December and January Wrap Up
Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto
5/5 Stars
In a world where phoenixes once reigned supreme, Crown of Feathers is a breath of fresh air in an overly saturated fantasy genre. Following the journeys of Veronyka, Tristan and Sev was a fun, exciting experience that has left me wanting more. I loved this book, I can't wait to read the sequel and I've ranked it as joint favourite book of the month.
We are Blood and Thunder by Kesia Lupo
3/5 Stars
We are Blood and Thunder was one of my more disappointing reads for January. It presented itself as a thrilling debut novel with an interesting plot and complex characters, but ultimately, I felt it fell flat in the end.
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
5/5 Stars
Sorcery of Thorns was everything it promised to be and more. I have fallen in love with the world Margaret Rogerson has created and will certainly be reading more of her work. The characters were brilliant, the plot thrilling and I enjoyed every aspect of this novel. Given all this, I was disappointed to learn that this book was a standalone novel with no current plans for a sequel, despite the satisfactory and fulfilling ending.
To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
3/5 Stars
To Kill a Kingdom is a fun, enjoyable standalone novel. It wasn't the best book I'd ever read, but I did like following Lira's story. There were some interesting parts that I enjoyed and for a short, standalone novel, I felt the ending was quite satisfactory.
Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo
2/5 Stars
This was my least liked book that I read over December and January. I read it straight after finishing To Kill a Kingdom and expected a similar reading experience. However, the plot felt generic, I didn't connect to any of the characters and I was consistently bored by the story line.
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
5/5 Stars
This book is a beautiful, heart wrenching story about strong women and their determination to survive. I loved the world and characters that Natasha Ngan created. It's an incredible read and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
5/5 Stars
I first heard of Robert Jordan's 'The Wheel of Time' series while reading an article about upcoming fantasy adaptions. Curiosity piqued, I added The Eye of the World to my Christmas book list and my Dad kindly bought it for me. I was not disappointed. The Eye of the World was really good. It's just brilliant. I used to love the idea of going on a wild adventure as a kid, and reading this brought up those feelings again.
Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
5/5 Stars
Taking a break from the fantasy genre, Red, White and Royal Blue was my first choice of book after it was recommended by numerous booktubers. It's a well written standalone with plenty of romance and an excellent political subplot. It's quite comedic in places and is really easy to follow if you're looking to ease your way back into reading. I really enjoyed this and would recommend to anyone.
A Curse So Dark and Lonely - Brigid Kemmerer
5/5 Stars
The first book I read after my book slump was A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer. Taking the form of a Beauty and the Beast retelling, this tale has everything going for it; a strong heroine, a charming prince and brilliant plot. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have ranked it as joint favourite 'Book of the Month'.
Final Thoughts
In total I read nine books over December and January, a considerable feat considering I was just coming out of a year long book slump. Full, in depth reviews of each book mentioned in this post will be coming shortly, but for now, here are my final thoughts:
My joint favourite books of the month are A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer and Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto.
My least favourite book of the month was Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo and my favourite book cover was Sorcery of Thorns, which was designed by Charlie Bowater.
Have you read any of the books mentioned in this post? If you have, let me know in the comments section what you thought of each of them and tell me what your favourite part was.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and I'll see you in the next post.
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