June 2025 Reading Wrap Up

01 Jul 2025 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I didn’t do too badly with my June reading, and with the end of June, this also brings us to the halfway point of 2025. Despite my unrealistic goal of 96 books that I set on this post here, I am doing really well with my reading with 25 books completed so far, thereby putting me on track to read 50 books for the year. That is realistically the highest number I’ll ever hit unless I start reading significantly shorter books, quit my day job, or stop doing any writing, exercise, or cooking.

Overall I’m happy with my reading progress for the year so far! I’ve even managed to keep up with my posts and book reviews here (more or less). On top of that, I put together an e-book of one of my own short stories that is one of my favorite things that I’ve written. You can find my story, Renewal, by following this link.

In June, I finished listening to The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst as an audiobook. I finally had a chance to pick up the second book in Mark Lawrence’s Library Trilogy with The Book That Broke the World. You can find my review of the first book, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, here. Then I finished up Inverse by Margot Conor, one of the members of my writing group. With my recent back problems, I needed something easy to read to finish up the month, so I jumped into the third book in the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas – A Court of Wings and Ruin (paid links).

Total pages read in June = 2,014.

I’m currently reading only two books. Expeditionary Force: Columbus Day is an audiobook that starts a military science fiction series, and I only have 6 hours left to go. The Book That Held Her Heart is the final book in Mark Lawrence’s Library series, and I’m less than 100 pages into it (paid links).

Looking ahead for the next month, I have a few books that I’m definitely planning to read in July, either for book club discussions or as upcoming releases that I’m reviewing for Net Galley. The ones that are book club picks include To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose and Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells. I received an ARC of The Feeding by Anthony Ryan and an e-book copy of Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver from Net Galley to review (paid links).

I expect that I’ll start the next audiobook in the Outlander series with A Breath of Snow and Ashes (#6) sometime in July, and then if I’m doing really well, perhaps the next book in The Wheel of Time series with The Path of Daggers (#8) (paid links). There are plenty of other books that I’ve had on my upcoming reads list, and I may also pick up one of those, depending on my mood later in July.

Of course, I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t pick up some new books this month. Orbital by Samantha Harvey is about astronauts and won the Booker Prize recently, so I picked this up in audiobook format. It’s quite short (5 hours), so I might use it to break up my Outlander listening (paid link). Artificial Wisdom is one of the books I already mentioned receiving from Net Galley.

After I enjoyed The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong so much (review here), I was ecstatic to see that the publisher approved me for a copy of the author’s upcoming book, The Keeper of Magical Things, on Net Galley. Then the latest surprise book that I received from Fairy Loot is the new bestseller Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab. I’ll put a coupe of photos of the special edition below.

How have you done with your own reading goals for the year so far? What books are you most looking forward to reading later this year? Let me know in the comments!

March/April 2025 Reading Wrap Up

30 Apr 2025 1 Comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Somehow March flew past and I now find myself sitting at the end of April, but with many fewer books read that I would have liked. This is not truly a surprise, as I always start off my year of reading strongly, then falter as other responsibilities turn up. I’m hoping to have cleared out some of those tasks though and perhaps May will be a better month for me in terms of reading and writing.

I did finish three books in March and April. These were Sistersong by Lucy Holland, A Court of Mist and Fury (book #2 in the ACOTAR series) by Sarah J. Maas, and A Crown of Swords (book #7 in The Wheel of Time series) by Robert Jordan (paid links). The one that got me bogged down was A Crown of Swords, coming in at 880 pages, but now I can say that I’m halfway through The Wheel of Time. I never made it past book #8 in the past.

I’m still slowly working my way through the Outlander series with book #5 – The Fiery Cross (paid links). When I last checked, I had about 20 hours of the audiobook left to go. I need to be better about putting this on when I’m doing mindless housework or cooking. When I leave it only for times I am driving, I’m not making much progress.

I just started Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher and Sunrise on the Reaping, the new Hunger Games novel by Suzanne Collins, and I think these will both be quick reads (paid links).

