This month is a bit sporadic in terms of genre, but I hoping it will be helpful after not reading much the last few months...
“This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” - William Goldman
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Title: Daughter of the Moon Goddess Author: Sue Lynn Tan Published: 20th January 2022, HarperCollins Pages: 512 Source: Bought Format: Hardback Rating: 5/5 A fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang'e, in which a young woman's quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm and sets her on a dangerous path - where choices come with deadly consequences, and she risks losing more than her heart. Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the powerful Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin's magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, untrained, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the Crown Prince, mastering archery ...
Title: Gallant Author: VE Schwab Published: 8th March 2022, Titan Books Pages: 310 Source: Bought Format: Hardback Rating: 5/5 Everything casts a shadow. Even the world we live in. And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch. A seam, where the shadow meets its source. Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance Schools for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother's journal - which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home - to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn't matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways. Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant - but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysteriou...
Title: Only A Monster Author: Vanessa Len Published: 17th February 2022, Hodder & Stoughton Pages: 356 Source: FairyLoot Format: Hardback Rating: 4/5 It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother's eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place. But she soon learns the truth. Her family aren't just eccentric: they're monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. And Nick isn't just a cute boy: he's a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down. As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She'll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story... ...she is not the hero.
Title: Safety in Numbers Author: Sophie Penhaligon Published: 3rd January 2022, BooksGoSocial Pages: 230 Source: Netgalley Format: ARC Rating: 3.5/5 When a tragic accident leaves mathematician Seraphina Ellis broken and despairing, she is convinced that she will live out the remainder of her life in lonely solitude. Determined to conceal her disability from her co-workers, she hides away in her desolate cubicle, crossing off the days of her life, unfulfilled and defeated. A chance meeting with irascible but mesmerizing billionaire scientist and CEO Milo Grant provides her with the job of her dreams, and the chance of escape from cubicle land. But Grant is haunted by his own monsters and is increasingly interested in more than just her mathematic magic. In this touching and sexually charged contemporary romance, Sophie Penhaligon manages to deliver a novel that is lighthearted and fun whilst dealing with the difficult topics of loss and disability.
Title: The Leviathan Author: Rosie Andrews Published: 17th February 2022, Raven Books Pages: 320 Source: Netgalley/Bought Format: ARC/Hardback Rating: 4.5/5 Norfolk, 1643. With civil war tearing England apart, reluctant soldier Thomas Treadwater is summoned home by his sister, who accuses a new servant of improper conduct with their widowed father. By the time Thomas returns home, his father is insensible, felled by a stroke, and their new servant is in prison, facing charges of witchcraft. Thomas prides himself on being a rational, modern man, but as he unravels the mystery of what has happened, he uncovers not a tale of superstition but something dark and ancient, linked to a shipwreck years before. Something has awoken, and now it will not rest. richly researched, incredibly atmospheric, and deliciously unsettling, The Leviathan is set in England during a time of political turbulence and religious zealotry. It is a tale of family and loyalty, superstition and sacrifice, but ...
Title: Blood Scion Series: Blood Scion #1 Author: Deborah Falaye Published: 8th March 2022, HarperTeen Pages: 432 Source: Sent for review by publisher Format: ARC Rating: 4.5/5 This is what they deserve. They wanted me to be a monster. I will be the worst monster they ever created. Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will - she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods. Under the Lucis' brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within. Sloan rises through the ranks and gains strength but, in doing so, risks something greater: losing herself entirely, and becoming the very monster that she abhors.
Title: Talk Bookish to Me Author: Kate Bromley Published: 31st August 2021, Zaffre Pages: 376 Source: Bought Format: Paperback Rating: 4.5/5 Inspiration can come from the most unlikely - and inconvenient - sources. Kara Sullivan's life is full of love - albeit fictional. As a best-selling romance novelist and influential Bookstagrammer, she's fine with getting her happily-ever-after fix between the covers of a book. But right now? Not only is Kara's best friend getting married next week - which means big wedding stress - but the deadline for her next novel is looming, and she hasn't written a single word. The last thing she needs is for her infuriating first love, Ryan Thompson, to suddenly appear in the wedding party. But Ryan's unexpected arrival sparks a creative awakening in Kara that inspires the steamy historical romance she desperately needs to deliver. With her wedding duties intensifying, her deadline getting closer by the second and her bills not p...
