It’s only really in the past year or two that I’ve started to commit to reading series again. For a long time, I kept putting them off because I didn’t want to commit. Once I start a series, I have to complete it, as long as I’m reasonably enjoying it. The problem is that many of the series I wanted to read are on the longer side, with 4 or more books. Through my reading challenges the past couple of years, I finally started to tackle some of the series that I’d been putting off and I’m so glad I did! Duologies, on the other hand, still seem to be quite rare. It seems that most authors tend to go for trilogies or even more, and many of the books that I thought would be standalones end up being part of a series. In the past few years, I’ve read only three very strong duologies, if I count only those where I’ve finished both books, but all three are highly recommended!
Monthly Recommendations is a Goodreads group created by Kayla Rayne and Trina from Between Chapters. Monthly topics cane be found on the Goodreads page here.
1) The Monsters of Verity by Victoria Schwab
This was the first series by Victoria Schwab that I ever tried, and I immediately fell in love with her writing style. This duology is an urban fantasy about a world where people’s sins spawn monsters, who have taken over the city. The monsters are controlled by Kate Harker’s ruthless father, who makes people pay for protection. The book follows Kate, who is trying to prove herself to be as tough as her father, and August, a monster who wants to be human. Although I found the books a tiny bit confusing at first since you are thrown straight into the world without much context, it quickly captivated me and became an easy favourite of the year. My one small regret is that I had to read Our Dark Duet spread over several days this year because of my work schedule. I wish I’d read it when I had more time to read straight through!
2) Between the Lines and Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer
I first read Between the Lines several years ago when it came out, and had Off the Page on my shelves for years before I finally decided to pick it up. This is an amazing duology that Jodi Picoult co-wrote with her teenage daughter, about a girl named Delilah who falls in love with the Prince in her favourite fairy tale book. The characters in this book have lives of their own when the book is closed, and “act out” the story whenever it is opened. Prince Oliver, the main character in the story, dreams of having the freedom to live his own life instead of being forced into the fairy tale story, and wants to escape the book to be with Delilah in her world instead. The story concept was amazing, and the books were so well-written and fun to read. I absolutely love the whole “fairy tale character tries to adapt to real world” trope and I wish we could see more of that! These books are just adorable.
3) The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
This duology is definitely one of my favourites of all the books I’ve read over the past few years. It follows Don Tillman, an eccentric professor of genetics, who decides that he wants to get married, and tries to find an ideal wife using The Wife Project, a scientific approach he devises himself. He soon meets Rosie, who seems to be the opposite of what he is looking for in every way, and sets out to help her with her plan to find her biological father. Although the author has said he never intended for Don to be on the autism spectrum, the character definitely reads that way. I love the dynamics between him and Rosie. I’ve seen a lot of reviewers complain that the second book is just not good at all, but I really enjoyed it. I agree that The Rosie Project is better overall, but I thought The Rosie Effect was still great.
Abyssal Librarian 