Books I Read in 2022 | A Year in Review

You might have noticed, but 2023 is upon us. Which means that 2022 has ended.

And so has my first year on The StoryGraph.

And the year that I started blogging dedicatedly.

It wasn’t the best year, for me and for lots of other people, but it wasn’t the worst year. And I read more books than I had in years, a lot of which I really enjoyed. So, you know the drill – it’s time for the reading stats.

(Note: I actually read twenty-two novels last year, not twenty-one! I forgot to start my Goodreads reading goal thing until after I read Mickey7. And whatever I did, I couldn’t correct it. So, thanks Goodreads… 😒)

😐 Moods: I had a lot of moods on the mood pie graph last year. The biggest ones were adventurous and funny; and considering that I read seven Dresden Files books and the entirety of The Murderbot Diaries (minus one short story – don’t @ me!!) it really isn’t much of a surprise. My third biggest slice was mysterious which also wasn’t a surprise – most plots have at least a little bit of it, after all, since it makes a lot of different plots more compelling.

👢 Pace: As you can see, my favorite books to read are generally fast-paced. Medium-paced is also usually pretty okay some of the time for me as well, but I cannot get into slow-paced novels. I’m sorry Legends & Lattes. I’m so sorry.

🔢 Length (or “Page Number”): I usually like to read books that are between 300 and 500 pages, otherwise books sometimes feel like they’re dragging me down or they’re too short. There are exceptions, of course, but 300 – 500 is generally my comfort zone.

🎭 Genres: Okay, if you’ve been following this blog for a while, it’s pretty obvious that my favorite genre to read is fantasy. And the bar graph on the left displays that very prominently. I also like sci-fi and YA, with some flavorings of mystery, which the graph also shows. After that, it just gets into the more miscellaneous stuff that’s in the books that I tend to read – aka: the stuff that I don’t care about as much when I’m reading, like romance.

📄 Format: Print or digital mostly, but I did read an audiobook this year, which confirmed to me that I don’t much care for them. (Note: This pie graph is inaccurate because I imported almost all of my book data from last year over to StoryGraph from Goodreads, and I think StoryGraph just picked random formats for all the books that I read or something.)

📖 Fiction/Nonfiction: 2022 was a full fiction year for me. I do have a couple of nonfiction books in my TBR, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. I’ve just kept getting distracted by fantasy novels and stuff.

✍️ Most Read Authors: Not surprising at all. As I mentioned in the Moods section, I read a bunch of the Dresden books and all of Murderbot. And I guess that the only other author that I read more than one book by, courtesy of the Prosper Redding duology, I guess that it makes sense for Alexandra Bracken to be on the graph, too.

📚 Number of Books and Pages: This section is pretty self-explanatory, and the line graph can probably explain it much more succinctly than I can with words, but I guess I’ll embellish a little. My peak months were March and November, which isn’t surprising since I read like eight books in the former, and like five during the later.

⭐ Star Ratings: I gave ten books that I read 5 perfect stars. Which I say is pretty good, considering that that’s almost half the books that I read in 2022. Yay!! My second highest rectangle is right in the middle of the bar graph with 4 stars. Also a respectable rating for a good book. Which totals it to fifteen books that got really good ratings! Yay again! The rest are kind of middling height, so I’m happy to say that I didn’t really read many novels that I didn’t like in 2022. (Except for really The Conjurer, but we don’t talk about that in this house.)

§ • § • §

Annnd… that’s a wrap! That’s really a wrap, actually. Wow, a whole other year is gone already. Hard to believe.

But that just means that everyone and everything has a fresh start once again. And there’s so many new books coming out in 2023 to enjoy – and old ones, too! So, Happy New Year once again to everyone and I’ll see you on the flip side for more bookish things!

December 2022 Reading Wrap-Up

It’s January now, which means December is over. And with it, my (frankly pathetic) amount of reading, as well. Seriously, I did not read nearly as many books as I’d wanted to. As I had aspired to.

But, it can’t be helped; I was once again dealing with stuff, and there were also a lot of familial holiday obligations. Let’s not dwell on what could have been any further – time to get into the StoryGraph statistics.

