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Currently reading:
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
Tiny Nightmares: Very Short Stories of Horror, edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto
The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
Books finished this week: 1
★★☆☆☆
Where this book came from: One copy from ThriftBooks, one from Bookshop.org (lol whoops).
Why this book: I’m fast-tracking my romantasy education. (For WORK.)
Thoughts: I’d say 5 stars out of five for premise and something like a 1.5 out of 5 for execution (sorry). Spooky haunted mansion competition set in old-timey New Orleans? Perfection! But that’s kind of where my praise, um . . . ends. It felt like the author wanted the historical trappings——big, pretty dresses, strict social mores, etc.——without having to do any research to make the world come alive. And yes, I realize this is a romance and the historical backdrop will not matter to 99 percent of readers, but I CARE, OKAY. The dialogue was far too modern for the setting (and often cringey, if I’m being totally honest), the romance felt too insta-love for my liking, the sex scenes were lackluster, and the resolution was fairly obvious from the start. I would’ve had more fun if this book also wasn’t nearly 500 pages long. I’m really trying here, but I don’t think I’ve yet found my romance/romantasy niche.
Library updates:
I’ve finished reading so many books in the last few weeks, technically. The catch is that almost all of them are not-yet-published manuscripts submitted to me by literary agents as part of my day job, and not books from the Moratorium Library. I’ve also written plenty——of emails. Working on building writing time back into my schedule, too, and making sure I reserve some creative (and literal) energy to devote to my own endeavors.
But work has really been lovely, so far! I haven’t acquired anything yet, so I have plenty of time to read, and I’ve gotten so many great submissions to dig into and keep me busy. The literary agent meetings continue, and I basically want to befriend every single person I’ve spoken to over the last few weeks. (If you’re reading this and you happen to be someone I spoke to, feel free to reach out in a non-work capacity! We can be pals!! Am I coming on too strong!!!!)
I have also sent fourteen queries out for Amp, and I got my first rejection, from someone who kindly just said superheroes aren’t their thing. Totally understandable, and I appreciate the quick turnaround! Though there is a superstitious tickle in the back of my brain that hates that I now have thirteen queries floating around in the world. I have a bunch more people to try and more research to do for future rounds, plus I haven’t reached out to a handful of “dream” agents yet, and I’m also hoping some folks will reopen to queries in the fall. It’s nice to let the current queries hang out for a moment, though, and I’m both excited and terrified by what kind of responses I might get in the coming weeks/months.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep reading.
And I definitely won’t freak out. Nope, not me. Not at all. I’m very calm and normal.
Closing thoughts:
Keep your books and your minds open.
Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 172
(Total books added to the Moratorium Library: 342)
Two new additions from ThriftBooks (sponsor me, ThriftBooks), and I think these are the last of them? Finally? (It’s all research, HUSH.)
