Yesterday I ventured out into the cold to run a bookstall with a fellow author, GJ Stevens. It was a local town event – Ashford Wide Christmas Fair (Surrey). We got there super early and were one of the first stalls to set up in our row.
We’re attended several times in the last few years, but this year I was hoping it would be a little different as I’m attending with my first ever collection of Christmas short stories. A Christmas Wish was written with this event in mind, and was a challenge to say the least considering I only decided on the idea in October.
It wasn’t the roaring success I’d hoped for, but the new book did draw the eye and get some interest.
It was still good to physically see the result of my hard work spread out for sale and I received some lovely comments and words of congratulations. The highlight of the evening was a young lady who has previously bought all my fantasy books, asking if my new trilogy was for sale yet.
It was a shame to disappoint her, but it has given me the kick up the butt I needed to get back to work on the Starlight Prophecy series. Hopefully 2023 will be the year for it!
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A Christmas Wish has been out a few days now and I would love to get some reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. If anyone would like a free ARC in exchange for an honest review, please message me.
That’s it for now. I’ll be back soon with end of year wrap posts on reading and writing, and hopefully some audiobook news too!
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Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy, heart-warming romance and short stories
So I didn’t set myself a huge target this year, but I didn’t expect to have completed it by August either. That makes me very happy.
Some people might read 20 books in a few months but I’m still pleased with this figure and hope to read quite a few more books by the end of the year.
Netgalley has been responsible for quite a few of my recent reads and I have 4 more accepted requests lined up that I will post about later.
Here is my list and links to reviews or a brief summary of my feelings for the books.
Netgalley Reads
The Hotel at Honeymoon Station – Tilly Tennant. An enjoyable and gentle romance. My 4 star Review
Chasing the Italian Dream – Jo Thomas. Brilliant summer read, I still miss the characters. My 4.5 star review
The River Between Us – Liz Fenwick. Enjoyable dual timeline though maybe not Liz Fenwick’s best work. My 4 starReview
Waste Not. Want Not – Lilac Mills. A surprising and enjoyable romance. My 5 starReview
Under the Italian Sun – Sue Moorcroft. I loved this hot romance right from the first page (not just hot because of the weather!) My 5 star review.
Writing Resourses
200 boosts for Indie Authors – Rayne Hall. A great book of tips to work through to improve your books and author career. Better for those starting out I think. 4 star
Save the cat! Writes a Novel – Jessica Brody. Very interesting way of looking at writing which I hope to try out on a new WIP very soon. 4.5 star.
Romance your brand – Zoe York. Helpful guide that makes you rethink how you should be writing a series. 4 stars
Romance books
An Island Christmas – Jenny Colgan. Enjoyable and emotional read.
Summer Kisses at Mermaid Point – Sarah Bennett. Enjoyable and heartwarming. Looking forward to revisiting soon.
The Tanglewood Teashop – Lilac Mills. Loved it so much I bought the next books straight away. Can’t wait to dive in again.
Unpredictable Consequences of Love – Jill Mansell. Loved this book and thought about the characters long after I finished it. My review
Winter Beneath The Stars – Jo Thomas. Despite a shaky start for me I ended up loving the characters and the location was wonderful. See my review.
Christmas Wishes – Sue Moorcroft. A heart-warming Christmas read I absolutely fell in love with. My big fat 5 star review.
(I started Christmas Wishes at the end of 2020 and finished it in early 2021. I considered it one of my fav reads of 2020 but it could also be a contender for the best of 2021 reads too!)
Fantasy
Raven Storm (book 3) – Emma Miles. My only fantasy read so far this year (shocking)!
I loved this third book just as much as the first 2. Emma Miles is such an accomplished fantasy writer and I love the world and characters she has created in this series. I must review this book and get on with reading book 4 which came out a few months ago. My Review of the series so far (books 1 and 2)
Other Reads
Beginning of The End – GJ Stevens. Gripping with non-stop action and a surprising twist end. My 5 star review.
Capital Action – GJ Stevens. Entertaining thriller of a read. My 5 star review.
Wolf Hollow – Lauren Wolk. Very emotional, evocative and immersive 5 star mid-grade read.
The Circling Sky – Neil Ansell. This cover is beautiful and I love the title which reminds me of the Pink Floyd song ‘Learning to Fly’. I love the New Forest and this book helped to transport me back there. I’m grateful a fellow reviewer sent me her ARC copy once she’d finished reading it – thanks Hannah at Echoes in an Empty Room. This is a relaxing 4 star read.
My only DNF
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte. I just couldn’t get on with this classic. I got half way through but I just didn’t care enough to keep reading. More of a frustrating read than entertaining for me.
