I’ve taken a bit of a break from blogging for the last few weeks as things have been a bit tough with my health and at work, so I decided to take a step back from other things like blogging. But I’m back to wrap up July and August. I might continue with bimonthly rather than monthly wrap ups for the time being and see how things go. I don’t want to give up blogging completely since I love it, but want to write and post at my own pace.

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall ⭐⭐⭐ – This was a really well narrated audiobook with an interesting narrative device – the story is told from the perspective of a hobgoblin narrator observing the events. However, the book was a little darker than I was expecting from the description and bright, pretty cover. The plot felt meandering and I wasn’t keen on the love interest’s persistent nastiness.

A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I finally finished the Shades of Magic series! This was a great conclusion to a brilliant series, though I did enjoy the second book more. I’m really glad I managed to finish this before the sequel series – Threads of Power – comes out later this year.

The Comeback by Lily Chu ⭐⭐⭐.5 – Lily Chu’s first book, The Stand-In was one of my favourite books from last year. It was such a fun, entertaining read with a great story. Sadly, I just didn’t click with The Comeback. It felt slow and I found the main character quite annoying a lot of the time, and didn’t like her attitude and choices in places. It wasn’t a bad book, but I didn’t love it either. The audiobook narration was great though.

I was really disappointed to miss out on Fairyloot’s Legendborn set so was excited when they did a reprint and managed to get them! They arrived recently and they are so gorgeous.

I wrote quite a lot in July and managed to hit 30,000 words which felt like a big achievement! I’ve been writing a lot slower because of my health so getting to 30k was very exciting.

What books have you enjoyed this month? Chat with me in the comments!

January was a slow reading month and I didn’t actually finish any books, but in February I finished two! February was also an exciting month because I went to my first book event since before the pandemic! I went to the Norwich event on Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night tour. It was amazing to hear her talk about her writing and world building and I came away feeling so inspired. I also got my copy of A Priory of the Orange Tree signed!

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri ⭐⭐⭐.5 – I struggled to get through this one as I found the pacing too slow for me. There was so much I loved about this book, but the pacing just held back my enjoyment and it did take me quite a while to read it. It’s a fantastic book so would still definitely recommend it, I just didn’t click with it sadly.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I decided it was time to take a break from fantasy and read something totally different. I’ve read a few Agatha Christie novels before but not in any order. So this time I decided to read the very first Poirot novel. I was hooked all the way through and there were so many twists and turns!

While in Norwich I popped into a couple of independent bookshops and as soon as I spotted the UK paperback edition of One For All by Lillie Lainoff on the shelf, I just knew I had to pick up a copy!

After writing a lot in January, February wasn’t so good. I’ve been struggling with my current project, which is essentially a completely refreshed version of an old project I’m writing again from scratch, but although I’m writing on a clean document, I am essentially editing/redrafting what came before. I’m someone who loves first drafts and struggles with redrafting and editing, so I’m finding it challenging! But hopefully I will learn a lot from it.

What books have you enjoyed this month? Chat with me in the comments!

I am very late with my January wrap up. The last few weeks just seem to have been very busy. I didn’t manage to finish any books in January! I’ve been listening to the audiobook of The Jasmine Throne and I’ve been finding the pacing a bit slow so it’s been taking me a while to get through it. I’m also halfway through reading Broken Web.

In January I had two exciting Fairyloot parcels. The Atlas Paradox, which matches the first book excellently. And the Daughter of the Pirate King set which I ordered months ago. It was worth the wait though as they are such gorgeous editions.

Although I didn’t do so much reading in January, it was a great month for writing. I wrote the most words I’ve written in one month in a long time, so I’m feeling very happy about that.

What books have you enjoyed this month? Chat with me in the comments!

The last wrap up of 2022! In the last month of the year, I finished two books, both of which I loved, so it was a pretty good month.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I just loved being back in the world of the Grishaverse, and Leigh Bardugo always writes a great story.

Make You Mine This Christmas by Lizzie Huxley-Jones (audiobook) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I rounded off the year with a Christmassy read! This book was super fun and entertaining, and hit the emotional beats really well too.

I got Master of Iron, the sequel to Blade of Secrets, for Christmas and I’m really excited to read this one.

I finally, finally, got back into writing in December. I’m working on a new version of an old project, and I’m 13,000 words in now, so slowly but surely making progress.

What books have you enjoyed this month? Chat with me in the comments!