This is my latest update on the SPFBO.  A quick recap.

The next six on my list are as follows:

• Andrew Rowe – Forging Divinity – checked out the first few chapters and intend to read further
• Janice McKonly – Welcome to Mystery Interior – an interesting idea, I read about 15% of this but decided ultimately it wasn’t for me.
• Scott Decker – Gemstone Wyverns – checked out the first few chapters and intend to read further
• Cindy Young-Turner – Thief of Hope – checked out the first few chapters and intend to read further
• Jake Scholl – Blade of the Broken, read about 30% of this book and was quite intrigued and may return to it.
• Ruairi Cinead Ducantlin – Verum – Exercitum ex Nihilo- I couldn’t get into this one unfortunately, I gave it a good shot at around 21% but was unable to really get into the story.

To the authors of Welcome to Mystery Interior, Blade of the Broken and Verum.  Thank you so much for submitting your books for review.  Like I’ve previously said it’s difficult to eliminate certain books off the list and it’s not necessarily because I disliked them but at the end of the day there’s only one book going forward and so I have to narrow down the choices along the way.  The three I will continue to read and review are below with descriptions from Amazon:

Forging Divinity by Andrew Rowe:

Some say that in the city of Orlyn, godhood is on sale to the highest bidder. Thousands flock to the city each year, hoping for a chance at immortality.

Lydia Hastings is a knowledge sorcerer, capable of extracting information from anything she touches. When she travels to Orlyn to validate the claims of the local faith, she discovers a conspiracy that could lead to a war between the world’s three greatest powers. At the focal point is a prisoner who bears a striking resemblance to the long-missing leader of the pantheon she worships.

Rescuing the prisoner would require risking her carefully cultivated cover – but his execution could mean the end of everything Lydia holds dear.

Gemstone Wyverns by Scott Decker

Under Guardian William’s rule, people huddle in castles, dreading the next attack of the Gemstone Wyverns. As Josh Wyrmherd admires a large uncut diamond, which awaits the next king to claim it, a wyvern crashes through the window and steals it from the castle. Accused of assisting the wyvern, Josh is exiled from the kingdom and begins a journey that will change his life.

Thief of Hope by Cindy Young-Turner

Sydney, a street urchin and pickpocket in the town of Last Hope, has managed to evade the oppressive Guild for years, but there is no escaping fate when she’s sentenced to death for associating with the resistance.

After she’s rescued by a wizard, Sydney is forced to accept that magic—long outlawed throughout the Kingdom of Thanumor—still exists, and the Tuatha, a powerful faery folk, are much more than ancient myth and legend. When the wizard offers a chance to fight the Guild and bring Willem, bastard prince and champion of the Tuatha, to the throne, Sydney embraces the cause as a way to find her own redemption.

But Sydney’s fear of the Guild, distrust of authority, and surprising connection to the Tuatha threaten Willem’s success. Can she untangle the strange threads that entwine her life not only to the fate of the kingdom, but also to Willem himself?

Out of 12 books so far I’ve eliminated 8, reviewed one and chosen 3 more to continue reading (and which I will definitely review).  From the number overall I have a further 13 (or 15 if I have time to include the two extra books).