What else might I read in May? This is my list, in rough order. First up will be Verdant Divided (Empathic Humanity #2) by Doc Honour and Inverse by Margot Conor, both novels written by authors in my critique group. Then I’m excited to turn back to Mark Lawrence’s Library series with #2 – The Book That Broke the World (paid links).

I may need to take a break from Outlander once I finish book #5, and Expeditionary Force: Columbus Day by Craig Alanson is a space opera series that was recommended to me by my brother. I picked this up on audiobook and it certainly looks different than Outlander. If the month is going well, then I might get to the other books on my list: The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson, Traitor of Redwinter (The Redwinter Chronicles #2) by Ed McDonald, and A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (paid links).

Somehow with all of these books that I haven’t read yet, I still picked up some new books in the past few months. My recent acquisitions through the monthly subscription box, Fairy Loot, include Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan, The Scorpion and the Night Blossom by Amelie Wen Zhao, Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake, and This Monster of Mine by Shalini Abeysekara (paid links).

I also received The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence, an ARC of The Feeding by Anthony Ryan (through NetGalley), Quicksilver by Callie Hart, and Vault’s Promise by Cameron Coral (paid links). I’ll have to fit these into my reading plans somehow!

What have you read lately and enjoyed? What books are on your to-be-read list that you can’t wait to start? Let me know in the comments.

February 2025 Reading Wrap Up

05 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Another month has passed and it’s time to look back at what I’ve read before delving forward into more of my unrealistic reading goals! I didn’t complete as many books this month as I did in January, but I was also busier in general, leaving me less time to read.

These are the books I read in February:

House of Blight by Maxym M. Martineau was one I reviewed for Net Galley and you can find that review here. The rest of these are in my queue to still review, so you can look for those soon. Of the books I read in February, I think my favorite was The Teller of Small Fortunes, a cozy fantasy story by Julie Leong, even though I didn’t think I’d like it from the description. Knife Children is a novella by Lois McMaster Bujold (one of my favorite authors) and was from my backlog of Net Galley books, so I’ll be getting that review up soon too (paid links).

Here are the books I’m currently reading as March has begun:

I’m back to reading the Outlander series with the audiobook of The Fiery Cross, number five in the series. I started to read Sistersong by Lucy Holland a few days ago, but was struggling to get into it (probably no fault of the book – I was tired). In an attempt to find an easy read, I spontaneously grabbed the second book in Sarah J. Maas’s ACOTAR series, A Court of Mist and Fury (paid links). Of course, I’m now realizing that it is 600+ pages and while it may be an easy read, it isn’t going to be quick.

These are some of the books I had planned to read in February, but didn’t get to:

I’ll probably take The Space Between Worlds off my list for now. The second book in this series was selected for a book club, but I already missed the discussion. I’m trying not to start new series, so I’ll wait on this one. The Wheel of Time continues to haunt me and I’m planning to start book #7 – A Crown of Swords after I finish Sistersong and ACOMAF. I would love to read Inverse and Verdant Divided because they were written by some of my critique partners, but I’ll have to see how long it takes me to get through A Crown of Swords (paid links). I don’t think I’ll actually get to the sixth Outlander book in March because they are so long that it takes me a couple of months to finish one of the audiobooks.

Here is my unrealistic list of other books I’d like to read in March:

I listed these in order of priority for me. I’m hoping to read The Book That Broke the World so I’ll be ready to start the third book when it is released on April 8. I’ve been meaning to read something by T. Kingfisher for a while and I think that Nettle & Bone is a novella. Then I want to keep going on Ed McDonald’s Redwinter series while the first book is fresh in my mind (paid links). As for the rest – they are really just wishful thinking… at least for March.

How are your reading goals going for the year so far? Are there any books that you’ve found surprising? Let’s chat in the comments.

January 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

31 Jan 2025 2 Comments

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

While having the flu in January was unfortunate for many reasons, it did give me more down time to do a lot of reading. I finished 8 books for the month, and although they weren’t quite the ones I had initially planned to read, I still completed the number I had aimed for.

