3. The Duke Who Didn't

By Courtney Milan (285 pp ebook) I read this on my phone on the bus -- I usually love Milan's books, especially the contemporaries, but this one, set in 1890 England, was soso for me. It was weird b/c I loved the setting and the characters but the story didn't click for me. It's about Chloe Fong who has a huge unrequited (or so she thinks) crush on Jeremy Wentworth who is the secret duke of the village where she lives. The best part of the book was the afterword where Milan talks about her family history and how it inspired the story.

2. Mad Ship

By Robin Hobb (850 pp) I am loving these books but also feel they could easily be 200 pp shorter which after 3 books would be 600 pp, another huge book. Especially since after wandering about for 700 pages about 15 ginormous events happened within 20 pages. As the story continues, nothing is going as planned. Characters that seemed terrible at first are now stepping up or else, being terrible in different ways. Characters that seemed great at first are doing things you wish they wouldn't do. The security of the world is breaking down. Really good.