lee the green bone sage has been on my tbr for years but i ve avoided reading it because i m not a fan of stories about mob families in the case of jade city i was wrong although there are violent elements in the book it was much more engaging than i expected it s one of the best books if not the best one that i ve read this year play nice by rachel harrison i read the occasional horror story and they are hit or miss i didn t expect much going into play nice but it ended up being one of my favorite haunted house books camino island by john grisham i m a fan of john grisham s legal thrillers but not so much his books in other genres so i didn t have high expectations for camino island this book turned out to be more interesting than i thought it would be and it helped that the plot involved a book on the other hand these books didn t live up to my expectations onyx storm by rebecca yarros i bought into the hype when fourth wing came out and i liked the first book in the empyrean series however my opinion of each successive book has declined and i m not sure if i will continue with this series ship of magic by robin hobb the fact that i didn t like ship of magic was a big surprise i liked the farseer trilogy well enough and fans of robin hobb have mentioned that the liveship traders series is her best i just couldn t get into the story and didn t feel invested in the characters i will likely read the second book to see if the series improves though finding a book that is surprisingly good makes me happy and it happens more often than reading a book that is not as good as i expected or maybe i remember the good ones more than the not so good have you read any books lately that are better or worse than you expected posted by h s at 6 12 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest may 2 2026 where to start with my books when i discover an author who already has an extensive bibliography i often search for suggestions about which of their books to start with with that in mind i thought it d be fun to share where i think a new reader should start with my books the good news is that most of my books are standalone so you can pick them up without having read my other books however there are four books i normally recommend to my first time readers depending on what you re looking for if you want something short in order to sample my writing style drive drive is a short story set in a post apocalyptic world a theme that runs through several of my books although it s the first book in a series of short stories drive can be read on its own if you want a longer story that s representative of the ya books i ve written transmissions i recommend this book especially if you aren t in the mood for a dystopian post apocalyptic story it s ya it s a novella and it s a great story imho if you like reading a series hopeless the only adult novel series i ve written is the after z day series and hopeless is the first book read it to find out my take on the zombie apocalypse if you re looking for a book for a younger audience george and the galactic games this is the first book i published so it holds a special place in my heart although it s targeted to a pre teen audience readers of all ages can enjoy this book i hope this helps if you ve been considering which of my books to start with posted by h s at 5 53 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest april 11 2026 ai generated books in my last post i mentioned ai generated books as a trend i don t support then came the controversy surrounding shy girl a novel that hachette pulled due to allegations that the author used ai when writing the book there s no doubt that ai is creating more of the content that we consume whether they are books images or videos i heard stories of self published ai written books entering the market two years ago it s also getting harder to distinguish what was created by a machine rather than a person what s troubling to me isn t just that ai is taking over our lives and in case they re monitoring me i for one welcome our ai overlords it s the deception on the part of authors who use ai to me stories reflect the way a writer views the world and how they have experienced it like art books are an expression of us as human beings people read books not just to ingest facts or prose but to feel a connection to the story and characters on the page learning that a story i read was written by ai would feel like finding out that a person i ve met recently and have been connecting with is actually a machine i would be devastated if one of my favorite authors ever used ai to write their books even if ai could imitate their writing style perfectly i m afraid that we ll see more controversies like shy girl especially as ai improves on a seemingly daily basis i can only hope that authors choose not to use it to write their stories or if they do they disclose the role that machines have in their works so that readers aren t misled posted by h s at 6 06 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest march 14 2026 book trends i ve embraced and ones i haven t the types of books we read and the way we learn about books and consume them have changed in the past decade i ve jumped on board some book trends while others haven t been for me here is how i ve responded to various recent book trends deluxe collector editions i ve fully embraced deluxe and collector s editions most physical books that i buy nowadays are deluxe editions with sprayed stenciled edges or collector editions that feature special features such as author signatures or leather binding the only regular editions i buy now are used books or surplus wholesale books that are discounted audiobooks sadly i haven t been able to get into audiobooks listening to someone read a book just feels different to me than reading it myself the narrator makes a difference but even the best narrators i ve listened to don t provide the same feeling as when i read the book on my own booktok bookstagram i love the rise in bookish social media this has become my predominant method of discovering books i also find it soothing to scroll through pictures of books and bookshelves some people can stare at art for hours i can stare at books romantasy i ve discovered that romantasy isn t for me even the most praised romantasy books haven t made much of an impression on me i haven t quite figured out yet if it s the predictable romantasy tropes and plots or something else cozy fantasy on the other hand cozy fantasy has worked for me i m a fan of fantasy already and cozy fantasy is like the comfort food subset of fantasy i haven t read as much cozy fantasy as i d like but i m open to trying more ai generated content it s scary how well ai can write and i ve probably read ai generated content without knowing it however as a general principle i m against books written by ai books are like art imho and i feel that both art and stories should be created by humans as they are an expression of us not just products to be churned out by a machine i ll get off my soapbox now book bans a hard no on book bans no one should control what someone else is able to read i ll get off my soapbox for the second time what are