Being ill has continued, but I’m better than I was, and I’m calling that a win!

Now, onto the books!

ARCs Received

ARCs for 2023 releases have started to appear! And, like magic, ARCs of The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming: Book Two: Practice appeared the same day I finished book one, so that was pretty magical! As is the LONG-AWAITED appearance of Scratch Daughters and Nightland Express!

I have no doubt they’ll both prove to have been worth waiting for.

Extremely excited for The Stars Undying after glimpsing the first page (which gave me immense Teixcalaan vibes!) and Daughters of Izdihar, which is one of my most-anticipated books of 2023!

Read

15 books this month, which is three less than June. I’m okay with that. I’ve been ill, and just generally had a harder time than usual focussing on books. But the ones I read were mostly excellent – stand-outs being A Half-Built Garden, The Women Could Fly, and The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming: Book One: Theory. Hoping to get a review out for that last one next month; I’ve already reviewed the other two.

13.33% of this month’s books were by BIPOC authors. Up from last month, but not great, since it’s really just a fancy way of saying two books. Of 15. Gah.

Reviewed

Not the order in which they were published, and I scheduled a few for next month, but this is the order in which I wrote them and there’s EIGHT of them!!! I am delighted.

I’m especially delighted with my review of The Women Could Fly, because I didn’t know how to do it justice, but I think I managed. (I didn’t know how to do justice to A Half-Built Garden, either, and I don’t think I did, but I did my best and it counts!)

DNF-ed

Only three this month! I’m so glad – I feel like I’ve been DNF-ing books left, right and centre lately, and I’d rather not.

I talked about these three in my round-up post yesterday, but the TL;DR version is: The Monsters We Defy is not bad, not great, just not for me; The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a book that lots of people are going to adore, but again, not quite for me; and Beneath the Burning Wave is unbelievably bad in all the ways.

ARCs Outstanding

Nine! I’m down to NINE outstanding ARCs! July was meant to be my get-through-ARCs month, and I managed it – I got through HALF of the ones waiting for me!

Not sure how I managed it, but I’m super happy!

Misc

I made substantial behind-the-scenes edits to my Unmissable Fantasy and Sci-Fi of 2022 list, and added more books and newly-revealed covers. I probably won’t be able to add more books/change book details any more, for tech reasons, so if I discover more books I want to feature, I’ll probably showcase them in these monthly wrap-up posts.

I withdrew as a judge from the Subjective Chaos Kind of Awards – it was a good experience, but it was definitely the right move to bow out.

And I ended up making a pie chart re how many of the books I read are queer vs not after a conversation with the hubby, so you can have that too!

(Honestly, we were both surprised that Cishet MC was as big a slice as it is! 29%?! How did THAT happen?!)

Looking Forward

August is absolutely PACKED with amazing new books – so many of this year’s fantasy heavy-hitters are coming out next month! I especially can’t wait to see the fandom reaction to A Taste of Gold and Iron! (If you missed it, you can read my review here! Spoiler: It’s flawless.)(The book, not the review!)

I’m in the middle of reading The Oleander Sword, Moon Dark Smile, and The Spear Cuts Through Water at the moment – all books from some of my favourite authors, all ridiculously excellent!

Entirely new to me will be The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Ruby Fever, and Husband Material. Don’t ask me to choose which I’m most excited for! Although that does remind me, I need to reread Boyfriend Material…

That’s it for this month – maybe August treat us all well!