😐 Moods: Even though I only finished one book last month, I did read a lot of pages from other books that I either DNF-ed, or just haven’t finished yet. The moods from December were mysterious and adventurous, the latter being a mood I frequently feel whilst reading, or looking for books to read. Mysterious is also a relatively frequent mood for me. It makes sense; after all, every adventure needs a bit of mystery.

🎭 Genres: The genres are also not a surprise. I read a ton of YA, and fantasy has always been my favorite thing to read about. Romance is a common genre paired with these two as well, even if I don’t care for it as much, so no surprise there either.

👢 Pace: The pace of the novels I read (or tried to read) in December was slow, which explains why I (1) had so much trouble getting through the books I was reading, and (2) why I DNF-ed more books than I was able to finish. I should just steer clear of slow-paced books when I see them then, huh?

🔢 Page Number: Despite only finishing one book – and one that was just under 300 pages at that – I read almost 600 pages last month. So I still read a fair amount, even if I (very unfortunately) didn’t finish every book I tried to read.

📖 Fiction/Nonfiction: 100% fiction this time around, as per usual. I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again: I don’t read nonfiction very often.

📄 Format: All Kindle e-books this month. I don’t care for audiobook format.

⭐ Rating: I only finished one book last month (The Will and the Wilds by Charlie N. Holmberg), so I only rated one book last month. And it was 3.5 out of 5 stars. I just thought the book was okay, so that’s why.

📉 Pages Read Daily: The line graph on the right indicates how much I was reading every day, if I was able to read at all. As you can see, it really dips and then goes at a complete straight line at 0 pages near the end of the month, because I was busy for the holidays.

Annnd that about wraps it up for December! Not as much of a productive month where books (or this blog) are concerned, but I have faith I’ll do better this month. I’m already starting off pretty strong, so hopefully I can keep up this momentum. We’ll see what happens.

I’ll be doing a yearly reading wrap-up for the whole of 2022 very soon, so keep an eye out for that if you like my monthly reading wraps. It’ll probably be something pretty similar, but on a slightly bigger post. Otherwise, join me next blog post for more bookish things!

To 2023 | Happy New Year 🥂📖

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine.
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.
Auld Lang Syne; Verse III

Well, it’s once again been another year. Goodbye 2022: you were a pretty good one (at least for the second half). Here’s to 2023 being much better, for all of us.

I’ve got some goals and a bookish New Year’s resolution for this year. I’m very excited about all of it. Here it is.

2023 Resolution

Last year (wow, it’s still so weird to say that!) I finally really started putting effort into this blog. I’d kind of had it for around a year already, but I never did anything with it and it was empty. But a few months ago I really started doing stuff with it, and I’ve never felt so satisfied. I love reading and writing, and having a place to really gab about it has been amazing.

But this year, I want to do more with it. This has pretty much been a book blog, and it’s definitely gonna stay a book blog – I just want to post on it more consistently, and just more in general. I was doing very well for the first six or seven weeks I was doing it, but it kind of fell on the wayside at the end of the year. I want to rectify that. I want to get back that passion and consistency that I had for the first while.

I also want to read more books this year. And meet my reading goal. Last year, my reading goal on Goodreads was originally 20 books, because I was very busy at the beginning of the year, and was under an ungodly amount of stress and anxiety. But then, after everything settled down a bit, I got overconfident and bumped it up to 30 books when I started reading a lot in the second quarter of 2022.

(I shouldn’t have done that. Lol.)

I ended up falling just a few books short of my goal for last year. That’s not gonna happen this time. So, this year, I’m once again going to set my reading goal to 30 books on Goodreads and I’m going to meet it – even go beyond it, hopefully. And that means more blog posts about books I’ve read!

So, my official New Year’s resolution for 2023 is to read 30+ books and post on the blog more (consistently). Oh, and also, publish my first novel. So, I have two resolutions this year!

List of Goals for 2023

📚 Read 30+ books and review them on the blog (part of my first resolution)

📚 Post more (consistently) on the blog (part of my first resolution)

📚 Try to read out of my comfort zone (I’ve honestly already started doing that some, but it can’t hurt to try even more kinds of books!)

📚 Really started writing and then editing my first novel (I have a lot of ideas dispersed between a several page Word document for my older stuff, and several Google Docs files for the newer stuff. It’s time I actually did stuff with it.)

