Well, this wasn’t a great month on the mental health front, but I have my first session with a new therapist tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes. Books-wise things didn’t go too badly, though!
Read
14 books in a month ain’t bad! Although quite a few of these (Drawing Blood, Garden of Stones, Artifact Space, Bone Shard Daughter, Cold Iron, and Unnatural Magic) were re-reads. Of the new-to-me reads, Comfort Me With Apples and Transgressions of Power knocked it so far out of the park ‘it’ is currently somewhere in orbit around Pluto! I don’t think I could possibly review Comfort without major spoilers, but I’m determined to get Transgressions (and the first book in the series, Mazes of Power) reviewed.
Out of 12 authors this month, I read
- 3 cis men, 7 cis women, 2 trans authors
- 2 BIPOC and 10 white authors
That means 16% of this month’s reading was by BIPOC authors. Not cool. I still need to do better.
Reviewed
I’m so happy with how many reviews got written this month!!! Even if five of them were mini-, DNF-reviews, ten is still pretty awesome. (Although you won’t see my review of Garden of Stones until this Thursday – but I wrote it in November, so it counts!)
DNF-ed
None of these worked for me – except for The Lost Dreamer, which I adore, but which I decided to set aside until I could read the finalised version. I’m hoping the issues I had with the book are problems with the ARC and won’t be present in the ‘real’ copy!
ARCs Received
I was so lucky with ARCs this month!!! I ended up completely devouring Hell Followed With Us, and I did not expect to be approved for Age of Ash at all – but the worst they can say if you request it is ‘no’, right? In a Garden Burning Gold is absolutely breathtaking so far – I already suspect it’s going to end up on my Best of 2022 list! The Circus Infinite and Bluebird are both unknowns – in the sense that I hadn’t heard much about them before I requested them – and Azura Ghost, well. I loved the first book in the series, and think I’m going to have to reread it before diving into Azura!
ARCs Outstanding
I managed to get my Outstanding down from last month’s 9 to my usual 8. The Midnight Girls is definitely a priority, since it releases next month, but I’m having a hard time dragging myself away from Dark Breakers and Saint Death’s Daughter!
Rec Lists & Misc
I’ve been working on my two Best of 2021 lists (one of books published this year, and one of books published earlier but that I only read this year). Neither of them are ready yet, but I’m excited to get them finished!
Looking Forward
The book I was most looking forward to in December – The Scratch Daughters by Hannah Abigail Clarke – has been pushed back again; this time to November 2022. I’m gutted, honestly. The release has been delayed over and over, and now it’s going to be another year before I can read it. So I’m feeling a bit miserable.
There are still a few releases in December I’m looking forward to, though: The Midnight Girls, of course, whether or not I’ve had an ARC already; and Plum Duff, the latest book in the Greenwing and Dart series, is currently scheduled for the 21st. There’s some queer YA books I’d like to try, and Daughter of the Sea is allegedly about selkies and therefore has my immediate attention.
We’re also getting volume one of the official English translation of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation – possibly better known by the name of the tv adaption, The Untamed. I haven’t watched it, but only because I’m terrible at sitting down and watching things; it looks gorgeous and I’ve heard nothing but love for it. So I’m Very Interested Indeed to read the book – especially since, while the show hasn’t been able to be explicitly queer because of China’s censorship laws, the book very much is canonically queer. Or so I’ve been told.
Last but CERTAINLY not least, a lovely surprise: Dust Up at the Crater School!!! This is the second book in the series that started with Three Twins at the Crater School, which as you can see from my review was one of my favourite books of the year. I had no idea we might get the sequel so soon, but I’m ecstatic!!!
And that wraps up November. May December be gentle and kind to all of us!
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