My Best Reads for January

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Happy February, my Lovelies! Whether you struggled through January wet or dry, hopefully a few good books eased the journey into the coming longer days, as they did for me. One of the innovations I’m adding to the blog for 2022 is post at the beginning of each month about what writers love to do best – next to writing, of course. No! I’m not talking about sex, you naughty people! That is obviously in a league of its own. Writers love to read. In fact they’re passionate about reading, and almost all us wish we had more time for it.

 

Every writer will tell you that reading is as much a part of writing as putting words on the page. Every book I read makes me a better writer. But that’s a post yet to come.

 

I tend to binge read when I discover an author I really like, and January’s author for my big binge was the fabulous V. E. Schwab. If you’ve not read anything by her, then you are seriously missing out. You may recall my favorite book of 2021 happened to be one of her novels – the first of hers I’d ever read. The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue. is magical realism at its best and a great place to begin to get to know this amazing writer.  Imagine making a deal with the devil to live a life different from the one being forced up on you, then finding yourself cursed with immortality, always to remember every experience, but never to be remembered by anyone. For Addie La Rue, the only way out is to call in the deal and hand over her soul. In fact I was so impressed that I spent a great deal of my January reading with Schwab’s novels.

 

 

I’d been contemplating V. E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic series for some time, and after reading Addie La Rue, I knew it had to happen. ADSM is nothing like Addie, and yet equally skillfully written and gripping. ADSM is pure fantasy with a touch of alternate Regency England style thrown in for good measure. The trilogy is set in a world where four Different Londons exist at the same time in the same space. They are all different, all dangerous and all craving the magic only Red London has, with only three people who can travel between them. I spent a lot of time reading when I should have been sleeping. Sorry/not sorry!

 

 

It wasn’t enough. I had to have more. Sooooo, I read her duology, The Archived, written as Victoria Schwab, and more sleep was lost in more delectable late-night reading. The Archived is YA urban fantasy at its best with a dark and gripping twist on the afterlife. Unputdownable.

 

 

Yup, my book-loving compadres, V. E. Schwab is, hands down, my choice for January’s Best Author of the Month. If you’re looking for some seriously fun, totally gripping reading that will keep you reading far to late into the night, be sure to check out V. E. Schwab.

 

I’m hoping to have something special for you next week, so please check in to find out my favorite condiments for the month. 🙂 Just kidding. But who doesn’t like a good condiment recommendation, right?

 

 

 

 

Piloting Fury Final Episode! Brand New KDG Read

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And here we are! We made it! Today is Friday and time for the final episode of Piloting Fury. Last week we learned that Abriad Fallon’s eldest son inherits it all. This week, Fury and his new family begin a brave new journey to find the rest of the family.

Will there be more Fury? Quite possibly. Will there be more posts to come? Most definitely. With a new year comes new plans, and new writing adventures. I hope you’ve all enjoyed Fury as much as I have enjoyed sharing his journey. If so, please share the link with your friends and spread the news. If you’ve tuned in late and missed this full-length KDG novel, or if you just want to enjoy the adventure again, just follow the link below back to the beginning and enjoy.

Again here’s the link to the first episode of Piloting Fury for those of you who’d like to start at the beginning. https://kdgrace.co.uk/blog/piloting-fury-new-from-kdg/

 

 

 

“Win the bet and Fury’s yours. Lose the bet and your ass is mine.” It seemed like a no-brainer — Rick Manning’s slightly inebriated offer. If he’d been sober, he’d have remembered indentured pilot, Diana “Mac” McAllister never lost a bet. All her life she’s dreamed of buying back her freedom and owning her own starship, and when Fury’s ne’er-do-well, irritating as hell captain all but hands Fury to her on a silver platter she figures she can’t lose. She figured wrong. That’s how the best pilot in the galaxy finds herself the indentured 1st mate of a crew that, thanks to her, has doubled in size. Too late, she finds out Fury is way more than a cargo ship. Fury is a ship with a history – a dangerous history, and one that Mac’s been a part of for a lot longer than she thinks. And Rick Manning is not above cheating at poker to get her right at the center of it all, exactly where he needs her to be.

 

Piloting Fury Final Episode: Family

The room erupted in a cacophony of voices. Dr. Flissy silenced the lot with a loud wolf whistle.

