So, this weekend, we’re off on a little adventure to Cork, one of our favourite spots. I’ve sorted out a few books to keep me company on the journey, and hopefully steal a bit of reading time in between all the exploring. Cork’s got some wonderful independent coffee shops that are great to relax in. Cork Coffee Roasters is a gem, but it can get a tad busy for my liking when I’m in the mood for some chill reading. Still, I’ll try to squeeze in some quiet time with a book somewhere along the way.
I’m taking along a proper print book this time, a beautiful hardcover edition of “The Prospects” by KT Hoffman from Afterlight. It feels like ages since I’ve toted around a physical book, and I’m a bit worried about keeping it pristine without my trusty book sleeve. Seems like it vanished in the chaos of our last move, along with my print copy of “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. I’ve been dipping in and out of the audiobook lately, read by Tartt herself. It’s alright, but I reckon I might switch to the ebook soon – her voice for Bunny is starting to grate on me a bit.
Then there’s the digital realm, where I’m enjoying this fanfiction called “Landscape with a Blur of Conquerors” by diasterisms. Been reading it on and off for ages, so I’ll probably sneak in a chapter or two during our travels. And if I fancy something new, “The Ashes & the Star-Cursed King” by Carissa Broadbent is calling my name, especially after the ending of “The Serpent & the Wings of Night.” Can’t resist diving back into that series.
So, that’s the plan for our Cork weekend – not expecting loads of reading time with all the fun stuff lined up, but there’s always a moment or two to get lost in a good book, isn’t there?
The Prospects by KT Hoffman
The pressure cooker of minor league baseball leads to major chemistry in this exhilarating, sexy, and triumphant rivals to lovers debut romance.
Hope is familiar territory for Gene Ionescu. He has always loved baseball, a sport made for underdogs and optimists like him. He also loves his team, the minor league Beaverton Beavers, and, for the most part, he loves the career he’s built. As the first openly trans player in professional baseball, Gene has nearly everything he’s ever let himself dream of—that is, until Luis Estrada, Gene’s former teammate and current rival, gets traded to the Beavers, destroying the careful equilibrium of Gene’s life.
Gene and Luis can’t manage a civil conversation off the field or a competent play on it, but in the close confines of dugout benches and roadie buses, they begrudgingly rediscover a comfortable rhythm. As the two grow closer, the tension between them turns electric, and their chemistry spills past the confines of the stadium. For every tight double play they execute, there’s also a glance at summer-tan shoulders or a secret shared, each one a breathless moment of possibility that ignites in Gene the visceral, terrifying kind of desire he’s never allowed himself. Soon, Gene has to reconcile the quiet, minor-league-sized life he used to find fulfilling with the major-league dreams Luis makes feel possible.
A joyful, heartfelt debut rom-com revealing what’s possible when we allow ourselves to want something enough to swing for the fences.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and for ever.
Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt’s cult bestseller The Secret History is a remarkable achievement – both compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful.
Landscape with a blur of Conquerors by diasterisms
“While I share your contempt for this situation in which we find ourselves, do not mistake it as apathy,” he hissed through gritted teeth, dark eyes burning. “I hardly expect your disposition to sweeten, but I will be damned if I allow my future Empress to behave in a manner that reflects poorly on me and on the First Order!”
“If you allow?” She wrenched her arm out of his viselike grasp, batting his hand away for good measure. “I don’t belong to you. I don’t belong to anyone.”
“That might have been the case back when you were a scavenger on that pitiful scrap heap of a planet, but now?” His sardonic gaze flickered over her silk robes and the jewels woven through her elaborate braids. “Now you are the Chume’da, and the Chume’da belongs to her people. Their fate is entirely in your hands. Should you cross the line, it is they who will suffer for it. Am I making myself clear?”
“I hate you,” she said bitterly.
He sneered at her. “See? Already you are acclimatizing so well to married life.”
The Ashes and the Star-cursed King by Carissa Broadbent
Love is a sacrifice at the altar of power.
In the wake of the Kejari, everything Oraya once thought to be true has been destroyed. A prisoner in her own kingdom, grieving the only family she ever had, and reeling from a gutting betrayal, she no longer even knows the truth of her own blood. She’s left only with one certainty: she cannot trust anyone, least of all Raihn.
The House of Night, too, is surrounded by enemies. Raihn’s own nobles are none too eager to accept a Turned king, especially one who was once a slave. And the House of Blood digs their claws into the kingdom, threatening to tear it apart from the inside.
When Raihn offers Oraya a secret alliance, taking the deal is her only chance at reclaiming her kingdom–and gaining her vengeance against the lover who betrayed her. But to do so, she’ll need to harness a devastating ancient power, intertwined with her father’s greatest secrets.
But with enemies closing in on all sides, nothing is as it seems. As she unravels her past and faces her future, Oraya finds herself forced to choose between the bloody reality of seizing power – and the devastating love that could be her downfall.
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Elaine Howlin 
Enjoy your trip!
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