Monthly Wrap Up/What’s On My Plate Mar/April

Posted On 30 March 2024

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: April, Beat the Backlist 2024, Bookforager, Books, fiction, March, Monthly Wrap Up, Picture Prompt Book Bingo, reading-challenge, What's on my Plate

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I’m trying to post a wrap up for the end of each month, mainly to help me to keep track of my reading and at the same time look at what I’m intending to read during the month ahead (inspired by Books Bones and Buffy’s What’s on My Plate.

In this post I shall be looking at the reading I completed for March and what I’m hoping to read during April.

Here’s what I read during March:

The Classified Dossier – Sherlock Holmes and Dorian Gray by Christian Klavier.
Murder Road by Simone St James
Oracle by Thomas Olde
SPFBO F – review to follow
SPFBO F – review to follow
Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell
SPFBO – review to follow
SPFBO – review to follow
Gods of The Wyrd Wood by RJ Barker – review to follow

So far this year I’m managing to stay on track with my review books (fingers crossed). I’ve also managed to read a backlist book each month and this month I’ve now read the last of the SPFBO finalists. I managed to read all my review books for March and this month read a total of 9 books. Gods of the Wyrdwood was my Beat the Backlist book by RJ Barker. I shall be making a start on one of my April review books for what remains of March – possibly The Fates by Rosie Garland..

What I’m hoping to read during April.

The Fates by Rosie Garland
The Library Thief by Kuchenga Shenjé
The Gathering by CJ Tudor
The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams
The Redemption of Morgan Bright by Chris Panatier
You Are Here by David Nicholls
The Silverblood Promise by James Logan
Backlist book
Backlist book

As with last month, I think this should be manageable and if all goes to plan I’m hoping to squeeze in a couple of backlist titles.

BTB

gods

Bookforager‘s Picture Prompt book bingo

PPBBC

This month I’m ticking two books off my Picture Prompt bingo card. Firstly, my backlist book this month was Gods of the Wyrdwood (my review to follow soon). I’m using this for the ‘snail’ prompt. I’m translating the snail into ‘nature’ and the Wyrdwood definitely has nature in spades and places much focus on not abusing the forests. Secondly I’m using Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell for the shadow puppet prompt. This is definitely a book that focuses on shadows (and indeed you could almost make the case that the characters in the play sometimes become the puppet of the ghosts that are using them to tell their own story. The covers have almost conspired to feed into the prompts as well this month.

PICTURE PROMPT BOOK BINGO 2024 (TEXT VERSION)

~~A heeled shoe decorated with a bow~~	A microscope	A partially unrolled scroll and a pen	~~A land snail~~
An old Roman coin	~~A fern plant~~	A simple crown	An armillary sphere
A seashell	A cannon on a gun carriage	A harp (one of the big ones)	~~Two hands making a shadow puppet dog~~
An old camera and tripod	A dog (a very good doggo)	A beehive (with four bees flying around it)	Fluffy cumulonimbus clouds

How did you get on during March?

Monthly Wrap Up/What’s on my Plate: December

Posted On 4 December 2023

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books Bones and Buffy, December line up, Monthly Wrap Up, What's on my Plate

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I’m going to post a wrap up for the end of each month, mainly to help me to keep track of my reading and at the same time look at what I’m intending to read during the month ahead (inspired by Books Bones and Buffy’s What’s on My Plate.

I managed to complete eight books during October. I also started Empire of the Vampire and I’m making good progress with that, I picked up Crucible of Chaos and read about 30% but have set that to one side for now as I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I also picked up The Hacienda and finished it last night as I expected.

So, from my line up for November this is how I’ve got on:

I had four books carried over from October:

Starling House by Alix E Harrow. I’ve read and reviewed this

StarlingHse

A Haunting in the Arctic by CJ Cooke – I didn’t manage to squeeze this one in yet so I’m rolling it forward to December.

A haunting

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas. I finished reading this yesterday evening and will be reviewing soon.

Hacienda3

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. Read and reviewed.