“Fury, you have to act fast,” Gerando said when the room was once again silent. “My siblings will find a way around this document. I don’t know how long it’ll take them, but I can guarantee it. But here are ways of liquidating assets and transferring funds to the Outer Rim quickly and almost unnoticed if you act fast. You’ll have to find someone who has the connections and can act quickly,” Gerando said.

“You forget, Fury has been working as a smuggling vessel in the Outer Rim for the past fifteen years,” Manning said. “Now that he has a full compliment, it can be sorted, and quickly.”

“What about the indentureds,” I said, feeling a knot tighten in my stomach.

“They’re property, in the eyes of the Authority,” Gerando said. “freeing them, is simply a matter of the owner’s discretion. Finding ways for them to survive on their own and make a living for themselves is not such an easy task.”

“There has to be a way,” I said. “They can’t stay indentureds.”

“I’m not saying there’s no way. I’m saying it won’t be easy.”

“Perhaps the Dubrovnik is best suited to deal with the indentured problem,” Harker said, giving Keen a meaningful look.

“I think that might be true,” Keen replied. “While we can’t house them all, we have resources, connections. That’s been our main mission, to help escaped indentureds, to cure those we got to in time.”

“It appears I will now have the resources to do what must be done,” Fury said. “With Richard Manning’s help, I can easily liquidate my assets for safe keeping, and I assure you, Gerando Fallon, it can be done quickly.”

“So we have funding,” Keen said, “Which is a good thing, because from here on out, we are operating completely outside Authority law, and if we’re to do any real good in repealing the indentured laws and building a society which is not dependent on an indentured work force, then we can’t just disappear to the Outer Rim.”

 

 

“We have three SNTs on our side,” Rab said. “Ain’t nobody but us knows that. That’s gotta be good for something.”

“You can’t keep three SNT’s secret very long,” Manning said. “We managed with Fury because Fury was disguised as a small rusted-out freighter with a crew of one. What we’re talking about now, with Griffin and Dubrovnik, when he’s fully grown, is two spacefaring cities. There’s no way to keep that a secret. People will find out. The Authority will find out. Then we’ll be dependent on the opinions of the people to sway and change the system. When that time comes, if we aren’t able to convince those living in Authority space that it’s time to end the enslavement of half of the population and let the SNTs claim their rightful place in society, then we’ll have to flea to the Outer Rim. But in the meantime, we need to act fast and take advantage of the secrecy while we have it.”

“Our priority needs to be to seek out and enlist the help of the other SNTs, if any still exist,” Keen said. “Before the destruction of the Merlin, I managed to get a subspace message out to all remaining SNTs to get as far from Authority space as they could and to stay hidden. The Quetzalcoatl and the Raven escaped, at least as far as I know. They made it as far as the edge of the Rim and no one has heard of them since. I don’t know if they have the same abilities to disguise themselves as Fury and his brothers do, but I do know that they were created to learn and adapt. If there was a way to survive unnoticed, they were created to find it.”

“Then it would appear,” Fury said, “that since Richard Manning and I have spent time near the edge of the Rim, and we have a superior pilot and compliment in Diana Mac, that we would be the wise choice to seek out the Quetzalcoatl and the Raven.

“Other than Ouroboros, of whose fate I have found no records, the rest of my surviving sisters and brothers were decommissioned, as best I could discover. I’ve spent a good deal of time trying to find out what space docks Apollo and Valkyrie were decommissioned to. No doubt they’re in separate locations to keep them from communicating, if that were a possibility, though I suspect it wasn’t if their compliments were murdered. From my research, I believe Aurora might be on one of the salvage drops off Diga 9.”

“With permission,” Griffin spoke up, “My compliment and I would seek out those SNTs decommissioned in space docks.”

“I will share all that I have learned then,” Fury said, “though I would imagine, Griffin, there is information within your own databases that belonged to Abriad Fallon that may be more useful in the finding of our lost ones than what I have access to.”

“We’re a community now,” Keen said. “There’s only us, and we must govern ourselves in the way that would bring us closer to the ideals we all seek. I would suggest a vote.”

