May : My Month in Review
Did you hear that? Was it a plain soaring overhead? Was it a train speeding by? No, it was the sound of another month rushing by so fast that it broke some sort of a new world record. We’ve been travelling round the Highlands which has been great (even with the lack of wifi) Such a beautiful place that I highly recommend. This month sees the completion of the SPFBO – watch this space for an upcoming announcement, plus today is the final day for the Wyrd and Wonder event – I’ll post a wrap up tomorrow. I’ve managed to read 11 books this month (my month in covers can be found here). And, I still have a few reviews to post but overall I’m on track. Here’s my month in review:
Books read: this month = 11
- The Furies by Katie Lowe
- Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen
- Westside by WM Akers
- A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
- King of the Road by RS Belcher
- The Poison Song by Jen Williams
- We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson
- Orconomics by J Zachary Pike
- Council by Snorri Kristjansson
- Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs
- The Red Stained Wings by Elizabeth Bear
What’ve you been reading??
Backlist books
- Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs (RTF)

Unfinished series completed:
- The Poison Song by Jen Williams (RTF)

Books Bought:
-
The Mortal Word (The Invisible Library series Book 5 by Genevieve Cogman

Audio Books Bought:
-
Queenslayer (Spellslinger, Book 5) by: Sebastien de Castell
-
Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson, Book 10) by: Patricia Briggs
-
A Skinful of Shadows by: Frances Hardinge
Review Books:
Well, *blushes* I may have gotten a little carried away this month with my review books – especially after I showed such restraint last month. But, in my defence (1) I couldn’t help it because – BOOKS; (2) the review dates on these vary quite a lot and some are not due to be reviewed until September and even October – so there is that (forward planning don’t you know); (C) BOOKS. Guilty as charged; (d) – OMG – these books sound so bloody awesome that I was mesmerised, I’ve linked to Goodreads so you can check out the blurbs – prepare to want these books. That is all.
- Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham
- Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky
- Bone China by Laura Purcell
- Limited Wish by Mark Lawrence
- Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
- The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg
- Lord of Secrets by Breanna Teintze
- The Toll by Cherie Priest
- Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa
- Priest of Lies by Peter McLean
- Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs
Cover compare:
Again this month I like both covers but the cover on the left is my favourite because of the blossoms.
Which is your favourite?
Hope you’ve all had a good month.
#wyrdandwonder : Friday Face Off : “simples”

