Monthly Wrap Up/What’s On My Plate May/June

Posted On 1 June 2024

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Reviews, Books, Books Bones and Buffy, Cherie Priest, Christina Henry, Fantasy, Hell for Hire, May/June, Monthly Wrap Up, Rachel Aaron, reading, The CInderwich, The House that Horror built, 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 May and what I’m hoping to read during June. Initial thoughts – I may have gone a little overboard with books this forthcoming month. It’s still doable I think (fingers crossed).

Here’s what I read during May:

The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell
The Silence Factory by Bridget Collings
The House that Horror Built by Christina Henry
Moonstone by Laura Purcell
The CInderwich by Cherie Priest
Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman
Hell for Hire by Rachel Aaron
Hera by Jennifer Saint
Elusive by Genevieve Cogman

Again this month I managed to read and review all my requested books so I’m quite happy with that. I also read another Backlist Book. I had some really good reads. If you’re looking for a new Urban Fantasy then check out my thoughts on Hell for Hire by Rachel Aaron. I also really enjoyed The CInderwich by Cherie Priest which was very thought provoking. I have my new batch of SPFBO books for the 10th year of the competition – and I’ll be taking a look at those shortly.

What I’m hoping to read during June (with links to Goodreads).

Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi
The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs
The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman
Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine
Bitter Waters by Vivian Shaw
Storm Child by Michael Robotham

As with last month, I think this should be manageable and hopefully I can still squeeze in a backlist title.

BTB

This month I read two Backlist books Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman and the Malevolent Seven by Sebastien DeCastell.

Bookforager‘s Picture Prompt book bingo

PPBBC

This month I’m ticking another book off my Picture Prompt bingo card. The picture with the dog. I read this month The Malevolent Seven (which also counted as one of my Backlist Books. If you check out the picture you can see a dog. And you’ll perhaps notice that there are only six characters in a book with a title about seven characters – yes, the dog is one of the characters. Not sure if it’s a very good doggo but…

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 April?

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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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: Jan/Feb

Posted On 1 February 2024

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Review, Books, Books Bones and Buffy, Fantasy, Month in review, SPFBO, What's on my Plate

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I didn’t post a ‘What’s on my Plate’ for January so this will be my first post for 2024.

Here’s what I read during January:

Miss Austen Investigates, the Hapless Milliner by Jessica Bull
The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers
Relight My Fire by CK McDonnell
The September House by Carissa Orlando
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
Only If you’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook
1 x SPFBO Finalist
What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher
1 x SPFBO Finalist

I managed to read and review all my January books and catch up with some late reviews. For the month of Feburary these are the books that I will be reading (in fact I’ve already made a start, I’ve read two, made a start on a third and reviewed one of the books listed. Hopefully I can complete the remaining books and at least one SPFBO finalist (we’ll see, February is a short month but I’d like to stay on track if possible).

Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook – read and reviewed
Only If you’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham – read and awaiting review
Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead – currently reading
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Trials of Empire by Richard Swan
The Briar Book of the Dead by AG Slatter
What Feasts at Night by T Kingfisher
An Education in Malice by ST Gibson
Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff

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.

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