 

The voting hadn’t taken long. As far as missions went, it was obvious that Fury and Griffin should seek out other SNTs and Dubrovnik should do what it could to aid in the release and rescue of Indentureds, while researching a way to neutralize the SNT virus on a large scale and permanently.

As for the formation of a governing body that would hold us all together in loose cohesion and keep us accountable, that task was left to Harker, Flissy and Keen. The rest of us were just happy to get on with it.

“I thought I might find you here.” Manning came up the stairs onto the observation deck and slipped his arms around me from behind. “Getting one last look?”

I nodded. “I’ve not had true family since my father’s death until you and Fury burst into my life, and now I’m saying good-bye to more family than I could easily imagine ever having.”

“It is only temporary,” Fury said, and I felt him move in close and the embrace became three-way. “We will someday all be rejoined to celebrate an even larger family.”

“Do you think we’ll find them?” I asked, “The Quetzalcoatl and the Raven?”

“I am hopeful,” Fury said, “as we all must be, I suppose. I too have lived long without family, Diana Mac. Perhaps that is the reason for my optimism. I certainly did not expected that there would be family for me as well as a double compliment, both of whom I love, so I am indeed hopeful.”

We all three watched Griffin and the newly born Dubrovnik disappear in the distance, and I had to agree with Fury, surrounded by the love of my two men and on the way to seek out family, I was also hopeful.

 

THE END

 

Piloting Fury Part 62: Brand New KDG Read!

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Happy Friday, Everyone! Of course Friday means more Fury, and this is the next to the last episode! Very excited to be sharing the Fury Family reunion. And this week, another surprise from Fury’s father.  If you’re enjoying Fury, please spread the word and pass the link to a friend. I love to share my stories with as many people as possible.

Again here’s the link to the first episode of Piloting Fury for those of you who’d like to start at the beginning. https://kdgrace.co.uk/blog/piloting-fury-new-from-kdg/

 

 

 

“Win the bet and Fury’s yours. Lose the bet and your ass is mine.” It seemed like a no-brainer — Rick Manning’s slightly inebriated offer. If he’d been sober, he’d have remembered indentured pilot, Diana “Mac” McAllister never lost a bet. All her life she’s dreamed of buying back her freedom and owning her own starship, and when Fury’s ne’er-do-well, irritating as hell captain all but hands Fury to her on a silver platter she figures she can’t lose. She figured wrong. That’s how the best pilot in the galaxy finds herself the indentured 1st mate of a crew that, thanks to her, has doubled in size. Too late, she finds out Fury is way more than a cargo ship. Fury is a ship with a history – a dangerous history, and one that Mac’s been a part of for a lot longer than she thinks. And Rick Manning is not above cheating at poker to get her right at the center of it all, exactly where he needs her to be.

 

Piloting Fury Part 62: Heir Not-so- Apparent

We all met in Dubrovnik’s captain’s lounge. Manning and I represented Fury, though the com links had been left open with both Fury and Griffin. We were the first to arrive, with Rab, looking slightly uncomfortable in his new uniform. He was now a lieutenant in Dubrovnik’s security division and chosen for his extended relationship with Fallon and the Authority. His knowledge would benefit all of them in the months ahead. Harker was flanked by Doctor Flissy and Lieutenant Juarez, who was the pilot that replaced me. They were joined by Keen, his head of security, Dana Larkin, who would now take over after Markov’s death, and Nali Patel, the head of the transitional team, which would help transition the Dubrovnik from a freighter to a flying research facility as well as from a standard orca class ship to an SNT. The path ahead was staggering. We all settled in at the big conference table, crowded with the full compliment of the three ships – well all except for the representatives from Griffin.

“You suppose they stayed on for a second cigarette?” I whispered in Manning’s ear.

“They’ve had long enough to smoke the whole damn pack,” Manning said.

Suddenly the image of Griffin came up and the monitor showed a split screen image of the two SNTs. Griffin announced the arrival of Gerando and Stanislavsky, who ‘tranned into the room a moment later. Though that, in itself, was no great surprise, the change in the appearance of Gerando Fallon, was. He seemed taller, his shoulders no longer rounded with the years of self-hatred and abuse from his father. He was leaner, the look of sallow laziness that had shadowed his face had gone and the lines and angles of his body were sharper and harder. He was still thinner than ideal from all that he had suffered, but Griffin and Stanislavsky would sort that in short order. His blue eyes burned fever bright and there was a look about him that only came with lessons learned the hard way. Stanislavsky, who stood with her arm threaded through his, no longer looked like a woman who ached for something she couldn’t have.

