Meh, I only finished 3 books this month. All of these took me longer to read than normal (two were pretty long though). And now I’m falling behind on my Netgalley shelf and need to step it up. ha.

What I’ve been reading lately

Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It by John Abramson: I don’t often read non-fiction, but after seeing this author on the news one day, I requested this from the library. I had honestly forgotten about it until I got a notification that it was ready for pickup. This book dives into the dysfunction that is our healthcare system, specifically pharma. It is an eyeopening book that show how commercialized that prescription drugs have become, from clinical trials to direct to consumer marketing. Abramson does a good job of breaking things down into easy to understand information. Honestly, everyone should read this book to better understand what Big Pharma has done to our healthcare.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A Touch of Light by Thiago Abdalla: Meh, I didn’t really like this one. This is a big, epic fantasy that honestly just tries too hard. There are 3 different story lines that are completely disparate (2 main characters almost cross, but they don’t). Each is so different that it is hard to keep engaged in each when switching. Plus the characters are unappealing. All of them are kind of whiny and just uninspiring. As I looked at a few other reviews on this book, one mentioned that nothing was explained and that is very true. While I don’t like books explaining everything to me, you got to give me something to work from. I don’t plan on continuing this series.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
c/o Netgalley

The City of Dusk by Tara Sim: I liked this one, but also didn’t. It is a weird dichotomy. Set in a world that has been cut off from other realms, it is slowly dying because a balance is needed between the realms. The main characters are the heirs (plus their siblings) of the four main houses that are connected to specific gods and have magical powers because of it. As issues continue because of the Sealing, they try to figure out how to break it. But the gods have different plans for the heirs, and there are other players on the board that could change everything. I honestly really like the characters in this. They were multidimensional and their relationships were interesting. What I didn’t really like is the plot. Or more so, the “twists” that kept getting thrown in. Like the main plot-line was interesting and flowed well. But then towards the end, it just seemed like other things got thrown on top to make things interesting, but for me it overshadowed what the plot had been working toward the whole book. I think I’ll pick up the next in the series, but it will be with some trepidation.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
c/o Netgalley