Goldilox and the Three Weres

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Review: How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper

How to Date Your Dragon
(Mystic Bayou #1)
Molly Harper
Release: July 28, 2018
Goodreads Amazon

Anthropologist Jillian Ramsay's career has taken a turn south.

Concerned that technology is about to chase mythological creatures out into the open (how long can Sasquatch stay hidden from Google maps?), the League for Interspecies Cooperation is sending Jillian to Louisiana on a fact-finding mission. While the League hopes to hold on to secrecy for a little bit longer, they're preparing for the worst in terms of human reactions. They need a plan, so they look to Mystic Bayou, a tiny town hidden in the swamp where humans and supernatural residents have been living in harmony for generations. Mermaids and gator shifters swim in the bayou. Spirit bottles light the front porches after twilight. Dragons light the fires under crayfish pots.

Jillian's first assignment for the League could be her last. Mystic Bayou is wary of outsiders, and she has difficulty getting locals to talk to her. And she can't get the gruff town sheriff, Bael Boone, off of her back or out of her mind. Bael is the finest male specimen she's seen in a long time, even though he might not be human. Soon their flirtation is hotter than a dragon's breath, which Bael just might turn out to be...

Review:

I just finished binging Molly Harper's Southern Eclectic series - highly recommend BTW - and decided I needed more small town shenanigans. Harper's Mystic Bayou series seemed like an obvious choice. It's been on my radar for a while since it was originally released as an Audible exclusive. The print version came out six months later and has consistently been checked out at my library. This is my first book of the year for both Beat the Backlist and the Library Love challenge.

I'm intrigued by the idea of The League, a secret society that studies supernaturals as well as tries to hide their existence from the public. They also seem to function as a governing body, but I'm not clear on all the details yet. I hope that as the series goes on, we learn more about them.

I loved Zed, Mystic Bayou's gregarious bear shifter mayor. He kind of steals the show from grumpy Sheriff Bael actually. And the town provides all the eccentric characters and Southern food that I was hoping for.

How to Date Your Dragon suffers from a couple typical problems though. The first book in a series tends to take a little longer to get going since it has to introduce the world and all of the characters. This is especially true of paranormal series. Jillian spends the first half of the book meeting people and conducting interviews. On one hand, I think this is brilliant. I often feel like an anthropologist trying to uncover all the details in a new paranormal world, which makes Jillian a perfect stand in for the reader. On the other hand, it leads to a lot of telling, rather than showing. The non-romance plot doesn't really get started until the second half. Since the book was originally written for audio, I wonder if the pace just feels different in the print version.

Also, novellas often seem to have an insta-love plot. At around 200 pages, HTDYD isn't technically a novella but it's short enough to suffer from the same problem. Jillian and Bael go directly from being adversaries to being naked. I would have liked to see them build a friendship or develop their feelings before they got to that point. But the dragon sex is certainly original. Then there's this thing that happens to Jillian at the end that while it's a PNR staple, I'm not a fan. I'll save my rant though, because spoilers.

Despite all that, I enjoyed the characters and I'd like to read more about Mystic Bayou. Book 2 is already out on audio, so there should only be a few months to wait.

Recommended for fans of: Harper's Naked Werewolf series

3 stars

Friday, January 4, 2019

Weres Wanna Know: Is the First Book You Read Each Year Important?

One of my favorite sayings is Begin As You Mean To Go On and I don't know about you but my January will set the mood for the whole rest of the year. This is especially true when it comes to my reading. If I read a ton of good books in January, I usually have a great reading year. See how I said usually there? 2018 is the exception because I started out last year great and then things went into a steep reading decline.

But 2018 is over! And I find myself with a dilemma. Coming out of the Year of the Great Reading Slump, I really, really want 2019 to be a better reading year so I know that the first book I read this year is going to be important. This book is going to set the tone of my whole reading year so I want it to be something I'm going to love.

Some friends and I have been discussing what books we're going to read first and I'm conflicted on what to pick. And of course, each of my friends has a different method they recommend. One of my friends is going to read a new book by one of their favorite authors and I have another one who is going to reread an old favorite. Then I have the Bestie who is going to binge read a bunch of manga to start off his reading year.

I don't know what to choose and it's a problem. Hopefully, the book I choose will be amazing and will set me up for a good reading year. I'm also open to recommendations if you want to suggest books for me to pick up. :)

Does the first book you read in January set the tone for the whole year?
How do you choose what you're going to read?

We’re participating in the 2019 Discussion Challenge hosted by It Starts at Midnight and Feed Your Fiction Addiction. Check out all the January discussions!

Thursday, January 3, 2019

More 2019 Challenges: Romanceopoly and Discussion Challenge

We've talked about lots of different ways to tackle your TBR pile here on the blog. Last year Rose Red tried TBR Bingo and in previous years she's done the TBR Jar. For 2019, we're both trying a new way to make a game out of it. And hopefully trying out some new sub-genres too.

Romanceoploy is hosted by Under the Covers and Peace Love Books. It uses a Monopoly-style board where each property is a different genre or trope. When we did UTC's Instagram challenge last month, we realized there are some categories we really haven't read much so we're looking forward to trying new things as well as getting rid of some of that TBR backlog.

