January 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

As I am blogging less (burnout? Laziness? The slow death of the blog?), I thought I would chat to you guys about my reading last month (maybe touch on my December 2024 reads as I am taking my time on reading lately, but seeing as I mentioned my reads that month in an earlier post, maybe not as there was a LOT of quitting reads that didn’t bring me joy!).

But as you can see the pic, I included the December reads of How to Catch A Boss by Ana Ashley and the Audible Drama of The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie (mainly because I only touched on them previous so wanted to show them one more time before I speak January reads).  

Now, I did finish this in January (and both Goodreads and StoryGraph class this as January Reads), but seeing as I audio the majority of this in December, I do class this as a December read, and that was Rescuing the Writer by Nora Phoenix. This is a short story in the Forestville Silver Foxes MM romance series and, yes, I know this is a short story so things have to move much quicker, but I felt so underwhelmed and, the more I think about it, the more icky I feel. Maybe if this was a novella or a full length novel, this could have been explored and lessen, but I just felt very underwhelmed and it’s put my off trying out this series. 

Now, the big mamas: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan & The Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan. These are still my Currently Reading. I knew these would be my “Take Your Time” reads as these are longer than my normal reads, but I didn’t realise these would take me this long. At the time of writing, I am currently 59% into Eye of the World audiobook, read by Rosamund Pike (19 hours 18 minutes into a 32 hours 56 minutes, for those of you curious!) and 68% into my ebook of The Magician’s Guild. Now, both are longer fantasy than I normally go towards, and both are so much slower paced than my normal reads in general (you guys know me, I love my books to move at a nippy speed), but I am weirdly enjoying myself. 

Now, I can’t tell if I am enjoying self with these because I am allowing myself to sink into these worlds, or for another reason but I know I will need to talk to you guys about these when I am finished to keep eyes peeled on the blog as these will be long posts (and, hopefully, I will figure out if I will read the next book in both these series…)

Now, the book I am classing my January read is Designing Terry Prachett’s Discworld by Paul Kidby. Now, he took over as cover artist for Pratchett’s books when the original artist, Josh Kirby, died in 2001 and most of his artwork is cemented as fan folklore for Discworld. I loved reading Kidby ideas on how he designed the characters and Terry’s world and the poking fun over his parodies (there’s one I knew vaguely which was his parody of the Mona Lisa, The Mona Ogg because of that smile/teeth. It’s only when I read his write-up, I found myself cackling and going “I get it now”), as well as loving the little details (as Granny Weatherwax is in the background, disapprovingly glaring, in several Nanny Ogg’s parody, the loving nod towards Josh Kirby in the original cover design for Night Watch and the chess pieces in Check Mort where Pratchett was playing chess with Death [and winning] as this was released while Pratchett was battling Alzheimer’s.)

I’m going to put some of my favourite art below, but I am going to try and read more arty books and going to more museums (I am going to try and be a cultured b***h, even though I will be pretending most of the time!). Or maybe I am just going to read more things and not feel guilty about it! Either way, let’s continue the weird reading into February, shall we?

Christmas 2021 Reads - Mini-Reviews

I'M BACK! After a nice long break (yes, this Christmas blog holiday was longer than normal, but I'm quite happy with this decision as, sometimes, we need a long break to find ourselves and make plans...). Anyway, for the next few weeks, you will be reading write-ups of books/audiobooks that I have read/listen to over the Christmas break. Normal(ish) schedule will resume in the next few weeks. So, once we get into (let's say...) February, you will see my 2022 reading! So, brace yourselves! 

Anyway, I was hoping to get this up last year, but one of the MM romance novellas I was reading took a little longer than I was expecting so decided to push this MM romance heavy post back to 2022. 

Now, originally, the initial plan was I going to do individual reviews on some Christmasy titles that I read or try to read before I go on my Christmas blog break, but as I was writing to write a short review for eNovella, How To Catch The Boss by Ana Ashley (4.5 in the Chester Falls series, in case you are curious), I decided that I might push a few titles together and show you guys that I have gone against my typical "I need to play catch up on my reading/review (which yes, I am!) and read something Xmas!" And so, here are a few titles.

Summer of Love 2021 - Vino & Veritas Mini-Reviews

In May, I did the covers reveal of five Vino and Veritas titles: Stronghold by Ana Ashley, Limelight by E. Davies, Showstopper by Regina Kyle, Unforgettable by Marley Valentine and Undone by Leslie McAdam (link to the cover reveal is here). And after doing the cover reveals, I treated myself to a few pre-orders (originally, it was meant to be one or two, and once I got my feet more firmly into this series, buy some more and do some experimenting with MM romances). I preordered Leslie McAdams's Undone and Marley Valentine's Unforgettable. Then, a few days later, Ana Ashley's Stronghold (I had, I think, finished Ana's How To Catch A Prince and went "Oh, I need this!"). 

