I've been reading Paullina Simons' two latest books, and given up on them both.

"Children of Liberty" is the prequel (prilogy?) to the Bronze Horseman trilogy but it just doesn't work. The characters aren't likeable, the scenarios aren't authentic, it sucks.

"A Song In The Daylight" has the most heinous and unrealistic "heroine" of all time, some of the most ludicrous factual matrices I've ever come across, some of the blandest secondary characters, and while I understand she's doing a few throwbacks to Shakespeare and dabbling with a little intertextuality, the ending is just rubbish.

Her one before these (Road to Paradise) was overly self important and didn't seem to be thought through (slabs of dialogue, pages of it at a time) which just read as though it was the author sussing out what she thought about certain philosophical questions, and it was a bit crap, but there was enough to keep it moving and keep it interesting.

These two, not so much. I've put them both down. The first because I loved the three original books, and I don't want to ruin them but delving too deeply into the backstory which hurts the understanding of the characters... and this one (a stand alone 800 page monolith) because, well, it's useless.

Time to pick another book off the shelf, ladies...

What's everyone else reading?