WWW Wednesday – 9th December

Welcome back to another WWW Wednesday, and the last single digit day of December. When it comes to counting down to Christmas, I’m somewhere in between a Grinch and a five year old child, so having plenty of things to do to stay busy is exactly what I want, and thankfully, being a book blogger is never a quiet gig.

That said, most of December is reading on my own terms now and it’s nice to easy into the new year – by reading all of the books that might otherwise overwhelm me in January. Have you seen how many books are being published in January? It’s A Lot. And somehow, a lot of them have ended up on my NetGalley list. Oops.

With my post yesterday celebrating blog post number 200, I’m now focused on looking forwards. I’ve still got a few reviews to share to finish off the year with, and one more blog tour for the amazing Amari and the Night Brothers (my stop is on the 22nd but you can follow what’s being said before then on Twitter), but it’s mainly about 2021 now. It’s that time of year where you’re carrying around two diaries at a time (even if, given the pandemic, you’re just carrying them around the house…). I kind of love it when that happens, it gets me all excited for change, and boy oh boy if we don’t need some of that!

Anyway.

As always, WWW Wednesday is about looking at your recent reading habits by asking three simple questions:

• What have you recently finished reading?
• What are you currently reading?
• What are you planning on reading next?

Let’s jump right in!

What have you recently finished reading?
This weekend, I finished reading The Twisted Tree. As Hot Key Ambassadors, we’ve been given the exciting preparation in the build up to the publishing day of the sequel, The Crooked Mask, on 21st January, and I was reading the book in readiness to read Crooked Mask. I read part of the book as physical book, and part of it as an audio as is my preferred way of reading these days, and it was especially helpful with the Norwegian pronunciation throughout! Although the bits that are in Norwegian are structured well enough that you can take inference from what’s going on around it, it’s always interesting to hear different languages used in books.
I’ll be reviewing The Twisted Tree properly at some point soon, but in the meantime, it’s worth having a look at if you’re looking for something spooky, something Nordic, and something a bit magical, this one is for you. The Crooked Mask can be read with or without The Twisted Tree but why miss out on reading a book?!

What are you currently reading?
I am reading more than one thing at once, of course.
The first book I’m reading, that I’m about half way through, is The Cheerleaders, by Kara Thomas. It starts off very intense, with Monica, the protagonist, almost accidentally beginning to investigate the death of her sister five years earlier, and that of the other cheerleaders who died around the same time. It moves very quickly, and doesn’t hold back. I’m enjoying it, but it’s intense!
The second book I’m reading is The Ravens by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige. One of my books for January 2021, this book is magically indulgent and wonderfully constructed. Based around an American college sorority that has witches at its heart, The Ravens is beautifully written and highly engaging. I can’t wait to sit down and really dig into this one.
And the third book I’m reading is… a closely guarded secret. I’m on the BBNYA panel (Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award) this year which is very exciting, and I’ve been sent a last minute book to read as of Monday night. I’m already 40% of the way through as I’m devoting every spare moment to it, and I can’t wait to talk about it properly when all the secrecy is over with!

What are you planning on reading next?
Next on my TBR is A Throne of Swans ahead of the release of the sequel – A Crown of Talons – in early January. Also right up there is Amari and the Night Brothers for my stop on the blog tour. I’ve mentioned it twice in one post now, so at the very least I can do is share the synopsis!
“Quinton Peters was the golden boy of the Rosewood low-income housing projects, receiving full scholarship offers to two different Ivy League schools. When he mysteriously goes missing, his little sister, 13-year-old Amari Peters, can’t understand why it’s not a bigger deal. Why isn’t his story all over the news? And why do the police automatically assume he was into something illegal?
Then Amari discovers a ticking briefcase in her brother’s old closet. A briefcase meant for her eyes only. There was far more to Quinton, it seems, than she ever knew. He’s left her a nomination for a summer tryout at the secretive Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Amari is certain the answer to finding out what happened to him lies somewhere inside, if only she can get her head around the idea of mermaids, dwarves, yetis and magicians all being real things, something she has to instantly confront when she is given a weredragon as a roommate.
Amari must compete against some of the nation’s wealthiest kids—who’ve known about the supernatural world their whole lives and are able to easily answer questions like which two Great Beasts reside in the Atlantic Ocean and how old is Merlin? Just getting around the Bureau is a lesson alone for Amari with signs like ‘Department of Hidden Places this way, or is it?’ If that all wasn’t enough, every Bureau trainee has a talent enhanced to supernatural levels to help them do their jobs – but Amari is given an illegal ability. As if she needed something else to make her stand out.
With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is an enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton.“
I’m really excited to read it, and think it’s going to be a great one to read under all the twinkly Christmas lights!

Thanks for stopping by – see you soon!