Title: Windswept & Interesting Author: Billy Connolly Published: 12th October 2021, Two Roads Pages: 389 Source: Bought Format: Hardback Rating: 5/5 In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting life. Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy's life is a remarkable story of success against all odds. Windswept and Interesting is Billy's story in his own words. It is joyfully funny - stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend.
Title: My Dear Hamilton Author: Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie Published: 10th April 2018, Little Brown Pages: 641 Source: Bought Format: Hardback Rating: 4/5 A novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton A general's daughter... Coming of age on the perilous frontier of revolutionary New York, Elizabeth Schuyler champions the fight for independence. And when she meets Alexander Hamilton, Washington's penniless but passionate aide-de-camp, she's captivated by the young officer's charisma and brilliance. They fall in love, despite Hamilton's bastard birth and the uncertainties of war. A founding father's wife... But the union they create - in their marriage and the new nation - is far from perfect. From glittering inaugural balls to bloody street riots, the Hamiltons are at the center of it all - including the political treachery of America's first sex scandal, which forces Eliza to struggle through heartbreak and betrayal to find forgiveness. The last survivi...
Title: Year of the Reaper Author: Makiia Lucier Published: 9th November 2021, Hodder & Stoughton Pages: 321 Source: Bought Format: Hardback Rating: 3.5/5 The past never forgets... Before an ambush by enemy soldiers, Lord Cassia was an engineer's apprentice on a mission entrusted by the king. But when plague sweeps over the land, leaving countless dead and devastating the kingdom, even Cas' title cannot save him from a rotting prison cell and merciless sickness. Three years later, Cas wants only to return to his home in the mountains and forget past horrors. But home is not what he remembers. His castle has become a refuge for the royal court. And they have brought their enemies with them. When an assassin targets those closest to the queen, Cas is drawn into a search for a killer... one that leads him to form an unexpected bond with a brilliant young historian named Lena. Cas and Lena soon realize that who is behind the attacks is far less important than why. They m...
Title: The Storyteller Author: Dave Grohl Published: 5th October 2021, Simon & Schuster UK Pages: 376 Source: Gifted Format: Hardback Rating: 5/5 So, I've written a book. having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities ("It's a piece of cake! Just do 4 hours of interviews, find someone else to write it, put your face on the cover, and voila!") I have decided to write these stories just as I have always done, in my own hand. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I've recorded and can't wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child. This certainly doesn't mean that I'm quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it's like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life...
The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 3rd and runs through Sunday, January 9th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 33 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 3rd and runs through Sunday, January 9th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 33 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
So, I've had the following books on my bookcases for years now and I've not yet felt the urge to pick them up, therefore I'm giving myself until the end of 2022 to read them. If I don't, they're getting unhauled. If I do and I don't like them, they will also be unhauled. If I love them (I'll be surprised if I do...), they will of course me allowed to stay on my shelves. But I need the space!
The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 3rd and runs through Sunday, January 9th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 33 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 3rd and runs through Sunday, January 9th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 33 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 3rd and runs through Sunday, January 9th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 33 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
I had such a good reading year in 2021, something I didn't expect this time last year. I hadn't really picked up a book in a few years and I ended up reaching my Goodreads goal twice!
The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 3rd and runs through Sunday, January 9th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 33 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 3rd and runs through Sunday, January 9th in YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are reading sprints, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For all Bout of Books 33 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
So with the start of 2022 on us, I've decided to set myself a few reading goals. I'm not putting too much pressure on myself as that will just suck the fun right out of reading, so instead these are more like aims. So this year I'm aiming to...