Update #1 (June 25, 2020)

9 novellas read (about 25% of total novellas)

1 anthology finished

1 anthology DNF; read 2 out of 11 stories (18%)

I feel like I should be further ahead than I am. I am going to read more from my NOOK. No need for random number generator since the BL-opoly game is doing the job. 

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Original Post

I decided that my summer reading project was to read anthologies and novellas/shorter works (150 pages or less) off my NOOK and Kindle. Short and sweet is the theme for this year, as I wanted space to read longer works at my leisure without feeling unproductive. Also, I want to have short works ready to read so I can structure my days around reading and other hobbies, errands, and such and not the news or social media (BL exception, of course) - I really need to get off my phone more, that screen time tracker is not good for my health.

Dates for this reading project: May 25th (Memorial Day) to Labor Day (Sep 7th) - 106 days. I am aiming for one story from an anthology or novella per day, with the goal of averaging about 100 pages per day. I put a few winter holiday ones on the list for a Christmas-in-July reading week. To kick off the project, I will be starting the longest anthology and use Random Number Generator to pick a novella. After that I will use RNG or go by mood - probably the second method most of the time.

Anthologies

1. No Dukes Allowed by Various Authors 0/3 stories read

2. This Wedding is Doomed! by Various Authors 0/4 stories read

3. Hearts Entwined by Various Authors 0/4 stories read

4. Once Upon a Wedding by Various Authors 2/11 stories read; DNF the rest.

5. Because He's Perfect by Various Authors 20/20 stories read - FINISHED!

6. Love by the Letters by Various Authors 0/3 stories read - Currently reading

7. The Christmas Heirlooms by Various Authors 0/4 stories read

8. Serving Up Love by Various Authors 0/4 stories read

Novellas

Nook:

1. Changing Leaves by Edie Bryant

2. The Cost of Hope (The Cost of Love #1) by G.S. Carr

3. Once Upon a Winter's Eve (Spindle Cove #1.5) by Tessa Dare

4. A New Life (West Meets East #1) by Merry Farmer Done!

5. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

6. Hollywood Holiday (Hollywood Headlines #2.5) by Gemma Halliday Done!

7. Out of the Storm (Beacon of Hope #0.5) by Jody Hedlund

8. A Lady of Esteem (Hawthorne House #0.5) by Kristi Ann Hunter

9. A Search for Refuge (Haven Manor #0.5) by Kristi Ann Hunter Done!

10. Love by the Letter (Unexpected Brides #0.5) by Melissa Jagears

11. Love on the Prairie (McKinnie Mail Order Brides #1) by Ciara Knight

12. Love in the Rockies (McKinnie Mail Order Brides #2) by Ciara Knight

13. Mrs. Sartin's Secretary (Lords of Chance #2.5) by Wendy LaCapra

14. That Healing Touch (Cutter's Creek #1) by Kit Morgan

15. The Christmas Mail Order Bride by Kit Morgan

16. What Lies Behind Us (World War II Sisters) by Sierra Rose

17. A Little Light Mischief (The Turner Series #3.5) by Cat Sebastian

18. Tycoon (The Knickerbocker Club #0.5) by Joanna Shupe

19. A Hero's Promise (Culpepper's Ring Novella) by Roseanna M. White

20. Fairchild's Lady (Culpepper's Ring Novella) by Roseanna M. White

21. Mail Order Cowboy (Gold Valley #1.5) by Maisey Yates

22. Hometown Heartbreaker (Copper Ridge #3.5) by Maisey Yates

23. Claim Me, Cowboy (Copper Ridge #4) by Maisey Yates

Kindle:

24. Proper English (England #0) by KJ Charles Done!

25. Dance All Night (Dance Off #2.5) by Alexa Daria Done!

26. Willow: Bride of Pennsylvania by Merry Farmer

27. Engaging the Competition (With This Ring? Novella) by Melissa Jagears

28. Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure (Worth Saga #2.75) by Courtney Milan Done!