 

 

To everyone’s surprise, it was Gerando Fallon who spoke. “I’m sorry we’re late, but we’ve been doing a bit of research on a very important matter.” He turned his attention to Harker. “If I may, Captain.”

Harker nodded his permission.

“With my father dead, his holdings will now be fought over by his children. It’ll get ugly. There are at least three of my siblings who would give my father a run for his money in the nasty sonovabitch department.” He nodded to Stanislavsky, who moved to the ship’s computer and pulled up a document. “This, however, cannot be disputed. My father left his shares in the Fire Star Conglomerate, along with a great deal of his other accumulated wealth to his eldest son.” He shrugged. “Well technically, I’m dead, so that rules me out. But after Ina and I looked over the documentation, we believe it was never intended for me anyway. He certainly never hinted that I would inherit anything. And now that the truth is out, I’m not his eldest son. Fury is his eldest son.”

The room was suddenly awash in murmurs of startled surprise that all silenced when Stanislavsky pulled up the next document. It looked like a page full of gibberish, numbers, letters, symbols in random combinations. “While I was born fifteen years before Fury, Fury became a living, thinking entity nearly a year before I was born. I don’t mean like a fetus, I mean a sentient being capable of having intelligent, even advanced conversations with Dr. Keen and others who had contact with him and who were responsible for his education.” He waved a dismissive hand. “I know this because I’m really good at hacking systems, and I had a fascination with SNT technology since I was old enough to understand what was going on. But this,” He nodded to the document Stanislavsky had pulled up, “this is what convinced me that my father always believed he would, in the end, have Fury for his own and that he viewed Fury as his immortality. You know what this is and what it means, don’t you, Bro 1?”

“It would appear to be an access code written in my own personal language, the language I created for myself in my infancy.”

“Access to what?” Manning asked.

“To … exactly what Gerando Fallon has stated, our father’s shares in the Fire Star Conglomerate, and multiple billions of credits, property and indentureds across the entirety of Authority space.”

 

Piloting Fury Part 61: Brand New KDG Read

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I hope your new year is off to a great start everyone. It’s the first Friday of the year, which means  it’s once again time for more Fury. Last week, Fury’s brother was finally set free, and this week, the family grows. If you’re enjoying Fury, please spread the word and pass the link to a friend. I love to share my stories with as many people as possible. I’m offering a new episode of Fury every Friday.

Again here’s the link to the first episode of Piloting Fury for those of you who’d like to start at the beginning. https://kdgrace.co.uk/blog/piloting-fury-new-from-kdg/

 

 

 

“Win the bet and Fury’s yours. Lose the bet and your ass is mine.” It seemed like a no-brainer — Rick Manning’s slightly inebriated offer. If he’d been sober, he’d have remembered indentured pilot, Diana “Mac” McAllister never lost a bet. All her life she’s dreamed of buying back her freedom and owning her own starship, and when Fury’s ne’er-do-well, irritating as hell captain all but hands Fury to her on a silver platter she figures she can’t lose. She figured wrong. That’s how the best pilot in the galaxy finds herself the indentured 1st mate of a crew that, thanks to her, has doubled in size. Too late, she finds out Fury is way more than a cargo ship. Fury is a ship with a history – a dangerous history, and one that Mac’s been a part of for a lot longer than she thinks. And Rick Manning is not above cheating at poker to get her right at the center of it all, exactly where he needs her to be.

 

Piloting Fury Part 61: Fury’s Family

“What’s taking so long?” Manning asked, pacing the carpeted floor in Fury’s observation deck. It was the place we always adjourned too when our work was done, when we needed to think, or when there was nothing else to do but wait it out. That was exactly what was going on now.

“It takes however long it takes,” Fury said. “Griffin knows as little of the bonding with a compliment as I knew, though both Victor Keen and I have done what we may to advise him.”

Manning chuckled, “So you two have had the birds and the bees discussion with him, have you?”

