Up and Coming: August

I decided to take a break from blogging during July. While I was still loving it, I was finding that it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay on top of posts. That was ruining the enjoyment of it – it was feeling like a constant race to get through material rather than enjoying it. I’m hoping that one month off has been enough to get just far ahead enough that it stops everything feeling like such hard work!

I start my posts normally freaking out at how time has passed by. This time, however, I’m quite glad: I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been suffering immensely from hayfever over the last few month.

I never normally get it; a few weeks of sniffles and that is it. But it has really got into my sinuses this year, which has led to some pretty horrendous migraines. That makes a day at work staring at a screen fun.

I’m hoping that now I’ve put my finger on the issue (it went on too long to just be holiday blues!), I’ll start giving myself some more time either during the week or at weekends. Early nights are great but having a sense of satisfaction in my home life will be just as beneficial as extra sleep.

My Goodreads challenge is proving hard this year, but I’ve only myself to blame for setting it significantly higher. I’m still on target right now (just). Here’s what I have coming up for this month:

False Idols by Jon Hollins: The Dragons who once ruled over the land are dead.

The motley crew that stumbled through that revolution are rich and praised as saviors.

Everyone gets to live happily ever after, right?

Right?

Well, it might have worked out that way if the dragons in Kondorra had been the only ones. If they hadn’t been just the tip of the spear about to fall upon the whole world…

Me: I am so excited for this book. I absolutely adored the first and laughed my entire way through it. I bought this one the second I saw it and can’t wait to get stuck in.

Executed by RR Haywood: The team of heroes extracted from their timelines to stop the impending apocalypse didn’t think they needed a leader.

But they’ve got one anyway.

With their mission in tatters, Miri has been called in to steady the ship. And to focus them on their assignment: preventing the end of the world.

The problem is, the world doesn’t know it’s in danger. With governments pursuing them relentlessly, attempting to steal the time-travel device to use for their own ends, the heroes are on the run—fighting for survival in a world they’re supposed to save.

Meanwhile, Miri has motives of her own. And when the existence of a second device is discovered, the team’s mission and their lives are in mortal danger…

Me:I read Extracted last year and thought it had potential. After seeing the third book on Netgalley, I thought it was time for some catching up and bought the second. The writing quality is there, I just hope this one doesn’t disappoint with the plot like the last.

What happened that Night by Sheila O’Flannagan: Then

When Lola Fitzpatrick catches the eye of Philip Warren, she’s new to Dublin and loving it. He’s used to getting what he wants…and she can’t resist him. Until one night he forces her to make an impossible choice.

If she’d known then what she knows now, everything might have been different.

Now

Lola’s daughter Bey has inherited her mother’s impulsive streak and it takes her down dangerous paths.

Then one night she too finds herself in front of a man she loves, with impossible choices of her own to make.

For both women, what happened that night changes everything. For better. For worse. For ever. 

Me: I’ve done a good job recently of catching up on the books that I need to get reviewed. This is one of the last physical ones I have, so looking forward to curling up with it.

Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb: When Assassin’s Quest closed, Fitz was living in self-imposed exile. Wracked with pain, he had chosen to discard the magical gifts that had seen him survive the wonders and torments of navigating the legendary city of the Elderlings, and of raising a dragon.

Now, in this the first of a new trilogy, we are returned to the world of the Six Duchies and the lives of those who managed to survive the events of the first Assassin trilogy. Fifteen years have passed and events are about to sweep Fitz out of his quiet backwater life and into the main political current again. Persecution of the Witted has become rampant throughout the Six Duchies despite Queen Kettricken’s effort to damp it. The Witted themselves have begun to strike back.

So when 15 year old Prince Dutiful disappears, is it only because he is nervous about his betrothal ceremony to an Outislander princess, or has he been taken hostage by the Witted? Worse, is he perhaps another ‘Piebald Prince’, a Farseer tainted by Wit magic? As the desperate situation worsens, Kettricken has no choice but to summon Fitz to Buckkeep, for who better to track the young prince down than another gifted with the Wit, together with his bonded companion, the wolf Nighteyes?

Me: Finally! I’ve been itching to read more Robin Hobb for months but could never quite schedule it in. Decided it was time to stop putting off the books I really want to read and let myself indulge. I can’t wait for this!

Redemption’s Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Ten years ago, the renegade demigod known as the Kinslayer returned. His armies of monsters issued from the pits of the earth, spearheaded by his brutal Yorughan soldiers. He won every battle, leaving burnt earth and corruption behind. Thrones toppled and cities fell as he drove all before him. And then he died. A handful of lucky heroes and some traitors amongst his own, and the great Kinslayer was no more.

Celestaine was one such hero and now she has tasked herself to correct the worst excesses of the Kinslayer and bring light back to her torn-up world. With two Yorughan companions she faces fanatics, war criminals and the monsters and minions the Kinslayer left behind as the fragile alliances of the war break down into feuding, greed and mistrust.

The Kinslayer may be gone, but he cast a long shadow she may never truly escape.

Me: I think this is my only planned Netgalley book for this month. The synopsis drew me in and I thought it looked a good read. Only time will tell.

I think it’s going to be an enjoyable month in terms of reading material – I’m genuinely really excited for a couple of these books, which is a fantastic feeling. Fingers crossed they are good!

How about you? What have you got planned for this month? Any books you hope to read?

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