This was a set of three books by authors I have loved and they certainly delivered. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me is the first in yet another series by Ilona Andrews, one of my favorite authors of all time. This book comes out TODAY! And it’s a Book of the Month Add On or audiobook option! How to Be Okay When Nothing is Okay is by Jenny Lawson, who is hilarious and wonderful and I ordered a copy for my best friend and her wife on like the third vignette because I need them to read it too. And finally, I ended with an Olivia Dade, Tiny House, Big Love, which is an audiobook release of one of Dade’s older novellas and it was so lovely. I received an audio copy of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me and Tiny House, Big Love from the publishers via Netgalley and an e-ARC of How to be Okay from the publisher via Netgalley. So let’s dive into the books!
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me
by Ilona Andrews
Y’all, this was a wild ride. You know I love Hidden Legacy by the same authors and so I obviously expected to love this book. And I do. I did. Kind of. But I also can’t quite get over how alike Connor Rogan and the love interest in this book are and so that made me just want to re-read HL, which is not the most helpful. Anyway, the world building in this book is great, minus the part where there are so many names, which could be a bit much for me. That said, I already know this will be a book that I will add into my rotation and inevitably in a couple of re-reads, maybe after book two is out, I will be outraged at my past self (who is my current self, which feels weird) for giving this book a 4 star rating. Perhaps I should just go ahead and rate it 5 stars knowing that about myself, but for now, 4 is what feels right. Anyway, I’ve said a lot to say nothing, so I’m going to return to write a better review when I’m more coherent.
As for what This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me is actually about… Essentially Maggie is transported into the world of her favorite book series that is unfinished and she has no skills. Somehow though she still manages to survive, even though she also technically died. It’s complicated. Anyway, she winds up leveraging her knowledge of the book series to position herself into a house and struggles with the moral dilemma of changing the timeline and thereby outliving her usefulness because of the impacts to the future or letting people die. Meanwhile, she’s also drawn to the sword-wielding man who is trying to save his son that she’s sort of pulled into her orbit.
There winds up being a lot of characters pulled into Maggie’s orbit and I really, really enjoyed the way that this found family comes together. I like the romantic love interest (obviously, he’s Connor coded). But the world and the plot are really large and so I definitely need to get myself more grounded in it so that I can love it just as much as I love Hidden Legacy. I did really enjoy the narration though, which was the main thing I was actually supposed to be reviewing. I will be listening to this again, probably before the end of the year, if we’re being honest.
How to Be Okay When Nothing is Okay by Jenny Lawson
Self-help really isn’t my usual brand of nonfiction, but I loved Lawson’s Broken so much that I immediately requested this and then bought a copy for my best friend on the third essay. I love Lawson’s writing, sense of humor, etc., but I feel like this book is both not as helpful self-help-y as a self-help should be, but also not full enough of memoir style vignettes to be a collection like her usual. So instead, it exists somewhere in the middle. That said, it is always so incredibly lovely to read about someone else’s brain doing some of the same weird things my brain does. The transition space of just sitting in your car? Yeah, same. I used to get so aggravated with myself because I literally live by myself. What is the difference between sitting in the car and walking inside to sit in there? Nothing! And yet, my brain often says I must sit in the car for many minutes before I go inside.
Tiny House, Big Love
by Olivia Dade
In a shocking twist of how I normally operate, I received this advanced audio copy this morning and I listened to it this evening. A miracle. But I do love Olivia Dade and if you slap a Leni Kaufman cover on one of her books, it only amplifies my desire to read it. Joy Nash’s narration really brings this novella to life and I very much enjoyed listening to this miscommunication laden friends to lovers romance. It’s almost absurd to call it a miscommunication when really, the two of them are not communicating on any level besides subliminal messages it felt like for so long. But that said, because Olivia Dade can always bring the emotion and the deep attraction, the book delivers on exactly what it set out to do: a great time and depth in a short amount of space. I highly recommend.
Closing Thoughts
This is such a diverse range of genres for me. How fun! Anyway, I really enjoyed each of these for what they are. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the ones that you pick up, but I’m especially interested in everyone’s thoughts on This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me. So if you’re read it or once you read it, come back and tell me all about your thoughts. Thank you!
xx
firewhiskeyreader 