what i'm reading (& buying)

Hi Hello! Howdy! I have been busy in good ways and in bad ways. As it goes. I am going on vacation this weekend, not far, and so I cannot say whether I will appear next Friday or not. Enjoy this completely random assortment of where my brain is currently fixated.

Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series - Remember when I was like “I think I will read the Kate Daniels books in between other things on my TBR this summer!” but instead I read all 10 books in a two week span… HAHA! A TBR can’t tell me nothing! Listen, no one, absolutely no one is doing it like Ilona Andrews (Ilona and Gordon). I don’t even know quite what to say. Never in my experience, romance or otherwise, have I read a book that chronicles a relationship (and relationships, amongst the found family) to this degree. Ten whole books. They meet, they circle each other, they fall in love, they enter a committed relationship, they are severely tested by their jobs, by illness, by other people attempting to get between them, by their children (adopted and otherwise), and by the end of the world (the end of the world is threatened at least ten times). It is a wonder. Curran in many ways is an old school hero with his version of masculinity, his violence, and his lion shifterness but we watch him grow. He learns that he can’t fully protect Kate but he can be her back up. Kate learns that she can care about other people and still manage to fight the big bad (her Dad!).  

The real throughline in this work is PTSD. It’s a disenchantment with systems. It’s realizing that organizations, governments, law enforcement agencies, structures of power do not have your back. The power is within the systems you yourself create. Ilona Andrews is constantly saying “we save us.” Sure, they’ve got magic. Creatures and shifters and swords and spells. But the community you build yourself is what matters. Your safety and your strength are dependent on your community. All those other systems will just grind you down, manipulate, exploit, and use you until nothing is left. Kate Daniels begins these books already knowing that. She has to not only find a way to create a found family for herself, to let herself love under these conditions, but also to teach them this. That we are all we have. That no one else is coming to save you. 

Not only that but Ilona Andrews makes such thoughtful decisions about depicting other mythologies, races, and ethnicities in these books. I remembered reading some reviews on Goodreads that said “I wish she hadn’t chosen Hindu gods as the big bads in this book.” And while that is a correct take for most books, Ilona and Gordon leave no country’s myths untroubled nor is the choice ever really about the Hindu culture as a whole. Andrews almost always makes a point to show that while many systems and religious institutions are rotten at their core, usually faiths are used as a source of power for corrupt individuals. Kate Daniels’ universe is essentially the 2040’s after a great magic apocalypse. Magic coursed quickly back into our world and “broke tech.” Airplanes and skyscrapers fell, cell service is spotty, and every god or mythic character of any imagination is now real. In addition to that, Andrews typically always identifies new characters as they look. They are “a white man in his late 30’s with brown hair” etc or a “muscled woman of Tongan descent.” I’ve heard chatter that some people find this to take them out of the story…miss me with that. I think Ilona and Gordan are careful chroniclers of appearances with a deep well of research at their fingertips. I wish most characterizations were as thoughtful. Take for instance how much discourse revolves around whether Xaden, of Fourth Wing, is in fact white or black, or merely deeply TANNED.

831 Stories - Against my better judgment and because I have FOMO, I joined the 831 Stories The Ones Membership (too many words there, amiright?). First of all, I am a millennial so I am incredibly susceptible to branding, and to girl boss branding in particular. This is something I actively try to fight! Even when there are Glossier products I still love (sorry lol). I wanted to know if these books lived up to their hype and they are all quite short. A friend of mine, with taste in books I trust, had a good ranking of her favs. 

Now, here lies the rub. I placed my order for this membership in early March. Got the confirmation that I paid…and crickets. I heard nothing about it until I reached out in mid May to say “hey yall I think I ordered this membership? Where are the books? Is there a log in I need to know about? Is there a discussion forum? Is there a delivery schedule? Is this meant to be something that only works if you can attend the events in NYC? Is there any information out there at all?” After I followed my email up with an Instagram DM and five days had passed, I got a response! One of the books was shipping that week (had released the previous week. Suspicious timing) and I received it shortly after. I can expect six titles with this membership with one releasing in July and another in September. I believe I received half the welcome kit?¹ I got stickers and a key chain but not the first three books the imprint released. Now, again…I have worked most of my life in customer service jobs. I have been working in a restaurant, a store, a museum, etc. on and off since I was sixteen. I was in charge of a small retail shop for several years. This lack of communication was never going to work for me and the follow up still felt much like an afterthought. The books are still waiting to be read and I have more shipments incoming (potentially!) but it’s a bummer for me. A good reminder that there is better customer service replies to my many orders with Tropes & Trifles and more community in the Hunter Harris Hung Up Chat. Maybe I should stay in my lane. Okay, but the hats are cute! I do think we should all get 831 Stories baseball caps. I am not a total hater!

banner UPDATE that my friends are reading my recs and yelling at me about them:

what i’m buying lately:

• May is out of hand for new romance releases: Not Safe for Work (brown girl work drama and migraine rep), Left of Forever (possibly the most well reviewed second chance, divorced couple romance), The Knight and the Moth (author of the cult hit Shepard King duology with a book that I saw a tweet said you’ll love if you love gothic architecture and Tangled), new Hazelwood, new Katee Robert pirates, Slipstream (F1 book!), A Curse Carved in Bone (hot stepmom book 2!), and All Superheroes Need PR (beloved Bone King author back with what looks like Incredibles fan fic?!). There is even more than that…

• Y’all have you seen the Coach bags on eBay? My memaw would faint at the prices they’re going for but GOD she was right and they don’t make things like they used to!

• Bought rhubarb. Will I actually successfully bake this before it goes bad?

• Good dresses for every eye that can see! I know, I have a type. Imagining I had a life or a vacation booked where I could dress like this regularly.

talk soon,

Britt

1  Readers, when I texted my friend to be like “hey I am quoting your texts on 831 books, cool?” She proceeded to tell me that she orders her books from the 831 website (does not have a membership) and they send her membership emails?!! She had to ask if she had a free membership! Also! The stickers and keychains come with every book order therefore, I have no received my “welcome kit.” BIG YIKES!