📚 Publish my first novel in 2023 (I know, very ambitious, since I haven’t really even started writing it yet) (my second resolution)

📚 Take better care of Myself emotionally (I’ve gotten much better at this during this past year, but I still feel that I could improve even further)

…Annnd, that’s all I can really think of for now. The resolutions are set and will not change, but I can always add to and adjust my other goals. I hope – No, I’m going to be more proactive with this blog this year. So, see you guys on the flip side for the next (bookish) post. Happy New Year everybody!! Cheers to a fantastic 2023!! 🥂🎇

My Favorite Books I Read in 2022

I wanted to end the year on a high note, and there’s no higher note to end on on a book blog than a post glorifying books.

So I’m going to be highlighting my 5 star reads from the past year. Let’s get started!

Note: Despite this being a numbered list, it is not ranked in terms of how much I enjoyed these books. It isn’t ranked at all, actually. It’s just organized in the order that I read them.

A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab: I loved this book sooo much. The magic system. The world building. The setting. It was just. Amazing. One of my favorite books I’ve ever read actually.
Gilded (Gilded #1) by Marissa Meyer: I absolutely loved this book. Just… so, so good. Marissa Meyer is truly the queen of fairytale retellings.
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton: This book got me out of a reading slump near the beginning of the year. Going into this book, I had a feeling that I would enjoy it a fair amount, but I was surprised just how much I enjoyed it.
Summer Knight (Dresden Files #4) by Jim Butcher: I started The Dresden Files very soon after finishing Mickey7 actually, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this series as a whole, as well. (Books 1 – 7 at least – I just... I haven’t gotten to reading the rest of the series yet, okay?!?) I only gave two of the books perfect 5 star ratings, however, and Summer Knight was one of them.
Death Masks (Dresden Files #5) by Jim Butcher: I almost enjoyed this more than Summer Knight if it were possible. Everything was absolutely perfect in this novel: the plot, the characters, the sass. I loved this book. (Note: I haven’t reviewed this series yet on the blog because I’m planning to do a massive review like with The Murderbot Diaries when I finish the entire series.)
The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells: Okay, so I’m cheating a bit here. I didn’t rate all of the novellas in this series perfectly. There were two that I gave 4.5 stars. But, as a whole, this series is definitely a 5 out of 5 for me. And the only reason those two even got that score was because they were just the slightest bit less than perfect. But I still consider this to be a perfect series.
The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding (Prosper Redding #1) by Alexandra Bracken: This was another unexpected surprise. I knew going into it that I would like this book, but once again, I was surprised by just how much. I just… I really loved everything about this one.

Birthstone Book Covers: December 2022

Leslie over at Books Are the New Black created a monthly post called Birthstone Book Covers. Each month, she features book covers that are either the same color of that month’s birthstone or include the color in the title. As you can imagine, several people love it as well, and I too, agreed. It just seemed like so much fun, that, when I discovered it, I had to join in too!

I also couldn’t wait anymore, so despite it being December – AKA the last month of the freaking year – I’m doing this. (I don’t care if January is literally two weeks away!!)

December has three different birthstones: Tanzanite, Zircon, and Turquoise.

If you want to participate too, just follow these simple (and fun) rules:
• Mention the creator (Leslie @ Books Are The New Black) and link back to her so she can check out your post.
• Pick 5+ book covers that match the current month’s Birthstone.
• HAVE FUN!
• Nominate people if you want!

*Defend the Dawn* (Defy the Night #2) by Brigid Kemmerer

*The Twelve Dates of Christmas* by Jenny Bayliss

*The Will and the Wilds* by Charlie N. Holmberg

Shelf Control #6: The Lies of Locke Lamora

It’s that time of the week again, so it’s time for some more Shelf Control. Shelf Control is an original feature created and hosted by Lisa @ BookshelfFantasies.com.

It’s a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out this post at BookshelfFantasies.com.

This week I’m talking about – you guessed it! – yet another fantasy novel. This one’s The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

About The Lies of Locke Lamora

Series: Gentleman Bastards [Book #1]

Length: 752 pages

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: June 27, 2006

Book Description

An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.

Why It Languishes on My Bookshelf

When I Got It: January 2021

Why I Decided to Read It: I’d heard some glowing reviews about it, and I’ve heard that it’s considered to be one of the so-called GOATs of fantasy.

