What I read in May 2025
This month was all about high-stakes space adventures, clever humour, some espionage, and romance. In other words, delightful escapism!
Full Speed to a Crash Landing (Chaotic Orbits #1) by Beth Revis, 192p: Super fun sci-fi novella. Fast-paced with heist-like intrigue, and a bit of romance. Ava is such a strong and independent female character, I enjoyed her machinations.
The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz, 342p: This book is extremely ambitious, with long time spans and touching a variety of topics: environmentalism, capitalism, terraforming, access to public services, personhood, gender and sexuality, identity, and corporate greed. It's super creative and has lots of sense of humour interspersed with serious issues. It's truly diverse with bots, animals and non-human species all living together in this terraformed planet (Sask-E). There are cyborg cows, moose, naked mole rats and sentient trains. I didn't like the execution too much; I couldn't connect to many of the characters. It felt like it could have been three books: there was a lot going on!
Defy or Defend (Delightfully Deadly #2) by Gail Carriger, 264p: A quick adventure with espionage: Dimity (spy code name Honey Bee) is assigned to fix the Nottingham vampire hive, which is descending into madness. Her bodyguard is Sir Crispin Bontwee, who always had a thing for her. It's full of Gail Carriger's classy humour involving tea, curtains, and extravagant redecoration of a crumbling vampire house.
How to Steal a Galaxy (Chaotic Orbits #2) by Beth Revis, 122p: I loved this continuation of “Full Speed to a Crash Landing”. Fast-paced space heist with Ada Lamarr doing her thing: misdirection and deception. She's great! All the action happens at this charity gala hosted by the Museum of Intergalactic History on Rigel-Earth. The auction items include Tutankhamun’s tomb chest, a brick from the Great Wall of China, and even the original Apollo 11 Mission Control red rotary telephone. There are twits, smart banter, and enemies-to-lovers tension. I immediately jumped to the next in the series.
Last Chance to Save the World (Chaotic Orbits #3) by Beth Revis, 176p: This one follows directly after the events of the second book, starting inside Ada's spaceship. She has Rian White with her, and we still don't know for sure what Ada is after or what she really wants to do. I love the mystery and the twist and turns in this series. It was great to know Ada's mother and her pigeons; she is a badass! It's hard to say more without spoilers, but I really liked Ada and Rian's dynamic and how she masterly deceives everybody (including Rian).
Notorious Pleasures (Maiden Lane #2) by Elizabeth Hoyt, 391p: I wanted to get back to this series because I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in the 1700s and the diverse characters. Lady Hero Batten, a dutiful daughter, is engaged with a dull man, the Marquis of Mandeville. On the ball when their engagement is announced, Lady Hero finds the Marquis' brother, Lord Griffin Remmington, in a very indiscrete situation involving a married lady. Hero helps both to escape being discovered by said married lady's husband. Griffin is a notorious rake, but he has a thing for Lady Hero, and so we have the reformed rake and enemies-to-lovers trope. Lady Hero is also helping to build the new orphanage for the St. Giles children, which connects to the previous book storyline. We continue to see a glimpse of the mysterious Ghost of St. Giles. I'm still intrigued by this mystery, and I will continue this series just to find out!
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Post 88/100 of 100DaysToOffload challenge (Round 2)!
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By Noisy Deadlines Minimalist in progress, nerdy, introvert, skeptic. I don't leave without my e-reader.