REVIEW: Stolen Songbird (#1) - Danielle L. Jensen

Title: Stolen Songbird (#1)
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Series: The Malediction Trilogy
Publisher: Angry Robot
Format: Paperback
Pages: 469 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the mountain. When Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she realises that the trolls are relying on her to break the curse.

Cécile has only one thing on her mind: escape. But the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time…

But the more time she spends with the trolls, the more she understands their plight. There is a rebellion brewing. And she just might be the one the trolls were looking for...

REVIEW: Distortion (#2) - Victor Dixen

Title: Distortion (#2)
Author: Victor Dixen
Series: Phobos
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 567 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

After a speed-dating show that is literally out of this world, twelve young astronauts are set to become the first humans to colonise Mars. They are also the victims of the cruellest of plots.

Léonor thought she was a pioneer on an extraordinary mission. She thought she had left all regrets behind her on Earth. But when memories are this painful, there can be no forgetting . .

REVIEW: City of Lost Souls (#5) - Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Lost Souls (#5)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments
Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
Format: Paperback
Pages: 544 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

REVIEW: Inferno (#5) - Julie Kagawa

Title: Inferno (#5)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Talon Series
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Paperback
Pages: 397 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

TODAY, WE STRIKE BACK.

WE SHOW TALON THAT WE WILL NEVER ACCEPT THEIR NEW WORLD.

Ember Hill has learned a shocking truth about herself: she is the blood of the Elder Wyrm, the ancient dragon who leads Talon and who is on the verge of world domination. With the Order of St. George destroyed, Ember, Riley and Garret journey to the Amazon jungle in search of one who might hold the key to take down the Elder Wyrm and Talon—if they can survive the encounter.

Meanwhile, Ember’s brother, Dante, will travel to China with a message for the last Eastern dragons: join Talon or die. With the stakes rising and the Elder Wyrm declaring war, time is running out for the rogues and any dragon not allied with Talon.

The final battle approaches. And if Talon is victorious, the world will burn. 

REVIEW: Way Down Dark (#1) - J. P. Smythe

Title: Way Down Dark (#1)
Author: J. P. Smythe
Series: The Australia Trilogy
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Format: Paperback
Pages: 277 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

There's one truth on Australia: You fight or you die. Usually both.

Seventeen-year-old Chan's ancestors left a dying Earth hundreds of years ago, in search of a new home. They never found one.

The only life that Chan's ever known is one of violence, of fighting. Of trying to survive.

But there might be a way to escape. In order to find it, Chan must head way down into the darkness - a place of buried secrets, long-forgotten lies, and the abandoned bodies of the dead.

Seventeen-year-old Chan, fiercely independent and self-sufficient, keeps her head down and lives quietly, careful not to draw attention to herself amidst the violence and disorder. Until the day she makes an extraordinary discovery - a way to return the Australia to Earth. But doing so would bring her to the attention of the fanatics and the murderers who control life aboard the ship, putting her and everyone she loves in terrible danger.

And a safe return to Earth is by no means certain. 

REVIEW: Moon Over Soho (#2) - Ben Aaronovitch

Title: Moon Over Soho (#2)
Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Series: Peter Grant
Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

The song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body—a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead supernatural.

Body and soul. They’re also what Peter will risk as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace—one that leads right to his own doorstep and to the squandered promise of a young jazz musician: a talented trumpet player named Richard “Lord” Grant—otherwise known as Peter’s dear old dad.

REVIEW: Truthwitch (#1) - Susan Dennard*

Title: Truthwitch (#1)
Author: Susan Dennard
Series: The Witchlands
Publisher: Tor
Format: E-Book
Pages: 416 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐

*RECEIVED FROM NETGALLEY FOR AN HONEST REVIEW*

Goodreads Blurb

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

REVIEW: Saga Vol. 6 - Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Title: Saga Vol. 6
Author: Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
Series: Saga
Publisher: Image Comics
Format: Paperback
Pages: 152 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

After a dramatic time jump, the three-time Eisner Award winner for Best Continuing Series continues to evolve, as Hazel begins the most exciting adventure of her life: kindergarten. Meanwhile, her starcrossed family learns hard lessons of their own.

REVIEW: Demelza (#2) - Winston Graham

Title: Demelza (#2)
Author: Winston Graham
Series: The Poldark Saga
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Format: Paperback
Pages: 528 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Demelza Carne, an impoverished miner’s daughter Ross Poldark rescued from a fairground brawl, now happily finds herself his wife. But the events of these turbulent years test their marriage and their love. As Ross launches into a bitter struggle for the right of the mining communities, Demelza’s efforts to adapt to the ways of the gentry (and her husband) place her in increasingly odd and embarrassing situations. When tragedy strikes and sows the seeds of an enduring rivalry between Ross and the powerful George Warleggan, will Demelza manage to bridge their differences before they destroy her and her husband’s chance at happiness?

REVIEW: Hunting Prince Dracula (#2) - Kerri Maniscalco

Title: Hunting Prince Dracula (#2)
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Format: Audiobook
Time: 11Hrs 18Mins
Narrator: Nicola Barber
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper's true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe's best schools of forensic medicine...and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life's dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school's forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

December Wrap Up

Welcome, to another wrap-up.

Where did December go to, I really want to know.

1. Goodnight Mister Tom - Michelle Magorian (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
2. Distortion (#2) - Victor Dixen (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
3. A Boy Called Christmas (#1) - Matt Haig (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
4. Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe - Melissa de la Cruz (⭐⭐)
5. Inferno (#5) - Julie Kagawa (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
6. The Inquisition (#2) - Taran Matharu (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
7. Crazy Rich Asians (#1) - Kevin Kwan (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
8. The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists (#1) - Gideon Defoe (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
9. Final Promise (#4) - Alexa Riley (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
10. Mr & Mrs (#1) - Alexa Riley (⭐⭐⭐)
11. Blackmailing the Virgin (#2) - Alexa Riley (⭐⭐⭐)
12. Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie (⭐⭐⭐⭐)
13. Stolen Songbird (#1) - Danielle L. Jensen (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)
14. The Christmas Hirelings - Mary Elizabeth Braddon (⭐⭐⭐)

Overall not a bad reading month, especially in December