December Wrap-Up
The Burning God by R.F. Kuang - This book was everything I wanted and more. I’ve talked about this series quite a bit and I even wrote a whole spoiler-filled recap available to read here for anyone who has read the first two books in the series and needs a refresher on what happened in book 2 so I won’t go too in-depth here about the plot. This is the finale of an asian inspired, military/war focused fantasy trilogy. It’s dark and grim and not always easy to read, but it is just so good. This series very quickly shot toward the top of my list of top fantasy series of all time and I can’t talk enough about how amazing it is. The characters are rich and complex, the plotting is superbly done, and the pacing kept me hooked throughout the whole series never wanting to put any of the books down. 5/5 stars for this book as well as the series as a whole.
Unlocked by Shannon Messenger - This is book 8.5 in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. I was confused by this book at first, because generally a book marked as a half between installments is much smaller than full parts of a series and this book is more than 700 pages. However, when I started reading I realized why. The first 500 pages or so is all supplemental information about the characters and the world. There are bios for all the key players in the series as well as maps and location descriptions. There are even recipes and activity pages. Following that is a 200ish page novella set between books 8 and 9 in the series. The novella was lovely, a lot of fun and quite informative to the plot of the series, but the 500 pages before it were of absolutely no interest to me. It really wasn’t anything I didn't already know from having read the series and I didn’t really benefit from reading it. Additionally, it is generally my experience that when there is a novella between books in a series it's normally available as an ebook for quite a lower price than the other books ($3 or $4 vs $10 or more) as it is much less content. So I was particularly frustrated at the idea that I needed to pay for a full book in order to read a novella (that the author described as imperative to read prior to book 9) when I wasn’t interested in most of the content. I wish just the novella had been offered separately to readers. My rating for the novella is 3.75/5 stars and the book as a whole is 2/5 stars.
Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams - This is the third book in the Bromance Book Club series. It’s a companion novel following two characters we’ve seen in the series previously so it’s not absolutely necessary to have read the other books in the series prior to this one, but I really recommend it in order to have full context of what is going on. This book features Noah, a computer security expert, and Alexis, an owner of a cat cafe. Noah and Alexis are best friends. Both of them want more for their relationship but they each feel that the window to make their move has passed and they desperately wish to avoid doing anything that may ruin the friendship that they love and depend on. This dynamic is complicated as Alexis discovers she has siblings she never knew about and her father, whom she has never met, is in need of a kidney and Alexis might be the only match. This book was the perfect balance of hilarious and heartwarming. I both laughed out loud and cried multiple times. It’s a great addition to the series and I recommend it to any romance fans. Particularly those who like modern romcoms. 4/5 stars.
Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb - I have been trying to read this book for ages. It’s been on my shelf all year and I initially tried in November then put it off to this month where I finally got around to reading it! I really want to get into Robin Hobb’s works and I knew the first book in the Farseer trilogy was a good place to start. We follow the main characters Fitz starting from a young age as he grows up a bastard son of a prince trained to be an assassin for the crown. I had heard that this series starts a little slow but over the course of the next few books that really pays off. I definitely enjoyed reading it, but it didn’t blow me away so I’m really hopeful the next two books in the series are more spectacular. 3/5 stars.
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black - This is a beautiful book. It’s a collection of fairy tale style short stories set in the world of Holly Black’s Cruel Prince series featuring Cardan before, during, and after the events of the trilogy. The stories were whimsical and added interesting perspective to the plot of the books and the illustrations were wonderful. It’s a quick and lovely read for fans of the series. 4/5 stars.
This Close To Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith (available February 2, 2021) - This was my December Book of the Month pick. It focuses on Tallie Clark, a recently divorced therapist, who is driving home from work one evening when she sees a man about to jump off a bridge. She manages to talk him off the ledge, takes him for coffee (where she learns his name is Emmett) and convinces him to stay with her for the weekend. Tallie is determined to provide comfort and safety to this man she just met while also hiding from him the fact that she’s a therapist (he thinks she’s a teacher). Emmett reluctantly accepts her offer to come stay but proves to be fairly closed off about his life and what led him to the bridge in the first place. Over the course of that weekend they both find some much needed healing and it turns out that Tallie isn’t the only one hiding big secrets. I really enjoyed this one. The characters were captivating and I was compelled to keep reading the book because of how much I wanted to know their secrets and how they would be revealed to both each other and myself as the reader. It’s one of those books that I immediately handed off to my mother to read too because I think it’s a contemporary fiction book that should be widely read. I’m hoping it’s a hit come February when it’s released.
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman - Fredrik Backman is the well-known and beloved author of books like A Man Called Ove and Beartown, neither of which I’ve read. I’ve been interested in reading one of his books for a while and decided to pick this one up a few months ago when it was released. This book is a wild ride. I had no idea what was going on half the time and my head was spinning throughout, but it was so fun. This story jumps back and forth in time and mostly follows the events of a failed bank robbery when the robber flees the scene at the back and ends up hiding out in an apartment that’s having an open house accidentally taking everyone there hostage in the process. The way the threads between all of the characters in the story weave together over time is amazing. It’s an incredibly comical tale, but also one that really tugs at your heartstrings and you’ll find yourself rooting for people you never thought you’d want to succeed at the beginning of the book. I really loved it. 4.5 stars.
