Nicky

Review – Altar I wasn’t sure what I’d think of Desree’s Altar; I’ve not been very interested in spoken word poetry, historically, and I read that Desree’s a spoken word artist, so I …

Review - Altar, by Desree: not a collection I was super fond of, but there were a few poems I liked. Probably better read aloud... Rating: 3/5 ("liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/13/r...

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Reading Firsts in 2026 Tammy posted this book tag over on Books, Bones & Buffy and I couldn’t resist joining in… what are your “firsts” for 2026? First book read in 2026: vol 4 of Solo Levelin…

Reading Firsts in 2026:

A bookish tag about the "firsts" of the year: the first book I read, the first 5-star read, first debut read, ...

breathesbooks.com/2026/03/13/r...

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Are there jobs out there that offer remote but don't want you to use AI?
Cause current job now wants me to cool it on even mentioning that AI is not so great.

Review – The Double Turn Carol Carnac, AKA E.C.R. Lorac, is one of my favourite finds through the British Library Crime Classics series. I reliably enjoy her sense of place and ability to create characters I really root fo…

Review - The Double Turn, by Carol Carnac: not a favourite of Carnac/Lorac's, but the mystery is interesting and she was always good with character and place. Rating: 3/5 ("liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/12/r...

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Thank you!

If anyone here who I've connected with on a reasonably personal level would like the details of my MSc graduation ceremony livestream which is occurring in two weeks, please let me know and I can private message the details. 💙

Review – The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish, vol 4 The fourth volume of The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish brings the whole thing to an end and wraps it up neatly with a bow, but dang, there’s a lot that happens in this volume still…

Review - The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish, vol 4, by Xue Shan Fei Hu: couple criticisms of the treatment of disability, but I love the way this series wraps up. The relationship is sweet and solid. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/11/r...

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WWW Wednesday What have you recently finished reading? The last thing I finished was Gryffin Murphy’s Twig’s Traveling Tomes, which I got as an ARC via Netgalley. The romance didn’t really work…

WWW Wednesday:

The usual weekly update! Chatting about a new romantasy, a book about folk music, a classic mystery, etc.

breathesbooks.com/2026/03/11/w...

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Hehehe, FFXIV players sneak in everywhere.

Review – Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (light novel), vol 1 I didn’t know very much about singNsong’s Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint before picking it up — I’d seen friends be enthusiastic, been recommended it if I liked Solo Le…

Review - Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (light novel), vol 1, by singNsong: I absolutely burned through this first book. I find the ambivalence of Dokja's character/portrayal pretty fascinating. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/10/r...

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Top Ten Tuesday: Ordinal Numbers This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is books with ordinal numbers in the title, which took me some doing! But I got there in the end, by spelunking through past books read. The Eagle of the Nin…

Top Ten Tuesday: Ordinal Numbers.

This one was a tough prompt, but I got there! It was kinda fun to go spelunking through my read books looking for stuff to fit.

breathesbooks.com/2026/03/10/t...

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Review – Tied to You, vol 1 The main character of WHAT’s Tied to You (adapted from a story by Chelliace) is Wooseo, who is in love with his best friend Jiseok. In this world, after the age of twenty, if you touch your f…

Review - Tied to You, vol 1, by WHAT and Chelliace: first volume of a manhwa that really stole my brain when I read it. The first volume is a bit of an intro to the idea, and I liked the setup. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/09/r...

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Fantasy with Friends: Adaptations of Classics This week’s Fantasy with Friends discussion (hosted by Pages Unbound) is about adaptations: What are your thoughts on fantasy adaptations of classic literature that originally had no fantasy …

Fantasy with Friends: Adaptations of Classics.

This week's discussion topic is about fantasy adaptations of classics, e.g. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I didn't have a huge amount to say about this topic, but I did have an example I liked!

breathesbooks.com/2026/03/09/f...

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Review – Strange Buildings Uketsu’s Strange Buildings is a follow-up to Strange Houses: I don’t think you need to start with the former, but there are several references to it, and since the mysteries are similar…

Review - Strange Buildings, by Uketsu: a little darker than Strange Houses, but basically the same format. Probably worth reading Houses first. I had fun, and worked out quite a few of the connections. Rating: 3/5 ("liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/08/r...

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Review – wake Unfortunately, Gillian Allnutt’s wake was absolutely not for me. I had difficulty finding any poem I actually liked in it — maybe a line here and there, but… I just didn’t &…

Review - wake, by Gillian Allnutt: this one wasn't for me: many of the poems were too short for my taste or just lacking in connective tissue that would make them comprehensible to me. Rating: 1/5 ("didn't like it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/07/r...