And when I finally got the preorders on my kindle, it was a few days before I started my new Real Life job so I had to do some planning over how was going to read this. I, finished Stronghold over a course of several days and then started Unforgettable almost immediately afterwards. I wanted to read/include Undone here but due to blogging commitments, I will have to save for another day (which is sad as a side character in Unforgettable is the lead and I liked him hugely!). So, here we are with Stronghold and Unforgettable. 

In Stronghold, Skyler and Judson used to be best friends. Then something happened and Judson vanished from Skyler's life and he has no idea why. When, ten years later, Skyler is shocked to discover Judson is back in town. Skyler never forgot his former best friend, but he can't forgive him for leaving without saying a word. But he can't understand, when they meet, why Judson acts so coldly to him? 

Meanwhile, Judson doesn't want to be in the family home, but where else do you go when your life falls apart? He used to be a world class chef, but now... now he's in town, working as a bartending, trying to get over the events that happened in Paris which weren't his fault and trying to figure out how to get away. But when he sees Skyler, he wonders if he could forgive Skyler for what happened ten years ago and if they can be friends again? 

In Unforgettable, Reeve and Oz meet up on a dating app for a one night stand. Which will work well for them both as Oz doesn't do relationship and Reeve is only in Vermont for the summer. But after one unforgettable night, both are shocked that they're now working together as Reeve is a summer temp. While the two have a strong insta-lust and can't seem to keep their hands off each other while trying to be friends, when Oz asks Reeve for a favour: pretend to be his boyfriend for his sister's wedding. Reeve, surprisingly, says yes and as the two spend more time together, it's obvious that the lines between what's fake and what's real become very blurred. 

I read both of these quite quick. Stronghold was only four or five days while Unforgettable took just over a week. So, these are both fast, fun MM romances with a nice amount of steamy, angst and Happily Ever After-ness. 

Both surprised me as, while being light and fun romances, had an undercurrent to them. In Stronghold, both Judson and Skyler are hugely likeable but both have their issues: Skyler's father has a gambling addiction which bubbles in the background and Judson has huge self-esteem and body confidence issues. And in Unforgettable, both Oz and Reeve have issues with their parents (though Oz's issues are very much on the page while Reeve's are more off page) and again, Reeve does has self-confidence issues. 

I'm not sure what to write in this write-up and I liked them both though, I think, I prefer Stronghold over Unforgettable (though I do love Oz and one of the side characters, Murph, is the lead in Undone and I can't wait to read his story when I have time!). I wonder if it's because I have read Ana Ashley before while Marley Valentine is very new to me and I was taking my time more with this rather than Ana's. 

But both are solid instalments in the Vino and Veritas series and I am very intrigued over Undone and one or two other instalments in the series that I might buy/treat self to before the end of the year. 

Summer of Love 2021 - Mini-Reviews

I apologise for squeezing these two books together in one big review and a few weeks after I read them as new real life things are happening so I decided to put them together. Both are romance, both are fun and both had little issues here and there so, to save time, I decide to put them together so real life might not be calm at the time you all are reading this, dear reader, so bear with me for the next few weeks so things might be a little up in the air and the ideas I’m thinking over might take a little longer to write than normal… 

So, where to start?

eBook Review - How To Catch A Prince

I don't know how or why this book/series appeared on my radar. But I'm going through a bit of a MM romance blitz this Pride Month 2021 (I blame my mini walking-holiday in Wales for me going "I want to reading gay kissing!") so I thought "Why not?", bought and dived in.

Charlie is back in his hometown of Chester Falls for his sister's wedding. He's not looking forward to it as it looks like his ex (his brother's best friend who isn't out yet) will be there.

Prince Kristof of Lydovia, or Kris, needs an escape from the latest press scandal (all thanks to his ex who hasn't taken their breakup well). His sister thinks him going to America and hiding out before the US President's latest Ball is a great idea for a short while. Kris isn't so sure when when things take a turn and and he finds himself in an apartment by himself, he realises that he pretend not to be royal. And when Charlie literally falls on him, Kris can't help but agreeing to pretending be to Charlie's boyfriend.

Oh yeah, we have a royalty/fake boyfriend troupe alert.

But as their fake relationship starts to feel very real, and as the press closes in, how will Kris and Charlie's new found relationship survive?