“He is old enough.” Fury said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

“I’m sure Stanislavsky will be happy for your efforts,” I replied.

 

 

Griffon was the name Apocalypse had chosen for himself, saying that an SNT should not be named for the destruction of those he was created to protect and nurture. He chose the name, Griffin, because a griffon was a mythical flying beast who was the protector of great treasure. He felt it fit, and we all agreed.

Manning paced some more, along with Rab, who had been invited from the Dubrovnik where he had once again taken up a position, to wait with us, since he had a vested interest, and Griffon might not have been freed had he not helped Gerando.

“So, how’s our baby?” I asked Rab, trying to keep the two men’s mind off the bonding going on aboard the Griffin.

“Doing good, doing good,” he said turning to face me. I couldn’t help notice the smile on his face was not unlike a proud uncle. “Trouble for everyone, like all sprogs, and growing like a weed.” He turned and continued pacing, he and Manning now walking in opposite directions. “It’ sure as hell keeping Harker on his toes, let me tell you. And Dr. Flissy, well you’d think she was the sprog’s mother the way she flits about all protective like. Hell, it’s a damn ship, I keep saying, but no one ever listens to Rab, do they?”

Fury chuckled softly, and it was the easiest thing in the world to be caught up in the excitement of what was happening onboard Dubrovnik as well as what was happening onboard Griffin.

“One things for goddamn sure,” Rab observed, “it’s making the refit for New Pandora Base a helluva lot easier. Mind you, I’m not sure how I feel about being onboard a damn research base inside a ship that’s smarter than me.”

“Hell, I’ve got underwear smarter than you,” Manning said.

Rab chuckled. “Well, that’s probably true, being a compliment to an SNT1 and all, but a simple man like me, well I don’t need help to pull my scruns down when I need to shit.”

Before Manning could respond with more than a middle finger in the air, the com crackled to life. “It’s done,” Keen’s voice came over the system. “The bonding was a success and Griffin says to tell you all that they are now smoking cigarettes, whatever that means.”

Manning laughed. “It’s an old Terran ritual supposedly indulged in immediately after really good sex. Did he inherit your sense of humor, Fury?”

“He is developing his own, and very quickly,” Fury said with pride in his voice. “I believe he is making up for lost time.”

“And he has a lot of it to make up for,” I said, running my hand over the small white scar on my forearm now nearly invisible where my shackle used to be. “And Gerando?”

 

 

 

“The tether’s secure and holding,” Keen said. “Perhaps in time, since Griffin is now bonded with Ina, that tether will get stronger and longer, as it has with you, Richard, but at the moment it’s secure, and the bond between the three is strong. It’s a different kind of bond,” Keen explained, “since Griffin and Gerando share blood, but the tether is like what Manning has. But in the bonding process, Gerando and Ina were bonded, which in its own way strengthens the bonding.”

“Well that’s all dandy,” Rab said, “but what I want to know is how the hell we gonna keep Griffin out of the hands of the Authority? Technically he belongs to them.”

“Technically, he was stolen from the Free Universities,” Fury corrected. “I am sure there are lawyers who could prove that fact. There is a precedent.”

“And how goddamn much difference do you think that’s gonna make when the fucking Authority finds out we’re growing us a new generation of SNT ships out here at Plague One?”

“Probably no difference at all, if the Authority were to find out,” Fury replied. “But they will not. Griffin will stay safe the same way I stayed safe. It will not be difficult for him to create a shape and appearance least likely to draw attention.”

“Nor will it be hard to spread the word that Plague 1 is now a breeding ground for a new virulent form of the SNT virus that is no longer controlled by the shackle, but is a menace to the general population. We are already disseminating that information, including footage of the destruction of the Apocalypse and Abriad Fallon with it. People are happy to believe rumors of the SNT virus, so one more really big one won’t shock them at all. No one will come looking. With his vocal processors and his link to Fallon, Griffin has been able to produce a subspace distress call from the Apocalypse of an infected Fallon that will convince everyone in Authority space to stay as far away from Plague One as possible.”

“Jesu Vati! You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?” Rab said. “Except if Plague One is going to be safe from unexpected visitors in the future, why the hell is the Dubrovnik about to become the new Pandora Base?”