The whole reason I decided to read this was because a character in my new romance series is an English Literature Professor and he said Wuthering Heights is one of his favourite reads. Having attempted to read in myself, I’m going to have to have a chat with him as to why he chose it!
What are your views on this classic or classics in general? I just can’t seem to get on with them.
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It has been great to escape into books this year and I have enjoyed being forced to start reviewing again mainly due to my Netgalley reads. There are some books here I would still like to review, especially by indie authors as I know how important it is to get those precious reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
I’ll be back soon with a list of the books I want to read during the rest of the year including the books I still have outstanding on Netgalley.
What are your reading plans and how close are you to completing your 2021 Goodreads Challenge?
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P.S.
Talking of reviewing books, my Goodreads, Amazon and Audible book pages seem to have hit a bit of a slump. If you have read any of my books would you consider helping me out by posting a quick review? I love to read your thoughts and even a short review will really make my day. Thanks very much.
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Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy and heart-warming romance
Many of the authors who have reached the second round in this year’s BBNYA contest, which includes The Lost Sentinel, are reducing their books to just 99p for a week long sale.
2020 was a good reading year for me. I set my goal on Goodreads as 15 but I managed to read 30. I haven’t reviewed many of these books, but I hope to do a better job this year.
I love reading people’s wrap up book posts, so I thought I would share my own. Hopefully this will make up for the fact I haven’t done many reviews through 2020.
Fantasy
Daevabad trilogy by S.A Chakraborty – 5 stars. I loved everything about this series. Imaginative, unusual, great setting, wonderful characters. I hope Chakraborty has a new book out soon, definitely up there with my favourite authors.
Firewalker Series by Emma Miles – 5 star series so far. I loved the first two books in the series and plan to make book 3 one of my first reads for 2021. Here’s my review of the series so far.
Fallible Justice by Laura Laakso. A cool start to a Urban Fantasy series that I hope to continue with this year. Here’s my review.
Sword and Pen by Rachel Caine. Last book in the Great Library books and I loved it. 5 stars across the whole series! Don’t know why I didn’t get around to reviewing it. My goodreads review;
The perfect end to the series. I loved reading these books over the last few years but feel it reached a natural and very satisfying conclusion. I imagine the characters having the happy ever after they deserve, at least for a little while!
Origins – Summoner series by Taran Matharu – Enjoyable and quick origin story for younger readers. It entertained me at the time though I’m ashamed to admit I don’t remember much of it. I know my son loved the series a few years ago, so it might be worth revisiting one day.
The Last Wish by Andrezej Sapkowski – I loved the Witcher series on Netflix and although this was a good introduction to the books, I didn’t love it as much as I was hoping too.
Romance
As I started writing a romance series myself in 2020, I challenged myself to read as many romances as I could. I’ve read some really great books but again haven’t reviewed as many as I would like.
Art and Soul by Claire Huston. Very enjoyable, feel good romance Here’s my review.
Escape to the French Farmhouse by Jo Thomas. Another fantastic romance by Jo Thomas. My review.
The Chestnut Tree by Jo Thomas. A sweet novella with Jo Thomas’ usual magic.
Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley. Not a bad read, kept me entertained but I didn’t love it.
The Little Kiosk by the Sea by Jennifer Bohnet. Pretty good read.
Meet me at Beachcomer Bay by Jill Mansell. Very enjoyable story and I will be reading more of Jill Mansell’s books.
Katie’s Cornish Kitchen by Rosie Chambers – Another enjoyable romance that I highly recommend.
Finding Love at the Christmas Market by Jo Thomas – A heart-warming Christmas story. Maybe not quite as great as Jo’s other books but still very, very good!
Other
Children of Sinai by Shelley Clarke – As I state in my review, this is a hard book to put into a category. It is well worth a read though. Check out my review here.
Operation Dawn Wolf by G.J. Stevens. This was a fast paced read, very gripping. Here’s my review.
White Knight, Black Swan – Ross Harding (David Gemmell fantasy legend!) A thriller by the great fantasy author David Gemmell. Despite it not being fantasy, it was still a great read.
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey. I was surprisingly hooked by this book. It is worth a read.
Non-fiction
I got really into my non-fiction books towards the end of 2020 and read quite a few on the craft of writing. They are all good and worth a read. I hope to share a bit more of a review on them in the future. For now, here are the covers to show what I’ve been reading…
Nigel by Monty Don – Lovely book about the dogs in Monty’s life. A tearjerker if you’re an animal person.
Astronomy by Patrick Moore – A research book for my Starlight Prophecy series though it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.
And that’s it as far as I can tell. It has been great to look back over my reads and it has inspired me to keep going through 2021. I’ve set my reading goal to 20. Who knows how the year will pan out. I am hoping to do a lot more writing this year and that is more important than anything else right now.
