Book Review: Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

This is another LGBTQ+ novel that has been on my TBR for a while. I am always on the lookout for good LGBTQ+ romance novels, especially.

Arranged marriages aren't really a trop that I'm fond of, so when this one started out, I was already on the meh side. However, since I am trying to expand my reading horizons, I kept with it.

Winter's Orbit is a sci-fi story set in the future on a planet that isn't in any way, shape, or form connected to earth. I'll admit that I'm not a huge sci-fi fan. I do enjoy a good space tale, but mainly if the characters are super intriguing. This was a plot-driven story, not character driven.

Even still, I felt for Jainan, who was being married off to one of the other many princes in order to maintain a galactic treaty. Kiem was pretty great from the start. He's the prince. Anyway, Jainan's first partner died in an accident. To maintain the treaty, they had to reestablish the connection through the use of Jainan.

It was an interesting premise. I really liked Jainan. He was smart, but you could absolutely tell he'd been through some stuff. He had trauma response written all over him.

Kiem, on the other hand, was charming. He was the one who got away with doing lots of stuff that was bad for his image (think Prince Harry), but managed to turn it around and at least appear more responsible.

The two get off to a rocky start. Because they don't communicate.

I feel like a lot of the issues in this novel might have been resolved if the characters acted like the adults they were supposed to be and discussed things. This really felt more YA in that the characters just skirted around everything. Look, I get that you don't know what you're doing in your twenties, but it just felt a little childish to me.

This was not a romance. There was no heat whatsoever, so that kind of made me sad.

All in all, it felt like the plot was forced for me. I didn't really enjoy it. I liked Jainan's development and how he and Kiem were with each other toward the end, but this isn't something that I would give a glowing recommendation to.

Consider that sci-fi is not my normal genre. If it is for you, you might like it.

Abbie

Office Updates

Last year, I found I spent a lot of my time trying to keep organized. I decided that 2022 was the year of productivity and efficiency!

Ever since the start of the pandemic, I've been eyeing the stand up/walking desk setup. I mean, if I can get some exercise in while I'm working, why the heck wouldn't I? The full desks are typically on the higher price range, so I watched and waited for a while until I found a setup that worked for me.

I got this desk converter. It was super easy to put together. I really like that it is hydraulic, so I don't have to worry about it immediately slamming down whenever I release the handle. It's really stable as well, which one needs when they're walking while working.

I got this walking pad. I bought it directly from Walking Pad as they had a sale. It looks like they may have sold out of this product. What I really wanted was something that I could move easily from room to room, but also stored well. This treadmill folds up and fits under the giant chair in my office. While I can't speak to the ones currently on the market, I find that this one is easy to move and adjust, and the prices aren't outrageous.

As for the bulletin boards, I literally bought two at Walmart. Same with the dry erase board and calendar. Ya girl isn't ashamed to admit she shops at Walmart. Times are tough, and we have to make things work!

I also invested in a printer last year because I do proofreading for my indie books, and I plan on starting up a proofreading/editing side business so I went with one that had a scan feature as well. All in all, I think I've really maximized my work space.

Have you found something that works to help with your producitivity? Let me know!

Abbie

Book Review: Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

So here we are. I read the entire Grishaverse just so I could read Rule of Wolves. I was lucky enough to get absolutely no spoilers beforehand.

There were a lot of things that I didn't like about Rule of Wolves. There were also a lot of things that I loved.

This is the best book Leigh Bardugo has written strictly from a quality standpoint. As I've said before, I want to feel the character's heartbeat. I want to smell the scents around them. I want to want the things they want. Even if I didn't like certain plot points, I definitely experienced all of those things. You can absolutely see her growth as an author from Shadow & Bone to Rule of Wolves. This is such a rich world, and I love that she loves it as much as her fandom does.

Representation. Leigh is fantastic at it. With each book, she adds in more representation that is POC, LGBTQ+, I just love it. She added a trans character here, and she did it pretty flawlessly.

We got to see Nikolai at some of his most vulnerable. The question of his parentage became public. We actually met his father in this book and that was such a small moment, but it was brilliantly done.

Because of what happened to Matthias in Crooked Kingdom, I didn't trust Leigh to not kill main characters. There was a moment I was certain that Nikolai was going to die and it brought me to tears!

ZOYA'S development. Bardugo took a hated character from Shadow & Bone and made you feel for her. There was a moment when Zoya was talking about holding on to her trauma. That if she didn't have it, what would she have to protect herself? I related to it SO much. It was brilliant. I cried. Sigh. I loved Zoya by the end of this one.

THE CROWS! Nikolai and co. needed to lift some aluminum, so who do they call? Only the most brilliant mind in Ketterdam. YES PEOPLE, KAZ BREKKER makes an appearance. As do Jesper and Wylan. My little heart was so happy. I even spoiled that bit to a friend because I was so damn excited.

My biggest gripes are plot points she chose.

1. The Darkling plotline felt like there was no point. The character of the Darkling didn't feel like the one I loved in the original trilogy. Look, I get that he's not completely himself, but I didn't even feel a hint for this new version that I did for the original. King of Scars left off like he was going to be the big bad... He wasn't.

2. JUSTICE FOR MATTHIAS. I can't make it any more clear that I am a Nina Zenik/Matthias Helvar stan. With her leaving the door open for the Darkling to return, I had hopes that maybe there was a chance. That chance was completely erased. There was a time jump (oh and Nina buried his body in King of Scars but..semantics). Nina had completely immersed herself in the Fjerdan court with Hanne, the new character introduced in KoS. I knew during KoS that Nina would end up with Hanne, but I was in denial. I will say that Nina did fulfill her promise to Matthias that she wouldn't give up on his country in the end.

3. Zoya as queen. Don't get me wrong. I love a badass woman on the throne, but it didn't feel natural. It felt like an easy way to keep Nikolai in power. Meh. Idk. Wasn't my favorite.

Overall, I enjoyed getting more of my baby Nikolai. This wasn't my favorite, but it was definitely my favorite as far as the quality of Bardugo's writing. I can only hope my writing will get better with each project I put out. She also left it open at the end for another crows book, so watch out, baby, they're coming back one day!

Have you read King of Scars? What did you think?

Abbie