Hot Girls Read Podcast

Julia

Life has been crazy (good crazy!) lately, but I have been reading! I finally finished The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester – an incredibly clever book that was deliciously dark. The prose was so well honed that it was difficult to read if I was tired, because I knew I needed to be sharp enough to catch all the subtleties. It’s a book where you need to read between the lines and it’s there that another more sinister story appears. On the surface, the main character is a food-snob who is writing his life’s work, and yet, death seems to follow him everywhere. The most genius part of the book, is that despite all the snobbish waxing poetic about food, the book itself remains so cheekily funny! Highly recommend if you are a bit of a food snob yourself.

Ayesha

If you haven’t checked out our Instagram, you might have missed that I read a lot in May! There must’ve been something in the water but I think it’s the month that I’ve read the most so far this year. Some honorable mentions: Sophie Kinsella’s WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE?, and Caroline Goldstein’s FOUND TIME. I ended May still in the middle of some books, including BLOOD OVER BRIGHT HAVEN by M.L. Wang. I love an academic setting in a fantasy, and this being a standalone was an easy choice to pick up next. Will it make you feel stupid? Absolutely! The concept of the magic and the world is quite intricate that I was struggling in the first chapter. The trick is to just roll with it and accept what’s happening. 

I’ve also decided to restart THE ARTIST’S WAY. Last year, I convinced Julia to start this and I got so distracted in life (moving, getting a new job, etc.) that I never picked it back up. I’m really hoping this time round I can keep up with it and make it past week 4.

I’m also trying to be better at reading AND reviewing my ARCs in a timely manner. I got a bit greedy with constantly requesting titles, especially on NetGalley, but I need to do the work and actually read and write up a review. For those who don’t know, NetGalley is a digital platform where publishers can list titles pre-publication for readers (who have accounts) to request to read. In exchange, these readers should rate and write a review. This helps authors boost publicity should readers post the same reviews on social media or Amazon. If you are good about reading and reviewing titles, you end up having a higher ratio which publishers may use when determining your request for a title (especially the popular ones). My ratio has not been great so I am working on boosting that back up. Here are some ARCs that I plan to start: DOWN TO EARTH, TURNCLOAK, PRINCE OF SWORDS, and so many more!