29. Dueling the Desperado (Brides of Blessings #4) by Mimi Milan Done!

30. Where Snowy Owl Sleeps (Brides of Blessings #9) by Mimi Milan Done!

31. Birth of the Butterfly (Brides of Blessings #11) by Mimi Milan Done!

32. Miracle on Ladies' Mile by Joanna Shupe

33. After a Fashion (A Class of Their Own #0.5) by Jen Turano

34. The Husband Maneuver (A Worthy Pursuit #0.5) by Karen Witemeyer

35. Worth the Wait (Ladies of Harper's Station Novella) by Karen Witemeyer

In my thirteen Oakham winters I'd never known such rain, nor seen this place so churned and soaked and listless in its mood and colour. I put my hand out and a dewy vapour settled on the back of it. My own chest and lungs had begun to labour from taking in too much damp and windless fug. For years on end nothing happened in Oakham out of the ordinary cycle of birth, strength, illness, death - there were no particular comings or goings, not things to surprise us. Then in September, Newman went on a pilgrimage to Rome. In November, we finished the bridge. In December, Newman came back from Rome. In January, Sarah Spenser went on a pilgrimage to see a rotten tooth. At the end of January she came back, feverish, and while away I'd been feverish, too. In early February, the bridge fell down. A week later Newman drowned. What curse was this?

Now here we were, besieged by a rural dean who, I'd come slowly to realise, was too intent on saving us wholly to care for the fate of any of us singly.

As much as I have issues with the book, there are some fine passages in this. It's just that this is not historical fiction. I've come to the conclusion that this seems to be contemporary fiction dressed up as a historical mystery (there's even a weird and completely anachronistic reference to Brexit in this). I'm strangely ok with that.

It's still no excuse for all the purple prose, tho.

"I was famished, the brief famishment I always had when I woke up. As if, each dawn, my body was petulant about rising again and threw a newborn's rage - feed me! It was a feeling that was always eased quickly with a mouthful or two of bread."

He's hungry for some breakfast. I get it. 

As mentioned earlier, the prose in this is of the purple persuasion. It's testing my patience, even tho it is quite successful in creating a gloomy atmosphere of a plague-ridded village that seems to be obsessed with cheese-making, candle-hoarding, and confessing to crimes they haven't committed.

We still have a character that wants someone to blame for the alleged death of the alleged victim - unless I have missed it, we still have no body, and the only time we "saw" the body was in the middle of a dark and wet night, and even then the person who saw it isn't sure. 

No, all we have still, is a missing man and a green shirt.

This is not going to be a favourite book. At this point, I am mostly interested in seeing what the author is trying to achieve with the symmetric chapters and the inversed timeline.

Oh, have I mentioned, yet, that this story is told backwards? 

We start on Day 4 after, I presume, the main event, and then get to visit the days that preceded Day 4. It's all very experimental.

And to be fair, that part is keeping me reading. I only wish it were executed by an author who is less prone to wordy celebrations of the inane, and who paid more attention to detail when it comes to historical facts and settings. 

Hm.

I'm just over 10% into the book and I have a lot of questions. 

It's not clear yet what the story will be but we are somewhere in England in the year 1491, and we are following a village priest, Father John  Reve, whose young assistant seems to have found a body in the river. 

So, there is a whole lot of Cadfael feel to this (I'm referring to the series, I've not yet read the books. I really should, tho.)

Apart from the very purply prose, there have been a number of things that have struck me as odd so far, but since I am really, really not at home in neither the time period not the religious life at the time (1491), I am not entirely sure what to make of the book so far. 

Things that made me go "eh?":

- The priest referring to parts of his dress as "skirts that flowed behind me like a bridal gown". (First person narrator...)

- There is woman churchwarden (Janet). Were women churchwardens in 1491?

- A dean, who seems hell-bent on finding a murderer, even tho there is no body, no suspicion of any wrong-doing, and so far no mention of any suspicious circumstances.

- A young wife comes to confession and the priest advises her that "It's mere superstition to think that God is punishing us." Erm, ... I thought original sin was one of the pillars of medieval teachings.

I have a strong feeling that this might be style over substance kind of book. I really hope it isn't.

Sometimes, I try something new. I’ll pick up an author I haven’t read before, without recommendations from trusted friends, on the strength of the synopsis and a scan of reviews from total strangers. It’s worth the gamble of my precious reading time, because I’ve occasionally found new authors and their whole back catalogs and future work to enjoy. This time, the gamble did not pay off. The characters were all too annoying, the suspension of disbelief required to accept some of these characters and events too great, and the mystery not compelling enough to keep me reading. DNF at 36%.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library via Overdrive.

I attempted to read this book for the Booklikes Halloween Bingo 2019, for the square Amateur Sleuth: This mystery will have a main character who is not a member of law enforcement. I have another audiobook in mind as a substitute for this square.

Prior Updates:

Sep11 17%