Why I Haven’t Read It Yet: I just got distracted by other life stuff, coupled with being busy. Then I kind of forgot about it for a while and I started reading other things.

Will I Ever Read It?: Yes! I absolutely still really want to read this! I’m hoping to sooner rather than later, as well (like in the next few weeks type of soon, actually, haha).

Book Review: “The Will and the Wilds” by Charlie N. Holmberg

A chill wind makes its way through the wildwood, whispering of misfortunes to come.

About The Will and the Wilds

Length: 265 pages

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Release Date: January 21, 2020

Book Description

Enna knows to fear the mystings that roam the wildwood near her home. When one tries to kill her to obtain an enchanted stone, Enna takes a huge risk: fighting back with a mysting of her own.

Maekallus’s help isn’t free. His price? A kiss. One with the power to steal her soul. But their deal leaves Maekallus bound to the mortal realm, which begins eating him alive. Only Enna’s kiss, given willingly, can save him from immediate destruction. It’s a temporary salvation for Maekallus and a lingering doom for Enna. Part of her soul now burns bright inside Maekallus, making him feel for the first time.

Enna shares Maekallus’s suffering, but her small sacrifice won’t last long. If she and Maekallus can’t break the spell binding him to the mortal realm, Maekallus will be consumed completely—and Enna’s soul with him.

My Review

Star Rating: ★★★✯☆ • 3.5 / 5 stars

Mankind cannot linger in the monster realm, just as mystings cannot abide here long. Our worlds are too different, and they reject those who don’t belong.

Sooo… I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. But it gets 3.5 stars because I’ve given books I’ve liked less 3 stars. It’s not a bad book by any means, though, and I’ll definitely be getting around to more books by Ms. Holmberg. Her prose and writing in general is pretty amazing, and is one of my favorite parts about the book.

What is a soul if not an extension of the heart? Grandmother once said to me. To lose one’s soul is to lose what makes one human. It’s no better than death.

I found that the MC, Enna, to be not annoying, so I’ll definitely give the book that. Especially since so many female protagonists are like that nowadays. Maekallus, one of the two love interests and another main character, also pleasantly surprised me by not being toxic – once actual emotions started happening on his end, that is – and he was actually pretty insecure and kind. Especially since he’s essentially an emotionless demon. He’s actually called a mysting, but mystings are basically totally demons, so he’s a demon.

Anyway, back to the relationship talk. Enna was actually the more toxic of the duo, with the way she flip-flopped between the two love interests, and how she gaslit her mentally incapacitated father (which I did not approve of. At all.), as well as one of the love interests. (Which I also didn’t like.)

It is painful for mystings to cross oon berry. Weaving a circle of thorny plants around your home will act as a proficient safeguard.

The plot and world also felt a little underdeveloped, and I really wanted to know more about the human world and The Deep. I would’ve loved to have a map or two. The climax was also kind of “meh,” but it was primarily a character and emotional driven story, so I’ll let it slide.

Something that I really, really liked though, were the little notes underneath the chapter headings about the mystings and their realm. I also liked how it quickly became obvious that they were Enna’s notes (as well as her grandmother’s). It made me want a bestiary of all the creatures and stuff, with drawings to boot.

I did enjoy this book overall, however, and I have a feeling that people who liked the author’s other stuff will like this. It also had Among the Beasts and Briars (by Ashley Poston) vibes, but not quite as good, so if you like that type of fantasy novel, you’ll probably like The Will and the Wilds.

Some Wintery Reads for the Snowy Season | December Book Recommendations

It’s that time of the year again! Time for some seasonal book recommendations, that is. But, unlike the fall, here I’ll be highlighting some cozy reads with winter vibes.

I don’t have as many as in October, unfortunately, but I haven’t really read as many books with a frosty atmosphere. But I’ve still got a few that I can talk about, so let’s get started!

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Series: The Winternight Trilogy [Book #1]

Length: 336 pages

Genre: Fantasy, Literary Fiction

Release Date: January 10, 2017

Book Description

Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.

Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.

But Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed—to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

Brief Review

Ah yes, the winter-themed book on everyone’s winter-themed lists. It’s been a bit since I’ve read this, but I still remember quite vividly how I felt about it. It had such an eye-catching premise, and I started reading this immediately after I obtained a copy. But… I dunno, something about the writing style just didn’t gel with my tastes.

Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s a pretty well-written novel! I just think it was too slow for my tastes. I also didn’t like following the MC’s entire life. It felt too expository, and like an almost book long prologue to the real story.

I do, however, admire that it’s inspired by the tale of Vasilisa: the famous heroine who defeated the witch Baba Yaga in Russian folklore. It just wasn’t for me, unfortunately. But it might be for you, so definitely check it out!

Winterspell by Claire Legrand

Length: 464 pages

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Release Date: September 30, 2014

Book Description

After her mother is brutally murdered, seventeen-year-old Clara Stole is determined to find out what happened to her. Her father, a powerful man with little integrity, is a notorious New York City gang lord in the syndicate-turned-empire called Concordia. And he isn’t much help.

But there is something even darker than Concordia’s corruption brewing under the surface of the city, something full of vengeance and magic, like the stories Clara’s godfather used to tell her when she was a little girl. Then her father is abducted and her little sister’s life is threatened, and Clara accidentally frees Nicholas from a statue that has been his prison for years. Nicholas is the rightful prince of Cane, a wintry kingdom that exists beyond the city Clara has known her whole life.

When Nicholas and Clara journey together to Cane to retrieve her father, Clara encounters Anise, the queen of the faeries, who has ousted the royal family in favor of her own totalitarian, anti-human regime. Clara finds that this new world is not as foreign as she feared, but time is running out for her family, and there is only so much magic can do…

Brief Review

I know that nowadays Claire Legrand’s most known for Sawkill Girls and the like, but this book came looonng before that. It’s also, incidentally, the only book of hers I’ve read, and it was years ago at that. This book got me out of a big reading slump way back in November 2015. A Nutcracker retelling? Yes, please!

And it actually lived up to the hype that the premise generated inside of me. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’ve even gone back to it a couple of times since. So yeah, I definitely recommend it.

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

Series: Once Upon a Broken Heart [Book #1]

Length: 408 pages

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: September 28, 2021

Book Description

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings…until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic, but wicked, Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game — and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…

Brief Review

Look, I was struggling to figure out at least one more book to put on here with winter vibes (that I’ve read), okay? Believe, I know that there’s been too many posts on this blog involving this book in the time frame it’s been active.

But yeah, this book’s setting is basically a winter wonderland for a huge portion of the novel. And winter wonderland = very wintery vibes. The winteriest. So if you want that, then definitely give this a whirl.

And that is, very unfortunately, all I have for you today. Have you read any of these books? Do you think they have the vibes for snowy season?

Thanks, as always, and join me next time for more bookish things!

Majestic Monday #5: City of Lost Chances, Ashes and Embers, Addie LaRue

So, um… It’s time for another Majestic Monday!! On Monday! Because it’s totally still Monday. Right?!?

Anyway, Majestic Mondays are when this blog gushes over pretty book covers. Majestic covers, one might say. And the three books I’ve chosen this week are: City of Lost Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Ash and Embers by Jenna Wolfhart, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab.

City of Lost Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Length: 545 pages

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: December 8, 2022

Book Description

There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse.

What will be the spark that lights the conflagration?

Despite the city’s refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood – that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.

Ilmar, some say, is the worst place in the world and the gateway to a thousand worse places.

Ilmar, City of Long Shadows.

City of Bad Decisions.

City of Last Chances.

Okay, to start off with, we all know how I like a trio of colors on a cover by now. We also know how much I like gold on covers. And we know that I like book covers where there are contrasting elements that are diametrically opposed to one another. And this cover has all of it, so it’s no wonder it’s on this list.

Cover Rating: ★★★★✯ • 4.5 / 5 stars

Ash and Embers by Jenna Wolfhart

Series: The Mist King [Book #2]

Length: 464 pages

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Release Date: December 1, 2022

Book Description

All her life, Tessa has lived in the cruel shadow of the wicked fae on the hill. And when she tried to fight back, she failed.

Now, she is trapped in the dungeons beneath Albyria. Cursed to wed King Oberon, she’ll be bound to her enemy’s side for eternity if she does not escape.

But someone far more dangerous haunts her dreams. The Mist King. He wants answers, but so does she.

And when the deadly mists begin creeping into the Kingdom of Light, it seems the impossible has happened. Oberon’s protective barrier has cracked.

