December Reading List

I first read Useless Miracle. From the synopsis on the back, I figured I’d located an ideal potential comp title: also a professor MC with a quirky cast of friends! also an unintended superhero piece with a sense of humor! Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get into this book. The characters seemed sort of distant in an odd combination of snobbish intellectual and inside jokes that are never explained to the reader. There were definitely humorous moments and it’s certainly a fun and offbeat story idea, but the pace was also a bit too slow for my taste. It has mostly 3-star reviews on Goodreads, which feels about right (3.8 stars on Amazon). I suppose I would want a comp title with higher reviews anyway, so we’ll carry onward!

Last, I read The Midnight Bargain. I’d read a pitch of this book on an agent’s page and thought it seemed like a good comp, though I no longer believe so after reading. I loved the story, but it feels more like a coming-of-age high fantasy story while mine features a thirty-something mother in the real world. Beatrice Clayborn lives in a world of sorcery and magic, though women are cut off from reaching their true potential as sorceresses; they’re required upon marriage to wear a collar that limits their powers. Beatrice desires a life that is less the role of traditional wife and mother and more an embrace of her magic, and she forms an expected alliance to try to achieve her dreams.