Happy reading and I look forward to sharing more books with you very soon.
Have you read any of these books? Do you have any favourites?
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Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic and heroic fantasy
Though I managed to reach my Goodreads target of 35 books in 2018, I decided to go for a more conservative figure in 2019. I want to focus on writing much more and don’t want to stress about reading. I’m aiming for 30 books.
I hate to be restricted in what I read so reading to a list doesn’t suit me. I found that the books I planned to read last year just didn’t happen. This year I want to go with the flow and read whatever takes my fancy.
That mindset will take over as of February, because I do have a couple of books that I need to read in January.
Currently reading my first ever ARC from Netgalley – The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan. The official release date is 17th January and I want to post a review then. The book is going well so far, and is a very different kind of fantasy for me.
Scythe by Neal Shusterman is my January book group choice, and I’ve been wanting to read this one for ages so I’m looking forward to it.
I still have to read the book I won a few months ago – City of Lies by Sam Hawke. As a competition winner, I feel it’s only fair that I review this book once I’ve read it, but it is a big book and I keep unintentionally pushing it down my tbr list.
And there is a non-fiction book I’ve been meaning to read for ages ‘Writing short stories to promote your novels’ Rayne Hall’s writer’s craft series.
Plus I cannot forget to mention that I’m planning to re-read my own books (The Lost Sentinel and The Sentinel’s Reign) to fully immerse myself in the Silent Sea Chronicles ahead of completing the draft of book 3 – The Sentinel’s Alliance. I’m really excited to get stuck in, and can’t wait to show off the cover of book 3!
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My thoughts on reviewing…
I fell out of love with reviewing books in 2018. I felt I didn’t have enough to say and some of my reviews were just going through the motions. So this year I only want to review books that I really loved and just have to share with you. I also want to read more writer’s guides and plan to review them and how they’ve helped me. I read a couple late last year. Once I’ve used the techniques mentioned I will share my thoughts on how they worked for me.
Tomorrow I will be sharing my first review of the year so you know it’s got to be a good book! Please stop by then.
I thought I would do a quick post on the books I bought during November’s SPFBO promo. I’m excited to add these to my Goodreads TBR, but I won’t state when I’ll read them as I still haven’t read the books I purchased during the previous sale. My TBR pile keeps growing and has reached 410. That is one of the reasons I only bought 8 books this time around, the other is I’ve spent all my money on ads. Anyway here they are…
Between the Shade and the Shadow – Coleman Alexander
Phoenix Descending – Dorothy Dreyer
The Dragon Song Saga – J C Lang
Sorcerous Rivalry – Kayleigh Nichol
A Keeper’s Tale – J A Andrews
Song – Jesse Teller
The Fire Eye Refugee – Samuel Gateley
Balam Springs – Travis M Riddle
I’m really excited by this collection. I tried to be guided by the blurbs and the covers rather than be influenced by reviews or what I’ve heard through the SPFBO pages. A couple of these I’ve had my eye on for a while so I was really pleased to find them in the sale and be able to support my fellow indie authors.
I can’t promise when I’ll read them, but I will review them on my blog, Amazon and Goodreads eventually.
I think I may have sold a couple of copies of my own 2016 SPFBO entry – Visions of Zarua but with the birthday blitz and a couple of ads running at the same time, its hard to know what sparked the purchases.
What did you pick up during the sale?
Did you pick up any of the books above? Or have you already read them?
My reading has really been slow these last few months, what with publishing my own book and all that goes with it. I’m hoping to step up the reading through the rest of the summer and what better way to achieve this than to tell the world my plan!
I’m using the format of WWW Wednesday, as I didn’t get this post finished in time to share it yesterday.
What I’m currently reading.
Jo Thomas The Olive Branch.
I only picked this book up quickly last night to get a taste of the story. 50 pages later, I know I’m going to enjoy it. I’ve read one of Jo Thomas’s books before and loved it. Here’s the review of Late Summer in the Vineyard.
What I’m currently listening to
My Husband’s Wife
It’s ok. Seems a bit slow, but there are intriguing titbits to keep me interested so far.
What I recently finished reading
Senlin Ascends Josiah Bancroft
I’m not sure what to say about this book. I didn’t love it and felt it was slow in places. I found the tower concept very hard to picture and it was hard to really connect with Senlin. However, towards the end I did find myself not wanting to stop reading, so I’ll be interested to see what happens in book 2. I’ve heard the pace picks up, fingers crossed.
What I plan to read next
Anthony Ryan’s Collected Non-fiction
I think this is a newsletter subscriber offer and I can’t wait to read his non-fiction articles.