“Fallon’s not the only powerful head of a conglomerate who would like to control the SNT virus,” Keen said. “Sooner or later, someone will show up wanting to replicate the virus and use it for their own ends. Best they don’t find anything here when that happens. Besides, Fallon had the right idea using the Apocalypse so he never stayed in one place. With the research we’re doing, with our efforts to end indentureship and eliminate the virus completely, not to mention the research on SNT technology, it’s best if no one is able to pinpoint our location. When we’re done with the Dubrovnik, he’ll be the perfect fortress for the protection of our research, just as his ancient Terran namesake was.” He looked down at his chronometer. “Right, let’s give Griffin and his compliment time to finish their cigarettes, and then we’ll all meet onboard the Dubrovnik. We’ve got a brave new world ahead of us now.”

 

 

 

 

My Best Reads of 2021

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For me, more reading time was one of the best things to come out of lockdown. I’ve always been one who would rather curl up with a good book than binge watch something on Netflix. I am most definitely and unashamedly a binge reader. Throughout lockdown in its several incarnations, I’ve been sharing my own novel, Piloting Fury, with you. (follow this link if you would like to read it from the beginning FREE.) But in a couple of weeks Fury will come to an end, so it seemed like a great time to slip in a post of my favorite reads for 2021, in case you’re wondering what I read when I’m not writing.

 

Strangely enough the best two stand-alone novels from my 2021 reading list happened to be the last two I read, and amazingly enough, they both were tales about memory and how much of who we are is tied up not only in our memories, but in others’ memories of us. They were both stunning, and it was a tough choice between the two as to which I thought was the best.

 

The first was The Binding by Bridget Collins, who is a new writer to me. The novel is fantasy set in a world where a person’s worst, most painful memories can be removed and bound in a book to be locked away in a vault. For the person who has been bound, it is as though the memory never happened. What could possibly go wrong? The Binding is a vibrant, evocative, and chilling story of what it might be like if bad memories could be as easily erased as sentences on a computer, and what happens when those bound memories end up in the wrong hands. Bridget Collins’ novel is a stunner, and one I can’t recommend enough.

 

 

But my number one stand-alone pick for 2021 is the novel I finished New Years Eve morning in the wee hours. It’s also my first novel by this writer. My Number one read for 2021 is V.E. Schwab’s fabulous The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue. Imagine making a deal with the devil to live a life different from the one being forced up on you, then finding yourself cursed with immortality, always to remember every experience, but never to be remembered by anyone. For Addie La Rue, the only way out is to call in the deal and hand over her soul. Like The Binding, Addie La Rue left me with a serious book hangover. You know the kind I mean, those very wonderful novels that leave you unable to stop thinking about the characters and the plot, and wondering, maybe even making up in your own mind, what happened after THE END. These two books both left me wishing I’d read them so much slower and savored them. But never fear, they’ve both been added to my TBRA list – To Be Read Again.

 

 

 

 

As it is every year, this year there were several memorable stand alones that were outside the list of books I would normally read. The historical stunner, A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance is un-put-downable. A dark, disturbing, wonderful tale of family betrayal, and love set in San Francisco just before the 1906 earthquake. When a young woman from New York moves in with rich West Coast relatives she didn’t know she had, she quickly learns that she might not have been invited out of family love and loyalty.

 

The Bennet Women by Eden Appiah-Kubi – a stunningly modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with twists and turns that make the timeless story fit right into the age of tech and social media like a comfortable sweater.

 

As for my walk on the Crime side this year I can heartily recommend anything by fabulous crime thriller writer, Helen Callaghan. Whether you start with her debut novel, Dear Amy, or her latest, Night Falls, Still Missing, if you’re a lover of psychological crime thrillers, you won’t be disappointed.

 

The best new ongoing series by one of my favorite writers is, without a doubt, Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series. Think Hogwarts from Hell, with the school itself trying to kill the students. I’m sure you can see the appeal. The first book, A Deadly Education, which came out in 2020, left all of Novik’s fans waiting anxiously for the next.  was due to come out in July, but because of Covid and lockdown, it wasn’t released until September, and may I just say that The Last Graduate was absolutely worth the wait. It was far too quickly devoured, and has left me anxiously waiting for the final novel in the trilogy to be released in September this year. Novik has long been one of my favorite writers and the Scholomance series has made me even more a fan girl. If you’ve not read anything by Novik, then I suggest you do so without further delay. You’re in for a real treat.

