Reading Roundup: The 7th week of 2025. (copy)
This is a retransmission of Wednesday's message, which for readers by email failed to send. I was utterly responsible by messing up the domain. Sorry about that!
The first 6 weeks worth of these were scattered around various platforms and attempts at blogs and other social media. None of them were as simple for me as just sending an email, so here we are. If you have missed them, you can visit January's list here, and I'll do the same for February between weeks 8 and 9, which will take us into March.
A pretty variable week this time around, and a new author to me in Brian Pinkerton. A romance novel, too, unusual for me, and of course plenty of Harry Potter as has been standard for a while now.
Here's the list of this week's titles.
8 books, 2,453 pages.
5 stars to The Unforgiving Minute, by Voice of the Nephilim
Book Description:
"Fandom: Harry Potter
Broken and defeated, the War long since lost, Harry enacts his final desperate gambit: Travel back in time to the day of the Third Task, destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxes and prevent the Dark Lord's resurrection…all within the space of twelve hours." My Thoughts:
" A clever time turner story where there is an actual limit on how long Harry has to do anything, written with plenty of dramatic tension and excitement. One I will probably pick up again in the future, and those are a rare breed indeed. It was gory and violent and fast-paced and exactly the sort of stretch of imagination a fanfiction should be. " This Book: has 339 pages, a community rating of 2.94 and was first published in 2011.
3 stars to The First Great Game: A LitRPG/Harem sci-fantasy series, by Pierce Grey
Book Description:
"Mason the survivalist was always preparing for the end of the world. He just didn’t expect a god-like AI to transform it into a damn video game.
Now he has to pick a ‘class’, survive a ‘tutorial’ (filled with monstrous creatures trying to murder him), and somehow find his brother Blake before the idiot gets himself killed.
OK. Blake’s no idiot. He’s a charming, incredibly lucky, ambitious world-beater. But he was destined for corporate boardrooms, not monster filled forests, and Mason knows he needs to reach him before it’s too late.
But as he claws his way through this new, dangerous world, gaining superhuman abilities and meeting a beautiful woman who desperately needs his help, he begins to it just might be the best thing that’s ever happened to him.
The Primal Hunter meets harem. With millions of views on Royal Road and Scribblehub, this series has more than 10 books worth of story, and more to come!
The First Great Game is a litrpg/harem sci-fi/fantasy series about two brothers who come of age and find incredible adventure, and equally incredible women, in a post-apocalyptic video game world."
My Thoughts:
" Interestingly I only saw "The First Great game" as a title (the harem subtitle bit was not obvious). Added to the lack of being able to see the book cover as a blind reader and I was ... a little surprised at the level of sexytime.
Still, the author is quite right in his assertion that he's done litrpg with decent quality writing, and I've heard good things about his other books under his real name. Not sure when I'm quite up for more of this sort of thing but not due to any quality with the work directly." This Book: has 335 pages and a community rating of 4.22.
2 stars to The Far Side, by Gina Marie Wylie
Book Description:
"Kristine Boyle is one smart cookie. Her friend Andie Schultz is a genius. Both have their hearts set on going to Caltech. However when a geeky rocket scientist wannabe goes sticking her head through strange doors, adventures ensue. Warning graphic language " My Thoughts: " Feeling, for a reason I can't quite pin down like something from Mackey Chandler or James Galloway, I struggled to find any enthusiasm for this story. It's quite possible the sheer amount of profanity was a subconscious turnoff (390 fucks is a bit much), but there was also just something that didn't click with me about the writing." This Book: has 754 pages, a community rating of 4.02 and was first published in 2013.
2 stars to Harry Potter and The Great Escape To China - Part 1, by naughtypixie
Book Description:
"Fandom: Harry Potter
Snape decides to save Lily's son.
The measures are a touch drastic, but Harry isn't minding the results." My Thoughts:
"Some of the English was jarring, but very impressive for a third language. Of course this is so far outside what most people consider AU as to be almost not recognisable of being HP. It was Okay, but not really my scene. " This Book: has 209 pages, a community rating of 3.90 and was first published in 2022.
4 stars to The Seven Year Slip, by Ashley Poston
Book Description:
" An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics .
Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.
So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.
And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.
Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.
Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.
After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing."
My Thoughts:
" Romance isn't a genre I typically frequent, but this had the time travel element as a way in.
I found it quite wholesome and light, the word romance brings all sorts of thoughts to mind but it was tastefully done for the most part and a pretty bittersweet read, which I think is exactly what I wanted." This Book: has 336 pages, a community rating of 4.19 and was first published in 2023.
4 stars to The Gemini Experiment by Brian Pinkerton
Book Description:
" "A dizzying compilation of action scenes and moral quandaries...Pinkerton wields fast pacing and an entertaining, electrifying plot" - Publishers Weekly
In a secret lab, a team of doctors and scientists funded by a mysterious billionaire create the first human replica entirely from technology. The robot is prepared to host the digitized consciousness of Tom Nolan, a family man suffering from a terminal illness. But when Tom’s replica escapes before the transfer can take place, he is faced with the horrors of an alter ego bent on death and destruction. When the experiment draws the attraction of spies, Tom is caught up in an international crisis with a showdown that could change the course of the world.
FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices."
My Thoughts:
" I'm glad I found Brian, this was more enjoyable for me than the first of his I finished last night.
There's often a 'don't be stupid' chapter in books with a Prometheus, and it was chapter 15 here. I think part of that is why it wasn't quite 5 star; sometimes the writing felt like it was trying to be high stakes but not quite making it. It lacked gravitas. That's fine, but funnily enough it brought to mind the idea of an airport novel, which I remember finding scandalous when applied to The Bourne Identity, which to my young mind was far more complex than that label seemed to indicate.
This was great, though, for what it was. I enjoyed every page, and even if I saw the twists and turns coming, they landed with great satisfaction." This Book: has 240 pages, a community rating of 3.98 and was first published in 2019.
1 star to Rise of the Wizards, by Teufel1987
Book Description:
" Voldemort's attempt at possessing Harry had a different outcome when Harry fought back with the "Power He Knows Not". This set a change in motion that shall affect both Wizards and Muggles. AU after fifth year: Featuring a darkish and manipulative Harry" My Thoughts: "I didn't particularly enjoy. The first half was a thinly retread of Half-Blood prince and the second just ridiculous wizard ego gone bananas. I get that a lot of stories do Antimuggle, but at least many of them have a reasonable rationale or it's part of a wider context, like smut. This just felt purposelessly angry" This Book: has a community rating of 3.47.
4 stars to The Perfect Stranger, by Brian Pinkerton
Book Description:
" Meet your new coworker. She’s brilliant. She’s beautiful. She’s unreal.
Everyone loves Alison, the new remote employee at a major energy company. She’s a rising star in the virtual workspace, displaying incredible intelligence and efficiency with digital technology. But Linda, her manager, has growing suspicions that Alison is not the person she claims to be. As Linda probes Alison’s background, Alison fights back through cyber-attacks, ravaging Linda’s work, her family and her safety. Linda must uncover the truth to save herself and discovers Alison’s past history is a lie – in fact, she has none. Is it possible Alison isn’t human at all?
FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices." My Thoughts:
" Though it's hard to credit someone having not heard of GPT in my circles, this was atmospherically written with a clever idea behind it. I loved the contrast of the isolating snow and the lonely empty house with the idea of being online, working and connected. Linda was very credible, and apart from the pacing suffering some toward the end to finish the book quickly, I enjoyed it and would like to try more by this author."
This Book: has 240 pages and a community rating of 4.22.