Books 13-19

I recently got a free 2 months of Kindle Unlimited to go with my free trial of Audible, so I've been reading a bit more to get as many books out of these trials as I can. Although, I find I'm not as much a fan of the audio books. I thought I would enjoy them more as I enjoy listening to podcast productions, but it's not really the same.

( Seductive Silence by Larissa Lyons )

I almost put this down after the first chapter. It stumbles around a bit and the main character isn't very like-able. I pushed through and ended up enjoying it by the end. I think it may just be the author's attempt at getting the reader to follow the MC on their journey to becoming a better person. It's done rather clumsily.

When I got the free trial, I immediately grabbed the rest of the God of Secrets series that I had just started.

( Empire of Secrets by LRW Lee )

( Empire of Glass by LRW Lee )

( Empire of Darkness by LRW Lee )

Overall, I enjoyed this series. The way the body image issues were handled felt a bit off, but that may just be me. The world building was well done and the character relationships felt true.

( The Bone Farm by Dean Koontz )

I did not like this much at all. I usually enjoy Dean Koontz, there's usually some weird sci-fi going on and a random golden retriever saves the day. But not this one. There were small bits of magic/voodoo, but nothing substantial. Also, the downside I've found to audio books is not being able to skim over parts. I can skip, but it isn't the same as skimming the page.

I also grabbed the rest of the Lost Clan series. I'm working my way through it, the series is 5 books and I just finished book 3.

( Rowan Wood Legends by Olivia Wildenstein )

( Rising Silver Mist by Olivia Wildenstein )

This series manages to keep the reader in the dark about who the "good guys" are. We don't learn anything more about any of the characters than what the MC knows and find out at the same time. Book 3 seems to be the climax, so we'll see what the next two books are about.

My new obsession

I recently discovered the band The Amazing Devil and have been listening to their albums for about a week straight now. Maybe more. I haven't been keeping track. I haven't been this consumed by a band since I discovered Tori Amos in HS.

I first tried to listen to their music when The Witcher premiered in 2019. I loved Jaskier's voice and was curious if the actor was actually singing or if it was someone else. A quick search pulled up Joey Batey's band, but for some reason I couldn't get anything to work properly. I could get 30 second samples of the first album to play, but not full songs. The second album would allow me to play the full song, but it sounded like everything was 10ft away from the microphone and it was really hard to hear. I enjoyed what I could hear of the first album, but not the second, as I couldn't really hear any of it. Unfortunately, at the time, the only place I could find their music was BandCamp and that was where I was having issues. So I gave up.

Then recently I decided to try again. I pulled up their BandCamp page and discovered they had a new album out. Not only that, but I could now play all the songs on all the albums! I don't know what the initial issue was, if it was my computer, my connection, or the website, but it's all sorted now. I now happily have all three of their albums!

The music is kind of like if a folk song and a sea shanty had a baby. There are a couple of songs on the first album where Madeleine's voice gets a bit grating to me, but it's nothing but lovely on the other two.

With lyrics like: "Gonna go home and show my cat some memes/Because he’s awesome" (Drinking song for the Socially Anxious), "Sing me awake with a song about pirates" (Not Yet/Love Run Reprise), and "Everyone knows sex is better when you're/Unemployed" (Not Yet/Love Run Reprise)in a way that just works.

Check them out on their BandCamp page! The Amazing Devil

ETA: I tried to embed some of their videos, but apparently the embed feature isn't working? Maybe it's just me. I tried twice, but it wouldn't go and I don't have the time to try a work around.