Soooo….
To say that my 2018 reading challenge has suffered a slight hiccough would be an understatement. As of my last update, I had read 9 of 24 planned books. Four months later, that number sits at 14 of 24.
That’s right. In the past four months, I’ve read 5 books. Barely more than a book a month.
So what happened??
Let’s start at the beginning, and well, I liked the Bill and Ted’s gifs so much in the last update, let’s address it that way, shall we?
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At the beginning of the year, I mapped out my reading plan by painstakingly choosing 24 fantasy books (based on a number of totally subjective criteria) which I felt, as a fantasy writer, I needed to read. And it was going great.
For a while…
Then I hit a spate of books that left me like…
So, I took a break to beta read for a lovely writer friend, and it was all…
But, when I returned to my TBR list, the magic was gone.
Days passed, sometimes weeks, before I’d take another crack at whatever title I was working on. So many other books began popping up on my radar. Books I wanted to read NOW.
I went off list with Mary Weber’s Storm Siren.
And I LOVED it.
That’s when things got awkward.
Meanwhile, my TBR pile just sat there, staring at me.
Then I figured it out.
It wasn’t the books on my list. It was me.
I’m a mood reader. Sure, maybe I can plan my reading a few books in advance, but a whole year is just not how I’m wired to read. Maybe that’s why I always hated reading lists in school.
My plan was sucking the joy out of reading.
So, TBR pile, we’re taking a break.
I’m still shooting for 24 books this year, but this last half may or may not be part of the plan.
And I’m totally okay with that.
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But out of the 5 here’s the standout! (If you haven’t guessed already.)
by Mary Weber
“I raise my chin as the buyers stare. Yes. Look. You don’t want me. Because, eventually, accidentally, I will destroy you.”
Nym is like a Cadbury egg. Hard on the outside, but a gooey mess inside. Haunted by the uncontrollable elemental storm power within her, she can’t help but destroy everyone she get’s close to.
I barely put this book down once I picked it up, and read with glee as Nym found herself being trained in the hope to end the war that was destroying her country. It was a fast paced story surrounded by a very intriguing political atmosphere. Who’s on whose side? Who can we trust? Will she finally just end her owner??
Also, a nice dose of romantic tension.
Also, meat-eating horses. Whaat?
Also, huge cliffhanger ending. You have been warned.
I enjoyed Weber’s world building, but I could have used a little more of it. That aside, I wanted to read the second book in the series as soon as I finished the first, but the library didn’t have a copy. *sob* Book 2 now sits in my top 5 “wants to read.”
Have you read Storm Siren? If so, what did you think about it?