TheReform

From My November line up:

The Temple of Fortuna by Elodie Harper – read and reviewed

Temple

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez – read and to be reviewed shortly.

River

Good Girls Don’t Die by Christina Henry – read and reviewed.

GoodGirls

The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird by Louisa Morgan – read and reviewed

Ghosts

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater – read and to be reviewed soon.

witchwood

Here’s my month in covers:

During December I’ll be picking up A Haunting in the Arctic by CJ Cooke. I need to complete Empire of the Vampire and then I’ll be hopefully picking up a couple of SPFBO finalists together maybe with a couple of review books from January to try and get a head start.

Monthly Wrap Up/What’s on my Plate: November

Posted On 1 November 2023

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books Bones and Buffy, Monthly Wrap Up, November books, What's on my Plate

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October wasn’t a bad month. I completed three SPFBO semi finalists and reviewed them all. We also chose our finalist – which wasn’t easy because seriously, folks, some good books amongst these. This was my line up last month with an update of which books I’ve read – also obviously plus the 3 SPFBO.:

I read and reviewed :The Pale House Devil by Richard Kadrey

The paleHouseDevil

I started Edenville by Sam Rebelein but it didn’t quite work for me atm so I’ve put it down for now.

Eden2

I read and reviewed The Waking of Angantyr by Marie Brennan

theWakingof

A Haunting in the Arctic by CJ Cooke – Unfortunately I haven’t managed to get to this one yet but will be intending to do so soon.

A haunting

I read Red River Seven by AJ Ryan – I’ve not reviewed it yet but will be doing so shortly. A pacy and entertaining read.

RedRiverSeven

Starling House by Alix E Harrow – I’m currently reading this one. It’s intriguing so far.

StarlingHse

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due – I’m keen to pick this one up soon.

TheReform

I also read one of my November books which I really enjoyed and will be reviewing shortly. The Star and the Strange Moon by Constance sayers

Here’s my month in covers:

During NovemberI have a nice line up planned plus a little catching up to do if possible:

From October:

From my November line up:

The Temple of Fortuna by Elodie Harper

Temple

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

River

Good Girls Don’t Die by Christina Henry

GoodGirls

The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird by Louisa Morgan

Ghosts

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater

witchwood

Monthly Wrap Up/What’s on my Plate: October

Posted On 2 October 2023

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Monthly Wrap Up, October, What's on my Plate

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So, I managed to stay on track for September with just a little spill over. I had a busy month outside of reading, we had visitors for a few days which was lovely and we also managed to squeeze in some decorating which kind of took over for a few days with all the ensuing chaos. I’m currently reading and enjoying Once A Monster by Robert Dinsdale and when that book is complete I will have read all my September books so I’m pleased with that. I just need to write up a few reviews which I’m aiming to do this week. I also need to pick up my remaining SPFBO books (those chosen by the Critiquing Chemist – not yet announced so I can’t share the titles at this point but I’m excited to get to these). I also posted seven reviews for my SPFBO batch which was a very intense week followed by my Semi Finalist announcement.

Here’s my month in covers:

During October I have a nice line up planned:

The Pale House Devil by Richard Kadrey

The paleHouseDevil

Edenville by Sam Rebelein

Eden2

The Waking of Angantyr by Marie Brennan

theWakingof

A Haunting in the Arctic by CJ Cooke

A haunting

Red River Seven by AJ Ryan

RedRiverSeven

Starling House by Alix E Harrow

StarlingHse

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

TheReform

Booking Ahead/Weekly/Monthly Wrap Up

Posted On 3 September 2023

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Booking Ahead, Monthly Wrap Up, Weekly wrap up, What's on my Plate

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Sunday Post

I’m trying to get back into the habit of doing a round-up of the week just completed and also take a look at my plans for the forthcoming week. I rather got out of the habit of doing so but I would like to reinstate this type of post as I feel it keeps me on track. So, I’m linking up to The Sunday Post over at Kimberly’s Caffeinated Reviewer. Without further ado:

Books read this week:

Again, not a great reading week really. I picked up both of my anticipated reads but one I’ve DNF’ed and the other didn’t work it’s magic for me although I did manage to complete it. I’ve started one of my September review books and also this month I’ll be picking up and reading those books put forward by the Critiquing Chemist as part of their Semi Finalist hopefuls for SPFBO.