some recent book trends that you ve embraced or not embraced posted by h s at 7 39 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest february 7 2026 2026 reading goal last year i made it a point to do better in finishing or making progress on reading a series as my end of year post showed my average rating for the series books that i read in 2025 was 4 125 higher than the 4 05 average for all books i read last year due to the success of last year s goal i m going to continue following up on various series on my tbr so far the series i ve identified for 2026 are the broken blades by mai corland i read the first two books in this series last year and gave them both 5 stars i look forward to wrapping up the series this year all souls by deborah harkness i watched the discovery of witches tv series last year and liked it a lot my goal is to read the first 3 books in this series which covers the scope of the tv show outlander by diana gabaldon i started watching the tv series in late 2025 i m still on season 1 and now i want to read the books it s based on given the number of books i won t be finishing the series this year reading at least the first 2 in 2026 is my goal the green bone saga by fonda lee the green bone saga has been on my tbr list for ages i considered adding it to my series reading goal last year but ran out of time this will be the year i finally read this series dungeon crawler carl by matt dinnaman the first book in this series was a lot of fun this is also a long series with new books still coming out my plan is to read at least 2 more books this year the wheel of time by robert jordan i will continue to make progress in this 14 book series reading 2 more this year is my goal i may add more series books to my 2026 goal as the year progresses but the above list is a good start that will keep me occupied for a few months i m curious if i will enjoy this year s series as much as i enjoyed the ones i read last year stay tuned posted by h s at 6 34 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest january 1 2026 favorite reads of 2025 when it comes to ranking my favorite reads 2025 was the year of asian authors for me five books by three asian authors made my top ten list cixin liu and r f kuang each had two books on the list another book by an asian author five broken blades by mai corland barely missed the cut and this doesn t include r f kuang s katabasis and senlinyu s alchemised both of which i plan to read in 2026 don t be surprised to see more books by asian authors on my list of favorite 2026 reads here are my top 10 favorite books read in 2025 1 sunrise on the reaping suzanne collins the hunger games series is my favorite ya series of all time and the first book in the series is one of my all time favorite books regardless of genre sunrise on the reaping comes close to recapturing the magic of that first book what i felt from reading the latest installment in the series took me back to how i felt when i read the first hunger games book i didn t want the book to end and i yearned for more when i finished reading it all of the accolades heaped upon this book are well deserved and i recommend it to everyone even if you haven t read the other books in the hunger games series 2 atmosphere taylor jenkins reid taylor jenkins reid does it again atmosphere is exactly what i expected and worthy of all the hype it received this book gets bonus points for taking us inside the life of astronauts in training and joan s explanation of the stars since i was once obsessed with astronomy and the space program too once i started reading this book i didn t want to put it down and the ending was the most emotionally intense last pages of any book i ve read in recent memory i don t want to give away anything though you have to read it for yourself and you definitely should 3 the poppy war r f kuang the poppy war has been on my tbr list for ages and i m so glad i finally read it based on chinese history in particular the sino japanese war the novel wrapped me up in its world and characters it started as an outcast at school type of story which i generally like e g harry potter but the second half quickly moved to a different phase of the protagonist s life the action never slowed it only gained momentum until the end i appreciated the way the characters grew for example rin reached a truce with her greatest rival at school which is not something i ve seen in other stories i may not have agreed with all of rin s actions but she was portrayed realistically as a complex and human protagonist this book gave me grace of kings vibes possibly because both books were written by chinese authors and based on chinese history which is a high compliment given how much i love the dandelion dynasty series 4 wind and truth brandon sanderson what a satisfying conclusion to the first arc of the stormlight archive before reading wind and truth i wondered how brandon sanderson would balance resolving major plot lines from the first four books while leaving enough open for the second arc i needn t have worried sanderson is a genius and he wrote a 1 300 page book that didn t bore me at all in fact i found myself more excited and engaged as the story went on the only downside to finishing wind and truth is that i will need to wait years for book 6 5 the dark forest cixin liu i read the remembrance of earth s past series this year a k a the three body problem series even if it wasn t my goal in 2025 to finish more series books i d probably have read all of the books anyway because the dark forest and death s end were so good this series has some of the most imaginative science fiction concepts i ve ever read cixin liu makes bold predictions about the future that are both plausible yet fantastic in addition the story spanning centuries chugs along at a good pace that kept me interested throughout 6 death s end cixin liu i found the second and third books in the remembrance of earth s past series to be equally good so their places in this ranking can easily be reversed like the dark forest the gripping story in death s end spans centuries and the science fiction was imaginative looking back on the series as impressed as i am with the creative science i m also impressed with cixin liu s understanding of human behavior and how we are likely to act in times of crisis i recommend this series to all science fiction fans 7 my salty mary brodi ashton cynthia hand jodi meadows every book by the lady janies lady marys has been great and my salty mary was no exception i love the brand of humor that is a hallmark of the lady janies books and this one had me laughing out loud while i was reading it i breezed through this book quickly and when it ended i wished that it hadn t if you haven t read any of the jane and or mary books i highly recommend them i can t wait until the next one 8 when the moon hits your eye john scalzi the moon has turned into cheese once i got past the absurd premise i was hooked by this book i thoroughly enjoyed reading about the ways that such a phenomenon could affect different people some of the stories were funny some were touching and some made me contemplate 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