(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout. This week’s theme:
“simples” – A favourite fantasy cover
I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with this week. And, at the same time I have to confess that I found that the freedom that came with choosing a favourite cover was a lot more difficult than I expected! Probably because there are A LOT of great covers out there so choosing one to highlight was difficult. I’ve gone with the first two books in the series and this is a Face Off for the two different sets of covers. This week I’ve gone for the Golgotha series by RS Belcher:
Vs
I like both of these sets of covers but my favourite set of covers, without doubt, is below:
(I’ve added the third book in the series so you can see the full set – there isn’t a tarot card version available for Queen of Swords at the moment).
Which one is your favourite?
Like last week I’ve added a Mr Linky here so that you can leave a link if you wish or please leave me a link in the comments so we can all visit and check out each others covers. Thanks
I’ve updated the list and included themes through to the end of 2019 – I’ve also included events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share that let me know in the comments). I also have a list prepared for 2020 and so will set up a separate page soon for forthcoming themes. As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment.
Next week – A cover that makes you think of Summer
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ or one of your favourite covers)
2019
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
7th June – “One swallow does not make a summer” – A cover that makes you think of Summer
14th June – “Coraline opened the box of chocolates. The dog looked at them longingly.” – A cover featuring something sweet
21st June – Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year – Pagan rituals/standing stones/blazing suns – a cover with your own interpretation
28th June – “And who decided which people wore the striped pyjamas” – A cover that is striped
5th July – “The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe… has been answered” – a cover featuring something/somebody historic
12th July – A wrap around cover
19th July – “You can’t choose between life and death when we’re dealing with what is in between.” – A cover that is grainy or looks like ‘white noise’
26th July – “Ludo ….. down” – A cover that is Upside Down
2nd August – “There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.” A cover featuring children
9th August – “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request.” – A cover featuring Pirates
16th August – “The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagles own plumes” – a cover featuring feathers
23rd August – A cover that is a movie tie in
30th August – “I wandered lonely as a cloud” – a cover that is predominantly yellow
6th September “Warm September brings the fruit” – a cover that is seasonal for Autumn/Fall
13th September – Friday the 13th – unlucky for some! A cover with ‘curse’ in the title
20th September – “Your hair is winter fire,January embers.” – A cover featuring hair
27th September – Freebie
4th October – “Feed me Seymour” – A cover that is 60s horror
11th October – ““And, though there should be a world of difference between the smile of a man and the bared fangs of a wolf, with Joss Merlyn they were one and the same.” – a cover featuring an Inn
18th October – “It’s your favorite scary movie, remember? He had on the white mask, he stalked the babysitters.” – A cover featuring a scream
25th October – for Halloween – pick any scary cover you like
(I’m hoping that November will once again bring to us SciFiMonth – Twitter @SciFiMonth)
1st November – A cover that is predominantly grey
8th November – “big badda boom” – a cover that features an explosion
15th November – “No thinking thing should be another thing’s property, to be turned on and off when it is convenient.” – a cover featuring a robot
22nd November – A cover that is Futuristic
29th November – “When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.” – a cover that is 60s sci fi
6th December – Now is the winter of our discontent, Made glorious summer by this sun of York” – a cover that puts you in mind of winter
13th December – A cover that features a temple/or religious icon
20th December – Longest Night – a dark and foreboding cover
27th December – the festive season – a cover that is glittery or sparkling
(2020 – January is Vintage SciFi month so I’ll be including possible themes to take that on board.)
#wyrdandwonder: Can’t Wait Wednesday: The House of Sacrifice (Empires of Dust #3) by Anna Smith Spark
29 May 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Anna Smith Spark, Can't wait Wednesday, Empires of Dust #3, The House of Sacrifice, Wishful Endings, Wyrd and Wonder

Wyrd and Wonder – a month long event that is a celebration of fantasy. Check out the details here and join in the fun in whatever way you would like to do so.
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was originally created by Breaking
the Spine. Unfortunately Breaking the Spine are no longer hosting so I’m now linking my posts up to Wishful Endings Can’t Wait Wednesday. Don’t forget to stop over, link up and check out what books everyone else is waiting for. If you want to take part, basically, every Wednesday, we highlight a book that we’re really looking forward to. This week the book I can’t wait for is: The House of Sacrifice (Empires of Dust #3) by Anna Smith Spark.
This series is fantastic, I’m loving Anna Smith Spark’s style of writing, it’s really quite something. Anyway, The House of Sacrifice is, I think, due for publication either end of July or beginning of August and here are the covers and details:
Marith’s power is growing. His empire stretches across half the world, and allies are flocking to his banner to share the spoils of war. With Thalia ruling at his side they are unstoppable.
But Marith is become increasingly mentally unstable and their victories cannot continue forever.
Here are my reviews for The Court of Broken Knives and The Tower of Living and Dying.
A decade of good reading

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic is:
Favorite Books Released In the Last Ten Years
Now, this is really hard. I find it difficult to narrow it down to a best of 10 list at the end of the year given that I read usually about 100 or more books. I do a ‘best of’ list at the start of the new year so I’ve gone back through those lists and tried to choose a varied selection from the past 10 years.
2010 – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
2011 – Witch Light by Susan Fletcher
2012 – The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
2013 – Beauty by Sarah Pinborough
2014 – City of Stairs by Robert Bennett
2015 – Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier
2016 – Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
2017 – Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
2018 – The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
2019 –A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
I hope there’s something here that appeals. 2019 isn’t yet half way through but I’ve gone for A Brightness Long Ago because it was very good and it was my first book by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Here are the lovely covers:



