So much going on this January, didn’t have as much time to read as I would’ve liked. Still, I ended up finishing 12 books. You can see from the format chart that I read way more digital than print, implicating that I had more time to read on the go than at home (usually those are pretty balanced out). I hope life slows down a bit again – reading time is not only desired for the reason of reading, but it’s my highly important me-time, downtime, battery charging time. Anyway, this is what my reading year began with:

• The Burning Witch 3, by Delemhach – the (latter half of the) final book of Kat’s adventures, but hey! The saga continues in…
• …The Ether Witch trilogy books 1 & 2, by Delemhach – where we get to travel with Tam into new adventures with danger and love, and Tam finding his true power. I absolutely love the Ashowan family and can’t wait to get my hands on book 3 (but haven’t seen any release date estimates yet, unfortunately)
• Kraken’s Guide to the House Witch, by Delemhach – the bonus materials book I got mainly for the sake of the map, but I also enjoyed the short stories in it. Just a booklet really, but a delightful one!
• Whispers Most Deadly (Dunhollow 2), by Emma MacDonald – this one started off rather blah, but the second half was quite enjoyable, especially with the polyamory that is so rare in lit
• Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page, by Brad Tolinsky – a rather intriguing and well-constructed book about the legendary musician, concentrating on the rock star side of things
• Postmortem of a Poem (Autopsy of a Fairytale 6), by Nicole Scarano – another supernatural murder mystery with Bel and Eamon et al. I really do love it how the personal relationships with their highs and lows are such a natural and important part of the stories. And, there’s more books to come (at the end of this year)
• Witches of Dubious Origin, by Jenn McKinley – I loved the story, though it had it’s draggy moments before the action really caught up.
• Fear the Flames (Fear the Flames 1), by Olivia Rose Darling – an excellent romantacy with magic and dragons, and love and deception, and taking back what’s yours.
• Dream On, Ramona Riley, by Ashely Herring Blake – LGBT romance for a change, with all the necessary improbabilities and misunderstandings and all that. Sweet story.
• My Friends, by Fredrik Backman – people from the underbelly of society, neurodivergence and trauma, violent childhoods and abusive adults, but most of all friendship and love. Backman totally gets what it is to be human.
• Wrath of the Dragons (Fear the Flames 2), by Olivia Rose Darling – Ellowen and Cayden prepare for war, determined to put the world to its rights

Jan 6, Yesterday I was reading The Ether Witch 1 (Delemhach) when once again I thought I’d love to have a map of that world, so I went to search online. What I found was a companion book: Kraken’s Guide to the House Witch, with short stories, portraits and other imagery, little details, and those maps.

Not available in Kindle, though, only in Campfire, and had a bit of a hassle to get it all sorted out (I mean, just my own hassle, nothing complicated about it really), and it was well worth it and the few bucks for the booklet 💜 Didn’t read the stories yet, though, but I’ll get to them once I’m done with the Ether Witches.

Jan 6, Trial books aren’t really my thing, though at least the actual trials played a relatively small part in Whispers Most Deadly (Dunhollow 2), by Emma MacDonald. Still, the first half of the book almost had me DNF:ing it, until it redeemed itself when the tormented martyr of a protagonist finally caved in and stopped pushing everyone away and I actually enjoyed the second half – especially the polyamory bit. Such a rarity in literature.

Jan 25, I’m half-way through Fredrik Backman’s My Friends, and while the language stuffs (where do these people live where even the police asks people if they speak the language?), I’m loving it, like I’ve loved all of his books.  It’s just so sweet, so lovely 💜 Not your action and adventure book, but a book about humans, humanity, friendship, loss and grief – the big feelings. The thing is that Backman really GETS human emotions. So relatable.