Next Week’s Reads:

I will be completing Talonsister by Jen Williams which I’m about 20% into already and enjoying.

Talonsister

Reviews Posted:

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence
Powerless by Lauren Roberts

Outstanding Reviews

The Twenty by Sam Holland
My Murder by Kate Williams
The People Watcher by Sam Lloyd
All The Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham

My August recap

8 books read in total.

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
1 x SPFBO
1 x SPFBO
Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney
Thornhedge by T Kingfisher
The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman
Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine
Powerless by Lauren Roberts

What’s on My Plate for September

Well, I’m gradually catching up with blog hopping and reviews. The four outstanding reviews above are from books that I read earlier this year but didn’t write up yet so I’m whittling down the list slowly but surely. Fortunately, I’ve been very reasonable when it comes to requesting more review books which means my September review list (which I’ve already started) feels a lot more manageable. This is good news because ideally I’d like to backtrack through my earlier books that I’ve got behind with. I’ll also be aiming to read the books put forward as potential semi-finalists by the Critiquing Chemist and similarly I’ll be giving them my list of hopefuls. I have some tough decisions. In total I fully read 7 of my SPFBO books and the rest I tried to read at least the first 30%, sometimes slightly more, sometimes less. Like I said I really need to decide which books to put forward. I’ll be posting two further elimination posts – both on forthcoming Saturdays. My feelings go out to all the authors still waiting – and very much so to those authors from my first elimination post which can be found here.

My reading this month:

Talonsister by Jen Williams

‘Uncover a magical past that refuses to be forgotten in a world of mythical creatures and ruthless religion in this brand-new duology from the multi-award winning author of The Ninth Rain, perfect for fans of John Gwynne and Andrea Stewart.’

I’ve made a good start on this one already and can’t wait to see where the story takes me.

Talonsister

A Sword of Bronze and Ashes by Anna Smith Spark

‘Readers of Shauna Lawless and Thilde Kold Holdt will love this Celtic-inflected adventure by critically acclaimed, grimdark epic fantasy novelist, Anna Smith Spark.’

I’ve already taken a sneaky peak at this one and it’s given me the shivers (in a good way). I think I’d almost forgotten how much I love this author’s style. So beautiful.

ASwordof

Once A Monster by Robert Dinsdale

This isn’t my first outing with this author. I loved The Toymakers and Paris by Starlight which firmly established him as a master storyteller, in my opinion, so when I saw the description for Once A Monster I was a little bit smitten. Greek myth, Dickensian style setting – hell yes.

Onceamonster

The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft

‘The first book in a wildly inventive and mesmerizing new fantasy series from acclaimed author Josiah Bancroft where magical mysteries abound and only one team can solve The Hexologists.’

I am totally ashamed to admit that I haven’t read this author yet. His first book (Senlin Ascends) in the Books of Babel series was an entry into the SPFBO competition and following that the series simply took off. I think I’ve bought all the books but in typical reviewer fashion the books I’ve bought seem to play second fiddle. So, this will be my first foray and I’m really excited. I will get to The Books of Babel though -I’ve made myself a promise to do so.

TheHexologists

The Night House by Jo Nesbo

‘From the internationally best-selling author, a twisted, multi-layered spin on the classic horror novel’

Definitely the right time of year for a horror novel. This was released earlier this year but when it came up for request I couldn’t resist. The dark nights are creeping in and this book has crept itself onto my list. Woot

thenighthouse

However Many Must Die by Phil Williams

‘Get ready for the first epic entry in a new series, and a new world, of dark military fantasy from Phil Williams.’

I can’t wait to pick this one up. I’ve read this author’s work before, he has a great imagination, his Under Ordshaw series is excellent and I highly recommend Dyer Street Punk Witches – which, although set in the same world can be read without having read the other books in the series (although why deny yourself that pleasure).

HMMD Cover