Most of the books that I read in January were physical copies (actually all but Daughter of Redwinter). I have too many books on my shelves that I haven’t read, so reading some of the beautiful hardcovers that I own was a goal for me. Here is what I completed in January:

One of my goals for the early part of 2025 was to catch up on a few book reviews for Net Galley. Daughter of Redwinter was one of these books, and this review will be posting the week after next. Ancillary Justice was a book that I’ve wanted to read for a while and was chosen for one of my book clubs. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the discussion, but I’ll have a review of that one up soon also. Recursion is the pick for the next meeting of this same book club and I’m excited to discuss this one in a few days (paid links).

Of course I had to pick up Onyx Storm when it was released, and as I’m writing this post, I have a couple hundred pages left to go in it (paid link). But I’m assuming I’ll finish it by the end of January. The Art of Tommie Soule is a niche book I had been slowly working through as I have been relearning how to paint fantasy miniatures. I had put it back on my shelf, but picked it up and finished it this week.

I am also in the middle of two audiobooks, but did not finish either one in January.

I have less than ten hours to go in Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. I had taken a break from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon to listen to some other books. Each one is so long, but I have been making steady progress on these. I will resume book #5 – The Fiery Cross as soon as I finish Great Circle (paid links).

Other books that had been on my list for January that I didn’t get to were House of Blight by Maxym M. Martineau (an advance copy for Net Galley) and The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong (paid links). These will be the first ones I read in early February.

Looking ahead here are the other books that I have in my queue for February:

I plan to resume my read-through of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. Book #7 (A Crown of Swords) is next. I have one more Net Galley book to review (Knife Children) that is short, and then a few stand-alones planned. Two of the books for the month are ones written by a couple of my writing critique partners (Inverse by Margot Conor and Verdant Divided by Doc Honour), and I’m excited to see the results of all their hard work. Lastly, The Space Between Worlds is for an upcoming book club discussion of the second book in this series (paid links).

Here’s hoping to a lot of time to read (but without the flu) for February!

What books are you looking forward to for the next month? Let me know in the comments.

Book Review – Lord of Chaos

24 Aug 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.

The opening of each book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series is a variation on these same lines, followed by a description of wind passing across the land before settling into a more focused scene. Despite the length of each book, I found myself pulled into book 6, Lord of Chaos, immediately after finishing book 5 (paid links). Read on below to see what I thought.

Reviews of other books in the series:

I read the e-book edition of this.

Here is the blurb:

On the slopes of Shayol Ghul, the Myrddraal swords are forged, and the sky is not the sky of this world …

In Salidar the White Tower in exile prepares an embassy to Caemlyn, where Rand Al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, holds the throne — and where an unexpected visitor may change the world …

In Emond’s Field, Perrin Goldeneyes, Lord of the Two Rivers, feels the pull of ta’veren to ta’veren and prepares to march …

Morgase of Caemlyn finds a most unexpected, and quite unwelcome, ally …

And south lies Illian, where Sammael holds sway …

This book was a long one, with less action on the pages, or at least more spaced out action amongst those pages. Rand has established himself as the Dragon Reborn and, with the rediscovery of the ability to travel, he bounces between Cairhien and Caemlyn. He talks to people in each place but doesn’t do much himself.

Nynaeve and Elayne sit in Salidar, reduced back to students and no longer given the freedom they once had. The intriguing events of the previous book had given Nynaeve a captive member of the Forsaken and Elayne an unusual Warder, but this book saw little progress in any resolution of these situations.

This is the point in the series where I feel that the author could have told and not shown every detail of every single thing that happens. When the events finally culminate in one exciting scene at the end of the book, the pace is much better.

I’m going to take a break from these books for a few months before I start the next one, A Crown of Swords.

Have you read The Wheel of Time series? How far have you read? Which books do you think were best?

Find more of my reviews here.

