December : My Month in Review + book covers
31 December 2018 
Wow, 2018 is coming to a close. I feel short changed somehow – like somebody pulled a fast one and shortened the year somehow. It’s been a lot of fun this year though in spite of the way it’s flown by at breakneck speed. I’ve loved my reading and blogging, interacting with this wonderful community, taking part again in the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off and just becoming involved in lots of bookish endeavours. For those of you who celebrate Christmas I hope you’ve had a lovely time – for those that don’t, I hope you’ve also had a lovely time during December and I’ll take this opportunity to wish everyone all the best for the forthcoming New Year. Anyways. I’ve read 10 books this month. I’ve also completed my final batch of SPFBO books and chosen a finalist to go forward to the Second Stage. My reviews will start to appear in January. I can’t deny that I have some catching up to do in terms of the blog and visiting all my bookish buddies but I decided to concentrate solely on reading my SPFBO books during December which is why I was mostly absent – well, that plus all the holiday socialising. So, here’s my month in review:
Books read: this month = 10
- An Empire of Tears by Tim Marquitz
- Purple Haze by Andrew Einspruch
- Kingshold by D P Wooliscroft
- Dark Oak by Jacob Sannox
- Sworn to the Night by Craig Schaefer
- Forsaken Kingdom by RJ Rasmussen
- Under Ordshaw by Phil Williams
- High Barrens by Alice Sabo
- Songs of Insurrection by J.C Kang
- An Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
What’ve you been reading??
Backlist books
None.
Unfinished series completed:
None.
Books Bought:
- The Corset by Laura Purcel
- Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs
- City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett
Review Books
- A Time of Blood by John Gwynne
- The Dollmaker by Nina Allan
- Bound by Mark Lawrence
Cover compare:
These two are not just completely different style wise but also the title. I actually did a double take and wondered if I’d gone wrong somehow. I think I prefer to the blue cover this time.
Hope you’ve all had a good month.
Books and travelling with Lynn 
December is such a busy month, more than the others. You’ve read a lot! While I reviewed six books in December, they’re mostly shorter books and novellas. And that trend continued because I’m currently listening Martha Wells’ Artificial Condition.
Ohh, drop me a line with your link for the Matha Well’s books. I’ve had my eye on those so will be interested to see what you make of them.
Lynn 😀
Wow, you definitely worked hard on your SPFBO books! Hopefully January will be a little less busy for you. I hope you’ve enjoyed the holiday season, Lynn! I can’t believe tomorrow is 2019!!
I’ve really enjoyed the month and it’s such a relief to have completed the first half of the SPFBO. I purposefully didn’t request any review books for December with that in mind. January isn’t too bad either in terms of commitments so I’m hoping to slowly get back on track and catch up.
Happy New Year Tammy, hope you had a lovely December and that 2019 is a lovely year for you and yours.
Lynn 😀
Looks like you still had a very productive month! Happy New Year, Lynn!
Yeah, I got my reading complete which was important. I just now need to catch up with the reviews. I’ll get there eventually.
Lynn 😀
Same! I think I have at least 11 in my drafts folder lol
Boo! I suppose we’ll catch up eventually.
Lynn 😀
I do feel like 2018 flew by way too fast! And you had some beautiful covers this month- I love the look of Songs of Insurrection and dark Oak. The Poison Thread looks like an interesting read also.
Hope you have a happy New Year!
Greg, I hope you have a great 2019.
Some of those covers are lovely – Songs of Insurrection I think is great.
The Poison Thread (Or Silent Companions as it was titled in the UK) was great and I highly recommend.
Happy New Year to you.
Lynn 😀
2018 felt like it flew right back for me too. And I did notice your blog was quiet in December, now that I know you were concentrating on SPFBO it all makes sense now!
Yeah, I just decided, what with all the other things going on and socialising, something had to take a back seat and tbh I deliberately had no review requests for December for that reason. Obviously I’ve got behind on visiting and commenting but I’ll catch up eventually – or I’ll eventually draw a line under it and just keep moving forward.
Lynn 😀
I’m quite eager to see what you think of A Time of Blood: John Gwynne has rapidly become one of my very favorite storytellers! 🙂
I can’t wait to get to that one – I loved the first. Really loved it and it made me wonder why I’d taken so long to pick that author up – well, apart from shortage of time.
Lynn 😀
Lynn, in December I read The Dragon’s Blade: Veiled Intentions by Michael R. Miller, Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier, a couple of e-shorts and a history of the Theatre Royal by Michael Coren. But, like you, I am really behind on the reviews!
Yep, need to catch up with reviews. Just really have to sit down and get down to business. Stop procrastinating.
Lynn 😀
I know exactly what you mean!