Hi everyone! This is the start of a new series where I go through everything I finished (or DNF’d) in a month! I’m going to start my backlog with January.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor – Less funny than the title makes it seem. A fairly unique idea with reasonable execution. A perfectly serviceable sci-fi that I’m a little let down by because I was expecting something more. I will be continuing with the series though.

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming – Also less funny than the title makes it sound. A very average human monster romance that I felt kinda tricked into reading by the funny title. I actually think the wacky title might be scaring away the sort of people who do just want spicy monster romance because they think it’s a parody or something. This is my second Kimberly Lemming misadventure after I Got Abducted By Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com (at least I think that was the title) and I won’t be reading any more. Fine, but not for me.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell – Messy, and felt like a bad compromise between coziness and horror. It wasn’t scary, but it was too macabre and creepy to be cozy. Very weak romance and the monster character felt unrealistically modern. Not one I can recommend.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky – My first book by Tchaikovsky, Children of Time was a well constructed, if not boundary breaking, sci-fi. The highlights of the book were the sections from the perspective of Portia the alien. I will be continuing with the series.

Sky without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell – A very unique retelling of Les Miserables in a French-inspired space setting. Arguably a little too mature for YA, which is maybe why the series didn’t get much attention. Although some of the story was predictable with some knowledge of the source material, the intrigue was appetizing. I’m currently reading the second volume.

Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh – My first and probably my last book of the Eddie Flynn series. A very standard legal thriller I have little to comment about. Admittedly, legal thrillers are just a genre I’m not fond of, although I will acknowledge Thirteen as being well-constructed for one.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch – A well written sci-fi standalone. I’m not raving about it the way a lot of people were when it was the hot new thing, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. It felt very emotionally honest in a way that a lot of sci-fi isn’t.

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White – A really cool premise and some interesting world building bogged down by a protagonist I really didn’t like. I also didn’t care for the ending. The side characters really shined in this one, ’tis a pity they kept disappearing.

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent – I was told this was exceptional romantasy. It was not. It was ridiculously average romantasy. I remember almost nothing from it. Definitely will not be continuing with the series, especially since I’ve heard that a lot of people, even people who liked Serpent, really disliked the later books.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett – I was expecting more fantasy than mystery, but it was a serviceable mystery. Murder mysteries just aren’t my favorite genre, but this was very well done for what it was. I will be reading the next book though.

Before They are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie – I’ve committed myself to finishing the First Law trilogy, but I’m not in love with his writing style or his world building. Before They are Hanged in particular is very middle book. I’ll read Last Argument of Kings but afterward will probably not read any more Joe Abercrombie.

The Wren in the Holly Library and The Robin on the Oak Throne by K.A. Linde – The only reason I read both was because I made a mistake and thought Robin was the first book. Why I didn’t DNF the series after book one is probably just sunk cost fallacy – and I got these books from the library so they cost me zero. A little bit more interesting than the Carissa Broadbent, but not by much. I was hoping they’d be more unique of romantasy because of the urban setting and the third person viewpoint, but those were just aesthetic differences. Annoyingly, this isn’t a duology, a third book comes out this year, I will not be picking it up.

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston – Felt a little too similar to Emily Henry’s Beach Read for my tastes, but the magical realism angle was enough for this book to merit its place in the library. Poston is definitely among the more talented romance authors BookTok likes. 

Dire Bound by Sable Sorensen – Out of all the romantasy I’ve ever read, this feels the most cynical to me. Not in the sense of the story being cynical, but in the sense of its creation being cynical. There is no way that whoever wrote this (or commissioned its writing) wasn’t like “Let’s do Fourth Wing but with direwolves.” It felt so close to Fourth Wing I think Rebecca Yarros could sue and win. Also, “Sable Sorensen” is actually “Eliza” and “Annie” (no last names given), two enigmatic “best friends” who supposedly teamed up to write the romance of their dreams. Yeah, right. I think Sable Sorensen is two ghostwriters in a trenchcoat, hired by some bigwig at Little, Brown, and Co. to write something that would make money. Yes, the book was supposedly self-published first, but I’m still calling industry plant on them.

Lastly, 11/22/63 by Stephen King – Stephen King is a very mixed bag for me – he has stuff that’s great and he has stuff that’s really not. I’d actually already seen the miniseries before reading the book, and I can safely say that the book and the series are equally as good. I will say that the book didn’t need to be as long as it is – the Jake and Sadie story is way less interesting than the Lee Harvey Oswald stuff or the butterfly effect examinations – but it’s very well crafted. I actually wish we spent longer in the dystopian future at the end.