June & July 2024 Reading Wrap Up

20 Aug 2024 1 Comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

For some reason, my blog always suffers a slump in the middle of the year. I think that I become overly distracted by the variety of summer activities. My reading also suffers, with my Goodreads reading challenge showing that I’m 37 books behind schedule (not that I ever set a realistic goal, but that’s a separate issue).

For June and July, I continued to read some long books, finishing these below:

The House in the Cerulean Sea was the shortest of the group at 394 pages. The others came in at 1011 pages for Lord of Chaos (The Wheel of Time #6), 640 pages for Iron Flame (The Empyrean #2), and 43 hours and 46 minutes for the audiobook edition of Voyager (Outlander #3) (paid links). I should be putting reviews up soon.

I’ve also been working on some writing projects over the summer. I’ll have a flash fiction story appearing in a holiday issue of Abyss & Apex in December. I have a couple of short stories that I need to revise and submit to magazines. The larger project is that I’ve been outlining a 5-book epic fantasy series that’s been in my head for a long time. I have a rough outline of the first book for some of the characters, but I can’t start writing until I have done more of the planning. I’m also toying with writing a proposal for a non-fiction academic book (in case I don’t have enough to keep me busy).

Going forward with my reading plans, I just finished reading The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey. I’m currently reading Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander book #4) as an audiobook and Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America’s Race to the Moon by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton on my Kindle (paid links).

After that, these are some of the books that I might read next:

How have your reading plans been going for the summer? Do you have any must-read books that you would suggest? Let me know in the comments (above).

Book Review – The Fires of Heaven

07 Jun 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

The Fires of Heaven is the fifth book in The Wheel of Time series by author Robert Jordan (paid links). I have been slowing working through this series and I’m determined to finish it this time. Read on to see what I thought of this one.

Here are my reviews of the other books in the series:

I read the e-book edition of this.

Here is the blurb:

Prophesized to defeat the Dark One, Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, has upset the balance of power across the land. Shaido Aiel are on the march, ravaging everything in their path. The White Tower’s Amyrlin has been deposed, turning the Aes Sedai against one another. The forbidden city of Rhuidean is overrun by Shadowspawn.

Despite the chaos swirling around him, Rand continues to learn how to harness his abilities, determined to wield the One Power–and ignoring the counsel of Moiraine Damodred at great cost.

This book picks up with our main characters still scattered around Randland (Note that I’m embracing the term Randland for the world of the Wheel of Time because I’m not sure that Robert Jordan ever gave a name to the world that he created). Siuan and Leane have fled the tower with Min and Logain and the two stilled Aes Sedai work to keep their focus on new goals to put off the despondency that usually follows the loss of the use of the One Power.

Rand has embraced his role as The Dragon Reborn, or the Car’a’carn by the Aiel legends. Yet, the Aiel are split and Rand must lead the Aiel out of the Waste in pursuit of the rebellious Shaido before they cause too much destruction. This theme of political strike and division continues throughout the book. The White Tower is divided, and the realms of Amadicia, Altara, and Andor are plagued by unrest and uncertain leadership. Rand is forced to work with his enemies as he continues to learn how to use his power and fight the Forsaken.

Despite all the events of this book, I felt like the pace has slowed and several scenes could have been easily cut to make this a shorter book. We do see the main characters develop and grow – Rand, Mat, Egwene, and Nynaeve, in particular. Like in the earlier volumes, the end of this book concludes with conflict – both a larger battle and a smaller duel. I’ve already started the next book, Lord of Chaos.

Have you read The Wheel of Time? What do you think of the pacing? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.

May 2024 Reading Wrap Up

05 Jun 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

May was not a great reading month for me. I had a lot of other things going on, as well as some travel. You’d think that I’d have more time to read while traveling, but it doesn’t always work out that way. I lose focus while reading on a plane and then at my destination, I’m often too tired to stay up reading. And while I bring my headphones, I find that I never put on my audiobook in these situations.

The month of May didn’t quite go according to plan. I only finished one book, The Fires of Heaven (Book 5 in The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan. I’ll have a review of this one up soon (paid links).

