Over the last few days I’ve been sharing mini book reviews of the books I’ve read this year. Having already completed my 20 book Goodreads challenge, I want to keep up the reading momentum.
I still have quite a few books I want to read this year and, although I’m a mood reader, I try to stick to a sort of plan when it comes to thinking about what to read next.
So this is my checklist of books to complete by the end of 2021. I love seeing them all set out with their beautiful covers on display rather than just my scribbled list!
I still have a few ARC’s from Netgalley
Fantasy books
Thunderhead is my only audiobook on the list this year.
Romance
Writing How To books
I know this is an ambitious list of 12 books considering there are only 4 months left in 2021, but who knows if I will achieve it. It’s good to try!
What are your reading plans for the rest of the year? Are you on target and do you plan, or just pick whatever you fancy?
If you missed it, here’s the link to my Goodreads challenge post showcasing the books I’ve read so far in 2021.
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Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic fantasy and heart-warming romance
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
I plan to read at least 20 books in 2021. I’ve already finished off one book from last year, so that’s 19 to go. A review of Sue Moorcroft’s Christmas Wishes will follow soon. Here’s a spoiler though – it’s a 5 star read!
Here is my reading plan so far. There are 550 books on my TBR, so I still have plenty of others to choose from. I am a mood reader, so it will be interesting to see if I stick to this list.
Fantasy
Raven Storm – book 3. I’ve just started this and I’m really enjoying getting back into the Fire Walker series by Emma Miles.
Some of my next fantasy reads will hopefully be…
Romance
I like to read a paperback and kindle book at the same time, so the paperback I’m currently reading is another Jo Thomas – A Winter Beneath the Stars. 50 pages in, so far so good.
These are a few more that I want to read very soon.
Non-fiction
I still have some non-fiction books I want to read too.
That will do for now…
What are your reading plans for 2021?
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Suzanne Rogerson – Author of epic and heroic fantasy
I feel as though I had a great reading month and managed to read 5 books in January. I wanted to pick a favourite, but with each book being so different I found it very hard to make that decision. Here are my reads…
The Lost and the Chosen by Ivy Asher (see my review here) 5 STARS
This book really surprised me as I haven’t read any paranormal romance before. It was an addictive read and I’m really excited that book 2 is already out. I will hopefully get to read this in February. Check it out of Goodreads here.
I’ve been listening to the Audiobook for Scythe by Neal Shusterman. 5 STARS
My review will follow this week, but for now I will say this book is still in my head and I can’t wait to read the next book. Goodreads link.
This next one is my first ever Netgalley book – The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan. 5 STARS
Again I will review this next week, but can tell you it was a great debut and I’m sad I have to wait months to get my hands on the next book. Goodreads link.
Finally, and I have to admit this is a cheat, I read my own books! I wanted to get back into the Silent Sea Chronicles world before diving into the draft of book 3, so I read The Lost Sentinel and The Sentinel’s Reign back to back. I also read the draft so far of The Sentinel’s Alliance, but as it’s not finished I can’t count that one. Also as they are my books I can’t rate them, but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed having the excuse to immerse myself in Tei’s world again. I’m so excited to get the next book finished.
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.
At the start of 2017 I wrote a list of the books I planned to read. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to reach my goal because I spent most of my time editing rather than reading. Looking back at the books I did read in 2017 I noticed I haven’t read as much fantasy as I would like. So in 2018 I hope to immerse myself in the genre.
I decided to record a few of the books I plan to read and hopefully by telling you all, it will inspire me to keep on track. Here goes…
Ash and Quill (The Great Library book 3) – Rachel Caine
(Book 1 and 2 were my Christmas reads over the last few years and I loved them. I’m 100 pages into book 3 and loving it just as much.)
A Gathering of Shadows (Book 2) A Conjuring of Light (Book 3) – V E Schwab
(I loved book one and chose it as a standout fantasy read for me in 2017. Here’s the post.)
Queen of Fire – Book 3 – Anthony Ryan
(When I read book 1 – Bloodsong a few years ago I knew I had discovered my new David Gemmell in this author. I enjoyed book 2 almost as much, but for some reason haven’t got around to reading the last book.)
Magic-Born – Crown of Stones book 3 – C L Schneider
(Crown of Stones is another great series that I can’t wait to finish reading.)
Magisterium books 2, 3 and 4. Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.
(A brilliant children’s series that my son and I adore. Hopefully the last book will be published in 2018?)
Rhyming Rings – David Gemmell
(David Gemmell is my all time favourite fantasy author! When I heard this unpublished book was being released in 2017, I snapped up a copy. I’m waiting for the right moment to sit and read this book without any distractions.)
Keepers – Sacha Black
(I’ve followed Sacha’s blog for quite a while now and have been eager to read her new book, which I won in a blog competition. I’m hoping it’s one I can recommend to my son as well.)
Caraval – Stephanie Garber
(Some of the reviewers I follow have loved this book and it’s on the strength of their reviews that I bought this. I’m looking forward to checking it out.)
I also have trilogies by Joe Abercrombie and Brandon Sanderson to complete, and it’s about time I started Throne of Glass by Sarah J Mass to see what all the fuss is about. I also hope to read some writing guides early in 2018 including;
111 tips to create your book trailer
111 tips to get book reviews
111 tips to market your book for free (all by Doris-Maria Heilmann)
13 steps to evil by Sacha Black
Fantasy Writing Prompts by Rayne Hall.
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Currently I have 283 book on my To Read shelf on Goodreads, bookshelves full of unread paperbacks, plus the kids have lots of books they’ve been recommending, and I have more books on my kindle and audiobooks to listen to. So once I’ve tackled the above list, I have plenty more books to choose from. Have you got any books that you think I should read in 2018?
What are your reading goals and what’s on your must read list?
Here’s to another year of great books. Happy reading!
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Suzanne Rogerson Fantasy Author 