That can only mean one thing. The Mist King is coming. The question is, is he coming to save her or to get his revenge?

So this is a second book in a series, but I just like this cover so much more than the first book. It has an old-fashioned key on it! With a rose on it! And I love old-fashioned keys! (And roses too.) The cover also has that contrasting black and yellow-gold, and we know how much I love that.

Cover Rating: ★★★✯☆ • 3.5 / 5 stars

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

Length: 434 pages

Genre: Historical Fantasy, Romance

Release Date: October 6, 2020

Book Description

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

Were three-for-three with the gold this week. And (technically) three-for-three on the black and gold. Wow. I must be in a black and gold mood this time around.

But what I really adore about this cover isn’t the black/gold pairing here; it’s the constellation in the background. I absolutely love constellations – I just think they’re so cool. I also like the font of the title. I like stencil fonts a lot.

Cover Rating: ★★★★✯ • 4.5 / 5 stars

Annnd, that’s all I got for you today! Have you read any of these books? (*cough* The Ones That Have Actually Been Released *cough*) What did you think of it? How do you feel about the covers? Join me next post for more bookish things!

Book Review: “The Last Life of Prince Alastor” by Alexandra Bracken

Life is a blank page on which we write our destiny.

About This Book

Title & Author: The Last Life of Prince Alastor by Alexandra Bracken

Series: Prosper Redding duology

Length: 331 pages

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Release Date: February 5, 2019

Book Description

Three hundred years ago, fate bound Prosper Redding and Prince Alastor of the Third Realm together. Now the human boy and fiend heir to the demon kingdom must put aside a centuries-old blood feud to save everything they love. Alastor will guide Prosper through the demon realm—under one huge condition: Prosper must enter into a contract with the malefactor residing in him, promising eternal servitude in the afterlife. With Prosper’s sister in the clutches of the evil queen Pyra, Prosper has no choice but to agree.

But when they arrive in Alastor’s deliciously demonic home, the realm is almost as alien to Alastor as it is to Prosper—the lowest fiends have dethroned the ruling malefactors, while an unfathomable force called the Void is swiftly consuming the realm. The desperate fiends cling to the one person who says she can stop it: Pyra. As Prosper embarks on a perilous rescue mission to the Tower of No Return, he can’t help but feel for the demons losing their home—even Alastor, who lives by a set of rules that have vanished in a new world.

With the fates of humans and demons at odds, the battle lines are drawn. Long ago, Prosper’s ancestor Honor Redding proved that humans and demons could never be friends. But is Prosper like his ancestor? And is Alastor the same demon who was betrayed by the one human he cared for?

My Review

Star Rating: ★★★★✯ • 4.5 / 5 stars

To be a Redding was to inherit history, but also the shared responsibility of guilt. The beginning of this story was Redhood. The end of it would be Redhood.

This book was, like the first in this duology, tons of fun. But for whatever reason I enjoyed it slightly less than the first book, so I redacted half a star. Still great, but not quite as good as the first one.

Honestly, I’ve kind of already said my piece concerning everything that I liked and the very few things that I didn’t in my book one review. And my opinions really haven’t changed with the sequel, even though I didn’t vibe with it as much.

“As it turns out, Maggot,” Alastor said, his voice no more than a whisper, “I have decided to care about one human child.”

Prosper and Alastor’s relationship is still fun to watch, what with all of the bickering and all, and I liked how it further developed here. Nell was also, once again, fantastic, and I love watching her and Prosper try to navigate their friendship now that there are no longer secrets between them. Prue was also far more important here than in the last one, and I loved the juxtaposition of her and Prosper’s sibling relationship versus Alastor and Pyra’s.

I think I preferred the way that Bracken portrayed the antagonists last book to how she did here, but it still wasn’t bad. There were far fewer twists in this book, though the foreshadowing for them was still on point and amazing. I also loved the final reveals around the climax. That stuff is honestly what cinched my decision to rate this a 4.5, as opposed to 4 stars.

So yeah, even though it’s not quite as great as The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding, The Last Life of Prince Alastor is still really good, and I highly recommend for those in a slump or those who like the occasional book in that weird area between middle-grade and YA. It’s just as dark as the first one though, and I absolutely recommend that you read that one first anyway. Cuz this is a sequel and all that. Anyway, thanks for joining me, and have a good one.