David Gemmell – Rhyming Rings
I have been saving this book since my birthday last year as it’s one of the only books I haven’t read by my all time favourite author.
Poison Study
This is my book group choice for August and a book I have been interested in reading for a while.
Knowing from experience how hard it is to get reviews, I want to read a couple of Indie books and support my fellow authors. So I intend to read;
The Exercise of Vital Powers – Ian Gregoire
Not Like Anyone Else – Jennifer Leigh
I still have a couple of trilogies I want to finish by the end of this year
Queen of Fire – Anthony Ryan
Magic Borne – Crown of Stones – C. L Schneider
There are 350+ on my goodreads TBR shelf so I have plenty of other great books to choose from. Plus my kids are always recommending books and I know I should get stuck into Robin Hobb’s latest trilogy. If I do, I won’t be doing anything else for a while!
I hope to do another post in Autumn, I wonder how many books I’ll have read by then and how many of the above will be finished!
I’m been very busy working through edits over the last few weeks so my reading has been a bit slow.
I thought I’d use WWW Wednesday for a reading update and to get me focused again. You can take part too by answering these questions;
What are you currently reading, What have you just read, What will you read next and link your blog post to ‘Taking on a world of words‘ You can also see who else is taking part.
What I’m currently reading
Sparrow by Michael Morpurgo
I needed something short to read and my daughter suggested this. I haven’t read any Morpurgo before, but I’m enjoying it so far. It’s based on the Joan of Arc story.
I am also reading an ARC for Jesper Schmidt – How to write fantasy book descriptions, but I don’t have the cover to display just yet. 25% in and so far, so good. I think this could really help fantasy writers.
Last time I took part in WWW Wednesday I had hoped to finish a couple of trilogies, but I’d forgotten about my monthly book group reads. With my lack of time I’m having to reconsider what books I can fit in. In the next month I need to read Senlin Ascends, which I’m really excited about as it was my choice for book group.
And I still hope to read book 3 Magic Borne to finish Ian Troy’s story,
In the next few days I will also be reading my own book The Sentinel’s Reign (book 2 of Silent Sea Chronicles) prior to its publication at the end of June. Cover reveal and pre-order links coming very soon!
I think that is plenty of books to be getting on with. What are you reading?
I’ve decided to take part in this book tag for a change to try and keep my reading on track. The book meme is hosted by Taking on a World of Words
Three questions; What are you reading? What have you just read? What will you read next?
What I’m currently reading…
I picked up Ninja School Mum during its recent blog tour as I really like the cover and fancied something different to read.
I re-read the first few chapters of Visions of Zarua before starting to submit to agents and decided I should read the whole thing again. If it’s not too big-headed to admit, I still enjoy my own writing and still love the characters.
What I’ve just read…
I read an ARC copy of The Sand Scuttler and will be sharing my review in May. In the meantime, I would definitely recommend it to fantasy fans. It’s currently on pre-order.
All the Birds in the Sky is my book group choice and after 294 pages I decided to DNF this book. I just didn’t care enough for the characters and not enough seemed to happen. Once I’ve heard what the others in the reading group have to say, I may change my mind though.
What I will read next…
I decided this year that I would commit to finishing a few trilogies. These two in particular I’ve been looking forward to reading.
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Don’t forget to head on over to Taking in the World of Words and check out who else is taking part in this weekly event.
This is the first book review I have written this year and what better way to start than with Book 3 in the YA fantasy series The Great Library. Originally thought to be the last book in the trilogy (at least by me) I was delighted to hear that Book 4 is due out later in 2018.
Held prisoner by the Burner forces in Philadelphia, Jess and his friends struggle to stay alive in the face of threats from both sides … but a stunning escape guarantees worse is coming. The Library now means to stop them by any means necessary, and they’ll have to make dangerous allies and difficult choices to stay alive.
They have only two choices: face the might of the Great Library head on, or be erased from life, and the history of the world, for ever.
Win or die.
My review
Ash and Quill picks up where book two finished, with Jess and the gang captured and transported to Philadelphia. It was interesting to get to know the Burners and there are some explosive moments in store!
It is harder to review books from a series without spoilers, so I just want to say that this is another exciting read, full of action, intrigue, plotting, double-crossing and a touch of romance. I love the interaction between the characters, especially Jess and Morgan, and I just want them to save the world and have their happy ever after. Of course that’s never going to happen until they take down the Great Library who have upped the stakes and will do anything, even commit mass murder to stop them.
As with the other books in the series, this is a fast paced story that drags you along and keeps you interested to the last page.
This is a 5 star read and I cannot wait for book 4.
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Suzanne Rogerson Fantasy Author 