Playing with words

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I loved every book I finished in the last three weeks! (Been having troubles focusing my attention, so some books have been going back to the library only partly read.) Also back to reading fic too- this Gendrya Modern AU WIP is a fun, funny (and sexy) read! 

Let's Fall in Love for the Night (16364 words) by Kelleesi
Chapters: 4/10
Fandom: Game of Thrones (TV), A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Characters: Arya Stark, Gendry Waters, Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, Theon Greyjoy, Meera Reed
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - College/University, FWB, Friends With Benefits, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Explicit Sexual Content, Explicit Language, Smut & Humour & Idiocy, Multi-POV, Slow Burn Feelings-Wise, Angsty in the sense that they are both insecure idiots, not in the sense that anything actually happens lol, Lovers falling in love, Drinking
Summary:

She awoke to birds chirping in an infuriatingly cheerful fashion, a splitting headache, and a growing sense of impending doom. The more she took stock of her surroundings and the clearer her hazy memories from the night before became, the more sure she was that she was completely fucked.
Literally.
And also, you know, in a more general sense.

OR

Arya & Gendry accidentally spend the night together. Once. But it won't happen again. Obviously.

Book reviews:

Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews
Kate has to race to avert a prophecy where she either loses her unborn child or Curran. This was an awesome setup to the finale and as always, filled with top notch action, drama and humor.

Educated by Tara Westover
One of those memoirs that will just blow you away. The abuse she suffered and her frantic reactions of denial are so heartbreaking. Plus of course, her realization of how narrow her world has been, her whole perspective dictated by both poverty and her fanatically religious family is truly humbling. You can practically feel her taking the wheel at last as she gives her narrative from her perspective, despite the persistent gaslighting and ultimatums from her family.

The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan
I really love her writing style and her atypical heroines! June goes out of her way to make herself as unappealing a marriage prospect as possible by doing things like pretending she has horrific taste in fashion and being utterly socially inept so men desperate for her fortune are properly put off. Engaging story with great, clever banter. I'm currently reading the next book in this series.

Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews
I can't believe I'm done this series now! (Well, sort of- they've been publishing little Ryder snippets online, centered on Julie some years after the ending.) Great finale- Roland's fate was really well thought out, and how Kate led him to it makes lots of sense. Also Curran majorly redeemed himself in his final arc. Loved it. I definitely think the best book in the earlier part of the series was the Magic Burns, where Atlanta went to War during the Flare, and this echoed that brilliantly. Going to buy the last three books and Magic Burns for the shelf!

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Gripping. I remember High School being markedly less awful than this- teenagers can be petty and selfish, but the ones in this novel are especially cruel, and I'm not even talking about the perpetrator of the crime towards Melinda. That binds her silent, cripples her in every aspect of her life for the school year, but isn't actually revealed until almost the end. Powerful and haunting- this book is going to stick with me for awhile.


The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
The POV in this is really different- it's a whole bunch of women speaking from first person perspective. At first it was confusing- like an odd sort of Greek chorus. But it's an effective way to vividly depict the varying experiences Japanese Picture Brides had once they stepped on that boat to America. The thing that bothered me was the ending- we no longer get the chorus POV of the Japanese women, but that of the whites that stole their farms, shops and houses once the Japanese were shipped off to internment camps, silencing them in their own book.

Next up: The Countess Conspiracy, The House on Mango Street, The Time of Contempt

Hope all of you are healthy and safe out there, especially you Americans on the f-list. We are getting good supplies of surgical masks back in stores, so if anybody would like me to send you some, please PM me.