I’m doing a combo post for this because a) I don’t have many concrete reading plans this week (I’m sure reading will happen, just not sure what all it will be yet) and b) there are ton of other year end posts I’ve been doing and December has been weird so let’s just slap it all together, weeeee!

This week I’m finishing up in audio Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts. This is the second book in her Chronicles of the One series. I REALLY loved Year One so I was excited to dive into this one and I’m enjoying it so far, about halfway through!

They look like an everyday family living an ordinary life. But beyond the edges of this peaceful farm, unimaginable forces of light and dark have been unleashed.

Fallon Swift, approaching her thirteenth birthday, barely knows the world that existed before—the city where her parents lived, now in ruins and reclaimed by nature since the Doom sickened and killed billions. Traveling anywhere is a danger, as vicious gangs of Raiders and fanatics called Purity Warriors search for their next victim. Those like Fallon, in possession of gifts, are hunted—and the time is coming when her true nature, her identity as The One, can no longer be hidden.

In a mysterious shelter in the forest, her training is about to begin under the guidance of Mallick, whose skills have been honed over centuries. She will learn the old ways of healing; study and spar; encounter faeries and elves and shifters; and find powers within herself she never imagined. And when the time is right, she will take up the sword, and fight. For until she grows into the woman she was born to be, the world outside will never be whole again.

December Wrap Up

Holy Moly you guys, December has been a whirlwind. I basically (although you may not have been able to tell because I was able to throw up some posts last minute) forsook everything, including blogging, in favor of reading, reading, reading, in an effort to make it to 200 books by the end of the year. And it worked! GOAL!!!!! But now I’m really behind in everything so probably not my best plan ever, whoops!

I finished 36 books/manga/novellas/novellettes in December. That’s a lot! Even for me! No wonder I’m exhausted and can’t think straight! 4 Romance novels, 1 Nonfiction, and the rest were some variety of Speculative Fiction.

Favorite Reads of the Month:

• Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi – I had a TON of fun with my Sailor Moon reread. So much stuff in the manga that isn’t in the anime, plus the story is so much more tight overall. I counted it as a reread but to be honest I’m not sure I ever sat down and read the manga before? Back when I originally read it I think it was just summaries off the internet so maybe it was a first time read through even if I was familiar with a lot of it. Huh.
• Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis – This book is everything I love rolled into one book and it actually works instead of leaving me disappointed. It’s just executed so well. Fantasy of manners combined with romance, politics, magic, the fae, great characters, an interesting society with non-traditional gender roles…just can’t praise this book enough.
• In the Vanishers’ Palace by Aliette de Bodard – This is a f/f retelling of Beauty and the Beast where the beast is a dragon. I loved everything about this novella. It had some dark undertones, what I’ve come to expect from Aliette’s writing, which worked really well in contrast with all of the emotional stuff going on within the story. And the prose was amazing. It left me wanting to know more about the history of the world, it feels so very mysterious in a lot of ways, but that’s one of the things that I love so much about it.
• Swordheart by T. Kingfisher – What a fun book! A quick read, hysterically funny, and with a wonderful romantic subplot. I love the relationships between the characters in this book. The side characters are a lot of fun too. Overall just a very enjoyable read.

December’s Book Reviews:

I didn’t have a ton of book reviews go up in December, I’ve just been super behind on things and busy reading. But I did manage to post six reviews so it wasn’t a total wasteland! Here they are in case you missed them.

The Devil you Know by K.J. Parker

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen

The Testament of Loki by Joanne M. Harris

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

Merry Happy Valkyrie by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell

Other Posts:

I actually had a ton of other posts this month since I was lighter on book reviews.

I had two book haul posts!

• Massive Book Haul of Massiveness
• New Arrivals

Three fun book tags and an award post!

• Blogger Recognition Award
• The Holiday Drinks Book Tag
• The Joy of Christmas Book Tag
• Naughty or Nice Book Tag

And several Year End related posts!

• Anticipated Book Releases of 2019
• 2019 Reading Goals and Other Book-ish Plans
• Favorite Reads of 2018
• Books I missed in 2018: The Start of a 2019 TBR Pile

I also started my Friday Favorite Five posts back up after a hiatus in November.

Plans for January:

Right now I don’t have any concrete plans except to work on catching up on my review writing and also read some of the books I’ve been sent for review. I have about 4 indie books waiting to be read and a bunch of traditional books, plus a plethora of new releases on the horizon. 2019 is going to be awesome but I gotta get caught up before I get further behind. So that’s my current plan, lol.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! GOOD-BYE 2018, HELLO 2019!