I read two short stories for one of my book clubs. We have pivoted to a short story format for a few months to see if we can get more people attending the discussions. These are the two stories that we recently read, and you can find them for free at these links:

I’m still listening to the audiobook of Voyager (Outlander #3) by Diana Gabaldon, and I should finish this in the next two weeks (14 hours to go). I also started to read Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, the second book in the Empyrean series. You can find my review of the first book, Fourth Wing, here. Since I was traveling and had my Kindle with me, I started on the 6th Wheel of Time book immediately after finishing the 5th with Lord of Chaos (paid links).

For June, here are some of the books that I’m planning to read after I finish the ones above.

Let’s see how much I can read as the summer starts!

What are you planning to read next? Let me know in the comments (above).

The Wheel of Time – Maps and Plot Reviews

06 May 2024 1 Comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , ,

I just started reading The Fires of Heaven, the fifth book of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series a few days ago, in my ongoing attempt to finally read all 14 books in the series (paid links). With so many other books on my to-be-read list, I have inevitably taken a break between books. For a series this long and complicated, that can sometimes create a challenge where I struggle to remember details between each book. For this blog post, I thought I’d share some of the interesting sites on the internet where a reader can review these details between books.

First off is this place – Wheel of Timelines. I discovered this site a few days ago when I was looking for a map of the Aiel Waste. The main feature of this page is a map that links to a timeline of all the books. You can click through and get a roughly chapter-by-chapter summary of each book (simplified, does not include every chapter). The map that links to this shows where each event takes place. As a life-long reader of fantasy, I always love to correlate the story with the places on the map.

The original map from The Wheel of Time, by Ellisa Mitchell.

If you would like a deeper dive into the creation of the maps for The Wheel of Time, this page tells about the expansion of the standard map found in the books.

This post also reminded me that I have this wonderful book about maps in writing and fantasy: The Writer’s Map: An Atlas of Imaginary Lands edited by Huw Lewis-Jones (paid link). While it doesn’t feature anything from The Wheel of Time, it is a great coffee table book or reference volume.

If maps aren’t enough to jog your memory between books, Reactor Magazine did a read-along of the entire series that started in 2018. You can find the entire collection of articles here.

The Wheel of Time also has a wiki that provides a ton of detailed information on the characters, places, and plot. That can be found at this site.

Be warned – all of these pages could contain spoilers!

Have you read all of The Wheel of Time? Do you have a favorite reference site? Let me know in the comments (above).

April 2024 Reading Wrap Up

01 May 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I thought that I was over my reading slump from March, but then I only managed to read 3 more books in April. However, for this month I felt like I made more steady progress. When I looked at some of the details, it turns out that I read 2,409 pages for the month, making this my second highest page count per month so far in 2024!

These are the books that I finished in April:

I reviewed The Skull Throne here and Dragonfly in Amber here. I only finished reading The Core, the final book in Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle yesterday, but I should have a review up later this week (paid links).

I also read some of the shorter works nominated for the Nebula Awards, so that took more time. However, I’m glad that I did delve back into reading some short fiction, and I have more of that planned in the upcoming months.

I am part of the way into the third book in the Outlander series, Voyager, and I also started book 5 of The Wheel of Time, The Fires of Heaven (paid links).

For the upcoming month of May, I’m hoping to finish a couple of books that I started, but that were larger projects than I originally envisioned. These would be The Anatomy of Story and the Utopia Science Fiction Magazine Five Year Anthology. I need to find a day where I have few distractions so that I can focus more on these kinds of books.

What else is ahead in May? I’ve bumped a couple of the books I had planned for April into this next month, but pushed others back further. I’m still planning to read the 5th book in the Dune series, Heretics of Dune. I’m continuing with several series with The Sandman: Book 3 by Neil Gaiman, Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, and Jud by Michael Breen (paid links).

I also picked up a new book by one of my recent favorite authors – The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. Then I have Deep Freeze by Michael C. Grumley planned for a book club (paid links).

How is your reading going for the year? What book are you most excited to read next? Let me know in the comments (above).

Previous Older Entries

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 415 other subscribers