Books and books… and more books. Oh, look. Books!

Whoever said January is a slow month, simply didn’t have enough to do with their time… This includes the past me. January of 2024 has flown past at the speed of Thanos’s finger snap.

So, what have I been up to in January? Glad you asked. I have read 6 books. 6! Can you believe? I certainly can’t… Let’s take a look what I’ve read…

Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang – score and reviews have been published at the Asylum, you can check it out here 🙂

Master of the Void by Wend Raven – score and reviews have been published at the Asylum, you can check it out here. That cover is absolutely divine. Every time I opened my e-reader to continue with the book, I put the cover on the screen and it’s just so… divine. I loved the book, too!

A Rival Most Vial by R.K. Ashwick – this is a fantasy romance, featuring M/M relationship and there are magic potions! Reviews and scores to be revealed soon!

The Fall Is All There Is by C.M. Caplan – a scifi/fantasy mash up with a neurodiverse MC. Reviews and scores to be revealed soon!

The SPFBO9 finalists that I have left to read are:

The 10th SPFBO9 finalist is of course The Last Fang of God by Ryan Kirk which was put forward by Team Asylum:

Other…

I did manage to read a couple of titles that are not in the SPFBO9. I actually started Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice in 2023. I made it to some point and set the book down, then when I picked it up again, the middle part of the book simply clicked and the ending was just so and so again. I do intend to read the next in the series which focuses on Lestat.

The Empire’s Passing by Marian L Thorpe … what can I say, if you’ve been paying attention since 2015 (and I know some of you have certainly been hanging around the blogosphere with me for all these years) then you know how much I LOVE this series! I love it. It is perfection from start to finish!

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For the occasions of when my e-reader is charging, I have also made start on a paperback which has been with me for years and years… It sounds just gloomy enough to get me intrigued and the few pages I have read this far have been good. I can tell I will enjoy my time with this book.

If your mind is the enemy, where do you run?

Years after a harrowing war experience, ex-mercenary Jespar Dal’Varek has taken to drifting. It’s a lonely existence, but, barring the occasional bout of melancholia, he has found the closest thing to peace a man like him deserves. Life is “all right.”

Or so he believes. Hoping to turn the page, Jespar accepts a mysterious invitation into the beautiful but dangerous archipelago of Kilay-and everything changes.

Plagued by explosive social tensions and terrorism, the tropical empire is edging ever closer to civil war. Kilay’s merchant king is the only person able to prevent this catastrophe, but he has fallen into a preternatural coma-and it’s Jespar’s task to figure out what or who caused it. As the investigation takes him across the archipelago and into the king’s nightmares, unexpected events not only tie Jespar’s own life to the mystery but also unearth inner demons he believed to be long exorcised.

Battling old trauma while fighting for his life, his sanity, and the fate of Kilay, the line between dream and reality blurs until only one question remains: If your mind is the enemy, where do you run?

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But… what is life without new books, eh? Here’s the latest ebook loot…

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Challenges… I’m not very au fait with all sorts of reading challenges, but I did okay with my first reading challenge in 2023, The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge. I plan to complete it in 2024, as well!

I also came across a reading challenge on La La in the Library – see the full post here – and here’s what La La’s 2023 looked like:

I think I can’t match much up for 2023 myself, other than a few classics (Ibsen and Hesse and Kafka) and a reread (Jane Eyre!), but for 2024, I want to play along with this challenge. First, here are La La’s 2024 goals:

And these will be mine:

NONFICTION – 3

NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST NATIONS AUTHORS – 2

BACKLIST ARCS – I have none! So, I will skip this one 🙂

CLASSICS – 5

RE-READS – Look, I am not much of a re-reader, although I know I will be reading Jane Eyre again… but other than that… You know, I’ll make it 2, as I may have another old classic I might wish to dive back into.

PLAYS – 1 – Intrigued about this one, so open to suggestions on this!

FREEBIES/99C KINDLE BOOKS – 8

GOODREADS CHALLENGE – 35

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So, how’s it looking? Any books that caught your eye? 🙂