It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #3 + Update

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted at The Book Date where bloggers look at what they’re currently reading and what’s up next in their TBR!

Hello! So after a week out, I’m back! Of course, I’m still pretty upset about Cookie passing away, but he led a great life and brought me so much happiness that it would be unfair to him to mope around.

So thanks to this little one. I’ll always miss you!

Also, on Sunday I went all the way down to Folkestone for the award ceremony of the HG Wells Short Story Competition. I was a shortlisted author for the Junior Prize which was extremely exciting. However, I didn’t win, but I don’t mind too much because hey I’ve been published again in a great anthology! If you’re at all interested, you can actually buy the anthology already on Amazon. So if you want to (no pressure), then check it out here: http://amzn.eu/dK97Uzu

So, anyway, what have I been reading?

What I Read Last Week

Just over a week ago, I finally finished my ARC of Gilded Cage by Vic James. I actually really enjoyed it, more than I thought I would, especially the characters and overall world-building. I found it really engaging, however, looking back there definitely was a lack of diversity.

It was very white, upper-class Britain, which is fair enough because the upper-class here are pretty much stuffy white people, but not every character in the book was an aristocrat. Plus the ruling elite in Gilded Cage wasn’t so much an age-old wealthy family thing, but a ‘who has magic and who is the most magical’ thing, so magic wouldn’t just be exclusive to white people. But anyway, maybe that’ll be rectified in the next book; it would be good to possibly see characters from other parts of the world and how magic (known as ‘Skill’) is handled in their country.

Check out my review here.

What I’m Currently Reading

I’m currently about halfway through A Darker Shade of Magic and I’ve been struggling to put it down! I’m really enjoying it so far, especially the world-building, which is just mind-blowing. However, I do have a few issues, which I’ll be talking about in my review soon.

Up Next

After A Darker Shade of Magic will be Gemina, which I am unbelievably excited for. I’ve heard that it’s even better than Illuminae, something I thought totally impossible, so fingers crossed I love Gemina!

Have you read any of these? Did you enjoy them? Let me know in the comments below!