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post Aaand it’s the weekend again! Books acquired this week It’s been a quiet week, but my wife did acquire me the new Uketsu novel: I’ve been wanting to read it basically since I fini…

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post:

Just one new book this week, but as always, plenty of reviews from various genres, and quite the spread of books finished during the week.

breathesbooks.com/2026/03/07/s...

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Paging @shanaqui.bsky.social

Oh no, it me.

Review – Vanished Wales Carwyn Jones’ Vanished Wales is based on an ITV series I haven’t seen, but I don’t think you need to have seen the series to get something out of it. It focuses not on ancient his…

Review - Vanished Wales, by Carwyn Jones: based on an ITV series, but stands alone fairly well, discussing Welsh places fondly remembered and lost within living memory. Bit milquetoast about it at times. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/06/r...

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Review – How to Fake It In Society My only problem with KJ Charles’ How to Fake It In Society was that I spent the entire thing bracing for the third-act breakup. I knew it was coming, Nico knew it was coming, Eve knew it was …

Review - How to Fake It In Society, by KJ Charles: I was wincing in anticipation of the third act breakup the whole time, but I loved the characters/relationship, and the end was a lot of fun. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/05/r...

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When I was little, we just got a £1 book voucher and extra reading time, and that was it! The halcyon days!

(Thank god I don't have kids.)

WWW Wednesday What have you recently finished reading? The last thing I finished was George the Poet’s Part of a Story That Started Before Me, a reflection on Black British history through poetry. It has i…

WWW Wednesday:

The usual update, featuring whole new books that I haven't actually talked about week after week! Gasp.

breathesbooks.com/2026/03/04/w...

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Exactly a year since my grandmother died. In honour of the occasion, have this saying of hers to ponder:

"If you don't want to fight, wear a really big hat."

She couldn't explain it, though several members of my family have theories. Enjoy your speculations!

Review – Platform Decay Platform Decay is the latest of Martha Wells’ Murderbot books, and it has the usual ingredients: a Murderbot who’s very done with humans (but not so done it’s actually going to mu…

Review - Platform Decay, by Martha Wells: not a favourite, in part because the opening chapter had WAY too many parentheticals. Sorry, but it was barely readable. I love Murderbot, but this was a weak one for me. Rating: 3/5 ("liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/04/r...

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I swear the words "friendly reminder" somehow sound so ridiculously aggressive.

Review – Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter I was keen to get hold of Heather Fawcett’s Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter more or less from the word go, based on the title and the fact that I really enjoyed the Emily Wilde book…

Review - Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter, by Heather Fawcett: very fun, with Howl's Moving Castle vibes (both book and movie!). And some lovely kitties. Rating: 4/5 ("really liked it").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/03/r...

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Top Ten Tuesday: Microhistory This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is a genre freebie, so I decided to go with a genre I enjoy a lot: microhistory! I’m technically going to use the term somewhat broadly, but the idea i…

Top Ten Tuesday: Microhistory.

I interpreted the term "microhistory" broadly, but anyway! This week's freebie theme was a chance to pick some favourite books that take a small aspect of society/an object/etc and trace it to illuminate wider history.

breathesbooks.com/2026/03/03/t...

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Having checked the context, I'm now forced to wonder if people actually think I'm serious when I lament that the Welsh national rugby team mysteriously disappeared seven years ago and never returned... Ah, how I miss them.

Review – Iyanu: Child of Wonder, vol 1 I really liked the colours in volume one of Roye Okupe’s Iyanu: Child of Wonder, and I like the character designs too, but something about the art doesn’t work for me — kind of an…

Review - Iyanu: Child of Wonder, vol 1, by Roye Okupe and Godwin Akpan: enjoyed the colours and the snippets about how the world is built on Yoruba customs; the art's a bit uncanny valley though. Rating: 2/5 ("it was okay").

Full review: breathesbooks.com/2026/03/02/r...

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Fantasy with Friends: Magical Schools This week’s question from Fantasy with Friends is all about magical schools: Do you enjoy books about schools of magic, or do you think they are overdone? Do you have any favorite magical sch…

Fantasy with Friends: Magical Schools.

This week's theme is magic schools, and I discuss a bit how it's hard to get away from the magical Scottish castle in the room when it comes to that... but how there are definitely alternative models.

breathesbooks.com/2026/03/02/f...

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