The last few years I've made a list of 10 books - 5 books off my shelf, 5 books from the library - that I'm really wanting to read. There's no real rhyme or reason. I just go through my library list and my shelves and pick the books that are calling to me. My focus in 2026 is reading books I think I'll love - or at least really enjoy.
Goodreads: Year One (Chronicles of The One #1) by Nora Roberts
Blurb: The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed--and more than half of the world's population was decimated.
Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river--or in the ones you know and love the most.
As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.
In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.
The end has come. The beginning comes next.
Why I Think I'll Love This One: I typically enjoy Nora Roberts' books and I've been enjoying fantasy more lately, so I thought I'd revisit this one which I skipped when it came out.
My Thoughts: While I've been enjoying fantasy more lately I typically lean towards the cozier fantasy side of things or at least quest based. This was decidedly not that. There's nothing cozy about this book and the focus from start to finish is just survival. The world has ended, society has broken down and people with magical powers - stronger since the Doom started - are hunted on all sides. This is an ensemble cast who for the most part didn't know each other before but are all united by the goal to survive and create some kind of community. Because of the ensemble cast and the general grimness of the world I struggled to become invested with the story at the beginning, and it took me a bit to figure out who was who. I never wanted to stop reading it but I wasn't flying through it. And then everything came together. It took me 3 days to read the first 100 pages and then 1 day to read the final 300. This isn't my favorite Nora Roberts book and definitely isn't a book I'll reread but I will definitely be picking up the next book in the trilogy very soon. My Rating: Really Liked It (4 Stars)
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