Reading Wednesday

[starspray]

Dead Water, by Ann Cleeves - The next Shetland mystery. It was very good; Jimmy's struggles with depression and grief aren't glossed over, which was nice, though she did the thing again where it was pretty much impossible for the reader to figure out whodunit before the detectives do, which is half the fun of reading murder mysteries in the first place.

Min Zemerin's Plan, by Katherine Addison - A short story set in the Cemeteries of Amalo series. Thara plays only a very small part, but it was nice to see an outsider POV of him, and to get a glimpse of another part of life in Amalo. It's free online but I can't find the link anymore, since Goodreads revamped their book pages.

Beach Read, by Emily Henry - This was really good! It was fun and snarky and though it is a romance it's equally about complicated family dynamics and grief and trauma and also about writing, since the two leads are both authors struggling to finish writing books over the course of a summer. Involves researching a backwoods death cult and also line dancing and matchmaking aunts.

The Realms of the Gods, by Tamora Pierce - And with this I have finished the Immortals quartet! I also had a newer edition from the library with an author's note by Tammy at the back, and apparently the dream god Gainel (who is very cool, actually, I like him a lot) is inspired by Dream from Sandman and also by Neil Gaiman himself, and knowing this now his name is absolutely hilarious. Also always deeply appreciate a Faithful cameo.

Comments

[independence1776]

A backwoods death cult?!

apparently the dream god Gainel (who is very cool, actually, I like him a lot) is inspired by Dream from Sandman and also by Neil Gaiman himself

Oh, neat.

[starspray]

That was my reaction to reading the blurb on the back of the book--and probably why they included it, lol. It's not quite as weird as it sounds. Part of the plot is that the two main leads switch genres for the books they're trying to write--he tries to write something with romance and a happy ending, she tries to write something without a happy ending--and part of the deal is that they do field trips to try to help each other figure out what it is they do. And the main dude's current manuscript involves a cult, so he's doing research into a local one that's no longer active (since nearly everyone involved is dead). It involves a couple of interviews and a trek out to the burned-out compound.

[hhimring]

This seems to be the text of the Addison story:
https://www.sundaymorningtransport.com/p/min-zemerins-plan
I liked it quite a lot, so thank you!
ETA: this may be the kind of link that you cannot click twice, perhaps, though, like a free sample? It just came up when I googled the title.

[starspray]

That's it, thanks! I've clicked it more than twice, though, and it still works--it just disappeared from the Goodreads page for some reason when they redesigned the site.