December Reviews, 2

I’ve finished my last book reviews for December (and the year). Let’s dive into the details.

Statistics

Age Category: 2 A, 4 YA

You know what’s funny? The two adult books I read this time were not even the deepest or most difficult reads. There were a few deep or long YA books in this crop of reviews. 

Author’s Gender: 2 M, 4 F

Alright, see, here’s another reason to hate tracking this (and why I’ll likely quit tracking this in 2021 unless you scream at me not to) … two of these are listed as MALE authors (because they’re both marketed as being written by male authors and in both cases the male got top billing) but they’re coauthored by FEMALES. Another one is listed as a FEMALE author (because the female author got top billing) but it’s coauthored by a MALE. So this category is a hot mess this time around, basically. 

Genres: 1 Mystery/Thriller, 1 Science Fiction, 1 Romance, 3 Fantasy

Oh, hey, I read 6 books this time and half of them were fantasy. 

Wait, no contemporary? 

Alright, this is weird.

Indie Authors: 4 N, 2 Y

This was a lot of shields, which were traditional this time around. I blame that.

Total Pages Read: 2,166

Average Pages per Book: 361

This is higher than my average (thank you, Goodreads, for calculating that for me)

Ratings: 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4

Not bad at all.

Book Notes That Didn’t Make the Video

18th Abduction

• I impulse borrowed this one from the local library as an audiobook. Basically, I finished the one I was listening to and still had a decent length drive ahead of me. So I quickly went to the “what’s available” section and just picked one I knew I hadn’t read. 
• This wasn’t the worst Women’s Murder Club book. Actually, it was GOOD AGAIN. There was a slump of this series, I think, for a while now. This one seemed to fix a lot of those problems. Partially I think this one was better because it was flashing back (not present day). 
• Anyway, if you’re interested, find this one here. 

Aurora Rising

• I borrowed this one from my boss BEFORE it came up for the shield. So, I should be really glad it got that recommended shield so I can read it and return it!
• In Illuminae (same authors) the formatting SOLD ME on how amazing the book was. In this one the gray pages almost seemed unnecessary (calm down, I said almost) and weren’t as fascinating. Basically, it worked better for Illuminae and the story we were telling there. Also, did these two stories seem a little TOO alike for anyone else?
• Get yourself a copy of this one here. 

The Matchmaker’s List

• I borrowed this one as an audiobook from my local library when it earned the shield for lowest average reader rating. 
• I literally paused the audiobook and went “YIKES, we’re going there?” when the misunderstanding wasn’t immediately corrected. 
• You can get a copy of this one here. 

The Sigil

• I was working off an electronic copy sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. 
• Apparently, after this one was sent to me, the authors decided to have the book re-edited and pull the book. They’re having a re-release in 2021. I did NOT know this until I had finished reading and checked out the book on Amazon and Goodreads. So I normally don’t review a book until about a month before it comes out but this time around it’s REALLY early. SORRY! You can preorder this one if you’re interested, but you’ll be waiting until March. Sorry for any confusion this causes, friends. 
• Preorder your copy here to support indie authors. 

Puppets Dream

• This is the sequel to Blood Awakens which I previously rated 4 stars. It was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. I was working from an ebook copy. 
• Jessaca Willis is one of the authors that I pretty much autobuy work from. She’s great at creating complex worlds and this one is no different. Look her up if you like fantasy!
• Support indie authors! Grab a copy of book 1 here or this sequel here. 

A Certain Slant of Light

• I read a physical paperback of this one that I snagged at the local used bookstore. 
• This one shared some ideas with Every Day by David Levithan, but it didn’t have the same themes or take the same risks. 
• Get yourself a copy of this one here.

The Video

Check out the full video below.

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