I've spent the entire first week of May reminding myself that it's May—April kind of got away from me. I did read a few fantastic books in April, though. I'm still suffering from a book hangover from one of them!
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March was one of those reading months when I had trouble deciding what to read and getting into books and then reading those I do pretty slowly. I started some books and put them aside and could not decide what I was in the mood for. I hate it when my brain decides to do that! (Anyone else have those issues?) But, I did do some reading this month:
Does anyone else feel like February absolutely flew by? I spent it extremely focused on adding words to the second Dragons of Ivria book to meet the JeRoWriMo challenge...and because I really need to finish writing this book, of course! But I still did some reading. Even when I'm busy writing, I need to read as well to get out of my own head and to escape into someone else's world and refill the creative well. Here are some books I enjoyed in February:
I am working hard on the second Dragons of Ivria book in this month's JeRoWriMo challenge, but I wanted to sneak in my usual reading post (and then dive right back into writing!). January was a good reading month for me. I did some rereading and also read some fantastic new to me books. Many were continuations of series that I've been enjoying, and most were either fantasy or paranormal romances.
December went by in a flash (and dozens and dozens of cookies...), and though I already listed some of my favorite books of the year, I still wanted to do my usual post about last month's reading.( Especially since I read a ton in December and actually hit my reading goal for the year!) Some books were favorite holiday rereads but others were new to me. So, here are some books I enjoyed in December.
I don't know about you, but to me, it feels like 2023 absolutely flew by! I blinked and the whole year disappeared. And yet, a year ago, also feels like a long time ago—maybe because so much happened this year and the world is kind of on fire. I've been thinking a lot about what to write in this 2023 wrap up post. I keep seeing posts in which people list all their accomplishments, the million books they published and everything, and I always feel like my own aren't quite enough. And I have to remind myself that I have accomplished things this year! I finally published To Love the Dragon King, which I am very proud of for many reasons—because I finally finished after so long of difficulties writing, because it's my first self-published book and I did so much of it on my own, because I think it's pretty damn good book. Then I got started on the second Dragons of Ivria book and playing with ideas for a new cozy witchy series. I'm getting more on top of things little by little. My newsletter is going out regularly, and there are more posts on this blog too. I loved doing more in person events this year, too, including Rainbow Book Fair in NYC and GRL in Virginia. It was wonderful to meet so many readers and other authors. I hope to meet more of you in the coming year! And in not writing events, I also went on a long-postponed Italian adventure with my best friend, which was absolutely amazing. There were setbacks and disappointments too. I didn't accomplish everything I wanted, and my first (and hopefully only) bout of covid and the lingering struggles with fatigue after it derailed some of my plans for the end of the year. But I'm going to continue to try to be kind to myself (which is difficult!) as we move into a new year. After the last few years, I hesitate to even say what my 2024 writing goals are for fear of jinxing myself, but my hope is to publish both the second Dragons of Ivria book and the first witch book. Fingers crossed. Finally, I'm sharing some of my favorite reads of 2023. Some of these books were published in 2023, some are older, and as always, it was tough for me to narrow it down. Since it's somehow December (where did last month go???), it's time to talk about November's reading. I did more rereading in audiobook than reading new books last month, but I did read a few that I want to share with you.
If you've known me any length of time (or just flipped through my instagram), you probably know that autumn is my favorite season and I adore October, both for glorious autumn vibes and for spooky season. All of that informed by reading in October. I reread some seasonal favorites (like R Cooper's A Little Familiar) and read some new-to-me paranormal romance too.
I'm continuing my paranormal book recs this week with some vampire romances. There isn't anything scary here—like I said last week, I love spooky and atmospheric and paranormal, but I don't do horror. I don't seek out vampire books the way I do witch books, but I don't avoid them either and I read a ton of paranormal. And I've read/watched a bunch of vampire stories over the years—Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles books in high school (and the movie—I haven't seen the new television show yet, but I've heard it's fantastic, so it's on my list), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, both movie and show, and later on some of Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake books and a few of Lynsay Sands's Argeneau series, and the Twilight series as well. Here are some of my favorite vampire romances that I come back to often:
My August reading post never happened last month because I spent the beginning of the month mostly sleeping while sick with covid (three and a half years of being careful and avoiding it—I'm still so annoyed it caught up with me). A month later, I'm still dealing with some fatigue but otherwise recovered, and you're getting a combined August/September reading post. My reading plans themselves were also derailed a bit by covid, since I really did mostly sleep and when I was awake, I could barely focus on anything so not a lot of reading got done. But, I do have some books to share with you: Capture the Sun by Jessie Milhalik (M/F SF romance): This is the third book in (and I believe the conclusion to) the Starlight's Shadow series—I do wish there would be more to this series, not only because I love the characters but also because a few of those supporting characters' storylines were kind of left up in the air or hastily resolved off page and that annoys me. But, overall, I enjoyed this series, both the SF plot and the romances. And even more so, the chosen family dynamic of the characters aboard Starlight's Shadow. Definitely start at the beginning of the series. Deven and the Dragon and Corin and the Courtier by Eliot Grayson (M/M fantasy romance): I'm slightly confused about which of these two books is meant to be the first book in the Beautiful Beasts series. It seems that the story in Corin and the Courtier occurs first, but I believe Deven was published first. I read Deven before Corin, and it didn't make much of a difference as the stories are only loosely connected through a family relationship between a main character of each book. They are light, fun fantasy romances with dragon shifters and a fairy tale vibe. Deven is probably my favorite of the two, just because Fiora was such a sweet character (a fun, dramatic, adorable dragon shifter), but I enjoyed both. Resurrection Reprise by Hailey Turner (urban fantasy with M/M romance): Ever since Spencer (and his psychopomp, Fatima, who is an utter delight) made his first appearance in the Soulbound series, I wanted his story, and I was so excited when I heard about this book. It did not disappoint. I loved getting inside Spencer's head and learning more about him. The romance between him and vampire Takoma was wonderful, as was the paranormal action and mystery plot. Some appearances by other characters Soulbound characters were fun and perfect without taking away from Spencer's story (I'm also going to need a book for dragon shifter Wade now, please). I'm not sure if you can jump into this one without reading the Soulbound series, but it's really good, so you should do it anyway. In Charm's Way by Lana Harper (F/F paranormal romance): This is another book I was really excited for. I've been enjoying The Witches of Thistle Grove series, and I'm already looking forward to the next, though this book is not my favorite of the series so far. POV character Delilah has appeared in previous books, and I'll admit she was not my favorite in those books. She makes a difficult main character and this book is just full of her anger. I was also a little skeptical of the romance in this book—it does end on a HFN, which I thought was good as the two characters still have a lot to resolve. What I loved was learning more of the deepening lore of Thistle Grove and the bonds that are growing between members of the four witch families. I'm interested to see where the series goes next. What the Hex by Alexis Daria (M/F paranormal romance): This was a fun little paranormal romance novella. Catalina returns home to Isla Bruja (the secret island that is home to the most powerful Latinx witch families) for her sister's wedding and finds that the groom is possessed by a demon and both families are under the demon's magical control. Except the groom's brother/best man, who is also Catalina's old high school rival. The two are left to figure out how to get rid of the demon and save their families before the wedding, and of course, they fall for each other along the way. What have you read and loved lately? |
AuthorAntonia is a writer and a reader and a copy editor/proofreader. She loves books, travel, art, photography, baking, pasta, and shoes. Archives
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