Musing Monday - Norse gods & picture books

Musing Monday, March 27, 2017

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…

• Up next I think I’ll read…

• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…

• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…

• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…

• I can’t wait to get a copy of…

• I wish I could read ___, but…

• I blogged about ____ this past week…

 I’m currently reading…

Serpent's Kiss (The Beauchamp Family #2)
by Melissa de la Cruz

I finished my library book on Saturday so that meant starting a new book. Since I re-read Witches of East End with the sole purpose of refreshing myself enough to read the last two books in the series, I figured I probably should do that right away even though I wasn't in the mood for more of this series. But yes, I am now reading book #2, Serpent's Kiss. So why wasn't I in the mood for it? Well, the first time I read Witches of East End I really enjoyed it or at least my Goodreads rating of 4 indicates that I did. But after a reread, I was really tempted to lower it to a 3. There were just some things that annoyed me during the reread that made me not really look forward to reading more. But I am.

I'm about 80 pages into the sequel and so far, it's mostly all right. There are a few annoyances. Freddie is SUPER annoying so far, but he's been annoying since the moment he showed up as the twist at the end of Witches of East End. Freya's relationship drama is just slightly annoying too. I can't figure out why Ingrid is doing some of the things she's doing. And I have yet to see any indication of an overall plot. The slow reveal of the Norse mythology could definitely move faster, it's being revealed very slowly. But Bran's not in it yet so I'm liking that because even before the reveal in the first book I did not like Bran and thought he was all wrong for Freya.

Here's hoping it gets better as it goes along and that the things annoying me get worked out, because I really want to read the final book - it goes to the Salem Witch Trials, which I have always been fascinated with. Here have a summary:

Just as things have settled down in the off-the-map Long Island town of North Hampton for the magical Beauchamp family, everything gets turned upside down once more when Freya's twin brother Fryr, or "Freddie" as he's called now, returns from Limbo with shocking news - that it was none other than Freya's fiancé, Killian Gardiner, who set up his downfall.
He begs Freya to keep his presence a secret, even from their own family, but somehow the irascible Freddie is still able to conduct many affairs with the town's young lovelies from his self-imposed exile. Until he falls for the wrong girl.

While Freya tries to keep her brother from exacting revenge on the man she loves, Ingrid has her own problems. Her human boyfriend, Matt Noble, becomes entangled in a complicated investigation, and when the magical creatures at the center of it come to Ingrid for help, she has a difficult choice to make.

To top it off, a dead spirit is trying to make contact with Joanna - but does it mean to harm or warn the witches? All hell breaks loose at the family reunion over Thanksgiving, and much mayhem ensues, but when the culprit behind Freddie's imprisonment is finally revealed, it may already be too late to staunch the poison that's been released by the serpent's kiss. -- via Goodreads

        THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: What was your favourite picture book as a kid?

My first thought on seeing this question was, "Welp, time to ask my mum what the answer is!". See, I can't actually remember having a specific favourite picture book! I had a favourite novel - one that I made my mum read to me over and over again until I could read it to myself over and over again at the age of 6. That was The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I also had a favourite poem as a child too, one that I still know most of the words to off by heart. E.V. Rieu's Sir Smasham Uppe. But I can't remember having one single favourite picture book. But I do remember having a favourite series of picture books when I was a kid. The Berenstain Bears series, I feel like I had about a million of these and I remember reading them all the time. But according to my mum, I didn't have one that I specifically loved that stood out to her.