The hosts have put a lot of thought into planning this challenge. There are a ton of printables including multiple sizes of the full color board and two different kinds of tracking boards. I'm using the planner-sized tracker (pictured below) and doing a digital version of the tracking board that I think will work better for Instagram. There are also quarterly social media challenges and multiple prizes at the end of the year.

One thing I love about this challenge is all the resources available. In addition to the game board and tracking sheets, there are idea cards so you can plan ahead for each space. And there so many book recs on the Romanceopoly website!

Watch for our updates on Instagram and Twitter throughout the year. And if you'd like to play along visit romanceopoly.com.

We're also doing the Discussion Challenge again this year. It's hosted by Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon at It Starts at Midnight. Last year we just made our goal of 12 discussion posts. We're going for Creative Conversationalist again this year and hoping to post on a more regular schedule.

Follow #LetsDiscuss2019 or watch for the link on our Weres Wanna Know discussion posts to join in the conversation. Or sign up to participate here.

We're also doing Beat the Backlist and the Library Love Reading Challenge. More about those here.

Are you doing a Reading or Blogging Challenge this year?

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

We Love Lists: Ten 2018 Releases We Meant to Read Last Year

I hope that some day soon we can stop talking about The Great Reading Slump of 2018. But today is not that day. Because of The Great Reading Slump, there are so many 2018 releases that we bought but didn't get to. And the FOMO is real, y'all.

Here are the 2018 releases that we didn't get to (but we'll read them this year, we swear!)

Shades of Wicked by Jeaniene Frost

Shades of Wicked made a lot of people's Best of 2018 list. But not mine because I didn't read it yet. But I love Ian so I will definitely do it soon.

Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa

We did a post once about the supernatural characters we want to see more of and Kitsune were right at the top of my list. I'm hoping to work this one in to a reading challenge this year.

Venom in the Veins by Jennifer Estep
I actually started reading Venom in the Veins at the beginning of The Great Reading Slump, but one of the problems I was having was a short attention span - if I put a book down I didn't pick it up again. So I'm going to start over this year because this is one of my favorite series and I know it deserves my full attention.

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Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller
Daughter of the Pirate King was my favorite book of 2016. I've taken lots of pretty bookstagram photos of it and this sequel so I should probably actually read it soon.

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The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
I've had an entire year to read this one. It came out January 2. And I loved the other one of Black's Fae books that I read. Maybe I can do a series binge when The Wicked King comes out?

Chainbreaker by Tara Sim

The third and final book in this series comes out next week and I still haven't picked up Chainbreaker. I'll admit that I'm kind of scared of this book because of things I've heard. I just need to suck it up and actually pick it up so I can read Firestarter this month.

A Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

I got caught up on this series in 2018 specifically so I could read the ARC I got of this book and I still haven't read yet. I blame that dratted reading slump. I know I'll love this book, I just need to pick it up.

Balefire by Jordan L. Hawk

How have I not read this book yet? Reading slumps aside, I need to read this book but I'm also not ready for it to be over because this is the second to last Whyborne & Griffin book we're getting. But that's no excuse. I need to read this book soon because I need more of Whyborne's and Griffin's shenanigans in my life

Competence by Gail Carriger

I caught up on a lot of Gail Carriger books at the end of last year but somehow I didn't get Competence read. Again, how did I not get this book read? I blame The Great Reading Slump of 2018. That applies to this whole list but this book especially.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

I actually started this book and was loving it but I put it down and forgot about it thanks to my reading slump. I've heard nothing but great things about this one so I really need to pick it up again so I can find out what happens.

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

2018 Challenge Wrap Up

We've talked a lot about our epic reading slumps in the second half of 2018. Boy are we glad the year is over and we can put that behind us! But when we look at the year as a whole, maybe it's not as bad as it felt during those slumps? Here's how we did on our 2018 challenges.

See which challenges we're doing in 2019 here.

Gretl

Goodreads
I lowered my goal more than once over the course of the year. 2018 will be the first year since I joined Goodreads that I didn’t read 100 books. I ended up with 75 on a goal of 72. I really didn't think I was going to make it, so I'm happy to have some good momentum going in to 2019.

Beat the Backlist
Beat the Backlist is hosted by Austine at Novel Knight and focused on reading books released in 2017 or prior.

My goal was to read 2 Backlist books a month or 24 total. I was off to a great start the first half of the year but ended with just 21. (See more about them on my Goodreads shelf.)

But I'm optimistic about next year. I feel like the other challenges I'm doing in 2019 will help me make my Beat the Backlist goal too.

Rose Red

Goodreads
I made my Goodreads Challenge goal of reading 52 books this year by reading 80 books. Unfortunately, I did not make my unofficial goal of reading 100 books this year. I haven't read this few books in a long, long time. I'm so glad that the year of the reading slump is almost over. 2019 already looks like it will be better in all ways bookish.

Beat the Backlist
My goal was to read three backlist books a month for a total of 36. Thanks to the great 2018 reading slump, I didn't make it. Like Gretl, I started off the year great and was on track to make my goal until I got derailed. I am going to count myself lucky that I did get 18 backlist books read though! (See more about them on my Goodreads shelf.) I'll take it even though I didn't hit my goal

I think that I'll do better this next year. For one, I've finally broken out of the reading slump and, like Gretl, I think that the reading challenges I'm doing in 2019 will help keep me on track to make my 2019 Beat the Backlist goal.