 

 

In 2021, there was some stiff competition for the best series from a writer that is new to me. I loved Danielle L. Jensen’s Dark Shores series and her Bridge Kingdom series, both ongoing, both new to me, with the next book of the Bridge Kingdom coming out soon. Both are fantasy series with amazing world building and stories and characters worthy of the textured, beautifully dangerous, worlds Jensen has created.

 

Another wonderful series I discovered in 2021 is Lynette Noni’s Prison Healer Series. The novels are fantasy romance, and set in a prison. While the place is myopic, the character and the plot, the grit and the grip are most definitely not.

 

But my favorite series of 2021 by an author I’d never read before, and once again the last series I read for the year, is Sebastien de Castell’s stunning Spellslinger series. De Castell creates a world in which the wild west meets thieving, murderous, sorcerers on steroids with a bit of steam punk thrown in for good measure, and a cast of characters that I seriously wanted to travel across the deserts of the Seven Sands with. This is one you don’t want to miss. It’s funny, it’s moving, it’s full of suspense and great twists and turns. I blew through the eight books WAY faster than I would have liked, and Mr. Grace is now doing the same. Another series for my TBRA list.

 

 

As is the case every year, some of the books from my TBRA list get read again, and it’s just like spending quality time with a good friend. Sarah J Maas’s Throne of Glass series is always well worth another read, and it’s been awhile, so that had to happen. To be fair, it was a SJM sort of year anyway, with the next novel in her Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Court of Silver Flames being released. (Which, by the way is my favorite so far in a series I love). And of course when a new novel in a series comes out, they all have to be read again so that the details are all fresh. And while it was a new read for me (now added to the TBRA list) I began Maas’s new Crescent City series, hungrily devouring the first novel, House of Earth and Blood, which leaves me waiting for the second book, which is coming out in February. A great Valentine’s gift to look forward to!

 

And where would a year be without reading Naomi Novik’s fabulous Temeraire series one more time. I’ve lost track of how many times this year’s read makes. For those of you who don’t already know, who haven’t heard me rave about the books, Novik’s Temeraire series is my all time favorite series EVER! Cuz … dragons!

 

 

Leigh Bardugo has seriously added to my TBRA list this year with three novels. First, her fantastically dark and gritty Six of Crows duology set in the Grishaverse after the Shadow and Bone series. These books were so addictive and gripping that Mr. Grace read them too just to see what I was enthusing about. I can’t say enough good things about this series. I adore the characters, all so wonderfully flawed and disturbingly dangerous, and the plot is fast paced, deeply textured at times heart stopping at times moving. The duology ticks all my boxes. Crows is by far the best of Bardugo’s Grishaverse, in my opinion.

 

Also on the list from Bardugo is her amazing adult novel, The Ninth House. Ghosts, murder, blood sacrifice and secret societies! I will never look at Yale the same way again. The novel is dark and disturbing and wonderfully redemptive, a cracking good read. Sadly, I’ll be waiting awhile on the second book of this series. Happily the reason is that this amazing author is busy working on the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone based on her novels of the same name. Which also includes some great back-story with the Crows. I highly recommend season one. I’m looking forward to the second season, and seriously wishing Leigh Bardugo could clone herself to write that sequel to The Ninth House.

 

 

In case you’re wondering how 2022 is going for me so far reading wise, well, I’ve decided to go with a winner and read V.E. Swab’s Shades of Magic series. I’ve been wanting to for a while, and after Addie LaRue, I’m ready for a Schwab binge. I’ve already finished A Darker Shade of Magic and am hungrily devouring A Gathering of Shadows. If one London isn’t enough for you, imagine a world with four, all very different, all very dangerous in their own way. And all occupying the same space with only a few people able to pass between … at their own risk, of course. Will it be on my top series list for 2022? Only time will tell.

 

 

And what about you? What are you reading? I would love to hear your picks for 2021. Here’s hoping that 2022 will see a lot of new TBRAs on your reading list.

 

 

Next Friday, the first of the final three episodes of Piloting Fury